Category Archives: Encouragement

Posts about creating, maintaining and protecting your motivation, commitment and positve attitude for the language learning journey.

The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Neil Rees

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics It is not very often that you come across someone who is both extremely experienced in learning other languages but also knowledgeable and talented in teaching others how to become an independent language learner. Neil Rees is both of these. Neil has learned to varying extents a handful of languages and has worked over…

Postcard Outreach: Iowa and Macedonia

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics I received two more great postcards recently.  The first was from Jamie of Des Moines, Iowa. The second was the first international postcard, coming all the way from Lew who is a PeaceCorp worker in Macedonia! Very cool! Send your postcards to: Aaron Myers 102 N Main Marion, SD 57043 USA

Skill Development and Language Learning

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Last fall I was contacted by Alexis Morin asking if he could interview me as part of his Master’s Thesis research.  We had a great conversation which you can watch HERE.  Alexis is diving deep into self-directed language learning for his research and so I asked if he would consider writing a guest post…

The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Alan Park of FluentU

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics After my recent post, 10 Free Resources for Learning Nearly Any Language, I got a lot of great feedback on other resources not on that list.  None was mentioned more than FluentU.  I’ve probably gotten ten emails from the EDLL community saying how great of a site that it is. I had to do…

Postcard Outreach: Orlando, Florida and Traverse City, Michigan

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics I’ve been receiving quite a few postcards from the EDLL community and it is encouraging and exciting to know that so many folks are reading the blog and finding real value in it.  I continue to look for ways to create a more robust resource for language learners across the globe.  Let me know…

Postcard Outreach: Salem, Oregon

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics I received another great postcard in the mail today. This one came from Salem, Oregon where Annette Harrison is teaching coaching students as they learn Indonesian, Korean, Spanish and Mandrin. I am chomping at the bit to get Annette on the phone and hear all about her classroom.  If you read my past article,…

6 Quotes For The Language Learning Journey

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.   -Seneca Knowing your goals for learning the language will go a long way toward helping you remain committed to mastering the language and provide the direction you’ll need to stay the course. Setting specific targets allows…

Postcard Outreach: Oceanside California

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics I put out a call for postcards about a week ago and received my first a few days ago.  I’ve moved to a new home and for the first time have a home office space of my own from which I now work.  The walls are bare though and I would love to cover…

Fail Early, Fail Often and Keep Moving Forward!

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Click here to watch video if you can’t see it above. Failure. It is a word that we fear. Our culture – especially our school culture – has taught us this fear of failure, has burned it deep into our consciousness so that we live lives marked with an acute avoidance of it. We…

The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Stephen Krashen

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics My article about comprehensible input is one of the most popular posts on The Everyday Language Learner blog.  I believe that comprehensible input – and indeed massive amounts of comprehensible input – is an absolutely essential part of learning any language. Comprehensible input is an idea first popularized and pushed forward by Stephen Krashen….

Just Do This, Just Do That

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Today’s guest post is from Jeff Bernstein and he is the writer behind a great new language blog called Jeff弁.  I have been impressed with his advice to language learners and particularly enjoyed his series of posts, What to Do When Your Stuck.  Make sure and stop by his blog for more great articles and…

The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Dr. James Asher

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics This past week I had the priviledge of sitting down via skype to talk with Dr. James J. Asher.  Dr. Asher is the creator of the Total Physical Response (TPR) technique which is used across the globe to teach foreign languages to everyone from children to adults. In our interview we covered a lot…

The EDLL Interview Series: David Mansaray

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics I had the priviledge of sitting down with David Mansaray this past week and had a wonderful conversation with him.  I first came across David online a year or so ago and have always been impressed with his focus on self-directed learning. David’s thirst for learning is inspiring and his writing at www.davidmansaray.com reflects…

Resurrecting My Spanish While Maintaining Turkish

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Trilingual.   Trilingual is an idea that I aspire to but cannot currently claim. But I’d like to work on it. In 1996 I graduated from college after taking a year of German.  I wasn’t into the idea of learning German at the time needing it only in order to graduate and so I…

12 Strategies For Reluctant Language Learners

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics RELUCTANCE. If that’s a word that describes your state of mind as you  approach the idea of working on learning your target language, then this post may just be for you. Don’t worry, I know you’re a little lazy.  You’re not completely committed either.  And you aren’t exactly passionate about learning the target language…

Enter your email and get free resources and updates from The Everyday Language Learner.