Struggling to Study

After two weeks of studying Te Reo I’m feeling less confident about completing the course.  The weekly three hour lessons have been okay, but studying at home is somewhat fraught.  There’s an online course component, but I’ve found the structure of it difficult to follow, and have twice phoned the Help Desk for assistance.  Studying online is very different to what I’ve done before.  I’m a visual learner and I long for written resources to follow.  The best parts for me are where there are exercises with gaps to fill in, or recordings to be made and uploaded.  I presume that eventually my kaiako/teacher will give some feedback on these.  There are tutorials available on Monday lunchtimes, but these are not convenient for me just at present.  I’m aware I may have few opportunities to practise, especially now I’m no longer in paid work.

I try to do several hours study each day, and to take a break whenever I’m feeling stuck.  The whole project is a little overwhelming at present.  I’ve added the Maori keyboard to my computer, but the macrons look more like grave accents (à, è, ì ò, ù).  The podcast I listened to this afternoon ended with the advice: “Keep going – never give up.  Above the clouds the sun is shining.”  I’m very aware that when my daughter leaves there will be only eleven days until my Jury service, and I think I may have been foolish to register for that.  At present I’m avoiding my regular exercise class, and my poetry group, and definitely not writing any poems, all of which gives me a little bit of extra time.  My intention is to enjoy days with my daughter while she’s here, and to continue the regular meetings with friends which are essential for my wellbeing.  I will keep studying and hope things will improve in a few weeks.  We’ve been told that if we withdraw from the course within four weeks there will be no effect on our academic record, but frankly my academic record is not something I care about at present.

I’m determined to persevere
for a good portion of the year