Having just completed another very successful Intensive Programme in Lithuania, I witnessed once again the challenges of working in a second language. As a native speaker and a teacher on the programme, I was acutely aware of the huge extra efforts it takes to understand the different variations of English which are common in the [...]
I have been exploring the use of SCVNGR to make a location-based treasure hunt using mobile phones. We have now got to the stage where the 6 way points are ready and I went out with the class and their teacher to test the route just over a week or so ago. Being out and [...]
Over the past week I’ve been talking to a European company about being an online teacher of English. Everything seemed to be going well. They liked me. They wanted me on their books. These people seemed professional and fair. The internet is bristling with online language teaching sites. Most of them seem to be thinly [...]
Apr 082011
I love infographics and there aren’t enough of them on this blog. So here’s one showing which are the easiest and hardest languages to learn for English speakers. Courtesy of Voxy, a great mobile learning language company, unfortunately (for me) only targeted at Hispanics learning English. Via: Voxy Blog
Aug 232010
Learn a bit of structured language and go out immediately into the real world to practice it, where real world really does mean real world and involves the students interacting with the public in libraries, cafes and parks. That’s the idea behind Languages Out There and in March I explored the concept with its founder [...]
Dec 162009
I think I finally understood a couple of Lenny Henry’s characters after talking to Kole Ade-Odutola about the Yoruba language. Kole is from Nigeria, currently living in the US and teaching Yoruba in Florida. I hadn’t realised that it was a requirement of all university students in America that they should spend some time learning [...]