Week Two: Flashcards, Flashcards, and Nothing-But-Flashcards

            This week, I finally splurged and purchased a subscription to Quizlet Plus! Accordingly, I have spent much of the week, transitioning my online flash cards from Kinyarwanda on one side to a picture on the other, in essence, eliminating the necessity of an English translation. Although time-consuming, this more preparatory activity lent itself quite nicely to my schedule last week, insofar as I visited my grandmother, because she had (a routine) surgery. (Note: She is doing quite well.) I haven’t had much time to practice using my new and improved flash cards, insofar as I keep editing them, but I have already thought of some possible “problems” and hopefully solutions.

            First, I have tried to use only my personal pictures. Sometimes, this is possible. Sometimes, it isn’t. But in the instance of select flashcards, one image (or one person/object represented by an image) might be appropriate for multiple terms. For instance, my brother would be a fair representation of umusore (a young, unmarried man), as well as musaza wanjye (my brother), and as I do not have personal pictures of abasore in mass, I’d be tempted to use him for both terms. Of course, these terms are in different vocabulary sets, one in “People,” the other in “Family,” but in order not to confuse them, I would be tempted to 1.) use different pictures of Matayo to represent each term, or 2.) place the same picture in a different coloring shade to distinguish them. If I have specific, personal images to associate terms with, I anticipate that I will be more likely to remember them.

            So, for those terms not so easily described by a singular image, I am tempted to place a personal image on the flashcard still and either form or exploit an association with it, if I didn’t have one or if one was already in place, respectively. After all, these flashcards are for me. Does it matter terribly if it wouldn’t make sense to anyone else? For new terms though, or if the association isn’t firmly in place yet, I wonder how effective this system will be. If I have trouble with a particular term, I would consider either describing the term in Kinyarwanda (on the other side of the flashcard) or at least providing myself with “clues” in the target language. This idea was inspired by another activity Dr. T suggested in the Facebook group last week, but it appeals to my desire to avoid literal translations.

            Quizlet Plus allows you to insert audio files onto your flashcards, as well. It isn’t something I have experimented with thus far, but it is something I would consider, particularly if I could record my language partner, J’s, articulation of the phrase. For instance, for singular words, I could record her stating the word and/or providing hints in the target language for the other side of the flashcard, or for call-and-response phrases, I could record me, saying “hello,” for example, and her, saying “hello also.” Of course, this is a rather basic use of the audio flashcard, but it was inspired by Dr. T’s “role-playing” idea for flashcards. I could definitely see myself expanding my flashcards to prompt spontaneous, but controlled, language production, but for now, I am only testing the waters.

            As a final note regarding my Quizlet flashcards, I wasn’t on the bus as frequently as I usually am last week, but for those times that I was, I used my “old” Quizlet system (Kinyarwanda-English), and it was effective, in my opinion. Indeed, I almost missed my bus stop at least twice, as I was so engrossed in my language-learning, but a number of times, I couldn’t start Quizlet immediately, because the bus was so crowded, and I had to stand. Of course, I understand that my bus-time with Quizlet is extra, but I was still a little disappointed. Perhaps there is no solution for that, beyond waiting for a less crowded bus and/or carving out additional “extra” time for Quizlet when I can.

            Clearly, I’m excited about the opportunities Quizlet Plus provides me, but I nonetheless apologize for such a flashcard-heavy reflection. Thanks for bearing with me, and I’ll try to discuss a more diverse assortment of activities next time!

            

Week One: Time in and for Kinyarwanda

            This week, I transitioned back to formal language study. First, I attempted to review that which I did last semester, confirming that what I build this semester has a solid foundation in which to lie on. This primarily meant reviewing flashcards and practice conversations/notes. Second, I investigated with the time-of-day in which I study. Even though I think I anticipated selecting a similar time-of-day every day to study, I found that wasn’t particularly feasible, because my schedule is different day to day. In hindsight too, it might be best do change the time-of-day, lest I begin to associate Kinyarwanda with morning, with lunch, or with the period directly after reading, and inadvertently create a context in which I interact with the language. Third, I’ve been experimenting with the amount of studying I complete each day. Formerly, I tried to measure this with the amount of work/studying I completed, but now I am trying to determine if the amount of time dedicated to work/study is a better ruler. I fear not as much work will be completed this way, but it’s an approach to make studying more manageable and approachable. For instance, if I recognize that I only have to complete at least an hour of studying per day, and within that, only twenty minutes with flash cards and forty minutes of translation, it might make the task a little less daunting. Finally, I also created a first draft of my individualized study plan. I tried to make it a little more doable than in years’ past, but I also left room for new, “un-planned” activities, which will be determined as the semester progresses. The un-planned nature of it all might ensure that my progress in Kinyarwanda does not become stagnate. This week, for instance, I reviewed news sources in Kinyarwanda for articles on the Women’s March. Even though it wasn’t in my ISP, I thought it might make my interactions with the language less-structured and more natural.

            One “challenge” that arose this week, however, related to my intention to submit a proposal for a Kinyarwanda language presentation at the World Languages Day. I think preparing for such a lesson will be a project I can work on throughout the semester, and it will give me a measurable purpose. When thinking about it, I realized that greetings and introductions might be an effective and perhaps even fun lesson for the audience, but I thought it might be too simple, not only something that has been “done” before, but a presentation that does not show the full linguistic range of the language. Accordingly, I then thought that discussing opposites might be interesting. For example, I would provide students with a list of vocabulary (e.g. igiti- tree, umwana- child, ikawa- coffee, ifanta- soda, etc.), and then I would prompt them to identify each term as hot or cold, short or tall, as appropriate. Due to noun classes and adjective agreement, however, I fear this activity would grow too complicated within the forty-minute time frame, particularly as these students aren't necessarily familiar with Kinyarwanda, much less noun class and adjective agreement. I’d like to think of a way to simplify this activity, and my first impulse was to present nouns only from one noun class, but I don’t think that’s necessarily sustainable either, because it also won’t provide a comprehensive ideas as to what the language looks/sounds like. I suppose this is a challenge I’m still working on. I’ve contacted B to ask him about it, but I haven’t heard back yet.

            Also, this week, the students of African 671: Multilanguage Seminar met, and we talked about more goal-oriented approaches to our ISPs, our Final Self-Assessments, and our learning more generally. When I review my ISP before submitting my second draft, I would like to make sure that the goals I state are reflected in the activities I propose. If they are not, and in some cases, they might not be, I would like to alter my ISP. One of my classmates, S, made the observation that sometimes she picks resources in which to engage based on their “convenience,” not to their actual helpfulness to her study. Although I never thought about it in such terms, I have to admit that I might be guilty of the same. Furthermore, I think I am often hesitant to change a certain learning activity and/or approach, even if I recognize that it is not working, because it was “part of the plan.” I’d like to give myself a free pass to change my ISP now, but also to deviate from if it is not working later. Of course, this might seem like a rather obvious course of action, but I think, for others such as myself, it’s a little more difficult than is necessary.

            Relevant to the necessity of change, I mentioned earlier that I left space in my ISP for new activities, as they occur to me, by merely making the workloads lighter some weeks. Next week, I’d like to try reviewing Kinyarwanda flash cards on the bus. This is an idea that my other classmates have shared with me in the past, but I have never actually done it myself. My time in the bus is always “wasted” and/or occupied with thinking, checking my email obsessively, and making sure no one enters my private space! If I could instead fill it with something more productive, I think I would feel better about myself. Indeed, I often spend a minimum of forty minutes on the bus per day (at least twenty minutes to Van Hise and twenty minutes back home), and that could be used as valuable study time, not as structured as other designated times and, therefore, hopefully better integrated into my everyday activities. With that said, however, I don’t think I want to consider this time as part of my one-hour-per-day minimum, so we’ll see how that goes!