wwiding's French log

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wwiding
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wwiding's French log

Postby wwiding » Sat Feb 13, 2016 6:27 pm

I've been studying French for a few months now, keeping a log on a google drive spread sheet. I intend to update this log at least once weekly(Hopefully more but do to time constraints I don't want to make a daily commitment). I'm on lesson 103 of Assimil New French With Ease but doing the second wave hasn't helped me at all so I'm using scriptorium instead.

As I've studied, I've been keeping track of what does, and what doesn't, help me. My daily language study right now consists of the following:
Doing whatever Assimil lesson I'm on using the instructions found Here. After going through the lesson that way I shadow the lesson until I feel comfortable with it(although I'm sure my pronunciation isn't really that great, it does get better every day.) I then go back to an older lesson and use scriptorium on it.

Things I do if I have time/don't have to work over time at work:
I do a lesson from Grammaire Progressive du Français. I'm using the beginner book but it's pretty easy so I may find a decent used copy of the next book in the series.
I listen to chapters from the Harry Potter books while reading from an ebook. I've read the English copies so many times that even when I don't know words or even whole sentences or paragraphs I still know where I'm at in the story.

Random thoughts:
I read a few preview chapters of Vocabulaire Progressif du Français Niveau débutant and it seems slightly more advanced than the grammar book. It's just barely out of reach but not uncomfortably so, it's challenging enough at my level and I find myself looking up the meanings of words which I don't have to do with the grammar book.
I've ordered a copy of it used on Amazon and I'll continue to watch for used copies of all the other books in the Vocabulaire and Grammaire series to come up at a decent price so I can snatch them up. Even when I find the lessons some what easy I'm actually working in the language which I think will help with my vocabulary and active recall.

Lessons learned in my journey that may help beginners:

Buy a copy of Assimil New French with Ease with either the cd or mp3's.
Buy the Grammaire Progressive books.

Do one Assimil lesson every day, shadow the lesson and then do scriptorium as well. This will help you remember the vocabulary and if you're like me and you tend to go through the lessons too fast scriptorium will force you to slow down and notice things you would otherwise miss.
Do a lesson out of the Grammaire Progressive books, starting at the beginning.

If you're just starting out in your language journey, six months from now you're going to think of something that helps you learn better and you're going to ask yourself why you didn't think to do that when you started. That's normal. It's part of the learning process and it'll happen a lot.

I'm sorry if this isn't very coherent. I work nights on the weekdays and I'm going on no sleep right now, it's getting very hard to think!
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Rotasu
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby Rotasu » Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:30 pm

wwiding wrote:I've been studying French for a few months now, keeping a log on a google drive spread sheet. I intend to update this log at least once weekly(Hopefully more but do to time constraints I don't want to make a daily commitment). I'm on lesson 103 of Assimil New French With Ease but doing the second wave hasn't helped me at all so I'm using scriptorium instead.

As I've studied, I've been keeping track of what does, and what doesn't, help me. My daily language study right now consists of the following:
Doing whatever Assimil lesson I'm on using the instructions found Here. After going through the lesson that way I shadow the lesson until I feel comfortable with it(although I'm sure my pronunciation isn't really that great, it does get better every day.) I then go back to an older lesson and use scriptorium on it.

Things I do if I have time/don't have to work over time at work:
I do a lesson from Grammaire Progressive du Français. I'm using the beginner book but it's pretty easy so I may find a decent used copy of the next book in the series.
I listen to chapters from the Harry Potter books while reading from an ebook. I've read the English copies so many times that even when I don't know words or even whole sentences or paragraphs I still know where I'm at in the story.

Random thoughts:
I read a few preview chapters of Vocabulaire Progressif du Français Niveau débutant and it seems slightly more advanced than the grammar book. It's just barely out of reach but not uncomfortably so, it's challenging enough at my level and I find myself looking up the meanings of words which I don't have to do with the grammar book.
I've ordered a copy of it used on Amazon and I'll continue to watch for used copies of all the other books in the Vocabulaire and Grammaire series to come up at a decent price so I can snatch them up. Even when I find the lessons some what easy I'm actually working in the language which I think will help with my vocabulary and active recall.

Lessons learned in my journey that may help beginners:

Buy a copy of Assimil New French with Ease with either the cd or mp3's.
Buy the Grammaire Progressive books.

Do one Assimil lesson every day, shadow the lesson and then do scriptorium as well. This will help you remember the vocabulary and if you're like me and you tend to go through the lessons too fast scriptorium will force you to slow down and notice things you would otherwise miss.
Do a lesson out of the Grammaire Progressive books, starting at the beginning.

If you're just starting out in your language journey, six months from now you're going to think of something that helps you learn better and you're going to ask yourself why you didn't think to do that when you started. That's normal. It's part of the learning process and it'll happen a lot.

I'm sorry if this isn't very coherent. I work nights on the weekdays and I'm going on no sleep right now, it's getting very hard to think!


Nice to see scriptorium work for someone. How do you do it with the Assimil dialogues? Are copying it down once or each line several times?
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tomgosse
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby tomgosse » Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:41 pm

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your post. I'm looking forward to reading your log and following your progress.

All the best,
Tom
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wwiding
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby wwiding » Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:48 pm

Rotasu wrote:Nice to see scriptorium work for someone. How do you do it with the Assimil dialogues? Are copying it down once or each line several times?


I copy each line down once unless I don't understand it. If I don't know what a line means then I check the English translation and do it again. I wish I would have done that from the beginning, I would have been much further along. I think I went through the book too fast as I don't have a clear understanding of the verb tenses so I'm memorizing them right now and it's making a difference in my comprehension.
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wwiding
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby wwiding » Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:51 pm

tomgosse wrote:Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your post. I'm looking forward to reading your log and following your progress.

All the best,
Tom


Thank you. The posts in your study group have helped me find some pretty invaluable resources.
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tomgosse
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby tomgosse » Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:58 pm

wwiding wrote:
tomgosse wrote:Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your post. I'm looking forward to reading your log and following your progress.

All the best,
Tom


Thank you. The posts in your study group have helped me find some pretty invaluable resources.

Feel free to join us. :D How to you use your spreadsheet log?
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User avatar
wwiding
Orange Belt
Posts: 145
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 1:15 pm
Languages: English (N), French (beginner)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2151
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby wwiding » Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:15 pm

tomgosse wrote:
wwiding wrote:
tomgosse wrote:Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your post. I'm looking forward to reading your log and following your progress.

All the best,
Tom


Thank you. The posts in your study group have helped me find some pretty invaluable resources.

Feel free to join us. We are always looking for new victims. :oops: Oops, I mean members. :D How to you use your spreadsheet log?


I use a GTD(Getting things done) style spreadsheet. In one cell I list my goal(complete assimil), in the second cell I list the next step required to complete my goal (EX: do lesson 103).

My third cell contains the most recent completed step which isn't required but it keeps me motivated and the final cell contains comments that may help me push forward when I'm feeling burned out as well as observations from my study period such as: "I understand most of the first wave lesson but I struggle to activate my passive vocabulary on the second wave. I must find a way to deepen my own understanding of the vocabulary."

I'd love to join the group :D
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tomgosse
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby tomgosse » Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:48 pm

wwiding wrote:I'd love to join the group :D

You're in ! :lol:
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Rotasu
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby Rotasu » Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:59 pm

wwiding wrote:
I use a GTD(Getting things done) style spreadsheet. In one cell I list my goal(complete assimil), in the second cell I list the next step required to complete my goal (EX: do lesson 103).

My third cell contains the most recent completed step which isn't required but it keeps me motivated and the final cell contains comments that may help me push forward when I'm feeling burned out as well as observations from my study period such as: "I understand most of the first wave lesson but I struggle to activate my passive vocabulary on the second wave. I must find a way to deepen my own understanding of the vocabulary."

I'd love to join the group :D


Image? :3
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wwiding
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Languages: English (N), French (beginner)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2151
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Re: wwiding's French log

Postby wwiding » Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:24 am

As requested here's a picture of my GTD sheet. You could also add your other language learning goals to this using the same format. I delete older updates as I go but you could just drop down one cell and continue so you can look back in three months and read every thing you've posted.


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