When do you know you're ready to move to the next chapter?
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When do you know you're ready to move to the next chapter?
I'm currently working on Athenaze and I'm on Arotos B (I hope that's the correct transliteration.) I have no problems whatsoever with actually reading the passage, it's quite easy. I have no problem with the grammar introduced since I already knew before Athenaze. The only problems I have are the English to Greek translations (they aren't hard, they just take some time to figure out) which I don't care much about as I'm not interested in translating English to Greek, but I do them anyways. My question is, when do you know you're ready to move on from a chapter?
- swtwentyman
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Re: When do you know you're ready to move to the next chapte
If you've mastered the grammar and vocabulary and can do the exercises I'd say you're ready. Don't neglect the English-to-Greek exercises totally (but don't obsess over them either): they force you to think in Greek and can cement what you've learned, applying the grammar as well as learning it more passively (as you do with the readings and exercises).
I have a habit of doing things in set amounts, whether it's reading (one chapter from a Cicero speech per session, for example) or in going through the textbooks. I would recommend this approach if you're lazy and need to impose some sort of discipline on yourself like me; it also keeps you from getting stuck at a particular chapter and losing momentum.
In Wheelock I would read a chapter every couple of days until that proved to be too fast, then I would allow myself one day more than that per chapter, allowing at the most one further for an especially difficult one after which I figured I knew the material as well as I ever would at that stage in my development. In Mastronarde I also typically did a chapter in a set number of days and extended that longer on one hellish chapter (the -mi verbs) and towards the end of the book when I was starting to wear out.
TL;DR -- do what works for you as long as you keep to it. I realize my approach might be overly-regimented to work for everybody; allowing yourself a set number of days per chapter keeps you from getting bogged down, though, and I would recommend it.
I have a habit of doing things in set amounts, whether it's reading (one chapter from a Cicero speech per session, for example) or in going through the textbooks. I would recommend this approach if you're lazy and need to impose some sort of discipline on yourself like me; it also keeps you from getting stuck at a particular chapter and losing momentum.
In Wheelock I would read a chapter every couple of days until that proved to be too fast, then I would allow myself one day more than that per chapter, allowing at the most one further for an especially difficult one after which I figured I knew the material as well as I ever would at that stage in my development. In Mastronarde I also typically did a chapter in a set number of days and extended that longer on one hellish chapter (the -mi verbs) and towards the end of the book when I was starting to wear out.
TL;DR -- do what works for you as long as you keep to it. I realize my approach might be overly-regimented to work for everybody; allowing yourself a set number of days per chapter keeps you from getting bogged down, though, and I would recommend it.