Bex 2020 log: Back to basics [ES]

[Bex]

February update: nothing
I think I may have been suffering from overload after my final push at the end of the SC and my new job. I think it finally caught up with me in February. I had no motivation to do anything with my Spanish. Interestingly though because of my new job and having to leave the house and actually deal with Spanish students and life every day, I am actually getting more speaking/listening practice without even trying.

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So ignoring my February fail completely, here are my plans for March...
Studying: Kwiziq A2 - I have finally bought a new subscription for 3 months, so I have no excuse. Target = finish A2 by the end of March then onto B1.
Listening: actually doing some would be an improvement.

Kwiziq has also picked up on my terrible past tense production and although conjugations and reading/listening have improved (because I specifically studied them last year) my ability to produce the past tenses is still very poor. I keep learning about the past and then not using it, so I forget. I am in a vicious circle of learning/forgetting/relearning... I need to fix this.

[Bex]

Looks like I'm getting back into the swing of Spanish again, I've managed 5 hours of Kwiziq in 5 days, which is great for actual 'study' time. Hopefully I can keep it at at least 2 hours a week long term.

Grammar study & practice is definitely what I need at the moment...I'm not coming across much which is new but I am having a lot of "oh, that's why it's like that" and "really [more like FFS], I should be getting that right by now" moments!

I have been pondering how to make this stuff finally stick....

I am in a vicious circle of learning/forgetting/relearning... I need to fix this.

I have been thinking about this but not getting very far. Maybe I need to write and speak more? The problem with both is how to ensure I don't just use the 'easy' stuff I already know.

Also my big problem is I get overwhelmed when I try to do too much at one time, so I'm loathed to try studying, listening, speaking & writing all at once. I KNOW I should be doing them ALL but whenever I try I just end up procrastinating and doing nothing. I found when doing the SC I'm much better cramming 1 activity for a month (or 3) and then moving onto the next activity. It's not ideal but it works and I actually get some s!#@ done instead of piddling about.

I really wish I was better at multitasking

[AndyMeg]

I have been pondering how to make this stuff finally stick....

I am in a vicious circle of learning/forgetting/relearning... I need to fix this.

I have been thinking about this but not getting very far. Maybe I need to write and speak more? The problem with both is how to ensure I don't just use the 'easy' stuff I already know.

I'll tell you some activities that helped me to improve my English output (but I did most of those activities because they were intrinsically important/interesting to me and not as a way to improve my English):

- Take online classes in English about topics I'm interested in
- Interact with people in forums and chats about things I'm interested in
- Write a language log in English (I did start the log in English instead of Spanish so that more people could read/understand it and also as a way to force me to practice my written English). I've also written other kind of logs in English (for example, for my Works In Progress in the creative writing field)
- Talk to other people in person or online about topics we have in common (I don't do this much because I usually prefer to communicate in written form and because it's not that easy to find native English speakers in my city/country; so speaking is my weakest skill in English).

I really wish I was better at multitasking

Don't worry, I have the same problem and I also reached the same conclusion: it's better to stick to a few things for a long time than trying to tackle a lot in parallel and end up in a vicious cycle of indefinite procrastination.

[Bex]

Thanks AndyMeg it's really helpful to have another perspective and hear of things that have worked for you. Really appreciated.

This got me thinking about writing more and how it would help me to review/apply what I am learning before I forget it, especially as your writing in English is so good.

...I don't do this much because I usually prefer to communicate in written form and because it's not that easy to find native English speakers in my city/country; so speaking is my weakest skill in English...

I wondered if you thought all the the writing you did helped with your speaking as well or there was no noticeable improvement.

Do you think that all the writing you have done has helped you improve your speaking (as a by product) or did just your writing improve?

[Bex]

Kwiziq: over 75% achieved at A2 level so the system is now recommending I start the B1 level.

It's taken me 13 days, doing just over 1 hour a day (14 hours of studying) to get this far with A2.I will continue with A2 until I'm over 90%.

Hoping to get all of A0 - B1 to 90-100% before the end of my subscription in 76 days time!

Up to and through A2 it has been good revision and much needed practice but only a few things new. At this level it's only the irregular conjugations that I really have any problems with now.

I think B1 will be teaching me the Present Subjunctive ... something I've been avoiding learning for a long time!

[Bex]

Kwiziq update: A2 is now at 90%. It took me approximately 20 hours over 16 days to complete A2. I smashed my target of finishing A2 before the end of March

Now off to conquer B1...It will take longer as there are many more new grammar points for me at this level. Hopefully I can finish B1 before the end of April.

[Bex]

Still managing at least an hour of Spanish studying every day. I've covered 39.7% of the Kwiziq B1 content so far.

I had one low day this week where I only managed 5 minutes I was feeling down due to the obvious world issues and didn't do much of anything that day but it passed and I'm trying to be kind and have patience with myself at the moment.

My new teaching job has stopped completely now, because I'm the newest teacher at the company. They're giving any remaining work to more experienced teachers than me, including givING them my students. No explanation or discussion...they just told me that's how it is. This really did contribute to my feeling down, amongst other financial issues and worries at the moment. I know there are many much worse off than me so I'm trying to be optimistic but sometimes it's hard.

Kwiziq lost my streak... I've contacted them to ask what happened. I'm told they're looking into it. I should be at over 30 days but I'm at 5

Now I'm on Kwiziq B1 it's hard, I recognise lots of things but I have never really learnt them properly before. I am finding that Kwiziq is not good at teaching new material in a sensible order.

One of the first B1 lessons it gave me on Kwiziq was "using the Present Subjunctive after querer que" but it hasn't even tested me on the conjugations of the present subjunctive yet!?

Kwiziq regularly gives me tests on irregular Conditional verbs but it still hasn't tested me on the regular ones and the same for Imperative. It's quite annoying, I can't really understand the lesson...how am I supposed to notice/learn something that is irregular, if I don't know what the regular looks like?

It's frustrating as I would have to override the AI suggested lessons to learn them in a more sensible order and also I can't practice or drill conjugations on Kwiziq itself because it penalises you for wrong answers!

I've had to resort to an old fashioned grammar book that drills the regular subjunctive conjugations because I don't know them

TBH I'm starting to think that a good old fashioned grammar book is better than Kwiziq, I am disappointed that this may be my conclusion after 1 month of use. Still I may change my mind, maybe this is just a hiccup... I've got 2 more months paid up...so we'll see

[Bex]

March update
My plans for March were ...
Studying: Kwiziq A2. Target = finish A2 by the end of March then onto B1.
Listening: actually doing some would be an improvement.

Reality:
Studying: Kwiziq finished A2 by mid march and I´ve now covered about 65% of the B1 content and mastered 40% of it. I also have been practising the conjugations for the imperative, future, conditional and present subjunctive in my Grammar workbook. I managed just over 31.5 hours of studying in March, which considering the exceptional circumstances occurring in March I am happy with that

Listening: I haven´t really done anything to speak of - so this is a fail. I do watch Spanish TV most evenings although it is only 20 minutes or so. I suppose it´s better than nothing.

Target for April:
Studying: 90% or more mastered Kwiziq B1.
Listening: I am giving up on making targets for this

[badger]

Listening: actually doing some would be an improvement.

I know the feeling!

[Bex]

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Kwiziq: over 75% achieved at B1 level so the system is now recommending I start the B2 level.

I think I'll ignore the system and try and get B1 up to 90% before I move up to B2 level. I'm still struggling with the new (especially irregular) subjunctive, conditional & imperative conjugations.

I recognised these conjugations fairly easily when I started the Kwiziq B1 level, probably due to all the reading I've done but I could barely produce them at all.

Now I can sometimes produce them correctly

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It's nice to see that B2 recommend level though