Selling Sno-Cones at the Beach

language assessment

I've spent the whole day working on language - reviewing cases, making new vocabulary cards, working on listening assignments. I'm not sure if it's the best use of my time, because as long as I pass the course I don't think it really "matters" how well I do, but in a way I'd like to combat my usual negative attitude of "I'll never be able to speak and understand this language well" to see if maybe - beyond review of grammar - I might actually have something to show for my 6 weeks in class.

Here's how I think I score on the four language modalities:

Speaking - I can usually communicate a need or thought in ordinary conversation, although as with writing my limited vocabulary slows me down. My teachers seem to feel that I speak well, and with relatively good pronunciation. I'd say this is my second-best skill. That's odd, because in English my reading ability (and writing ability) far surpass my ability to speak well.

Writing - probably the best of my skills. When I write I have time to think about the correct syntax and endings.

Understanding spoken language - worst of the four. Things I would easily understand if they are written I can't understand if I hear them. As with French, I often just don't hear the individual words, just a blur of sounds.

Reading - this depends a lot on what the subject matter is. I did well at the museum this week (art vocabulary), but reading ordinary newspapers is a challenge - too idiomatic somehow.

This course is geared a lot towards speaking and listening. Our teachers know we are bright, analytical people who speak other languages and who "get" grammar. So we have situational work and of course listening to our teachers repeat our phrases, but correctly. I wish there was MORE prep for the situations, and more repetition. The kinds of things I talk about easily are things I've drilled many times, until the syntactical units are ingrained. But I haven't internalized any of the things we've talked about this summer because it's all so fast and superficial.

We have a lot of writing, and if I go over the corrections they make, I could learn quite a bit.

I am not sure how to improve my reading. I've found that it helps to look at word families - I build some knowledge of how Polish is constructed, how verbs make nouns and adjectives, how nouns are related to verbs etc. Is it just a matter of practice, practice, practice, on texts that are relevant to me?

It seems that it's mostly a matter of repetition. I have to repeat things tens of times before I remember - and even then they are fugitive if I don't use them. Ah, the aging brain. But I am trying to keep a positive attitude and remember that I like - and am good at - language acquisition.