Group items tagged

Advice for language learners General warning: what follows may or may not apply to you. It's based on what linguistics knows about people in general (but any general advice will be ludicrously inappropriate for some people) and on my own experience (but you're not the same as me). If you have another way of learning that works, more power to you. Given the discussion so far, the prospects for language learning may seem pretty bleak. It seems that you'll only learn a language if you really need to; but the fact that you haven't done so already is a pretty good indication that you don't really need to. How to break out of this paradox? At the least, try to make the facts of language learning work for you, not against you. Exposure to the language, for instance, works in your favor. So create exposure. * Read books in the target language. * Better yet, read comics and magazines. (They're easier, more colloquial, and easier to incorporate into your weekly routine.) * Buy music that's sung in it; play it while you're doing other things. * Read websites and participate in newsgroups that use it. * Play language tapes in your car. If you have none, make some for yourself. * Hang out in the neighborhood where they speak it. * Try it out with anyone you know who speaks it. If necessary, go make new friends. * Seek out opportunities to work using the language. * Babysit a child, or hire a sitter, who speaks the language. * Take notes in your classes or at meetings in the language. * Marry a speaker of the language. (Warning: marry someone patient: some people want you to know their language-- they don't want to teach it. Also, this strategy is tricky for multiple languages.) Taking a class can be effective, partly for the instruction, but also because you can meet others who are learning the language, and because, psychologically, classes may be needed to make us give the subject matter time and attention. Self-study is too eas

Dictionary of phrases comprising categorical lists for Biblical, Sailor's, and Shakespearean lingo

draw and record what you are saying.

Type your text and choose a language then click on say it and listen your text in a perfect accent.

"Asia Society-When they say European, they don't include the UK... X Select from these web-based feed readers: AOL Bloglines Google Reader My MSN Netvibes Newsisfree Pageflakes Yahoo"

"On peut pas vraiment dire qu'on choisit son lieu de naissance Ce que vont découvrir petit à petit les cinq sens Moi, un jour mes parents ont posé leurs valises, alors voilà Ce sont ces trottoirs qu'ont vu mes premiers pas Je viens de là où les mecs traînent en bande pour tromper l'ennui Je viens de là où, en bas, ça joue au foot au milieu de la nuit Je viens de là où on fait attention à la marque de ses textiles Et même si on les achète au marché, on plaisante pas avec le style Je viens de là où le langage est en permanente évolution Verlan, rebeu, argot, gros processus de création Chez nous, les chercheurs, les linguistes viennent prendre des rendez-vous On n'a pas tout le temps le même dictionnaire mais on a plus de mots que vous Je viens de là où les jeunes ont tous une maîtrise de vannes Un D.E.A. de chambrettes, une répartie jamais en panne Intelligence de la rue, de la démerde ou du quotidien Appelle ça comme tu veux mais pour nous carotter, tiens-toi bien On jure sur la tête de sa mère à l'âge de neuf ans On a l'insulte facile mais un vocabulaire innovant Je viens de là où, dans les premières soirées, ça danse déjà le break Je viens de là où nos premiers rendez-vous se passent autour d'un grec Je viens de là où on aime le rap, cette musique qui transpire Qui sent le vrai, qui transmet, qui témoigne, qui respire Je viens de là où y a du gros son et pas mal de rimes amères Je viens de là où ça choque personne qu'un groupe s'appelle "Nique Ta Mère" Je viens de là et je kiffe ça, malgré tout ce qu'on en pense A chacun son territoire, à chacun sa France Si j' rends hommage à ces lieux, à chaque expiration C'est qu' c'est ici qu' j'ai puisé toute mon inspiration Je viens de là et je kiffe ça, malgré tout ce qu'on en pense A chacun son territoire, à chacun sa France Si j' rends hommage à ces lieux, à chaque expiration C'e

The annoncement of this site created quite a stir in EU among educators. It was meant to open today, March 6, 09, but for the time being it says: "Face à la trop forte affluence, le site faismesdevoirs.com réouvrira lundi matin pour le plus grand bonheur de tous. Tous les devoirs qui nous ont été envoyés seront corrigés."

The systems works a lot like close captioning does for television. The company will piggy-back a data stream on the standard audio signal. The text can then be read on radio fitted with a display. The system will only work with digital broadcasts, but the company says an Internet-based solution is possible. Currently more than 1,500 radio stations are currently broadcasting in HD Radio in the United States.

From "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions" (1623), XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris - "Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die."

ICART's mission is to design and advocate for accessibility features to be included as radio broadcasting accelerates the global transition to digital transmission. As we like to say: "Accessible design is good universal design"

intro to vocab for food and drink role-plays

In fact, some of the greatest obstacles to world-language education are parents who recall their own miserable experiences. Many Americans were introduced to foreign languages in middle school or high school classes that emphasized conjugation of verbs and other dull grammatical tasks rather than relevant communication skills. "Language teaching in the U.S. has been ineffective," Stewart says. "We start it at the wrong age. Teacher skills are not great. There's a focus on grammar and translation." The result: "Adults who took three years of French don't speak a word," she states.\nBut the trend toward competency and away from conjugation is helping create a new generation of language learners, one that gains real-world skills with many practical applications.

the key here lies in the paragraph I clipped: the focus should be on competency rather than on conjugation.

The solution to Ks2/KS3 transition issues?

I work with adult migrants and they live with their non-English speaking families. Therefore, unlike children of native English speaking families, these adults are not surrounded by rich English words that are full of meaning. We might say to a child "put your toys away" and they won't understand, so we do it for them. However, we started doing it when they were 8 months old, and after a few more months, they understand what it means.

A nice blog for French and language teachers by http://twitter.com/sylviaduckworthwith enough good tips, ideas, links and resources to make any teacher say "Oui". http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages,+Culture+&+International+Projects