Week Twelve: Assessing my Kinyarwanda

As I progress through my course of language study, I find that there are certain touchstones I encounter that do a fair job of assessing my Kinyarwanda. Some are conscious and explicit assessments, like tracking long-term learning on Quizlet, determining if I've reached the goals stated on my individualized study plan, or making/taking a final self-assessment; other assessments are more organic and implicit, aimed at determining the ease in which I engage with the language, the confidence in which I speak.

Indeed, as I mentioned last week, I gave a presentation at World Languages Day. Admittedly, I was a little nervous, as producing language has been known to give me anxiety, and even when I intimately know the parts of the language I am producing, I still feel compelled to consult my notes, *just* in case I mess up or stumble, which might actually be the cause of my stumbling. However, I felt rejuvenated by this presentation! Granted, it may be the case that presenting to an audience with no familiarity of Bantu languages provided me with some amount of comfort, but I would hesitate to attribute my ease to that alone, because I was still determined to do a good job, and, furthermore, I recognized that high school students would be a tough audience, if they were not engaged.

I constructed a PowerPoint presentation, more so for the students' benefit, as I recognize some L2 learners find it too overwhelming to produce a word that they've only ever heard, not seen, but for the most part, I did not look at it. I went into the audience and starting speaking with students in the target language. Admittedly, many of them were not so into it, but there were quite a few that not only could produce the language that I requested of them, but they were also beginning to identify patterns within the language. For instance, one student asked me if "U" is the second-person singular/informal marker, whereas "Mu," he hypothesized, was the second-person plural/formal marker. I confirmed his assumption, and later when a new person marker (the first-person singular) was introduced, I brought attention to it, due to his interest. Otherwise, I would have allowed the opportunity to pass, because I wouldn't want to overwhelm them with unnecessary grammar lessons. Similarly, students approached me after the lesson to compare the two second-person forms to the two second-person forms in Spanish, and I affirmed that many languages have such a construction, and even though English does not have a formalized version we seem to be actively searching for one, as evidenced in the rise of "y'all," "yous guys," and "your majesty." In conclusion, it was a great day!

Beyond my presentation, I had an iffy week, due primarily to various department goings on, as well as a visit from my mother and brother for the holiday weekend. Because it was something I could easily do in moments of spare time, I turned to my Quizlet flashcards and studied them. Depending on the day, I spent anywhere from a half hour to an hour with this task (not all at once, however).

I also watched genocide testimony video for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes per day. In an effort to be purposeful about it, I watch the same video once per day, taking notes as I go, writing down words that I don't know, and guessing at the meaning, before eventually comparing initial understanding with the English subtitles provided.

I also spent a little bit of time, thinking of ways to improve upon my formal self-assessment. From my first semester as an independent language-learner, I have used a very similar assessment tool, but now that my language skills are improving, Dr. T has suggested that I revise my it accordingly to make it appropriate to someone of my comprehension level. Accordingly, I might take another look at my classmates' self-assessments for inspiration, as well as scour the internet a little for new and innovative ideas as to how to use vocabulary in context.

As you might note, it wasn't a terribly productive week, but all the same, some amount of progress was made, and I'm happy about that.

Week Eleven: Biting Off More Than I Can Chew, or Saving Some for Later?

This week, as with so many others, I readily acknowledge that I have bitten off more than I can chew, almost by habit, it seems. I'll start with my successes, and then I'll concede my not-so-successes, and then I'll try to end with a positive spin. So, here we go:

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.

Week Ten: Kinyarwanda, Working on the "Efficiently"

This week, in Kinyarwanda study, wasn't a terribly eventful one, but I can't expect them all to be "home-runs," I suppose. I continued working with my flashcards, again, continuing to ensure 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, I have continued embedding flashcards into my website. I think it looks great, and it is much more technologically advanced than I would have ever thought myself to be, but I'd still like to do more! One of my fellow language-learners, R, has started to create adult coloring-books for her own language-instruction, and I'd be interested in investigating with that as a potential method. In particular, this week, I am going to modify lessons that I previously posted (on household and school-related items), and I could see where placing an un-colored image of a house or a school might be very fruitful. For example, I could tell them to "color the door red," or I could ask them to "color the table brown." Not only would this exercise test website visitors on the items of study, but it would also test their knowledge of colors. I could then post an answer key. Of course, I think this is asking too much, but I am forced to wonder if there's a way I could embed the coloring sheet and have website visitors color it on my website, but I'll look into it all the same...

In addition to flashcard work and website progress, I have 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 understanding with the English subtitles provided.

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. I'd like to think of this as good practice for when I will (hopefully) be in Rwanda at the Genocide Archive this summer.

Last week, I said that I would be investigating with TimeTrack, and I did, indeed, download the app and have been trying to use it faithfully, but I guess I'm not used to such a standardized system yet, because sometimes I forget to start the TimeTrack (when I begin an activity), or I forget to end it (when I finish an activity), or I simply forget about it. I'm going to try to make a much more concentrated effort to commit myself to it this week. Indeed, I think such an would be useful to me, because I've been adding additional activities to my daily schedule, such as research visa applications, reviewing French, and continuing to investigate summer learning options for Swahili. I feel it is now even more essential that I use my time wisely.

Week Nine: Kinyarwanda, Efficiently

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.

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!

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.

Week Six: A New Wind

I feel compelled to open this blog entry by stating that I haven't felt as if I were in a linguistic slump, as if my language-learning had hit a brick wall, as if I were falling behind in my expectations for myself. I have not felt dismayed, disappointed, or dejected- this semester, at least. All the same, however, recently, I feel as though my language-learning has been accelerated, rejuvenated, been exposed to a "new wind."

This week, I've continued working with Quizlet, trying to minimize my flashcard construction to twenty minutes per day and maximize my study time to forty minutes per day. If I slip, however, and construct past the twenty minute mark, I make myself study double the amount I spend constructing. This is *not* a punishment, but instead a commitment. Indeed, if there are so many words to study, and I wish to spend time making flashcards to study, then I should be studying them. I mentioned last week that I would try to study in front of my family, during my visit home. First, I tested the waters by describing my flashcards to my grandma. I told her that a lot of my photos for "People" or "Family and Friends" came from my cousin's wedding, and I showed her how I marked-up the images to show relationships. She seemed to appreciate that I could incorporate both of my "worlds"- family and school/research- into one.

Also, I took it as an opportunity to tell her a little about the language. Both my grandpa and grandma were interested to know that there are different words for a family member based on who is speaking (Mawe- my mother, Mama- the mother or maternal aunt of the person speaking, Nyoko- the mother of the person being spoken to, and Nyina- the mother of another person). Grandpa thinks it would be hard to keep it straight, and admittedly, I've had to get very creative in my flashcard use. Later, however, when we got together for the baby shower that I visited home to attend, I was pointing to people and saying what their relationship would be to me or who they are in Kinyarwanda (only loud enough for those around me to hear), and grandpa was chiming in and saying what he thought I was saying in English. Although I don't think he'd say it in so many words, I think he's interested in what I do, even if he doesn't understand it all the time, and I think he's proud of me, which makes me want to be better. All that is to say practicing my language in front of family was a successful activity, and I'd like to do it more, so it is not so abstract to them.

Before I visited home for the weekend, I worked on my language-learning website. Inspired by one of my classmates, L, who is making a sincere effort to make her website for Luganda learners more interactive, I poked around mine to see what I could do to improve upon mine. Although my professor, Dr. T, has made suggestions in the past, I've often felt too intimidated by advanced software, because I am no computer whiz. This week, however, I learned how to embed my Quizlet flashcards into my language-learning website, so next week, I'd like to work on ways to incorporate them. Many of my flashcards are specific to me, insofar as they contain photos of my family and friends, so I have made them private; however, I'm thinking of creating additional ones for public consumption. Last week, I worked on my language-learning website for about thirty minutes on Monday through Thursday, but I was unable to make time over the weekend. Similarly, I made eight to ten contributions to Google Translate Monday through Thursday, because I knew I wouldn't be able to over the weekend. As I've noted previously, I enjoy contributing to these online Kinyarwanda resources, not only because teaching another is a helpful way to cement my own language knowledge, but also because it is a material way to measure my own progress.

In addition, I continued working with genocide testimony, this time, Monday through Friday, approximately twenty minutes per day.

With that said, however, I didn't produce much language myself this week, either in print or for recorded monologues. I'll try to improve upon this for next week. One of my classmates, K, asked me if I intended to publish my audio(visual) monologues. I explained to her that I did, at one point, include monologues with my blog posts, but after a while, I found it to be an anxiety-producing activity. Now, I believe it might hold me accountable to committing to them. No promises yet, but Kinyarwanda-videos forthcoming (maybe)!

Finally, my Kinyarwanda presentation proposal was accepted for World Languages Day, and I was told, by the organizer, W, that it will be the first time Kinyarwanda is on the program. So, that's exciting, but more importantly, it will give me something to prepare for, as well as provide me an opportunity to measure my own progress/knowledge by teaching others (again)!