One of the good things about being a teacher is the school holidays.
OK, so there’s the Italian school 2019 ‘Save 20%’ promotion to finish off, which means working right up until midnight on Christmas day.
And then, just a few days later, we’ll be having the OnlineItalianClub.com January sale, which is a busy time.
But still…
No teaching!
So no evening classes to teach (no plates of cold pasta at 9 p.m.), no pre-schoolers on Thursdays, no needy middle-managers, and no correcting the same pronunciation mistakes again and again.
Hopefully, I’ll have some time to study on my own account!
A month ago, I did the first chapter of a Turkish easy reader, and EVERY SINGLE DAY since then I’ve had on my ‘to do’ list to get on and do the second and subsequent chapters.
Plus, I bought (at huge expense) the class book and work book that I need to prepare for the B1 (and eventually B2) Swedish exams.
Both are gathering dust on my kitchen table, next to the fruit bowl.
Putting stuff off is not an endearing quality, I know.
But it is an all-too-common one, so I choose not to be too hard on myself.
After all, I HAVE been doing other useful things.
Such as:
- listening to two Swedish ‘easy news’ broadcasts each day (three times each!)
- listening to Severiges Radio P1 while I cook or wash the dishes
- Reading the Swedish TV news app on my smartphone INSTEAD OF ‘The Guardian’
- Reading occasional articles from various online newspapers (Swedish and Turkish) INSTEAD OF ‘The Economist’
- Taking one or two online Swedish lessons each week, and writing up the notes my teacher makes
- Plus a Turkish lesson each Friday
The next steps? Over Christmas, hopefully.
I really must improve my Turkish reading, which is awful.
And I should definitely start the Swedish course book! And make a study plan to get me through the B1 exam in June 2019.
Plus, I need to work on consolidating my ‘listen to the radio in’ and ‘read newspaper apps in’ habits, which take time to become automatic.
(The trick is to do it INSTEAD of doing these things in English, so no extra time is required.)
All that said, I find it helpful to look back, as well as ahead.
At Christmas 2017 I was finishing Swedish Duolingo and could barely speak a word.
Since then I’ve done almost a hundred online lessons and passed an internationally-recognised exam.
This time last year, taking up Turkish again was just a vague idea.
Whereas now I’m actually doing it, really enjoying my lessons, and feel like I’m making good progress.
Which is deeply satisfying.
Insomma, pat on back Daniel.
Keep it up in 2019!
Yesterday’s Easy Italian News | 2019 Italian Course Offer: What to expect from your course