Over spring break:
-Malory and I Skyped: We spoke in Swedish about what we had been doing over break and what we had planned to do. We got to practice using verbs in various tenses as well as framing questions for one another. It was fun and relaxed so I think both of us felt really comfortable speaking Swedish with one another.
-Translating articles: We both had to find/read/translate five articles in Swedish and then summarize them. The reading part is not too bad and I think it helps with my vocabulary. The part that is trickier is summarizing because it really forces you to understand what you are reading and put it in your own words (in Swedish, of course!).
-Reading/summarizing about Swedish culture/traditions: I feel like now I know everything there is to know about Swedish culture!!!
-Using verbs in various tenses: This is important for me right now because I know a lot of verbs in the present and infinitive but often can't remember/just don't know how to use the verb in the past tense. So when talking about what I had done/eaten/seen over break it was helpful that I had reviewed those common verbs in the past tense as well. I am very thankful that you don't have to conjugate verbs in Swedish like you do in Spanish. Oy vey!
-Watching Bron/other videos: I made a friend on the airplane coming back from Spain because I was watching Bron. It's still kind of hard to process what they're saying because the accents are pretty strong, but I'm definitely getting better.
This week:
-Talking to Louise entirely in Swedish about our breaks: Like when Skyping with Mal, this was helpful because I had to use my grammar/vocab skills to come up with things I had done over break. I think forcing myself to speak in Swedish is necessary in order to be successful in gaining language skills.
-Listening/translating Louise's stories/break: This was the best activity because for the most part I could follow along with what Louise was saying and then could ask if I didn't know a word. Then I added those words to my list of words to learn! Louise was very instructive through this process because she would stop to ask if we understood, and she would purposefully use words she thought we knew or would be able to figure out, and then she would gesticulate a lot in order to demonstrate what she was talking about. I really think we should be doing more of this because ultimately I want to be able to understand what the Anderssons are saying!
-Listening homework: We went on Youtube to find videos of people speaking Swedish and then translated. This was helpful because for the most part I could understand what they were saying. I picked a video of a young woman who was learning Swedish in order to move there-- so I think I could understand her better than if I had chosen a native speaker because she sounds more like I do when I try to speak! Even still, I had to stop and figure out what words she was saying and got an overall understanding of what she was trying to articulate to her audience.
Side note: Over the summer I purchased the first set of Rosetta Stone so I could practice. Before working with Louise and Malory in the fall I did about the first section of my program and then pushed it aside when I started getting homework from Louise! Just out of curiosity and because I wanted to see where I stand today, I started going through the chapters of my Rosetta Stone this afternoon. I really do think that I'm at the point now with my Swedish that I could get some benefit from doing maybe the last two chapters of my Rosetta Stone and then I would either have to stop or get the next package/level. I'm really excited by how far I have come!!
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