Mapping the German B2 study plan

What I worked on

Spent most of the day building a structured 163-day study plan to get from my current level to B2 by December, using Menschen (A1–A2) and Sicher (B1–B2) as the backbone curricula.

What I learned

Breaking a huge, vague goal ("learn German") into a dated, phased plan makes it dramatically less intimidating. Once it's a spreadsheet with actual dates and materials assigned to each week, "learn German" stops being a feeling and starts being a checklist.

Decisions

• Anki for spaced-repetition vocabulary, built around scenario-based cloze cards rather than plain word/translation pairs — I want to recall words in context, not as isolated flashcards.
• Listening progression: start with Slow German, work up to real-speed content like Tagesschau by the later phases.
• Speaking practice through italki / language exchange, scheduled weekly rather than "whenever I feel like it," since that's the part I'm most likely to avoid otherwise.

Problems / debugging

Not a technical problem today, but a planning one: I initially tried to plan day-by-day for the full 163 days, which was way too granular and brittle — any single missed day would cascade. Switched to planning in weekly blocks with buffer days built in.

Tomorrow's plan

Start building the actual Anki deck structure and generate the first batch of cards.

Links / resources

• Menschen A1–A2 course materials
• Sicher B1–B2 course materials