Does your language learning have structure?

[SteveB]

Hi, i have just got home from a night shift where i have been reading a spanish book, i watched a spanish film and was also doing some exercises from a text book. When i drove to work i listened to a spanish language podcast and when i drove home i listened to Spanish music.
I have been doing this pretty much for year and a half and i really just 'go with it' when it comes to language learning and i thought, if i had a lesson plan for myself would i have gone further??
So basically, la pregunta es… Have you made a lesson plan for yourself?
Maybe one day practice listening, the next read about grammar, then another day only language exchange with someone. If so would you mind sharing it with us?
Or do you just do want you want when you want?
Gracias

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Progressive studying suits some people like me, and I always need a textbook to guide me through learning, but if you prefer something more dynamic, it will work for you if you want it to. I'd say that if you have noticed that there are things on which you are stuck, you should pay more attention to them and find resources to help you with it until you are sure it's well learnt.
You may post questions here or find materials elsewhere, but only you can tell what interests you the most, I think.

[Villa]

Buena pregunta Steve. Escuchaba el español en mi carro como tú lo hace. 45 minutos o mas para llegar al travajo en cada direccion o más todos los días durante años, así que tenía todo ese tiempo para escuchar cintas en español y la radio en español que incluye música en español y radio talk shows en español y también gravaba y escuchaba en cintos so una y otra vez para que pudiera imitar sus voces. Yo estaba tomando una clase de español en la universidad de la comunidad local y yendo a la casa de mi novia hispana y viendo telenovelas en español con ella. Enseguida me di cuenta de que podía aprender más viendo telenovelas en español que cualquier otra cosa. Que podría aprender más español en unos meses mirando ellas que lo que yo podría aprender en años de no verlas. Ahora tengo años mirandalas. Algunos son de Venezuela, algunos de Argentina y Colombia, pero en su mayoría telenovelas de Mexico. Tienen gente de diferentes países de habla hispana como España por lo qual tienen una variedad de acentos y expresiones en español. Generalmente / generally miro 3 o 4 telenovelas en español todas las noches. También grabo para verlas más tarde y compro las telenovelas en español en DVD. Por supuesto miro películas en español y programas de Televisión en español como Sábado Gigante, Mira Quien Baila, La Rosa de Guadalupe, etc, etc. Con los años he tomado 18 clases de español, fui a la escuela en México y vivió con una familia mexicana. Vivo con una persona nativo de español ahora.
Practico mi escritura en el español en este foro. El lenguaje es el 99.99% hablada por lo que escuchar y hablar
español es más importante que la escritura de español. Sin embargo una vez que entendes, hablas y
lees en español es mas facil escribir el español.

I wrote the above quick. It's a work in progress. Check my translation below.


Good question Steve. I listen to Spanish in my car like you do. I drove far to and from work 45 minutes each way or more every day for years so had all that time to listen to Spanish tapes and the radio in Spanish including music in Spanish and talk Spanish radio which I also recorded and listened to on tape over and over and over again to I could imitate their voices. I was taking a Spanish class at my local community college and going over to my Spanish speaking girlfriend's house and watching soap operas in Spanish. Right away I could tell that I could learn more watching soap operas in Spanish than anything else. I could learn more Spanish in a few months watching them than what I might learn in years not watching them. Now I have been watching them for many year. Some from Venezuela, some from Argentina and Colombia but mostly Mexican soap operas called novelas. They have people from different Spanish speaking countries such as Spain so I get a variety of accents and Spanish expressions. Generalmente/generally I watch 3 or 4 soap operas in Spanish every night. I also record them to watch later and buy soap operas in Spanish on DVDs. Of course I watch movies in Spanish and variety Spanish TV such as Sabado Gigante, Mira Quien Baile, La Rosa de Guadalupe etc. etc. Over the years I took 18 classes of Spanish, went to school in Mexico and lived with a Mexican family. I live with a native Spanish speaker now.
Practico my Spanish writing on this forum. Language is 99.99% spoken so listening to and speaking
Spanish is more important than writing Spanish. However once you can understand, speak and
read Spanish then Spanish writing is easier.

[tetsuo]

Me gustariá a decir que mi métodos de aprender tiene estructura. Pero no es mejor cuando el método es trabaja para tú?

Yo probo aprender un poco de español a todo diá pero probo no aprender tanto mucho. Solo diez hasta treinta minutos entonces recreo para dos or tres horas.

Uso apps en mi tablet, libros, los programas en mi computadora.
Me gustariá los apps: Memrise y Duolingo. Ambos tienen una pagina de internet y puedes usar las paginas a aprender una idioma.
Memrise tiene usar un método popular: Flashcards. Pero usan un método ampliado. Es mejor que el método popular (Flashcards).

Espero mi texto es bueno y todos a entender el texto. ;-)

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by tetsuo

Me gustaría a decir que mi métodos de aprender tiene estructura. Pero, ¿no es mejor que el método es te sirva?

Intento aprender un poco de español todos los días pero no demasiado, solo diez hasta treinta minutos; entonces recreo por dos o tres horas.

Uso apps en mi tablet, libros, los programas en mi computadora.
Me gustan las apps: Memrise y Duolingo. Ambos tienen una página de internet y puedes usar las páginas para aprender una idioma.
Memrise tiene utiliza un método popular: Flashcards (tarjetas de vocabulario). Pero usan un método ampliado que sirve de mejora.

Espero que mi texto esté bien escrito y que todos lo entiendan. ;-)

Some corrections and suggestions for you.

[tetsuo]

Thanks for the corrections.

[Manuel]

Hi Tetsuo,

I definitely think having a plan is a good idea. If you don't think about WHAT you need to learn next, you may learn a lot of things that you don't really need at this moment.

I think the most effective way to improve at something is to figure out what you want to be able to DO, and then see where your knowledge is lacking.

For example, let's say you want to be able to speak fluently and you notice that you would like to be able to talk about your job but you notice your vocabulary is lacking in your field of work. Then it would make sense to learn some new words that relate to your job.

If you simply watch movies etc. you will also increase your vocabulary, but you might learn things that you will hardly ever use. That's not the most efficient way to improve.

Studying grammar is obviously useful, but there I would also make sure to study the things you NEED at this time, rather than just go through a grammar book cover to cover.

How do you know what you need? Simply think of what you want to be able to DO and see where you fail! Do you need to learn more conjunctions? Verb conjugations? Are you lacking in vocabulary? And if so, regarding what topics? Do you find it hard to understand Spanish when other people speak it? etc.

I think that what you learn should be based on what your needs are at this present moment, rather than following a curriculum. Whatever it is that needs the most improvement in your opinion, work on that.

I can tell you what I did. I found out at some point that my vocabulary was much too small. I noticed that I didn't know the words for many household items I saw and used every day in my own life. So what I did was create an excel sheet where I would write down any word I was curious about in my daily life where I didn't know the Spanish equivalent. For example, I remember one day being in a bar and I saw this grate, and I thought to myself "hmm, I have no idea what that is called in Spanish", so I looked it up and added it to my excel vocabulary file. Then I would regularly review the file and try to use the words in a Spanish sentence I would make up on the spot.

This way I was improving my vocabulary based on what I needed, rather than on just memorizing a random list of words from a book.

You can do the same thing with grammar. For example, let's say you realize you don't know how to say "unless" in Spanish. Look it up in the dictionary or wherever and start practicing using it by making up sentences with it all the time in your own head.

Also, I figured that a good way to increase my vocabulary regarding a specific topic was to read ABOUT that specific topic in Spanish! Seems obvious, but I never really thought about it much. So, for example, I realized I had a very poor vocabulary when it came to music in Spanish (I am a musician) so I started reading books about guitar playing and music theory in Spanish. I learned tons of new words that way! You can do that for any topic. Don't just read Spanish in general; read about what you are INTERESTED in. That way you learn vocabulary that you will actually USE in conversation, since you are interested in those topics!

[Suavemente]

Sí. Todo que hacer me requiere tener estructura. Es la única manera que sé aprender. Me habría dado por vencido si no la tuviera.