language learning

Flickr: Phillie Casablanca Most experts agree that the best way to learn a language is by immersing yourself in it. Now, with  more sophisticated technology, another theory around language learning...

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The purpose of education, in particular higher education, is to teach creative, intelligent, thoughtful, capable people  the skills needed to go into the world  and do amazing things.

We already learned that in the UK language learning is in decline and that only 9% of 15-year-olds in the UK are competent in the first foreign language they learn in school after seven years, whereas other European students at the same age show much higher competency, like 82% in Sweden.

The MOOCs are coming. Be very afraid. And did you hear them say  that they are coming to take over language teaching???…. OH THE HORROR!

One of the reasons I love to teach is that I get to learn. Be it from my students or the people who come to our class… every semester I acquire new knowledge, ideas, and perspectives thanks to what happens in the classroom.

Innovative Educational Apps: StoryBuilder App: Duolingo  Platform: Web Browser, iOS Price: Free Grade Levels: K-20+ Content Area: Language Learning What Is It?  A completely free way to learn Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese in a highly visual and...The post Innovative Educational Apps: Duolingo appeared first on TeachThought.

 
The first week of the second semester is done and over… I could tell because I was face down on the couch at about  6 p.m.last night  wondering if it really was too soon to go to bed (the answer: no).

This semester I am teaching second semester second year Spanish.  You know the class…  the one where you have to finish out the textbook and all that is left to cover are such grammar points as the hypothetical conditional  (If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?)  and random bits of  grammar that really? seriously? no one uses on a daily basis. Or if they do it is because they are writing a paper, but even then…