Tuesday 31 May 2011

Audio Books for Language Learning

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Audio Books are a great learning tool for languages. You get to hear and read at the same time, as well as gaining a lot of exposure to the language you’re learning. They also make extensive reading much easier.

In language learning, extensive reading offers the learner an adventure into the language but is, in my opinion, overlooked.




There are two types of reading; intensive and extensive.

• Intensive reading is reading for detail and this usually means aiming for 100% understanding. In language learning this usually requires a bilingual dictionary, with every unknown word being looked up for its meaning.
• Extensive reading is reading for the general meaning or overall meaning of the text. In language learning this means reading as much as possible and not worrying about the details. You read and you don’t stop if you don’t know the meaning of a word or even a paragraph. The dictionary is used little or not at all.

In teaching languages the emphasis seems to be on intensive reading but extensive reading is just as helpful (if not more helpful to the learner).

I read Doviende’s experience of using extensive reading to learn German. At first, he used intensive reading to read a novel but gave up because he felt it was too difficult. Nine years later, after reading advice from Steve Kaufmann and AJATT, Doviende picked up the novel again and just read. He didn’t use a dictionary, he just kept his eyes moving over the words. He found that he could follow the story, which he wasn’t able to get with intensive reading.

Doviende found that he was able to work out the meaning of words that occurred often and even though he wasn’t sure why, the more he extensively read, the more he could understand of the story.

He also recommended audio books as a great way to read extensively.

My experience

I joined the Dutch Library and got the audio CDs and book of Roald Dahl’s ‘Danny the World Champion’.

I was also very surprised at how much I could follow the story. The story revealed itself to me and even some of the details come out. It was a very enjoyable experience to listening to a book in a foreign language.

Great things about Audio books

• They force you to go along with the story.
• You quickly get a sense of what words come up often.
• Words that you don’t know but come up often can be guessed at. The guessing gets easier the more you see the word.
• You can hear the words, so you don’t have to try and pronounce them (or mispronounce them).
• On a second listening to a chapter, you usually understand more. This is very rewarding.


LingQ offers a lot of audio and text material. They have also got sections of ‘novels’ that are audio, though I don’t know to what extent. They offer this material in about 10 different languages.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Easy Dutch - YouTube video links

This is for Dutch Learners

Why watch ‘how to’ videos?

• These videos are relatively easy to understand from just watching.
• It’s real Dutch! This is for Dutch speakers and it’s how they speak.
• There are ‘how to’ videos for most subjects. Pick something you like and you know well and this will make the ‘videos’ even easier.
• ‘How to’ videos can be quite active. If you follow the actions, you’ll learn better.
• Helps you get more use to Dutch

Don’t worry

• You don’t need to know every word.
• The more you watch Dutch TV, especially kids TV, ‘how to’ and stuff that you are interested in, the easier Dutch is to understand.

When choosing ‘how to’ to watch. Choose ones that you enjoy! If you don’t like ‘how to do a sport’ type of videos, DON’T WATCH Them.

The list here is to get you started and hopefully to show you the variety of ‘comprehensible’ videos that are already out there.



Koopmansbak

This is one of 19 two to three minute long films on how to cook something. The films are very similar, which is great as you get a lot of repetition.




De Telegraf

They have over 800 videos. This one is from the Vrouw series. The ones I’ve seen from the Vrouw series seem to be useful for learners of Dutch. This series is lifestyle focused and many of the videos are in the ‘How to’ genre.




SOS Piet

SOS Piet is a cook that visit the homes of people who have problems cooking a dish. I find him entertaining. There are several videos on YouTube.

Other links

http://youtu.be/_FFFYpIKZ1E – Making trophies from ‘waste’ around the house. A Dutch ‘Blue Peter’.

http://youtu.be/oNRDRfU021M - How to exercise – this is part of a series of 164 videos related to fitness and health. With exercise videos, it’s useful to do the exercise with the instructor, as this will help internalise the language.

http://youtu.be/pSaqFjRWrM0 - How to exercise – this is part of a series of 35 videos related to fitness and health.

http://youtu.be/I89WZfwCVb8 - How to make different latte tops – one of 13 videos.

http://youtu.be/tviRbwQRw20 - How to make a cup of tea – one of 4 (others are how to; smoke a cigar and a waterpipe)

http://youtu.be/4XQ-Nlb0Vj4 - How to make a Christmas Decorate – there are others in the series.

Friday 13 May 2011

Videos to watch to help you with English

This is for English Learners

Why watch ‘how to’ videos?

• These videos are relatively easy to understand from just watching.
• It’s real English! This is for English speakers and it’s how they speak.
• There are ‘how to’ videos for most subjects. Pick something you like and you know well and this will make the ‘videos’ even easier.
• ‘How to’ videos can be quite active. If you follow the actions, you’ll learn better.
• Helps you get more use to English

Don’t worry

• You don’t need to know every word.
• You more you watch English TV, especially kids TV, ‘how to’ and stuff that you are interested in, the easier the English is to understand.

When choosing ‘how to’ to watch. Choose ones that you enjoy! If you don’t like ‘how to do a sport’ type of video, DON’T WATCH IT.


Here are some examples





Diethealth is a Youtube channel aimed at women who want to get thinner and improve their health. The videos I’ve seen are American English. Some are good, like the ones above where the language is everyday stuff, there are a few videos that have more ‘technical English’.



This is a video from expertvillage. They have an incredible 138,597 videos online. I guess that they cover all sorts of topics. They also have many videos related to health and diet.



This is from Howcast. They have lots of videos too. The language is fun, easy to follow and it’s something that most adults are familiar with.

Monday 9 May 2011

Get More Out of Foreign (English) Language TV

Watch TV and learn a foreign language! Sounds good, sounds too good to be true and at the moment it is for most people.

The trouble with most TV is that it’s too difficult to understand so people stop watching. One thing that has worked for me is watching a lot of kids TV in Dutch. I’ve certainly learned a lot of language this way and I’m much more comfortable with Dutch now. The great thing about kids TV is that it’s easy to follow. Unfortunately, many adults don’t like kids TV. Another alternative is to lookup ‘How to’ videos on Youtube.

‘How to’ are good because the subject is restricted, they're usually laid out in steps and there’s some repetition in the language used.

Here is a video for English learners.

‘How to make the perfect cup of tea’

It’s American English and aimed at women who are on a diet. So the language is step by step, on the subject of tea and it’s about health.





1st listening

• How many people do you see in the film?
• What are the two main types of tea?

2nd listening

• What’s the name of the woman who makes the tea?
• First step – do you have to use cold aerated water?
• Which tea (black or green) do you use a kettle to boil the water?
• Do you need to wring out a tea bag?

If you’re really good try these questions – take as many listenings as you like.

• 0:00- 0:15 – woman has started to drink tea this winter. What three reasons does she give?
• What would the ‘tea police’ check, if they came to your house?
• Do green and black tea come from the same bush?
• Can you re-use water in a kettle?
• When the kettle whistles, you need to get to the kettle quickly. Why?
• How is the tea bag protected?
• 3:45 – 3:55 – Why does the woman put a saucer (plate) over the tea cup? 3 reasons.
• How long do you steep: Green Tea
o Black Tea
• What can you use to boil green tea?
• Why don’t you wring out a tea bag?