ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

[ShawnP]

This last week was a decent week although I took the weekend off to go deep sea fishing in Naples, Florida. I did mostly review of all FSI Spanish drills from Unit 3-Unit 15 with the exception of the response drills from Monday-Thursday. However, for some reason I'm having problems with translation from a few units. I'm not sure if I'm having a problem overlearning or what. FSI takes up too much of my time and listening to podcasts and book reading has been non-existent. I'm just not having any fun and that's a big problem. I'm beginning think I need to downsize a bit and focus on one main thing. I think I'll stick with Glossika until the next year. I also think actually completing something will boost my confidence.

I focused mainly on Glossika sentences 500-1000 as a review. I had very little problems with translating sentences 1-1000 even if I had to think on it for a moment. I do like this course for the listening to native speech at normal speed and feel much of the material is used in everyday conversation.

I feel using this approach will allow me to use podcasts and do more L/R which will give me much more exposure from native speakers. I think being able to understand speakers will keep them from getting bored with communicating. I also think being around native speakers and working with the teachers at the immersion schools will help activate what I already know.

[ShawnP]

This past week, I focused on Glossika Fluency 2 as the heart of my study. I really like the Glossika material and I hope by the time I finish my speaking and listening skills will have improved quite a bit. My goal starting today is to read, speak/shadow, and listen to 500 sentences every day starting at #1-500 and tomorrow 501-1000, and so on for six days which will have me listening and translating all 3000 sentences in a week. No, I don't expect to know everything after one pass but doing it this way will keep things fresh instead of listening to the same sentences over and over which will bore me. Although I understand much of 1-1000, my speaking/translating skills are decent but very slow in coming. So today I'm starting fresh with my own 90 day challenge.

For my native material L/R, I'm focusing on SpanishListening.org. I really enjoy this site, and its free. I highly recommend it for its short dialogues which I listen to continuously and read the dialogues out loud. I'm currently listening to Showtime Spanish and the DLI phone conversations although I wish I had transcripts. I understand much of them though so that's something. I've decided I'll do nothing else over the next three months with the exception of some reading if I can squeeze in the time.

I do feel a little bummed that I've given up on FSI and Assimil, for now. I think after my trip I'll have a better handle on exactly where my weakest spots will be and will be in a better position to determine the best route to follow when I get back.

91 Days to Guatemala

[klvik]

SpanishListening.org is a great site. I have found the 5 questions at the bottom of each page to be useful prompts for speaking practice. When I first started to use them I struggled to produce a 15 second response but as my speaking abilities improved I could see my answers getting longer and more complex.

[ShawnP]

Klvik,

I've normally been skipping over the response part at the bottom but I'll look into it. I'm sure I'll bumble and fumble quite a bit but that's learning to speak I guess. I did go to a Mexican restaurant earlier today and ordered my meal in Spanish to the surprise of the waiter, so that was something.

[ShawnP]

This past week has went pretty good. I made it all the way through the Glossika material although I struggled heavily in the Fluency 3 book which is sentences 2000-3000. For some reason, I just didn't have enough time in the pauses to spit out the sentences myself or even shadow along with the speaker. However, I'm sure this will improve over time.

Other than that, I didn't spend quite the amount of time I wanted on listening and reading as I spent the weekend at the lake with family. However, today marks my 12 week countdown until my departure to Guatemala. I feel pretty good about how things are going so far but I know I need to pick up the pace at which I'm learning.

I read on a fitness page yesterday that the average person spends 5 hours each day watching TV. Unfortunately, I think I'm one of the average people so I'm contemplating suspending my satellite TV service, or at the least, dropping it down to just the basics.

My study plan is still Glossika, L/R, and reading books so I don't forsee any big changes in that.

84 Days until Guatemala

[Stelle]

Congrats on the progress! I'll be heading to Guatemala on Monday. Have you decided where you're going to study? I'll let you know what I think about the schools that we attend.

[ShawnP]

Stelle,

Sorry to read about your Italy trip, but I'm sure Guatemala will be a blast. Please let me know what you think of the schools. I plan to go to Antigua and Xela myself and probably another place or two so I'll follow in your footpath.

I made a list of several schools a couple months ago in each of the cities but I haven't done too much research as of yet. I figured I'd do that when the time got closer.

[ShawnP]

How time flies. Just realized I didn't update my log last Sunday. Not much has changed the last two weeks as I'm still using Glossika for most of my listening, speaking, and reading.

I did go ahead and pick up the Cortina Spanish program since it was on sale or they're going out of business. For some reason, I always seem to buy new stuff before I've completed what I got. Since it came in the mail this week, I went ahead and cut out the unnecessary stuff with Audacity and cut the dialogues down quite a bit and those 4-5 minute dialogues are now 2-3 minutes. Although older, I find I like the dialogues better than Assimil, at least the first two so far. So, I've decided to squeeze it in to my routine each day. I have no doubts I'll have gone through everything many times before my Latin American trip.

I'm still hitting my early reader books but need to focus more and give them more time. The same with podcasts. I have plenty of time during the day but I find myself not wanting to do it. I find this odd as the closer my trip gets, the less I want to study. Looking back, I noticed I spent more time with material when I was timing myself. So starting tomorrow I will start keeping track of my time each day.

I've noticed I'm watching too much TV and I'm seriously considering suspending, or at the least downgrading, my satellite TV so I'm forced to spend more time with the language. I think they may charge me to suspend my satellite service. Gotta check.

Has anyone gone to any extremes to spend more time with the language??

70 Days til Guatemala

[NoManches]

I've noticed I'm watching too much TV and I'm seriously considering suspending, or at the least downgrading, my satellite TV so I'm forced to spend more time with the language. I think they may charge me to suspend my satellite service. Gotta check.

Has anyone gone to any extremes to spend more time with the language??

70 Days til Guatemala

Wait....why not limit your television to only watching shows in Spanish? Or take the shows you like and watch them dubbed in Spanish?

[ShawnP]

This past week was another subpar week as I only covered my material about four days out of the week. Nothing has changed as I'm focusing the majority of my time listening and reading to Glossika Mexican Spanish. I've started focusing on the second part of book 2, sentences 1500-2000.

My reading and podcast listening slipped way down again this past week as I'm not putting in the time I want. It seems I'm just in a lull at the moment and just not as motivated as I should be. I have no real excuses.

Glossika Spanish (3 hrs)
Podcasts (40 min)
Reading (0 min)

Today is a new day and a new week. I've already put in 1 hour with Glossika and hope to do more listening and reading before the day is through. It also marks my 8 week countdown to Latin America. Time to really buckle down and get to learning.

56 Days to Guatemala