Yesterday, Aggie and I took our first step into the Elementary lessons with 初级78 Dealing With Praise. I’d done this lesson before, actually. It’s one of my favorites. I thought this would make for a smoother transition.

And then I got to the expansion area. Ouch.

Nearly 30 new words in there. Words not covered in the lesson or dialogue. And be warned… when you’re going through The Octagon, your counselor will test you on everything, including the expansion vocabulary. I had to nearly triple my study time for last night’s phone call. I still don’t have all that supplemental vocabulary down, but I pulled them all out, one by one, and sent them to myself in an e-mail so I can keep studying them as time allows.

Early observation on The Octagon? It’s great motivation. I’m a fairly disciplined person, but knowing that you’re going to have a daily phone call with an instructor who is mentally grading your performance takes things to a new level. Of course, my ultimate motivation is that I want to do this well, but getting an “atta boy” from a teacher you respect is the cherry on my ice cream sundae. I probably would not dig this hard into the expansion area if not for this program. So far, it’s proven to be a very powerful incentive.

Oh, and I like talking to Aggie. She’s very sweet, and her encouragement helps me over the bumbling attempts I make at speaking her language.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a cherry to eat. Have a great day, people.