Complete an Audit

Fresh Foundations Day 8

Jan 10, 2025

For the month of January, I’ll be sharing quick posts to help you build a sustainable and joyful language learning practice. This series, Fresh Foundations, is all about actionable steps you can take in just 15-30 minutes a day to create a language learning routine that works for you.

If that sounds like something you’re ready for, let’s get into today’s activity!

Reflecting on Progress and Planning Ahead

Over the past week and a half, we’ve laid some strong foundations for your language learning journey. Here’s what we’ve covered so far:

Blocking Time in Your Calendar: Scheduling daily language practice sessions.
Creating a Language Learning Ecosystem: Surrounding yourself with your target language.
Preparing Learning Materials: Using a dedicated space, like a notebook or Notion, to organize your notes.
Setting SMART Goals: Defining clear, achievable goals to keep you focused and motivated.
Building a Strategy Inventory: Listing and evaluating the strategies you already use.
Learning About Language Acquisition Theory: Understanding receptive skills and the importance of comprehensible input.
Collecting Content: Curating authentic and graded content to use for your practice.
Engaging Actively: Completing a Language Log entry to turn passive learning into active practice.

Congratulations on all your hard work and dedication! Give yourself a round of applause. 👏

Two Simple Steps to Reflect and Plan

Now, let’s take a moment to reflect on your progress and plan for the week ahead. These small but powerful steps will help you refine your approach and stay on track.

1. Audit Your Progress

Take a few minutes to evaluate this past week. Grab your notebook or open a new note and make a list for each category:

What’s Gone Well: What strategies or habits worked for you?
What Could’ve Gone Better: Were there any challenges or missed opportunities?
Priorities for Next Week: What will you focus on to keep improving?

Systematically reviewing your activities and experiences helps you:

Identify what’s working.
Adjust your approach to tackle challenges.
Celebrate your small wins to stay motivated

Want to inspire others? Share your review in the comments!

2. Plan Your Week Ahead

Now it’s time to look forward and set yourself up for success:

Schedule Your Learning Time: Block out dedicated study time on your calendar.
Build on What Worked: If completing a Language Log was effective, add it to next week’s tasks.
Set a Review Reminder: Schedule 5-10 minutes at the end of next week to reflect on the strategies you used and evaluate your study routine’s effectiveness.

What’s Coming Up Next Week

Get excited! Next week, we’ll focus on improving your active skills—writing and speaking. You’ll start with a basic overview of how we acquire these skills, followed by simple, actionable activities designed to help you take your progress to the next level.

Enjoy your weekend—you’ve earned it! Reflect, plan, and recharge. I’ll see you on Monday to keep building on the amazing work you’ve done so far.

Looking for Feedback

Empowering language learners is at the heart of everything I do with Love to Lingo. To help both teachers and learners grow, feedback is essential. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Fresh Foundations! Your input will help me continue to create valuable, practical content tailored to your needs. Please take a few moments to share your feedback—it makes all the difference. Thank you!

Start Survey