https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9 en-us 2019-11-04 21:18:48 UTC 2019-12-13 16:09:55 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f1e9-1f1ea.png ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/406566468
Practicing German alphabet and pronunciation

It's almost a month since I've started my German classes and I feel that I understand the material covered during previous weeks. However, I sometimes find myself struggling with the pronunciation of words and single letters, so I decided to practice this.
First, I watched the YouTube video linked below. It helped me to go through the German alphabet once again and listen carefully to how every single letter should be pronounced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpBPaDI5IgI

After that short video, I went to a little bit more extensive material (link below), which covers the pronunciation of particular sounds in German. I think it may be also very useful during my next years of learning German.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvDB5Xq-LeQ

I feel more confident now with my pronunciation skills, but since now I'm going to practice new vocabulary by speaking it out loud.]]> 2019-11-04 22:16:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/406566468 ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/421235613
Improving vocabulary

We learn a lot of new words during our classes every week and I'm practicing all of them regularly, but I've decided to expand my vocabulary beyond the specified material.  I have two different methods for doing this. First of them is finding vocabulary lists with words connected to a certain topic and practicing them. For example, today I was learning new transport-connected vocabulary and I accidentally discovered my new favorite German word: 'Hochgeschwindigkeitszug'
which means 'High-speed train'. The second method is the benefit of not being an English native speaker. English is my second language, so I have to learn new words every day when I'm living in England. I found, that every time when I learn a new English word I can also translate it to German and so far it seems to be a very efficient method. It helps me to practice words from a variety of topics. I already feel like I have a wider range of vocabulary and I will use these methods for next months.

]]> 2019-12-07 23:52:55 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/421235613 ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/421399727 Practicing listening

Today I practiced my listening comprehension skills. I used this video to test myself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAUKYGhMuOI
I've noticed that I have some problems with understanding single words and sometimes particular phrases were not clear to me, but I could understand the general meaning of conversations. It was helpful to play the video again when I was struggling with some sentences and try to write down every word I heard. I should spend more time listening to native German speakers because I've discovered that many words are pronounced in a completely different way than I thought and an accent plays a crucial role. I found a list of podcasts for German learners (https://chatterbug.com/blog/en/2019-01-10-podcasts-to-learn-german) and I am going to listen to one of these every day.

]]> 2019-12-09 00:19:28 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/421399727 ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/421652531 Reading comprehension

Today I did some reading exercises, which I had found on this website: https://german.net/reading/

I did mainly A1 readings and a few A2 texts as well. Generally, it went very well and I think that reading is my strong suit. It was a very good revision of basic grammar structures and vocabulary. I think it's a good way to practice these things because I can see how to put particular words and structures into context.
Next time, I can try to do B1 readings and see how it goes. It will probably be more challenging, but I can discover new grammar structures and words, which should I learn to achieve the next level.


]]> 2019-12-09 15:32:43 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/421652531 ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/422103068 Grammar: possessive articles

I did more exercises with possessive articles because it was problematic for me to use an appropriate article when I was writing and speaking German. First I revised table with articles from our class and then I try some exercises from this website: https://german.net/exercises/pronouns/possessive/
I had problems with remembering that there are slightly different forms of articles that depend on the grammatical gender of the owned noun. It became clear to me after a few exercises.
I will refresh my knowledge about possessive articles from time to time to make it obvious when each of them should be used.

]]> 2019-12-10 12:39:33 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/422103068 ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/422117188 Talking with a native speaker

Today I had an opportunity to have a conversation with people from Germany. I met two students speaking German during my lunch break, so I decided to ask them for a chat. We introduced ourselves in German, we talked about our families, hobbies and what we had done the day before. They helped me to use correct pronunciation and appropriate words. Also, they indicated grammar mistakes, which  I should avoid and explained to me how I can build my sentences to sound more 'natural'. 
It was a great experience, which allowed me to improve my speaking skills. I will try to find a person who can speak with me regularly.]]> 2019-12-10 13:13:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/422117188 ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/423065830 Revision

Today I revised material from the previous weeks.
I went through all the lectures looking for things that are not my strong suit. I found that I still have some problems with the correct usage of separable verbs. Also, I saw that I need to do some exercises with Perfekt tense.
This YT video helped me to refresh my knowledge about the separable verbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj_L8uAffG8, so I could do some exercises from this website: https://german.net/exercises/verbs/separable/
Next, I started working over the rules of Perfekt tense. This video made it clear and understandable for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKLK6gBM_qI
After this revision, I feel confident with all the topics covered during our classes.
I will do some exercises during the next weeks that include every topic we have already learned.

]]> 2019-12-12 01:21:20 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/423065830 ikkolasa1 https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/423743121 Writing

Today I spent some time writing short stories about myself, my family and activities I had done the day before. I tried to write complex sentences with broad vocabulary. It was a good exercise to put together things I have already learned. The most challenging aspect of writing in German is dealing with the orthography  (i.e. usage of German characters: ä, ö, ü, ß), so I was using an English-German dictionary to check how to spell words. Then, I sent my texts to my friend who is studying German in Poland and he checked them for any mistakes, he indicated what was wrong and explained how can I improve my writing.
Now I have gained some experience in writing simple stories, I can try to describe more compound topics next time.

]]> 2019-12-13 12:00:53 UTC https://padlet.com/ikkolasa1/rtsdf6cpara9/wish/423743121