I remember being given weekly lists of about 20 (french/german/latin) words to learn at school. I'd learn these & promptly forget the ones learn't last week. As a result by the end of the year I had a good set of test results*, but couldn't remember any of the vocabulary. The oral exams were embarrassing; I still remember the German oral, it was so bad. No I don't want to think about it any more. Argh.
So this time round, lots more comprehension listening and less word lists. Lots more looking up words while listening though. The more common words come up more frequently and eventually stick.
*except for some weeks when I totally (insert expletive). Incidentally I found that 'bari' is the word for expletive, so I can probably say 'insert expletive' in Japanese, but I'm not going to because I'm tired and just rambling on at random...
