Study Plan

Can anyone recommend a study plan? I am overwhelmed with the amount of information on the site. My goal is to be able to speak and write with ease. As well, I would like to participate in a beginners conversation post. Thank you!

Kara: Bienvenida a Rocket Spanish! I can tell you what my study plan is, and others will do the same, but in the end you need to figure out a plan that works for you. My plan has changed quite a lot from when I started Rocket Spanish a little over a year ago. This is what I am doing right now: First thing every morning I study what I call a "current" lesson. By that I mean one that I have not previously studied. In the case of an audio lesson, I listen to the audio once over, then usually once or twice more while reading the accompanying transcript carefully. When I come across a new word I will stop to learn what it means and if it is related to another word I already know. After this I go through the conversation transcript and additional vocabulary sections, listening to each line, writing it down, and repeating the line. Then I move on to the testing lab, again writing down each phrase as it is presented, and repeating it in Spanish, for each of the Hear it-Say it, Write it, and Know it sections. It takes me a long time to go through a lesson this way, but I find that I have learned a lot when I am finished. You will find that there is usually a language and culture lesson that corresponds with the audio lesson. So when I have finished the interactive audio lesson I move to the corresponding language and culture lesson and repeat the process I described above. I think that listening, speaking, reading and writing are all important learning activities, so usually as I am eating breakfast I read a page in a basic Spanish reading book I bought, which comes with some questions to which I write out the answers to. It seems to me that verbs are critically important to learning Spanish, so I have developed a habit of looking for new verbs as I go through the lessons, and adding them to a study set in Quizlet that I study every day. I often do this while I am driving or doing something else (the program speaks the English verbs to me and I answer with the Spanish verbs, in case you are wondering!) I also typically select a random verb and conjugate it with the tenses I have learned to date (present, preterite, and imperfect.) Finally, awhile back I decided to review the lessons from the first course. So late in the day I work on one of those, usually just going through the testing lab and writing out the answers to the Hear it-Say it and Know it sections. You may notice that I do a lot of writing. In the My Toolbox section there is an article on the Scriptorium Technique, which I adopted a couple of months ago. I think that it has accelerated my learning to a great degree. All in all, I spend 2 or more hours a day studying Spanish, spread throughout the day. As I said, my plan won't work perfectly for you, but might give you some ideas for your own plan. Saludos, Dan

I spend about 1 hour studying when I first wake up and another hour before I go to sleep. My days are very hectic with work and the activities afterwards. I pretty much follow the lesson plans. I go from one lesson to another. I start with listening to the full audio while I have my morning coffee. Then I go to the conversation transcript. I actually try to memorize the transcript because I know I would need it during the "Play it section". I then listen to the additional vocabulary to be just familiar with them. (Not really know them). I then go to the "Hear it section" and go as far as I can. The next is the "Write it section". I actually just write it in a notebook instead of typing it. I love the "Know it section" because I know I am getting close to the end of the lesson. Actually the "Quiz" is my favorite part because it is the easiest. It is like the tests in a classroom. The last part is the "Play it section". What I don't like about this section is a lot of times the driver stops. Then I have to wait and restart it. I like the forum and some of the participants are really advanced and I am not one of them. I learn a lot from them. I learned the Spanish songs and really like them. You tube is awesome. When I finished the Premium the first time around and started the Premium Plus, I got really discouraged. The level of difficulty increased so much. After a couple of lessons, I went back to the Premium and started learning them again. This time, I was very comfortable with the lessons enough to tackle the Premium Plus. I just finished the Premium Plus and I am starting the Platinum. I think each lesson will probably take me 5 to 7 days to finish. I wish more people will join the forum because I learn a lot from them. Without the forum, I will probably not learn the subjunctives and lately the reflexives pronouns and verbs. I need a tutor but I found out that just because they can speak Spanish doesn't really mean they could become an effective tutor. I am actually learning how to become a tutor. I just need to learn the language first.

When I write it the Spanish words down on the Write It I forget how to write it. So do you know any idea of how I can remember my Spanish?

Study the lessons. Look up words you do not know. Read the lessons and other Spanish things you find. Speak the words out loud. Write them down on paper. Listen to music, podcasts, and other audio or video in Spanish. I like to cook so I listen to Spanish cooking shows often. Try to find someone else who speaks or is learning Spanish to be your learning buddy. In other words, immerse yourself in the language as much as possible, and work at it every day.

In every lesson, the words, phrases, and sentences gets repeated at least three times. I do more repeats until I am comfortable in pronouncing and understanding and maybe remember.

i changed my plan between time to time. i used to listen to audio over and over again , then com to site and review and do the tests. but now -these days- i skipped the audio courses, try to listen from the page it selfs. and focues more in the grammar , i used another resource too. whenever i get bored or feel too much i change the plan but i try not to stop.