In June in the UK, there’s talk of shops opening again and things gradually beginning to get back to “normal”…whatever that looks like. Meanwhile, what does language learning look like? Let’s take a look.

Your Free Language Planner

As always, you can get your free language planner for June 2020 by signing up to my email list at the link below.

The planner will help you figure out what to do when, and give you a chance to review everything at the end of the month as well.

But, if it’s solid planning you’re after, your best bet is my Solo Language Learner Planner, which is much more robust and can be reused forever and ever!

Your Free Teacher Planner

If you’re teaching online, I’ve got a free planner for you too. Woohoo! You can get that by clicking the image below.

And, just like for learners, you can also upgrade to The Online Language Teacher Planner, which will get you organised across the board, not just for the month.

New Things In May

May was a busy month! I kicked things off by sharing a whole week of blog posts on key topics I somehow hadn’t covered much on the blog. Here’s the full list to catch up if you missed any:

How to Set Mistake Goals for Language Learning

6 Tips for Language Exchange to Be Successful and Productive

How to Record Your Language Learning Progress

How to Pick The Best Language Learning Resources for You

6 Language Challenges for Language Learners

Language Learning Review for May

Although I didn’t really set any “proper” goals in May, one of my big focuses was the italki Language Challenge*.

I completed this, including my self-proclaimed Language Marathon, which I completed on May 2nd!

I was due to run an actual marathon on that day, but, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s this pandemic going on so…it was postponed.

Rather than spend the day sitting inside looking out the window at (what turned out to be on the day) the rain, I decided to do something I’d never done before: a Language Marathon!

Because it was a thing I made up, I got to make up the rules.

I decided to have a lesson in every language I’d ever studied to a decent level in just one day.

That meant 12 lessons in 12 different languages from 6.30am to 7.30pm – with gaps in between.

Here’s a little video we made of the day sharing how it went…

Language Learning Goals for June

Ashley (my husband and teacher) is due to go back into work full time here in the UK as of 1st June. It’s a common misconception that teachers haven’t been working so far, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Despite exams, sports day, plays, residential trips, and more being cancelled, he’s still been into school at least two days each week. Schools have remained open for key workers’ children. He’s been working flat out, much like I imagine so many teachers around the world have right now.

Anyway, with him going back on 1st June, and the restriction on “unlimited” time outside having opened up already, I have a loose plan for June…

1) I want to restart my twice daily walks listening to Say Something in Manx and Say Something in Welsh.

I’ve done this a few times, but not quite back to normal yet.

Partly because Ashley’s been here and we’ve tried going shopping in the daytime when it might be quieter. Partly because deliveries still can’t be left with neighbours. Partly because routines and COVID-19 don’t go 100% hand in hand! It’s the least of everyone’s worries right now.

I’m hoping by the end of June, I’ll have got into something more regular with this. My plan is to finish reviewing the lessons I’d previously completed and move on, possibly by 2 lessons for each language.

(Sidenote: you’ll note that with these goals there’s lots of ‘possibly’ and ‘hopefully’ and ‘I want’. That’s instead of the usual goal-setting lingo of ‘definitely’ and ‘I will’. There’s no point setting solid goals like that right now when the near future is still a little hazy.)

2) I want to have at least one italki lesson in Chinese, Korean, Indonesian and Guarani.

The Language Marathon was great as a gauge of where I’m at with my current languages, which ones need work, which ones I’m better at than I thought.

From that, I established that my Korean and Mandarin Chinese both need major work! Also, my Indonesian is much better than I thought, but still something I’d like to improve. And of course, you know by now how much I love Guarani.

So I picked these four to focus on for the time being, especially when it comes to lessons.

I’ve got these lessons booked already for the final weekend in June.

3) I want to keep experimenting with Duolingo.

I’ve never been a mega fan of Duolingo. Not that I fall on the other side of the conversation and hate it, I just…meh it, I guess.

But with coronavirus, I found myself drawn to it for some unknown reason, and have enjoyed figuring out how to make it work without getting overwhelmed by ads or losing all the hearts and having to wait forever to try again!

It’s a very valuable free resource for so many people, so I want to keep experimenting with how to make the most of it. Hopefully I’ll have a blog to share with you at the end of all this!

4) Get “Coursey” with Korean and Chinese!

Knowing from the Language Marathon that my Korean and Chinese need most work, I want to focus in a bit on some structured courses.

For Korean, I’ll be using Talk To Me In Korean, and for Chinese I’ll use YoYo Chinese.

I’m not setting any specific goals on how much I want to do just yet. Let’s see how June goes first getting back in a routine!

Video Update!

If you prefer video, then here’s my latest video update!

Your Free Language Planner

Remember, if you missed it up top, you can get your free planner by clicking the image below.

If you want to learn more about how I can help you learn languages, you can read about all the things available here.

Your Free Teacher Planner

And, of course, here’s one for teachers!

Want to get better at teaching languages online? Here’s all the ways I can help you with that.

Join Clear The List + Share Your Goals!

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.

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