Learn a New Language (while You Make a Sandwich!)

Have you ever wanted to learn a new language? Booked an overseas holiday?
Would you like an easy way to practice your new language skills?
Do you have a refrigerator? Do you often open it/walk past it?
if you've answered YES to most of these questions, then this instructable will show you how.

Step 1: Prepare a Word List

Choose your language (or see final step for variations):
As I live close to Indonesia, and Bali is a very popular holiday destination, Bahasa Indonesia is a handy language to know.
And 300 million speakers can't be wrong!

Using your choice of word processing software, compile a world list in your desired font and size.
I chose Arial Bold 14pt.

The word list should include (in your new language) at least the following:
I me my mine you your yours he his she her they their our us them
want would like excuseme sorry thankyou and
goodmorning goodafternoon goodevening goodnight
hello howareyou goodbye welcome it that this here more again person to is bag luggage Englishlanguage look walk road street
good bad fine very toomuch and big small before already notyet maybe for yes no can may understand
(numbers) 1-20 tens hundreds thousands dollar cent expensive howmuch buy money
time o'clock day week month year Mon-Sun
with without in out on up down left right where what which were was why when who
(food) eat drink fish beef pork chicken lamb water wine beer tea coffee grilled baked roasted boiled steamed menu yummy ice glass knife fork spoon juice sugar milk egg hot cold spicy sauce breakfast lunch dinner snack
bathroom toilet shower bed bedroom hotel restaurant hospital
busstop taxi transport train airport market bank postoffice policestation information
(punctuation marks) , . ! ?
Use a vocabulary/dictionary/translator to help you. Google Translate is helpful.

Ensure you have several duplicates of the more commonly used words, such as "and".

Print out your list.

Laminate list.

Cut up your list into individual words.

Step 2: Prepare Fridge Magnets

Your fridge is more than likely covered in magnets from various companies or contractors.
Some came on the back of tiny calendars.
Most of these came as unsolicited junk mail.

Cut magnets into strips of similar height to the words.
Cut strips into word-sized (very short, short, medium, long) pieces.
(My first attempt involved cutting up the words after gluing onto uncut magnets, but I found many words required re-gluing).

Step 3: Glue List Onto Magnets

Arrange words face-down.
Place a small drop of glue on the back of each word.
Place an appropriate sized magnet (black side up) onto each word.
Cover with a spare sheet of paper.
Weight down with a book.
Allow to dry overnight.

Step 4: Arrange on Fridge

Clear a large space on your fridge at eye-level.
The words can either be placed randomly, or be arranged into similar groups (ie: verbs, nouns).

Step 5: Practice, Practice, ...

Every time you walk past, or go to open the fridge:
1. rearrange some words to construct a sentence, or
2. choose a word to focus upon.

Remember: Every language has its own grammatical rules.

If your list is large enough, you may be able to construct an entire conversation!

Through frequent practice, repetition and rehearsal, your language skills will be enhanced.

Also remember to practice saying the words/sentences out loud.

Step 6: Variations

This process can be used for many other projects:

Haiku
Poetry
Messages for housemates
Creative writing ideas
Brainstorming
Cramming for exams
Chemical equations
Mathematical equations
Song writing
Sports Teams
Sports Ladders
Morse Code
Semaphore