Intercambio Gives Language Learning Opportunities

Intercambio gives language learning opportunities

By Yesenia Robles

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/jun/17 /intercambio_gives_languagelearning_opportunities/

Craig, Colorado — A group of four diverse people shared their culture and language Tuesday night at the Boys & Girls Club of Craig during a group meeting called Intercambio.

The word, when translated, means “exchange.”

“We analyze every little thing because there are so many possibilities,” said Ray Parfrey, of Craig, when talking about translating a popular Spanish song. Tuesday was Parfrey’s third week participating at Intercambio.

Intercambio, is a weekly event organized by Integrated Community, a nonprofit organization that seeks to bridge the gap between the immigrant community with the receiving community through various services.

Intercambio is open to anyone who wishes to join in the group’s mission while learning each other’s languages and having fun. Intercambio has been around almost five years, as long as Integrated Community.

For Parfrey, it was curiosity that first led him to be interested in learning the Spanish language. For other members, it sometimes is for use at their work.
Eveline Bacon, the English as a Second Language program manager at Integrated Community, said Americans generally are interested in learning about other cultures but often don’t get the chance of interacting with members of those different cultures, even in diverse places such as Craig.

Bacon said that through Intercambio, people are given that opportunity, and although Tuesday only four people attended, she said the group sometimes is as large as 15.
“There’s always new people, a lot of people are interested, but I think everybody should come and enjoy it at least once,” Bacon said.

During the meeting, participants took turns practicing to speak in both English and Spanish while learning and discussing differences in common language compared to literal translations. The group also sometimes listens to music and translates verses.

Bacon said there are more benefits to the group than learning different languages. She said people often are given the feeling of empowerment when they see they can help other people learn another language.

Parfrey agrees with Bacon.

“Well, I’m just starting up, but like tonight, I had a lot of fun, and I do feel I get a lot out of it,” Parfrey said.

Intercambio is one way in which Integrated Community reaches out to the immigrant community.

The organization operates off of grants and often volunteers to provide formal English classes, translation services and resource referrals to help people learn where they can go for help with a variety of other services.

Yesenia Robles can be reached at 875-1790.

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.

Learning Arabic

One language, many reasons

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20090524_One_language__many_reasons.html

Pennsylvania teens plan to use their Arabic lessons in different ways.


By Dana Massing
Associated Press

ERIE - Erin Dakas wants to travel.

Niven Sabherwal wants to be a doctor.

Asha Thomas wants to communicate with friends.

Andrea Carneval doesn't want to be an ignorant American.

Different reasons for studying the same language.

The four are part of a group of high school students meeting one day a week after classes at the Al-Makarim Islamic Foundation in Erie. Its director, Sheikh Mazin Al-Sahlani, is teaching them Arabic.

"Language is so important," said Sahlani, who speaks Polish in addition to English and Arabic. "You feel rich when you have another language."

He began a session with his students' reciting the 28 Arabic letters.
Sahlani taught the teens words such as notebook, fire, light, home, and date - the kind you eat, not one you go on.

He showed them good night written in Arabic and then wrote taba masauka to show how the words might appear in English.

Yes is na-aam, Sahlani said. No is la.

"You have a question?" he asked Thomas.

"No. La," she replied.

Numbers, colors (see video below), body parts, and dialogue that would be helpful at an airport would follow in future classes.

Most of the students have studied Spanish or Mandarin and think Arabic is the hardest of the three. But Dakas said it was easier than German.
A senior, Dakas, 18, would love to travel to other countries. When she does, she wants to be able to meet people in their own languages.

Sabherwal, 17, a junior, knows that as a doctor, she could be treating patients from all over the world. She wants to understand them.

Thomas, 17, another senior, shared a room at a conference with a girl from Palestine. Thomas' friend calls her in English. She'd like to answer in Arabic.
Carneval, 18, a senior who has studied Spanish since elementary school, knows that students around the world are learning English. She thinks it's important for Americans to learn other languages, too.

"I don't want to be an oblivious American," she said.

Dakas, Thomas, and two of Sahlani's other pupils sparked the afternoon classes.
Senior Katie Morton, 17, said the girls had attended a women's conference in Boston with participants from around the world.

"We met a lot of people who spoke Arabic," Morton said.

When the students returned to Erie, a teacher heard them talking about wanting to learn Arabic. He gave them Sahlani's contact information.
The class usually numbers nine sophomores through seniors and includes boys.
Sophomore Brandon Lipchik, 15, and junior Mark Zahar, 16, said that learning was important, and that Arabic could help them be well-rounded.

Learning the language isn't the classes' only challenge. "It's kind of like stepping out of your comfort zone," Morton said.

Most of the students are Christian; one is Sikh. All remove their shoes when they enter the Islamic Foundation. Sahlani, who calls his students "brother" and "sister," doesn't preach about Islam but does mention its holy book, the Quran, written in Arabic.

He told the students that when their lessons with him were over, he wanted to introduce them to girls from his community so they could talk in Arabic.

"That would be so fun," said senior Julie Hawthorne, 17.






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.

Teaching Speaking

written by Dr Kalyani Samantray
k25samantray@yahoo.co.in
Reader in English, S B W College, Cuttack Orissa, India

Yemen Times http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1260&p=education&a=1

Among people in general, there is a stupendous amount of interest to be able to speak in English, and to speak well. It is chiefly this interest which leads parents to send their children to ‘English medium’ schools for education. Parents are most satisfied if their children could communicate in English orally. Proficiency in other language skills, such as reading and writing, does not seem to be so much their concern. Among the student population, there is a clear line of social distinction distinguishing the group which cannot speak effective English as lower in status and the group which can. Though the first group is very large, the students of this group lack self-respect, and though quite intelligent, they despise themselves and look up to the English speaking student community as their role model.

In a climate so clement for being able to speak well in English, where the motivation for learning this skill is the learner’s and parents’, why has not the curriculum delivered the goods? After years of learning English in school and college our learners are miserable failures when it comes to express a few simple facts in English orally.

One most obvious reason behind this is that speaking skill has never been included to be taught in the curriculum of state schools and colleges. The framers of the syllabus are always under a notion that if learners could read and write in English, somehow they would manage to speak in the language. There are also many other facts behind failure in oral communication.

A comparison of skills-development in mother tongue (MT) and the skills-development framework in the English curriculum in our schools and colleges would demonstrate to some extent the major reasons behind our learners’ ineffectual oral skills.

From the time a baby is born, she remains in an MT ‘immersion situation’. MT surrounds her all her waking hours. Two important factors accompany this situation:

a) There is no demand on the child to produce the language, and

b) There is no ‘grading’ of the language produced by people in the presence of the child.

The child gets to hear the MT in its natural, unalloyed form. The elder siblings and adults use the normal conversational variety of the MT that they usually use without simplification, and without grading (from the so called simple to difficult as happens in the English as a foreign language teaching curriculum). The child incubates in this kind of natural language situation for about nine to ten months before she is ready for her first meaningful utterances. One can well imagine the quantity and the quality of listening that has happened to the child before she starts to speak. After about three years of speaking, the child is initiated into reading the orthography in MT, and a little later into writing.

A clear picture of the natural order in skills-development emerges from the above description: a child to be able to learn a language well listens to the language first for a considerable period of time; then speaks in the language only when she is ready. After that come reading and writing in that order. This is the Natural Order of language learning because this happens naturally to every child learning her MT which may be any language of the world.

What happens in a second language, i.e. English, learning situation? Most children learn English at school. Before that, whatever English they might have learnt is only at the level of some words, and only those words which have been accepted into the MT, e.g., table, pen, torch and so on. The first skill that they start learning at school is writing; writing the letters of the alphabet. Then comes reading. All through, the focus in our school and college curriculum remains fixed on these two skills. Listening and speaking skills constitute just the incidental and peripheral aspects in learning English.

In learning the language, the Natural Order of skills-development gets exactly reversed. The learner starts with the most complex skill of writing. Reading happens after that. If any ‘speaking’ happens at this stage, then that is in the form of repeating words after the teacher. Learners then learn to give set answers to set questions and read a text aloud. Even though many would like to believe that these are learning to speak English, these are by no means ‘speaking’ in a language. Speaking is natural unedited conversation. There is never any provision in our curriculum for such speaking skills as would help our learners to confront real life situations such as a job interview or an interpersonal communication.

Let us examine how the little that is done in developing the speaking skill is handled in the curriculum. The aspects that mark an effective speaker are her fluency and accuracy. In the Natural Order of skills-development in a language, fluency in speaking is primary and accuracy comes much later. No parent would rebuke a child for incorrect production in the MT. That she is at all uttering a few words or fragmented utterances in whatever manner is a matter of delight for everyone. For example, an Oriya child says:



paata kaai



Paraphrased into proper syntax and phonology of Oriya, the utterance would take the following shape:

bhaata khaaibi (I want to have rice.)



But nobody minds the errors in production let alone ever think of correction. After several stages of interlanguage and self-correction, the child arrives at the proper grammar of the language. In this effort, she is entirely supported by the language situation and parental encouragement. The natural course is thus through fluency to accuracy.

On the other hand, teaching the speaking skill in English is fraught with correction and discouragement right from the early stages of learning English. A child is forced to ‘speak’, read aloud and answer questions, before any listening in proper measure in English has happened. Moreover, the child is forced by the teacher to speak correctly. There is an absolute intolerance of the so-called learner errors in speech. The curriculum does not permit for a learner’s stages in interlanguage. A teacher never cares for a child who speaks at all in English. A teacher’s concern seems to be to see that if a child says something in English, his primary job is to find and correct mistakes, and see to it that the child always speaks in complete sentences. Such untimely and unwarranted attention on accuracy at the early stage has boomerang effects on fluency. It is like putting the cart before the horse. The child achieves neither accuracy nor fluency in the long run.

Does this situation pertain to real life? Slips, errors backtracking and editing are prominent even in adult natural conversation as much as fragmented utterances. Listeners make ample allowances for all these and much more even when listening to speakers speaking in their MT. Teachers of English, on the contrary, are intolerant and impatient of even minor digressions by the learners from the formal speech patterns. As a consequence, learners choose not to speak in English.

No skill ever develops without adequate practice; and mistakes form an integral part of skill-development. No one, for example, has learnt cycling by reading a book on how to ride a bicycle. One has to ride a bicycle (that is practice) and fall down (that is making mistakes) several times in order to get the skill of cycling. This is true for getting any skill: practice and errors leading to skills-acquisition.

The scope of this article is too limited to permit a detailed description of the subtler aspects of what should comprise in a syllabus in its ‘speaking’ component and how teaching and testing should be handled in an English classroom in an incremental manner. This article only attempts to put forth the major problems that beset teaching speaking. How to overcome these problems and many others in a curriculum is a larger issue for further discussion.


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.

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.

Swine Flu in Humans - The Facts

Swine Flu in Humans
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm

Swine Flu
Report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Atlanta, GA USA

What is Swine Influenza?

Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.

Swine Flu in Humans

Can humans catch swine flu?

Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of one person spreading swine flu to others. For example, an outbreak of apparent swine flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.

How common is swine flu infection in humans?

In the past, CDC received reports of approximately one human swine influenza virus infection every one to two years in the U.S., but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza have been reported.

What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?

The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?

No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

How does swine flu spread?

Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

What do we know about human-to-human spread of swine flu?

In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman was hospitalized for pneumonia and died 8 days later. A swine H1N1 flu virus was detected. Four days before getting sick, the patient visited a county fair swine exhibition where there was widespread influenza-like illness among the swine.

In follow-up studies, 76% of swine exhibitors tested had antibody evidence of swine flu infection but no serious illnesses were detected among this group. Additional studies suggest that one to three health care personnel who had contact with the patient developed mild influenza-like illnesses with antibody evidence of swine flu infection.

How can human infections with swine influenza be diagnosed?

To diagnose swine influenza A infection, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be shedding virus). However, some persons, especially children, may shed virus for 10 days or longer. Identification as a swine flu influenza A virus requires sending the specimen to CDC for laboratory testing.

What medications are available to treat swine flu infections in humans?

There are four different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in the US for the treatment of influenza: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the most recent swine influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine. At this time, CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses.

What other examples of swine flu outbreaks are there?

Probably the most well known is an outbreak of swine flu among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1976. The virus caused disease with x-ray evidence of pneumonia in at least 4 soldiers and 1 death; all of these patients had previously been healthy. The virus was transmitted to close contacts in a basic training environment, with limited transmission outside the basic training group. The virus is thought to have circulated for a month and disappeared. The source of the virus, the exact time of its introduction into Fort Dix, and factors limiting its spread and duration are unknown. The Fort Dix outbreak may have been caused by introduction of an animal virus into a stressed human population in close contact in crowded facilities during the winter. The swine influenza A virus collected from a Fort Dix soldier was named A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1).

Is the H1N1 swine flu virus the same as human H1N1 viruses?

No. The H1N1 swine flu viruses are antigenically very different from human H1N1 viruses and, therefore, vaccines for human seasonal flu would not provide protection from H1N1 swine flu viruses.

Share the facts and information with your language learners.
If you're at risk in any way, get medical treatment or a vaccination - NOW!


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.

3 Facts You Need to Know About Learning a New Language

It’s a pretty challenging task when you think of it, but with time and effort, nothing is impossible. Learning a new language can be a rewarding experience, especially when you earn those appreciative glances and admiring compliments on your newly-acquired skill. We don’t think much of learning to talk when we’re young – it’s a natural ability, and this is why kids pick up any number of languages with an élan that’s hard to come by for adults. But there are reasons to learn a new language, no matter how old you are. Sure, the older you get, the harder it becomes, but that’s no reason to turn down a challenge.

So if you’re ready, here are a few facts you need to know about learning a new tongue:

• You either use it or lose it: If you want to become fluent in a new language, you need to keep using it. You need to listen to people talk it and you need to converse in it yourself, on a continued basis. If you don’t, you’re likely to end up forgetting it. Learning a new language is just like any other skill – it requires continuous honing through regular use. I took a course in Japanese a couple of years ago, but it pains me to admit today that I only remember how to ask the question “What’s your name?” and respond to it. Once the course was over I had no incentive to keep speaking the tongue; of course, the fact that there was nobody to talk to didn’t help much either. So if you learn a new language and want to remember it, continue to find avenues where you can use it.

• A language is a way to keep mental disorders away: It’s been proven and is now official – learning a new language stimulates your brain and makes your mental processes more active. You’re boosting the blood flow to your brain and this helps keep your neurons and blood vessels in great shape. When you push your brain and attempt to learn a new language, you postpone and even prevent the onset of debilitating mental disorders like Alzheimer’s disease that can impair your memory and make you lose your power of cognitive reasoning.

• It’s easy when you can’t be choosy: Try moving to a country where no one speaks any language other than the local vernacular. You’d be surprised at the speed with which you pick it up. Sure, it’s going to be difficult at first and you may have to resort to sign language and face a ton of misunderstandings and funny situations, but in the end, it’s all going to be worth it because you’re going to be speaking like a native in a matter of weeks. When there’s no other language to choose to converse it, you’re forced to learn the local lingo, and this makes you pick it up faster.


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.

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.

Making Effective Use of Short Stories in English Language Teaching

A Well-Proven Method of Language Acquisition

One of the most effective long-term methods of learning a language is that of an on-going series of readings. In fact, among the ways native speakers of English, French and other languages continue to improve and grow their first language (L1) skills, reading ranks very high up on the list. Whether or not language learners are able to wade through a complete book or novel, reading short stories is a time-proven method of language learning and acquisition.

Edgar Allan Poe

The “invention” of the short story, then Horror story and the Detective mystery story are all credited to Edgar Allan Poe (pictured) who first began publishing series of less-than-book-length stories in the mid-1830s. Many of his most popular and famous stories have been passed down through the decades and filmed as full-length feature films. Among the more noteworthy of his Horror and Detective / Mystery stories are these, my personal choices:

• The Fall of the House of Usher published September 1839
• William Wilson published in 1839
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue published in April 1841
• A Descent Into the Maelstrom published May 1841
• The Masque of the Red Death published in May 1842
• The Pit and the Pendulum published October 1842
• The Tell – Tale Heart published January 1843
• The Gold Bug published June 21, 1843
• The Black Cat published August 19, 1843
• The Premature Burial published July 31, 1844
• The Purloined Letter published in 1844
• The Cask of Admontillado published November 1846

Detailed information on Edgar Allan Poe, his life and his collected works is available from the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore.

But why are short stories so useful and effective in English language teaching and learning?

Advantages of Short Stories in English Language Teaching and Learning

There are several distinct advantages in using short stories in ELT. The principal advantages include but are not limited to:

• The controlled length of short stories
• The concise writing with carefully selected vocabulary and lexis
• The use of contemporary or colloquial language
• Insertion of authentic, natural dialogue
• Short stories typically maintain high interest and attention levels

With the difficulty normally associated with getting foreign language learners to read, short stories quite readily lend themselves to capturing and holding the often brief attention spans of learners in societies which are predominantly non-reading ones. Get the learners interested in the story’s beginning and leave it from the, Poe will more than likely do the rest with his inimitable, attention-grabbing style and in-depth visual imagery.

Consider this terrifying excerpt from “The Pit and the Pendulum”:

“Down — steadily down it crept. I took a frenzied pleasure in contrasting its downward with its lateral velocity. To the right — to the left — far and wide — with the shriek and the plunge of a damned spirit; to my heart with the stealthy pace of the tiger! I alternately laughed and howled, as the one or the other idea grew predominant. Down — certainly, relentlessly down! It vibrated within three inches of my bosom! I struggled violently, furiously, to free my left arm.”

You can feel and imagine the ravings of a man slowly being tortured to death as he waits to be slowly, methodically sliced in two by the descending cold steel from which, it seems, he has no escape.

Use of Short Stories in English Language Teaching – A Never-Ending Supply

A virtually unending supply of fresh, original short stories is almost always available from a broad range of reference sites and resources such as short story contests online and in print, online and print libraries, both public and private, author and writing websites – and, Public Domain repositories like Gutenburg. English language teachers and learners need never lack for fresh, original short stories to read or use for language teaching or language learning.


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.

Passionate Writing Assignments That Motivate Language Learners

Even Ernest Hemmingway Had to Learn to Write


We said in the first article of this series that there are no native writers of English or any other foreign language for that matter. Each of us, no matter what our first language is, must learn to write in a clear, logical manner that promotes easier reading. Even the legendary Ernest Hemmingway had to “learn” to write. And so it is with our foreign language learners. So here in the second article of this series, we’ll continue with some passionate writing assignments which will motivate our English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners to strut their stuff on paper or the keyboard and screen without undue concern for “correctness” that might inhibit the free flow of words and ideas.

4. Compiling of Specialized Lists

How about writing a list, and then of course, expounding in detail on its content? It can be a list of anything (almost) that motivates your learners. From the “Ten Best” discos, restaurants, boutiques, bars, movies, sports cars, game web sites, video games or videos, hot entertainers or whatever else, you can derive a writing assignment piece which allows you to really “strut your stuff”, so to speak. Doing so thereby produces a worthwhile piece of writing far and above the usual “dreck” that passes for essays and compositions these days. The language learners need only to choose their topic, draft their “list”, then detail the elements of each list item to the best of their knowledge and abilities. And finally “Voila!”, a paper you can read without your soul filling with tears – or worse.

5. Help and Advice or Answers to Peer Topic Questions

How about inviting your language learners to write an “answer” to a common or at least plausible situation question? You know, kind of a “Dear Abbey” type of question and detailed answer response to the question, situation or problem. Producers turn this kind of drabble into soap operas that make millions.
“You see, there’s this really cute gut in my English class who I like but he’s kinda seeing this other girl who I can’t stand – but my best friend told me that he said he was going to quit that girl, so I’m thinking, what should I do to…?” (Remember to break for a commercial right before all the “juicy” parts)

6. Relevant Link Lists

Are your language learners internet or video game addicts? Well then, it’s highly likely they can easily come up with a list of links or websites useful to them and their “passion”. So let them! Allow them to create a list, then detail each item on it. They could compare the links, contrast them or illustrate any variety of relationships between the links they’ve chosen to write about. How did they find them? How often do they use or visit? Why? Ask for and expect details – and the unexpected. As long as it’s not a list of best porno sites of whatever, you should get some good really interesting results for this writing assignment. Just remember to set some “ground rules” for the writing and topics. If your language learners are anything at all like mine are, you’ll be glad you did!

Passionate Writing Assignment Ideas That Are Coming Up

Okay, so we’ll wrap it up for this second article of the series now. In the next installment of “Motivate Your Language Learners with These Passionate Writing Assignment Ideas”, we continue once again with some Task-Based-Learning writing ideas to keep the words and ideas flowing from the pens, pencils or computer (or even typewriter) keyboards of your English as a Foreign Language learners. If your language learners like watching videos, playing video games or enjoy one or more of a score of other performing arts, then you’ll be “in the clover” when using our upcoming writing assignment ideas. See you then.


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 130 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.

Anatomy Activities Websites in English

Human Anatomy Online for English Language Learners


If you have English as a foreign language learners who have the need to study anatomy, feel free to direct them to any number of these useful websites. In my health faculty class groups, I schedule two computer room sessions to allow my Nursing and Physical Therapy English language learners time to visit up to four or five of these websites to explore and “play around” in. Most of the anatomy-based websites are inter-active, allowing the language learners to manipulate organs, acquire new vocabulary in context and expand their working knowledge of the human anatomy. Even I learn something new each time one of these class sessions is held. On occasion, I schedule a quiz the following class session to help the students internalize new material.

List of Websites on Human Anatomy Web Quest:

Human Anatomy Online
http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html
The site activities are separated into ten body systems, skeletal, digestive, muscular, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous, cardio-vascular, urinary, male and female reproductive. body parts are identified using the cursor to locate and click for a description to appear to the left of the figure.


Artificial Anatomy using Jerome
http://americanhistory.si.edu/anatomy/bodyparts/nma03_bodyparts.html
Jerome is the name of the male anatomy figure which can be turned 180 degrees for different views of body parts. Learners match the body part close-up with the full figure image.


Anatomy Body Parts Gap Fill British Council
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/words/activities/body01.html
Learners drag and drop boxes with names of body parts onto a body figure, then check their answers

Anatomy Arcade
http://www.anatomyarcade.com/
This site is six different anatomy arcade games featuring muscles, bones, the eye, the brain, the heart and the digestive tract. Learners drag and drop body part images onto the correct location in the body. There is a computer voice and sound to accompany each game and give feedback to learners.

Anatomy of the Human Body – Henry Gray
http://www.bartleby.com/107/
This detailed illustrated text on the human anatomy is by Henry Gray from his classic anatomy text for serious students of anatomy.

The Interactive Body
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml
This site requires an updated version of Flash, available for free download. Body parts are dragged and dropped to form a correct sequence.

The Virtual Body
http://www.medtropolis.com/VBody.asp
First, choose between English or Spanish to work with parts of the brain, heart, skeleton or digestive tract. Learners can view and identify parts, see animations and listen to narrations.


Visible Human
http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/
At the stunning, animated visual “Visible Human” site, the human body is explored via a series of 1800 cross-section views for a full-featured guided tour. There are transverse, coronal and sagittal cross section views to elaborate on virtually any body organ, part or system for the more serious student of the human anatomy.

Basic Anatomy – Tissues and Organs
http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/14-anatomy.htm
The Basic Anatomy site has the sound of a heart beating in the background. Learners can read about basic organs and systems of the human body with simple illustrations posted to the left of the text.


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.

Motivate Your Language Learners with These Passionate Writing Assignment Ideas

Motivating Language Learners with Passionate Writing Assignments


No Native Writers

“Not again”, the students whined. “Teacher, we don’t like to write. Especially not in English.”

Oh, how true, how very true.

It’s difficult enough to get your language learners to read – they don’t like doing THAT either. But with interesting, relative material they can usually be easily persuaded to breeze through short passages before expounding and commenting on them. Writing though, is a totally different matter. You see, while there can be native speakers of a language, there are NO native writers of a language. Everyone, native speaker or not, must learn to form sentences, then paragraphs and finally coherent expositions, compositions or articles, often to their dismay. An academic paper? Are you kidding me? It’s the area where learners of virtually every college major “cheat” (and plagiarize) the most extensively. How about a book? Again, even most native speakers of a language absolutely cringe at even the suggestion of attempting such a feat. Hey, I don’t exactly “chuckle with glee” about it either.

Motivating Your Language Learners to Write

Motivating your language learning students to write – and now in a foreign language – is indeed a challenge. That is, up until now. Here are some English as a second language classroom-tested writing assignment types that frequently tend to motivate learners to perform their best. As we’ll delve into further on in this article, your learners must be encouraged to write with “passion”. “What I did on my Summer Vacation” simply won’t cut it unless you had a hot date with a movie star. If so, then - Gosh, who was it? Tell me everything. I want details!

1. How - To or “Teaching” Writing Assignments

Everyone knows how to do or make something. Not only that, but they’re usually quite proud of their knowledge, skill or ability. They’ll require little encouragement to get the ball rolling to talk or write about it. Your language learning students should also feel free to attach an image or series, drawings or step-by-step illustrations to their piece too. This will add visual and graphic support to the text as well as increase the interest in their writing assignment.

2. Expound on a News Event

Any news or current event that stirs the fires of your language learners’ imaginations is ripe fodder for a writing assignment. Okay, so YOU may not be particularly enthralled by a daring bank heist, a new community center or a severe storm that destroys property and causes destruction locally. Your learners however, may be personally vested in such events and be able to weave a spell-binding composition related to such events. Imagine: “Teacher, there was that really bad storm last month that was in all the papers, but you know, it tore most of the roof off our house, so …” Sometimes the events may not exactly be positive ones, however, the learner can then elaborate of the effects and solutions to create an interesting, informative dialogue on the events.

3. Writing Up Reviews

Who hasn’t read, seen or experienced something that they truly loved, were stirred or moved by – or hated with a passion. That’s the key, you see – passion. With passion you can drive almost any endeavor in life from a hot date to a breakout career or from a cold shoulder to the departure from a negative lifestyle. So, let your English as a second language learners write about any topic they are truly passionate about. That is unless it’s taking drugs or the like, in which case I’d recommend a change of subject – and passions.

Make the Language Learning Writing Experience Engaging

Everyone, native speaker or not, must learn to form sentences, then paragraphs and finally coherent expositions, compositions or articles. Why not make the writing experience an engaging one for your English or other foreign language learners? You can quite easily do this by incorporating these writing assignment types into your language learning classes. We'll continue with more passionate writing assignment ideas in the next posts. Stay tuned ...


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 If you 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.

Teaching English and Foreign Languages to Disabled or Handicapped Learners

Handicapped or Disabled English Learners
In some institutions, disabled learners study English for both academia and communicative purposes. Basically, two forms of disability are encountered by English, as a second or foreign language, teachers; physical and mental. Adaptation of methodologies and didactics for teaching and learning success with handicapped learners or with learners who may be disabled in some way can help to improve teaching and learning with many other types of EFL class groups and therefore merits the attention of all EFL or ESL language professionals. .

Physical Disabilities

At the Santiago de Cali University where I teach, students are allowed to enter programs even when physically disabled or handicapped in some ways. There are legally or physically blind (invident), wheelchair-bound and cerebrally palsied students currently enrolled and engaged in academic study along side of regular students. These disabled or handicapped learners can be subjected to distinctive problems and difficulties in integrating into an EFL, ESL or foreign language class room setting.

A few commonly encountered problems include:

• Not being able to access institutional facilities
• Need for specially-adapted teaching and learning methods
• Class schedule adjustments
• Specialized programming of computer room and listening lab facilities
• Alteration of language acquisition methods
• Sensitivity to environmental conditions like heat, cold, noise and lighting
• Highly-focused or distinct learning styles and learning characteristics
• Need for alternative methods for note-taking and test-taking
• Need for multi-media format texts, classes and input sessions

Mental Disabilities

Although mental disabilities are more strictly monitored and controlled as far as student admissions are concerned, nonetheless they can be encountered at a number of institutions, most likely those that specialized in these types of learners. I think that in many cases grouping “these types” of learners together may be doing more harm than good, but that’s another story not intended for this short article post. From schizophrenia to Autism and ADD to even Alzheimer’s, learners actually may benefit more by being placed in, learning and functioning in a “normal” environment. The same may be true for selected Home-schooled learners at certain points in their academic growth and development. Not in each and every case, mind you, but only in a selected number of them.

The Need for Adaptive Methodology and Didactics

The need for adaptive methodologies and didactics when teaching disabled or handicapped learners cannot be over-emphasized. Rather than “lumping these types of learners together”, more may actually be accomplished by “mainstreaming” more of them and adapting the EFL or ESL methodologies and didactics to suit class groups of more widely diverse learners. This is highly effective for virtually ANY class group of language learners and not just simply a means of addressing the needs of handicapped learners. In my experience, action research and investigations, I have definitely found this to be true, albeit on a somewhat limited scale.

… to be continued …

Be sure to check out “An Interview with Prof. Larry M. Lynch” online at:
http://www.e1-network.com/professor_larry_lynch.html


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, author and public 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.