I took the last three weeks off. Well… from writing a tip of the week. Just couldn’t find the time.
August is the busiest month of the year for me. I spend most of my time getting ready for the upcoming courses, answering questions, registering students, and answering questions. Lots and lots of questions. Also, I spend a lot of time answering questions.
Then, in September, classes begin. The craziness stops. My site stats drop from thousands of hits a day to hundreds of hits a day.
Back to writing the “Tip of the Week”.
This one is more of a reminder, actually.
Lately, my 14-year-old daughter and I have been having conversations in German. I did not teach her German. To my own shame, I admit that I have not had the time.
She taught herself. We have enrolled her in no classes. We have never taken her to Germany. And, there are no German foreign exchange students in our house.
So, how did she do it?
My 16-year-old daughter watches movies from time to time in French. Same story. She taught herself. How?
Incidentally, neither of them are all that interested in Latin. “I’ll show you, Dad. I am going to teach myself a modern language!” Rebellious teenagers.
I am teaching myself Italian and modern Greek. I am using DuoLingo. It’s working.
My students are used to hearing me talk about DuoLingo.
Parents aren’t. Learning a foreign language just can’t be that simple. There must be a course. There must be a syllabus. There must be a course description. There must be high-school credit. There must be grades.
Guess what? Schools provide all of that. Syllabi. Course descriptions. Credits. Grades. Schools provide it all. Only one thing is missing. The ability to speak the language.
I don’t speak French, so I really do not know how my 16-year-old daughter is doing in French. But, my German-speaking daughter is doing well and she is getting better. Conversations are becoming more and more fun. No syllabus. No course description. No credits. No grades. Just the ability to switch into German with me when she doesn’t want other members of the family to understand.
DuoLingo is the most powerful language learning tool I have encountered in the last ten years. It feels like a game. It looks like you are playing on your smartphone. It looks childish.
Don’t be fooled.
DuoLingo. is a serious language learning system. Use it.
I even have a couple of classrooms I manage on DuoLingo. You can join.
Greek: https://www.duolingo.com/o/pdhxqm
Italian: http://duolingo.com/o/uftpsz
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Have a Saturday, everyone!
Dwane
P. S. There is a big music festival going on in my town (Franklin, Tennessee) this weekend. If you are coming, please behave yourself. Don’t trash the place. We like it here. And, if you are from New England, don’t honk at all of us on the street. We just don’t do that around here. Thanks.
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Every Saturday, I send out a tip of the week. I also include announcements, upcoming classes, and so on. If you would like to hear from me every weekend, sign up for my weekly updates here:
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