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.