Learning under quarantine

We all heard about it in the news around January..We kept watching it spread on the other side of the world, breathless as it vastly expanded beyond expectation, praying for those infected. However, we believed that this was too far from us and it would all be over before this got any closer to become threatening. How naive of us..Just weeks ago, Covid-19 touched the European continent spreading fear, distress and worry to all of us. One after the other one, the European countries have taken strict measures against it, leading people to home quarantine as the most effective measure against its uncontrollable spread is social distancing. 

In just a couple of days, life as we know it no longer exists. We distance ourselves from everyone, especially our loved ones as it is the only means to protect them. A walk to the supermarket has become the long-awaited outing of the week, our home becomes reinvented to host us once again, and we discover happiness, listening to music as the sun sets in our balcony.

Suddenly, we have been given all this time in our hands. Home stay can lead to depressing feelings unless we find innovative ways to keep our mind busy and goal-oriented. Studying, could be one of them!

Here are 7 tips to transform your studying into an effective hobby!

  1. Prioritize.

It is certain that in the frenzy of the lifestyle we used to have, every single student, no matter what kind of studies they are in, have left gaps in their studying. Either you are a student dealing with multiple lessons at hand or a student on a specific field, for example foreign language, then you most probably have some subjects unfinished.

In the case that you are a student handling a vast number of lessons to tackle, then here is a great opportunity to organise your studying and cover any gap. First of all, make a list of all the lessons that you know you have incomplete homework in or lack of a fully-rounded studying. Assign a separate day (or more if need be) to each one of those lessons, starting from the one you have fallen mostly behind in.

If you are a student of one specific object, then write down on a list which parts you have neglected. It might be grammar theory, essays, vocabulary studying or mere exercises that you never got the time to complete. It is vital that you cover the grammar theory first, following relevant exercises and then moving on to essays and finally vocabulary.

2. Assign Specific Time.

Now that you have set your studying priorities, it is time to assign which particular time of the day, you are actually going to dedicate to your studying. During this valuable time of staying at home, it is true that we realise how much sleep we are Not getting daily, how much time we are Not spending with the people we love and how much we do Not take care of ourselves. So, it is essential that we offer ourselves this unique opportunity to spend time there as well, but also sometime during the day to completely focus on our studying. Especially during this time we need more than ever to broaden our horizons through studying.

3. Gather your questions.

During this time of studying, the physical presence of your teacher is not available as before. It is normal that while you are studying, you will discover points that you haven’t thoroughly understood, points that you somehow skipped during your regular lessons, or just points that no matter how much time you spend studying them still remain obscure. 

Write all of them on a separate piece of paper, indicating exactly the unit, page, exercise or paragraph that you have a question in. When the time comes to contact your teacher, you won’t count on your memory to ask questions, rather than your elaborate notes including your every question.

4. Organize Skype lessons.

All right, school are closed down. They will remain so. Thankfully, we live in the era of technology. I am sure that all of you have taken some rest but you must not forget your goals. Exams will be postponed but not canceled. You will have grades coming up at the end of the semester. Finally, some of you, have a foreign language degree coming up. 

This is why, you need as soon as possible to come in contact with your teacher and arrange a lesson through digital means. It is efficient, reliable and lacks almost nothing compared to a face-to-face lesson. 

Besides having a lesson, you will also enjoy some time focusing on something productive and not on the constant worry and anxiety.

5. Immerse yourself. 

Either you are studying a foreign language, mathematics, history or any other object, then you have the luxury of time and comfort of your home to completely focus. Find relative movies, music, books and magazines to what you are progressing at and have them around you. The more you learn about your studying object, in general, the nearer you will get to attaining your goal. Exploit this opportunity to get closer to your goal not just with conventional studying.

Especially if you are learning a foreign language, now is the time to learn more about its culture, read the news from articles written in it, connect with people who are native speakers through the social media and enjoy its music. The whole world is more connected now than it has ever been.

6.Read out loud.

Too many students worry about obtaining the perfect accent in the language that they are learning. However, as long as you make yourselves understood by the native speakers of that language, you have nothing to worry about. I cannot stress enough that we must be proud of the fact that we are speaking more than our native language and not even go near faking accents in an attempt to impress anyone. 

However, even if accent is not an issue, fluency is. In order to improve your fluency there is a small trick! Yeap, you can do it on your own and watch an immense improvement on your fluency. Your stuttering will completely disappear and you will feel your reading and speaking to be moving  at greater flow. Take your books in hand, go to the previous chapters. Find your reading texts. Isolate yourself in a room and have a mirror in front of you. You have heard me right, a mirror. 

Start reading the texts as loudly as you can, listening to your tone of voice. If you pronounce a word in the wrong way, because you have already gone through these texts in the past, your mind will simply tell you that this is a mistake, and then you will try to pronounce it once again. You will check yourselves if you stop long enough at fullstops, at commas and if you colour your voice given the feelings expressed throughout the text. This technique will definitely ameliorate your fluency.

For the students who don’t study foreign languages at the moment, feel welcome to use this technique with a book or an article in your native language. Everyone needs practise in his reading skills, which can be easily transformed into presentation skills valuable in your business.

7. Learn, not study.

It is easy to get overwhelmed with the current situation the world is facing at the moment, however do not forget that one of the biggest treasures of mankind is knowledge. Take this opportunity to read and gather more information on the things that you are really passionate for. Explore information online, not only about what is going on but also about the wonders of this world. Connect with others. You are one but you are not small. Check ways in which you can contribute to the world around you. Open your mind to the entire world and then everything will become a lesson.

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Comments
  1. Ioanna says:

    This article is exactly what I was looking for! I’m trying a lot to study for the French lessons that I get, but something often goes wrong and I am not feeling that focused during studying. I will try to apply these tips!

    1. Dora says:

      I honestly hope that this advice helps you! It is only natural that under such hard times, your studying style is not going to be the same!Don’t worry and do your best! This is more than enough for you to succeed!

  2. Like!! Thank you for publishing this awesome article.

    1. Dora says:

      You are more than welcome!Thank you for your kind words!

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