Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

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Stelle
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby Stelle » Wed May 17, 2017 9:59 pm

I wrote quite a bit about the schools that I attended here:

http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5520&p=66839#p66839

I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have! And I think that going there twice a year sounds absolutely amazing. I hope you have a wonderful time.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Mon May 22, 2017 1:23 am

Well, it is hard to believe but I am 4 weeks to my trip.

This week was a slow week because my family traveled to Florida for some fun at universal studies. I got to test out my Spanish a couple times.
Pimsleur
Completed 27/30 for level 1 - Short week of commuting so only added one more lesson - I have now reached the point where I am needing to do each lesson twice to get it to where I want.

Learning Spanish Like Crazy
Completed 5/30 lessons (maybe 6 not sure)

Reading/Writing
Read a whole story last week and this week will be working on a written summary for my tutor

Tutoring
2 sessions it was supposed to be 3 but one got canceled on me at the last minute - this was a new tutor I'm trying out and I really hate when that happens.

Workbooks
Did some sections from a workbook on possessive pronouns. Actually thought I would work on a section of my workbook and brought it with me on our short vacation. Um, that didn't happen.

Destinos
17/52 - and now the romance part of the series has started. We have mystery, romance, and amazing shoulder pads - this is a classic I am now enjoying this series for how over the top ridiculous it is. And the lead investigator she has got some Mary Poppins type suitcase cause girl has got an amazing wardrobe for such a small suitcase - and she keeps buying outfits that you never see her wear - or wear for about 5 minutes.

I averaged between 2 to 3 hours of studying, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I felt pretty good about that.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Tue May 23, 2017 2:46 am

Today was an almost perfect day of Spanish Practice

30 minutes: commute to work Learning Spanish like Crazy Lesson 7
60 minutes: Reading (slightly intensive) of notes in Spanish transcript intermediate podcast 2. Some work in a notebook on the preterite - I was test proctoring for 4 hours and would say between staring at kids, giving the stink eye and reminding them to be quite I got a good hour of practice in
30 minutes: Commute home - Pimsleur lesson 27 - I seriously think I will never get the whole pronouns whether they are possessive or not. And they introduced a new tense the preterite perfecto which is downright enjoyable compared to my kryptonite know as the preterite indifinido
60 minutes: Skype tutor - conversation practice
30 minutes: Destinos - have gone from disliking to being sort in love how ridiculous and over the top this show is

The total was 3 hours and 30 minutes on Spanish - I wish I could do this on the regular today was just a day that I had some options so I took advantage. I would say most days I hit two hours but that is because I have a long commute to and from work which I try to maximize to my advantage.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Wed May 24, 2017 1:49 am

I think this week for inspiration I am tracking my minutes each day.
Today I would call a normal Spanish studying day
30 minutes Commute to work Learning Spanish like crazy 8/30. While I like the series it is rather expensive so I am stopping at 8 which is the super lite pack.
30 minutes Commute home from work Pimsleur 27/30 level 1 - feeling a special sort of accomplishment knowing I will finish this series and start level 2
10 minutes podcast 3 notes in Spanish
25 minutes Destinos
40 minutes writing a summary of a story I read - only 240 stinking words
60 minute skype tutoring session reviewing my summary and practice conversation
probably 30 minutes - continuing my internal debate if I should start assimil or not

3 hours and 15 minutes of active study and 30 minutes general language research

Frannie
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Thu May 25, 2017 2:15 am

Inspiration was low today
15 minutes Pimsleur commute to work lesson 29/30 - I was bombing it so bad I stopped halfway through because I knew I would need a repeat
[b]45 min VeinteMundos article
This was an intensive read
10 minutes listening to article after marking up the text so bad you can barely see the words
30 minutes Pimsleur Lesson 29 again - and I will have to do it again tomorrow and will also have to do it again taking some notes - Some concepts are not going to stick for me until I see them in print
25 minutes Destinos episode 18/52 - Why or why am I so bothered by the fact she was in Argentina for like 4 days and wore a total of 10 outfits and the laptop she had on the train in Spain has somehow disappeared.
45 minutes random language surfing Lets see - checked out lyric training - felt stupid, then checked out Assimil again, tried to find a Spanish music station I would like to listen to at work - no luck

2 hours and 5 minutes of active study
45 minutes general language research

What didn´t get done
I really need to do some workbook exercises on the present perfect to solidify in my mind
A summary of the article I read
So both those things will be moved to tomorrow - tomorrow I will end up with some impressive minutes

A big push for tomorrow and then Friday I have a funeral and the family is going out of town for the holiday weekend - I have a kids book i plan to read over the weekend for some extensive reading. Maybe I will bring my workbook maybe not.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Fri May 26, 2017 3:07 am

I think I kinda burnt myself out today - by the time I got to my tutor I was burnt. One of those lessons where you feel like you are making a backward progress.

30 minutes pimsluer lesson 29 commute home from work - did this a third time.
30 minutes pimsleur lesson 30 - I had to drive someplace else tonight and was stuck in traffic so I did Lesson 30 - Lesson 29 was not where I wanted it to be but I couldn't do it a 4th time.
45 minutes writing Summary of an article - 270 words - fewer lookups and disseminated by my tutor
40 minutes intensive reading Read the transcript of Podcast 3 intermediate - I think I was going to listen but forgot
30 minutes workbook exercised working on the present perfect - interestingly Pimsleur introduces the present perfect before the preterite
60 minutes with Italki tutor

Total today 3 hours and 55 minutes -

Little by little as my tutor says.

oh and I added a goal - I have my current push to Guate - then the next goal is to take the DELE exam on October 13th - I will decide what level upon my return from Guatemala this time.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Sat May 27, 2017 5:09 pm

Friday may 26

25 minutes doulingo doulingo is good for me because one of my bad habits is not matching noun possession or gender it is good practice for this.

That was all on the 26th - sad day with a funeral and wasn't motivated for much overall

Saturday May 27th
25 minutes doulingo
60 minutes reading a leveled reader by Paco Ardit - A1 level it is almost impossible for me to read without looking up words - I respect those who can - a1 was an easy read minimal word look ups - I tried this series of leveled readers before and I remember A1 was just to hard - today I enjoyed reading it didn't feel like work.
25 more minutes of reading a book I set my pomodoro timer and call it done

So for today I wii have basically two hours in - not bad for the weekend when I tend to be less focused language studies.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Mon May 29, 2017 10:37 pm

Double post - see below
Last edited by FrannieB on Mon May 29, 2017 10:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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FrannieB
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby FrannieB » Mon May 29, 2017 10:39 pm

So That was great practice to track my Spanish studies for a week - I would have never placed myself at approx. 3 hours a day - I would have said 90 minutes. I guess I get in more practice than I realize but it never seems like much work - okay the stupid written summaries are freaking painful but the rest is fun.

So a run down of the week
Destinos 19/52 - slow and steady - I a seem to be enjoying it
Intensive Reading one article from vientemundos, one short story, Transcript from podcast 2 and 3 of Notes in Spanish
Extensive reading I finally found my jam and found some leveled readers - this weekend I read 3 A1 books by paco ardit - fun, easy quick reads - I am moving on to his A2 books
Abandoned Was reading a young adult book - got through chapter 2 and realized it was totally an intensive read and I like to save that for articles or podcast transcripts because they don't feel like work - Will save the book for later as I did like the story line and will enjoy maybe when I get back from Guatemala
Notes in Spanish intermediate These just don't feel like work and I enjoy - intensive reading of the transcript - then listening to the podcast - my new plan is 1. listen to podcast in car, listen to podcast reading notes, intensive read transcript and listen to again - I reserve the right to abandon this if it takes the fun out of the podcast. Right now I intensively read the transcript and then listen without looking at the transcript.
Workbook stuff Some sections of workbooks on grammar that comes up in Pimsleur lessons
Pimsleur Finished level 1 - woohoo - many many repeats of lesson 29 and 30
Writing Two written summaries at 250 words each - Will continue to do these with my italki tutor but will get it down to once a week
Doulingo I don't even know why - I just feel like I have to be able to say I have completed the tree- I work on it here and there easy enough - goal to finish tree in next three weeks. - I'm not killing myself to get it done.
Italki tutor 3 sessions this week - 2 with a regular tutor and 1 with a new.

I'm kinda all over the place just trying to cram in as much as I can before going to Guatemala so I can get the most out of my studies. Somedays I feel I'm making great progress other days I'm so frustrated and feel like I'm still a total beginner

What I am trying next week - I love getting to talk and practice with tutors for my 3 weeks before Guatemala I am going to try baselang - it will be cheaper than my current 3 to 4 session with italki tutors - it costs me close to $65 dollars a week for 4 lessons a week and I would take more if I could but it is getting spending we will see what I can get done for the $129 a month fee.

The I don't really know what the hell I'm doing log - but I am getting in a boatload of Spanish every day.
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iguanamon
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Re: Frannie's 7 week mission Guatamala

Postby iguanamon » Mon May 29, 2017 10:50 pm

There are two schools in Guatemala which offer skype lessons at $10 US per hour.
plqe.org
nulengua

Keep going with Destinos!
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