I continued working with my flashcards, again, continuing to limit the amount of time I spend creating them to half (or under) the amount of time I spend studying them. This week, I didn't spend much time at all creating flashcards, but I spent about an hour, per day, studying the database I have accumulated. I'm happy about this, for the most part, not because it is indicative of the fact that I have somehow accumulated all of the possible Kinyarwanda vocabulary, but because I feel I spent my time particularly meaningfully this week, with outcomes-based assessments, in mind.
I have also continued watching genocide testimony video for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes per day. I try to be strategic about this, watching the same video once each day, taking notes as I go, writing down words that I don't know, and guessing at the meaning, before eventually comparing my proposed understanding with the English subtitles provided.
And I have also continued trying to parse a document from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda's website, which I've been trying to dedicate only twenty minutes to per day, so as to not burn myself out. I'd like to think of this as good practice for when I will be at the archive this summer. Fingers still crossed on that note!
I have also spent a fair amount of time preparing for my World Languages Day presentation, entitled "Muraho! Mwitwa nde?: Saying Hello and Introducing Yourself in Kinyarwanda." Of course, it is only a rudimentary lesson in my target language, but I am nervous all the same, because, for some of the high school students I will be presenting to, this might be their first [and maybe only] encounter with an African language, so I want to make a good and meaningful impression!
I also modified my final self assessment tool from last semester. Much of it remained the same; however, I eliminated an activity pertinent to idioms, as my language-learning activities were not built around or building up to an assessment about idioms.
Now, as for my not-so-successes, I was excited to create new activities for my language-learning website, centered around school-related items and household items, and coloring sheets, and I made a sincere effort to make this happen. In fact, looking at my TimeTrack, it is evident that I spent more time than I actually had, in order to construct these activities, but the product has still not been yielded, due to technological issues on my part. Indeed, instead of asking my website visitors to color the sheets themselves, because I determined I could not make that activity interactive in the way I wanted it to be, I decided to color them in myself and ask such questions as: What color is the table? What color is the roof? However, I couldn't find a program that would allow me to fill in the spaces on the coloring sheets, as the programs I was attempting to use did not recognize the lines on the sheet. So, I have decided to print them off and color them in (old-fashioned, I know), scan them into my computer, and then ask the questions. Maybe it will serve the function of guilt-free stress-relief, as well.
And now for my positive spin: Looking at my list of successes and not-so-successes, it is evident that my successes win the day, and yet I began this blog post, insisting that I had bitten off more than I could chew, and I discussed my not-so-successes at a greater length then any of my multiple successes. Perhaps the problem then isn't that I routinely bite off more than I can chew, though I do believe that occurs. Instead, perhaps the problem relates to when I can't forgive myself for having to save some- even the smallest bit of- Kinyarwanda for later. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the problem has never been with my language-study, nor my language-use, but rather my perception of it, and if any great improvements stand to be made, my perception must change first.
And I have also continued trying to parse a document from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda's website, which I've been trying to dedicate only twenty minutes to per day, so as to not burn myself out. I'd like to think of this as good practice for when I will be at the archive this summer. Fingers still crossed on that note!
I have also spent a fair amount of time preparing for my World Languages Day presentation, entitled "Muraho! Mwitwa nde?: Saying Hello and Introducing Yourself in Kinyarwanda." Of course, it is only a rudimentary lesson in my target language, but I am nervous all the same, because, for some of the high school students I will be presenting to, this might be their first [and maybe only] encounter with an African language, so I want to make a good and meaningful impression!
I also modified my final self assessment tool from last semester. Much of it remained the same; however, I eliminated an activity pertinent to idioms, as my language-learning activities were not built around or building up to an assessment about idioms.
Now, as for my not-so-successes, I was excited to create new activities for my language-learning website, centered around school-related items and household items, and coloring sheets, and I made a sincere effort to make this happen. In fact, looking at my TimeTrack, it is evident that I spent more time than I actually had, in order to construct these activities, but the product has still not been yielded, due to technological issues on my part. Indeed, instead of asking my website visitors to color the sheets themselves, because I determined I could not make that activity interactive in the way I wanted it to be, I decided to color them in myself and ask such questions as: What color is the table? What color is the roof? However, I couldn't find a program that would allow me to fill in the spaces on the coloring sheets, as the programs I was attempting to use did not recognize the lines on the sheet. So, I have decided to print them off and color them in (old-fashioned, I know), scan them into my computer, and then ask the questions. Maybe it will serve the function of guilt-free stress-relief, as well.
And now for my positive spin: Looking at my list of successes and not-so-successes, it is evident that my successes win the day, and yet I began this blog post, insisting that I had bitten off more than I could chew, and I discussed my not-so-successes at a greater length then any of my multiple successes. Perhaps the problem then isn't that I routinely bite off more than I can chew, though I do believe that occurs. Instead, perhaps the problem relates to when I can't forgive myself for having to save some- even the smallest bit of- Kinyarwanda for later. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the problem has never been with my language-study, nor my language-use, but rather my perception of it, and if any great improvements stand to be made, my perception must change first.
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