I realized that my learning plan was a bit ambitious after a few weeks. It would take us multiple lessons to familiarize with the phrases and words that apply to the specific topic I had listed in my learning plan. I had listed a lot of these topics and tasks. We will definitely not get through them all this semester, but I think that it was good to have all of my interests in one location. With the longer list we could prioritize what I wanted to learn, but also what my language partner felt the most confident teaching and thought was the most useful.
I have been able to notice the grammatical patterns we have discussed in class in Portuguese. I have also started to notice them across the various languages I have learned. It is helpful to notice these structural similarities to better understand how I have learned them in other languages and how Portuguese differs slightly.
Language and culture are deeply intertwined, which is why I think it is great that my language partner and I are meeting 1-on-1 to discuss both Brazilian language and culture. What I need to be better at to improve my communicative competence in Portuguese as of right now is being able to ask for clarification on specific terms. In my plan, I have focused mostly on grammatical and textual competence, simply because my Portuguese skills are not that advanced. Further along in my studies I would focus more on illocutionary and sociolinguistic competence.
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I also had a similar realization that my learning plan was rather ambitious. I wonder if there was a deciding moment where you realized you bit off too much to chew -- I remember seeing my progress at about the third week and thinking I probably was not going to be able to finish everything on my list.