(I'm also lucky enough to have an ego of epic proportions... so every time I get down about how bad I am at x thing, there is that part of me going: but hey, you're fantastic at this!)
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Here is the (second) promised post on using Bakunin's recordings. The first post I made gives an overview of the benefits of the method, and the different stages of understanding. This skips out, almost entirely, how I use the recordings, the little experiments I made, and other small details which I talked about while messaging Bakunin privately. I'm not sure quite how to write these things up clearly and concisely, but I'll give it a good try.
The story used was 'Bow Wow's Nightmare Neighbours'. Details for this picture story, and others, can be found on Bakunin's blog. I have six pictures, with six accompanying recording.
I listened to the very first recording quickly, once, to check the pace of the recording and my level of comprehension, to report back to Bakunin. I felt that both were good. This will evidently mean different things to different people. The kinds of recordings that Bakunin made for me tell the story of what is happening in the picture, focusing mainly on the prominent elements elements: Bow Wow is yellow, Bow Wow has a red nose, he is sleeping... so on, so forth. I found that I was able to follow the direction of the description, as well as most of the words used. I think that being able to follow the description is important in its own right, although it is intrinsically linked to understanding the words.
Bakunin and I also discussed the amount of details included. Bakunin made the choice to keep extra details down to a minimum, which I believe was right for this kind of level as it would have made the process of following the description and learning the new words a little bit more difficult. As Bakunin said:
Adding such information usually makes the recordings more difficult but also more interesting.
I also thing that adding smaller or more complex details into a later recording would give me more mileage on each picture. This gives me the opportunity to build on what I know without getting bored, and would also (hopefully) make the process more interesting for the person doing the recordings.
We also talked about how word choices are made. This could be seen from the same angle as the extra details. Bakunin gave the example of the appropriate terms for animals mouths, and found that it was harder than would first appear due to the nature of the story. We both thought that perhaps coming up with a list of vocabulary to be included first might be helpful for both the tutor and the tutee. So, for my part, I would specify to my next tutor that I would like a few extra details to be mentioned, for example the phases of the moon. And for the tutor, they would go over what vocabulary they want to use in each recording and provide a word list for me. This last is fine, as I am not going for an 'audio only' or 'audio first' method. I believe such a list would be a reference, only. I would not want to sit down and made sure I understood every word on the list, or to memorise them. That kind of learning is exactly what I would want to get away from. But having this list will focus the recordings more, and help anchor the word in my memory more.
A word list would also come in handy with the other activities we talked about: shadowing, chorusing, transcription and discussion of new vocabulary - the last which I would prefer to make use of in a 'tell and tell back'* way, by trying to retell or describe the pictures for myself. Personally, I like the idea of shadowing and transcription in particular - at my lowly level, any kind of spontaneous production is more a test to see if I can (spoiler: I can't). Transcription in different forms has worked very well for me in the past, and I would like to experiment with transcribing everything and transcribing only one particular element - more like a 'note taking' exercise. All shadowing will be more a spontaneous thing than anything else. Bakunin has also suggested writing descriptions, which I imagine will be a great help to me, and which will (hopefully) force me to pay more attention to the structures than I usually do.
I haven't managed to get any more work done on the recordings, although I have listened to them more since my last post. This means that I haven't yet worked out all the little details of a routine, or when and how I might need to change tactics. Hopefully I'll get that worked out soon.
*more information on this can be found on Bakunin's log.
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In other news, I have read more of the adventures of Arsène Lupin. I have just over hundred pages left (but the font is large, so it probably works out to be less). It's been a really compelling read, and I'm always excited to get further into it, but I have to restrict myself to a chapter per sitting to prevent burnout - reading for an hour or more straight on a screen really isn't kind on the eyes.