Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

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alexlancaster1
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Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby alexlancaster1 » Mon May 15, 2017 10:20 pm

Hello all,

My level in Spanish has been at about a B1 for several years now, and I recently decided that I am fed up with being intermediate. After mulling it over for a few days, I decided that I am going to commit finally to aiming for C1.

I have spent years entertaining romances with many languages without making a real commitment to any of them - sowing my wild oats, as it were - and I decided that I need to make an honest man of myself. All the substantial benefits of language learning are still ahead of me; the real beef and red wine of the thing. The culture, the literature, the good radio programs, etc.

My goal is to embark on a concentrated three month journey to bump my level up from B1 to C1. My mission statement is this: I wish to achieve C1 fluency in Spanish over the next 90 days, with particular emphases on improving my listening comprehension (primary goal) and enlarging my vocabulary (secondary goal). If I work consistently and achieve my daily goalsets, that is what is important. If I do not reach C1 in three months by doing this, that's ok. The most important thing is consistency.

My MINIMUM goals are:

- 135 hours of active listening practice (90 minutes per day)
- 45 hours of conversation practice, in person or via Skype (1 hour every other day)
- Create 1,000 sentence cards in Anki (10-20 cards per day)
- Read one entire book in Spanish


My start date was today - May 15th, 2017
End date - August 13, 2017.

My activities today included resource gathering: posting on various forums asking for advice, finding several potential conversation partners on iTalki, renewing my subscription to LingQ, buying a few books on Amazon, and browsing the web for new and interesting material.

My activity log for today (so far; it's only 5pm):

2 hours of listening practice
A dozen or so cards made in Anki
Some reading of transcripts while listening to audio.


I purchased the complete Chronicles of Narnia in Spanish today, and I am planning to read The Magician's Nephew for my project. I decided on these books for several reasons: 1) I love C.S. Lewis, 2) I have read some of them before and am familiar with the characters and stories, 3) they are digestable (short), and 4) they are a shade above my level of comprehension - far enough to stretch me, but not so far that I get frustrated and give up.

I also found a website that posts lengthy interviews in Spanish (native speakers) that includes transcripts in both English and Spanish. Huge find!

If anyone has any advice or comments, I'd absolutely love to read them! Wish me luck, and I hope you enjoy reading!

Alex
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FrannieB
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby FrannieB » Tue May 16, 2017 12:37 am

Alex,
I look forward to reading your log.
I just started one myself and my end goal has morphed somewhat. First, it was a 5-week push to Guatemala - so I would have a solid base before studying. Now it is 60 days to being B2 and I want to take the DELE test on July 14th. Final goal to Break into C1 by March of next year for a trip I am planning.

Are six-week plans are very similar - except I hate and I mean hate flashcards and I have tried every system - homemade, anki, doulingo, memrise - nope not gonna happen evah for me.

Similar to you
[list=]60 minutes listening practice during commute
1 intensive short story read a week
Watch TV in Spanish 30 minutes (right now Destinos)
One move a week - I watched Bourne identity on Sunday
Some sort of grammar practice - I usually get in about 30 minutes a day - I am rotating between 3 books - what I choose to focus on is based on where I get hung up with listening practice during my commute
I was doing 2 italki sessions a week and I have bumped it up to 4 with 3 different tutors
[/list]

I wish you luck on your journey and will be following closely as we are on a similar path. I can tell you that with my current plan I have made huge growth in the 2 weeks I have been implementing.
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SophiaMerlin_II
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Tue May 16, 2017 1:23 am

Your goal seems very challenging :D Please keep us up to date on your progress, we will be rooting for you!
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alexlancaster1
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby alexlancaster1 » Tue May 16, 2017 3:37 am

Thanks for your support, everyone! Looking forward to this!

Frannie: Thank you for the detailed response! I am curious to see where your path takes you as well. Are you keeping a log here on the forum as well?

Thankfully I have loads of extra time these days. I am blessed with several free hours every day that I can devote to language study - a dream come true for many! I am thankful for this, and am planning to use this time wisely. If I come across any interesting resources, I'll be sure to make them public for any who are interested! Feel free to do the same, everyone!

P.S. Frannie, I'm sorry to hear that flash cards are a struggle for you. Trust me when I say that I HATED them for years! For some reason, this time around I am really enjoying them. Maybe my mindset has changed, but I am finding much pleasure in using Anki. Don't discount the possibility that something similar may happen to you! Even if it doesn't, there are other enjoyable and effective methods of learning. I hope you enjoy your project!

Alex
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lingopear
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby lingopear » Tue May 16, 2017 2:36 pm

Good luck, Alex, with your Spanish project! Seems like you have a lot of work ahead in the next 3 months.
alexlancaster1 wrote:I also found a website that posts lengthy interviews in Spanish (native speakers) that includes transcripts in both English and Spanish. Huge find!

Would you mind sharing this resource? I am also at around the B1 level in Spanish and could use a boost to my listening skills. Thanks :)
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alexlancaster1
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby alexlancaster1 » Tue May 16, 2017 3:07 pm

Lingopear,

Here you go!

http://radioambulante.org

I listened to an article yesterday and am plannng to get through a couple more today if any seem interesting. Enjoy!

Alex
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iguanamon
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby iguanamon » Tue May 16, 2017 3:12 pm

More resources, including several with transcripts, are available here in a post at the Spanish Group.
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alexlancaster1
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby alexlancaster1 » Tue May 16, 2017 8:19 pm

Iguana: THANK you!

LeCon:

The Anki thing is a pretty minimal commitment; only a few minutes per day to add the cards and review the old ones. I decided to do that to have some sort of structured vocabulary review without actually having to put any effort in to creating the structure itself. :P

I am glad to hear your advice, however! I will strongly consider adding some more books to my list. However, I decided to start with a light commitment of one book because - all told - reading books isn't something I really like to spend a lot of time doing, even in English. I'll see how quickly I can get through The Magician's Nephew. If I find that reading it was helpful and fun, I'll press on with more books. If it's just a frustration, I might stop there.

I am leaving the exact specifics of the plan subject to change (your mileage may vary). I.E. if I find some particularly interesting activities, I might spend more time on those than anything else. If I get bored, I move on. I'm trying to go in with a design, but as far as I'm concerned, the plan is subject to creative destruction. No plan survives contact with the enemy, as Sun Tzu said.

Anyway, probably not much to report on today; I have a big job interview this evening and I have spent all day just waiting for time to pass. I haven't been able to focus on Spanish activities, though I did do some Anki reps. Wish me luck!

Alex
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the1whoknocks
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby the1whoknocks » Wed May 17, 2017 6:28 am

alexlancaster1 wrote: I decided to start with a light commitment of one book because - all told - reading books isn't something I really like to spend a lot of time doing, even in English. I'll see how quickly I can get through The Magician's Nephew. If I find that reading it was helpful and fun, I'll press on with more books. If it's just a frustration, I might stop there.


I think you're on the right track by having decided on only one book. In particular, because you mentioned that reading is not something that you enjoy spending a lot of time on.

Start so small it's impossible to give up


I'm paraphrasing, but I think I originally read this advice somewhere on Olly Richards' blog, or maybe it was his podcast. In any event, it has served me well, even for things unrelated language learning.

Starting small, whatever that meant for me, is how I've managed to build some worthwhile habits. Going to the gym regularly is one example, but managing to write 100 words at least 5 times a week is something more recent. Sure, I could have written more per day, but more important than the results, was to just start working on a skill that was lacking. If I had started with more, I probably would have given up, or at best, finshed the 'challenge' but not have enjoyed the whole thing only to never try it again.

Anyway, a few things happened:

-1. I actually completed the 'challenge' - I don't particularly enjoy writing so, for me, this was important.
-2. After the first week, I started averaging more than double what I set out to do.
-3. I am looking forward to for the chance to continue working on my writing.

Olly shared this article by James Clear that I think speaks convincingly to the value of starting with a goal one feels is manageable, and perhaps ridiculously small. I think you'll find reading helpful if you're able to end up liking it.

By the way, welcome to the forum!
Last edited by the1whoknocks on Wed May 17, 2017 8:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Tristano
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Re: Alex's Mission Log - B1 to C1 Spanish in 90 days.

Postby Tristano » Wed May 17, 2017 7:09 am

Hi Alex,
I'm not a fan of XX to YY in ZZ days, I find your mission extremely challenging but I cheer for you!
Good luck!
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