I used to learn French by leaving lists all over the place, even on the bathroom tiles. I tried making lists on particular topics – sport, names of plants, adverbs, the weather. Some of it worked and some of it didn’t. Then my sister moved to Belgium and invited me for an extended stay. We didn’t do many ‘touristy’ things, but ordinary family things – the supermarket, buying children’s shoes, going to the dry cleaners and making a complaint and all the rest. How my French flourished! The fact is, I was learning in context.