Week #10

This week, I've been keeping up with watching the Portuguese Semantica videos.  I've learned vocabulary associated primarily with how to check in to a hotel and to arrive to a new city.  I've also continued to work on learning my top 100 Portuguese phrases flash cards.  Both of these sources have proved to be extremely beneficial and have helped me learn a great deal.  This week, after keeping track of all of the things that have worked well, and all that hasn't worked as I planned, and the time commitment associated with all of the resources I found, I went back and edited my 30 day plan.  The finished plan is as follows:

I'm really excited about my finished 30 day challenge!! Based on my experience, it really is beneficial to help someone get a head start learning a language and it's a very small time commitment and would be doable for someone that's very busy and would simply like to dedicate a little time each day to learning a new language.  Although I'm certainly not fluent in Portuguese, I have greatly improved in my understanding of Portuguese when it is spoken and can say quite a few phrases.  

Week #9

After taking a week break from blog posting for the 4th of July holiday, I'm glad to be back to report my progress with learning Portuguese!! For the past two weeks, I have focused solely on watching Portuguese language learning podcasts on iTunes.  I have found this resource to be FANTASTIC.  I absolutely love the porguguese semantica podcasts that I have been listening to and have found them to be extremely beneficial. I am thankful that I started out with Duolingo in order to have a basis of the language, but the podcasts are much more practical in their use.  They provide a video conversation that one would face in the real world, and then it breaks it down and gives new vocabulary.  I watched each video several times until I felt that I had mastered it. These videos taught me how to introduce myself, how to order something at a restaurant, how to ask where something is, and many more very practical and useful things.  I will certainly incorporate this more into the 30 day challenge.  Furthermore, during the past few weeks I have come to the conclusion that it will be beneficial to create two versions of the 30 day challenge- an intensive challenge and an intro challenge for those that don't have a great amount of time each day to spend on it. This will be much more beneficial for those that aren't able to spend as much time as I allotted in the challenge each day.  Continually, I would like to start the challenge more intensive with flashcards and Duolingo, and then transition into movies, podcasts, and such.  This is the method that I have followed and I have found it to be very beneficial.  I can tell that I have made great strides on my understanding of the Portuguese language, though my ability to speak it is still coming along!

Week #7

     Hello!  I'm back with an update on my progress through the Portuguese Learning Challenge!  Thus far, I have been able to keep up with the DuoLingo app.  I have completed the sections titled "Basics," "Phrases," "Food," "Plurals," "Animals," "Food 2," "Posession," "Tu/Voce," "Clothing," "Questions," "Colors," and am currently working on "Present." I have found that my progress has been steadily increasing in Portuguese and it has become easier and easier. However, I have found that while DuoLingo is beneficial as far as increasing vocabulary goes, it is more helpful for reading Portuguese than it is speaking.  While it does include audio, it is easy to rely on reading while using the app.  After this discovery, I would like to change my 30 day challenge to rely less on this app and more different resources.

   Taking all of this into consideration, I feel as though the challenge would be much more beneficial if I was more immersed in the language.  For example, I would like to include a challenge to spend a few minutes a day watching part of a Portuguese TV show or movie.  This way, instead of simply being immersed in the language on the weekends, there would be a more constant immersion in the language throughout the week.  I have really been slacking on keeping up with the podcasts on iTunes and keeping up with the weekend challenges.  In the next couple weeks, I plan to focus less on DuoLingo and more on these aspects of the challenge.  This way, I will be able to truly see which is more beneficial for language learning and will be able to tailor the challenge.

Week #6

This week, I added a page to my blog of Additional Language Learning Resources.  This is only the beginning of a list that I plan to continue to add on to, but in order to create it, I did a lot of research on available resources for learning language.  While doing research, I specifically looked into websites that catered to Portuguese, the language I am currently learning.  However, I would like to research other language other languages and add them to the list as well.  Also, I found a fantastic website that has many resources for learning a wide variety of languages.  I am really excited about this addition to my 30 day challenge website and certainly plan to make this section of the site more extensive.  

Continually, I have begun the 30 day challenge this week.  However, I have realized that the challenge as I have originally created it isn't really realistic.  The challenge is meant to be doable for someone that's really busy and doesn't have hours a day to spend on it.  However, the Duolingo app takes much longer than I had previously realized, and completing 6 modules in one day is absolutely unrealistic.  I will continue on with the challenge and will have to certainly make changes to the plan as is.

Week #5

These are a few pictures of my semi-finalized 30 Day Language Challenge.  The website is officially completed, unless I have to go back and edit the challenge based on my personal experiences.  So far, in my personal language learning experience, I have been simply working on learning the basic 100 Portuguese phrases.  The phrases are taking much longer to master than I expected, though I have been working on them little by little every day.  Right now, it's looking like I'll definitely have to go back and edit the challenge or at least modify for the amount of time it takes.  I don't know that people would practically be able to finish 6 Duolingo lessons in one day!

This week, I have been brainstorming for ways in which I can improve my language challenge. I would like to create practical tips in which the plan followers can incorporate speaking a language into their daily routine.  Furthermore, I would like to include a bonus resources page with links to useful websites that will benefit my followers in learning Portuguese.  I could also incorporate a section for future teachers and how the language could specifically benefit them. I would definitely like to add a section of the challenge that specifically caters to English teachers.

In the next week, I would like to officially begin following the 30 day language plan. As I go, I will make a running list of struggles that I encounter, things that go well, and things that completely fail.  I will track this list here and make changes to my 30 day challenge accordingly.

Week 4

This week, I focused on completing my website.  It includes a Question and Answer section about the challenge with answers about how much it costs (FREE!), what language they should choose, and further explanations about the challenge.  The page also includes a video about the importance of learning a second language.  I found this video on YouTube and figured out how to embed it into the site!  Finally, I created a calendar on Word that provides an outline for the challenge.  I turned it into an image by using the Snipping Tool on my computer and added it to the bottom of the site. I then posted the image of the calendar to Pinterest and shared it with my followers, which I then encouraged to Pin so that it their followers will then see it.  When making this calendar, I roughly estimated how many Podcasts and Duolingo episodes people should complete.  I plan to test this out as I complete the challenge myself.

Week 3

This week I have begun working on my 20time project!  I began my rough draft of my 30 day challenge and began investigating different tools I can use to help others learn Portuguese.  I found Duolingo, which is an app that I can get on my phone.  It has mini lessons that begin with very simple words and builds with each lesson.  It recommends doing two lessons a day, so I will begin doing these daily lessons next week.  I also found podcasts on iTunes that are extremely beneficial for learning languages.  They have ones in Portuguese that show a conversation in the language, and then break down the word meanings in English.  It will be very helpful because it’s important to hear the language spoken in order to learn it.  I have begun to create my website online and have started to format it.  I have not created my official page yet that I will post on Pinterest, but I plan to do so within the next two weeks.  Furthermore, once creating the page, I will attempt to complete the plan in order to see whether it actually works or not.  Then, I will edit the page in order to make it as accurate as possible.  

Proposal: 30 Day Language Challenge

[learning Portuguese and encouraging others to do the same]

Needs and Opportunities

According to Psychology Today, only 20% of people in the United States are bilingual.  This means that 80% of people in the U.S. strictly speak English, which is extremely limiting in this extremely diverse world that is rapidly becoming smaller and smaller through technology.  It is becoming increasingly important to learn other languages in order to be a more functioning member of this interconnected world.  Furthermore, for those of us that are English teachers or are aspiring to enter into this challenging profession, it is absolutely imperative that we learn another language in order to fully understand what it takes to master a language.  It is also imperative because in order to teach ELL students most effectively, we should understand ourselves the challenges that come with learning a new language.

Audience / Clients / Users

I am going to create a 30 day language learning challenge!  This challenge will make language learning easy for anyone who is willing to tackle the challenge.  I will advertise this challenge using Pinterest.  I will create a visual image that gives a glimpse of the challenge and when users click on the image, it will be attached to a blog that explains the challenge in detail and explains why it’s important to learn a language. 

Timeline

Week 3 (May 29th)	Language Goal: master top 100 Portuguese phrases Create Blog and first post- Why learn a language?
Week 5 (June 12th)	Language Goal: Finish half of the Semantica Portuguese lessons Create image and begin advertising on Pinterest.
Week 7 (June 26th)	Language Goal: Complete all Semantica Portuguese lessons Blog Goal: 2nd blog post- Explain challenge in detail
Week 9 (July 10th)	Language Goal: have five minute conversation in only Portuguese Blog Goal: 3rd blog post- My experience learning Portuguese (tips and tricks)

Product

At the end of this project, I will be able to have a conversation in Portuguese.  I will have created a 30 day challenge that challenges others to learn a language of their choice, supplemented with a blog that documents my personal experience learning a second language.   

Reality Check

All of the online resources I will use to learn Portuguese are free, so I will not need an extensive budget. Advertising on Pinterest and creating a blog will also be free.  However, an appropriate reality check is that I will not be completely fluent in Portuguese by the end of this project. However, I would like to have a good start on learning the language and at least be able to have a small conversation in the language. 

Conclusion

I am so excited for this opportunity to learn Portuguese and help inspire others to do the same.  I have wanted to begin learning this language ever since I went on a mission trip to Brazil over Spring Break and absolutely fell in love with the culture, the people, and the language.  I realized the incredible opportunities that exist outside of the United States, but the one thing that stops most people from these opportunities is the language barrier.  I would like to learn Portuguese so that one day, I can move to Brazil to teach English there and I would like to help others see how beneficial it is to learn another language.