Yesterday I Had A Meeting With My Professor, So She Could Tell Me What She Thought About My Essay, She

me @ myself

August 21, 2021

[08/21/19]

1.03

back in the states and cOLLeGe orientation is in fOUr dAYs. kind of  freaking out 

currently listening to:

spiderverse soundtrack

(Unusual) Study Tips for Professional Procrastinators™ - like me ;)

Happy Pride month!

1. Make studying fun by learning something extra

Learn something new - something you WANT TO LEARN

• a language

• start a relatively easy online course (make sure it’s interesting but also not too time consuming - remember that your actual school/uni work is the priority)

• learn a new skill like sewing/cooking/baking/painting (I recommend Bob Ross tutorials!)

You should do this extra learning during breaks or whenever you feel demotivated - this should bring you back into a study mood. 

2. Don’t listen to music

You may think it helps but if you’re a terrible procrastinator like me you will 100% be distracted (if you think music helps continue listening to music - this is just for people who are easily distracted cough cough MEEEE). An alternative is white noise; Tide is a great app with lots of sounds (and other amazing functions! It’s also a nice extension on Chrome)

3. Wear headphones - even if you’re not listening to music!

Block out some noise + create the illusion of a focused atmosphere. Well, for me at least. Try it and tell me if it helps. If it doesn’t… Sorry :(

4. Shower (don’t waste time though, have a quick shower)

I find that showering can really improve my mood and make me feel motivated… Although it also makes me feel relaxed and makes me want to sleep. So yEaH, there’s that.

14.04.2020: 48 / 50 days of productivity

i’m having a hard time staying focused today. i try to tell myself having a bad day is allowed and not the end of the world, but i have so much stuff to do. :(

Learning Languages and How to Make it Fun

(gifs not mine, credit to the artist)

How does a child learns? Immersion

So you gotta dive deep

Find songs that you like. You don't have to understand, you just have to enjoy the song.

Listen them at least once a day. The idea is for you to get familiar with the sounds.

Once you have already heard them too many times (without getting tired of them) look for the lyrics. In their native language, not a translation.

If you can read in that language, then try reading them. Print them if you have to or write them down (this is better) and as you listen to the song try to sing.

If there's a word/sentence you like because it sounds pretty, mark it.

If there's a word you don't know how to/can't pronounce, mark it.

For example, I have a journal in which I write Japanesse Kanji that I find beautiful (whether is because of the meaning or the symbol itself is pretty)

Once you are familiar with the song look for a translation.

Check those words you have marked with the translation.

While looking for definitions it's better if you find images (so can have an idea of what that word is) instead of a definition in your language (unless is a long/complicated concept).

Movies, you must watch movies in that language. Better if they are from that country. (It can also be a doubled movie, perhaps you could look for one of your favorites)

Watch them with subtitles (in your language) once or twice. Then watch them again but this time without subtitles or with subtitles of said language. (You already know the plot, so you can still understand what's going on)

If you like to read, look for children literature. It's easy and fun.

Keep reading even if you don't understand a single sh*t. It doesn't matter.

Mark again those words you like, don't know the meaning or can't pronounce.

Write at least one sentence every day. It doesn't have to be right, it doesn't have to be long or poetic, you just gotta write.

If you still don't know much about grammar (enough to formulate a sentence on your own) then write a quote from one of those songs, movies or books you read. Again it doesn't matter if you don't understand what are you writing.

If you already know another language, try to learn the new language with that one. For example, I learn german from english instead of my native language spanish.

Videogames. In my experience this is amazing. You have no idea idea how much I learned english just from games.

You have fun playing, engaged with a story, while constantly hearing the language. You don't even have to pay attention at what they are saying, eventually you'll figure it out. It's very intuitive.

And because games, usually, requires that you spend many hours playing you will have a lot of practice without actually studying.

Some games, if you look on the settings menu, even have other languages instead of english. For example I played Assassin's Creed Brotherhood in italian and french and AsC III in russian and japanese (the voice actors are fantastic).

Seriously, videogames are freaking amazing for learning.

The idea of this, is that you can imitate the learning process a child does, while also having fun and enjoying it. Kids learn by making mistakes, by playing with words and by being constantly surrounded with the language. At first, kids have no idea what they are doing, they just repeat what they see and hear. So it's okay if you don't know what are you doing, take that pressure off. This is not school/college, this is just you trying to learn a culture. So be kind and patient with yourself.

LEARNING SHOULD BE FUN, be creative with your methods and try everything (so you can find what you are comfortable with). It is scientifically proved that if you like what you are studying and having fun it will be 10x easier to assimilate and remember the knowledge you are acquiring.

Just completed and submitted the final version of my Extended Essay !!! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° 

So I compiled lists of words that I found super super useful in making it easier for me to finish any essay !! Here is a masterpost of some sort with transition words + key vocabs grouped together for easy access as well as an IB IOC ‘cheat sheet’ I used for my english LAL orals last year (though most commentaries follow a similar structure so its generalisable) ~

Good luck with your essays !!!

… oops just realised I forgot to bullet point one of the lists 

i’ve been saying this to myself this morning and i’m going to say it to you in case you need to hear it: you are not here to be physically attractive. that is not your purpose. you are here to learn new things and be kind to people and listen to your favorite music and pet cute dogs and read big books and drink good coffee. you are here to see beauty in the world and create it when you can’t find any. you are not here to impress people with how you look.

Something great happened!!

Yesterday I was in an online lecture about qualitative research, everything was pretty normal until I noticed that I was writing in English instead of Spanish. I'm so excited because I finally reach the point where I can think in English.

📜 revisiting a developmental psych essay to apply some feedback i recently received. today has been so busy, but i’ve been more mindful of each task and reminding myself how important it is to take it slow (no matter how overwhelming the to-do list is to begin with). i’ve realized that a lot of my work-related anxiety comes down to feeling like i’m racing against the clock. so once those worries start creeping up, i take a second to breathe deep and get a sip of water. it’s been changing the course of my days in the most positive of ways. i hope you are all having a safe wednesday!