Welcome to March’s #ClearTheList! This month, it’s all about Guaraní, more than ever, as we’ll finally be heading to Paraguay!

Hosted by myself and Shannon of Eurolinguiste, Clear The List is your chance to set monthly language learning goals + achieve them as part of the community. We share our monthly goals and encourage you to do the same. Check the bottom of this post for more info on how to join in.

Your free planner for March!

Before we get started, here’s your chance to make the most of March for language learning completely free with this month’s My Month in Languages Planner.

Click the image below to download your copy for March. Use it to keep track of your language plans and goals for the coming month. Woop!

Or, if you want something with more detail to take things further, then grab a copy of the brand new Solo Language Learner Planner, which contains calendars, goal setting pages, reviews, and a daily study session planner. Woop!

Join the #IGLC in March!

Did you join the Instagram Language Challenge last month to learn or share the basics of a language? This month it’s all about useful little words to take your language learning further.

It’s totally free + you get to learn a little language each day. Woop!

This month to celebrate arriving in Paraguay and finally getting the chance to learn more and use Guaraní on the ground in real life, it’s about lesser studied languages.

Language Learning Review for February

February didn’t go as productivly as I’d have liked on the language front.

But I have to say, it’s not my fault, February was a weird one.

We started the month in the Galápagos Islands with zero stable internet before heading to Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian mainland, then stopping on the coast before heading north to stay with a friend for a couple of nights.

Carnival happened at the start of Lent, which also happened to be just as we arrived to stay with our friend, and we were warned transport would be tricky so a couple of nights became a few more nights to see out the awkward travel phase.

Throughout all of this time, my eyes were weird from some kind of allergic reaction at the place we stayed at on the coast.

Then after a quick stop with a friend of said friend in Cuenca, we headed back to Guayaquil to fly out to Peru before landing in Cusco where we are now.

Cusco is high altitude, which means altitude sickness. We were fine, if a little breathless walking up steps, to begin with but during the first week (my first stable week to have regular Guaraní lessons) I got sick.

Then Ashley got sick.

Then my tutor had to switch lessons, but I couldn’t accept the change because we were trying to get to Machu Picchu and had no idea when we were going to be able to go because getting there is apparently the most complicated thing in the world and phew.

I’m exhausted just writing all that again.

So in a nutshell, it’s been an unexpectedly busy month.

But there are some positives, which I’ll share in a moment…

Guarani

italki – My goal was to do 12 lessons for the italki Language Challenge and I think this is the first time I’ve not completed an italki Language Challenge, for the reasons mentioned above. I did manage 8 out of my goal of 12 though, which would have been a respectable 10 had it not been for last minute illness and changes I couldn’t control.

Instagram Speaking – Every day proved a little tricky (thanks early morning buses and nights in airports and zero internet plaguing me from time to time) but I did as much as I could, which is a win.

Verbs on Memrise! – as I was making what little time I had count for my lessons and prep for my lessons, Memrise didn’t get anything added to it. But from my sentence writing for my lesosns, I’ve found my verbs are getting stronger so yay!

Clozemaster – I’ve finished the Clozemaster course! Woohoo! Now I just need to solidify it.

Duolingo – A little behind on my goal of finishing mid-month but very close and should definitely be done by the time we reach Paraguay.

Get ready for my course – I booked a week of Guaraní lessons! I’m really excited to have A) found a language school that teaches Guaraní and B) be able to attend.

Mandarin, Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao, Burmese

Memrise – Nope! All time I did have had to be devoted to Guaraní.

Language Reading Challenge

The topic for Shannon’s Language Reading Challenge over at Eurolinguiste in February was “History of the region, culture, or language that you are studying”.

So, I was reading up on Paraguay and the history of the country as best as possible, not with one particular book but at least with the intro sections to some travel guides I’ve got downloaded on the Kindle app.

This worked a treat and I learnt some really interesting facts about the language that I’ll share with you very soon…!

Language Learning Goals for March

Guaraní

My Guaraní Course – I’m going back to school! My course is 20 hours over a week, the first full week we have in Paraguay, and it’s face to face and…that’s all I know right now!

Since my degree was part-time distance learning, although I had a handful of live sessions with tutors, it’s been a while since I was in a classroom setting for language learning so it’s going to be interesting for all sorts of reasons.

This is going to be my main focus of the month. Watch this space!

Duolingo – Hopefully having finished the course by early March when we arrive in Paraguay, I want to keep things ticking over a little each day to ‘refresh’ some of the things I’ve learnt previously.

Language Reading Challenge

The topic for Shannon’s Language Reading Challenge over at Eurolinguiste this month is “A book written in your target language (a translation from your native language)”.

I don’t have any instant thoughts that come to mind for that, especially for Guaraní.

However, I do have a super small paper copy of Bodas de Sangre by Federico García Lorca that I picked up really cheap in Nicaragua and have been dipping in and out of when I’ve had time over the past couple of months.

I’d love to finish that this month as although it’s not a translation, Lorca played a big part in my Spanish A level (with Poet In New York) and me and my friend (and bridesmaid, and only other person in my A2 Spanish class!) took a trip to Granada a few years ago and visited Lorca’s house and museum.

Basically, if someone were to invent a time machine (I’m looking at you, Elon Musk) then I’d definitely go right back to that era of Spain and hang out with Lorca, Dalí and Buñuel and we’d all be best friends. That’s the dream.

Trip Update

After an unexpected February of moving around, March is going to be pretty settled. Yay!

We arrive in Paraguay early March (after Women In Language!).

We’ve got a place to stay in Asunción (the capital of Paraguay) for the whole month we’re there but we’re hoping to take a couple of trips to Encarnación and Ciudad del Este for Itaipu Dam and Iguazu Falls (have you been? Brasil or Argentina side?) and maybe other places.

April, however is going to be when things get moving again as we arrive in Asia to make the second series of Language Stories mid-month and from there, whoosh! We’re off moving again!

In other news…

Women In Language is happening! Have you heard?

It’s a live online 4 day event happening 8th – 11th March and you can find out more and get your tickets here.

Video Update

Join Clear the list!

1. Share your goal post whether it includes your aspirations for the month or year. Submissions unrelated to the theme or links to your homepage will be deleted.

2. Link back to this post. You can use our button code below if you wish.

3. Follow the hosts: Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages and Shannon from Eurolinguiste.

4. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Please visit the site of the person who linked up immediately before you and leave them an encouraging comment! By hosting this linkup, we’re hoping to create a positive community where we can all share our goals. If you do not do this, you will be removed from the linkup.

5. Share on social media using #ClearTheList.

<div align="center"><a href="http://eurolinguiste.com/tag/clear-the-list" title="Set your language learning goals as a part of the Clear the List Link Up hosted by Shannon Kennedy of Eurolinguiste and Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages."><img src="https://eurolinguiste.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/clear-the-list-sidebar-1.jpg" alt="Set your language learning goals as a part of the Clear the List Link Up hosted by Shannon Kennedy of Eurolinguiste and Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages." style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Your free planner for March!

If you missed it up top, click below to get your free My Month In Languages Planner straight to your inbox for free. Woop!

P.S. If you’re already on my mailing list, use your password to get it direct from the Little Language Library.

And remember, if you want the beefy version of this planner, click here to grab your reusable copy of The Solo Language Learner Planner. Yay!

Which language are you learning this month? What do you want to achieve? Join Clear The List to share your goals or comment below!