lauranic.languages

This advertisement (The Reader, Bells. Directed by Greg Gray), is excellent to help us reflect on learners' autonomy. As you watch the video, it gives you some ideas that can help improve some of your language skills. You can then think of some of your own ideas to improve the language you are learning. In the video we can see the man slowly making progress playing vocabulary games, taking every opportunity to read, write and remember the spelling of words, as well as sharing his progress with friends. What techniques do you use to remember new vocabulary? What do you do to try and include the new words you learn in your everyday language? Do you read things based on your level? Do you practise your writing regularly? Do you listen to podcasts? Do you listen to music and try to guess the lyrics of the songs? Do you watch series in the original language with subtitles in the same language? Do you use learning websites that provide materials at your level? Set your own real...

Language that is used is remembered better than language that is heard or read, without the need of using it. I point the mistakes and errors during the activity, at the end of it, or at the end of the lesson, depending on the aim (accuracy or fluency). I ask students to do self-correction and guide them to become more aware of their own mistakes and errors, so they can correct them themselves. We use vocabulary and structures that we have studied and we develop confidence and fluency. We take in what we study using the language in different ways. We practise and repeat because practice  is necessary for the correct use of language. Practise makes perfect, doesn't it? Repetition makes us be  more aware of the correct use of vocabulary and structures, as well as realising if we have actually taken in what we are studying. Pair work and group work help us use the language to communicate and connect with others. A picture, a story, the first letter of a word, an an...

In the 1970s and 1980s there were several studies that classified students into one of seven types of learning styles, encouraging teachers to use approaches in class to cater for the specific learners. However, in the late 2010s, new studies revealed there is no evidence to back the idea of learning styles, as it is impossible to categorise a person into one, as we all use a variety of styles to learn, leading teachers to make sure they use a variety of activities and approaches in class. Here is a link to and article in The Guardian that speaks about the latter study: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/12/no-evidence-to-back-idea-of-learning-styles My personal approach has always been using a variety of techniques to cater for the different preferences and personalities of the students. I also believe that the more varied you are in your approach, the more you help your students learn and revisit what they are trying to learn. We can do that with a mul...

I have been teaching languages in Spain, England and Scotland, at different education centres, language schools and summer residential courses since 2005. Working in different settings and countries has given me the opportunity to develop my own teaching style, gain plenty of experience teaching different languages, as well as the possibility to interact with people from different countries, with different backgrounds and ages, and understand their needs and challenges they face when learning a language. I have had the privilege of speaking several languages from an early age. I grew up in a multicultural home and island, so I enjoy being surrounded by people from different countries. Venezuela, Italy, Spain, England and Scotland are a big part of my life, so I know what it feels like when you have to adapt to a new language and to a new culture. I also understand the process students go through when they learn a new language. Small groups help have a relaxed atmosphere....

Whenever I'm asked how long it takes to learn a foreign language, I ask how long it takes us to learn our mother tongue and how we learn it.  During the first few years of our life, we start to understand what people tell us, isolated words, then phrases and later on we start repeating what we hear and responding to questions, then finally initiating and maintaining conversations. The key for us to learn our mother tongue is for our parents to talk to us and for us to try to produce the sounds we hear. We seek communication. The same thing happens with a new language, not fearing imitating and repeating sounds and words, even when we can't understand them, is essential. Both our ear and mouth get used to hearing and producing sounds which are different to our own mother tongue. Despite a child being in contact with their own language all day long, they will make mistakes using verb tenses, or they won't know vocabulary that is not used in everyday lif...