Clever Ways to Entertain Your Brain

(www.HealthNewsDigest.com) - Research shows that teachers typically spend between four to six weeks re-educating students on material they have forgotten over the summer. So how can parents prevent the dreaded summer brain drain when pool parties, play dates, and boogie boarding are all kids are thinking about?

Duane Sider, Director of Learning at Rosetta Stone, the premier language learning company, offers fun, cost-effective tips and tricks on how to keep kids minds active during the lazy days of summer break:

1. Get Lost at the Library – Research has show that reading four or five books over the summer had an impact on fall reading achievement comparable to attending summer school. Stop by reading hour, sign up for a children’s summer book club, or just grab a few books off the shelf to read at home. Added bonus? An air conditioned place to keep kids entertained.

2. Turn Your Home into an International Destination – Immerse your family in a new culture by researching your family’s heritage or a favorite foreign city. Engage kids fully in the adventure by visiting a nearby neighborhood steeped in that culture and helping them learn the local dialect by practicing it at home. Parents and children can learn a language together easily using computer-based language-learning programs such as Rosetta Stone, a completely interactive, immersion-based program for learning new languages on CD or online (best for ages 6 and up).

3. Create Your Own Cooking “Class” – How many pints in a quart? Cinnamon is which country’s major export? From measuring spoons to ingredients, preparing meals is the perfect to time to ask math, geography, and even science questions. Getting them involved in measuring the ingredients and cooking will help them better understand the math and science that goes into their favorite cookies.

4. Transform Your Backyard into a Science Lab – Bugs, animals and trees… Oh My! Your backyard is filled with a plethora of scientific wonders that will keep kids busy for hours. Challenge your children to identify and photograph as many species as they can.

5. Plan an Educational Summer Vacation – In addition to building sandcastles and boogie boarding for days on end, plan a family vacation to an educational or historic site. Explore the Grand Canyon, climb to the top of the Washington Monument, experience the Wright Brothers’ first flight in Kitty Hawk, NC or even venture to another country to experience a different culture and language.

6. Discover the Possibilities in Your Community - Local zoos, museums, and parks provide an economical destination for learning. Plan a group trip with friends and classmates to learn about foreign cultures, history, and animals big and small.

7. Get Up and Exercise Your Body and Mind – Getting the blood flowing always helps cognitive thinking. Therefore encourage games outdoors that require counting, group collaboration, and problem solving. Make sure to have plenty of water and sunscreen on hand.

8. Engage Their Investigative Aptitude: Arm your kids with a notebook, pencil, camera and their inquisitive mind. Have them interview neighbors and do research on your home town. This allows kids to sharpen their thought and question process.

9. Break out the Board Games: Whether it’s Chutes & Ladders, Monopoly, Scrabble or even Blackjack, it turns out these family favorites can also be great tools to reinforce a variety of classroom concepts. Combining education and fun will help create a positive learning experience for everyone and remove some of the stress of day to day living.

10. Logging Your Adventures – Through all these adventures and findings have your child keep a diary or notebook of their summer, or if you’re tech savvy, start a family blog so relatives can read about your child’s experiences. Give them an assignment every week. Write a letter to a relative, a poem, a creative short story or what their favorite exploration was that week.

About the Author

Duane Sider, director of learning for Rosetta Stone, is passionate about changing the way the world views language-learning. In his role, Duane has introduced Rosetta Stone solutions and the joy of the language-learning journey to a variety of audiences through numerous speaking engagements nationwide. Additionally, Duane has authored a number of articles and theory papers on immersion methodology in second-language acquisition. Throughout his career, Duane has traveled, performed and taught extensively throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, promoting international communication and advocating new education technologies. Duane holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Messiah College and a Master of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Virginia. He has written two plays, a collection of poetry and manages a theater company in Virginia.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

A Matter of Choice in the Matter of Language

There’s more to learning a language than meets the eye, which is why you need to be careful about the one you choose to attempt to master. If circumstances – like moving to a new country or wanting to impress a member of the opposite sex - dictate your necessity to learn, then there’s no question of choice, but if left to your will, how would you go about choosing the language that’s perfect for you?

If you want the learning process to be as easy as possible, choose a language that:


• Is similar to your mother tongue: It’s a surprising fact, but one that’s true all the same – most languages have the same grammatical structure. Some put the subject ahead of the verb while others do it vice versa. If you choose a language that follows a sentence structure, phonetics and grammar rules similar to your mother tongue, it’s easier to construct sentences in your new tongue when you know the words. Some languages don’t have certain phonemes, so if such languages are your mother tongue, you’re going to have a tough time mastering the missing phonemes in the new language.

• Has adequate learning resources: In the absence of a regular class or a good teacher when learning a new language, you need access to books, lessons, CDs, websites and pamphlets that help you in your effort. You also need to be able to take tests to see how much you’ve learned, so check for online and other resources before you set out on your endeavor.

• Is spoken by people who you interact with regularly: You need to keep practicing the spoken form of the language if you want to attain fluency and retain it, so choose a tongue that people around you speak regularly. It helps the learning process when you’re able to put to practice what you’ve learned.

• Is simple and straightforward: It may be a thrill and a challenge to try and learn languages like Russian, Arabic and Chinese that are extremely difficult, but if it’s your first attempt at learning a new language, it’s better to stick to something simple like Spanish or French.

Whatever your choice, you need to learn the basics in a month or so and become adequately fluent in six months depending on how much time you’re devoting to the cause. It’s a fun process, so enjoy every inch of this educative experience.


This post was contributed by Katie Wilson, who writes about the online universities. She welcomes your feedback at KatieWilson06@gmail.com. After graduating from college she took time off to pursue a writing career. Katie writes for online education sites offering tips, advice, and general information regarding education, learning, and studying.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

What Motivated You to Start Your Blog?

Interview Question Response:

The whole concept started when a less experienced EFL teacher asked me about a problem he was having, I wrote out a detailed answer to his question so he’d have it to refer to later on. Then as more and more teachers began asking similar questions and I thought about posting answers to them online for free. Many questions came up more than once and I could just refer them to the relevant post for further information.

The site got “discovered” somehow online and I now regularly get questions, comments and insights from hundreds ESL and EFL teachers in more than 135 countries worldwide each month according to Google Analytics. I get around 3700 hits a month at that blog site.

I've also posted detailed articles to my site at ezinearticles at http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_M._Lynch. I currently have around 450 articles posted there when have received more than 325,500 page views. I put a few of my Barcelona, Spain post-grad school papers there and they’ve gotten between 12,000 and 18,000 page views EACH. That absolutely stunned me – I’m still curious as to why.

What's on your iPod ?

Sorry, but I don’t currently own an iPod. I DO incorporate the use of a laptop computer into my class room though. It’s to transmit videos, website views, music videos, readings and Power Point presentations to learners. It saves me a HUGE amount of writing on the board sometimes and I can print out articles, tables and other info for learners to photocopy instead of constantly writing notes. I can connect to YouTube (I have my own channel and videos there at: http://www.youtube.com/user/lynchlarrym), for example, and take advantage of thousands of available videos on any topic.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Describe Your First Day as an English Teacher

My "First" Day as an EFL Teacher

Since I had such a “hodge-podge” kind of start with ESL I can’t really remember my true “first day” of teaching. What I DO remember though is the first class that impressed me the most from back then up until now. I was assigned to teach a class of Chinese learners soon after starting as an ESL teacher for a Federal / State government Literacy program in Easton, Pennsylvania called PROJECT of Easton. (The small town of Easton is the home of former world heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes who fought both Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.)

Anyway, what I didn’t know was that the class consisted of about a dozen or so Chinese who’d just arrived in the USA literally the week before. When I say they knew nothing, I mean they knew absolutely NOTHING about the USA. They didn’t even have winter clothes and it was still cold out although technically it was “Springtime”.


Not only that, they were from different regions of China which meant that they couldn’t even talk to each other! Using the training and little experience I did have, I survived the first class. They seemed pleased and I said to myself, “If I could manage this, nothing else would ever phase me in an English class again. Tue enough, to this day it hasn’t. That was my toughest, “trial-by-fire” EFL class experience. After that classes with them were great. They’d even bring me “authentic” Chinese food for lunch after class. I got to eat some strange, but tasty things after those classes. From then on, I was “hooked”.

So, what was YOUR first day as an English teacher like?


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

The Importance of Learning Another Language

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Infants Learn Earlier Than Thought

Scans of young brains by UW researchers show infants are far more aware of their surroundings than they may appear to be.

By Isolde Raftery The (Vancouver) Columbian

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2008700779_brains03.html



Until recently, humans could safely view their brains as fatty, spongy masses of electrifying wonder. Brains are, in a sense, a secret place no one else can tap into unless we let them; they are our memory banks and central control centers that dictate how we behave and reason and interact with others.

But in the past decade, neuroscientists across the world have started to peer into the young brain to determine exactly how we learn. Examining their findings, researchers say that learning starts at birth, and perhaps even earlier.
"It's too late to wait until the age of 5 and expect that teachers in schools are going to be able to catch them," University of Washington professor Patricia Kuhl said. Kuhl is co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Science in Seattle (ILABS).

"Children who are behind stay behind."

Currently, researchers at ILABS secure babies with nylon caps with suction-cuplike electrodes that can read their neuronal activity. Next year, ILABS researchers will be the first in the world to use a $2.5 million machine to test the faint magnetic fields that emanate from a child's brain.

The money for the magnetoencephalography machine came from the state's Life Sciences Discovery Fund, which includes the tobacco-settlement bonus. The nylon cap brain scans show that infants are far more aware of their surroundings than they may appear. Within days, little ones can recognize familiar faces and sounds. Soon after, they start mimicking vowels. And at 6 months of age, babies can distinguish between the sounds of all languages (the adult brain cannot).

The MEG machine will be able to identify precisely what part of the brain is stimulated when an infant interacts with her mother, for example, as opposed to a stranger.

Danielle Kassow, researcher at Thrive By Five Washington, a public-private venture that aims to increase early education across the state, says that improved brain research has confirmed older empirical research and pushed lawmakers to fund early-education programs.

In Washington, where kindergarten teachers say fewer than half of their students are ready on Day 1, that work began in 2006 with the launch of Thrive and the state's Department of Early Learning. In Clark County school districts, curriculum directors have started using brain studies to pick textbooks and help teachers hone instruction.

The role of parents

That children soak up their surroundings isn't groundbreaking. An oft-cited study from 1995 showed that there's a gap of 32 million words between children on welfare and children from affluent homes. Children from impoverished families are more likely to hear directives, Kuhl said, in the form of "do this" and "do that."

In educated families, she said, "Conversations are more varied — what you dream about, what you can imagine, what other people think — more complex thoughts that provide the kinds of stimulation that kids' brains need."
Acquiring a rich vocabulary isn't like cramming for the Graduate Record Examination, however. Professor Maryanne Wolf of Tufts University writes in her 2007 book, "Proust and the Squid," that words inform concepts that enrich a child's understanding of the world. If those concepts are learned, she argues there is "less ability to infer and to predict." Genetics lay out our neurological blueprint, but parents wire our brains, Kassow says.

Babies develop signals to get an adult's attention — they might cry, look at the adult, coo or reach out their arms. When the adult responds, the baby is soothed by the attention, as evidenced by the reduction in cortisol levels, known as the stress hormone. Researchers who study child attachment have argued this for years, and brain-scan research confirms their work.

Studying language

In 2008, ILABS studied how 9-month-olds process language spoken to them. One group was placed in front of a television where another language was being spoken. Another group spent time with an adult who spoke that language, and a third stayed in the native English-speaking environment.
The UW group found that children who learned from adults were on track to becoming native speakers. Brain scans of children who were supposed to be learning from the television showed no advancement. Those infants appeared transfixed by the television but hadn't learned a thing.

"Babies need people to learn a language," Kuhl said, which may help explain why autistic children are linguistically delayed. Autistic children are less interested in interacting with their parents, and therefore aren't getting the same language inputs as non-autistic children.

Read to your child

The bottom line, scientists say, is that no amount of teacher training, brain scans or curriculum research can trump the parent-child connection. They say that parents should start reading to their child in utero. And when the child is born, keep reading aloud, as it introduces the baby to the cadence of written language.

"You can read an 8-month-old racing results, stock prices or Dostoyevsky (pictured)," Wolf writes in "Proust and the Squid," "although an illustrated version would be even better."

Wolf says that connection between being read to and feeling loved is the best prescription for developing a vocabulary, learning concepts and, ultimately, learning how to read.

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

Top Ten Test Anxiety Strategies

Top Ten Test Anxiety Strategies

By Nanthalia Mcjamerson, Ph.D

Many strategies are available for dealing with test anxiety and stress. Whether you are searching traditional or contemporary resources on this subject, you will find a few fundamental or basic recommendations that you can immediately put into practice.

Those basics are summarized as The Top Ten List that follows:

10. Deep Breathing Techniques.

Beginning the list of anxiety-reducing strategies with "breathing" does not mean that it is least important of all strategies. Rather, deep breathing is presented first because it is the most overlooked and underestimated strategy for dealing with anxiety and stress. Because it is simple, we find it hard to believe it is powerful. Yet, virtually all experts, from classic to contemporary, include deep breathing on their lists. For example, in the classic Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, Martha Davis, Elizabeth Eshelman, and Matthew McKay provide guidance and explain that good breathing habits can enhance your psychological as well as your physical well-being.

A breathing exercise that is easy to use is recommended by Iyanla Vanzant in her book Acts of Faith. Her suggestion is to "check in on your body" and take a few deep breaths. Vanzant claims that "with a simple breath you can release the stress and replace it with what you need. Turn anxiety into peace, anger into joy, tension into love, and fear into faith."

An additional benefit of deep breathing is the fact that it is under your control and thus you can engage in deep breathing whenever you desire to do so or deem it necessary-before, during and after a test or other stressful event. Additionally, breathing is FREE!

9. Talking/Expressing/Venting.

Another simple, but important, strategy for relieving anxiety is talking or venting. When you express the anxiety or fear, you remove the negative emotion from your body. Once you have relieved the tension, you can use your energy to focus on learning other helpful strategies and learning the content necessary to perform well on the task at hand. Find a good listener and, thereby, "clear your mind".

8. Pre-Test Preparation.

This technique is on "everybody's list" because a great deal of anxiety is produced by a fear of the unknown. When you become familiar with the material, the anxiety is reduced. First, find out what you need to learn. Second, make a study plan. Finally, take action by following your plan. For every new "gem" of information you acquire, and old "block" of stress will disappear.

7. Injecting Fun and Humor.

Yes, high-stakes testing is a serious matter; however, the more serious the situation is, the greater the need for comic relief. In fact, laughter has been scientifically researched and found to be beneficial for meeting a variety of challenges. Many advocates have brought humor to the forefront for healing as well as for stress management.

6. Social Support.

You can meet practically any challenge if you have a good social support system. Support systems can take many forms: friends, family, mentors, role models and others. There are no special qualifications for membership in your support network. For example, one teacher candidate identified her 12-year-old son as her greatest supporter and encourager. Also, when you study the lives of outstanding achievers, you discover that they had all types of "members" in their support networks.

5. Self Care 101.

What seems to be the discovery of this decade is the importance of taking care of self first instead of the tradition of taking care of self last. When preparing to meet a challenge such as the teacher licensure examination, people often say, "I have to give up everything to prepare for the test." Ironically, that is one of the worst solutions. It is not hard to imagine that good care of self would produce higher energy levels, higher motivation, greater endurance, a clearer mind, and better performance. Yet, this philosophy was not a part of our basic training for education or life. It is not too late; it is the perfect time as you prepare to meet this testing challenge.

Self-care can include exercise and nutrition. Also, engaging in or developing hobbies have been proven to be very effective. Consider window shopping or real shopping or building something. Take frequent five-minute mental vacations or a lunch "vacation" with friends on a weekly basis. Create your unique set of activities. Such strategies can build tremendous momentum for achieving your goals.

4. Renewal Activities.


If you become discouraged or your energy wanes, find strategies for renewing yourself. Seek resources and reserves of all kinds. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Effective People, calls this strategy "sharpening the saw". Like a sharp saw, according to Covey, people who take the time to renew themselves can return to their activities and challenges refreshed and ready to do their best. I have a friend in the fast-paced business world who recommends planning a variety of activities (before you need them) for what he calls "a stress-emergency kit".

3. Relaxation Techniques.


When your thoughts seem to get "blocked" while studying or during testing, it is often because of physical tension. This type of problem can be solved with relaxation techniques, which range from advanced yoga to simple wiggling of toes or playing with handsprings. Other methods include changing your perspective or expectations (reframing). Whatever techniques you choose, practice them ahead of time so that they will be readily available when you need to relax in order to succeed.

2. Positive Attitudes.

There is a very popular motto that indicates you should believe in yourself; however, it is not enough to simply say it. It is important to take actions to help you develop such an attitude. Affirmations and visualizations are effective elements of a productive positive attitude. Conduct a "treasure hunt" for those types of resources.

1. Celebrating Personal Strengths.

A key strategy for reducing test anxiety is reflecting on and celebrating all the personal strengths, talents, skills, and characteristics you possess. This is the self-worth factor, which is extremely important in developing confidence and endurance for meeting challenges and reaching goals. One method is taking an inventory of your positive qualities and achievements. Convert your list of qualities and achievements into a poem that is all about YOU.

Nanthalia W. McJamerson, Ph. D., is a counselor, poet and Professor of Education at Grambling State University. She and her husband are in a partnership to provide educational and empowerment workshops, motivational speaking, inspirational books and poetry prints. They are also the owners of a Black History radio station at http://www.hjmcradio.com


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries worldwide. Get your FREE, pdf format report on CD or via e-mail, "If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Are Some Certifications Overrated?

Hello, My Name is Larry ...

Let’s take Scott Ginsberg’s axiom that “Certifications are Overrated.” If we delve a bit more into this concept we find some basis for his rationale. He continues by postulating the following concepts which are well worth considering.


“A Master’s degree doesn’t mean you’ve mastered anything”, says Scott.

Do you think this is true? I certainly do. You can obtain a Master degree in many fields like Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Mathematics or even Business from a great any universities without having to actually practice the field professionally. Sure, in teaching EFL you may well have “teaching practice” of some sort, but the type, duration and quality of that teaching practice can vary widely from one institution to another. That’s even if there’s a requirement for it at all in the first place.

“You want to master something? Try DOING it.”

We’ve all heard the old axiom, “practice makes perfect”. Indeed, in some areas of human endeavor it’s the only way to develop. Think about musicians, for example. What’s more important; how much they practice their instrument or the number and kinds of degrees they may have? The more you do something, the more you practice a skill – any skill, the better you become at it. Notice that I didn’t say the more you study something. Yes, an education as a basis for any field of endeavor is important, but it is not and should not be the do all, be all and end all of anything. If you really want to master something, try doing it regularly and extensively over a substantial period of time.

You want to master something? Try READING five hundred books about it.

Ah yes, knowledge is indeed power. Say you want to learn to write well, even professionally. One of the first things you’ll need to develop is a facility with words. One great way to accomplish this is by reading. It’s true when they say “all writers read, but all readers don’t write”. Read stacks of books about writing all manner of prose and poetry and you’ll come away with more than a solid starting basis to practice your developing craft with knowledge and skill. You’ll learn to apply practical wisdom to your writing skills development. After reading 500 books about writing you won’t be a writer but you will know about writing. A writer writes. Period.

You want to master something? Try INTERVIEWING people who’ve already done it.

There’s an ancient Chinese proverb which states, “To know the road ahead, ask those who are returning”. Who better to describe the joys, twists, turns and pitfalls of what lies ahead than those who have gone before you in some way? The act of interviewing people who have already done what it is that you want to do can be crucial in preparing you for what lies ahead in your future. They say that, “forewarned is forearmed”. Use the advice and suggestions of those with experience to help blaze the way for your success.

You want to master something? Try FAILING at it a few times first.

Now failure, while an undesirable most of the time, is not always a bad thing. That is if you take the time to pull back from and learn from that failure. That is to say, to fail forward as the idea goes. If you truly learn from your failures and mistakes, you can grow and benefit from them. By using those failures and mistakes as stepping stones to improvement, you can achieve more and greater results in a shorter and lesser amount of time and experience. So don’t view failure as a negative, look for the lessons that you can extract from it – and grow wiser.

You want to master something? Try PRACTICING it every single day.

As we said before, when practicing anything, a skill, an activity, a habit, you will improve because of continually repeating that action. Your brain will begin to internalize each and every small aspect involved to “smooth out” the process both physically and mentally for you. Did you know that you don’t even have to physically practice the action to improve either? No, I didn’t just contradict myself. Let me illustrate: Say you want to improve your basketball free-throw shooting, your public speaking, your Salsa dancing or even your learning to speak Quechua. You can and should physically practice regularly, but you can also improve if you “practice” in your mind.

That is, use the power of visualization to beguile your mental faculties into processing the skills, motions, movements and other aspects of whatever you wish to improve in. Use your physical practice to help you in forming the mental images of what you’re doing. Close your eyes anywhere (not while driving on the Interstate, please) and picture yourself performing the action or skill you wish to improve in over and over and over again every opportunity that you get in addition to actual physical practice.

Do You REALLY Need to Go Back to School?


So as Scott says, you should finally ask yourself, “Do you really need to go back to school?” or can you apply the principles we’ve just discussed? So are “Certifications” truly overrated in many cases? I think by now you just might agree with me that perhaps they are.


Portions excerpted from “11 Ways to Become Brilliant”
Scott Ginsberg, Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
That Guy with the Nametag scott@hellomynameisscott.com


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries worldwide. Get your FREE, pdf format report on CD or via e-mail, "If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Practical Tips for Learning a Foreign Language

Guest Blog by Emily Jacobson


Learning a new language can be a daunting experience, but it doesn’t need to be. At first it will be natural to hit highs and lows during the learning process. Understanding new concepts can often also lead to disappointment at not learning things faster. Let’s go over some tips that can help make learning a new language as rich and valuable an experience as the language itself.

Being immersive when it concerns learning a new language is perhaps one of the most valuable tips you can take to heart. Thinking in a different language is the key to speaking in a different language, and the quickest way to achieve this is to actually live in the place whose language you are trying to learn. Unfortunately this is not always practical or possible.

Read everything you can get your hands on. If you take the time to read things you already enjoy it will make the experience of learning that new language that much easier. Absorbing newspapers, magazines, and comic books helps to create a broad sense of how the written language is used formally and casually.

Watching movies with or without subtitles will help your ears become more naturally accustomed to a new language. Reviewing sections of the movie again and again so that you can get a handle on inflection and pronunciation have the advantage of being both entertaining and educational.

The key to many people’s hearts is through their stomachs. This makes food an excellent place to start when approaching a new culture and its language. This is a particularly advantageous tip to keep in mind when traveling. Learning how to order food and how to describe meals with simple phrases are great methods for understanding the basics. If you love to eat then you’ll be excited about discovering new words to describe your favourite foods.

Try to think as often as possible in your new language. Every time your mind draws a blank on a word, look it up. Keep thinking, adding new words, thinking with these words, and you’ll see that the next time you’re involved in a conversation, those embarrassing moments when you clumsily grasp for words will quickly decrease in frequency.

Taking notes, creating a phrase book of your own, having a log of your most frequent conversations and new words will keep your language learning routed in your every day life.

Practice as often as possible. If you have a friend who is fluent in your language of study, try to spend as much time with them as you can. Ask them politely to speak to you in their language and to delicately correct you when you make mistakes. We can be defensive when people correct us and our frustration might deter us from continuing to learn, but if the constructive criticism comes from a friend we will be less inclined to become offended. We learn the best when we are happy and when we play, so try to incorporate the language into your social life and have a good time with it. Go to a bar and try to meet someone who speaks the language you’re attempting to learn. If you find them particularly attractive, you will work much harder to find the right words. Unless you completely murder their language with your brutal attempts to speak it, people often find the attempts cute and charming.

It’s completely normal to be frustrated at the beginning. There’s a good chance you won’t understand anything for a little while. But if you remain patient, employing the tips discussed and giving yourself time to become accustomed to the new sounds, to absorb them, hear them, to see them written and to eventually read them, gradually you will ease yourself into a comfort zone where you can speak them. Before you know it, your new language will become second nature to you.

This guest post article was written by Emily Jacobson, who is trying to conquer French in her spare time.

6 Dynamic English as a Foreign Language Activities That Always Motivate Learners

Are You Still Struggling to Teach English?

Are you still struggling to teach English to unmotivated, reluctant LEP learners? Well don’t blame them entirely just yet. Try making your EFL classes more dynamic using activities, strategies and techniques presented in this brief EFL teacher education article post. From creative uses of music, dynamic ELT games, speaking-practice dramas, CALL and others, these practical, fast-paced activity types always seem to motivate even the most Limited English Proficiency and reluctant EFL learners to greater participation, language practice and skills acquisition.

A Series of Dynamics

These activity types will step participants actively through a series of ELT (English Language Teaching) dynamics of up to six activity types that always seem to motivate EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners who may be reluctant to practice English or be LEP (Limited English Proficiency) learners. First, examine and reflect on some of the possible intrinsic and extrinsic causes of poor EFL learner motivation on the part of your learners. Then, select activity types based on the impact on student learning styles, preferences and abilities of your class groups.

Activities and materials selected primarily include the use, application and theoretical basis of:

1. Music, Songs and Poetry C. Graham (1994) and H. Gardner (1993)

2. Dynamic ELT Games, and Puzzles H. Gardner (1993)
“Theory of Multiple Intelligences”

3. Drama and Story-Telling P. Lazear et al, (2003) and A. Wright (1995)

4. Computer-Aided Language Learning G. Dudeney et al (2004)

5. Movies / Videos “Affective Filter Hypothesis” Krashen - Terrell (1983)

6. TPR Total Physical Response, Asher (1996)

A Simple Sequence

Learners / participants are organized into pairs or small groups, depending on their numbers and their particular interests and levels or EFL profiles.

-Next, a variety of dynamics-based activities and materials types proceeding to participant hands-on activities to practice and internalize themes using each of the main materials types.

Example activities and materials types are demonstrated, created, and adapted using available facilities (i.e., TV – VCR / DVD player, audio cassette or CD player, and OHP-overhead transparency projector) to meet the needs and interests of learner / participants.
Presented activities and materials can be adapted to suit groups of EFL learners from Primary / Secondary school up to language institute or university levels.

In an upcoming series, we’ll consider each of these dynamic EFL activity types in greater detail. Reviewing English or other foreign language teaching and learning specifics for the classroom application of each one regardless of the available resources (or lack thereof) a school, language institute or ESL class room may have.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Part Two - Learning English or a Foreign Language: 6 Effective Ways to Use the Internet

Let’s Continue Learning English or Another Foreign Language Using the Internet

So, you can’t go live in a country where English or the foreign language you want to learn is spoken, attend a formal language class, get a private language tutor or use books and written materials because you may not have good access to any? We said in part one of this article post that some other ways to learn English or another foreign language are to listen to CDs or audio-cassette tapes, watch TV, movies and video programs. But available to almost all are the vast resources of the world wide web – the internet. We’ll continue here to examine three additional ways of using the internet to learn a foreign language.

Photo: A Language-learning computer room at the Santiago de Cali University in Cali, COLOMBIA

4. Help in developing listening skills
Considered to be the most difficult of the language skills to develop, listening cannot be taught. Rather, you must practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. Every week, twice a week I passed a street vendor at the same spot, absolutely clueless as to what he was saying. I knew what he was selling – I just peeked over at his wares. But his entreaties in street Spanish fell on my language-clogged ears for months. Then one evening, without warning, it happened. Just two days before, his cries were the same incomprehensible slur they’d been for months. That one evening however, when he launched into his huckster’s spiel I suddenly understood every word. My listening comprehension skills had clicked in. Why then? No one knows. Especially not me, and I’m a post-graduate-degreed Language Education Specialist!

Practice your listening skills with radio programs in your target language for a change at www.live365.com which has live global feeds 24 hours a day in multiple languages.

Foreign language internet radio and foreign news radio in 27 European, 4 Middle Eastern, 9 Asian languages and audio feeds from 19 African countries are broadcast on: http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio.html

5. Playing games and having fun
Vocabulary is often referred to as the "building blocks" of language. Knowledge of vocabulary is one aspect that separates the language learning levels. The more vocabulary and lexis you know, the more communicative you are.

Here are some unique language activity sites that help build your language as you “play”:

• The http://www.manythings.org/ site offers “interesting things for ESL students” like songs, jokes, quizzes, word games, puzzles, slang and even podcasts to help stimulate English language acquisition.

• The foreign language course site at:

http://www.foreignlanguagehome.com/topics/courses/index.htm has activities in 27 languages including Finnish, Mandarin and Quechua.

• At the Transparent Language site you can play games in any one of more than 100 languages from Afrikaans to Farsi or Guarani to Yoruba. And yes, they have Zulu too. Check out all their listings here: http://www.transparent.com/games/

6. So what language tickles your fancy?
While the selection of language courses, tutorials, news feeds, music and other audio – visual materials online is extensive, ALL the world’s 6912 languages simply aren’t available. Sorry. But many are and here’s how to find yours if it’s online.

• 108 FREE online foreign language courses are posted at: http://www.word2word.com/coursead.html

• The PARLO language website offers courses in English, Spanish, French and Italian at: http://www.parlo.com/parlo21/home/courselist/courselist_en.asp

• The E. L. Easton Language Institute offers 14 languages online from Albanian to Japanese, Latin to Croatian to Russian and Spanish. The site is online at: http://eleaston.com/languages.html

• A plethora of language learning activities for the world wide web are online for practice activities from the University of Hawaii here: http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/lss/lang/nflrc.html

Although the internet may not be the complete answer to all your foreign language learning needs it nonetheless can be a tremendous resource in your efforts to “habla español”, “parlez francaise”, or “sprechenze Deutcsh”. The prestige, financial gains, personal satisfaction, envy and opportunities that frequently follow with knowledge of a foreign language are without equal. Why don’t you start today trying out some of these effective ways to use the Internet to learn English or a foreign language. By the way, if you do find Cochimi, Cibemba or Kukapa, please let me know – I’m still looking! Any other informative, constructive comments are also welcomed.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Learning English or a Foreign Language: 6 Effective Ways to Use the Internet

There are many ways to learn a new language
There are many ways to learn a new language: you can go live in a country where the language is spoken, attend a formal language class, get a private language tutor or use books and written materials. Other ways to learn a foreign language are to listen to CDs or audiocassette tapes, watch TV, movies and video programs, memorize phrase books, use the Internet or employ a combination of all the above.

Photo: Student in a language-learning computer room at the Santiago de Cali University in Cali, Colombia

Can’t Go to Live in a Foreign Country?
But not everyone can arrange to live in a foreign country. Native speakers of the language may not be available. Written or recorded commercial materials may not be available in the language you’re interested in (Cochimi, Cibemba or Kukapa, anyone?). True, many major languages like Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and English broadcast TV programs via cable. Even Korean, Catalan, Arabic and Japanese have venues available in cosmopolitan areas worldwide; but the vast majority of the world’s thousands of spoken tongues are simply not at large outside of their local areas. So what’s a prospective polyglot to do?

Use a Search Engine
One answer of course, is the internet. Plug “foreign language courses” into an internet search engine like Google or Yahoo and more than 7 million six hundred thousand hits instantly come up. From Afrikaans to Punjabi, and Hebrew to Zulu, thousands of listings lay before you only a mouse click away. How exactly then, can the internet be used to tackle learning a foreign language?

Start off effectively by using these six ways:

1. Do an initial evaluation
The first thing you may want to know is where you are in the scheme of learning the language. An initial language skills evaluation is in order; are you a raw beginner? False beginner? Intermediate level? Higher? Let’s take English as a second or foreign language as an example.

English proficiency diagnostics tests are free online at:

• General English Test with instant results http://nll.co.uk/test/english.shtml
• Parlo http://parlo.com/ (diagnostic tests in English, Spanish, and French)
• Upper Intermediate Test
http://www.wordskills.com/level/caeform.html

If you score above 80% in this test, you should take the next one and also show your teacher or tutor a copy of the results.

2. Become familiar with language learning strategies
How do YOU learn? Knowing this can make the daunting task of foreign language learning less like study and more like play. Are you a Visual – Spatial learner who likes pictures, drawings, graphics and extensive use of color? A Musical – Rhythmic type that would benefit from having your lessons and materials set to music, rhythm or rhyme? Perhaps you’re the athletic type who’d derive more success with learning by motion, movement, mime or even dance? Playing the works of Mozart in the background while studying has been shown to enhance learning in a number of areas.

To find out more about your manner of learning visit these sites for starters:

• Learning Styles Explanation http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm

• Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/ilsweb.html

• The Success Types Learning Style Indicator http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/Success/LSTIntro.htm

3. Practice reading skills
Literacy is one of the 21st century’s most innately valuable compound skills. After all, you’re reading THIS now, aren’t you? Few would wish to be illiterate in their new foreign language so practice of reading skills is paramount. Online newspapers, magazines, newsletters and blogs can provide the needed practice and learning materials.

Check out these reading comprehension skills sites:

• How to Read Your Textbook More Efficiently http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/lrnres/handouts/1422.html

• Self-study reading lessons http://www.english-to-go.com/

• Read the article in the following address: http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/read1a.html

In the address that follows, take the quiz to verify your understanding of the reading passage: http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/read1

To Be Continued …

In part two of this multi-segmented article post, we’ll continue to examine ways of using the internet to learn English or a foreign language by means of the internet.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Using Games to Make Language Learning Interesting, Innovative, and Fun

Games are Useful in Language Learning
We can successfully use games in the language learning classroom to teach and practice numerous skills including:

• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Grammar and structure
• Idioms and expressions
• Pronunciation
• Listening and speaking



Factors Affecting Choice of Games
What kinds of games we can use will depend on their intended purpose. Whether it’s to introduce a topic, practice a particular skill or aspect, or reinforce previous learning topics games help by providing much-valued practice while effectively lowering the affective filter of the students (Krashen and Terrell, 1993).

Other factors which can impact our choice of games are:

• The number of students
• The size of the classroom
• Classroom environmental aspects
• Length of time
• Materials, realia or aids available


Kinds of Games

We can vary the kinds of games considerably to help our students to make learning interesting, innovative and more fun. Useful and commonly-practiced games available for almost all teaching and learning venues consist of:

• Board games
• TPR and physical movement games
• Inter-active games
• Strategy games
• Online and computer games


Create Good Language Learners
By using a wide variety of language learning games in the EFL or ESL classroom the teacher is able to promote a number of qualities which positively contribute to a lowered affective filter and improved language acquisition. You should include games among your strategies to promote these qualities that make for a good language learner (Rubin, 1975)

• Willing and accurate guessing
• Language related risk-taking
• Uninhibited communication
• Spontaneous language practice
• Self-monitoring of speech
• Attention to language meaning


Where and How
Where you can get an ongoing variety of pre-produced games, how to use them creatively in the EFL or ESL classroom and techniques for creating your own games customized to meet the needs of your students will depend on your learners’ location.
If you'd like some samples to try out on your learners just e-mail me with "ELT game samples" as the subject.

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.

What Birds Can Teach You About English Language Learning

What can some of our fine feathered friends teach you about English language learning? Plenty. So let’s briefly look at some of the techniques you can apply in your own English language teaching and learning situations.


Bird Species to Note
A variety of bird species have an innate ability to imitate foreign sounds.

Species include:

• Parrots and Parakeets
• Mynahs
• Mockingbirds
• Cockatiels
• Starlings
• Macaws


This ability includes the imitation of or “mocking” of human speech as well as whistling tunes and making “rude” noises. Surely you’re all familiar with the “Polly want a cracker” speech imitation mode. A former neighbor’s parrot annoyed almost everyone with a recognizable, but naughty whistle it “learned” to give whenever anyone walked by. But do you know exactly how these birds are “taught” to imitate human language?

Stimulus and Reward
One key technique used to train birds and other animals as well, is the “stimulus and reward” method. The other is “time interval repetition”. When combined, birds of several different species can be “trained” t “talk”. That is, they repeat an imprinted sound pattern sequence and are then rewarded with a morsel of food. Sound stimulus and repetition then finally lead to a reward if “performed” by the bird. In the wild, Mockingbirds can imitate the sounds of predators and other bird species like hawks, to trick or scare enemies and rivals away.

The EFL or Foreign Language Learner
So how then, does this impact an EFL or foreign language learner? Simply that by imitating correct or native speaker connected speech patterns a high level of pronunciation and speaking fluency can be achieved. To accomplish this, the learner essentially requires the following:

• A native (or near-native) English or foreign language speaking model

This can be a “live” person or a series of audio or video repeatable recordings. Whether on VHS, BETA video cassettes, CD ROMs or DVDs, the learner must be able to stop and repeat as necessary.

• A manner of receiving any necessary error-correction and fine-tuning of connected or pronunciation elements

This is mostly accomplished through the efforts of an instructor or speech coach whose responsibility is to provide needed demonstration, correction and feedback for the learner’s improvement.

Audio Only?
Although the use of audio cassettes and voice only media are also useful, the process can be more difficult because learners do not have the ability to see the movement and positions of speech-producing organs. Not only are the throat and vocal chords used in speech, but also the lips, teeth, tongue hard and soft palates play important roles. In addition, models can be acquired from online sources in a number of formats. CALL (Computer-Aided Language Learning) author Gavin Dudeney, in his work with web quests and online learning projects advises having a multi-modal approach to English or foreign language learning which includes connected speech and pronunciation aspects.

By applying the techniques of “mimicking” or “shadow Talking” to your English or foreign language learning repertoire, substantial progress in connected speech improvement can be achieved in a relatively short period of time. The technique is referred to as “Shadow talking” or “mimicking” as noted by Australian English language-learning researcher Christopher Dugdale. We’ll have more on the application of these techniques in upcoming article posts.

Note: For an example of a Cockatiel imitating human speech check out this YouTube video at: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DsyAZYYB2ig


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.