Language Learning Timeline Planner

One of the most popular excuses for not learning a foreign language is something along the lines of “Oh, I could never find the time.” Sadly, this is also often a self-fulfilling prophecy. Many language learners drop out of their classes or give up on their polyglot plans, because they are convinced that there is no time in their schedule.

I have known this to be true for many learning plans I’ve made. So recently, I started paying closer attention to the way I plan and carry out my work. Today, I’m sharing with you a simple planning tool which makes it easier to find more time – for learning a foreign language, studying something else, or just about anything.

Why should I use this timeline planner?

The key benefit of this tool is that it tries to give you solutions for any time frame.

Some of my plans failed because I was too focused on the “big idea”. In trying to plan several months or years ahead, I lost track of what was happening every week and every day. This meant that my idea was not connected to the everyday reality.

And sometimes, the opposite was true. I was so bogged down in trying to survive another day, another hour. For a long time, I never managed to take a step back and figure out why I’m really doing something – or to think about how useful my busy times really were.

This timeline planner tries to take care of the long-term and the short-term. Its job is to help you find ideas and answers, both the big and the small ones.

How should I use this timeline planner?

I will assume that you use this to plan your foreign language learning – but you can use this for any project.

You will need the planner (there’s a PDF version and a slide deck). You will also need 10 minutes of time to complete this exercise.

You can do it alone, or with your learning buddies – even as a whole class!

There is no right or wrong answer here. Your ideas will be yours to keep, judge, and act on.

What should I do?

• Study the fields on the planner.
• Each of the fields helps you answer this question: Here’s what I can do every…(year, month, etc)
• Start anywhere you want:
• You can start from the big fields (years, months) and move to the smaller fields.
• You can start from the smaller fields (hours, days) and move up.
• You can start anywhere if something comes to your mind first.
• Start writing your ideas into the fields. There is no need to edit them too much.
• Having an idea in every field is OK. Having several ideas in every field is great! And if you see that it’s difficult for you to fill a field, think – maybe this is the missing piece of your learning rhythm?
• After you think you’re done, look through your ideas.
• Are any of them really attractive and exciting?
• Are there any logical connections between what you can do on different timescales?
• Do the “small” ideas help and support the “bigger” ones?
• Will the “big” ideas help motivate you for the “smaller” ones?

What can I do next?

After you’ve filled your timeline planner with ideas, the best thing you can do is try some of them out!

For this step, I think it’s best to start with the “smaller” ideas. Try a few of the “hourly” and “daily” ones in a given week – and maybe one “weekly” idea every week or two. See whether they feel right for you. It’s your learning plan, and if something doesn’t suit you, you’ll know it.

Try moving to the “bigger” ideas soon. Will the hourly and daily actions add up to a monthly event? Or a yearly language course abroad? These may take more planning and preparation, but it’s often motivating to know that you’re already taking regular little steps towards them.

How to avoid mistakes?

As with all plans, things can go wrong. Here are a few pitfalls to be aware of:

• How long does it take? “Revising 30 words and phrases on flashcard app” is a good “hourly” size. “Reading 100 pages of a new Spanish novel” might be too ambitious.
• How often should it happen? A weekly conversation class feels right for me. A conversation class every day might be too much (unless you’re on an intensive course). A conversation class once a month might be too little!
• What will it cost me? It would be amazing to spend each weekend in Vienna, drinking good coffee and having a nice Kaffeeklatsch. But it would blow a massive hole in my budget – and also leave me exhausted pretty soon! This doesn’t just apply to “big” ideas, or to money – think about a mental cost of an hourly intensive grammar session. How long before your brain says “NEIN”?
• Is there variety? Do you work with real people as well as apps? Are you using real materials as well as textbooks? Do you feel like speaking, listening, writing, and reading are all equally represented?

Ready to get going? Download the planner here.

(Photo by Nick Hillier on Unsplash)