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.

Language in Action

Well, here I am then, In Spain. I’m being shown around the Nerja region by a Norwegian. I’m actually staying in a hotel in Nerja. It is very near our Belgian butcher, and not far away from the opera-singing greengrocer who has now probably retired. I must investigate later. I am sitting on my balcony writing this. It is cool in the breeze, but not cold. I can see that beautiful turquoise blue sea. It is so quiet here compared with what I am used to. Then again, it is only 2.20 in the afternoon. Do they have a siesta even at this time of the year?
My Norwegian speaks impeccable English. I don’t have to speak slowly or over pronounce words so that he understands. I can speak at full speed.
The man in the hotel also speaks English fluently, though I suspect that it is only hotel English that he speaks. They never used to do that. They used t use gesture and intonation and waving of arms, but the Spanish can do it better than most. They make you understand.
And even in these circumstances, my Spanish is useful. It’s good to respond spontaneously to a friendly “Hola”, to eavesdrop on the conversations going on at reception and to understand the notices in the hotel. Curiously, the last to be given each time is the English. German, French and Spanish come first.
I’m quite enjoying being secret fluent speaker. I can understand more than I think they can. Yet I don’t have to make the effort to speak. It’s a rather good position to be in, actually.

The Reaching Out Syndrome

What really is the problem with learning languages?
They really are not difficult. Yes, they might be hard work and demanding, but really all there is to it is:
• Being proactive
• Getting organised
• Working out what you need to learn ….
• Practise the four skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing
• And learning it
• Having a go
• Collecting language
• Even grammar is not hard – there are just five points
1) Verbs (tenses, voices, mood and person)
2) Word order – default and proactive
3) Parts of speech
4) Prepositions
5) Number and gender
And pepper it up with a few idioms and idiosyncrasies.
There really is not too much to contend with. You don’t have to be clever or intelligent. But you do have to be prepared to do the sweat. Be motivated enough and visit it often enough and it just happens. If you haven’t got that motivation you can’t find the sticking power.
One of the greatest obstacles to motivation is shyness. We Brits do tend to be very self-conscious about making the effort in another language. In fact, most native speakers of English are. It is because we know everybody can speak our language, so we know it’s a type of false game.
And yet, there are a few who buy into the game and play it well. They end up communicating and understanding and reaching out a hand to another culture.

Creative Use of Language

I’d like to examine this even further. What do I mean by “creative use of language”?
I think some of it goes back to proactive learning. That in turn carries several characteristics. It means:
• Having a clear view of what you want to learn.
• Taking steps to put that in place.
• Being willing to use what you do know.
The third point is the crux of the matter for creativity.
When I taught languages full time, I often noticed that there was a real difference between those students who just worked mechanically and those really made something of what they knew. The latter would use tone of voice, gesture, and sometime even had less language than the other group. There was something about a willingness to communicate.
Of course, it is a game.
I speak English. They speak English. We could communicate much more easily if we used our mother tongues. But I’ve often also noticed that those who buy into the game also perform better in real life, too. I remember one young man going out the night before his French orla and chattign up some of the students over on an exchange programme. He was so excited by his success with the ladies that he sailed thorugh the exam the next day.
It is about that willingness to have a go. There’s a bit of acting in it too. That again, I supposing, quite creative.

Creative Writing in Foreign Languages

I was invited to attend the meeting at the University of Portsmouth. There was debate about how to take the project forward. The competition has already won an award. I was very privileged to be one of the judges last year.
Portsmouth now wants to expand and open the competition to schools and colleges in the area. In the meeting after the meeting, Elizabeth Maldonado, the lady in charge of the project at Portsmouth, talked about how we would like to run a conference, at the beginning of the academic year after next and invite language people who are interested in this, but also well known creative writers from other countries.
I’m interested in this whole are of research myself. I‘d like to unpick the sort of creative process which goes on when one uses a foreign language for one’s writing.
We had quite an interesting debate anyway. We almost wanted to take the word “creative“out because it implies something too clever almost. My left-brained brain started then playing with the idea that all writing is creative.
There does seem to be a problem about convincing the students that this is meant for them. Those who do the workshops don’t necessarily enter the competition. We know how simple “creative” writing can be. It’s all about using what you know – and that may be a very small amount – in a really interesting way. Our students don’t necessarily see it that way. It was that lack of confidence I was trying to address when I first started doing this with children in their first or second year of language learning. So, we considered also inviting them to write blogs on a topic of their choice and some reflective writing as well.
The idea is to go national in two years’ time and international in three. I can’t wait for that time – even though in theory, I could take my teaching pension two years later.
It is Elizabeth’s project, but it is something very important to me and I hope she will keep me involved.

Impressed

Do you watch Grand Designs? I have to confess to being very impressed with our Kevin. I’ve now seen him working on a French project and on an Italian one. He speaks both languages fluently. Yet he is a design expert, not a language expert.
Surely, though, in order to understand local architects, builder, planning regulations and culture you really do need a good command of the language. Or a very good interpreter - and that comes at great expense.
I do think someone should write a learner’s book for those people who relocate abroad and there should be quite a hefty section for those people taking on building projects.
In the end, language is power. We are powerless without it. And those who speak a language which we do not have more power in situations where it is spoken.

Native Speakers and British Exams

Yes, of course a native speaker of, say, German, is going to do well at least in the language, content of an German oral exam. You would expect them to be fluent, to use tenses correctly, show good understanding of the grammar and use correct intonation and pronunciation. If they speak clearly and remember to show their knowledge of their own language.
However, even if they do slow down so that they speak clearly and remember to add in quite a few conjunctions which change word order (German again), they still may not get full or even high marks, especially in AS or A2.
They still need to know how to structure an argument, to develop it and to sustain an idea through debate. These are more pure language skills than just speaking in a given language. Even in GCSE, where the presentation of a topic and the consequent discussion will be on a much simpler level, just being able to speak fluently in the foreign language may not be enough to get the very top marks. That two minute speech should be given in a way which makes the topic interesting and allows for a meaningful discussion afterwards. Also, in GCSE, the second role play in the Higher exam is actually a narrative piece, and those performing this will need to know a little about narrative structure to obtain the highest grades.
At first, this may beg the question of whether the exam really is checking performance in Modern Foreign Languages. I’d argue that the exercises described above are actually extremely appropriate. Language, one’s own or one that you learn later, is all about communication, and these exercises test whether you can communicate with the language as well as merely use it. When we look back at the Communicative Language Initiative, the emphasis here was on communications – sometimes at the expense of grammar. There is, in fact, a place for all these components in language learning.
Perhaps the question we really need to ask about our language exams is whether they really test what we really need the examinees to be able to do. I rather suspect that we are simply allowing an academic tradition to bend towards something more meaningful rather than cutting straight to the chase.

Ed-Pax

This company is another which provides materials for the interactive whiteboard and for the non-specialist primary language teacher. I do worry, I’m afraid, on this reliance on technology to replace specialism and from what I can see from the sample of this product, the technology is not being as widely exploited as it might be, as it is tending to replicate the old analogue way of doing things.
Still, this product does cover a lot of ground.
Disk 1 contains:
• All About Me
• Alphabet
• Colours
• Days of the Week
• Family
• How We Look
• Months of the Year
• Numbers 0 - 12
• Numbers 13 - 39
• Numbers 40 - 69
• Pets
• The Seasons
• Weather
• Zoo Animals
Disk 2 follows with:
• The House
• Classroom Language
• Classroom Objects
• Free-time
• Jobs
• Countries
• Nationality
• Numbers 70 - 1000
• Shopping
• Shops
• Time
• The Body
• The Town
• The Village
As the web site quite rightly boasts, it can be used alongside an existing course or as a stand alone.
The packs – also available in Spanish and German, includes planning and evaluation sheets for teachers, though I’m not sure what the point of providing those for the interactive whiteboard is.
However, the pictures which accompany these materials are colourful and motivating and represent good practice in both primary learning and interactive whiteboard usage.
The prices for the materials are reasonable:
French Disk 1 £189
French Disk 2 £189
French Disk 1 and 2 £350
French Workbook £24.99
*All prices exclusive of VAT. A postage & packaging charge of £4.95 applies.
This may be a package worth investing in for the primary teacher.

Language Colleges

I’ve recently done an Internet search on “Language Colleges”. There are a lot of them. I’m trying to do some focussed marketing of “Manuel”, a Spanish reading resource my small publihsing company, Bridge House, has produced. I have to admit, the whole idea Language Colleges makes me feel a little uneasy. I’m a great believer that every child should learn at least two languages at school, preferably starting at primary school. There should be diversification in the language taught, so that we produce a population which can communicate with a variety of other people. Languages should include a balance community ones, European and world wide languages. There will be a shortage of teachers but we should and we can address that.
But Language Colleges? Only offer excellent opportunities to a few and not necessarily to those learners who have an aptitude for languages?
I’m not sure that anything about the specialist school system is particularly healthy, anyway.
All schools should strive for excellence in everything they teach.
The main tool needed for success at language learning is correct motivation. Learners need to know why they need to learn languages. Then learning becomes easy.

Magic French Verb Cards by Advance Materials

These are great fun an almost a reaction to this high-tech age of interactive whiteboards and sophisticated interactive computer technology. A simple piece of red plastic prevents the learner form seeing the yellow conjugated verb on the prompt sheet. Remove the red plastic and the verb part is miraculously revealed.
The full set covers avoir, aller, aimer, finir,vendre, prendre, connaître, devoir, être, faire, se coucher, choisir, attendre, partir, savoir, pouvoir
Magic Verb cards are available in French, German and Spanish. Each card contains eight verb parts and eight amusing patterns.
They are certainly a very effective tool for encouraging independent learning.

The Language Factory

The Language Factory is a fun resource for teacher of primary languages. It is available in French, German and Spanish, and there will soon also be a resource for teachers of English as a Foreign Language. The audio CD “Français! Français” won the CILT European Award for languages. The Language Factory teaches through song, rap and rhyme. A full colour book accompanies each CD. In addition, a new resource for French has just been produced. It is for use with the interactive whiteboard, using Promethean Activprimary or Activstudio software. It contains over 150 flipcharts. A version for Smartboard comes out soon.
This is an extremely enjoyable resource for learners. It emphasises fun. Learners will learn despite themselves. It makes full and good use of the available technology. An excellent use for Curriculum On-line credits.
It is an exciting resource for primary students. It is easy also for the non-specialist teacher to use with confidence. However, it is also a very valuable resource for use with learners of any age.

Nod Off In … Language Learning Resources from The Publishing Cupboard

Nod Off In … Language Learning Resources from The Publishing Cupboard
These CDs and accompanying booklets are available in French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. There’s even one about grammar and punctuation. They are all about learning in a relaxed way. You listen to a CD which gets you into a relaxed frame of mind to start with. The booklet reinforces the learning process.
Everyone, of course, has different learning styles. These courses will suit some people. Others they will suit less well. But however much the “Nod off” system coincides with your learning style or not, it is another tool and worth trying. See what I have said in “The Complete Guide to Learning a Language” about using CDs and also about mixing and matching methods.
Do visit the Publishing Cupboard’s web site. The whole method is based on The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga, as presented by Deepak Chopra and David Simon. In fact, the whole business ethic of The Publishing Company is based on the Seven Spiritual Laws. The “About” page makes interesting reading.
Even if this is a little too New Age for you, it’s still worth looking at the site. It’s a very attractive site, with loads of useful information and hints and tips – and a good deal of sense about language learning.

Càlédöñíâ Languages

This company is extremely brave and enterprising in the variety of different language courses they offer.
You can choose from:
• conventional language courses for all levels and ages
• activity holidays
• school study trips
• tailor-made gap years
• teachers’ refresher courses (approved by the British Council)
• language courses linked with learning other skills – for example, dance
In addition, they are specialists for language courses within Cuba. In that context, they even offer special arrangements for honeymooners.
Sample prices are:
• 15 individual lessons per week plus homestay in Santiago , 2 weeks from £545
• 20 group lessons per week plus homestay in Havana, 2 weeks from £700
There are some one-off specials – for example, a salsa weekend in Blackpool and a dance and trekking holiday.
This company takes your breath away. Well done them for offering customers such a choice with such enthusiasm. Their web site is as exciting and as colourful as they are.

Fundación San Pablo Castilla y León CEU

This university in Valladolid offers courses in Spanish for international students. Courses range in price form €450 for a month to €2000 for the spring session, lasting from January to May. It is also possible to have private lessons at €30.00 per hour.
If you enrol for one of their longer Spanish courses, you have two possibilities for accommodation. You can either stay in a university residence or you can stay with a local family. The latter is probably more demanding, but it does mean that you will get a flavour of the real Spain and ample opportunity to practise the new language that you are learning.
Valladolid anyway is a fascinating town with its fair share of history and a vibrant night-life. Although it is a small town it has all the facilities of the larger cities. To help you to make the most of this, the university offers a leisure programme to complement its language lessons.
This is definitely worth a look if you are interested in going on a residential Spanish course.

A New Vision for Bridge House Languages

I have taken this back over now. It is my intention to run the whole enterprise now as something which makes a little money for me, as a site which celebrates what can be done in learning languages and as a place where those who wish to learn languages can meet those who wish to teach them.
I am not going to spend all of my time, as I did previously, in admin concerned with matching tutors with clients. This has to become an automatic process, so that people want to come to the web site and so that tutors want to register.
I shall offer training and networking opportunities, links and advertising.
Any other ideas are certainly welcome.

A Great Advantage of Being Competent in Another Language

My cousin was over from France this weekend. She speaks fluent French, though she’s got to do that through living there not through a formal education like I have. It doesn’t actually matter what route you get there by. But we’re both fluent and can read as easily in French as we can in English.
Being able to read like that means that there is some literature we can access that other people can’t. Not much is translated into English. Those who only speak English therefore, see very little of the forms of literature, different form our onw, which are available in other languages.
For example, Olivier Adam in his book “On Ira Voir la Mer », Paris, Médium, 2002, really gets into the mind of a delinquent like nobody else does. Hervé Jaouen’ s “Mamie Mémoire”, Paris Gallimard, 1999, explores what it is like living with a relation who has Alzheimer’s . Then there is the format of book produced in Belgium which is just not known here : the hard-back picture book / graphic novel written for young adults which contains a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, for example: Guibert, Emmanuel and Didier Lefèvre, « Le Photographe Tome1 ». Dupuis: Fleurus, 2003. All of Amélie Nothomb’s work is extraodinary and also unfortunately not translated.
There are of course also examples in Spanish and German and no doubt in several other languages I don’t speak. What a wealth of thought we miss out on by being monoglot, and monglot at that in such a dominant language.
See also my Ph D thesis « Peace Child, Towards a Global Definition of the Young Adult Novel ».

Lifelong Learning at University – a Fantastic Opportunity at a Spanish University, Universidad Pablo de Olavide

Lifelong Learning at University – a Fantastic Opportunity at a Spanish University

These are courses for students who wish to learn their language in a university setting. There does tend to be more rigour in these courses and a faster pace than those in Adult Education Centres, so they are not for the faint-hearted.
The programme lasts from Monday to Friday over two weeks and covers:-
Spanish Grammar and Practice
Writing and Comprehension
Oral Expression and Comprehension.
Options are:-
Spanish Pronunciation Workshop
Spanish for Cinema
Spanish for Business
Preparation for the DELE exam
Shorter one-week courses are also available.
A distinct advantage of these courses is that you are in the country whose language you are learning. You have the option of staying with a Spanish host family – very good value at €600 for a month or €150 a week. This is bound to add to the experience. But wherever you pick your accommodation – whether with a host family, in the university residences or in a local hotel, it’s certainly not a bad place to study. The university is situated in the beautiful city of Seville.

Creativity in Foreign Language Learning
It isn’t actually difficult, though people think it is. It’s really a question of being willing to give it a go and make the most of what you do know. That is where I put the emphasis when I’m teaching Creative Writing in other languages. When you first learn a new language, you do actually go quite slowly and often have the feeling that you are not really learning much. It’s often a case of thinking in a different way and it’s certainly a matter of thinking outside the box. Play with the language. Borrow something from another unit. Mix and match. Stretch your imagination. Ask yourself, what do I know that I can use here?

War with Troy: The Story of Achilles

War with Troy: The Story of Achilles
This is really a resource for primary school teachers for use in the English curriculum. Yet it can be of great use to all teachers of English as a Foreign Language, as it set out to practise all of those skills with which we are so familiar: listening, speaking, reading, writing. It also includes that one that we are never so sure of: creativity.
You can buy the three CDs for £25.00. The teacher’s guide costs £29.50. This contains:
• episode-by-episode teaching notes
• story summaries, ideas for starting points and multiple suggestions for follow-up activities
• mapping to National Literacy Strategy, including storytelling, features of myths, presentation of characters, and oral and written storytelling
• mapping to the Speaking, Listening, Learning strategy, including ideas for listening, speaking, group discussion and drama
• advice on planning lessons around speaking and listening
• a full transcript of the storytellers' story
• photocopiable illustrations.
Similar materials for the “Return from Troy” are also available.
It is also well worth visiting the web sit and listening to the free materials and looking at sample teacher’s resources.
This is a wonderful story, beautifully retold by professional story-tellers, Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden.

Aurolog – Flexible Solutions

I tried this out at the London Language Show last autumn and I have to confess I was impressed. This company provides flexible language learning options, including an on-line course so that you can access your learning from anywhere.
The company offers courses in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Japanese and Arabic. Particularly interesting are their immersion technique “Tell Me More” courses. They are particularly proud of incorporating voice recognition into their courses. They also have courses especially designed for children, educational settings, university campuses and businesses. Perhaps one of the keys to their success is their permanent research and development team who are always looking at new ideas, whilst working closely with educationalists.
This seems to me to be a company which is taking the new technology on board and making every effort to make good use of it in language learning.

Romanian

I read some interesting facts about Romanian, the other day, published on a small post card by the Romanian Cultural Institute, known in its own language as “Institutul Cultural Român”.
• 29 million people world wide speak Romanian.
• Romanian is the only Romance language to have developed in Eastern Europe.
• The first written text in Romanian is Neacsu’s letter form 1521.
The Romanians are very proud of the Art Invasion into London:
“Perjovschi” at the Tate Modern.
“Fanfare Ciocalia” at the Barbican.
“Kebab” at the Courtland Institute.
“Ursuleasa” at Cadogan Hall.
“The Government Inspector” at the Edinburgh Festival.
These are just a few examples.
Any tutors of Romanian out there who would like to join Bridge House Languages?

Language School Relaunched

I used to own my own language school. I looked for a business partner. I took her on. I found I was no longer interested in running the business, not because I didn’t like what I’d created, but because I didn’t enjoy doing what it made me do. It seemed to be a massive administration job. So, my business partner and her husband took it on.
They have just offered to hand it back as it is no longer making them money. I have more time now. So, I’m looking to run it so that the computer does most of the admin and I just get to do the type of activities I like doing.
It’s about matching private clients with tutors.
I want this to happen with as little admin input from me as possible. Perhaps along the lines of Contact an Author. The tutors who are already registered with BHL will be able to stay for free for one year. They can renew via Pay Pal. Clients can browse for free. We could charge for advertising. Review style. Most of the activity would be about promoting good language learning.

Tonguefreed

This is the publication issued by the University of Portsmouth about Creative Writing in a Foreign Language. It contains the results of a competition amongst the university’s students. It is part of a wider Creative Writing in Foreign Language project which has already won the European Award for Languages, a national prize organised by CILT, the Centre for Information on Language Teaching, in 2004.
Entering this competition enable students to use their language skills beyond just what is needed to communicate in everyday situations and to succeed in exercises in an educational setting.
Many people have contributed to this little volume, including myself, Dr Valda Bunker, of the department for Curriculum and Quality Enhancement, John Naysmith, the Head of the School of Language and Area Studies at the University of Portsmouth, John Cross and Elizabeth Maldonado, who are involved with the project at Portsmouth, UK, Margaret Anne Clark, and Marie McCullagh.
The standard of the winning entries is very high, and also the pieces which have been included also because they are good. This is really worth looking at. ISBN 978 1 86137 531 5

Alex and Friends

This is a listening and reading resource available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian for primary language learners. It comes in the shape of a CD with a transcript n a booklet. It covers the vocabulary for numbers up to 30, weather, small animals, farm animals and some items of food and clothing. The readers can look for the mouse in each illustration. The CD and booklet, in A4 format, cost £13.99.
This colourful booklet could certainly boost confidence and the whole concept was created because the author’s children complained about not being able to understand conversations they heard in France after a year of learning French. The illustrations are great works of art in themselves, so the resource is worth having not just for its language teaching qualities.
This is good value for money and should enhance any primary classroom.

Edpax – Materials for Primary Language Teachers

iEdpax – Materials for Primary Language Teachers
This company supplies, amongst other things, software for the interactive whiteboard. They have materials for primary languages on over 28 topics which consist of over 650 activities. These are stand alone products, so they can be used on their own or with another course. They come with full instructions so are useful to both specialist and non-specialist teachers. There are also printable follow up sheets and planning grids for teachers, for French, Spanish, German and English.
The pictures provided for the whiteboards are cheerful and colourful, which is appropriate for the primary classroom, though the actual drawing is a little crude. The interactivity is superb. All of the printed material is very clear and the instructions for the teachers are also logical and will empower the teacher to apply good practice.
Of course, a resource like this is not cheap: at the time of writing it costs £189.00 for Disk 1 or 2, £350 for both disks together and £24.00 for the student work book. However, in terms of saving the teacher preparation time and providing a quality experience to the students, this is a bargain, especially compared with how much an interactive course including books would cost.

Babel, After All

It does make you think, actually. I was talking to a relation recently, and she mentioned that when she was in Russia they used to get beer from the male steam baths. The “banya” she called it. Of course, it must be spelt completely differently, being Russian. But then you think of Spanish “bañarse” and French “se baigner”. There is English “bathe” and German “baden”.
We all think of language coming either from Latin or Sanskrit. But then where did Latin come from? Snaskit, so I’m told. There are some crossovers anyway. Spanish is a Latin language and German a Sanskrit one. But what about cheese – “queso” and “Käse” with very similar pronunciation? Then you have surprises in the Celtic languages such “Eglwys”, church in Welsh, so very similar to French and Spanish.
With globalisation you would think would get closer. We are, in fact, but it’s more coming back together than coming together in the first case. Our languages seem to have grown out of an original common one, as if we all started in one spot and then moved away.
Basque remains a puzzle and shows no similarity to anything else on earth.
So, perhaps the Tower of Babel was just a symbol of man being up himself. We do pride ourselves in being superior to than animals because we have language and we think in language. But it is also one of our greatest stumbling blocks. Our lack of understanding of each other does hinder our progress – whatever that might actually be.

French Connections

We had a huge family gathering this weekend. I was very happy to be invited as I’m not a direct relation of that branch of the family, but my father was always very close to one of the cousins and I’ve always liked them a lot. One couple within this subset are god-parents to my children.
We were there to scatter the ashes of one of my cousins. We did this near a bench which was the memorial to her brother. Both of them died too young, especially the man.
But what was amazing was to hear his children speaking French amongst themselves. Two of them live in France now and the other has lived there. They speak as fluently as I do and if anything their French is more French, more colloquial, and more up to date.
I learnt my French through years of study followed by years of usage. I speak it easily and I don’t notice when I’m reading it that I’m reading a foreign language. I’ve been to France often but only ever lived there for about six months, over thirty years ago. I think they have the edge.
Still, both methods seem to work. Learn it through study, or learn it by being there. Both, of course, is ideal.

Not a Piece of Cake

The other day, I had to call Spain. I speak reasonable Spanish, but even so, I could not get the person on the other end to understand what I was saying. It probably didn’t help that I had the wrong number. But with my background, I felt I should have been able to do better.
But there are reasons why this didn’t work. For starters, Spanish people use a lot of gesture and eye contact when they speak. You don’t get that on the phone. Also, they’re not used to foreigners speaking their language. They use English as a lingua franca, particularly within the tourist industry. So, they are not used to making the concessions that the non-native speaker needs if they are to communicate well.
Yes, English is spoken all over the world. But it is often limited to specific circumstances. I have a shrewd suspicion that no matter how competent the waiter, taxi-driver, tour guide, bank clerk or estate agent in Spain seem, they will rarely go above that magical level B1 of the European Languages Passport outside their area.
Interesting how we are bound by language. It is one of the things, they tell us, that separate us from the animals. Yet it remains one of our biggest barriers to communication between people on this planet. Perhaps there is something in Babel.

What warms a language teacher’s heart

I used to teach languages in secondary school. Even before it became fashionable to do so, I used to explain to my students at the beginning of my lesson what we were going to do, what the object of the lesson was, what they would be able to do by the end of it, and how they might extend themselves even further. There would always be an open-ended task at the end, a sort of “differentiated by outcome” task, which all pupils could do at their own level and take some pride in. This task would have a purpose which went beyond language learning. It was all about giving them a purpose for learning and it would nearly always lead up to some connection with our exchange school.
All of this would of course be done in the “target language” – the language they were learning. I did this as well before it became fashionable. I’d had enough contact with French, German and Dutch school where English is spoken all the time in English lessons to know it can work, when the teacher is determined enough to be understood and the students are determined enough to understand. Motivation is the key.
One day I explained all about what we would be doing that lesson. I can’t remember the details now, but t was towards the end of the first term in Year 7 – i.e. 11-12 year olds, first year of learning French in this case and this was leading up to them being able to write about themselves so that they could be hooked up with a French penfriend.
One of my middle-of-the-road students suddenly let a huge sigh and said in a loud voice “Je déteste le professeur!” (I hate the teacher!) But I was delighted.
• She had been completely spontaneous.
• She had used French for her own purposes.
• She had thought outside the box. We had learnt about likes and dislikes in the context of hobbies. She had learnt the word for teacher in the context of learning about school. Students can often be very topic-bound and not apply vocabulary and structures they have learnt in one topic to situations in another.
I didn’t mind being hated, and I don’t think she really meant it anyway. Her joyful use of the language was heart-warming.
Are you a language teacher? Do you have any heart-warming moments to describe? What are your pet methodologies? What do you think of use of the target language?

The Erasmus Programme

The Erasmus programme is to be applauded. It allows university students the opportunity to study abroad. This is not just for language students, but for any who wish to broaden their outlook be getting to know another culture in a context with which they are familiar. Needless to say, their language skills will improve just as a by-product.
They do provide a very helpful on-line guide-book that tells students how to get started setting up an Erasmus Society. This is student-led and does put the onus, quite healthily, on the students doing the work themselves. The Erasmus society provides two areas of support: it supports the incoming Erasmus student from foreign universities and promotes the programme to students who might like to participate in the future. The may also positively promote language tandem-learning schemes – where two people of different nationalities support each other in learning each other’s language. If used effectively, these can be very powerful.
All the EU member states take part in this programme. The programme claims it improve students’ flexibility, adaptability, maturity and employability. I imagine they’re right. I know for certain that contact with a different culture and a different language does do that. Most students take part in this programme during their second or third year, depending on how it might fit in with any of their courses. The Erasmus programme does award a grant to help with extra costs incurred form studying abroad.
It all seems like a fantastic idea to me.

The Michel Thomas Method

The Michel Thomas Method
Michel Thomas has taught celebrities how to speak other languages. He has devoted much of his life to studying how learning happens and in this area which is often deemed to be difficult. He has studied what happens and has now built courses shaped by his gathered expertise.
These courses are like nothing you have met before. People who have tried them have usually been quite please, but are puzzled as to how they have managed to learn. My daughter, for instance, tried the Spanish one, and was able to manage very well on holiday after a few weeks. She could not work out how she had learnt.
You can book courses with Michel Thomas himself, or one of his trusted teachers. It’s even possible to book group courses, but you have to organise the group. These are not cheap.
However, an alternative is to buy one of the courses which is now available on CD. These are audio only and you can listen reasonably passively. My daughter listened as she cycled to work. You should answer all of the questions posed, but most of your learning happens through listening as Michel Thomas or one of his trusted teachers explains.
Usually you work with only a little vocabulary, and really get to know the structure of the language. The next step then is to work through the vocabulary builder module. Courses may be bought for about £35.00 on Amazon.
I have a sample of the vocabulary builder in French, German, Italian and Spanish. Get in touch if you would like to try it.