From our fabulous friend - Mama Bec:
Ciao A tutti
Well it has been 2 weeks since I first got it out there that
I want to study Italian and I have made a little progress. Admittedly I am still in revision stage – but
to be honest I am amazed I’ve even got this far! (I seriously don’t know where I found the
time to organize a wonderful wedding in just 10 weeks – where did all that ‘spare’
time come from – I certainly can’t find it now) But I have managed to squeeze
in a bit of study here and there. In
fact I have just completed Unit 1 – that’s 6 lessons people!
So how IS she
doing it? I hear you ask! Don’t leave us
in suspense a minute longer!!! Have you ever heard of an online learning tool
called Livemocha – probably not!! I
stumbled across it via some group deal, which I thought would be a cheap and
non – committal way of getting the ball rolling with this language learning
idea. And it is actually quite a fun
way of doing it. It’s a little like the
ABC Reading egg for kids only there are no animated creatures singing to me
after each level. But I do get very
encouraging words like Well Done and Share you progress with your
friends!! And I have lots of messages
from people wanting to be my friend! Not
sure yet but it seems suspiciously like some kind of international dating and
chat line so I haven’t yet braved responding to any requests to chat. Think I need to work on my Italian
conversational skills before I attempt to converse and possibly ward off
potential suitors! Each lesson has 4
sections.
The learning bit with 40
sentences about the topic in question, the reviewing bit where you answer
questions about what you have learned, and then a written exercise and an oral
exercise that you record and send off into livemocha land to be judged and
reviewed. Haven’t figured out my mic yet
so my recordings are all blank, but at least I do practice the spoken word,
even if no-one can actually hear me!! And then I can review other peoples
submissions which I think earns me more time, or mocha money or something. I am too time poor at the moment to find out
but once I become more confident with this system Ill try to help other people
with their English study.
It’s very exciting! And now that I am at the next level I
feel very encouraged. I do need to be
more persistent however. Perhaps set a
goal of a lesson a day, or perhaps 5 a week, or a level a week. Something obtainable, but consistent. This is what I will work on before the next
installment of this blog. And I’ve got
some other ideas up my sleeve too, including an inspiring Italian dinner at Il Solito Posto with some
close friends… So stay tuned!
Oh and thanks to Andrea for the CIS
tip - sounds perfect for Stage 2 of my Great Italian Project. Might see
you there in the (hopefully) not too distant future...
Bec
