So..it’s been two weeks and I already feel like I know more in this new language than years of Korean…is this normal?! Here’s my language learning goals for October.

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What happened in September?

I had lots of good stuff to share with you ready before my trip so didn’t get to share as much as I’d like because it was all scheduled in advance! But there’s some real good stuff here…

On The Blog:

12 Spanish Bands and Singers to Learn Spanish (If You Hate Reggaeton)

The Ultimate Guide to Using Genius for Language Learning

12 Best Korean YouTube Channels to Help You Learn Korean

On YouTube:

5 Tips For Finding Music For Language Learning

How To Use Genius (+ Rosalía!) For Language Learning

Teach Languages Online Podcast:

Science Stuff: The Audio-Lingual Method

Creative Stuff – Make Grammar Fun Again with MEMES!

Hidden Stuff – Overcoming Your Hesitations to Become Online Teachers

Language Learning Goals Review for September

I was in Korea for 2 weeks and then came home and started my next language project right away for the last 2 weeks of September.

Korea was a lot of fun and by the end, I was really comfortable with my level of Korean and even managed a 20 minute conversation with my Korean tutor to mark the end of the Add1 Challenge I started back in June!

There’s plenty of moments when I didn’t quite understand a word or know the exact word I wanted to say. When that happens, I mime a lot, try and think of other ways to say it, or say “no” and then the opposite!

That’s what language fluency at this level is all about to me – working around the stuff we don’t know rather than blanking or resorting to English.

For example, at the start of the video, my tutor asked me how the weather was. This was something we’d studied a lot but I hadn’t practised or used for weeks (I was in Spain for two weeks before Korea as well!!)

It was really sunny and warm out that day. But…all I could remember was the word for ‘rain’ (it’s ‘pi’ so easy to remember!), so I look out the window, give a thumbs up, and say ‘it’s not raining’.

And as for the new language? Well, somehow it feels like I know more in that language than I ever did in Korean! Weird, huh?

I’ve got 4 weeks until we visit the country so that’s what October is all about for me…

(And if you missed last month’s Clear The List and am wondering why I’m being so cryptic, it’s because it’s a surprise trip for my mum and she doesn’t know where we’re going!)

Language Learning Goals for October

italki

Just as I was looking around to start lessons, I spotted the banner for the italki Language Challenge starting October 1st – perfect timing!

I’ve set my goal at 20 hours and booked most of my lessons already so they’re in and on my schedule. It helps me a lot to book lessons in advance rather than flail around wildly at the last minute searching for a tutor at the time I’m free.

I’m planning for two 30 minute lessons Monday to Friday at 8am (right after I finish my language study hour) and at 4.30pm (the last half hour of my working day).

I’ll likely need to book a couple of odd lessons over weekends to top up my time to 20 hours as there’s a couple of days I can’t do those two daily 30 minute lessons.

Teach Yourself ____

I was very pleasantly surprised before we left for Spain to discover that my local library actually has a Teach Yourself study pack for the language I’m learning.

It was even better when I actually went back to get it the weekend after returning from Korea and it scanned out without needing to be paid for! For years I’ve been avoiding getting out language sets with audio because I thought I needed to pay each time. I guess not anymore! Woohoo!

I’m working through roughly one chapter a day. However, as the book goes on, what’s in each chapter gets a little bulkier so we’ll see how this goes. Happy to add some weekend study if it means I get to finish before our trip!

Memrise

There’s no Duolingo or Drops course for this language, so I’m really enjoying being back on Memrise for it.

I’ve already completed a handful of small starter courses and have things mapped out to finish my current bigger one by the end of September.

Plus I’ve got the next ones earmarked too.

Peace Corps, FSI, DLI Audio

I’ve really been thinking with this project about what I can change with my language study to get more exposure and make the best of my time.

One of those changes has been switching from music and podcasts when I’m working to listening to lots of old (as in ‘turn the cassette over’) and repetitive (as in drills) language audio instead.

The Peace Corps, FSI, and DLI audio files downloadable from Live Lingua have filled this job quite nicely.

No goals here on listening to specific tracks/courses a set number of times, just to listen as much as possible when I’m working.

___Pod101

The language isn’t quite like Korean in that there’s no reality TV on Netflix or Amazon Prime to watch when I’d normally watch stuff.

Rather than just write off that time, I’ve replaced it with audio – specifically ___Pod101 audio lessons for the language.

I started my free trial just before leaving Korea and downloaded loads for my flights home. Those downloads actually stayed on my iPad after the trial ended! Seeing as I don’t need the PDFs or further lessons because I’m using other resources, I don’t think I’ll need to upgrade for the month as I’d originally planned.

I’m focusing on rotating through the Basic Bootcamp, Survival Phrases, Top 25 Questions You Need to Know and 3 Minute ____ series.

I’ve also replaced the YouTube video time I typically have each day (brushing teeth etc) with watching ___Pod101 videos, mostly ‘100 Nouns/Verbs/Adjectives You Need To Know’.

Other Resources

As well as all of these resources, I’ve got a list I made with more resources (I’ll share all of the details soon!). So should I get bored, fancy a change, or want to reconfirm something, I know where I’ll be looking to find it.

Video Update

Join the IGLC in October!

Looking for an easy way to practice your languages each day? Hop on over to Instagram and join the Instagram Language Challenge for October!

The Instagram Language Challenge (or #IGLC as it’s known to its friends) is a monthly challenge to join for free.

You simply use the daily prompt to inspire a little language learning and share on Instagram to help you remember. It also helps to document your learning process, and to hold you accountable – all the good things.

The whole idea is that you can get creative! So, for example, if the prompt is ‘red’ and you already know your colours because you’re quite advanced, think about how you can say ‘caught red-handed’. Or maybe ‘red sky at night, shepherd’s delight’ or ‘red in the face’ or even ’embarrassed’ in the language you’re learning.

Or use it as a chance to practice simple vocab in multiple languages you know!

And on that note, half of this month’s theme is colours. The other half is animals – something that at first seems basic but actually has lots of scope for interesting idioms and expressions.

Here’s the #IGLC prompt list for October 2019…

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Inlinkz Link Party

How did your language learning go this month? What are your language goals for next month? Share in the comments below!