Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

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FrannieB
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Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Fri May 05, 2017 2:30 pm

Hello all,
I have been reading the forum for a while now and have learned so much information.
A little about me - 1 year ago almost to the date, I decided I wanted to become fluent in Spanish. I have now come to realize "fluent" is a destination that moves and is hard to define.
I signed up for a Spanish class - once a week 3 hours. That class was kinda expensive and I figured out for the cost of the class I could go to a country. Somehow I'm really not sure I figured out that you could do immersion experiences. So I convinced the family to let me head out to Panama for 3.5 weeks on my own. Well, Panama was great - I fell in love with the country and I learned a great deal. I learned how far I had to go in language learning. When I returned I had every intention of studying and well life happened I didn't have a plan and no studying happened.
Then the family went on vacation to Mexico and I spoke some and was re-sparked to continue my learning. So after a 4-month break, I jumped in both feet first again. For my spring break which was different than my daughters so no family vacation was going to happen, I again convinced my family that I should travel alone to Guatemala for a week of study. I went studied 5 hours a day and did 2 hours of homework a night. Much different then in Panama where my approach was I'm on vacation and learning Spanish (I did have some fun times there - but for me Panama is for vacation not studying). This time I was learning Spanish and happened to be in Guatemala.
Which brings us to current day. I returned from Guatemala and have a plan and have been working said plan.
Now I have decided to return to Guatemala and Honduras to study for 2 weeks and at the end, I gave myself a half week for vacation on the beach in San Salvador.
Wow if you read all that thanks.
So now because I want to get the most out of my two weeks I have created a 7-week mission for myself that I will be checking in and holding myself accountable to here on Language log in hopes of helping someone else. Because I know my plan is pretty much based on everything I learned here on Language Learners forum
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Fri May 05, 2017 3:42 pm

And now onto my plan

My mission before returning to study is to be completely solid in the use of following 5 tenses:
Present
Imperfect
Preterite
Future
Conditional
And continue to build my vocabulary and have my speaking become more automatic

My plan based on what I have learned about myself
I like structured learning
I love filling up notebooks with notes
I hate flashcards - ANKI, SRS
I really don’t enjoy watching TV - I barely watch TV in English so using this as a primary means of learning for me is painful

This plan is for 7 weeks with a end goal

My Frogs
Memrise classes to complete:
Finish Body parts
Complete Memrise A1 Spanish

Watch 7 episodes of Destinos a week to finish before May 17th - I really want to finish this I tend to enjoy the episodes I watch I just get annoyed at all the English spoken at the beginning of the first couple episode - hopefully, it gets better. (This series could also be replaced by the telenovela Celia - I’m going to give it until the 10th episode - I’m on episode 5)

Now onto what I enjoy
10 Pimsleur lessons a week - I have approx. a 90 minute round trip commute to work - I do 1 lesson in the morning and 1 lesson in the afternoon. I thoroughly enjoy Pimsleur. This would have me completing level 1, level 2 and half of level 3 before my trip.

2 online lesson a week with my Spanish Tutor for 1 hour - I found a great fit for me and he has been tutoring for me 4 months now.

One story a week from the books Spanish Short Stories For Beginners: 8 Unconventional Short Stories to Grow Your Vocabulary and Learn Spanish the Fun Way! (Book 1 and book 2) With these stories, I follow the following pattern.
Listen to story on audible - usually 2 times to make sure I get the gist
Read the story
Read the story and listen
Read the story intensively
Present an oral summary to my Spanish tutor - I do not write the summary down. I do lots of other writing exercises with him.

What I will probably Add - because while this seems a lot - It is not and I do have room for another structured learning
I'm thinking Assimil - I have some time in the mornings for 30 minutes of study.
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BOLIO
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby BOLIO » Fri May 05, 2017 8:18 pm

Sounds like a great plan! Have fun with it and enjoy the journey. I look forward to following your log.

BOLIO
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Sun May 07, 2017 7:05 pm

Thank you for the welcome

First Check-in - Really only a half week
Assimil
A checked out Assimil on Youtube - someone had videos. I won't be doing Assimil they talked too slow and I wanted to rip my hair out. I should mention that my listening skills are C1+. I am afro-latino descent my folks are from Cuba I grew up hearing Spanish and just always responded in English
Pimsleur[b]
Got 10 lessons done this week - I enjoy Pimsleur it fits into my commuting perfectly - I have time for a lesson and to get a time in on the audio book I usually listen to - I sort of love my commute because I get so much done learning wise.
Memrise
Got in 2 days of practice - Which has been since I declared my intentions in the above post. I will see how long I can keep my streak. I switched up my course because some were way to easy - Doing B1 vocabulary course, Verb conjugation course and finishing body parts course. I'm narrowing my focus i have started something like 9 zillion courses (okay more like maybe 6) have it down to 3.
Reading
nothing - As I usually do this on Tuesday and Thursdays for about an hour right before my Spanish Class
Destinos
I have powered through 3 episodes - This is a love-hate relationship - They kinda talk a little too slow but I'm trying to finish things instead of constantly jumping around.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Sun May 14, 2017 9:42 pm

Update on how it is all going

Memrise
I hate flashcards and I'm not doing them anymore. I'm over trying to make flashcards work for me.
Pimsleur
Have completed 26 of 30 for level 1 - Continue to enjoy
Learn Spanish like Crazy
To add variety added this to my afternoon commute - Morning I do a Pimsleur lesson and in the afternoons I do a LSLC. completed 3 of 30 lessons
reading
This week I read an article from Veinte Mundo - Extensive read, listen to article while reading text, read article, read again looking up any words I do not know, complete and oral summary for my tutor
Tutoring
Did my twice-weekly tutoring sessions for 2 hours of talking practice
Destinos
Continues to be love hate - however, I am up to episode 12/60 - The shoulder pads are seriously a supporting character.
Ultimate Spanish Verb practice book
Began working the preterite unit - completed 3 out of 13 sections - there is no rhyme or reason for when I do this - I just have to work on it during the week when I feel like it. A section takes me about 30 minutes if I am slowing down and thinking about what I am doing instead of zipping through to fill in blanks

That is about it -
I have decided to add another night of tutoring with a different tutor so I can have the benefit of practicing with two different people.

Slow and steady - some days I think I am doing wonderful other days I think why the hell did I start this endeavor.
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SophiaMerlin_II
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Sun May 14, 2017 10:03 pm

FrannieB wrote:The shoulder pads are seriously a supporting character.

:lol: Are they really so bad? I may have to watch this now :lol:
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Mon May 15, 2017 5:33 pm

Here is a link to an example of the shoulder pads
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/shoulder-pads/

I think my favorite look so far is the leather coat with shoulder pads so large she looks like and upside down triangle : lol:
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Mon May 15, 2017 5:35 pm

FrannieB wrote:Here is a link to an example of the shoulder pads
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/shoulder-pads/

I think my favorite look so far is the leather coat with shoulder pads so large she looks like and upside down triangle : lol:


I dig it! I've added it to my watch-list XD
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Stelle
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby Stelle » Mon May 15, 2017 8:56 pm

I loved the shoulder pads in Destinos. They were probably my favourite character. I especially loved the interaction between the shoulder pads and the teased hair.

Frannie: I just got home from Guatemala about three weeks ago. I studied at Antiguena (in Antigua), Cooperativa (in San Pedro) and Jabel Tinamit (in Pana). All three schools were fantastic, and I had some excellent teachers. Good luck with your 7 week mission!
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Wed May 17, 2017 11:25 am

Stelle -
I would love to hear a little about each school.
How long did you study at each school? I wish I could get more time in Guatemala (first world problem I am fully aware of this) and I know I'm pretty lucky to be able to figure out a way to go for 1 to 2 weeks twice a year.

So mini - update
Had tutoring session with two new tutors and both told me that I am strong on my basics - Happy dance - sometimes you so into your learning path that all you can see is how far you have to go not how far you have come.
Poco y Poco starts to really add up.

Frannie
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