This weekend, I sat down with Ashley and we talked about what we have coming up over the enxt few weekends…then we realised how close to December we are. Gulp.

I guess that means it’s time for this month’s Clear The List. Hosted by myself, Shannon of Eurolinguiste, Esther of Local Adventurer, and Mariah of Food, Booze and Baggage, the idea is to share our monthly goals and inspire you to do the same. Check the bottom of this post for more info you you fancy joining us.

October was a whirlwind of a month. So many big changes, so little time. And so much going on here on the blog:

What You Really Need to Know About Phrasal Verbs
Why Stories Are A Better Way to Learn a Language
Guest Post: 4 Problems With High School Spanish (+ how to fix them)
Our Visit to Language Show Live 2015 (+ video!)
Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story is Available Now!

The month started with finishing university study and ended with me releasing my first e-course and restarting Japanese with my first Add1Challenge. But did everything get done?

October Review

I had so much language related fun this month. Language Show Live, my first e-course release, and getting back to Japanese. The photo above was taken at MK Festival of Languages, which I attended with my buddies from the Open University Language department. Fun times!

Use Gritty Spanish everyday for a week and share the results

This happened! You can see the results here where I focus on one way you can use Gritty Spanish. Also I swear en español. Potty mouth.

the final four scripts of the Language Script Challenge!

This happened! Eeee! This year I have completed my goal of getting to grips with 31 different writing systems and alphabets. It’s been a lot of fun. I shared my whistle-stop 2 hour tour of Hangeul right here.

If you’re intrigued by the whole language script thing, Korean Hangeul is a great place to start.

Start sharing daily multilingual vlogs on Snapchat

This kinda happened. I love Snapchat and what it provides as an unintentional language learning tool. I’ve shared snippets almost daily, which isn’t a bad start.

Follow me @ldlanguages if you’re intrigued as to how to use Snapchat for language learning. (P.S I’ll be sharing my tips on the blog soon!)

Start the Add One Challenge!

This happened. Japanese is back in my life! I’ve even booked my first italki lesson in, like, forever and plan to have one each week. Yesterday I had my first Skype chat with my study group, Joey and Phillip, who are also both studying Japanese.

As well as that, I’m in a super supportive Mastermind Group with Zoe and John who are studying different languages to me. So far, so much fun!

Release my first online course!

This happened. Wow. After over a year from teeny tiny brain thought to fully fledged e-course, Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story is out there.

The feedback has been so great so far and I’m so happy it’s been well received. It’s an evergreen course, which means it’s always available. So the good news is if you’re learning English, you can still join in the fun!

Click here to enroll today and up your English level.

November goals

I took this photo yesterday. This is one of my favourite times of year and it’s so short. I don’t just mean ‘autumn’ or ‘winter’. I mean the little transition from Halloween through Guy Fawkes Night to Christmas-filled shops. Blink and you’ll miss it.

At least 30 minutes of Japanese study each day. Aim for one hour!

As I mentioned on the blog a few weeks ago, I’m taking part in my first Add1Challenge. Hooray! I’m going to be boosting my Japanese for the next three months with the awesome support groups and mini challenges along the way. 

I know I can do at least 30 minutes each day, most days 45. But because this is the start of the challenge, I’m going to start with an achievable goal with the intention of increasing it next month once I’ve resettled into studying Japanese. 

I don’t know about you, but I find doing this helps me to keep up with language learning goals. What do you think?

Get to work on the next TWO online courses

Ok, so I’ve got the bug. I LOVED creating Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story for you. And I’m really excited by the feedback so far.

I always had a few ideas in the pipeline but now I know exactly which two (Yes, two! Yikes!) courses I want to have out for you before the end of the year.

Are you on my mailing list? I may or may not have revealed the name and topic of one of the courses to you. (Psst…if you’re not on my mailing list, you should totally sign up below!) 

However, today I want to tell you something about the other course. You ready?

The other course I’m currently working on will be suitable for learners of ANY language learners.

I took on board your feedback from the webinar I did to launch Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story and you said you wanted language learning tips. So language learning tips you shall get. It’s as if you rubbed a magic lamp.

By the end of November, I want to have at least one of these completely written in first draft form. They are both smaller (at least at this stage!) than the ginormous Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story so I’m sure I can do this.

Oh and in the meantime, I’ll be sharing daily essential language learning tips for any language on Periscope every day in November. Come join me?

Language Script Challenge – Back to Burmese

The end of October marks the end of the new scripts for this year’s Language Script Challenge. Can you believe it?! 

I always said that the end of the year would be dedicated to revisiting some scripts that struck my interest. Burmese was always going to be one of those scripts. 

In November, I want to devote the rest of my morning study hour to learning the Burmese writing system and its accompanying pronunciation. I’m itching to do this.

A one hour italki lesson each week

One thing that’s always missing from my regular study time is enough time speaking. I love italki, but with the nature of my university studies in Spanish, I didn’t need it and it’s been a while since I took an italki lesson. 

To boost my Japanese for the Add1Challenge, I’m going to be taking one 1-hour lesson on italki each week. I’ve booked the first one and have booked a package with that tutor ready for more!

I actually shared how you can use italki’s Instant Tutoring feature to speak a language right now on Periscope. It’s definitely a tool I’d recommend.

If you’ve not yet tried it, sign up here and take that first step to book a lesson today. Once you’ve done that bit, the rest is easy!