And This Year For Halloween I Am A Lazy Pirate

August 12, 2016 “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.“

From Beginner to Intermediate: an intense plan for advancing in language

Introduction

I've studied Spanish at school for 3 years and now I'm at a low B1 level. I can actually understand pretty well while listening or reading but I can't communicate fluently.

This plan will include vocabulary build up, some grammar revision, a lot of listening, reading and writing. And could be used for the most languages, not only Spanish.

Plan

Every day:

Conjugate one verb in present, past and future tenses

Make a list about 10 - 30 words long

Create flashcards with them and start learning them (I use Quizlet for flashcards)

Revise yesterday's set of flashcards

2-3 times a week:

Read an article or a few pages from a book

Write a few sentences about anything in your target language

Listen to one episode of podcast (at least one)

Once a week or every two weeks:

Watch a movie in your target language, preferably animated movie as the language used there is easier. You can watch with subtitles

Grammar exercises

Translate some short text

Once a month:

Write something longer, like an essay or report, on chosen topic

Additionally:

Talk to yourself, to your friends, to your pets

Text with someone

Look at the transcription while listening to the podcast for second time

Repeat what you hear (in podcast or movie)

Check words you don't know from the listening and reading

Read out loud

Listen to music in your target language - you can even learn the text and sing along

Watch YouTube in your target language

Change your phone language to the one you're learning

Think in you target language!!!

***This is very intense plan for self-learners, you don't have to do all of these things in the given time. Adjust it to your own pace. I'll try to stick to this, if I have enough time.***

Peleș Castle in Sinaia, Romania.

mood: getting out of the opera house after watching a beautiful ballet, it’s snowing and christmas bells are finally ringing on the street while you are walking and holding hands with your significant other and your laughters are brighter than the stars above

Classic Horror Novels That Are NOT Frankenstein Or Dracula

The Vampyre by John William Polidori

Carmilla by J. Sharidon le Fanu

The Flowers Of Evil by Charles Baudelaire

Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer by Patrick Suskind & translated by John E. Woods

The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll & Mister Hyde by John Louis Stevenson

Complete Stories & Poems by Edgar Allen Poe

The Picture Of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wild

The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James

The Island Of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

The Hounds Of Baskerville by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan le Fanu

Melmoth The Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin

The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins

*Note these are all novels published BEFORE the 1900s -- I've got a whole other list of those. If you're interested, hmu.

Polly Florence

“Fairy tales are more than moral lessons and time capsules for cultural commentary; they are natural law. The child raised on folklore will quickly learn the rules of crossroads and lakes, mirrors and mushroom rings. They’ll never eat or drink of a strange harvest or insult an old woman or fritter away their name as though there’s no power in it. They’ll never underestimate the youngest son or touch anyone’s hairpin or rosebush or bed without asking, and their steps through the woods will be light and unpresumptuous. Little ones who seek out fairy tales are taught to be shrewd and courteous citizens of the seen world, just in case the unseen one ever bleeds over.”

— S.T. Gibson (via sarahtaylorgibson)