Although I don't understand every word... the A2 level "Kurz und leicht" section of Deutsche Welle is surprisingly readable to me now (!!!). At least, today's story is working out quite well.
I still need to look up around 30% of the words in the article. But notice: the page has definitions (albeit definitions in German). I can understand some of the definitions (and for the definitions I don't understand, I think its a good learning opportunity to learn more vocabulary).
My Anki Deck is seriously too full and getting very difficult for me to push through as it is however. So I won't "study" this new vocabulary from this source. Instead I'll take it as a more "passive" kind of learning. I'll probably forget all these words by tomorrow, but I'm almost stressed out from the amount of Anki flashcards I have to do already... so I really don't want to do anything to add to my current workload.
Once I'm done my classes, maybe I'll add these words to Anki and study them seriously. But while I have classes and "normal" vocabulary words to get through, it really doesn't make sense to increase my work (or homework) load.
I cannot "listen" to Kurz und leicht yet. I mean, I can try but its not sticking at all. I can only read (and read at a relatively slow pace at that). But now that its "comprehensible input", I can probably start working up the speed-ladder and work my way to understanding this stuff through listening.
Reading is always the first skill you unlock at a level.