Plugging in for listening comprehension My work is all done on the computer, which means I spend between 5 and 9 hours a day staring at a computer screen. I love my work, but at the end of the day I almost always have sore eyes and a pounding headache—which means that I can̵

Las Cafeteras in Vancouver I had the fantastic opportunity to celebrate my birthday recently with Las Cafeteras and my closest family and friends. They played an all-ages show at Vivo Media Arts Centre in Vancouver My mom, her friend and even my 4 and a half year old daughter were abl

Learning Spanish with Music When I was 14, I picked up Christina Aguilera’s Spanish-language CD “Mi Reflejo” (My Reflection) and I became interested in learning Spanish. Equipped with a Spanish-English dictionary I started learning some vocabulary and I was able to sing al

Tip for students: Audio record your lessons I haven’t spoken Moroccan Arabic in three years, but I plan to relearn it in a few days. How, you ask? With the audio recordings I made from my lessons. While I was living in Morocco, I began studying Moroccan Arabic, also called Darij

Chinese TV shows have been great for my brain I like TV. I’ve been told that it’s bad for your brain, but if you’re like me and like to unwind with a good (or terrible) crime show, then I say harness the power of television for language learning as well. Listening comprehension has al

An unconventional listening comprehension strategy This weekend I did the Grouse Grind—the infamous hike that takes you straight up the side of Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. On a Sunday in late August it was packed, and we were walking in step with dozens of other people. Amid t