π Progress During Busy Times and New Found Confidence in French
Apr 8-14 2024 Language Study Log
π Apr 8-14 Language Study Stats
French: 8h 02m
7h 04m study total
π New Post
Reflecting on the First Quarter of 2024: A Recap and Future Plans for the Second Quarter
π₯ French
This week has been particularly busy for me. Much of the activities I managed to track were related to work, as I found myself lacking the energy for dedicated language study after work hours. Despite this, I did manage to make progress in French Tutor, having reached the 6th unit. Given the current pace, I'm beginning to question whether my goal of completing the textbook by the end of this month was overly ambitious.
I also began reading one of the books I purchased in Montreal, Wayward Pines, which reminded me how much I love reading. Sadly, when Iβm stressed, overwhelmed and feeling trained, I find it difficult to do any of the things I enjoy. I do anything but relax.
Furthermore, I've been experiencing headaches for the past few days. This is typical when Iβm stressed but I also think Iβm coming down with a cold. Nevertheless, during this busy week, I noticed a significant improvement in my confidence in speaking French. Maybe I was too tired to care about making mistakes so nothing was holding me back.
With several new teachers visiting the school and providing supply throughout the week, I took the opportunity to engage in more French conversations. I've observed that when I train new staff, I'm now able to incorporate more French compared to months ago. Similarly, I've noticed myself constructing new sentences when interacting with students, which I couldn't have formed before.
I attribute much of this progress to taking on a more prominent role in programming this week. During our music day, I decided to incorporate my flute into the lesson. While I had initially planned a comprehensive lesson about the different parts of the flute in French, time constraints led me to change my plans. Instead of deciding not to do it because it wasnβt βperfectβ, I went with the flow. Surprisingly, this turned out to be better as I discovered that introducing new concepts to my students is most effective when done gradually.
On the first day, I introduced the three main parts of the flute and engaged the students in playing instruments together, following a rhythm. Encouraged by the positive response, I brought out my flute again the following day, despite it not being music day.
This time, the students were already familiar with the instruments, so I began playing various notes and invited them to request specific "letters" for me to play. They quickly learned that only certain letters corresponded to notes. For instance, if they mentioned "A" in French, I would play the corresponding note, but if they said "W," I would explain, "Il n'y a pas de W." Many found this discovery intriguing and continued to call out letters in hopes of hearing a new note.
I believe my newfound confidence stemmed from the desire to share something meaningful, my flute, and my willingness to experiment with new approaches in engaging with the students.
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Thanks for reading, see you next week!
Take it slow with the headaches, you're doing more than enough β€οΈ