HSK: Five A Day: 9月5日

Hi, I’ve been getting messages about how to get motivated/sustain motivation in school. However, I was not sure about how to answer them because I’m a certified Lazy Ass™ whose motto in school is “SLEEP WHEN YOU CAN”. I  tried my best to come up with a decent answer, though, and I hope this post will help someone ^_^ Soooo, here it goes:

1. Understand the concept of motivation.

Motivation is the drive to do something. It is important, because it helps a person (re-)focus their goals. Through (re-)examining the forces that drives a person to achieve, one can uncover one’s reasons for achieving something.

There are two kinds of motivation: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from outside forces, as in, one is motivated to get high grades to make their parents proud. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within, as in, one is motivated to answer math problems because one feels satisfaction in solving those problems. Different instances necessitate different kinds of motivation, and one person’s motivation may not really be effective for another.

“Motivation” is so much more complex than that, though, so here are some readings on the topic: x x x x x

Personally, I believe that motivation can only take a person so far, because what happens when you literally have no drive to do anything? My banner says “discipline outlives motivation”, because I’ve learned that there’s something better than to wait for peak motivation to hit, which is to:

2. Develop good study habits.

Turn studying into a behavior. The goal is to make studying a natural part of one’s routine, as natural as, say, opening Tumblr or Instagram. (Because you don’t need much (or any) motivation to check social media).

Here’s a long answered ask on how to make a study plan in three easy steps and another answered ask on how to balance tasks.

3. Discover how you best study.

Every person learns differently. For example, I’m a visual learner, and I learn best by seeing and arranging information on a page. I rewrite notes to make them pretty, and I doodle all the time. Audiobooks and lecture recordings don’t really work for me (but they can work for you). Discovering how one studies would tremendously help anyone, since it can be frustrating to study without retaining information. Conversely, it is motivating when one understands what one is studying.

Learn what kind of learner you have by taking this quiz or answering these questions, then take a look at these posts to see some studying tips based on how you learn:

Learning styles

Types of learners

Four types of learners

Study methods and what suits you better

4. Surround yourself with people who support what you’re doing.

Studying is difficult enough as it is, and you don’t really need to make it more difficult by having people around you telling you that you don’t really need to study for that test. I was really lazy in college, and I would rather sleep than study, but I was able to get good grades, because I lived with people who persevered in their studies. Because they were studying late into the night, I also got into that habit (albeit grudgingly at first). We all inspired each other, made cups of coffees for each other, and even took naps together. Having supportive people around will make you realize that you are not alone in this struggle to study, and that you’re all going to make it out alive.

5.  Do things apart from studying.

You’re a person, not a studying machine. Studying is only a part of life, not your whole life itself. Find a hobby, stay true to your art, volunteer at a dog shelter—it’s your call. Just keep being passionate about something else other than studying. This “something else” can help you release stress as well as motivate you. You must also understand that millennials, more than any other generation, mix work and play, sometimes to the point where the two are indistinguishable. Playing is not a crime, millennials. It’s only natural. (Remember it’s okay to take a break. Alexander Hamilton was asked to take a break, he refused to, and you all know what happened to him >_>)

Whew, that was a mouthful uwu I really hoped I made sense. Feel free to add to this post! :)

丰收不靠露滴，而靠汗水。

It is sweat, not dew that helps the harvest.

真的！(zhēn de -> true that)

如果你只读其他人都在读的书，你的想法也不会超越其他人。

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

村上春树 Haruki Murakami

Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos.  You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.

American Sign Language

ASL University

Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change

Arabic

Arabic Without Walls

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Armenian

Depi Hayk

Bengali

Learn Bangla (Register to see course)

Catalan

Parla.Cat

Speak Cat

Chinese (Mandarin)

Beginner

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters for Beginners

Chinese for HSK 1

Chinese for HSK 2

Chinese for HSK 3 I & II

Chinese for HSK 4

Chinese for HSK 5

Mandarin Chinese Level I

Mandarin Chinese Essentials

Mandarin Chinese for Business

More Chinese for Beginners

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Intermediate

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Mandarin for Intermediate Learners I

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Online Courses here

Resources Here

Faroese

Faroese Course

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Elementary French I & II

Français Interactif

Vivre en France - A1

Vivre en France- A2

Intermediate & Advanced

French Intermediate course B1-B2

Passe-Partout

Travailler en France A2-B1                    

Vivre en France - B1  

German

Beginner

Deutsch im Blick

German Project

German at Work

Goethe Institute

Gwich’in

Introduction to Gwich’in Language

Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew

UT Austin

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Irish 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian I

Introduction to Italian

Intermediate & Advanced

AP Italian Language and Culture

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced Italian I

Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Japanese Pronunciation

Marugoto Courses

Tufs JpLang

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Introduction to Korean

Learn to Speak Korean

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Norwegian

Introduction to Norwegian I, Norwegian II

Norwegian on the Web

Persian

Easy Persian

PersianDee

Polish

Online Course

Portuguese

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

A1 Course

I speak Russian

Intermediate

B1 Course

B1+ Course

B2.1 Course

B2.2 Course

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish I, Spanish II

Spanish for beginners  

Spanish for Beginners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Spanish Vocabulary

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

Leer a Macondo

Swahili

Online Course

Turkish

Online Course

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Speak Ukrainian

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Yoruba

Yorùbá Yé Mi

Multiple Languages

Ancient Languages

More Language Learning Resources & Websites!

Last updated: May 2019

努力工作直到有一天你不再需要自我介绍。

Work until you no longer have to introduce yourself.

Chinese - 空房间  (kòng fáng jiān)

How do you say “an empty room” in your native language or the language you are learning?

如果你不花时间去创造你想要的生活，你终究得被迫花更多时间去应付你不想要的生活。 If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want.

用爱心互相宽容。

Bear with one another in love

我会继续跑下去，不管有多想放弃∼

I will keep running, no matter how much I feel like giving up.

10 Mistakes When Studying

1. “I Don’t Know where to Begin.”

Make a list of all the things you have to do. Break your workload down ito manageable chunks. Prioritize. Schedule your time realistically. Begin studying early, with an hour or two per day, and slowly build as the exam approaches.

2. ‘I’ve Got So Much to Study…And so Little Time"

Preview. Survey your syllabus, reading material, and notes. Identify the most important topics emphasized, and areas still not understood. Previewing saves time, by helping you organize and focus in on the main topics.

3. “This Stuff is so Dry, I can’t Even Stay Awake Reading It”

Get actively involved with the text as you read. Ask yourself, “What is important to remember about this section?” Take notes or underline key concepts. Discuss the material with others in your class. Stay on the offensive.

4. “I Read It. I Understand It. But I Just Can’t Get it To Sink In”

Elaborate. We remember best the things that are most meaningful to us. As you are reading, try to elaborate upon new information with your own examples. Try to integrate what you’re studying with what you already know. You will be able to remember new material better if you can link it to something that’s already meaningful to you.

Chunking: Example: to remember the colors in the visible spectrum, Rog G.Biv –> reduce the information the three “chunks”.

Mnemonics: Associate new information with something familiar.

5. “I Guess I Understand It”

Test yourself. Make up questions about key sections in notes or reading. Examine the relationships between concepts and sections. Often, imply by changing section headings you can generate many effective questions.

6. “There’s Too Much to Remember”

Organize. Information is recalled better if it is represented in an organized framework that will make retrieval more systematic.

Write chapter outlines of summaries; emphasize relationships between sections.

Group information into categories or hierarchies, where possible.

Information Mapping. Draw up a matrix to organize and interrelate material.

7. “I Knew It A Minute Ago”

Review. After reading a section, try to recall the information contained in it. Try answering the questions you made up for that section. If you cannot recall enough, re-read portions you had trouble remembering. The more time you spend studying, the more you tend to recall. Even after the point where information can be perfectly recalled, further study makes the material less likely to be forgotten entirely. How you organize and integrate new information is still more important than how much time you spend studying.

For more follow How To Study Quick!!