subject: Goals For Studying The Foreign Language by:Paul Abbey [print this page] Some basics: Foreign language courses are quite different from other courses so you must never drag your feet about it. When you defer a foreign language course, it is as good as a failure and you must ensure that you spend a minimum of 3 hours weekly and 15 minutes on a daily basis for this. It is recommended that you cull out all the extra time in your hands and spend it in studying the language but never more than 45 minutes per session.
Fork out your whole study material into several manageable units. Attend classes regularly, if you want to pass the course and you are serious about the language. You could revisit your learning off and on and check what your have learnt in the past, for example the vocabulary. Below are some suggestions to make the different parts of learning a foreign language easier and more successful.
Understanding what is written: Try to understand the gist of what is written rather than stopping to know the meaning of a word you are uncertain about. Read the chapters of the text book in small bits every day.
Speaking: Making mistakes is inevitable so listen to your friends in the class and start communicating. You can start practicing the foreign language by talking to your self, talking to others who are in the same class or even with your pet dog or cat.
Putting pen to paper: Practice your skills on putting down your thoughts on paper till it becomes effortless.
Ask a friend to dictate a passage of the language and then later check it for accuracy.
Some Assorted helps: Develop a Good Attitude, have reasons and goals for studying the foreign language. Be clear about your learning goals and the avenues you ought to take to achieve those goals. If you need help get it and do not be afraid to ask questions or ask for help for fear of sounding stupid, or being embarrassed. Get audio tapes of the language and listen to them or make you own tapes and listened to yourself in order to perfect your pronunciation. The only way you can have correct pronunciation is to listen to audio tapes of the language or record something yourself and then listen to them. Make flash cards for vocabulary and try using different colors for different genders of the words and for different categories of words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives. If you practice studying in groups, you can make good friends with your classmates which would be eager to help you out.
