I used to call them New Year’s resolutions. Then I started calling them goals. This year I’m going to call it a plan. Goals get my brain going to lofty places. Not saying that’s a bad thing. It’s good to dream big. When it comes to our language learning for the year though, I need to have a plan. I need to map out where I want us to go, and how we’re going to get there. What will the day-to-day look like around our house, learning Spanish in 2018?
I won’t lie. I’m scared. I took a break from Spanish for a year, and getting back into it is exciting, yes. Also terrifying. Why? Well, I don’t like to be disappointed. I don’t like to fail. But I’m trying to push away alllll the lofty expectations, and just keep learning Spanish. With a plan in hand. I want the plan to be DOABLE, but also to PUSH me.
My Plan for the Kids
The kids’ plan is pretty set, since it is a part of their school curriculum. We actually have a Spanish program planned that we will go through with a small group of friends! Basically we’ll spend 10 minutes a day on Spanish. Each day we’ll learn five new words, and each week we have a set of phrases that we act out. The phrases go along with the Spanish story we’ll be reading for Term 2 of the school year: Ricitos de oro y los tres osos (Goldilocks and the Three Bears). On top of that we’ll learn three Spanish songs and memorize one or two Spanish poems. So by the end of the year this is what we should have accomplished:
- learn 1,080 new words
- memorize 6-9 Spanish poems
- learn about 10 Spanish songs
- learn how to narrate 100 simple daily actions
Me writing my Spanish goals for the summer on our bathroom mirror – 2016 |
- find/design 365 quotes (a quote or phrase each day!)
- write out the scriptures in Spanish
- take a past-tense Spanish course (I already signed up for this! eek!)
- keep my input consistent: listen to 100 podcasts by the end of the year! (that’s like 2/week?)
- read The Art of Teaching and Studying Languages (You can download it free on books.google.com, then send it to your Kindle! That’s what I did.)