The renowned Mexican author Carlos Fuentes once remarked that America’s monolingualism is a great paradox: We’re the dominant world power, yet also the world’s most linguistically isolated one. The numbers appear to bear this out. Roughly 17% of U.S. citizens can speak more than one language, compared with 54% of Europeans. Stanford Professor Russell A.…
Category Archive for: Language learning
Teaching English as a second language (ESL) abroad is no longer a linear endeavor for travel or a gap year; it is now a legitimate career option. Whether a young college graduate or a recently retired adult, earning a TESOL certificate (Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages) now provides a pathway to finding lucrative…
Which is more important: to communicate in a second language or to test well? Often in language education, skirmishes break out among parents, teachers — and even the students themselves — over this thorny question. Of course, being able to do both is the ideal, but how can we as learners and teachers ensure we…
I’ve written extensively about the ways good grammar and command of the English language can make or break a business (or a career). But what about your ability to speak another language, in addition to English? Is it mandatory? More importantly, is it worth the investment, in terms of your company’s additional potential for revenue…
When you mention the concept of teaching overseas most people assume the only option open to anyone is Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). However, for fully qualified and experienced teachers, there are many other opportunities too; 320,000 in fact! That’s the number of jobs that are currently filled by teachers at international schools…
Two new studies appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveal what appear to be innate language preferences. In one study, Jacques Mehler of the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Trieste, Italy and his colleagues discovered that newborns distinguish syllables commonly found in different languages from rare syllables. A study by Jennifer…
Thanks to the adoption of Common Core, the push for more tech-centered classrooms is now getting a boost. Many states are already using Common Core curriculum. Now many districts are preparing to begin the related computer-based assessments—and for that they are buying new devices and increasing their online connectivity. Pilar Carmina Gonzalez is a researcher…
An English language test developed at The University of Queensland is now available as an easy-to-use gaming app. Brisbane-based International Education Services Ltd has developed the Wirdgame app, which uses an animal-themed gaming format to test English vocabulary and word recognition skills. Wirdgame is an adaptation of the LanguageMAP (LMAP) vocabulary test developed by Dr Michael Harrington from UQ’s School…
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