I began meeting with my language partner and during our first meeting in January we were able to run through the novice curriculum in casual conversation where we got to know each other a little better. We ran through basic daily conversation, directions, basic presentations, greetings, descriptions, and engaged in extended dialogue in the past and future tenses. This first lesson helped both of gauge my level more accurately and also provided me with confidence to speak Swedish with another person outside of circle of Swedish friends and acquaintances. This is challenging for any person learning a new language and challenges one to employ more sophisticated vocabulary that takes the conversation from casual to slightly more structured and formal. For example, words that I may be accustomed to mispronouncing or saying in English due to pronunciation I am now forced to practice. Other times, my close acquaintances may have already stopped correcting me because of a level of familiarity with my spoken Swedish which they may not see the need to correct because they understand 'what I am trying to say.'
We decided more or less as a team, with further guidance by Dr. Scinicariello, that dividing my lessons into thematic areas such as: politics, welfare, health, immigration, film, literature, education, etc. Will form the foundation of my term with supplementary materials in the form of novels, news articles, TV programming, films, and blogs to serve as discussion starters and sources for vocabulary acquisition.
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