I just spent 5 gorgeous days in Fiji on holiday. Fijians have beautiful spoken English, very eloquent, natural and polite – a legacy I believe of the British influence that still exists today in their education system. However, unlike some other countries that have been influenced by Western colonialism, Fijians have also retained their own language, culture and traditions and are true bi-linguals. Fijians are a good reminder to the rest of us that two languages can be learned to equal levels of communicative proficiency without sacrificing one for the other or having problems with pronunciation given that the two languages are quite disparate. Fijian is Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) and English is Germanic!
Holographic teachers?
November 15, 2009 – 8:09 pm
The next step from real-time communication online has got to be materialising in someone’s lounge and being able to teach, talk and walk as though you were really there with the student. So as long as your virtual holographic teacher can’t see you in your pyjamas, lounging around on the sofa eating chips while you are taking a class, then it’s all good!
Inspired by young adults in our high schools
November 12, 2009 – 2:59 am
It’s senior high school prize-giving week and it’s incredibly inspiring to see so many young adults looking forward to their futures with such optimism and choosing a wide range of career options that are all equally valued by the school staff.
While Dux is still a prestigious award, the schools I have seen also ensure that sporting, cultural and work based achievements are equally highlighted through awards and monetary scholarships. One of the Head students said in her speech to the graduates – “you are the source of your own success in your journey, no one can stop you from reaching your dreams but yourself, so you are the person who creates your own story”. You could feel a ripple of emotion rip through the crowd – it was quite moving as despite the challenges she had faced, she managed to overcome them all and achieve all she had set out to do.
This message is a lifelong one…what story are you wanting to create?
‘INVICTUS’ TRAILER in HD Mandela and Rugby
November 5, 2009 – 8:10 pm
The trailer looks good in terms of capturing the spirit of a nation that rose from apartheid to a united force supporting their national rugby team to victory. What a way to bring people together!
http://appleplectic.blogspo…Two words: OSCAR BOUND.”From director Clint Eastwood, ‘Invictus’ tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the capta…
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All Blacks Win Rugby in Tokyo
October 31, 2009 – 11:50 pm
Good on the All Blacks for winning against Australia in Japan. The game definitely brought back memories of Japan and the fabulous 6 years I spent there. In Japan, rice fields are common but grassed fields are not – in fact most playing fields are made of clay. It’s not a good idea to be tackling players on that kind of surface as some of my NZ playing rugby mates found out! A friend of mine from New Zealand was playing for Mazda (Hiroshima) in Japan so we went along to watch and that was when I saw my first grass field – imported from New Zealand! It made me homesick and I gleefully rolled around in it at the end of the game. Honestly, we don’t know how lucky we are in NZ.
The second memory was teaching conversational English to the Japanese Rugby captain (Hirao-San) through a Language School I worked for. He wanted to learn how to speak naturally in social situations like after the game functions and what things you could say to fellow English speaking rugby players and their supporters. We had fun role playing different situations from talking about a game to making friends as the English he had learned was not really appropriate and in some cases considered offensive. For example I told him that you couldn’t just go up to a woman and ask her how old she was without expecting some kind of adverse reaction!
Rugby English is a whole language of it’s own as it’s quite informal and loaded with words and idioms that make no literal sense! Commentators, supporters and players have their own familiar sayings – “Give it heaps”, “waste em”, “full credit”, “scrum”, “tackle”, “line-out”, “try!”. The best way to learn this type of language is to go to English speaking matches and listen to people talking or watch English speaking sports games on TV or computer. You will pick up common sayings that you can shout out with the rest of the crowd and also learn words and sayings that are particular to the sport. As for socialising with English speaking fans…that’s a different language all on it’s own!
Why practice English with a Native Speaker?
October 28, 2009 – 9:38 pm
Learning English in a classroom and using spoken English in a real conversation is quite different. It can therefore be difficult to understand native speakers or make yourself easily understood. Why is this?
Native speakers of English generally speak quickly. They tend to shorten words, run words together, use incorrect grammar patterns, speak informally, and say things out of sequence. They do not speak like your classroom teacher or the text books and audios that you may have studied as these materials are all designed for classroom use. It can therefore be quite difficult when you try and use your English in a real situation. Don’t give up!
What can you do?
Listen to or watch short news items, videos, blogs, conversations, movies and songs that use natural, spoken English. This will help your listening ability especially if you do this every day. Practice speaking like the native speakers that you hear or see. Converse with native speakers whenever you can and on a daily basis if possible. Ten minutes every day speaking on a range of topics will be more productive than 30 minutes once a month!
Good to take a break from study and work
October 23, 2009 – 10:08 pm
It’s a long weekend and I’ve decided to actually take a weekend off and take some time to see family and friends. There are a number of things I want to finish but I think taking some leisure time is important as it not only refreshes mind, body and spirit but also reminds me of what is really important!
I also know that time away, no matter how short can make study and work become much easier as you tend to be more focused and motivated to complete things. If you need a fresh perspective on what you are doing – take some time out. It works wonders.
Make a difference in your teaching
October 22, 2009 – 8:01 am
This is an inspirational movie for all teachers. I hope you enjoy it and think about the effect you have on students and the effect they have on you. I call it the spiral effect – as a teacher you can have an effect on students, their friends, family and people in their lives as much as they can do the same for you but you don’t always see the result in the future. This movie reminds us of the difference we can make to each others lives if we see beyond the page and into the life of the student.
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Great English Language Learning Experiences
October 19, 2009 – 3:54 am
I am always learning new things and I just discovered a great way to immerse myself in new material that I’m learning. It’s through a cruise on an ocean liner! The conference is held by a gifted woman who offers information in workshops held on a luxury cruise liner. It’s an awesome way to meet other like minded people, immerse yourself on a daily basis and also have an amazing experience as you stop at interesting destinations along the way.
To make things even better, you don’t have to worry about cooking, cleaning or the daily necessities of life as this is all catered for. What a wonderful way to learn and I can’t wait until we leave. I think this is a great way to learn a language and I am keen to begin language cruises in the future based on the same idea. Put language learners and language coaches on the same ship and plan a range of interactive and exciting activities using the target language. Make real friends and have real experiences that will last a lifetime. What do you think?
Why Learn A Language
October 13, 2009 – 3:21 am
I learned French at High School because I was dancing at the time and dreamed of being a ballet dancer. But also, you were considered “brainy” if you learned French and usually ended up in the top class with all the best teachers. We were lucky to have a native french teacher, Mademoiselle Favier who really got us interested in how to speak as it was quite boring learning from a textbook. She was very stylish and always spoke French to us – we just loved her as our teacher!
I then learned German at University because my sister did it at school and got good results and there was a German student called Hans in the student halls who I practiced everyday with. It was good fun as he taught me some really complex sentence patterns that made my lecturer fall off his seat from amazement!
I then learned Japanese before I went to Japan at night school but I thought the teaching was not very good and I didn’t seem to learn much. I really learned Japanese when I went to the country and HAD to use it to live! I was really motivated then and also paid for private lessons with a university student to accelerate my language.
When I returned 6 years later, I learned Maori at a University in Wellington because I needed it for my job.
So why learn a language? There are many reasons but for me, I had to be able to use it in a practical way or I really couldn’t see the sense of spending all that time studying it. What’s your reason?
