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.