German Minigroup: Escaping the Eternal A1

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Cavesa
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German Minigroup: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby Cavesa » Sun Oct 25, 2020 7:32 pm

Hi everybody,

the two of us are fed up of being stuck in German as eternal beginners. Sometimes reaching A1 or even a bit higher, then forgetting again, running in circles, and so on. We both have reasons to learn this, we want to know German. But actually learning it and getting to a more useful and more fun level is a struggle. Just very recently, we've found out we have a similar idea about reaching this goal and even try similar methods.

The rules of this minigroup are very simple. Finishing this project will be the hard part :-)

The goal and deadline: B1 German by December 2021

The learning schedule: At least 30 minutes of serious learning activities a day. That's the minimum.

This log: Weekly goals, weekly updates, and relevant discussion. This is just about German, the rest of the languages stays in the individual logs.

Any extensive input, not serious apps, and other such activities don't count into the 30 minutes, but are of course part of learning.

List of participants:
1.CarlyD,
2.Cavesa
3.lingua

Update: We've agreed that a minigroup is still a minigroup up to 6 people. We'd just like every participant to adhere to the basic rules as much as possible, so that we can really profit from the mutual motivation and group synergy, instead of watching the common project fall apart like in the old TACs. If you'd like to do this, just sign up in this thread with your first Week Goals List. :-) We'll be happy to have you among us.
Last edited by Cavesa on Tue Oct 27, 2020 9:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby CarlyD » Sun Oct 25, 2020 9:17 pm

Perfect.

I'm keeping the 30-minute minimum as my horrible-day option, and am aiming for 60 to 90 minutes a day otherwise.

Options I now have available--I'm deciding today what I will seriously use:

Websites:
German Uncovered
GermanPod
Busuu
Rocket German
Clozemaster
Memrise

Textbooks:
Easy German Step by Step
probably 8 or 9 more that I've not really ever used

Fiction Books:
61 books--a few that I can comfortably read, most that I can read with some difficulty/looking up

Looking forward to the next 14 months!!
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blackcoffee
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby blackcoffee » Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:14 pm

I love this idea and think you guys will rock this.

Have you determined how you will know when you have reached B1?
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Cavesa
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby Cavesa » Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:42 pm

How will we know: I plan to take a formal exam.

We've agreed with CarlyD that Week 1, starting in half an hour for me, will be a sort of a Test run. A first round of goals, to see what is possible and motivating and what is not. We'll be wiser and better prepared for the Week 2, which will already be part of the 6WC.

WEEK 1
Daf Kompakt:
--review unit 1
--dissect Unit 1 for cloze deletion anki cards
--catch up with Memrise reviews and learn vocab up to unit 2
Speechling:
--finish Nouns
--finish Beginner 3
--first 100 Verbs
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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby CarlyD » Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:56 pm

blackcoffee wrote:I love this idea and think you guys will rock this.

Have you determined how you will know when you have reached B1?

The Goethe Institute has practice materials online for the B1 test--link below. I'm thinking if I can get to the point where I can use those materials and understand the audio/complete the exercises, then that would be a good gauge for me.

https://www.goethe.de/en/spr/kup/prf/prf/gb1/ueb.html
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lingua
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby lingua » Mon Oct 26, 2020 2:52 am

I'd like to join you if I could ... since my German hasn't progressed much since I re-started it about a year ago. This is due more to spreading myself to thin with multiple newer languages. B1 seems like a great goal and should allow me to read German cookbooks without too much trouble.

Course: German Assimil w/Ease
SRS: German Assimil w/Ease & other self-created courses
Other: Clozemaster, Nico's Weg, PMP Verb Tenses, German Easy Reader

WEEK 0
Assimil: Work through 5-7 lessons
SRS: Work through the same Assimil 5-7 lessons
Clozemaster: 50 new sentences per day; 50 review sentences per day
Nico's Weg: Complete A1 unit 4 (Around the World) & unit 5 (Things)
PMP Verb Tenses: Complete unit 17 (Reflexive Verbs)

Edit: Sorry, I misread the first post and I don't mean to crash your group without an OK from you both.
Last edited by lingua on Mon Nov 02, 2020 1:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Teango
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby Teango » Mon Oct 26, 2020 6:29 am

Like blackcoffee, I love the idea of teaming up in "minigroups" to learn languages together. The reason I quit lurking back in 2009, and finally decided to sign up on HTLAL, was to join a small TAC team of stalwart language adventurers on a similar journey. I miss those days and the camaraderie that came from working together in small support groups. Good luck with this project; you guys do indeed rock! :)
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Cavesa
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby Cavesa » Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:48 am

lingua wrote:Edit: Sorry, I misread the first post and I don't mean to crash your group without an OK from you both.


If you intend to stick to the rules, you have my ok and welcome. Three is still a minigroup, personal enough to keep each other accountable. So, it's up to CarlyD.

However, I really wouldn't want this thread to become a larger group, there is a already a more informative but less goal achievement oriented "German Group". We all know how did the TACs end.
Last edited by Cavesa on Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby garyb » Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:58 am

I won't be joining but will be intently following as I'm also trying to get my German past the basics these days!
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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD and Cavesa: Escaping the Eternal A1

Postby CarlyD » Mon Oct 26, 2020 4:32 pm

I honestly think we could do 5 or maybe even 6 people and still be a small group. So welcome, lingua.

I remember the TACs from when I first started here. I joined one all gung ho--and it faded away in the first month.

I've set up my goals for the week and they seem too "busywork." One is to finish section 60 in Busuu--but shouldn't they be more defined like "learn past participles" or something? Hmmm...... I'm glad this is our "get ready" week so hopefully this will work itself out.
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