New Book Proposal

I’m putting together a book proposal for a language teaching book with Continuum. I have written for them before – there’s a book due out in August, in which I have written a chapter. That, I hope, will help. Plus there are all my other language books. Also, this resource offers the opportunity to write a version of The Complete Guide to Learning a Language for Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
The emphasis is on proactive learning. The learner must take responsibility for their own learning. They have to understand and react to the bigger picture. They need to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.
Another feature is that the learner adopts useful language learning habits. After a while, learning does not seem like work. It is just something you do every day, like cleaning your teeth.
A third important strand is encouraging students to use what they know more creatively. They should have fun with the language and be prepared to make the most of what they do know rather than worrying about what they don’t know.
So, fingers crossed. I’ve got until tomorrow to get the proposal in.

How to Be a Monoglot

It makes you cringe.
We stopped for lunch on the way back form Teide, the volcano on the Spanish island of Tenerife. It was a popular little restaurant and they did the type of snack meal we wanted. We had lovely views of the mountain. But it was all spoilt by the conversations we had to listen to on the table next to us.
“There are diabetics all over the world, aren’t there? So why do they only have coca cola lite? It’s always the same, abroad.”
Well, I suspect it’s not always the same abroad. If you actually bother to ask in the language they speak there, you might be pleasantly surprised. My husband is a soft fizzy drink fan and has often been asked in mainland Spain when ordering some brand name drink, whether he wanted normal or lite. He doesn’t speak fluent Spanish, but knows most of the phrases needed in restaurants. At least he aims to communicate. That may be the key.
We also have to remember, that if you’re sitting in a restaurant staring at the rocks on the top of Teide, you’re up a volcanic mountain, on an island, which is part of a country which is experiencing food strikes.
“I don’t like cola. I have to have enough of it in emergencies.”
I am sorry, about your disability. I really am. But I have one too and it stopped me going to the very top of Teide. You are limited to drinking cola or water. (Surely there’s nothing wrong with water? I’m drinking it.) I get to miss out on the ultimate view.
You spot someone drinking a glass of wine. Now there’s an idea. You go to the counter.
You speak louder and louder. “Is it possible to buy a glass of wine?” They offer you water. They get more and more flummoxed but they still try to please.
Angry, you come back to the table.
“They just can’t speak English,” you say, offended.
Actually most of them do – the amount they need to serve customers. They do take their tourist industry seriously. But you’ve got to meet them half way. Tourist or not, you’re still a guest in their country. They’re sharing their lovely views and sunny climate with you.
“That one over there speaks English better,” your companion says.
Still no luck, because you get impatient and shout.
My husband was there, and resisted helping because frankly, you didn’t deserve it. He knows how to say “Un vaso de vino blanco, por favour.” I resisted, too. I could have gone further and asked even whether it was possible to buy wine by the glass, explained about the lady being diabetic and wondering whether they had anything else ‘lite’.
There is one advantage of you not making any effort to speak Spanish, or any effort to make your English understandable, of you being completely blinkered: you wouldn’t have understood when I apologised for the lady’s rudeness.

Verb Cards by Advance Materials

Advance Materials do use new technology in an old-fashioned way. By that I mean that they provide interactive learning without computers. Their French Verb Cards are similar in many ways to their Magic Verb cards, reviewed earlier on this blog. A “cut-out card and slide” system makes tenses align with a slot in the card and a tense marker – such as “L’année dernière.” This method of learning may particularly appeal to visual and kinaesthetic learners. The physical movement involved leads to more learning impact than gained by just moving things around on a computer screen.
The resource revises 100 French verbs in present, perfect, imperfect and future tenses. This is impressive, though it is a great pity that this resource is only available in French at the moment. Always, always French.
Students would certainly be able to work independently and there is also the possibility that they can revise all tenses in one go, thus gaining a bigger picture of how verbs work. They would certainly be useful to students from GCSE to A2. Unfortunately they’re not cheap. They start at £22.31 per set, including VAT. However, the more sets you buy, the cheaper they get – 30 packs cost just £511.11, and currently Advance Materials are giving away one set free for every six packs purchased. Even so, I can’t help thinking that computer programmes would be cheaper.

What You Can Do If You Speak a Foreign Language

When you speaking someone else’s language you open up a new level of communication. Other cultures talk about different topics and have other burning issues and concerns. So it goes way beyond just the words, syntax and grammar. Yet the new language can be a way in.
You begin to understand the other nationality’s way of thinking. You begin to see things from their point of view. You have something you can communicate back to your own people.
You might read books in the other languages. Books are rarely translated from foreign languages to English, so English speakers can really be missing out. If you can read fluently in another language, you have so much more literature at your disposal. Films also.
There are so many more people you can communicate with in the world.
Think of a crowded holiday beach and think of the people you might be able to understand. What if you could understand the French, German, Spanish and Dutch? And in addition, more or less wok out what the Portuguese and Italian were saying? With a smattering of Welsh as well. I can do all of that, and it makes a difference. I sometimes think it has made me be neither one thing nor another because I understand a little of many cultures and question my own. Oh, they all have their good and bad points. I can see that. Monoglots often don’t.

Mary Glasgow Magazines

These colourful little magazines have been around for several years and are a great extra resource for language learners and teachers. They supply two German magazines, five French, three Spanish and eight English. Their web site is also fascinating, providing details of magazines, books, interactive software and free downloadable photocopiable worksheets for teachers to use with students. Subscriptions become cheaper the more you buy: for example, one subscription to La Petite Presse, the new publication for 7-11 year olds costs £17.00. Ten or more cost £8.00 each.
The magazines come with accompnaying CDs. They contian articles, fun exerices, core vocbulary and links to useful web sites.
The material covers a variety of levels, particularly in French and English. Do check the web site for details, and also bear in mind that learners can work at a higher level if supported by a teacher. The magazines are useful for individual study or classroom work.

Punto Y Coma Magazine

AThis is a fabulous resource for reading and listening to Spanish. There is a digital version and a print version. The magazine features current affairs, politics, and society, travel, movies, and music, food and other similar topics. The subscription includes a CD you can listen to. The pack includes glosseries and translations of hundreds of more challenging words. There are also comprehension exercises and exercises which practise the use of grammar and idiom. The web site also has a special section for the teacher.
Even if you can’t afford a subscription or don’t have time to fit in the reading and listening exercises, the web site is worth a look. It is packed with information and some free excerpts which are also beneficial and will help you learn. Actually, however, this resource is very good value for money – just €37.00 annual subscription for the print edition and €20 for the digital version.
This resource would by good for AS and above, but could be used with less experienced learners with some teacher help.

A Healthy Attitude towards Language Learning

When I was a full time language teacher, every stay in a foreign country was a linguistic adventure. Now that I am mainly someone who teaches something else, earns my living through an activity which is not related to foreign languages. I do remain interested in them, if not fascinated. However, the game has become a little different. It is now just a matter of communication.
Take the situation I’m in in this hotel. This is my last day. However, my lift is not coming until 5.00 p.m. They’ve arranged that I should keep the room until four. However, they weren’t sure last night whether it was possible. I had to check again after breakfast.
The head reception clerk, who speaks immaculate English, was on duty. Normally he is so taken aback if you speak Spanish to him that it is actually less efficient. Today, for some reason he spoke to me first in Spanish. It was my turn to be taken aback. I wasn’t expecting it so I didn’t start concentrating until half way through. I got the gist of it. He would have to check their bookings. By this time, he realised his mistake and spoke to me in English. Then there was an intense, complex exchange between him and a colleague as they tried to juggle rooms. Now I was concentrating and following the details. They probably didn’t realise. And thinking about it, even a language non-expert would have understood the gist of what was going on. In that situation, anyway, is there any need to know the detail? The outcome is what matters.
It worked in the end. By making some rearrangements, they can allow me to have the room for one more night.
I guess language expert or not, whoever was in that situation would have communicated one way or another, and I’m guessing that is so even if the reception people didn’t speak such good English. The point is that the need to communicate is there. You drop all your inhibitions about whether or not you can speak the language. That, in the end, is the greatest aid to language learning.