Rocket Spanish stars????

Do the stars on the badges mean that you have advanced to Rocket Program 2 and 3? Or is it solely on points??

The stars on badges are strictly based on points.

Hola Diranu, I would have to agree with Robert on the badge stars. I'm in level 1, and am already a Green Star master with 3 stars added to it. Adios Amigo!

Speaking of the point system, I see that they finally removed those bogus users who joined and immediately soared to the top of the leaderboard. Now the top spots are occupied by people like Aurora and Steven who actually worked for and earned the points.

Aurora blew by both of us! But I see that you've now moved comfortably up to the #7 slot on the all time Spanish Leader Board. Not sure about all the others. I don't notice them posting any comments in the forum.

I am actually slowing down a bit. I was doing 1000 points daily on my first year. Now I am lucky if I have 400 points. In fact some days, no points. I have to rethink my goals. I thought by just consistently doing a 1000 points, I would become proficient in one year. I am not giving up though. I am also quitting my Spanish Class at the senior center and go back to my Ukulele class. I need a tutor who will drill me by speaking a phrase or sentence in English and I do the translating in Spanish. I am surrounded by lots of bilingual friends but not able to find one who will act as my tutor.

I have readjusted my approach to language learning multiple times. I'll write more on this once I have greater confidence about what has really helped.

I have kept a daily journal in French since I can remember. I suspect that may be a significant reason why I was able to learn the language as fast as I did.

As of the last few weeks, I have been writing in my journal 2 days in Spanish, 1 day in French (for days in Spanish, I have Google translate and a Spanish conjugation web page open). Even in that short time frame, a lot more of the RS phrases are now becoming usable for me in conversation.

But, more on that later after I've had more time journaling and conversing...
 

Aurora: I wonder if the reason none of your friends wants to tutor you is that they lack confidence in their ability to explain why things are as they are. They grew up speaking Spanish and can speak it fluently. But just like us English speakers, they don't really have to think about grammar and sentence structure and idioms. They just use them because they know they are correct. A couple of weeks ago my tutor Sara and I were talking about por and para. I used one of them in a sentence then explained why I chose it over the other. She had to stop and think a minute, then said I was right but that she did not have to puzzle out which to use in a specific situation, she just knew.

Have you tried just conversing with them in simple sentences, for just a short time until your Spanish fails you? For me anyway, my goal is to be able to speak to and understand Spanish speakers in conversation, and it seems the best way to do that is to speak and listen to Spanish speakers. Vocab, sentence structure, grammar rules, por/para, ser/estar are all just means to an end.

 

Steven: About what are you journaling? Your daily language study, how you feel about the day's progress, other topics? I ask because I like to write also and have from time to time journaled in Spanish but it has usually been just a recap of my daily study.

Lists seem to be a useful Spanish writing exercise for me. I always write my grocery list in Spanish. Helps the vocab but not so much sentence structure and grammar.

Dan: I journal pretty much what I might take up in a conversation with someone: what I did the day before (and what I wish I did so as to work on the subjunctive!) and what I might plan on doing that day. I also may include dreams from the night before, feelings, etc. What seems to be key for me is that I'm expressing myself / what's inside as opposed to just responding to phrases in the course. I just finished a conversation via Skype (many thanks for giving me a head's up on that web site) and it went so well this time: I got stuck a few times but it was basically a pretty fluid conversation entirely in Spanish.

It was a good day. Some days you get the bear...
 

 

I need someone who can carry the conversation when I falter. I noticed my friends will try a sentence and then stop or tell me a story or  poem and see if I can understand them. They generally are surprised that I get the gist of what they are saying. I need someone who will keep on asking question, then pause and wait for me to answer. Then follow-up with another question. Hopefully, I will get tired of just answering that I will start asking the questions. I want them to interview me, for starters.

It may be difficult to find people willing to do what you're looking for, although there may be other ways of arriving at the same goal. Picking up on your various threads, here are a few thoughts:

1.) Vary how you do RS. I go through a lesson a day, this time through the course just doing the "Know It" and "Play It" sections.

2.) Get Barron's Mastering Spanish. The book is useless but the course is basically all language drills (which RS lacks). I have it on my iPod and do the lessons while walking. I suppose it's not the same as being interviewed but the iPod is very patient...

3.) Try interacting with people in Spanish over a limited context. I think it was Dan who mentioned prior picking a specific topic in his conversations as well as the value of writing phrases down. You mentioned being in a Bible study. Why not get a Bible in Spanish, grab a notebook and each day write down one sentence from it, write something about it (make it personal / an expression of yourself) - and then discuss it with others in your group? 
 

Last month, I attended a class at Church. It was in Spanish. I stayed in the Spanish group while my bilingual friends went to the English group, wore headsets and have someone translate the Spanish class to English. I figured they have been here in America too long and feel more comfortable with English. I have heard them speak Spanish well though. I like the idea of bringing a Spanish bible. Maybe that would help. Thanks Steven. Also just reviewing the know it section.