The Best Language Learning Trackers and How to Use Em

The Best Language Learning Trackers and How to Use Em The Best Language Learning Trackers and How to Use Em Do you ever wonder how your language learning is going?As in, are you making progress?Or are you stalledâ€"stuck on a plateau, or even faceplanted into a brick wall?Actually, if youve hit a wall, youre probably aware of it.Otherwise, it can be hard to gauge just how well your language program is working.That said, its all fairly simple to figure outif you use a language learning tracker.Thats right, there are tools out there that you can use to track your learning.And regardless of which one or ones you use, theres a similar idea behind all of them.It all has to do with measuring what youre putting in and getting outâ€"measuring the time you invest and seeing just where you are on your language journey. The 2 Big Benefits of Tracking Your Language LearningLanguage tracking can involve two main components, with each part having its own benefit.Periodically checking language progress reduces the am I learning? issue. Its a motivational method  thats perfect for anyone but is especial ly helpful to solo learners who may not have the standard progress reports generated in a classroom setting.Keeping track of daily language learning, on the other hand, encourages showing up to whatever the days lessons are, even if you might not feel like doing it. Its okay, weve all had those days where wed rather do something other than grammar drills or study vocabulary lists. It happens. But really, if youve got a three-week streak going on, its not likely youll ditch the days lessons, is it?Ideally, you should use tracking tools for both your time and your progress, but even if you use a language tracker just to keep you focused on your goal and committed to daily lessons, its worth using one.The Best Language Learning Trackers and How to Use EmLanguage Learning Tracker Tools to ConsiderLanguage learners, their personalities, habits and target languages are so diverse that it would be difficult to find a one-size-fits-all tracker to accommodate everyone. Impossible, even.The g ood news is that there are lots of different tracking tool options so there really is something for every learner. You may decide to use one or more of these depending on your needs, and most of them are highly customizable.A NotebookLanguage trackers don’t need to be complicated to work well. Going old school with a notebook, colored pencils and a checklist is a simple, personalized method to track your progress.A few columns to show your lesson schedule and the areas youre working on is more than enough for a first tracker.For example, if you have lessons five days a week, write the dates in a column. Next to that, note what specific activities youll accomplish. Maybe learning with FluentU videos (see below), reading dual-language books and vocabulary building are your core language focal points, so youll write those down in this second column. You can make a similar column for whether youve achieved certain learning goals.Every day that you accomplish a goal, whether related to study (completing a lesson) or progress (learning a set of vocab words) check it off, give yourself a sticker or color in the column. Whatever you need to do to make you feel good about actively participating in your language program is fine. Youll feel great watching the evidence of your time spent with your target language grow.A CalendarAn even more basic language tracking tool is a calendar.Whether its on your phone or on a wall, as long as you can mark off the days you work on your target language, a calendar can track learning.Unless you pencil in the different facets of study (vocabulary, writing, reading, speaking, etc.) you wont really know how youre doingâ€"youll just know that youre actually working.  Thats still something good. Even if you just show up day after day and work consistently toward your language goal, its a pretty safe bet that your skills are improving.If youre all about technology, then youre in luck. There are lots of tracker options to suit the technolo gical language learner!Built-in Language TrackingMany language learning apps have a tracking feature already built into their program and in many cases, there are ways to track both daily study time and progress.Think Duolingo, with its lingots and streak count. The little owl does more than make things fun; he actually rewards your progress and motivates learners to make time for study. I have to admit, Ive had a long Duolingo streak with a language simply because I didn’t want to disappoint the owl or break the streak count!FluentU has a similar streak feature to encourage daily study that you can adjust depending on your goals, and on top of that, it  keeps track of every single vocab word you learn. It remembers words you already know, and marks words for study just around the time youre beginning to forget them.Since its a complete learning program built around real-world videosâ€"think movie trailers, music videos, news clips, etc.â€"and equipped with learning material for a ll levels, you can use it as a primary course, daily language tracker, progress tracker and immersion method all in one and throughout your learning journey.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that real people speak them. FluentU has a wide variety of videos, including funny commercials and web series, as you can see here:FluentU App Browse ScreenFluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.Didnt catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover over or tap on the subtitles to instantly view definitions.FluentU Interactive TranscriptsYou can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentUs quiz mode. Swipe left or right to see  more examples for the word you’re learning.FluentU Has Quizzes for Every VideoAnd FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that vocab to give you a 100% personalized experience by recommending videos and examples.LingQ is a flexible app that offers vocab tracking. You can also use it to track the amount of time you devote to different skills. It focuses on learning naturally with imported content from the web, so its a great way to get in extra practice to supplement a more formal learning course and to watch your word bank grow while youre at it.A Habit Tracker AppYour phone can work as a language learning tracker if you download one of the habit trackers designed specifically to increase productivity by creating new habits, focusing energy on goals and showing just how well youre doing.A great one to try is called Habit List. Its a free app with a clean interface that allows for flexible scheduling of up to three habits with no extra purchases. So if you’re working on more than one language, this is the go-to app. If youre concerned with only one language, you can use this to also  track your gym days or any other practic e thats important to you.There are even trackers that  gamify your habit. Habitica turns any life activity into a game. Its easy to set the game up by listing the habits you want to cultivate or strengthen. Every time you check in to the game, you get credit for doing so. It mounts up to a point where you’re challenged to go on quests, accomplish tasks and even have pets.If youre a gamer, turning tracking language into a game might be the best way for you to stay motivated and watch your progress. I know it sounds impossibleâ€"or too good to be trueâ€"but game on with this one!A Bullet JournalTo round out the options, I saved the one I personally use and consider the best tool for language tracking, the bullet journal,  for  last. A bullet journal is a completely customizable option but most language bullet journals include basic pages for tasks, goals and progress trackers to show whats been completed.Its usually a small notebook, so its portable, which I like. Its also as creati ve or minimalist as its owner wants it to be. My progress trackers are color coded, but thats just me. Someone elses might be a pencil line graph, and thats fine, too. The point is to track!How to Start Using Your Language Learning Tracker(s)So now that youve chosen or are considering a language tracking tool or tools, you’ll want to focus on the best way to utilize your method. If youre not using built-in tracking, you might be wondering how exactly to track your progress. Well get into all of that here.First, decide what aspects of your language program you want to track. Do you want to monitor vocabulary acquisition, reading proficiency, writing skills or conversational skills? Maybe youve got a combination of all of those in mind. Actually, they should all be part of your program, so it makes sense to keep an eye on  each of them if you can.Assess where you are in your language learning. If you know where you are, proficiency-wise, you’ll be able to determine where you want to go and set goals accordingly.  These downloadable language tracking sheets  are used in classroom settings to gauge English proficiency, but they can be modified to suit any language. While these are intended to be used by teachers, with a little tweaking, they can give you a good idea of what your goals should be and they can also help you note your progress at any given point. Theyre also a great way to see just where you fall on the proficiency scale.One of the essential aspects of these sheets is that they offer measurable guides to assess language. Beginning learners would benefit from downloading the Kindergarten sheets, which place 500 words as the first linguistic vocabulary benchmark for a Level 1 learner. The scale on each tracking sheet increases until the Grades 10-12 sheets, which put linguistic learning in the 5000-word range.You can also use Dialang to test different language skills.Having resources like these on hand allows you to note progress and make gauging pr oficiency clear-cut, even if youre using a lower-tech or non-language-specific tool as a tracker.Start tracking study time/tasks. One of the best features of any language tracker is that it gives you the ability to track your study time. Do you want to devote one hour a day to learning? Two? Whatever fits your program and schedule, factor that in when you use your tracker. Youll be able to see just how much time you need to spend to accomplish your tasksâ€"and youll be able to make time in your schedule to get the job done.A language tracker isn’t a stagnant tool. Optimally, youll access your tracker daily as you confirm you’ve completed your language studies. At the end of a week, month or year youll have a clear view of what youve been doing with your study time.Review your progress periodically. I suggest monthly because I find that there are some weeks that I just dont make every single task and I dont want to feel badly about that. But if weekly works for you, thats great, too. I review my language tracker at the end of every month and can see what I did, what I concentrated on and how many hours I devoted to studying a target language.This is also a good time to break out the tracking sheets above, or review whatever built-in progress trackers you have going. If you see that youre flagging in a certain area, adjust your course to get you back on target.Trackers Are Excellent Tools for Language LearnersTrackers are effective.They provide accountability, motivation and help gauge success.Fitness trackers are a perfect example of how tracking works on human behavior. I mean, how many Fitbit owners (myself included) don’t call it a day until the step count goal is reached?Lets be honest, we all want to know how were doing and how we can do even betterâ€"and this is the method to address those concerns. Adding a tracker to your language routine, and using it consistently, can really help increase what you get done. It can also provide a tangible assessm ent of how well a program is performing.Bring language learning to the next level, and keep your face out of that brick wall.Track your way to success!