Category Archives: Tips and Ideas

Tips and ideas for the everyday language learner.

How To Learn Language Through Food

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Today’s guest post is from Lizzie Davey, a language learner and writer at Languages Abroad.  Enjoy! Travel and food go hand in hand, so incorporating the local cuisine into the language learning process is a great way to discover the traditions and culture of the native-speaking country whilst picking up new vocabulary and learning…

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…

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…

Climbing the Listening Ladder to Learn Another Language

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics As a language learner, it is important to engage with your target language through all four language modalities at all stages of the language learning journey. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner you need to be reading, writing, speaking and listening on a regular – even daily – basis. I have…

10 Ideas for Learning a New Language Five Minutes At A Time

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics We live in the most hurried, busy time the world has perhaps ever seen. We have more engagements, more work, more distractions to fill more hours of more days and if you are like me, you still find yourself wishing you could accomplish – just a bit more. Amongst all this business is a…

Language Learning Activity: Dialogue Generation

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Every language uses the ebb and flow of dialogue.  When we communicate we both talk and listen. Creating natural dialogues then can be an effective way to practice for the regular interactions that take place as we speak in our new target languages. What is a dialogue? If you been through any formal language…

Language Activity: Learning To Get Where You Want To Go

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics If ever you have spent any significant time living over seas, you have probably come across the language challenge of giving or taking directions. An innocent native speaker approaches you on the street to ask if you know the how to get somewhere. You understand the question, but when considering the challenge of explaining…

Language Learning Tip: Retell It

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Today I would like to share an idea that will help with listening comprehension.  I’ll call the activity Retell It.  Though it is a simple idea, when intentionally done, it can create an opportunity to work on listening comprehension as well as receive a lot of comprehensible input.  As always, if you can record…

How A Trip to Cappadocia Taught Me To Use My Nook Simple Touch for Language Learning

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics This past week my kids enjoyed their spring break from the rigors of second grade and kindergarten.  We took the holiday as an opportunity to explore a bit more of this country we have come to love and so ventured east to central Turkey and the magical Cappidocia region. Not being familiar with the…

Language Learning Tips: Extensive and Repeated Listening

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics I recently re-read an article written for an academic journal that brought to light some interesting thoughts about different types of listening activities and their comparative effectiveness for language learners.  The article, Extensive or Repeated Listening? A comparison of their effects on the use of listening strategies investigates students’ use of listening strategies when…

Language Learning Tip: Glance at Grammar as a Beginner

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics Before heading out the door last fall for a trip by car to visit the small city of Izmit some three or four hours east of Istanbul, I pulled out my map of Turkey to take a look at the route I would need to take to get there. I didn’t study the map. …

Language Learning Tip: Take Control of Learning Grammar

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics As independent language learners, one of the challenges we all face is figuring out what to learn next.  And more specifically for today’s post, what grammar structures to learn next. In the language classroom, the teacher directs the course of study.  A good grammar text or workbook will as well unpack the language in…

Language Learning Tip: Using Parallel Texts

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics A parallel text resource for learning another language is a book or text in which the target language and native language are presented side by side on the same page or screen.  The side by side nature of the text makes for a robust learning resource for language learners and can be a good…

The Story Of How It Worked For Me: One Mom’s Journey

Language Learning Tip: Use Music to Learn a Foreign Language

Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics In early December I was pleased to be able to meet today’s guest author Susanna Zaraysky for lunch here in Istanbul.  Susanna is an accomplished language learner and a bit of an expert in using music to learn languages – something I haven’t done a lot of.  I am excited to have her share…

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