Celebration of Progress: The Conquering of Unit 9's Plateau

It's finally done, it's finally happened. The language stalemate, the plateau, the struggle to climb over, has been achieved!

Unit 9 has been great, but at certain points a mental challenge overcoming the speech and instant translation of what I was reading. After taking a day last week to practise that one section over and over again, then going into Unit 10, I found I had finally broken that and was able to instantly say and translate the sentences. I was keeping up toe to toe with my audio instructor and was feeling quite proud.

However, more than that, I'm greatful for the progress I have really seen. My quickness and recognition has improved, I don't take as long as I used to to work through new material (the understanding of it). Plus, I am on page 219 out of 661. That's a lot of hardwork over a period of 6 months.

Could i have gotten more done in less time? Yes I really could! However, life was happening often and I had to constantly divide my time amongst other responsibilities. So what could have taken 3 months, is going to take more. I have no issue with that. I can go between FSI and the book grammar work and feel I will come out ok.

Once I finish Unit 10, I will be going back to grammar. I had to use discipline to stop myself from working on grammar. Not because it was bad, but because I was not doing my speaking practise, which is extremely important. I could eat that grammar book up while watching movies, listening to music, etc. But speaking practise requires me to focus only on it, since i need to look at the book.

I overcame that, by making my self-study work live. That way I could practise
more, share my understanding, opinions and nuances as I do, and realise just how much that process makes the work stick better than being spoonfed in an oversized classroom of people going their own pace.

What fun!

It's time I go, food awaits!

Happy learning!