I’m having a few weeks break from my weekly Skype lessons, starting again on 31 July, and in the meantime am setting aside an hour everyday to do my own learning and consolidation. I’m continuing with the excellent Red Kalinka materials. Having both the 25 texts at A1 level I am now reading and listening to the stories at A2 level (Russian books with audio link)
I’m still frustrated that I’m not progressing as fast as I would like to. I have it in my head to tackle the Basic TORFL exam this time next year, but as I am only still at A1 after eleven months, I am not so sure. This morning I had a go at the Higher writing sample paper from Edexcel for their new Russian GCSE course from September 2017. It’s useful having the mark scheme, because, although I can’t obviously know my errors, I can get a general idea. I think I would definitely pass, although how close to the coveted new “9” I would get, in Writing, I cannot say. I’m going to see if I can persuade my son, who’s coming home shortly, to try the speaking tests with me.
Doing listening and reading exercises on my own is easy but the Writing (without correction) and Speaking (without an interloctor) are harder. I intend to make the most of the next few weeks of July to practise everything I have done in my Skype lessons so far and get to grips with learning vocabulary.