Can’t get enough of that sweet, sweet education? I’ve known for a long time that I’m a language nerd, but this week, as the northern hemisphere begins the new school year, I realize I might “suffer” from another condition – school addiction! Here ar
Multilingual Literacy through Stories I have written before about the importance of educating children in their first language. In Peru, I worked with schools that promote Intercultural Bilingual Education for indigenous children, teaching them literacy skills in their first language
An Alliance for Linguistic Diversity I have written before about the importance of language preservation. When a language dies, we lose so much more than vocabulary; each language represents a distinct vision of the world and carries with it important scientific, cultural, and histori
What’s does that squiggly line do? At the beginning of the year Nicole wrote about making mistakes in Spanish and how forgetting a little squiggly mark can drastically change the meaning of a word. The little squiggly line, called a tilde, is used in Spanish to make the letter ñ
An online community to correct your target language writing I just registered for Lang-8 a few days ago, and I’m impressed with this website/social platform. It is a genius idea and ripe for our interconnected world: connect a bunch of people from different first languages and l
A Great Supplement for Language Learners My partner, Gabe, is here with me in Peru. He had never studied Spanish before coming here and enrolled in classes when we first arrived. But the classes were too expensive for us to maintain long-term so Gabe has had to find other ways to impr
Raising Kids in the Digital Age So far we have been a bit hesitant to introduce our four year old daughter to apps and computer games because they can easily take time away from physical activity or face to face interaction. Common Sense Media, my favourite go-to website for resources
My new favourite language learning tool In one of my first posts for this blog, I shared some ideas for using chinese dictionary apps and in a way that ensures strong and continued language learning. And while I’m still all about the paper dictionaries, I recently discovered the
I adore old school paper dictionaries. They’re especially great for learners of Chinese because they force us to connect with radicals and stroke order. (Plus, hunting for that 16-stroke character with the obscure radical always gets the adrenaline going, no?) But, I know that the sto
