On rare occasions we actually get to meet Skritterers, and this was the case for long time learner Bob Clark. A while back we shared lunch a local Chinese restaurant and talked shop. So naturally when we received his story and heard that he had doubled his learning target, we thought we should pass that along!
“I am a procrastinator by nature, but these contests seem to be just the nudge I need to get remotivated. I was worried I’d have a tough time doing the hour a day, and it was a real weekend killer to make up the time I missed during the week due to business trips and other commitments. I alternated between the “getting up at 4:30am” approach, and finding the nearest local library at lunchtime to knock out my hour during the week. Since prior to the contest I had gone through a dry spell, I was amazed at all the characters I had forgotten, but at an hour a day, it didn’t take long before I relearned them and was adding new characters. In tandem with Chinesepod, I’d add the vocabulary from each week’s intermediate and upper intermediate lessons, which I would listen to on the drive to and from work. At night I’d review the lessons (reading) using the Chinesepod iPhone app. I think my friends got tired of hearing “gotta go and do my Skritterminutes.” Seems like the hour a day helped me learn double my goal number of characters for the week, and this contest is the reason I hit the 1500 character mark. Thanks to you guys for getting this going, and please keep the contests coming, even if you go back to the old approach and raffle off 5 prizes to the winners.”
