entschuldigung🌻

Hey guys, this post is all about organizing your life a bit before the new semester starts. I know many of you have already started classes, but you can still implement these tips regardless (if you want to of course). I want to emphasize that this post is not meant to shame anyone for having a messy desk, backpack, or anything else. Everyone is different and what works for me will obviously not work for everyone. However, if you struggle with keeping track of your school supplies, past assignments/handouts, and/or feel as if you can’t find what you need when you need it, then this is the post for you.

Desk

Your desk doesn’t have to be immaculate, but it does need to be at least somewhat organized so that you can have all of your supplies handy, as well as a clear space to work. Before school starts, asses the state of your desk. Clear away any junk that’s managed to work its way in, and then organize what’s left. If your desk tends to get dusty, you can also use this as an opportunity to clean it with a wipe or a wet rag.

You should have a designated spot for all of your pens/pencils, post-it notes, loose papers, etc, but it doesn’t have to be fancy. It could be something as simple as deciding to keep all of your sticky notes in a pile on the right side of your desk, and all of your papers in the top drawer.

School supplies that you normally carry in your backpack I’d recommend getting duplicates of for your desk. That way you don’t have to keep pulling them out of your backpack and forgetting to put them back. As an example, I have a stash of pens in a little bucket on my desk, as well as a huge pencil case in my backpack. I also have two mini-staplers, one for my backpack and one to sit on my desk. 

If you have a laptop that you use for homework (or a tablet) you should also make sure that there’s a charging outlet within easy reach of your desk. If not, invest in an extension cord so that you can charge your device while doing your homework.

Backpack

I can’t tell you how easy it is to just cram random junk into your backpack and forget that it exists. Then when you’re trying to pull out something you actually need, you can’t find it for all the crap. Before the semester begins, do a “deep clean” of your backpack. Start by dumping everything out and make two piles: what needs to be in your backpack, and what doesn’t. Your stack of what needs to be in your backpack might look something like this:

folder(s)

notebook(s)

pencil case

snacks (avoid leaving these in your bag for long periods of time though)

water-bottle/portable coffee mug

deodorant, chapstick, tampons, etc.

pepper spray (safety is no joke)

wallet

planner

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Anything that’s not in your “backpack pile” needs to be put away. My backpack sometimes gets random bits of dirt on the inside, so once it’s empty I like to go outside and try to shake all the dirt out. The next step is to re-fill your backpack, but don’t make the mistake of just stuffing it willy-nilly. Give each item a designated pocket/section and commit to always putting it back in that section after you’ve finished using it. Doing this means that even if you have a large backpack (like I do) you’ll still be able to find what you need relatively quickly. 

As a last tip, I would recommend going through your backpack at the end of each school day, and taking out anything that doesn’t belong in there permanently (think gym clothes, that snack you bought, etc.) If you have anything that you don’t want to forget to bring the next day, you can also take this opportunity to put it into your backpack so that you don’t forget it.

Papers

Invest in an accordion folder before classes start (you can get them for around $7 on Amazon). Designate a specific pocket for each one of your classes, and label them accordingly. Any handouts and graded assignments that you receive in class should go in the designated pocket for that class. It’s especially important to keep graded homework in a safe place, not only for study purposes but also because if there’s ever an issue with your grades it’s easy to resolve if you have the assignment in question.

I have one folder that I keep in my backpack, which I use as a catchall for anything my professors hand out in class. Periodically, I’ll transfer all the documents in that folder to my accordion one, and sort them into their respective sections. I receive so many handouts from professors over the course of the semester that to carry them all around in my backpack would be annoying and take up too much space.

One last thing, I never manage to fill up an entire notebook in one semester. So that I don’t waste paper, at the end of the semester I’ll tear out all the pages that actually have notes on them, and staple those notes together. I do this for each class’ set of notes, and then store the stapled pages in my accordion folder along with the rest of the papers for that particular class. This allows me to reuse the notebook the following semester, and still have my notes handy if I ever want to review the material in the future. 

Computer + Phone

It’s extremely important that you have an organized system in place for keeping track of any papers that you type on your computer. Make a folder on your computer for each semester/quarter/academic year, and label it accordingly. Within that larger folder should be separate folders for each class you have. Whenever you create an assignment, save it into the appropriate folder for that class. If you want you can also make a separate folder for more general school documents like forms, general info, etc. If you use google docs to type your papers you can actually make these folders within google drive itself, instead of on your computer.

The next thing you should do is open up whatever web browser you normally use to access school-related sites (student portal, online dictionary, google docs, etc.) Bookmark all of those sites and put them into one bookmarks folder labeled with the name of your school. This saves so much time when you need to access the sites throughout the year.

As far as your phone goes, group together all of the apps that you regularly use for studying into a “school” folder. That way you can find them quickly.

Textbooks

Keep all of your textbooks for the semester/year in one place. This could potentially be your backpack if you have the same classes every day and need to always bring your textbooks to class. If you have different classes on different days then only bring the textbooks you actually need for that day to school in your backpack. You can keep the rest somewhere else (preferably in a place that’s close to your desk and/or where you keep your backpack). If you’re afraid of forgetting to put your textbooks in your bag before leaving for school, make a habit of doing it the night before and you can also set a reminder for yourself on your phone.

You might find that for some classes you never end up using the textbook in class. If this is the case, then you could consider leaving your textbooks for that class at home (unless you plan on studying at school of course).

Cowboys

nouns

der Cowboy - the cowboy

das Cowgirl - the cowgirl

das Pferd - the horse

die Farm - the farm

die Ranch - the ranch

der Bauernhof - the farm (however this has less of a cowboy connotation and is moreso a farm in general)

der Cowboyhut - the cowboy hat

die Cowboystiefel (Sg. der Cowboystiefel) - the cowboy boots

der Sattel - the saddle

der Wilde Westen - the wild west

das Lasso - the lasso

die Kuh - the cow

der Stier - the bull

der Indianer/die Indianerin - the native american

adjectives

wild - wild

frei - free

verbs 

reiten - to ride (only with horses and other animals)

hüten - to herd

galoppieren - to gallop

hiii so i’ve always had a hard time actually figuring out what learning style works best for me and i’ve come to the conclusion that it mostly depends on the subject. but, if you know that style, studying will be a whole lot more effective. i’ve compiled a list of learning style quizzes and other resources to help you figure out which learning style works best for you!

quizzes

what’s your learning style? 20 questions

what’s your learning style?

what is your learning style?

learning styles quiz

how do i learn best?

discover your preferred learning style

learning style inventory

learning style assessment

also: you don’t have to take all of them! but it might help to try out a couple, see if your results vary, and see what they recommend for you to do to make studying and learning more effective.

tips

visual

sketch notes

study tips

visual/spacial learning

strategies

more strategies

auditory

auditory study tips

tips for auditory learners

helpful hints

5 tips for auditory learners

tactile/kinesthetic

study tips

tactile learning strategies

kinesthetic learning strategies

the kinesthetic learning style

reading and writing

reading and writing

study tips

annotation tips

masterposts

learning styles and study tips

tips for auditory,visual, and tactile learners

active vs. passive learning

+sites

a guide to learning strategies (VARK)

understanding the learning styles

if you realize you’ve been studying for hours: grab a snack to refuel your body and watch a sitcom to refuel your brain. then back to the books.

if you’re feeling stressed out: take some deep breaths, text your friends, maybe stare at a wall for a few minutes. gather yourself.

if you can’t seem to focus: get moving and get outside. take out the garbage, check your mail box, maybe walk your dog. just get moving and get fresh air. it’ll help bring you back.

if there’s something else going on in your life and you can’t get it off your mind: write down what’s going through your head, sort of like a diary entry. it’ll help you work things out.

if you’re just mentally and physically exhausted: set a timer for 25-30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll hit REM and you’ll wake up feeling just as tired. once you wake up, get some caffeine in you.

if the material is boring as hell: find another way to study. see if there’s a crash course video online about it or draw out what you’re trying to learn in diagrams and pictures to make it fun.

if people around you won’t shut up: listen to some music. soundtrack and classical music is always good because they won’t absorb you as much as music with lyrics. white noise (like ocean waves, rain sounds, etc.) also works.

These are all my personal thoughts and experiences from reaching a proficient level in one language, and an intermediate in another!! Feel free to correct me or add whatever you wish<3

 1. A0 - Knowledge Level: Nothing

At this stage, you have absolutely no knowledge or very little knowledge about a language. My advice is to start out slow: the alphabet, pronunciation rules, basic pronouns, colors, etc. At this point, there’s not much you can improve on (Reading/Writing, Listening and Speaking) since you’ve got no actual knowledge to expand upon. Try apps like Duolingo, have fun with translating words such as your favorite animal, plant, or swear word. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself at this point, it’s all in good fun! Try starting a notebook in which you write down new words, (i.e. all of them) or watching a couple videos on Youtube, even if you don’t understand much.

2. A1 - Knowledge Level: Just a Bit

This is when you slowly exit the stage of “is this even a language” and enter the “beginner” world. You know a couple basic verbs (to be, to have, eat, sleep, walk, talk, etc) and some sets of basic nouns/pronouns. (weekdays, months, numbers, colors, objects you find around the house, and all that fun jazz.) You can string together a couple sentences you’ve heard twenty times on Duolingo! Regardless of the fact that “The boys drink milk” is not really something you’ll need in irl conversation, it’s good that you’re getting familiar. By this time, you should start looking into proper grammar rules such as verb terminations, tenses, noun declinations, pronouns, etc. Children’s books are a good way to learn a lot of stuff you’d need. The language is simple and it goes straight to the point, which is the only type of writing you understand, mostly. Right now, speaking is not really an option aside from learning to pronounce words right. Listening, on the other hand, can be done really easily! If you find that Youtube channels in your target language are boring or too hard to understand, music is the way to go. You’re especially lucky if you’re a Disney fan, because most of their songs are easy to remember and are dubbed in a lot of languages, so have fun with finding what fits you best!

3. A2 - Knowledge Level: Basic/Preliminary

Now we’re beginning to see some major improvements. You pick up words easier, you can read almost perfectly even if you don’t understand everything, and you can form really basic sentences by yourself. For speaking, by now you should be able to say your name, the place you live in, and maybe talk about your hobbies or your favorite stuff! It depends on if you’ve worked with a teacher until now or not, so don’t worry if you’re still struggling. As a stepping stone between beginner and intermediate, this level can either be the one when you slowly improve or make a really big jump in your skills. Listening to songs and youtube videos should be easier, but nobody is expecting you to actually comprehend everything. As for vocabulary and reading, learning new words should come more intuitively by now, but again, you’re still in the early days. Writing is still something that can be difficult, so try maybe linking a couple sentences together to make a short story and translating some simple texts. But it you don’t find it difficult, writing a hundred words once a couple days may be the way to go.

4. B1 - Knowledge Level - Intermediate

Finally, we’ve reached the intermediate stage! By now you should be able to hold very basic conversation and reveal information about yourself. You should be able to pick up words you know from the people around you, and understand mostly everything if spoken slowly and clearly to. Reading light books or magazines should be challenging but okay, while you should be able to remember certain words without making too big of an effort. By this stage, active learning is still essential, as you probably have a lot more ahead in your language learning journey. I encourage you to write short stories or several sentences about your day in a diary, depending on what works for you. Watching Youtube videos should be something you do often, because it improves listening skills greatly and gets you accustomed to informal speech patterns and filler words.

5. B2 - Knowledge Level - Advanced Intermediate

Yay! You have officially reached the advanced intermediate stage! You should be able to hold everyday conversation without too big of a headache, listening probably isn’t a breeze for you but still, if you watch a basic youtube video you can pretty much get all of it. YA books should be a regular part of your reading, since they’re not too hard to comprehend but still a good reading exercise. Vocabulary probably isn’t a bother anymore, since you know most of the words you need and the ones you don’t, you hear them once or five times and they stick to you. At this level you can probably write some basic fanfiction, or anything that doesn’t require advanced language skills but is still challenging. Congrats! You’re almost at an advanced level!

6. C1 - Advanced

If you’re still here, means you’ve got a strong sense of dedication. C1 is the advanced level, where you have pretty much everything that you need to comfortably live your life in a country which speaks your target language. If you’re already here and most of the above things seem far, far away to you, then maybe it’s time to get down on some serious reading. Look up local classics, or contemporary works that stimulate your mind. Writing essays, reviews, reports, etc, should be something you are able to do, as you have a good grasp on both formal and informal language, both literary concepts and idioms/phrasal verbs/slang. Listening should come easily, with the ability to understand everything that is spoken to you without worries, as long as they don’t have an alien accent. Speaking, too, should be a breeze by now, with everyday conversation being a piece of cake and more formal conversations not posing too big of a challenge. If you want to reach the next– and last– level, it can be done through thorough preparation of skills that are usually required by exams or for language-related jobs. If you don’t care about either of these, congrats! You learned a language! 

7. C2 - Proficient

My progress:

Spanish (B2)

French (A2)

German (A2)

Greek (A0)

Lithuanian (A0)

My just general goals that I want to accomplish by the end of my freshman year at university:

-Hardcore Spanish: get that baby up to C1. Converse with natives (speaking; not texting or replying in English) fairly frequently (like every other time I Skype my Mexican bff do it in Spanish). Grammar: have a confident grasp on preterite, future, and conditional verbs (review), as well as the usage of por vs. para. Understand the difference between subjunctive vs. indicative, and begin to use the present subjunctive. Vocabulary: journal every day and record the vocabulary from that journal. Buy and read a Y/A book or other easy-ish novel. (I don’t have anything to read in Spanish other than Wikipedia articles, news, readers, and a free book about Pope Francis so this should be a change).

-French: I’m still considering dropping this language. I’m going to follow through with my senior year French course. I plan on really polishing up in it a lot before the end of February when I go to Québec so I can effectively communicate there *with confidence* and talk and understand some conversational topics that are more on a B2 level. Once I’m finished with my French course, I want to put this language on “hold” - just brushing up every so often (maybe like a study session every other week) until I make a decision on what I want to do with it. I would like to make that decision no later than the beginning of September of 2019. if I decide to continue with my studies, I would like to focus on acquiring vocabulary and finding a native speaker to text with in French.

-German: Similar situation as with French. I’m sure that I want to continue on with this language, however I really want to take my time and nurture it. Over the course of the summer, I would like to find a native speaker to text with a bit in German and really get a grasp of writing in the language again. I want to focus on grammar - mostly verbs as well as articles and cases. Most of this would be review, so it’s a feasible goal, however I would like to get a confident grasp on the present, future, and past tense of all verbs and the declensions of articles/pronouns and what exactly that means. New grammar topic: when and how to decline adjectives. Slowly build vocabulary levels up to B1. (pretty much be able to go on a week long vacation to Germany without having to study beforehand. Not going to happen, but it’s the skill that counts. Order food, hotels, talk about me my family and my pets, shop, hospitals, basic feelings and opinions, directions, tell a basic story, etc.)

Greek: Figure out the d!mn alphabet. Write the alphabet fairly easily/legibly. Also, listen to lots of Greek (I’m looking at you, illegal Greek Barbie movies on. Youtube.) Learn greetings and goodbyes as well as basic phrases (please, thank you, etc.) Learn colors and numbers. Learn days and months. Learn how to basically ask/answer “How are you?”.  If comfortable, build progress and slowly bridge into A1. example: “How are you?” “I am well/unwell.” “I am tall.” “It is green.” etc.

Lithuanian: Learn alphabet and sounds. Learn and get a grasp on basic conversational phrases. Learn personal pronouns, present tense of būti and eīti as well as regular verbs. (Pretty much Ch 1&2 of Beginner’s Lithuanian and Chapter 1 of Colloquial Lithuanian). Learn basic vocabulary offered in the books. Learn days of week, months of year, colors, and basic adjectives. example: “The man is tall.” “The students study Lithuanian.” “July is hot.” etc.

In France, we say “qui peut le plus, peut le moins” which basically means “if you can do the hardest things, you can do the easier ones as well.”. However, I have a teacher who once told me “if you can do the easiest things, you will be able to do the hardest ones” and I think that’s pretty relevant when it comes to learning languages.

Build your language skills, don’t be afraid of using short sentences, basic grammar and simple words. You can try to learn all the grammar of a language, but at the end of the day your brain is going to be overwhelmed.