E Afinal, Como Correu a Primeira Semana?

Happy first day of GMT. Here’s all that sun you missed. 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

Marking off what I’ve done from the plan I made.

Raw Exam Prep

1. Do the exam modelos Cristina gives me Done only 2 exercises form the first.
2. Go through the list of key structures in the C2 syllabus here, and try and figure out what I need to work on, possibly in the lessons Started but… Oh my god, it’s absolutely massive!

Just general tidying

• I have some lists of structures I often get wrong and structures that get used a lot in portuguese that I never use because I keep forgetting about them, so try and make sure I get as many of them as possible into blog posts instead of just treading the same old familiar linguistic pathways that I rely on in everything I write. Doing pretty well with this!
• Try and bribe my wife to speak to me in her beguiling madeiran accent. Poached eggs will probably work. She loves a good poached egg. Only one day of this so far
• I also started an Anki Deck for unfamiliar vocab
• Went back to revise some of my favourite past blogs – like this one for example. I feel like I did a better job than most basic level explainers written by native speakers – bug claim, I know, but they tend not to be very nuanced and I unpacked a lot of weird stuff that gets left out. I um (checks notes) understood the assignment. I (checks notes again) ate and Er… Left no crumbs. (peers at notes a third time)… Slay!

General Input

• Reading – I have an english book I am committed to reading for family book club and a couple of audiobooks that I am already part way through, but when those are finished, no new english books, just portuguese ones. Probably not many though, because I don’t really need much practice – just bedtime reading, and just things that seem like they will expand my brain. Like I have a Gil Vicente play in BD form, but I looked at it earlier and it’s much too archaic so I’ll save it for after the exam. I’ve read lots and written a few reviews too
• Podcasts – Portuguese only till after the exam. I might even unsubscribe to some of the english language ones to remove temptation. Lots of audio going on at the moment, including some really difficukt regional accents
• Eat-Rep exercises – I’m going to drop some of the morning quizzes I do and watch a quarter of Os Gatos Não Têm Vertigens instead – that’s about two watches per week. try to do some “scratching” in the first weeks and move toward “copycat” exercises in later weeks. Two and a half run-throughs  so far and I’m enjoying it. Part of me wants to move to another film though because I notice myself not paying enough attention because I already know the gist of the plot. Should I trust the process or my instincts? 🤔

Exercises

This weekend

• Start final chapter of Português em Foco done
• “Puzzle Brain” activity – listen to portuguese audio while doing a jigsaw enjoyed this much I have started a second puzzle and a second audiobook – A Viúva by José Saramago

W/E 27-10-2024

• Finish Português em Foco exercises in the main book (meant to do these before Lisbon really, but…) done
• Start the (self marked) grammar exercises in the Caderno de Exercícios done (4 chapters in)

W/E 03-11-2024

• Finish the grammar exercises in the Caderno de Exercícios
• “Scuba Diving” exercises with text and audio of “Amor de Perdição”

W/E 10-11-2024

Non-thorough run through of the paper exercise books I have, looking for grammar exercises that look like they might be beneficial.

• The remainder of the vocabulary and verb tenses sections of Português Outra Vez, (the expressões section is rubbish and I can’t be bothered with it)
• The C1 sections of “Vamos Lá Continuar” and
• Some of the more challenging exercises from Qual é a Dúvida. I finished this book ages but there were some exercises that left me floored, so I’ll be interested to see if I find them just as hard the second time around!