Amanda's 2019 Log: Spanish, Ancient Greek, and French

[philomath]

This is a rough schedule that I've made for the upcoming week:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
- Speaking: 10 minutes
- Reading: 15 minutes

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday:
- Listening: 20 minutes
- Speaking: 5 minutes
- Writing: 15 minutes

Sunday:
- Listening: 60 minutes

Mid-Week Update
So far my new schedule has helped me study Spanish more consistently this week! I haven't been sticking to the schedule exactly: on Tuesday I didn't have time to do any listening practice, so I made up for it on Wednesday, and I did extra speaking practice on Wednesday as well, so I let myself skip speaking yesterday. I also haven't done as much writing as I was supposed to.

I've been struggling with writing. I don't know what topics to write about, and I don't like writing random little snippets and then throwing them away. At the same time, I don't want to post every single thing I write on iTalki, and iTalki can be frustrating because people give conflicting corrections. Maybe I should go back to keeping a separate notebook for writing in Spanish so it feels "special" somehow. I'm not sure what to do yet.

Also, I did a lot more reading this week than I planned. I've noticed that I read a lot more when I'm reading ebooks--it's just so convenient being able to pull up the book on my phone and read while riding the subway, waiting in line, etc. This week I've already read 82 pages, I finished El tiempo entre costuras!!! This is a huge accomplishment, since I've been reading it on and off for four years. And I'm finally done! It was a really good book, though I liked the TV show better (maybe because it was easier to understand). I might read another book by the same author, but next I think I'll read El cuaderno de Maya by Isabel Allende. Does anyone else have book recommendations for me? I really enjoy fantasy, historical fiction, and science fiction, but I haven't been able to find many fantasy or sci-fi books written in Spanish.

[philomath]

Goals for Week 4 (January 21-27):
Main goals
[ ] Listening: 2 hours
[X] Speaking: 45 min
[X] Reading: 20 pages
[ ] Writing: 750 words

Other goals
[X] Look at iTalki corrections from two weeks ago.
[ ] Start keeping a list somewhere of interesting speaking/writing topics.

Results:
- Listening: 40 minutes
- Speaking: 45 minutes
- Reading: 89 pages!
- Writing: 280 words

I'm really glad that I did so much reading this week, but I need to start writing more as well!

Goals for Week 5 (January 28-February 3):
Main goals
[ ] Listening: 2 hours
[ ] Speaking: 45 min
[ ] Reading: 20 pages
[ ] Writing: 1,000 words

Other goals
[ ] Start keeping a list somewhere of interesting speaking/writing topics.
[ ] Write a mini essay in Spanish about a specific topic and post it on iTalki.

[philomath]

Creo que necesito una rutina de escribir en español para aumentar mi vocabulario y mejorir mi escritura. Últimamente, como se puede ver en este bitácora, me he estado esforzando por escribir 750 palabras en español cada semana. Pero este meta carece de propósito y estructura. Cada vez que empiezo a escribir, me cuesta decidir sobre qué tema debo escribir. Y después de terminar mi escritura, olvido lo que he aprendido porque no la repaso.

Busqué algunas entradas sobre la escritura en este foro, y encontré esta sobre una rutina de escribir:

The Plan: Improve my level by focusing on writing argumentative pieces for three months.

-1. Each week, choose a topic of interest. This could be inspired by whatever I have going on in life, a developing current event, or topics that I would generally like to be able to express myself better on. Some examples might be: tax policy; should the international community intervene in Venezuela; my thoughts on Plato’s allegory of the cave; the global rise of Nationalism (Populism?); immigration and the U.S.; God; feminism; gun control; homosexuality, abortion; the death penalty; Denmark. The idea is to really push myself by writing on some really touchy topics while maintaining a degree of tact and substance.

-2. Spend 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week, reading narrowly on said topic; new article each day. This will be intensive in nature.

-3. Spend another 20 minutes, 5 days a week, listening narrowly on said topic; new video or podcast, each day.

-4. Spend 20 minutes, 5 days a week, writing on whatever I read and listened to and possibly post to Lang-8. Here, word count isn’t important, just frequency. I estimate this being somewhere between 50 - 100 words.

Hay una respuesta interesante también:

Every day I chose a local newspaper article and read it intensively, pulling out new vocabulary and noticing grammar points that I needed to work on. From there, I wrote an opinion piece and a list of 8-10 questions based on (or inspired by) the article.

A good chunk of my class time the following day focused on the article. We edited my writing together, my teacher gave me tips to improve, and then we spent upwards of an hour discussing the questions that I had prepared. The time passed quickly and it was both challenging and enjoyable. I saw a definite improvement in my writing over the course of only a week.

Me gustan mucho las palabras que he puesto en negrita. Voy a tratar de hacer esto. Actualmente no tengo una maestra de iTalki, pero quizá puedo publicar lo que he escrito en iTalki para recibir correcciones. Y las preguntas sobre el artículo las puedo contestar cuando practico hablando.

Bueno, voy a tratar de hacer algo como se describe en las citas arriba. Hoy es jueves, y ya he elegido un tema para mi escritura esta semana. Esta noche voy a buscar algunos artículos sobre este y leerlos, y este fin de semana voy a escribir un ensayo corto. También quiero empezar a escribir mi diario en español.

[philomath]

I’m going to divide the year into two parts: January-May (~20 weeks) and June-December (~30 weeks). During the first five months I’ll be busy with university, so I want to set lower goals:
Listening: 40 hours (100+ by the end of the year)
Speaking: 15 hours (50+ by the end of the year)
Reading: 400 pages (1,600+ by the end of the year)
Writing: 15,000 words (50,000+ by the end of the year)

Results for January:
- Listening: 4 hours and 10 minutes
- Speaking: 2 hours and 8 minutes
- Reading: 134 pages
- Writing: 1,846 words

So I'm a little bit behind all of my goals, except for my reading goal where I've done a lot more than planned! I think the focus for February will be on writing more.

[MamaPata]

I really like this way of looking at it and being able to break down the goals, both in terms of the bigger picture and the monthly milestones. I'll be enjoying seeing your progress!

[philomath]

Goals for Week 5 (January 28-February 3):
Main goals
[ ] Listening: 2 hours
[ ] Speaking: 45 min
[ ] Reading: 20 pages
[X] Writing: 1,000 words

Other goals
[ ] Start keeping a list somewhere of interesting speaking/writing topics.
[ ] Write a mini essay in Spanish about a specific topic and post it on iTalki.

Results:
- Listening: 30 minutes
- Speaking: 7 minutes
- Reading: 10 pages
- Writing: 1,097 words

I'm still not accomplishing most of my goals, but at least I met my writing goal for the week! I didn't write an essay in Spanish though--most of the writing this week was in the form of journal entries about my life.

I was going to make an improved Spanish study schedule, but I know I won't have time to do much this week. I have a midterm exam and a big project due on Thursday, and I have to start doing research on Somali phonetics for a Linguistics report due the following week. So I don't want to make many goals at all, except:

Goals for Week 6 (February 4-10):
[ ] Reading: 40 pages

I know I'm already ahead at my reading goal, but reading is relaxing and that's what I need this week. Also I'm enjoying El Cuaderno de Maya so far!

[cjareck]

I like the way you present your goals and achievements that I subscribed your log, even if I am not interested in Spanish I had a problem of setting unreachable goals and ended having none. I hope to find a motivation to correct this here

[philomath]

Goals for Week 6 (February 4-10):
[ ] Reading: 40 pages

I know I'm already ahead at my reading goal, but reading is relaxing and that's what I need this week. Also I'm enjoying El Cuaderno de Maya so far!

I didn't end up doing as much reading as I intended. It's hard to enjoy reading in Spanish when I'm stressed about schoolwork. Luckily I've completed one of my major projects for this semester, so I should have more time for Spanish this week!

Results:
- Listening: 1 hour and 20 minutes
- Speaking: 3 minutes
- Reading: 3 pages
- Writing: 228 words

This week I want to try following a more rigid schedule. This is what I've come up with; I'm not sure how well it will work yet:

Monday:
- Speaking: 10 minutes about any topic
- Reading: 10 minutes
- Other: Pick a topic for speaking and writing practice this week

Tuesday:
- Listening: 30 minutes
- Reading: Read about whatever topic I have chosen for 30 minutes and write down interesting phrases and words

Wednesday:
- Speaking: 15 minutes (perhaps I will just read out loud to practice my pronunciation)
- Reading: 10 minutes
- Writing: Write about this week's topic, write questions related to the topic (which I'll use for speaking prompts), and post everything on iTalki

Thursday:
- Listening: 30 minutes
- Other: Make flashcards and review iTalki corrections

Friday:
- Speaking: 10 minutes about this week's topic
- Reading: 10 minutes

Saturday:
- Listening: 30 minutes
- Reading: 10 minutes
- Writing: Write about this week's topic again

Sunday:
- Listening: 30 minutes
- Speaking: 10 minutes about this week's topic
- Other: Review what I learned this week

This is a pretty rigid schedule so I don't know how well I'll be able to follow it! I'll try to post more often during the week to give updates on my progress.

Oh, and as far as quantitative goals for this week go, they're the same as in previous weeks:

Goals for Week 7 (February 11-17):
[ ] Listening: 2 hours
[ ] Speaking: 45 minutes
[ ] Reading: 20 pages
[ ] Writing: 750 words

[philomath]

New rule for myself: No subtitles whatsoever when watching TV in Spanish. Even if I listen without subtitles and can't understand, I'm not letting myself turn on the subtitles to see what I missed. I was doing that too often, and I don't think it's very helpful.

I've been watching the TV show Elite and sometimes it feels like I'm getting better at understanding it. I'm excited because it looks like Netflix has added a lot more TV shows in Spanish recently, so I'll have a lot to watch when I'm done with this show!

[philomath]

Goals for Week 7 (February 11-17):
[ ] Listening: 2 hours
[ ] Speaking: 45 minutes
[ ] Reading: 20 pages
[ ] Writing: 750 words

I didn't do much this week. My courses this semester have been keeping me very busy. I just need to work on my time management more because I'm sure there's a way I can squeeze in more Spanish time each day.

Results:
- Listening: 30 minutes
- Speaking: 15 minutes
- Reading: 4 pages
- Writing: 0 words

I tried to stick to my new schedule until Wednesday, but then I got too busy with schoolwork, and this weekend I felt too burnt out to do anything. This week I'll be more productive! My actual goals will stay the same:

Goals for Week 8 (February 18-24):
[ ] Listening: 2 hours
[ ] Speaking: 45 minutes
[ ] Reading: 20 pages
[ ] Writing: 750 words