tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1686467686335484826.post3945784043701464134..comments2023-10-22T02:31:42.812-07:00Comments on grit's day: Language learningUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1686467686335484826.post-19958048950789506652011-03-18T04:58:04.328-07:002011-03-18T04:58:04.328-07:00totally agree. And, if we have to teach language i...totally agree. And, if we have to teach language in the old fashioned way, can girls be taught the words for buying tampons and painkillers? Because, even though I knew how to book a room in a hotel with a shower and a view, it was standing in a shop in real ife not knowing how to ask "where are the sanitary towels?" that had me in tears.RuralDiversityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05800319329191182398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1686467686335484826.post-66467422433018535732011-03-18T01:47:11.133-07:002011-03-18T01:47:11.133-07:00Too true. While at school and uni in America, I s...Too true. While at school and uni in America, I studied French, German, and Italian. Of course, when I finally did go to another country, it was England.julie ridleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02514339037965830524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1686467686335484826.post-10844855425411120512011-03-16T16:54:27.748-07:002011-03-16T16:54:27.748-07:00Languages have always come very easily to me, so I...Languages have always come very easily to me, so I have studied 8, but am fluent in none, because to get really good you have to live there and speak it regularly. But whenever I travel, I try to learn, re-learn, brush up, and I too, love the Michel Thomas. <br /><br />School language worked for me, somewhat, because I had a lovely, effective Spanish teacher, who took us all to Spain (from Missouri!) when I was 15. Then, I was lucky enough to go to Japan for a summer when I was 17, and I just love learning languages. I used to think that it really was just a matter of application, but having observed that two of my sons are like me, and two, like my husband, try but have less success, I have decided that once you get past that early "brain wired to absorb language" period, things really do vary from human to human. And school language lessons seem to work for very few humans, really. Yet, it is also true that, even if it doesn't come easily, it will, eventually, come. Michel Thomas is great, and so are the French in Action and Destinos programs for French and Spanish, respectively (not so easy to get, and old, but extremely effective video-based programs--dvd's are available from DVD Hunter, and most of the books on Amazon). For French I also really love the Smart French program, very inexpensive and effective. There are so many great, easy-to-use programs, but some are boring and ineffective, so reading reviews of various ones is useful. My I do run on, don't I.Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10655355287500833547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1686467686335484826.post-37246825378187429962011-03-16T13:01:24.613-07:002011-03-16T13:01:24.613-07:00I would love to speak another language. I studied...I would love to speak another language. I studied French at school for five years and managed to pass Higher French, but couldn't speak it. A pupil of mine is Polish and has been in Scotland for about a year and a half. He comes to me to improve his grammar and idiomatic English which he's already speaking fluently (and his grammar's not much worse than that of his friends). He's immersed in the language, even though his family speaks Polish at home. <br />I particularly dislike it when I have dyslexic pupils who are struggling to read and write English and they're having to sit through French lessons and exams.<br />We did a bit of Latin and less of French when we were home edding, but if the kids had wanted to learn to speak another language we'd have done it. But we're not really travellers... <br />Just my point of view... (or rant, if you prefer... :o) )Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com