alice’s posterous

I found this fab quote today:

"A few of my keener students have asked me to give them with advice and hints to help them keep their Spanish going over the summer, in anticipation of next academic year. Earlier today, over at http://www.asisehace.net/blog, I provided them with a list of websites containing audio and video resources that will help them keep their Spanish ticking over and, who knows? They might even learn one or two new things. The list is copied below:..."
from http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1187
You should read the whole article.

What about you? Do you have a list of fun and engaging resources to learn a language?

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I am still in the process of re-learning my German!
Previously I blogged about reading GermanHeit everyday. Now, when I am in the car going to school or going home, I listen to Michel Thomas CDs. It is a fairly intensive course based on a suite of 10 to 12 lessons at a time with lots of repetition, which suits me fine especially when it comes to get used to the way the German build their sentences!
The method is interesting in that it is based on understanding patterns in a language, how sentences are built and on its links with English. I am French but fluent in English and I can really relate to the countless similarities between German and English. Instead of having to learn long lists of words and phrases, it focuses on understanding and forming your own sentences which gives you confidence to speak. Michel Thomas is also a positive teacher who encourages you to think things trough.

I came across Michel Thomas whilst doing the creativity CPD course back in November. His method was tried by a comprehensive school as a pilot project to stimulate and and engage students. At the end, it had a significant impact on a top set year 9 (13-14 years old) and a middle set year 8 (12-13 years old)  learning Spanish. Teachers at that school noticed that "pupils came to language lessons showing levels of excitement not previously observed before ... One teacher quoted the example of catching a pupil with a bar of chocolate, telling him "no es possible comerlo ahora". The pupil nodded that he understood that comment and promptly replied with "Lo siento pero tengo hambre"
Now I have never experienced that level of spontaneity with my pupils! so this is an approach I am willing to try next year.

You can read the full Michel Thomas report from Association for Language Learning here:

Michel.thomas.approach

And you? have you tried a similar approach in your lessons?

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I am officially moving to Germany, Weimar in July to teach Spanish and French at Thuringia International School.
It is all very exciting but my German is quite basic and I have not spoken it since school years really!

So in order to refresh my German, I have found a great blog called GermanHeit (@GermanHeit on twitter). It is written by Babsi (@babsis on twitter) from Nuremberg, Germany and it is full of grammar tips and fun German media and comics. It also gives you an insight to German culture and food with key vocabulary to remember. I have suscribed to it on my Google reader and because each post is quite short, I only spend 5 minutes everyday learning or revising new German phrases and expressions.
I think it might also be useful for German teachers to show German comics or a short video clip to students.

Hope you like this blog as I do and enjoy today's comics :)

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