What should I focus on if I only have 10-20 minutes a day, with speaking practice once a week?

Question

I have a friend who is willing to help me speaking a relatively rare language here in the U.S. (Afaan Oromo) once a week over the phone. When I was calling him regularly several months ago, I would often run out of things to say. What are the best types of exercises (or vocab vs. grammar) for me to practice daily on the days when I'm preparing to speak with him.

(Other info: I have basic greeting and some vocab down; I don't have a lot of time to study so I would average 15 minutes of studying)

Answer 1

There are many things you can do, but you'll need to schedule your time carefully.

• With regard to resources, it will be useful to get a textbook to get started, e.g. Afan Oromo: A Guide to Speaking the Language of Oromo People in Ethiopia by Abebe Bulto.
• A grammar book, such as Modern Afaan Oromo Grammar: An Invitation To A Cushiatic Language by Taha M. Roba, can also be useful. This does not imply that you need to learn grammatical rules by heart; you can use a book like this as a source of exercises and cloze tests that you can put on your flash cards.
• You'll need to clearly define your goals. Since your time is limited, you want to make sure you don't spend it on activities or materials that don't support your goals. Donovan Nagel has explained macro goals and micro goals in several of his posts; see e.g. 19 Things You Shouldn’t Do When Learning A Foreign Language and How To Easily Get Beyond Language Learning Plateaus.
• See if you can get hold of the list of the 1,000 most frequently used words in Oromo and create flash cards for them. There are many flashcard programs you can use for this.
• Try to find additional moments you can use for language learning, e.g. when commuting, standing in a queue, etc. You can use those moments to listen to podcasts or other audio materials, review words and phrases using your flash chard program (if you have a mobile device), etc.

Answer 2

If I were you, I'd get a textbook (of any language) to get ideas for topics.

Given your specific situation, can you ask him to read something to you? That way, you get your listening practice and can ask questions on what you hear.