des 2009
stop thinking word by word in spanish. how the brain works. got to know when to translate and when not
tenses, associate tense and time expression helps, chunks. always or now? finished unfinished? when important?
what they (each) need to know. develop.
i check for confidence
fluency
range of verbs tenses and vocabulary
accuracy
strong or not too strong L2 influence
writing style
Nov 2009
i plan lessons tailored to my clients' employees' needs. they work in almost all the different departments of the organization, which has given me a fairly thourough knowledge of each department and unit. Most of my learners belong to the HR and some Accounts, a few from ICT among others
july 2010
I can be a language traning coach, i can help them with their fears, certain difficultuies are normal, it's reasonalbe to... part of the learning process, shouldnt be put off ...
typical mistakes, loose their fear, it's slow, it takes time to familiariase with a new accent, let alone if it's a brief encounter
dont know sth, just ask, humbleness gets u further than boasting or hidding ...
feb 2011
es normal que s'oblidin vocab si no l'usen
normal que no aprenguin tenses bé si es fan en un dia ..pimpam sense ferlos veure la diferencia de significats ben, tenen
spelling
Some now experience their lack of vocabulary in certain situations. We have spent two three four five years building their grammar with work-related content and examples, building their work-erlated vocabulary and now that they have achieved a decent command of this now, that thanks to having this ability they participate in meetings, courses, etc given in English now they have the need to communicate in more social way than just facilitators or meeting attendees. there are breaks there are parties to go to,
I was fully aware that they would need all that at some point.
there's was no point doing it until they themselves realised the need for that, which it would be when they were able to use english for work-related issues., which is the case now.
primer vols comunicar-te, és igual com per aixo aprendre les functional language is hard.
march 2011
I have this student who says is very keen but when it comes to actually showing up, she doesn't. Or is 15 or 20 minutes late. Then she gets distracted about what is on the table and anyone who passes by. Then starts talking about her latest hobby. I really try to carefully select topics which may be relavant to her and are related to her specific job, as she requested during her needs assessment chat but it's all either boring, or she doesnt want to talk about work or... there's always something to moan about. I know it's not my lack of ability to choose material as i haven't got this problem with anyone else. Teaching one to one is indeed fulfilling - some may argue it's boring, but i disagree- but some learners can make the trainers's life a bit hard at times!
Then there's this other learner who thinks speaks fairly good English when it's not the case and doesn't seem to get that she really does not. Hardly no progress.
Wednesday 8 July 2015
1.4.2009
No hi posaria la mà al foc que pel fet de tenir com a L1 una llengua rica (fonologicament, morfologicament, etc) faciliti l'aprenentatge d'altres menys riques.
Posaré l'exemple del català i castellà comparat amb l'anglès, que és el que conec millor. El català i castellà són morfologicament no són el que diríem "poc riques", conjuguem els verbs, no ens cal posar el subjecte, afegim un seguit de afixes per formar paraules, tenim els singulars i plurals i els gèneres,etc. L'anglès, parlant en general, no. I tot i això enc costa molt aprendre'l. O és el sistema, o el professorat o el fet que som molts a les aules - si ens limitem a escoles i instituts però no s'aconsegueix parlar bé.
Llavors també hi ha la qüestió de les vocals llargues i curtes, les i i les o i les a per exemple no són com les nostres. Una altre cosa que els costa aprendre és que els adjectius (davant del nom) no es pluralitzin, la única terminació que s'han d'aprendre en present, la maleïda -s de 3a persona sg i no hi ha manera, i el "say me", ja a nivell sintactic?
Tornant al tema de la pronuncia, jo li dono molta importància, faig anglès a adults i sovint fem unitats de Business perquè han de fer presentacions i anar a reunions, ningú , ni els que es defensen bé en l'idioma sabia pronunciar 'procedures', pocs sabien dir bé 'decision' o 'measure', per dir-ne algunes., i no parlem de les -ed de passat (tots els profes estem farts de sentir luket oi?)
Per la meva experiència crec que per arribar a un domini de l'idioma sí que cal passar una bona temporada llarga al país on es parla la llengua en qüestió amb la deguda bona predisposició, és clar. De tots és sabut els molts espanyols visquen a Anglaterra que viuen i surten tot junts i no s'esforcen gaire per entrar en contacte amb la cultura local de manera més directe - cosa que és complicada si no domines ja inicialment l'idioma cal dir..., els girs culturals, a percebre sons (s sorda s sonora, i llarga i curta,... ), el to de veu (aquí cridem molt en comparació amb Anglaterra o França per exemple), entens i respectes més paraules per trets culturals molt arrelats a la cultura (quan aquí no en són tant), i un llarg etc
O sigui en resum sí que la dificultat rau en els sistemes fonologics i morfosintactics. Aprenem segons el que tenim al cap, els nostres patrons i els nostres sistemes ja formats, a menys que el teu voltant t'ajudi a consolidar el que t'han intentat fer aprendre i no hi ha hagut manera amb els mètodes tradicionals a l'escola/institut. Us dono un exemple d'una alumne de nivell intermig "i put a little red" em vaig posar una mica vermella. Costa entendre que per això hi hagi una paraula (sonrojar-se, blush) i els és més fàcil traduir-ho paraula a paraula. En fin, uns en podria dir moltes com aquesta i gairebé tots degut a la morfosintaxi.
Però també hi influeix l'aspecte cultural, l'entorn i la societat que parla tal llengua. Pots tenir un anglès perfecte però si parles amb un fort accent espanyol i contestes tal com ho faries en una terrassa o a casa teva doncs hi ha una part de la llengua (i no l'estrictament gramatical) que no encaixa i pot arribar a portar a malentesos.
Salut
No hi posaria la mà al foc que pel fet de tenir com a L1 una llengua rica (fonologicament, morfologicament, etc) faciliti l'aprenentatge d'altres menys riques.
Posaré l'exemple del català i castellà comparat amb l'anglès, que és el que conec millor. El català i castellà són morfologicament no són el que diríem "poc riques", conjuguem els verbs, no ens cal posar el subjecte, afegim un seguit de afixes per formar paraules, tenim els singulars i plurals i els gèneres,etc. L'anglès, parlant en general, no. I tot i això enc costa molt aprendre'l. O és el sistema, o el professorat o el fet que som molts a les aules - si ens limitem a escoles i instituts però no s'aconsegueix parlar bé.
Llavors també hi ha la qüestió de les vocals llargues i curtes, les i i les o i les a per exemple no són com les nostres. Una altre cosa que els costa aprendre és que els adjectius (davant del nom) no es pluralitzin, la única terminació que s'han d'aprendre en present, la maleïda -s de 3a persona sg i no hi ha manera, i el "say me", ja a nivell sintactic?
Tornant al tema de la pronuncia, jo li dono molta importància, faig anglès a adults i sovint fem unitats de Business perquè han de fer presentacions i anar a reunions, ningú , ni els que es defensen bé en l'idioma sabia pronunciar 'procedures', pocs sabien dir bé 'decision' o 'measure', per dir-ne algunes., i no parlem de les -ed de passat (tots els profes estem farts de sentir luket oi?)
Per la meva experiència crec que per arribar a un domini de l'idioma sí que cal passar una bona temporada llarga al país on es parla la llengua en qüestió amb la deguda bona predisposició, és clar. De tots és sabut els molts espanyols visquen a Anglaterra que viuen i surten tot junts i no s'esforcen gaire per entrar en contacte amb la cultura local de manera més directe - cosa que és complicada si no domines ja inicialment l'idioma cal dir..., els girs culturals, a percebre sons (s sorda s sonora, i llarga i curta,... ), el to de veu (aquí cridem molt en comparació amb Anglaterra o França per exemple), entens i respectes més paraules per trets culturals molt arrelats a la cultura (quan aquí no en són tant), i un llarg etc
O sigui en resum sí que la dificultat rau en els sistemes fonologics i morfosintactics. Aprenem segons el que tenim al cap, els nostres patrons i els nostres sistemes ja formats, a menys que el teu voltant t'ajudi a consolidar el que t'han intentat fer aprendre i no hi ha hagut manera amb els mètodes tradicionals a l'escola/institut. Us dono un exemple d'una alumne de nivell intermig "i put a little red" em vaig posar una mica vermella. Costa entendre que per això hi hagi una paraula (sonrojar-se, blush) i els és més fàcil traduir-ho paraula a paraula. En fin, uns en podria dir moltes com aquesta i gairebé tots degut a la morfosintaxi.
Però també hi influeix l'aspecte cultural, l'entorn i la societat que parla tal llengua. Pots tenir un anglès perfecte però si parles amb un fort accent espanyol i contestes tal com ho faries en una terrassa o a casa teva doncs hi ha una part de la llengua (i no l'estrictament gramatical) que no encaixa i pot arribar a portar a malentesos.
Salut
Spelling problems
For French and Arabic speakers specially:
If writing is a priority for you:
I have noticed that African francophones and Arabic speakers have difficulty spelling words correctly. Arabic is a very different language from English - treatment of vowels, sentence structure, etc. for example: some write somer for summer, or nait for night.
My assumption is that most of you have learned English at work, so you've heard (more than seen) English. This is normal, as English spelling and pronunciation are not intuitive in most cases.
An awareness of this will also help you pronounce better. If you pronounce better, people will find it easier to understand what you say, you'll feel more confident if they understand without having to repeat (much). In the same way, you'll understand native speakers a bit more easily (although this is not the solution to understanding native speakers!)
To solve this area of the learning process I recommend:
- paying careful attention to how words are spelled
- listening and reading at the same time, again paying close attention to what you hear and what you see.
- try to draw your own conclusions (I hear an u sound but there is oo on paper, for example).
- use dictations resources that I will suggest (englishclub, words in the news from bbc, voanews learning english, ted talks, videos from specific organisations and companies) where you can have access to the transcription so you can check your writing and compare sound and spelling.
REsources
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/
news in English. all the current affair news come with the transcription. slow and clear and real English. Listen and read carefully a piece of news a few times, then use the audio as a dictation and check.
This website also allows you to double click on any word and you get the MerriamWebster dictionary definition (monolingual).
sometimes you have the transcription on the video, like in Karaokes. Remember, pay careful attention to writing and pronunciation.
https://www.englishclub.com/listening/dictation.htm
explore, easy and intuitive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
website is no longer updated. However, there is still all the old material available. Short, very short newsarticles and if you go to box "downloads" on the right hand side of "news stories" . Right click on the "Reports" link to listen to the audio.
Video stories, videos and transcript, and vocabulary, clearly pronounced by the presenter/reader.
http://www.ted.com/
Presentations, with transcripts in different languages, with and without subtitles while you listen. super useful, reliable subtiltles. Use them to compare words and pronunciation. Repeat and repeat.
for example, if you want to hear various presentations on Africa - in general - type it in the search engine and choose. Should you prefer to find out more about the Middle East, go ahead, too. Intuitive.
I'll try to prepare a sort of tutorial to show you how to use these website but workload and not having the tools and software in my PC may delay this (webcast?)
I hope you find this useful.
If writing is a priority for you:
I have noticed that African francophones and Arabic speakers have difficulty spelling words correctly. Arabic is a very different language from English - treatment of vowels, sentence structure, etc. for example: some write somer for summer, or nait for night.
My assumption is that most of you have learned English at work, so you've heard (more than seen) English. This is normal, as English spelling and pronunciation are not intuitive in most cases.
An awareness of this will also help you pronounce better. If you pronounce better, people will find it easier to understand what you say, you'll feel more confident if they understand without having to repeat (much). In the same way, you'll understand native speakers a bit more easily (although this is not the solution to understanding native speakers!)
To solve this area of the learning process I recommend:
- paying careful attention to how words are spelled
- listening and reading at the same time, again paying close attention to what you hear and what you see.
- try to draw your own conclusions (I hear an u sound but there is oo on paper, for example).
- use dictations resources that I will suggest (englishclub, words in the news from bbc, voanews learning english, ted talks, videos from specific organisations and companies) where you can have access to the transcription so you can check your writing and compare sound and spelling.
REsources
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/
news in English. all the current affair news come with the transcription. slow and clear and real English. Listen and read carefully a piece of news a few times, then use the audio as a dictation and check.
This website also allows you to double click on any word and you get the MerriamWebster dictionary definition (monolingual).
sometimes you have the transcription on the video, like in Karaokes. Remember, pay careful attention to writing and pronunciation.
https://www.englishclub.com/listening/dictation.htm
explore, easy and intuitive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
website is no longer updated. However, there is still all the old material available. Short, very short newsarticles and if you go to box "downloads" on the right hand side of "news stories" . Right click on the "Reports" link to listen to the audio.
Video stories, videos and transcript, and vocabulary, clearly pronounced by the presenter/reader.
http://www.ted.com/
Presentations, with transcripts in different languages, with and without subtitles while you listen. super useful, reliable subtiltles. Use them to compare words and pronunciation. Repeat and repeat.
for example, if you want to hear various presentations on Africa - in general - type it in the search engine and choose. Should you prefer to find out more about the Middle East, go ahead, too. Intuitive.
I'll try to prepare a sort of tutorial to show you how to use these website but workload and not having the tools and software in my PC may delay this (webcast?)
I hope you find this useful.
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