Monthly Archives: August 2011

I do not think we learn languages in a straight line. I do not think we learn best by starting with the basics and proceeding in an orderly fashion. I think we learn best by bouncing around, attacking and retreating, following our interests. At le… Continue reading →

On Fiction is a fascinating website that describes iteself as follows; “OnFiction is a magazine with the aim of developing the psychology of fiction. Using theoretical and empirical perspectives, we endeavour to understand how fiction is created, … Continue reading →

I think the hot summer and the paprika is affecting the thought processes of Hungarian educators. The government there wants to stop teaching English as the first foreign language, and instead impose some other foreign languages with more structur… Continue reading →

Our team, the Old Goats, won the B.C. Senior Games 65 and over hockey tournament in Nelson. We had a wonderful time in the beautiful town of Nelson, which has a lot to offer in the way of scenery, mountains, a lake, nice restaurants and great golf… Continue reading →

I heartily recommend that language learners get a hold of good quality audio books, narrated by people whose style and voice they like, as I pointed out in an earlier post. Listen to them over and over if necessary. Even if you do not understand i… Continue reading →

Il Narratore Italian audio books are now available at LingQ. These are wonderful recordings of many of the classics of Italian literature. I have long been a fan of Maurizio and Il Narratore, and have listened to many of these works in order to en… Continue reading →

I am just not finding a lot of time to spend on Czech with all of the other things going on in my life, and of course my interest in listening to the Russian interviews on Echo Moskvi. What I have been able to do is the following. 1) Go through mu… Continue reading →

Here is a succinct summary of the value of input from a letter that Stephen Krashen submitted to Newsweek. I agree with him. Of course it is great to speak, when you have enough words, when you have the opportunity. However, listening and reading … Continue reading →

Canada has an Office of the Commissioner for Official Languages, which to me is just a waste of money and example of bureaucratic nonsense. Looking for things to do, the our language Commissar has decided to hire investigators who will pretend to … Continue reading →

At LingQ, each of our lessons consists of audio and text, which are available for download. These are mostly provided by our members. We are having a discussion at our Forum on what constitutes the ideal length of content for learners at different… Continue reading →