Language-Learning Tip

This week, get one of those $0.97 miniature notebooks, and start making lists of words you know in your target language. I am not a huge fan of memorizing vocabulary lists as a teaching methodology, but I do think that it can be a good exercise to reflect (in retrospect) on how much you have learned. You might start thinking, “Oh, I haven’t gotten much out of this app. I’ll never be proficient or fluent.“, but when you sit down and really take a look at all of the progress you’ve made, and all of the words you recognize or can verbally produce–provided you’ve been chugging away at it consistently–it can be astounding! Holy Moses! I do know a lot!

As the [school] year begins to wind down, take a minute after you complete each lesson to record a few words you know in your notebook. You can organize the lists by a separate category on each page–food, travels, etc.–or write them randomly as words or phrases occur to you. Handwriting words uses a different part of the brain than clicking and, IMHO, the more neurons involved, the better! Dr. K, feel free to correct me on this one. 🙂

ASIDES: 1) I recommend a tiny notebook so that it can fit in your purse or pocket and you can bring it with you everywhere; and 2) for a little extra inspiration, check out this article!