365 Days of French

Bonjour mes amis!  Today, I am celebrating a giant milestone that I set in my personal goals... I have successfully hit 365 days of learning French!!!

Ok so if we're being technical, my one year anniversary was actually last Thursday since I first started using Duolingo on February 16th last year.  But my app thought that I skipped a few days, so it "froze" those.  Today, I officially hit the 365 day mark!

I am so proud of myself.  I studied French every single day for an entire year.  Even on the days that my app "froze" my progress, I still studied it.  (A few of those days were Disney days and since we're night owls, I did a few of the lessons after midnight... But I also did a lesson the following day- even though the app had already counted it!)

I feel like I've made great progress over the past year.  They changed the overall layout of the app a few months ago.  So with the new update, I'm starting Unit 9 of French Foundations 1.  There are 17 units in this section, so I've still got a ways to go.  I did stop with learning new content over the busy holiday season, but I'm getting ready to dive back into new material.  (I feel like I haven't soaked in the most recent lessons as well, so I've been doing a lot of review and challenges to get more familiar with it.)

Overall, I think that I'm still in territory that I learned back in high school French.  But it's been so long that I'm still remembering everything.  The grammar is getting a bit more complicated too, so I've wanted to wait until I could really focus on learning it.

I'm also hoping to start integrating vocabulary flash cards and my text books into my learning.  I also haven't physically written anything down in French yet, so I also need to start practicing that.  The other thing that I'd like to work on is using the symbols to indicate accents more.  I haven't been using them since my phone autocorrects a lot of it for me.  I know where most of them go, but I haven't been typing them into the app, so I need to get much more familiar with that!

I'm also considering downloading Babbel to accommodate Duolingo.  I know that they are rival apps, but I really just want to learn French.  I've heard that Babbel is much more conversational, so I'm thinking that combining the two might help me progress faster.  But I'm very happy with how I've been learning French from Duolingo so far!

I just found out a few weeks ago that my father-in-law Rick is using Duolingo to learn Spanish!  He must have heard about it from me, because Eliot's family hadn't heard of it when I was using it during our California trip last March.  I'm glad he's also learning a new language.  I'm trying to convince Eliot to do it with me.  But since he's dyslexic, he has a hard time reading to begin with.  He keeps joking that he's barely got a grip on the English language, but I bet he could do it if he really wanted to.  At this point, Eliot is stuck listening to me babble to myself in French pretty often anyways!

It's been a great year of learning French.  On to the next 365 days!!!  °o°

100 Days of French

Yesterday, I wrote a post about how hard work pays off.  Today is more proof of that.

Because today, I reached a big milestone in one of my personal goals.  I've mentioned before that I have wanted to re-learn French for years now.  I'm so proud of myself.  As of today, it's been 100 days since I first started using Duolingo.  I have successfully used the app, practiced my French and have been learning for 100 days straight!

Photo from my Duolingo app

One of my favorite parts of using Duolingo is that there are a bunch of different ways you can track your progress.  The app keeps track of how many minutes you use it every week.  You earn gems for each lesson you complete.  You earn crowns towards each skill.  There are leagues where you're competing with other language learners.

Over the past few weeks, I've knocked off a few more accomplishments while using the app.  I actually finished first in my weekly challenge a few weeks ago!

After finishing in first, I finally moved up into the Diamond League- which is the highest level of competition with other Duolingo learners.  (Overachievers unite!!!)

Photo from my Duolingo app

And I'm still in Diamond League.  The goal is to stay in the same league and not get demoted down to the previous level.  Right now, I'm holding strong at #2 out of 30!!! 

I've continued to earn all of my monthly badges!  (February, March, April and May!)

There are many things that I can achieve in the app and I've barely scratched the surface.  I've hardly read any of the stories and I've unlocked a bunch of them!  

Photo from my Duolingo app

I'm almost finished with the first Unit.  I'm basically at the level where you prove your mastery of each subject.  Duolingo gave me a free trial for three days so I don't have to use my gems to test myself, so I'll be trying to do as much of that as possible in the next few days.  Although, I do plan to upgrade to Super Duolingo and buy the yearly plan once we get our tax refund!  Then, I'll have unlimited lives and I won't have to watch ads!  I'm sure that I'll really get my learning on then!

There are 10 total units in French... each with multiple subjects and each of those with multiple levels.  So I've still got a ways to go.  According to the app, I've only made it through about 5% of the French lessons!  But I've still made progress!

Photo from my Duolingo app

I haven't even opened up one of my French text books yet.  Although, I'm still planning to do that sooner than later.  I think it will help me along with the process since I'm such a visual learner.  Plus, I downloaded some free flashcards that Eliot is helping me print out.  I want to start using those to learn more vocabulary words and to practice them!

I'm really happy with how much I've re-learned so far!  I've been able to make plenty of full sentences randomly throughout the day.  I'm trying to get myself thinking in French more often so it will become intuitive.  I'm still looking into my "big" goal of reading a book entirely in French... and getting to the 100 day mark is a step towards that goal!

Photo from my Duolingo app

Appropriately and perhaps a little ironically, I also wanted to point out that today is my 100th blog post of 2022!  Hard work really does pay off!  Bon travail Melissa!!!  °o°

Four Weeks Of Duolingo

It's been exactly four weeks since I first started re-learning French on Duolingo.  I'm so proud of myself and all I've accomplished that I had to check back in today!  I'm happy to report that I've kept my streak alive and that I've studied French every single day for the past 28 days; well... I guess it's 29 days including today!

Photo Source

I'm especially proud of myself since I made time to do it while we were at Disneyland earlier this month.  I realized on the flight out to California that it was a lot harder to concentrate in a public place than I thought it would be.  I had to make time to do my daily lessons outside of Disney, and that pretty much meant that I had to get up early enough to do it before we left for the park each morning.  But I still did it!

Photo from my Duolingo app

I've also achieved a bunch of milestones within the app.  I've leveled up from bronze, to silver, to gold to sapphire to the ruby league.  Basically, you have to be in the top 10 of your "competition" (fellow app users and language learners) to reach the next level each week.  This past week, I've started trying to complete my daily quests.  Plus, there are also other achievements you can unlock in order to earn more gems.  I've been getting a bunch of those and earning more gems through that!

Photo from my Duolingo app

Even though I started using the app more than halfway through the month of February, I was still able to complete the monthly challenge!  I was literally finishing it the last day of the month.  After we arrived in Anaheim, we had some quiet time.  Elissa was talking to her friend on the phone.  Eliot was playing a video game and Rick was watching him.  And I went into Eliot's and my bedroom, curled up in the side chair and studied French for about 30-45 minutes until I'd completed enough lessons to earn the rest of the points I needed!  Then, I received my February badge!

Photo from my Duolingo app

This month, I'm way ahead of the curve.  I actually earned March's badge on Monday, March 14th... less than halfway through the month!  I was really excited about that!

Photo from my Duolingo app

I have been doing well working my way through all of the Unit 1 Lessons.  I've almost completed a few of the first ones.  You basically study the same material over and over until you master reading it, writing it, listening to it and speaking it.  It's easy to take your time to focus on mastering the pronunciation of each word.  And I'm shocked at how well I can understand the app when it's speaking quickly to me!

Photo from my Duolingo app

Something else that's been helping is reading the Duolingo stories.  They're interactive where you have to fill in the blank, select the correct responses, or assess what is happening in the conversation.  (This is similar to how the lessons are done, but in the context of a story.)  I just started reading the stories this past week since they were part of two of my daily quests.  So far, I've only read 4 stories, but I've unlocked 20 of them!

Photo from my Duolingo app

It's hard to believe it was a month ago that I downloaded the app.  I'm really happy with how far I've come in only four weeks.  This afternoon, I achieved my 1st Legendary Level where I mastered one of my lessons!  I haven't even broken my textbooks out yet.  (Although, I'm planning to use them to coincide with my Duolingo lessons.)

Photo from my Duolingo app

Cheers to working on goals, learning things and broadening my horizons!!!  °o°

Je Parle Français

Bonjour!  I'm back with another post that I hadn't planned on writing, but that I realized I needed to release into the world.  Earlier today, I took a giant leap forward in reaching one the of the personal goals that I've had set for myself and I'm super proud.

For years, I've wanted to re-learn French.  It's literally been on my annual personal goal list for as long as I started actually writing them down (at least since 2015... but probably before that).  I've had two college ruled five subject notebooks set aside to use for re-learning French (and learning Italian) for years.  

I loved learning French in high school and it was one of my favorite subjects.  I always thought it was so cool to speak in another language.  At my high school, you could pick between French and Spanish.  I chose French because it made more sense to me when Maine is so close to Canada.  (We have a lot of French Canadian speakers visit in the summer.)  While I originally took French because two years of foreign language was required for the college track, I fell in love with it.

It's amazing how much I still remember even though high school French was forever ago.  To this day, I can still remember more than I give myself credit for.  I took three years of French in high school and I was pretty good by the end of it.  I could read it and write it very well, and I was pretty confident with speaking it, even though I was a bit self-conscious about it. 

My junior year of high school, I traveled to France on our high school French trip.  Most of the people that we encountered in France also spoke English, but there were a few people in more remote towns that didn't.  It was great to communicate with them through the French that I knew.  Most of the people we spoke to were friendly about us trying- even if they responded to us in English.  And I'll never forget when my friends volunteered me to ask the information desk for directions at the Louvre.

By my third French class, I was having dreams in French.  My teacher told me that was a good thing.  I was really proud of myself and how well I understood it.  

Then came freshman year of college.  Someone who was close to me at the time made me doubt everything.  His mother had lived in New Orleans and she knew how to speak French fluently.  He had also taken French in high school, and he had something to say about everything when I spoke it.  My pronunciation was wrong, I wasn't using the correct accents, etc.  It bothered me more than I should have let it.  

I had wanted to continue my French learning and education, but our college didn't offer it as a technology school.  I thought about taking it at one of our sister schools, but their schedules didn't line up with ours.  In the end, I couldn't find a class, so I gave up.

Photo from my Duolingo app

After college (and after I rid myself of that person's opinions) I looked into my heart and I knew that I wanted to pursue learning French again. 

I've wanted to take adult education French classes since I got out of college, but my schedule never allowed for it.  The language classes were always at night, when I was working at the furniture store or the chiropractic office.

In April of 2020, when the world was shutting down and going into quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic, I bought three French textbooks on Amazon.  The first two were the same textbooks that we used to learn French in high school, and the third one was the last one in that collection.

You might recall that I signed up for classes on uDemy in April of 2020 as well.  Most of them were crafting classes, but one of them was French.  While I still I haven't had time to get into them, that is part of my whole "balance" word of the year for 2022 plan.

Photo from my Duolingo app

The past few weeks, I've also seen an increasing number of advertisements for the language app Duolingo.  Downloading it has been on my mind more each time I see one.  The other day, I read a Facebook post from someone I follow saying how she's been using Duolingo daily for the past 6 months and that she can now comprehend small phrases in French.  She's been reading a book and she now understands most of what one of the characters is saying.  That got me thinking about how when I watch shows with French characters, I understand bits of it.  It also reminded me of how much more I understand when watching Beauty and the Beast.  (There's a joke in the "Belle" song from the 2017 live action movie that always cracks me up.)

Which brings me to today.  This afternoon, I finally stopped what I was doing and I downloaded Duolingo.  The first thing they have you to is set up your profile.  Since I know a little bit of French, my first task was to take a simple test to see what stage I was at.  That way, the app wouldn't start me at the very beginning, but a little bit into it.

Photo from my Duolingo app

The goal of the app is to get onto streaks.  Each day, you do one lesson where you study the language for 10 minutes, and you get a point towards your streak.  I've already done two, and I'm planning to do another one before bed.  This is the perfect way to take a few minutes for myself when I wake up or as I'm going to bed.  It's also a great way to pass time when you're waiting for someone to go on a rollercoaster... a situation that I'm going to find myself in during our trip to Disneyland in a few days.  I'm so excited that I can be learning French while waiting for Eliot instead of mindlessly scrolling on Facebook or Instagram!

This app has opened a whole new world.  In my mind, I've always seen myself as having to set aside time to re-learn French.  I've seen myself sitting in a more formal setting at the kitchen table with my textbooks, notebook, French dictionary and laptop surrounding me.  With the Duolingo app, my textbook is literally in my pocket.  I can take my phone anywhere with me.  And you can do it in small bursts of 10 minutes at a time, or you can keep doing multiple 10 minute sessions.  It's totally flexible!

Photo from my Duolingo app

The best part is that I've already passed my first lessons with flying colors.  It's all coming back to me.  I can read it, I can understand the app speaking it and I can still write it.  I've started to repeat the phrases so I get more confident speaking it.  I've even caught myself muttering a few phrases this afternoon when I haven't been on the app.  And most important, I feel confident about it.  

Today is the start of another wonderful chapter!  I'm finally re-learning French and I feel amazing about it!  Je m'appelle Melissa et je parle français!!!  °o°

Quest of Learning

Well friends, it appears as though I've gone down another rabbit hole... I just spent most of my afternoon exploring other online courses available on uDemy and now I find myself enrolled in seven more!  Just under two weeks ago, I wrote a post about signing up for two online classes through uDemy.  Since then, I've periodically looked on their website for other classes to take.  My wishlist has been growing ever since.

I'm really excited to have another way of learning.  I've always loved taking all of my in person adult education classes.  Since no one is taking any classes in person right now, this is another new way to explore.  I love getting new knowledge of crafting techniques and learning new skills.  My favorite part is that I can do them when I have time to.  That's the beauty of online classes- websites like uDemy and Skillshare offer you a way to take an online class, at home, on your own schedule.

Last night, I realized that uDemy was having another sale on classes starting at only $10.99.  Thus, I started to browse on my cell phone before bed and I found a few that I wanted to take.  Today, I went onto my laptop and really dove in.  I put a ton of classes on my wishlist, and then picked my top seven classes that were on sale to purchase.  

This is what I ended up purchasing for classes:

Mixed Media Painting Workshop - I've always been fascinated by different painting techniques.  I'm really excited to explore this some more!

Abstract Techniques Revealed to Create Large Modern Art - I've been wanting to learn how to create larger works of art as well.  I think these two painting classes will be fun!

Resin Geode Basics - Eliot and I have already taken a few resin geode classes in person and I've loved those so much!  I saw this class and decided it would be fun to potentially learn some more new techniques.  I really want to start making these- once I can go back to Michael's to purchase supplies.

Creativity and Relaxation Through Quilling - I've always been fascinated by 3D paper art.  Quilling is a technique of curling paper to create designs and I've wanted to learn this skill for a while now.  I'm thinking that this will be a relaxing craft to do if these weeks of "social distancing" turn into months.

Learn Calligraphy with Crayola Markers - My Grammie gave me a few calligraphy pens back when I was in high school.  At the time, I wasn't really into it.  However, over the years and through studying text and design, I've grown to appreciate the art.  I begged my parents for a few Crayoligraphy sets for Christmas a few years ago.  (Crayoligraphy is the art of calligraphy but with using Crayola markers!)  I was so excited when I saw them waiting for me on Christmas morning!  Of course, I've been super busy and still haven't used any of it yet.  This class will be the perfect addition to my sets.

How to Create Blogger Blogs - I wanted to explore a few classes that weren't just for creative fun.  I was curious if they had classes on blogging and I was excited when this popped up.  I'm pretty familiar with Blogger as I've used it all these years.  However, if there are new things I can learn to make my blog better, I'm all for it!

French for Beginners - It dawned on me this afternoon that there might be language classes on uDemy.  I've never been able to take an adult education language class because they always fell on days when I was working.  Plus, I've already taken three years of French in high school and I was pretty good by the end of it.  What I really need is a good refresh and I'm hoping this will get me back into it.  (Re-learning French has been on my personal goal list for the past few years, so I'm really going to try!)  I also found another French class that has six class sections.  The same instructor also teaches five sections of Italian, so I might move on to those after I finish this class!  I've always wanted to learn Italian too!

As you can see, I'm continuing on my quest of learning!  The greatest part was that I got all of those classes for under $80 and I saved $195 from the regular price!!!  All of my classes were only $10.99 except for one at $11.99 and another at $12.99.  (They were regularly priced from $24.99 to $49.99.)  I usually pay anywhere from about $40-$65 for one adult education class, so I thought this was a great deal!

If you're bored out of your mind and you need something to do during this time "socially distancing" yourself at home, consider checking out both uDemy and Skillshare and take an online class to pass the time!  Come join me on my quest of learning!!! °o°

*** Please Note: If you click on the links above and purchase a class, I might get a small commission or credit that I can use for a future class.  I'm honestly not sure how it works, but these are links they gave me to share with my friends! ***