Summary September - French:1) Anki: 1281 "mature" cards and 714 cards "Young and Learn" (=665 new cards in September); approximately 50 % sentences and 50 % words
2) Reading: ca. 650 pages; fiction, rtbf.be, lemonde.fr, sciencesetavenir.fr, fr.euronews.com
3) Grammar and structured learning: Continued my review of A2 grammar, adding sentence cards to my Anki deck.
4) Listening: ca. 24 hours of videos; mostly Stargate Atlantis (completed season 1), but also YT stuff
5) Speaking: speaking to myself for a few minutes, which I found brain-melting.
6) Writing: 2 short texts (approx. 400 words in total) (for the assessment mentioned below)
Great streak in the moment. I do not think I missed a single day since July where I did not at least did some Anki revisions. The silly little reward system described in my previous post really did a great job, not only for my progress in French, but also for my other life goals. I cannot remember working that actively on my to do list as I did in the past weeks.
Also, it looks like I am closer to B2 than I thought - I planned to join a B1 course at the local Institut français next week and had to have my (written) French tested. They said it was closer to B2 than to B1. The course is cancelled, unfortunately, but I was offered a conversation course, starting end of October instead - on B2 level!
Not sure I am ready for that. I have two weeks to chicken out. Need to ponder a bit in the next days....
I also decided to do the DALF C2. One day. I do not need it for my career, and a part of me is opposed to the idea of spending precious time to prepare for an exam instead of doing more fun or valuable stuff. But. Despite numerous attempts in the past three decades, I have failed miserably to make significant progress or becoming "operational". The DALF would provide a measurable goal, a sense of achievement, giving me back the necessary self-confidence.
This last quarter of the year will provide a lot of leasure time; I have plenty of holidays left. A good time to work on my French!
In October, I plan to
- continue the grammar review, hoping I'll move from A2 to B1 in my current first review round by end of the month.
- keep reading and adding vocabulary to my Anki deck. I am bolstering my deck with expressions from the CLE Vocabulaire Progressif series from time to time. As indicated above, I am aiming for a 50/50 mix of sentences (mostly from the grammar review) and vocabulary in my learning deck in the moment. Aside the CLE series, the main source for new words are news articles. This is supported by light reading (Harry Potter in the moment)
- keep watching Stargate Atlantis. I still have trouble understanding the conversations despite the subtitles and slowing down the speed to 90 %. Maybe it is more difficult than other TV shows I had been watching. I want to see them winning over the Wraith and then move back to the far more easier Star Trek Franchise.
- start said course????