Binge watch 

There has never been a better time to binge watch your favorite shows/movies than now. All that time can be used to catch up on a series or finish those movies you never got to see. 

 Read a book 

Reading books is not something people are fond of nowadays, but you’d be surprised to see what is out there. There’s a lot of informative stuff out there that might please you during these unusual circumstances. 

Play some video games. 

Video games are a great distraction/escape from reality, especially now given the current situation. There are a variety of different genres for everyone’s liking, and even some that allow you to play with friends. Grab a buddy or two and play, it’ll make for some great moments and conversations as well. 

Download Duolingo, learn a language. 

Duolingo teaches you foreign languages for free, easy to use for anybody at almost any age. Learning a new language not only teaches you how to speak, but there are many benefits that come with it. It is really good for Exercising the brain, and could help you out when you are going out traveling to foreign countries 

Do some home workouts 

Working out in the comfort of your own home can be really refreshing, and there are many simple exercises you can do in order to better your cardio/shape. Some workouts only require a set of dumbells, or even no equipment at all, and you can still benefit from home excersise.  

Sleep

This pandemic has caused almost everything to close down, so there’s nothing to really wake up for. This is a great time to get some sleep in, and maybe even fix sleep schedules if they’re a wreck. Better to get all the beauty sleep you can now, before life goes back to normal. 

Document days during pandemic

We’re witnessing, and going through history in the making. We will most likely not see something like this for the foreseeable future, so record some days down, write down thoughts on a journal, or even take pictures of stores. This can be something to look back on and dwell years later on how weird this time was. 

Pick up an instrument

Like learning a new language, learning an instrument benefits the brain in many ways, and can be fulfilling. Learning to play any instrument gives a different feel of satisfaction, playing notes and knowing that you are the one that controls it gives great self feedback. 

Duolingo is a free app that teaches  foreign languages. It provides a selection of over 30 languages, and even teaches English for certain foreign speakers. This app is available on Apple and Android, on nearly any platform. 

With voice work, Duolingo allows you to hear the words it’s teaching you, great for auditory learners and getting familiar with the sounds of phrases/words. 

Immediate feedback is given after you answer each exercise, so if you get one incorrect it’ll tell you how to improve. Even if you get something correct, it’ll tell you alternate ways of how to say certain phrases. And if this isn’t enough, there is also a community section where you can ask native speakers of the language you’re learning for help. 

The progression is decent, you start off with basic words and phrases, then you get to more advanced ones. It tries to keep you motivated by unlocking new ‘’levels’’ which allows you to learn advanced phrases. Duolingo learns to adapt to your learning style, so if it sees a pattern in what you’re getting wrong, it’ll make sure to keep giving whatever you got wrong so you can eventually master it. 

Although progression can be adequate most times, it does tend to get repetitive, and this manifests to tedious learning sessions. I can understand repetitions are the key to learning, but when it gets too much, it can deflate motivation to learn and progress which is counter productive. 

Duolingo doesn’t teach Alphabets for languages like Russian. This can be problematic as it is the very foundation of a language, however, they also had this same problem for Arabic but they recently added the feature to learn the alphabet first. This shows that they are making improvements to the app, which is always appreciated. 

Overall, Duolingo was better than most apps that I previously would pay for. It simply has a lot more to offer, and its teaching model is practical. I personally learned a lot in just a couple days, and I’m able to recognize words and sounds of phrases of German outside of the app.