Welcome to this month’s Maximize Your Month Linkup post. Hosted by myself, Shannon of Eurolinguiste, Esther of Local Adventurer, Mariah of Food, Booze and Baggage, and Hsiao-Ting of Shouting Chow, 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!

August was fun! I had a little holiday and a break from my studies before this month which is going to be full throttle Spanish dissertation time! Eek.

Let’s start this post by looking at a few highlights from the blog this past month:

7 Ways to Use Gritty Spanish – We collaborated with Gritty Spanish to bring you a variety of different ways to use the program. So much fun!

A Little Update: Podcasts, Videos, and an English Course – There’s so much going on right now and, you know, sharing is caring. Exciting times ahead.

9 Reasons to Learn Polish – We collaborated with both 5 Minute Language and Krzysiek for the latest video in the ‘9 Reasons…’ series. Enjoy!

#IGLC September Prompts – A great way to make sure you get a little practice each day, the Instagram Language Challenge proved very popular in August. Join us in September!

Ok, now it’s time to check in on those August goals.

August Review

learn the basics of 5 languages for travel with #IGLC

This happened! Check my Instagram feed here to see how things went. I made plenty of mistakes and had plenty of wonderful people ready to help me correct them. Instagram is so friendly! That’s the beauty of sharing and making mistakes as a language learner. At first you might feel embarrassed or put down that someone has corrected you, but please, don’t worry! Take it with a smile and a thank you and remember the corrections for next time.

bike 100km on the Curonian Spit

This happened. Just about. I pushed the bike a bit over the last kilometre or so to save my bum from becoming eternally numb. The first day was lovely and pleasant even if my thighs were beginning to feel it by the end. Day two however? Not so much of a fan. BUT, I did it! And I’m proud of the fact given all the coughing and spluttering for months beforehand. Hooray! Ashley made a vlog of each day of our holiday over on Mundo Trundle. You can see the video of happy day one below.

get as much Spanish exposure as possible

I didn’t do much Spanish last month as I was focusing my attention of learning the travel basics for my trip. That said, I did manage to sneak in a few YouTube videos in Spanish. I’ll be sharing my favourite Spanish YouTubers on the blog soon so keep your eyes peeled for that one.

September Goals

As I said, it’s all about that Spanish this month. Big essay time. And speaking exam time. And hardcore study time. That means that spending any time on any other language would just be time wasted that could be spend exposing myself to Spanish in some way. Let’s do this!

Write and submit my final dissertation.

After 6 long years of part-time study, I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with myself once I’ve got this sent off. However, I’m not quite there yet, so need to focus on making it. How? Here’s my action plan:

One telenovela/30 minute+ YouTube video per day

There’s plenty of online video to keep me entertained. Personally, I enjoy watching clips of telenovelas as they’re a little more culturally rooted than just watching the news or a subtitled film. Also, finding stuff on YouTube is easy too as I can do it almost anytime anywhere. I’m planning this for washing up in the morning and my evenings before dinner.

6000 Memrise points each day

I’ve used Memrise’s daily goal setter to set myself the 6000 point target, which roughly translates to 15 minutes. New vocabulary isn’t my main focus at this stage but it all helps to keep me engaged and mix up my study.

One hour minimum of dissertation time per day

So, in theory, the hour I used to spend each morning to work through my course materials should be perfectly exchanged for an hour working on my dissertation. However, “working on my dissertation” is quite vague. I need to start with research, then planning, then writing, then checking. Right now I’m in the research stage and it’s FASCINATING.

I’m also devoting as many weekend days to long ol’ library sessions. Over the past year, I’ve written some of my best assignments on a long Saturday in the library separated by just a packed lunch break on the bench outside. What can I say? It’s an inspiring library!

Record and upload one Instagram video completely in Spanish each day

If I have a little extra time in the morning, this can happen then. If I have a little time at lunch, this can happen then. If I have a little extra time in the evening, this can happen then. You get the idea. This is the most flexible. It’s just a nice little extra way to focus as much energy as possible on Spanish.

Go to the Spanish Meet-up

Given my upcoming speaking exam, this month’s Spanish meet-up is actually kind of crucial!

Ok, I think that’s all. Phew. I’m ready for my español overload and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the month has in store. Bring it on!

Join Maximize Your Month

<div align="center"><a href="https://www.lindsaydoeslanguages.com/category/clear-the-list/" title="Maximize Your Month Goal Setting Blogging Community"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wz5KYtUZUrgWk-q209Get3JY78VjVMRTcHa85pNOUXM=w300-h107-no" alt="Maximize Your Month" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

What are your goals this month to help you maximize your month? Share in the comments or on your own blog using the info above!