This week, I intended to take a conscious break from Kinyarwanda, in adherence to Spring Protocol 101, and though it is, indeed, true that I was nowhere near as productive as I should have been, I wasn't as un-productive as I could have been. And I consider that a win, albeit a modest one.
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I decided to download an app that streamed Rwandan radio stations, and I listened to it the majority of the drive to Michigan and back to Wisconsin. Listening to the commentators, as well as the songs, I recognized that my language-skills are not comparable to that of an advanced speaker (or listener, in this case). Yes. This is disappointing, after all this time, but I also recognize that I believe I am capable of acquiring the necessary skills to become one, should I chose to buckle down.
Indeed, last week, my professor, Dr. T, brought to my attention that the one-plus hour I was spending per day on Kinyarwanda was not enough, not for language-learning, nor for the course's credit load. And, of course, I know this is true, and I can also readily admit that there are days (maybe even weeks) that Kinyarwanda is not my priority. So, I'd like to work toward reframing my language study, not only to increase the amount of time I am spending with the target language, but also in a way that ensures I am developing and sustaining the skills of an independent language-learner, skills that will be helpful long after this class ends.
With that said, I made sure to post a lesson to my language-learning website, as well. One of my classmates, L, had commented on my lesson on Fruit, reflecting on the ways in which her target language helped her to get through the deck in Kinyarwanda successfully. Of course, I know that she wasn't looking at my website as a potential L2 speaker, but regardless, knowing that someone was looking at my website, that she thought it looked cool, and that it was useful, was very motivating to me. Accordingly, I followed up my lesson on fruit with a lesson on vegetables!
After a delay, I was also finally able to talk to someone in Rwanda about my upcoming research trip this afternoon. I'm not entirely sure as to whether or not he liked my research direction, but he said some pretty interesting things about the "official narrative." In particular, he stated that the term "genocide" was borrowed from French. In Kinyarwanda, it is "jenoside." Of course, I knew this already, but he mentioned this in response to my observation that the "official narrative" had changed over time. He stated that initially the genocide was referred to as "itembatsemba" (extermination), and then the imported "jenoside." For those familiar with the history, you will know that it is not referred to as the Rwandan Genocide in country, but rather the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. He argued that Rwanda does not have a singular term (like the Holocaust) that immediately invokes what happened, but speculated that there may one day be such a term. From this conversation, I envisioned a chapter of my dissertation- what the genocide has been called historically-, where I didn't necessarily have such a clear vision before.
Moving forward, I'd like to carve out more time in my schedule for Kinyarwanda, so this week, I'd like to use this app Dr. T suggested called "Time Track" in order to determine how long I am spending on certain tasks (including those outside of language-learning), to increase my efficiency across my courses.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Monday, March 13, 2017
Week Eight: Midterms + Language-Learning = ?
This week was a busy one for me. So far in my graduate career, I haven't had much experience with midterms, but this semester has been different, and it's altered the course of my entire week, forcibly changing the times in which I normally study Kinyarwanda and, in some cases, altering the amount of time I'm able to spend with my target language. One of the first changes I made was to excuse myself from flashcard construction this week. Not only have I been trying to wean myself off spending a substantial amount of time creating (as opposed to studying) flashcards, I also have a large accumulation of flashcards built up, so I was able to spend my time on Quizlet purposefully. I spent approximately forty minutes per day with my flashcards, though I "cheated" a little, by including bus-time and waiting-for-class-to-begin time in that total.
I also continued engaging with audiovisual material in Kinyarwanda, namely genocide testimony. I watch each video once per day for five days, and over the course of the week, I try to determine what exactly I think the video is about. In the first viewing, I jot down a few notes with my preliminary guesses. The second time, I write down words I don't know; for those whose language skills fall at the beginners' level, I would recommend adding an additional step between the ones I've listed here, that is- write down the words you do know. It's a good confidence boost, and it will help you to feel more guided. Finally, over the next third to fourth viewings, I write a summary of the text (in English), and during the fifth viewing, I confirm my understanding by reading the video's English subtitles. This process usually takes fifteen to twenty minutes per day.
This week, I was supposed to continue engaging with source material from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda, which has some documents in Kinyarwanda, including local newspapers and magazines. One magazine, Isibo, is of particular interest to me, because it does not contain Hutu propaganda, which is often what is discussed in relation to pre-genocide news; instead, it was ran by the opposition, and its purpose was to expose and protest the government's hidden agenda. This week, however, I didn't feel I had adequate time to dedicate to these sources, so I opted for reading and analyzing Igihe instead. A while ago, I "liked" the news site on Facebook, and though I am usually able to scroll through my newsfeed with little event, I find that Igihe's posts often catch my attention, because most of the time, they are in Kinyarwanda. For instance, last semester, I found out "The Rock" was People's Sexiest Man in Kinyarwanda, before I even knew it in English. This week, I intentionally identified articles that I knew something about the content in English, so I could be more efficient with my reading time. This week, I tried to dedicated fifteen to twenty minutes per day to Igihe.
Finally, I posted two language lessons on my language-learning website. As usual, I have grand plans for my website, but I often don't feel I have the time to execute them properly. And though I enjoy constructing lessons for my website, just as I enjoy making flashcards for myself, I also recognize that such preparation likely falls into the category of planning, so I try to prioritize other language-learning activities for myself, by only allowing fifteen minutes per day for website construction.
Although I did not meet with fellow independent language-learners this week, we maintained conversation in our Facebook group, and one of my peers, L, gave me a little inspiration for an idea I'd like to try. She was put into a situation where she had to drive more than she expected this week, and she feared that it might cut into her language-study time, but then she remembered a mobile app that streamed radio stations in her target language, and she listened to them while in the car. She observed that she thought she retained more in so doing. As spring break is coming up, and with it, two long car rides (one to Michigan, and the other back to Wisconsin), I'm going to try to identify something I can listen to in Kinyarwanda during my journeys, just to determine if L's experience can be replicated. In addition, perhaps it will be the case that by scheduling some language-study during my "down time," I can feel better about the times in which I prioritize other work (e.g. midterms, [formerly] driving]). We'll see how it goes anyway!
I also continued engaging with audiovisual material in Kinyarwanda, namely genocide testimony. I watch each video once per day for five days, and over the course of the week, I try to determine what exactly I think the video is about. In the first viewing, I jot down a few notes with my preliminary guesses. The second time, I write down words I don't know; for those whose language skills fall at the beginners' level, I would recommend adding an additional step between the ones I've listed here, that is- write down the words you do know. It's a good confidence boost, and it will help you to feel more guided. Finally, over the next third to fourth viewings, I write a summary of the text (in English), and during the fifth viewing, I confirm my understanding by reading the video's English subtitles. This process usually takes fifteen to twenty minutes per day.
This week, I was supposed to continue engaging with source material from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda, which has some documents in Kinyarwanda, including local newspapers and magazines. One magazine, Isibo, is of particular interest to me, because it does not contain Hutu propaganda, which is often what is discussed in relation to pre-genocide news; instead, it was ran by the opposition, and its purpose was to expose and protest the government's hidden agenda. This week, however, I didn't feel I had adequate time to dedicate to these sources, so I opted for reading and analyzing Igihe instead. A while ago, I "liked" the news site on Facebook, and though I am usually able to scroll through my newsfeed with little event, I find that Igihe's posts often catch my attention, because most of the time, they are in Kinyarwanda. For instance, last semester, I found out "The Rock" was People's Sexiest Man in Kinyarwanda, before I even knew it in English. This week, I intentionally identified articles that I knew something about the content in English, so I could be more efficient with my reading time. This week, I tried to dedicated fifteen to twenty minutes per day to Igihe.
Finally, I posted two language lessons on my language-learning website. As usual, I have grand plans for my website, but I often don't feel I have the time to execute them properly. And though I enjoy constructing lessons for my website, just as I enjoy making flashcards for myself, I also recognize that such preparation likely falls into the category of planning, so I try to prioritize other language-learning activities for myself, by only allowing fifteen minutes per day for website construction.
Although I did not meet with fellow independent language-learners this week, we maintained conversation in our Facebook group, and one of my peers, L, gave me a little inspiration for an idea I'd like to try. She was put into a situation where she had to drive more than she expected this week, and she feared that it might cut into her language-study time, but then she remembered a mobile app that streamed radio stations in her target language, and she listened to them while in the car. She observed that she thought she retained more in so doing. As spring break is coming up, and with it, two long car rides (one to Michigan, and the other back to Wisconsin), I'm going to try to identify something I can listen to in Kinyarwanda during my journeys, just to determine if L's experience can be replicated. In addition, perhaps it will be the case that by scheduling some language-study during my "down time," I can feel better about the times in which I prioritize other work (e.g. midterms, [formerly] driving]). We'll see how it goes anyway!
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Week Seven: Language-Learning and Language-Teaching
This week, I continued working with my flashcards, again, making sure that the amount of time I spent creating them was half (or under) the amount of time I spent studying them. I'd like to think this system holds me to account, so I'm not just creating flashcards. I'm also using them. This week, I spent an average of twenty minutes, creating flashcards (for both my individual use and for my language-learning website), and about forty minutes, studying them, per day.
Pertinent to my language-learning website, and as I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm interested in making my website more interactive, so I've been experimenting with embedding my flashcards into my website. It looks great, and, actually, it's more interactive than I ever imagined possible, insofar as it allows visitors to my site to chose their study mode from the following options: Match, Learn, Test, Flashcards, and Spell. I'm delighted by these possibilities, but there are still some kinks that need to be worked out on my end. For instance, as mentioned previously, I am trying to arrange my flashcards, so there is Kinyarwanda on one side and only a picture of the term on the other. This works very well for me, particularly as I have learned to associate certain images with certain terms; however, for my website visitors, these associations might not be as clear, even for something as simple as "Fruit," which is the first topic I'm experimenting with embedded flashcards.
Within the topic, "Fruit," there are a few words to describe "banana," for example, and without an English translation, I'm not sure how to make clear these finer nuances. Of course, the solution could be just to describe the word in English, along with the image, and that's fine, but I wonder if I should include more context details within the page itself instead. Currently, the page dedicated to Fruit only has the embedded flashcards; however, if I list the terms, perhaps that would help. On the other hand though, that seems awfully repetitive. If anyone has advice for me on that front, I would sincerely appreciate it. For your reference, here is the page in question:
https://sites.google.com/a/wisc.edu/learning-kinyarwanda/lessons-in-kinyarwanda/6-food-fruit
These flashcards, and the interactive possibilities they offer, have also provided me an opportunity to speak and publicly, at that! Indeed, the "Spell" function requires that the flashcard creator upload an audio recording of the term and/or phrase being studied, so that the studier may, in turn, attempt to spell what they hear. Even though it's a little thing, and it should, in no way, replace conversation, I think I'd like to try including an audio file in my conversation. One of my classmates, K, is including audio in her language-learning blog, and though I am still a little anxious about it, she's providing me the courage to try something like that again. Perhaps a purely audio recording, without a visual component, will relax me a little. Regardless, it's a start, or at least a re-start for me.
In addition to flashcard work and website progress, I have continued watching genocide testimony video, again, for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes per day. And I have begun trying to parse a document from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda's website, which I've been trying to dedicate twenty minutes to per day.
Finally, I also met with some fellow language learners this week, and one of them, L, mentioned the possibility of presenting at Africa Day about teaching oneself a language independently through pop culture. So, that's something to look forward to and possibly something to think about in relation to how I am learning my target language.
Pertinent to my language-learning website, and as I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm interested in making my website more interactive, so I've been experimenting with embedding my flashcards into my website. It looks great, and, actually, it's more interactive than I ever imagined possible, insofar as it allows visitors to my site to chose their study mode from the following options: Match, Learn, Test, Flashcards, and Spell. I'm delighted by these possibilities, but there are still some kinks that need to be worked out on my end. For instance, as mentioned previously, I am trying to arrange my flashcards, so there is Kinyarwanda on one side and only a picture of the term on the other. This works very well for me, particularly as I have learned to associate certain images with certain terms; however, for my website visitors, these associations might not be as clear, even for something as simple as "Fruit," which is the first topic I'm experimenting with embedded flashcards.
Within the topic, "Fruit," there are a few words to describe "banana," for example, and without an English translation, I'm not sure how to make clear these finer nuances. Of course, the solution could be just to describe the word in English, along with the image, and that's fine, but I wonder if I should include more context details within the page itself instead. Currently, the page dedicated to Fruit only has the embedded flashcards; however, if I list the terms, perhaps that would help. On the other hand though, that seems awfully repetitive. If anyone has advice for me on that front, I would sincerely appreciate it. For your reference, here is the page in question:
https://sites.google.com/a/wisc.edu/learning-kinyarwanda/lessons-in-kinyarwanda/6-food-fruit
These flashcards, and the interactive possibilities they offer, have also provided me an opportunity to speak and publicly, at that! Indeed, the "Spell" function requires that the flashcard creator upload an audio recording of the term and/or phrase being studied, so that the studier may, in turn, attempt to spell what they hear. Even though it's a little thing, and it should, in no way, replace conversation, I think I'd like to try including an audio file in my conversation. One of my classmates, K, is including audio in her language-learning blog, and though I am still a little anxious about it, she's providing me the courage to try something like that again. Perhaps a purely audio recording, without a visual component, will relax me a little. Regardless, it's a start, or at least a re-start for me.
In addition to flashcard work and website progress, I have continued watching genocide testimony video, again, for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes per day. And I have begun trying to parse a document from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda's website, which I've been trying to dedicate twenty minutes to per day.
Finally, I also met with some fellow language learners this week, and one of them, L, mentioned the possibility of presenting at Africa Day about teaching oneself a language independently through pop culture. So, that's something to look forward to and possibly something to think about in relation to how I am learning my target language.
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