Who still wants to learn languages?

The new GCSE results show foreign languages are in severe decline – with the number of children learning French and German falling most dramatically of all.

Find out more at The Guardian,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/24/who-still-wants-learn-languages

Where's Matt....

Where's Matt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWUrj22pRD0&feature=fvst

How do you think this clip could be used in your lesson?

Here are a few questions to mull over....

Where in the Hell is Matt (2008) Questions

Which country had the field of flowers? Where was the pyramid? Which country was Matt dancing in the woods? Where were the coloured buildings? Where was the soldier? Where was the dark statue? Where were the tribesmen from? Where was Matt dancing underwater? Where was the boat? Where was Matt dancing in the rain?

I write like.....

A curious little site I recently came across is I Write Like.....

http://iwl.me/

On this site, the procedure is pretty simple: You cut and paste a piece of writing that you've done and it analyses it, immediately telling you what famous writer your style most resembles.
It reminded me of that famous old Woody Allen gag, 'I copied love letters by James Joyce and sent them to her, lying that they were from me.....I was surprised she never asked me about all the references to Dublin.'

You should try this site, but as language teachers, we should think a little bit deeper. For example, how does their software work? Is it analysing chunks of language? Punctuation? Syntax? Is it actually possible to do this with any level of accuracy? How did they code this?
How, if you had the IT nous, would YOU code this? That's perhaps the most interesting question of all....

A recent thread on the consistently excellent Word Magazine blog offers an amusing cross-section of witty reactions, from the wildly enthused to the deeply cynical. It's worth a look.

http://wordmagazine.co.uk/content/i-write

And no, I shan't tell you which alias is mine.

Mike

/aɪpi:jaɪ taɪpraɪtə/

Here is an IPA typewriter. If you need to added IPA script to your written assignments you can write it in the typewriter and cut and paste it into your document. Simple eh? Be careful though as some fonts in word won't recognize the symbols.

Here on the right is a screenshot of the site. It is really simple to write out the IPA and very easy to cut and paste. Here is the link below.

http://www.e-lang.co.uk/mackichan/call/pron/type.html

An instructional video

Have a look at this interesting clip from a cognition lab. As you watch count the number of times the players in white pass the basketball.
Perception
http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/flashmovie/15.php
Are there any parallels with language learning?
What do you think they might be?


Mike

comparing lexis or chunks

If you are not sure how common a word or phrase is in English you could always check it against another word or phrase. A handy tool to help is at this link below.

http://www.googlefight.com/

Try it out....

Categories

Sorting practices can be a good way to look at language. Here are some examples to sort into 2 categories. What do you think the categories are?

It's going to rain

What are you going to do about it.

Are you going to tell anybody?

I'm going to the cinema.

Where are you going?

We're going to Ibiza this summer.

Are you going to watch the match on Saturday?

Is anyone going with you?