Towards A Healthy Economy + Marketing World

Grammar. The very mention of the word strikes fear into the heart of the staunchest language learner. Many English EFL and ESL teachers also feel the pit of their stomach churn at the thought of preparing and giving a grammar lesson. But what are we to do? If lexis and vocabulary are the building blocks of language, then certainly grammar is the mortar or structure that holds them together. Teaching it and learning it are therefore inescapable. The only thing to do then is to make it as interesting, pleasant or at least as painless as possible. Here are some ideas to help you do just that.

1. Use Grammar Games

Both learners and teachers alike love to use games in the English EFL ESL classroom. So, make extensive use of games to teach and reinforce critical grammar points. What, you say you don’t know any grammar games? Or perhaps you’ll quip that you don’t have a good stock of them so you can’t count on regularly employing them for use in your classes? Au contraire! They abound on English teacher websites, commercial publications and in the minds and hearts of your colleagues worldwide. If you have a good game to share, post it on an ELT forum or TEFL materials / activities website. Create your own based on popular games you’re familiar with. Use pursuit and turn-taking games, card games, board games or TPR-based games to get maximum involvement of your learners. Actually, you should get in there too. Don’t be a lazy butt.

2. Use movie and video clips

“Go ahead, make my day.” Now who was it exactly that first said that? Yes, yes I’m sure you know. Now change it to other verb tenses. Change it to a question. Change it into different question forms. Make it imperative. You get the idea.

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” If you don’t know the initial speaker of that line, three slaps with a wet noodle for you. What verb tense is there? Now change it into different forms.

Watch a three to seven minute clip from a movie scene or video. Write down what grammar forms you hear. Then have the class do it. Does everyone agree? No? What are the different forms they come up with? What’s correct? Go back, watch the clip again and check. Do it until you’re satisfied.

3. Use Audio-only Segments

Now it’s getting tougher. Listen to an audio clip. A commercial, story, dialogue or news segment. From where? The radio, cassettes, TV, CDs / DVDs, etc. Note the grammar points used. Can you change any of them? How? Why? What does the change do to the meaning? Does it become formal or informal? Imperative? Humorous? Don’t forget to have the learners practice and deliver these short dialogues aloud. (Everybody wants to be Dirty Harry or the Godfather) My learners like scenes from “Matrix” and “Frantic” with Harrison Ford. James Bond film scenes rate highly with my learners too. The ladies like to be Julia Roberts or Demi Moore from almost any of their flics. Angela Bassett and Sigourney Weaver frequently portray “strong women” with good dialogue strings and soliloquies which give the female learners character choices. It works for me and it definitely works for them.

Try it out for yourself. You’ll see. Just remember to pick an interesting clip that’s not too long. It must have snappy dialogue either between two characters or a quippy comeback on the part of one of them. You could even have the learners suggest some clips, programs and / or scenes to use.

So Bunky, don’t let the term “grammar” strike fear into the hearts of your learners (or you) ever again. Work up some grammar - teaching activities using these techniques and grammar could become your - and their - favorite lesson type. If you have questions, would like additional suggestions or guidance, please feel free to contact me at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

The IELTS Reading tasks tests only one thing: the candidate’s ability to answer questions correctly on the basis of the reading. None of the other reasons people regularly read - to acquire and retain information, say, or for entertainment - come into play. If you learn something from the IELTS Reading test and remember it, good for you. If you enjoy the readings, better yet. But stay focused on the questions.

During the one-hour task, there are three readings, of gradually increasing difficulty, with a total of approximately 40 questions, or about 13 per reading. (The number varies from exam to exam.) Having time read both the questions and the readings, and then to arrive at the correct answers, requires fast reading - but not “speed reading” in the ordinary sense of the word.

The reading and reading-related skills tested include:

- Following instructions. Any of ten or so question types may be used in the Reading task, and it is essential that the candidate understand the question type, the particular way it is to be answered (e.g., multiple possible answers or a single correct answers), and the most precise, direct answer to the question as asked.
- Identifying the main ideas. Not only is it not necessary to understand everything in a particular reading, it is unwise to try to. If there is no question pertaining to a particular word, sentence or passage, it doesn’t matter if you understand it. But it is important to grasp the main ideas of all reading passages. Some questions are based on these main ideas, and knowing what - and where - they are in the text is often critical to the accurate and quick answering of questions.
- Seeing how principal ideas in a reading passage are connected. Various questions types, most conspicuously matching, require seeing the connection between main ideas. However, virtually all of the question types may produce questions that require the candidate to see the relationship between ideas or the way individual ideas must be connected to arrive at a correct answer.
- Testing the truthfulness of statements in the questions against “word strings” found in a reading text. Often, IELTS Reading task questions, particular true-and-false and fact-or-opinion, are comprised of sequences of words found in exactly the same form in the readings. However, phrases or clauses prior to those word strings (e.g., “some scientists think that…” or qualifiers following them (e.g., “but”, “unless”, “except for”) may turn what appears to be a fact into an opinion or a what appears to be a true statement into a false one.
- Grasping ideas underlying the main arguments. Some questions require the reader to see the writer’s motivation in writing or organizing the passage as it finally appears. These underlying concepts sometimes emerge only with careful reading or by looking for evidence of them when the candidates know there are questions about them.
- Understanding the writer’s point of view. This is perhaps the most difficult of the reading skills. It requires that the candidate understand more than just the words but the perceptions and attitudes behind them. Most readings have a “point” that is not stated directly. Sometimes these motivations can only be discovered by a look at the kinds of words writers choose to address their subjects, particularly judgment words. Candidates may also need to find the author’s feelings, if any about the topic - e.g., advocacy, affection, concern, alarm, and even neutrality. These techniques together are what English speakers refer to as “reading between the lines.”

The Reading task is the one most candidates find the easiest. However, the rigorousness of the questions, more than the difficulty of the readings, may make the task more difficult than it appears.

Svend Nelson is a university lecturer and Internet entrepreneur. He is director of UniRoute Limited, a Hong Kong based company with offices in Bangkok and London providing IELTS preparation and a free online application service to study abroad in UK including courses like tourism management. Svend lived and worked in various countries across Latin America, Europe and Asia and currently lives in Thailand.

THE WRONG APPROACH

Did you know that the teaching methodology accounts for over 90% of the students’ success or failure in learning a second language effectively?

In other words, it’s not your fault if you have not been able to achieve your goals so far. Most likely, the kind of work you’ve been doing may be the one to blame.

Most language courses revolve around grammar and vocabulary drills which result in nothing but frustration and the feeling that “you are not cut out to learn Spanish.”

Those courses focus so much on students’ errors, that they cause you to lose confidence and drastically reduce your oral fluency in the language by “punishing” you any time you use the language.

It is common in these settings to find students mentally struggling with patterns and structures before making any single utterance, for fear of being corrected, told they are wrong or even ridiculed.

This sad but nevertheless real situation produces two main results:

a) many students cannot put up with the mental stress and frustration and drop out their Spanish courses with the feeling they are not up to the challenge of acquiring Spanish as “this is a very hard language to learn.”

b) Other students keep working hard even for years, but still cannot progress beyond a certain level and start to feel stuck. Many start to question whether they are to blame for their lack of improvement.

Have you ever found yourself in one of the two situations described above? If you have, the good news is:
You are NOT to blame! And… you are far from alone!

Over 90% of students of second languages, not just Spanish, feel exactly the same way.

Why is this so?

Simply because the MAIN teaching methodologies currently used worldwide, even on the Internet, are WAY OUTDATED!

They simply reproduce teaching models that were in vogue over 100 years ago but in a digital format.

Does this sound difficult to believe? Read on.

Almost EVERY single course available on the market today is rooted in the GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD of second language acquisition.

This method started to be used in the 1890’s and it consisted mainly of explanations of grammatical rules, some sample sentences, and lots of exercise drills to practice the new structures. Does this sound familiar?

This system was mostly used to learn to translate Classical Greek or Latin into other languages and it offered little opportunity for real second-language acquisition or should we say “offers”?

It may be acceptable to learn dead tongues but it will be of no use to you if you want to learn to communicate in Spanish effectively.

This clearly shows you why no matter how hard you may have tried, you have been unable to learn Spanish. It is NOT your fault. It is the methodology used; it is the course providers’ fault! Not Yours!

Who can put the blame on you if so far you have been prepared for a reality that does not exist outside the classroom?

After all, as we have seen in our previous mini-articles, children acquire their native language easily and effectively, without boring and repetitive grammar and vocabulary drills, without sentences or structures in isolation, so why should you do that to learn a second language? However, language courses force you to do that time and again.

Worst of all, the language that is shown to you has been simplified to such an extent that if you showed the study materials to a native speaker s/he won’t be able to help sniggering.

Students are presented with unreal and unnaturally simplified samples of Spanish that no one ever uses. In real life, that is NOT how language acquisition occurs!!!

You are NOT to blame!!! How come you be expected to communicate effectively if you’ve never been given a single chance to communicate or to be exposed to REAL language, just as it is spoken worldwide.

Imagine a pilot-to-be whose only experience in flights has been in flight simulators. Would he be nominated for flying an airline’s top commercial airplane? Would YOU like to be on that flight? Would you like your family and beloved ones to be there with you? I definitely wouldn’t.

Just because a person practices and practices and practices in an unreal or controlled situation does not mean that s/he will be able to succeed in a real-life situation. Now see this analogy in language courses.

Language students are obliged to repeat words, phrases and sentences in a parrot-like fashion, they are forced to do grammar exercises, repetition drills just to “hammer the structures into their heads” and they are never ever given a real chance to interact even with another person in a real setting. Would you expect them to use language effectively if real communicative needs arise? Of course not! Most likely they will dry up and be unable to say a word! But it is NOT their fault! They are just the expected result of a bad product.

Having identified the problem, the solution is just one step ahead. But that will be the main topic of our new article on Second Language Learning.

Julio Foppoli is a teacher of English as a Second Language and a teacher of Spanish as a Second Language. He is the creator and owner of http://www.esaudio.net/Spanish/online_classes.html, an online educational website with a technological edge, specialized in the teaching of Spanish as second language via audio-conference to native speakers of English from all over the world.

The website offers free listening comprehension activities with Spanish from all of the Spanish speaking world.

Are you interested in learning the Italian language right in your own hometown? There are several options that you can explore to find the Italian classes that are just perfect for you! First, you should consider whether you would you enjoy the interaction that takes place among students in group classes, or if you would prefer the one-on-one attention of a private instructor.

1. Group classes at community colleges: One way to learn Italian in your hometown is to find a community college that offers Italian classes in your area. The internet can be an invaluable resource and with a few clicks of the mouse you can identify exactly where there are Italian language courses available. For example, if you live in the U.S. you can go to www.community-college.org, where you will find a complete directory of all of the community colleges throughout the country. Many of them offer evening or even online classes! Simply pick the college or colleges that can be found near you and check out their curriculum.

2. Group classes at a private school or institution: Another approach would be to find an independent language school where you can take group lessons. Do you have a Berlitz near you? How about an Inlingua Center? A great way to find the best schools in your area is to talk with people in the Italian community where you live! Many Italian communities even have websites that link to valuable resources. For example, you can find out about the Italian community in Washington, DC at www.italcultusa.org, in New York at www.italcultny.org, in Chicago at www.iicch.org, in Los Angeles at www.iicusa.org or in San Francisco at www.sfiic.org. You can find an Italian community near you simply by going to www.google.com and typing in “Italian community in (Your Hometown).”

3. Private lessons: Not convinced that college classes or group lessons are for you? While group classes are more interactive and dynamic, you get less of the teacher’s attention. So, how about taking private classes? There are many ways to find a good instructor. For example, you could post a free “in search of Italian instructor” ad at Craigslist - www.craigslist.org - if you live in an area that the site serves. Or, you could place an ad for free in a local newspaper or journal.

Italians take great pride in teaching their native language to non-native speakers, so simply by reaching out and asking questions, you are sure to find plenty of good advice and helpful people. Buon divertimento!

Mindy Prian is the Site Administrator of http://www.impariamo.com, a warm, welcoming community of people from all over the world who interact with one another to improve their Italian language skills.

Many people with France travel on their agenda would like to brush up on their French language skills before their trip. Make no mistake, learning a foreign language is very difficult. However, if you studied the French language in high school or college you might be able to put some of that long-ago effort to good use. Being able to communicate, even with only a few words at your disposal, can make a trip much more fun, and it will perhaps help you figure out where you made that wrong turn before becoming lost!

Here are two ways to brush up your French language skills:

1. For a number of months I’ve subscribed to a great little free service called French Word A Day. This is a daily email from Kristin Espinasse, an American originally from Phoenix who married a Frenchman and now lives with her family in Provence. Although the implication is that you’ll receive one word per day, Kristin provides a good bit more. The theme for each email is in fact one word, but there are also variations on the word, phrases using the word and variations, and a daily proverb which contains the word as well. A recent addition is an audio link to hear the word pronounced properly. Furthermore, Kristin writes an essay she calls “A Day in a French Life” and uses numerous other French words woven into her English text. She summarizes these words at the bottom of the article, which makes an easy reference for additional words. Thus there is an opportunity to learn or relearn a number of words each day. Each email has a link to her web site with a daily photo of France. In addition, on the web site are listed the last ten words and their accompanying phrases, proverbs, etc. as described above, so one can look over quite a few words right away, even if your trip is coming up soon.

This is certainly an excellent review process for French vocabulary. Oftentimes I’ll see a word or phrase I recognize but can’t quite pin down the translation exactly. For example, a recent word was “le lendemain” (the next day). Included was a phrase I’ve heard before numerous times, “du jour au lendemain”. I always thought this meant “from one day to the next”, which is
a literal translation. However, it really means “suddenly”, sort of like jumping from one day into the next. It’s helpful to pick up nuances like that, and I’m sure I’ll remember this the next time I hear it in a French conversation. In order to help retention, it is useful to print out the daily entry and keep a file to review from time to time. It’s only by seeing words numerous times that they can become part of your vocabulary. By the way, Kristin has compiled her essays into 3 books which she sells on line, and those proceeds help defray the costs of Word a Day so that it remains a free service. Of course buying the books gives you access to many words at once, so that is another excellent option for improving or reviewing your French
vocabulary. To subscribe or purchase books, you can follow the link above.

2. For those with a little more time and motivation another excellent tool is a French language course on CD called a l’ecoute de la langue francaise which translates to “listening to the French language”. I’ve used this excellent product and have found it to be a great review of French vocabulary and grammar. There are 108 lessons broken up into beginner, intermediate, and advanced categories, and all this takes 12 hours total of listening time on the CD. At the end of each lesson there is a quick review test. There is both text and audio for each lesson, so I find the best method is to print out the lesson, look it over, and then listen to the audio, reading the text at the same time prior to taking the review test. The audio for the beginner lessons is in English, but both the Intermediate and Advanced are in French. There is a lot of material packed into these twelve hours, so I would recommend a pace of 2 or 3 lessons per week maximum, each week reviewing the previous week’s work. In this way there is some repetition and also some time between lessons for the material to sink in. The price for the program is 60 euros if ordered on line, and this includes shipping and a one year subscription to a monthly email newsletter that has interesting articles about French current events, culture, politics, etc., written in French. The web site offers numerous other services and products, such as audio books to listen to, as well as a service to exchange email or even voice recordings with a French professor who will critique the work and offer suggestions for improvement. The company is located in beautiful Lyon, France, and you can find all their products and services by following the link above in this paragraph.

Au revoir et bonne chance!

© Copyright 2005, All Rights Reserved.

Walt Ballenberger is founder of Beaux Voyages
which provides active tours in France. He has lived and worked in France and speaks the language fluently.

There are many aspects in IELTS that people find surprising, usually when it hits them hard. It is quite a paradox - the information is right there, available to everyone, yet people are still in the dark. Allow me to draw your attention to several facts you don’t want to be surprised about.

Usually extensive answer is considered a very good one, but not in IELTS. When instructions say “give one answer” or “answer in 3 words”, it means “give us two answers or 4 words and we’ll fail you”. The reason for this limit is quite simple and obvious - there is not enough room for more than 3 words on Answer Sheet. By the way, articles “a” and “the” count as one word, while common assumption is that they don’t.

People tend to forget that they are graded by Answer Sheet and not by what they wrote in IELTS booklet. Any correct answer not copied to Answer Sheet will result in exactly 0 points. There is an option of submitting appeal and requesting to read your answers from the booklet, but it takes time and costs money.

Not many people think about what they are going to write with, pen or pencil. Yet there are rules: the Listening and Reading answers are to be written in pencil and Writing - in pen. This is another example of how small details can be very significant in IELTS.

Writing and Speaking are graded differently from Listening and Reading. There is no half band grade, which means it is impossible to get 6.5 in either Writing or Speaking. The reason is the way examiners are currently trained, but hopefully it will change in the future (according to official IELTS site maybe even in 2007).

In Reading and Listening tests the spelling is important, meaning one can loose points for misspelled words. The best way to overcome the spelling problem is to copy words. In case of Reading, copying words from text is a very easy and natural thing to do. In Listening test, as simple as it may sound, it is best to write what you hear and not to rephrase. It is acceptable to skip words - after all there is 3 words limit, as long as the important words are not substituted by their synonyms.

And at last some good news: starting from May 2006 candidates don’t need to wait 90 days to retake the test. The 90-day waiting period has been canceled to the joy of those who have no time to waste.

Simone Braverman is the author of “ACE The IELTS” e-Book. She once had to take the IELTS test to open a door to a dream. Her curiosity pushed her quite a bit further into extensive research on differnt aspects of IELTS test. More information at www.IELTS-blog.com
View their website at: www.ielts-blog.com/

English is an international language. It has so many grammar rules and each rule with many exceptions. Usually, we write English without paying much attention to these rules and exceptions. But, its good to know as much as grammar as possible especially the exceptions. In this article, I am mentioning some of these unusual facts and rules of English language.

1. A word starting with letter ‘Q’ has ‘u’ as its second letter.

2. If abbreviation ends with same letter as the complete word itself then dot (.) is not placed. For example, we write Dr instead of Dr. for Doctor and Prof. for professor and not prof. But, people unknowingly write Dr. for Doctor.

3. Strange but common. Most of you know that following sentence contains all the alphabets of English language:

“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

4. Use word ‘Do’ to emphasize an action. For example, you can write ‘I do go there’ instead of ‘I go there’.

5. Try guessing a word with no vowels in it. Read this article from the beginning and you can find it. Yes, the word is ‘Try’. There are many more such words like ‘Fry’ and ‘My’. Usually, such words contain letter ‘y’ in them.

6. Relationship before a name is written with capital letter and if afterwards then with small letter. For example, “He is Uncle Sam” and “He is Sam, my uncle”.

7. Use of ‘a’ and ‘an’ article depends on phonetics of noun before which they are placed. So, ‘a’ is used before the word ‘user’ and ‘an’ is used before the word ‘honest’.

8. Use of article ‘The’ has many exceptions like ‘the’ is not used before names of the countries except the ‘Netherlands’ and the ‘US’.

For appropriate use of articles, capitalization rules and other English language rules, I recommend you to read articles available at:
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). You can also visit www.usingenglish.com for learning English grammar in a better way.

Syed Feroz Zainvi has obtained M.Tech. (Comp Sc & Engg) degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (INDIA). His areas of interests are distributed computing, computer graphics and Internet Technologies. Currently, he is involved in Software Project Planning, Development and Management. His other interests include writing for magazines and contributing utility softwares on Magazine’s CDs. He also have flair for teaching computer science with new teaching methodologies.

His web-page URL is http://www.zainvi.tophonors.com

Spanish for Kids, Spanish for Children, Teach Kids Spanish

Kids Can Learn Spanish! Spanish for Children

I just got a call from my two year old granddaughter. She wanted to sing “Los Pollitos” to me. You can find this children’s classic in most of the collections of songs that we are recommending.

It is perfect for hand gestures. These gestures are ideal for language learning because they imprint the sense of the words as the child recites.

The text is: (translation follows)

Los pollitos dicen po, po, po
cuando tienen hambre,
y cuando tienen fro.

(the kids make gesture of shivering)

La gallina busca el maz y el trigo;
Le da su comida,
Y le presta abrigo

(the kids make the gesture of Mom hugging her kids.)

Po, po, po

(the kids should ham it up, making a little chick face!)

Translation:

The little chicks say peep, peep, peep
when they are hungry
and when they are cold.

The chicken looks for corn and wheat;
she feeds them,
and she keeps them warmn

There are many reasons for wanting your children to learn Spanish. We want to help you find resources that will help you with Spanish for Kids.

Some parents are interested in preparing their children for life in today’s world where it is important to know more than one language. This is even more important in our hemisphere where it becomes increasingly valuable to know Spanish.

Other people think of the intellectual stimulation that learning a language provides. They think that they can give their children a an additional intellectual challenge in a painless way. Researcher in London, England have determined that learning a second language boosts brain power which remains throughout life.

Learning a language can be a source of pride and self esteem for the child who is fortunate enough to be exposed to learning outside of the classroom.

There are some parents who are concerned that their children grow up respecting the different heritages that surround them. Concerned that the nativist tradition of United States history is always present, many parents, not of a Spanish Speaking background, choose to prepare their children to accept and embrace the Hispanic culture they live alongside of.

Their reason to encourage their children to speak Spanish is based in part on the history of a previous group of Latin immigrants to the United States, the Italians.

“Some social critics were aware of the consequences of sudden assimilation. Mary McDowell, a social worker, wrote en 1904:

‘The contempt for the experiences and languages of their parents which foreign children sometimes exhibit… is doubtless due in part to the overestimation which the school places upon speaking English. This cutting into his family loyalty takes away one of the most conspicuous and valuable traits of the Italian child.’ She attributed the lawlessness of some of the immigrant children to their disrespect for their parents and therefore for all authority.”

(La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience, Mangione and Morreale, p. 222)

Reflection on this same national history, and often more importantly personal experience, moves many Hispanic parents to keep their language alive in their children. They want to preserve their heritage for their children by giving them its most evocative and powerful manifestation, the language of their forebears.

Whatever your reason for wanting your children to learn Spanish, this site will provide resources to help you. You will find suggestions and experiences of others who share your interest; you will find songs and stories in Spanish that will enthuse your children with their learning task. A list of links to related sites will lead you to other resources. And you will find that the books you need for yourself and your children have been located and placed at your disposition.

Buena Suerte y adelante con su cometido!

Do the Parents Know Spanish?

Although most of us agree that it is a good thing for our kids to speak Spanish, most kids in the US whose parents were born in Latin American countries do not speak Spanish well.

Even if both parents speak Spanish at home, quite often the kids answer their parents in English. Look around at your Latin friends and relatives and you will see that most give up on teaching their kids to speak

Spanish. Chicano and Puerto Rican families seem to have a little better luck than Latinos from other countries with keeping Spanish alive in their barrios but even their younger generation is losing fluency in Spanish.

However, parents who want their children to speak Spanish can go against the current and set the stage for their children to grow up speaking Spanish. It is not easy. Most families fail in their resolve but it CAN be done. Take a look at our bilingual study. How to Get Your Children to Speak Your Language/Cmo Lograr que Sus Hijos Hablen Su Idioma? You can find it in http://www.leerespoder.com/comoeng.htm. This report will give some hints on how to improve your chances.

But it is most important for you to get your kids reading Spanish BEFORE they learn to read in English.

Don’t be afraid that it will hurt their English. Unless they are living in a closed Spanish Speaking Barrio,

their English will be perfect. They will absorb it on the playground and in the school. Your job is to keep the Spanish up!

Take a look at the fuller argument presented below for the importance of your kids learning to read FIRST in Spanish.

Finally, another idea for native speakers of Spanish: You may want to review (or study it for the first time) your Spanish. I found one reference for you. Sorry it is expensive; that’s because it is used as a textbook. But that will make it easy to use and will surely be complete. Take a look at Nuevos Mundos, Spanish for Native Speakers 2nd Edition, Workbook : Curso de espanol para estudiantes bilingues”

Whether or not the parents know Spanish will determine their strategy for exposing their children to the language. Obviously, parents who do not know the language well will not have native pronunciation.

If their children learn to read Spanish, they may not have the proper pronunciation. This is a tough issue. Some might say that pronunciation is not important for children. However, why not try to expose them to the correct values of the Spanish sounds. Parents should work on their own pronunciation to model as correctly as possible for their kids.

Nevertheless, the value of the parents’ involvement in reading and singing in Spanish with their children more than outweighs the disadvantage of the child hearing their poor pronunciation. Much of the damage can be remedied by having the child listen to as much Spanish spoken by native speakers as possible.

So, in general terms parents can fall into one of three groups:
1. those who know NO Spanish;
2. those who know enough to read, even poorly;
3. and those who can model correct pronunciation for their children. All these parents should make sure their children HEAR a lot of good Spanish but obviously those parents who know no Spanish will be more dependent on recordings for their children to listen to. Try to find some good audio resources. Besides the tapes and CDs you might buy or take out of the library don’t forget the radio and TV. All parents should expose their children to ask much passive listening of Spanish that they can. In most places there are Spanish language radio stations. TV programs from the Univision network are very widespread.

All of the above boils down to three tactics that are valid for all kinds of parents and all kinds of kids of all ages and level of Spanish………

1. Passive Listening: Everyone should keep the Spanish radio on as much as possible. Keep the radio or TV on while the childis doing other things. It has to be the sea of sound that they swim in while they are beginning their study of Spanish. The child doesn’t have to concentrate on it; they will not be listening to try to understand. After a while they won’t even hear the radio but it will be affecting them. Little by little they will begin to anticipate the rhythm of the language, even before they understand they words. They will also begin to recognize certain words.

2. Pattern Response Drills: Those parents who know some Spanish can try to run through all the permutations of the new expressions that the child learns. For example, suppose your child just learned to say. “Pedro tiene cuatro aos” rather than translating from the English incorrectly, “Pedro es cuatro”. Now to make this new element of the language stick, you should go on substituting different ages and the names of different people. The child will soon be able to say comfortably, “Mara tiene cuatro aos.” “Juan tiene ocho aos.” “Yo tengo tres aos.” “Cuntos aos tienes t?” There are many examples of these drills in most language courses but the parent can generate them herself.

3. Encouragement: Don’t correct their Spanish when they speak. Don’t interrupt the flow of their conversation. Don’t make their speaking Spanish to be another homework assignment. It should be something special, even something “secret” in your family. Kids like the mystery and intrigue of having something special of their own. Their speaking Spanish should be a joyful, non-threatening experience. If they make mistakes in their grammar, correct their errors by using the same expression correctly a few minutes after. Don’t come right back at them with the correct form or they will begin to feel conscious of their expression and choke off their freedom of expression.

also………..

The Alphabet: If your child is coming up on kindergarten age,
you have a wonderful opportunity to teach him or her how to read in Spanish BEFORE they learn the alphabet in English! Why? I will be brief, hoping that you will catch the direction of my thought (and my practice, with both my children and my grandson!)

Spanish is completely regular. They can learn the vowels in one sitting.This is how Spanish Speaking kids learn: from “abecedarios”, the same as English Speaking children used to learn from primers. If your child learns to read (even if only simple words) Spanish first, in effect you are giving them a
great head start.

You can start the child reading the simple words like Mami, comida, mesa, Papi, mueca, carro, etc. Basically you are giving them phonics without having to buy any expensive program.
You can do them no harm because, they will have a basis of the sounds that DO hold up for English; they will have achieved the satisfaction and boost to their confidence by your enthusisastic affirmation of the achievement when they read “Mami y Papi” and other simple phrases.

As they progress in English they will still have to deal with the irregularities of this language. However, they will have learned the consonants by applying them to completely foolproof regular vowels.

I said I would be brief. I am very convinced of the value of this method. I have no scientific proof, just intuition and my own experience. To work, you have to teach the child to read the alphabet in Spanish BEFORE they begin to learn in English. If they are already learning in English, it will confuse them. But if you get there FIRST, you will do them a great favor! to see a bunch of alphabet resources for you to choose from.

Toys and Games: Of lesser importance but still a possible beakthrough for certain children could be the use of toys and games (board games and others) as a way to sneak in some fun and variety into the learning process. See if Spanish Educational Toys would be useful for your child.

Computer Programs for kids If you or your child is computer savvy or if you want to combine math or science with Spanish you may want to check out the Educational Software for Children in Spanish: Reader Rabbit, Disney, Jump Start and many more…

Some First Recitations

A long time, universal, traditional favorite is “Pinpn”

Pinpn es un mueco,
muy guapo y de cartn

(the kids smile for “muy guapo”,
and act stiff for “de cartn”)

se lava la carita
(the kids make the gesture of washing their face)

con agua y con jabn.

Pinpn dame la mano,
(the kids reach out their hand)

que quiero ser tu amigo
(the kids make the gesture of shaking hands)

Pinpn, Pinpn, Pinpn!

Translation:

Pinpn is a doll,
a handsome cardboard doll.
He washes his face
with soap and water.

Pinpn give me your hand,
I want to be your friend.
Pinpn, Pinpn, Pinpn!

Another favorite of our kids was “La Mar Estaba Serena”
Kids like this one because it is easy to follow. The repetition helps them learn the relation between noun and adjective as well as the vowels in Spanish.

The same verse is repeated by using all of the vowels in turn. It begins by the parent singing, “La mar estaba serena; serena estaba la mar”. (The sea was calm; calm was the sea.) Then either the parent or one of several children taking turns shouts out, “con A!”, meaning, “Let’s sing it with all “a” sounds”! And you sing, “La mar astaba sarana; sarana astaba la mar.”

“con e”! “Le mer estebe serene; serene estebe le mer”.

“con i”! “Li mir istibi sirini; sirini istibi li mir”.

“con o”! “Lo mor ostobo sorono; sorono ostobo lo mor”.

“con u”! “Lu mur ustubu surunu; surunu estubu lu mur.

You’ll find the kids really like this one.

English (sic!) As A Second Language

It might be interesting to do some “reverse engineering” and look at the world of those Spanish Speakers who want to learn English. Check out http:www.leerespoder.com

Reading in Spanish for the Parents

If you want to keep up your Spanish. Try to keep reading books in Spanish on a wide range of topics, la familia, la salud, los negocios, el nio, el adolescente, etc. A good source is http://www.bookslibros.com/LibrosEnEspanol.php

Good Luck! Your Kids will thank you!

Frank Gerace Ph.D has lived and worked in Latin America on Educational and Communication Projects. He currently teaches English in New York City at La Guardia College/CUNY. He invites parents interested in helping their kids learn Spanish to visit him at: www.bookslibros.com/SpanishForNinos.htm

An active life can make it hard to squeeze in everything you would like to enjoy reading. Extended journey times to the office and mundane activities may eat up huge amounts of your time without you seeing it. Favorite pastimes take a back seat to your job, getting the kids, or even taking care of the household and bills. You could use the hours spent doing chores to get up to date on those books you can’t find the time to read. With convenient downloads, it’s simple to relish Today Matters by John C. Maxwell for sale from Download Audio Book Online, or audiobooks narrated by Hal Lindsey and C. C. Carlson when you are busy doing other things. Multitasking is becoming a way-of-life in the modern world. Audible books such as Pimsleur Italian II & III Complete Courses by Dr. Paul Pimsleur available from Download Audio Book Online take advantage of the dead time in our lives, whether it is hours passed waiting in a physician’s office or perhaps buying groceries. Many audio-books are now available to download in mp3 format these include Hey, Good Looking by Fern Michaels, so utilize your mp3 player and use the opportunity to listen to a thriller or a great novel, for instance audible books written by James Siegel without carrying heavy books around.

Another advantage of audio titles is hiring or purchasing the title of your choice and enjoying it at your leisure. Need to study a new language? Try audiobooks! You can review the very latest business trends, or you can enjoy mulling over modern notions in religious belief. An extensive choice of writing styles and titles exist. It doesn’t matter if you love history, or if you are crazy over science fiction and fantasy even if your interests lie in health and fitness, it’s easy to download many audiobooks straightaway. Many plans are available; you can simply take a subscription to a program and hire titles or instead buy what appeals to you.

Passionate readers will invariably seek out a time for reading, but the thousands of audio titles available are so handy. Some narratives, for instance audio books narrated by Hal Lindsey and C. C. Carlson, can be more pleasurable when recounted by the author or a well-known actor. Reading a book isn’t the same as listening to an audio title performed by Kate Douglas Wiggin, with the additional niceties established during a performance. Listening to audio-books performed by Robin Jarvis can contribute something extra to the title and go much deeper the written words.

The next time whenever you are considering purchasing the hard copy of a book you might never find time to read, remember audio-books as a different choice.

As the world grows smaller; people travel across the globe more frequently and more business is done internationally, translation services are increasingly in demand. A translation service can now be needed for anything from the translation of an education certificate to translating a website. Due to the demand there are now hundreds of translation agencies across the globe.

Finding a translation service can be daunting. Where does one start to look for a translation service and when they find one, how do they know if they will be able to do the job well? What questions should one ask? This article will offer some useful tips on how to find a translation service to meet your needs.

Where to find a translation service?

There are three main ways of finding a translation service.
The first port of call should be your local directory such as the Yellow Pages. If you have a specific business directory for your area then even better. Simply look up “translation” or it may sometimes be under “translators & interpreters”. Have thumb through the listings and earmark some to contact.

The second, and easiest, means of finding a translation service is through the internet. Using the main search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN can bring up hundreds of listings. One added advantage of using a search engine is that you can be more specific with your searches. For example, if you are looking for a translation service local to you type “translation service London” or “translation service Oxford”. Similarly if you are in need of a specific language try something like “German translation service”.

With search engine results you will be presented with two types of listings, paid listings (advertisements) and organic listings (non-advertised results). It is good to bear in mind that those with organic listings are there for a reason, i.e. the search engine naturally sees them as important sites for translation services. On the other hand paid listings will be from companies that need the business. This is not necessarily a negative thing but good to consider when making a choice.

The last means of finding a translation service is to ask colleagues, friends or family. A personal recommendation is always best.

Contacting the translation service

Once you have a list of the translation service providers you want to contact, it is then key that you are prepared with information necessary to get an accurate quote.

Any decent translation service will want to know what languages they are translating from and into, the length of the document (especially the number of source words), the nature of the text (is it business or technical?), the format of the document (is it a paper document, an email or brochure?), when you need the translation delivered by and if necessary what format it should be delivered in. These details will help the translation service price your piece of work. However, remember that many translation service providers may not give you a concrete quote until they see the document. This is because once they see it they may realise they under-quoted you due to unforeseen elements such as the format, poor image quality or technicality of the document. It is always a good idea to have your translation in a format that can be emailed or faxed.

When speaking to the customer service agent make sure you thoroughly explain your needs. A good translation service however will always ask the right questions so they get a decent grasp of what you will need.

Questions to ask the translation service

Once you have established the cost of your translation it is always a good idea to probe the translation service with a few more questions to gain a better understanding of their capabilities.

For example here are 10 basic questions:

1. If they gave you on price, ask what their charge is per 1000 words?

2. Will they charge you per source word or per target word? For example, if you are having a document translated from Italian to English, Italian will be the source language.

3. Is the quote they gave you fixed? i.e. they can not charge you more afterwards.

4. Are all their translators qualified? What is their procedure for hiring translators?

5. Do their translators work solely into their native languages?

6. If your deadline is missed how will you still have to pay?

7. Does the price include proof-reading by another translator?

8. If your translation is specific or technical, do the translators have experience in the subject matter?

9. What format will they return your translation in?

10. If it is a large or important job it is possible to ask for a trial translation - however, this may not always be free.

These questions for your translation service should give you some insight into their understanding of the industry and their capabilities.

Which translation service?

Ultimately for many people, when it comes to the crunch they choose a translation service based on cost, location and speed of service. There are no hard and fast rules as to how to choose a translation service and it is really up to the individual to go with what they feel it best for them.

In the general scheme of things most translation service providers are bona fide and professional outfits. If when asking the questions above to a translation service you sense a level of uncertainty then it may be best to go with the service that seems to know what you want and how to give it to you.

Neil Payne is Managing Director of Kwintessential, a UK based consultancy providing cross cultural solutions to today’s businesses. They provide cultural awareness training, translation services, interpreters and multilingual DTP and website design.

Visit http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/translation/translation.html for more information.