Language Learning – Beyond the Text Book

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English (insert Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and of course, the world’s no. one language Dutch) is not a text book!!!
I’ve heard many times ‘English is boring, English is difficult’, usually from little kids but also from adults too. But what they call ‘English’ isn’t English at all. The English they are talking about is the over analysed ‘English’ that they are taught in schools. Where a simple sentence is made into a complicated beast thanks to too much grammar explanation and not enough actual use of English.

So let’s get this straight. English is not boring. English is WONDERFUL (any language is). And in so many amazing ways.

Movies. Hollywood, British. God dam it, even Australia has produced many fine movies. If you’re bored with your textbook, why not watch a movie in English.

TV series – English TV made easier. Yabla English TV, TV with subtitles in some languages.

Games – set the mode to English and get the language drummed into you whilst you fight ghosts, conquer the world and become beautiful.

Audio Books

Comics - A crazy one and a visual list of English comics

Youtube - Look and learn English Videos.


Music

If you’re getting bored of English (or whatever language you are study) it time to look at your material. Are you just using a text book? Text books are noted for their boringness, if you’re bored of them get some real English. English that you enjoy.

It’s not a sin!

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.

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?

Dutch Language Resources.

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For me, finding language resources is one of the most frustrating things in language learning as I feel a lot of the time I’m just wasting my time.

For example, I like to listen to the language a lot but often I go to websites and there’s no listening or very little.

So here’s a list Dutch resources I’ve been using or come across. I have a preference for Dutch only material and most of the material is TV or visual.

Taalklas TV show episode 1-12

Taalklas is a TV programme for immigrants learning Dutch. Here they have the full length programme, which are about 20 mins long. They consist of an opening sketch, vocab section, a singing sketch and some grammar. Each programme is based on a theme, i.e. the house. The programme is Dutch only.

Taalklas website

Taalklas also have their own website. You need to ‘registreren’, which is simple. You write your name and they’ll give you a pass number. This website compliments the TV show by also having exercises relating to each show. There are also 12 additional programmes and sketches on the site.

Links on 2BDutch website

More links. On this page I’ve used the following;

Woordwijzen – a five minute TV programme that introduces 5-6 new words each episode. Dutch only programme for learners.

Doe Maar Gewoon – 10-15 minutes long. This programme is about dos and don’ts in Dutch life. There are two sketches, the first shows an immigrant person/couple not following Dutch customs and the second shows them doing it right. Dutch only.

Lyrics training

But there’s only 4 Dutch songs here.

Netherlands TV

Links to some Dutch TV.

Learn Dutch with translation

I haven’t used this as it contains translations that are hard to avoid. Maybe useful for beginners.

Dutch TV with subtitles

Dutch TV with subtitles in Dutch and a choice of five different languages. Dutch TV themes include, children, political, history, comedy and music programmes. I found these useful as a lot of the videos have a Dutch focus.

Dutch Soap

If you’re into soaps, then this show might be good for you. They seem to upload the full show onto Youtube.

This is not an exhaustive list. There must be lots of quality Dutch material out there. You just have to have the patience and look.

I hope this list gets you started. A lot of the links are from the 2BDutch website. I’m sure that Youtube has a lot of potential too.



If you know any cool Dutch resources, please let me know in the comments.

Doo-i

Learn English from Popular TV shows

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This blog is for intermediate and Advance learners of English

The internet has some amazing resources for English learners. I recently found out that a lot of TV shows have their transcripts up on the web. Shows such as Spongebob, Two and a Half Men, Sex and the City, Chuck and a whole load more.

Why use transcripts? Because this is how people speak! People don’t speak the English used in English text books. These TV shows are a much better example and they’re entertaining too. Also, by using transcripts you can first read and then listen, and this will give you more of a chance to understand.

I’ve also added a link from LukasEnglishPodcast. In a six minutes video, he talks about ‘subtitles’ in videos. He believes that it’s better to just listen to a video and not read ‘subtitles’ (or a transcript) at the same time. Watch his video for how to use listening and reading materials. Link at the bottom.


SpongeBob is fun. It’s written for adults as well as kids. So join in the fun! At Wikia, they have transcripts of many episodes of SpongeBob.

Sex and the City transcripts.

Two and a Half Men transcripts

Here's a list of transcripts for other TV shows from Twiztv

Lucas Video on using 'subtitle' and transcript for listening practice


In the future, I will create an English exercise using transcripts and ‘Youtube’
Thanks you for reading and I hope you enjoyed today’s blogs.

Listen and your English will be great!

Fun Resources for English Learners

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Bored of text books, grammar and the classroom? And yet still want to learn English?

Don't worry! Instead of studying, you can learn better by using games and fun websites.

Lyrics Training

Lyrics Training is fantastic for people who love music! And who doesn't love music!
Also, it'll introduce you to a lot of songs in another language. Most songs are in English but there are six other languages too, including Spanish, Italian and also Germany, which is good for me.

How it works (very easy to use)

• You choose the song you want to play.
• Game option – beginner, intermediate or expert.
• Play and write in the missing word.
• To repeat, use backspace.

Go on, give it a go! It's very addictive! (you'll play again and again)

Ello (Home Page)

This site has lots and lots of English listening material. There are different activities to do and games too. Give it a go! Listening a lot is very important to being about to speak better.

Listening Games

English Yabla

Watch TV and play games. This is not what your English teacher told you but this is excellent. I've used the German version and it's fun (only the free part).

• There are different levels; one star - very easy, five stars – difficult
• Some of the easy videos you can understand by watching and guessing
• There are captions in English and your languages (only for German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish at the moment)
• You can play listening games to help your listening and writing.


Go on, have fun with learning English or whatever language you want. You'll get better results learning this way then by using materials that don't interest you.