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BRAVE Blog

Funding some polyglots: good times for kickstarting language learning?

see what I did there?Last year, everyone was talking about smart watches and a slew of other futuristic gadgets – and the place to make those dreams happen was Kickstarter. This year, I’m happy to say that foreign languages got a lot of attention (and funding!) there as well. How does this work – and what are the crowd-funded wonders that language learners can look forward to?

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BRAVE Blog

Guerrilla French Language Learning Update: High Input, Low Output

3 language learning methodsSome time ago, I announced a brave and cunning plan: to learn French in 30 days without spending a penny. All foreign language learners should probably know better – but my anxiety and motivation pushes me on. Here’s a quick update on my French learning methods!

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BRAVE Blog

Minimum Effective Dose in Language Learning: how little can you do?

Guys, I must confess this up front: I’m not sure if this will ever work. This post is an invitation to discuss things – not a statement of fact or a definite prescription to follow. Here goes, then!

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BRAVE Blog

ELTChat Summary: “The future of teaching – is it only online teaching?” – 22 Nov 2012

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Photo Credit: One Laptop per Child via Compfight

This post is a summary of another fascinating discussion on #ELTChat. If you’re new to this, head over to the website to learn more. The community is really supportive and I believe that every language learner would benefit from chatting to its members once in a while. In the meantime – read the summary below to see where, according to some bright language teachers, the future of education is headed!

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BRAVE Blog

Rethink your language learning with two simple questions

This post is inspired by Adrian Underhill and his talk from last week’s OXDOSA conference. If you want to get to the source, visit one of Adrian’s blogs here.

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BRAVE Blog

Build On What You Know: Scaffolding for Language Learners

The problem I have with a lot of language teachers is this: the techniques, terms and strategies they use to teach languages cannot be easily transferred to the learners who want to do the work by themselves. I’m big on DIY language learning and on guerrilla solutions recently. That’s why today I’m tackling one of these techniques, and trying to describe it so that every language learner can at least begin thinking about using it!