Summarize your work this semester, the progress you made and the difficulties you encountered.
When I first decided I would start pursuing Turkish, I did not think I would learn as much as I actually learnt this semester. I think pursuing a totally new language at an older age is quite challenging, but I am glad I decided to take the challenge. I chose a number of online resources at the beginning of the semester, but realized later on, that my language partner is the best resource. I learnt the alphabet, which was fairly easy with lots of resemblance to latin alphabet. I continued with learning the vowel harmony of the language and quickly progressed to learning greetings, gratitudes, apologies and other polite expressions. Later on, I was able to speak about myself, do a proper introduction, say my name, age, speak about where I am from and where I live, speak about my studies, work as well as ask relevant questions to other people. I also learnt numbers, places, professions, days of the weeks, months, colors, family introductions, frequency adverbs, questions, verbs, some animals and food etc. I learnt conjugations, simple sentences. I also learnt to ask questions about oneself and understand the answers. I used my online resources as well as the help of language partner and classmates. I practiced writing, listening and speaking skills and tried to find a balance between all of those practices. We ideally combined the language learning with cultural insights and learnt about Turkish family relations, traditions, interesting expressions and phrases, biggest Turkish cities and major archeological sites. We played monopoly several times, watched movies, heard songs, expressed wants and needs and directed our studies the way we found the most useful and interesting. We had speaking practices with my language partner and other Turkish speakers. Now we are able to speak about ourselves, our families, work, hobbies, age, where we are from, etc. We also learnt about Turkish cuisine, Turkish government, the history of Turkish language and culture, as well as dressing and time attitudes.
I believe, as a beginner I accomplished a lot in terms of both learning the language and getting to know the Turkish culture. I am also able to read simple texts and somewhat understand them. My online resources, and most importantly, my language partner were the greatest help for me this semester!
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