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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 8:11 am
by Bex
Well looks like my challenges may be scuppered! I have been (and still am) ill all this week, I've managed to do my Anki cards but that's it! :cry:

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:05 pm
by AndyMeg
Bex wrote:Well looks like my challenges may be scuppered! I have been (and still am) ill all this week, I've managed to do my Anki cards but that's it! :cry:

Toma las cosas con calma. La salud está primero. Hasta ahora lo has estado haciendo genial ;)

Ya cuando estés bien te pondrás al día con tus desafíos. O, si no quieres esperar, podrías posponer el resto de desafíos hasta el próximo año y elegir un desafío más pequeño que sí creas poder alcanzar en lo que queda de este año.

Que te mejores pronto.

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:36 pm
by Bex
AndyMeg wrote:Ya cuando estés bien te pondrás al día con tus desafíos. O, si no quieres esperar, podrías posponer el resto de desafíos hasta el próximo año y elegir un desafío más pequeño que sí creas poder alcanzar en lo que queda de este año.


Gracias AndyMeg, he estado pensando en mis desafíos y sé que no voy a completarlos ahora, pero es un nuevo año pronto y así voy a establecer otros nuevos en su lugar.

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:24 pm
by Bex
Todays mullings...

I have been thinking about the new year and challenges I would like to give myself.

I was thinking I may join the Super Challenge (I think it starts anew in January), although it scares me as I have read very little native material in Spanish so far, I did dabble with LWT and I enjoyed the reading (and LWT) but it was too much hassle to get out the laptop just so I could read a few pages here and there.
However I think Santa may be bringing me a kindle this year....so maybe I can try reading Spanish books on my kindle and I think I can include podcasts in the film minutes, although I'm not entirely sure of the rules on that.

I think it may be time to leap off the cliff this year and try using native materials properly.

Also was thinking of joining the Output Challenge, I am enjoying my writing to penpals and I would like to continue. I would also like to continue with my iTalki sessions and so maybe I could cheat and count those as the "speaking" part of the output challenge?

Oooh maybe I could do both challenges....that would keep me busy.

Anki has been extremely useful for learning my past tense conjugations and I am feeling much more comfortable with them now, but I have noticed that as usual I am wasting more and more time messing around with Anki again. I can also see myself creating huge decks, I will get overwhelmed by hours of revision every day and then I drop it, so it will all be a huge waste of my time in many, many different ways.

I have a weird hatred of Anki, it wastes loads of my time but I have this irrational fear that if I don't add something to Anki it will be lost for ever and all my writing and speaking will have been for nothing. :lol:

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 5:23 pm
by DaveBee
Bex wrote:I was thinking I may join the Super Challenge (I think it starts anew in January), although it scares me as I have read very little native material in Spanish so far, I did dabble with LWT and I enjoyed the reading (and LWT) but it was too much hassle to get out the laptop just so I could read a few pages here and there.
However I think Santa may be bringing me a kindle this year....so maybe I can try reading Spanish books on my kindle and I think I can include podcasts in the film minutes, although I'm not entirely sure of the rules on that.

I think it may be time to leap off the cliff this year and try using native materials properly.

Anki has been extremely useful for learning my past tense conjugations and I am feeling much more comfortable with them now, but I have noticed that as usual I am wasting more and more time messing around with Anki again. I can also see myself creating huge decks, I will get overwhelmed by hours of revision every day and then I drop it, so it will all be a huge waste of my time in many, many different ways.

I have a weird hatred of Anki, it wastes loads of my time but I have this irrational fear that if I don't add something to Anki it will be lost for ever and all my writing and speaking will have been for nothing. :lol:
I think the Kindle software includes a flashcard function, generated by the words you look up, so it might let you ditch Anki too.

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:39 pm
by AndyMeg
From my personal experience, I believe it is better to start with small goals and then gradually increase the difficulty level. The ideal activities for learning are those that are in the sweet spot (they take you beyond your comfort zone, but they are not too difficult to do or to keep up with).

If you really, really want to try a Super Challenge (or two), go for it (them). But if you start to feel overwhelmed or you start procrastinating, then it may be a sign that you need to revise your current goals and decrease the difficulty level. Just keep that in mind ;) .

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:36 am
by Bex
AndyMeg wrote:From my personal experience, I believe it is better to start with small goals and then gradually increase the difficulty level. .

I agree entirely, however I have noticed that with short term goals, once they have ended I tend to spend ages wasting time on deciding what to do next. If I have an overall plan but add in mini challenges along the way then I only have to decide what to do next in order to complete the SC.

For example:
Finish listening to the intermediate Notes in Spanish Podcasts in January and then add this time to the Super Challenge.
Write 4000 words to my Penpals in January and then add this total to the Output Challenge total.

In this sense I can have mini challenges but I must always be aiming to do activities where the time could be allocated to either the Output Challenge or the Super Challenge. I am thinking I will stick to monthly challenges as they are easy to manage, and if the SC becomes too difficult and I find I just do not have the time, then I will just do the mini-challenges as I can revise these each month.

Also if I find resources that I would like to try, I can add them to a list and then pick from this list every time I set myself a new mini-challenge each month, this should also help (I hope) with procrastination and distraction along the way.

It's impossible for me to know if it will be too much unless I try and I suspect I will have my answer within a couple of months :)

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:47 am
by Bex
Friday Update:
16 hours Italki lessons: Nothing this week. (7 hours in total) :cry:
Writing 8000 words: 947 this week (6881 total)
Glossika GSR 1: 63 - 65 - nothing this week.
Podcasts: Intermediate Notes in Spanish: 10-15.
Anki 241 sentences: Mature 103

Italki - rubbish really, no excuses, I should have booked at least one lesson but I didn't.
Writing - 947 is pretty close to my 1000 a week target and so I'm happy with this week, I receiving emails less frequently now as Christmas is closing in and people are getting busy.
Podcasts - again rubbish, no excuses, I should have listened to at least one but I didn't.
Anki - Still going well and really, really helping with past tenses. I am mostly choosing the correct past tense for each card now and it may be time to start on my next deck soon... Glossika level 2!

So it seems I can happily write and do Anki decks but I am less keen on my current speaking and listening activities. I must remember to take this into account when I set my new challenges.

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:50 am
by AndyMeg
Bex wrote:It's impossible for me to know if it will be too much unless I try and I suspect I will have my answer within a couple of months :)

I agree. Go for it. I'll be rooting for you! ;)

Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:53 am
by Stelle
New SuperChallenges usually start in May, if I recall correctly.