There is a myth out there that adults make language errors forever, while kids just effortlessly absorb whatever they hear. Now, I’m no specialist in childhood learning, but I am here, backed up with recently acquired anecdotal evidence, to tell you that kids do not just pick up
Helping EAL Students Develop a Diverse Vocabulary How do you help English learners identify and understand new vocabulary and then use it? I’ve put together some English as an Additional Language (EAL) vocabulary resources I’ve been using to support new word usage, and to
Yo hablo español peruano Recientemente, una amiga mexicana me hizo notar algo sobre el español que hablo. Ella me dijo que yo era el primer peruano que había conocido y que encontraba mi forma de hablar muy particular. Sin entrar a muchos detalles teóricos sobre las lenguas y sus vari
Agricultural metaphors in English Planting season has me thinking Spring has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. I recently expanded our garden to have room for the plants I want to grow. Marigolds, arugula, spinach, mustard greens, sweet peas, and peas are already in the ground. Indoor
“Descend” in the water The first time I really noticed this fact – that it’s easy to recognize and guess Spanish words if you speak English, but not so much the other way around – I was teaching a Colombian woman how to swim. She spoke only a little English. When I said “Go down in th
Spanish Fluency in Five Not-So-Simple Steps What does it mean to be fluent in a language? Does it mean that you can read, write, speak, and understand everything in the language with no mistakes? Or is getting by with most day-to-day conversations good enough? This question has been t
Food and language – my two passions You may not know this about me, but I’m pretty into food. I guess you could call me a foodie. I studied food security in university and I now work for an organic produce distributor. And you know that I am also a language nerd, so when y
Three steps I use to learn a lot of Turkish vocabulary 1. Old-fashioned pen and paper Every time I hear or see a new word that seems interesting or important, I copy it onto a folded piece of paper that I keep in my pocket dictionary. If I run into a language-interested friend, I wil
Picking up words as they come Last week I blogged about different vocabulary retention methods, including using a digital flashcard system called Anki. I recently sat down to enter my new Turkish words into the Anki program, and I smiled at how disparate the words are. If I were learn
A Great Strategy for Private Language Teachers There are many different approaches to language teaching, and especially to private language teaching. Each student is unique and will respond differently to different activities and teaching styles. I’ve written before about the im
