Janis Hanson, jhanson@uwlax.

edu

2013 Summer Blended Learning Institute

Language-learning Workouts August 23, 2013 9:15 11:15 a.m.; 1:30 3:30 p.m. 3305 Centennial, University of Wisconsin La Crosse Link to the handout from AdvancedLanguageLearners.com . 1. The cost of foreign language study Rosetta Stone (5 levels) >$300 Tell Me More (10 levels) >$600 Review of Tell Me More (Janiss blog) UW-L (one course) >$1000, to audit (for students under 60) >$300 Spanish Institute of Puebla (3-week intensive program w/ room & board) >$1500 + airfare to Mexico Tips for health and wellnessand for foreign language fitness Efficiency Pleasure Variety Commitment

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3. Crowdsourced language-learning programs Duolingo Ted Talk, Louis von Ahn: Massive-scale online collaboration, roots of Duolingo LiveMocha Duolingo & LiveMocha reviews (Janiss blog) Memrise o Using mems (i.e, morsels of interestinginformation you see beneath each word) to help users memorize basic foreign language vocabulary o Variety of prompts for review of selected vocabulary o Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese 4. Five-finger test: Choosing what to read (Janiss blog) 5. Point-and-click dictionaries Kindle Spanish to English dictionary (Janiss blog) Lingua.ly (Spanish, English, French, Hebrew, Arabic) o Defines and collects words you tap on in target-language websites o Provides practice quizzes with the words you collect o Recommends websites based on your reading level and interests Lingro.com for websites, and PDF & doc files, 10 languages Lingro description (Janiss blog) 6. Vocabulary Self-collection Strategy: Adaptation for intermediate/advanced language learners (Janiss blog) 7. Language Exchange Websites Links to tips for using language exchange websites (Janiss blog) The Mixxer (one of many sites to meet people for Skype language exchanges) Nos Sostenemos Janiss experiment using Google Docs for help from native speakers

8. Grammar Practice Links for English grammar exercises (Janiss blog) Links for Spanish grammar exercises (Janiss blog) 9. Podcasts for intermediate & advanced learners How to download free native-spoken podcasts & MP3s (Bennys blog: Fluent in 3 Months) Hint: Change your iTunes profile to identify yourself as someone from a target-language country. Podcast reviews: English language learners (Janiss blog) British Broadcasting Company, Voice of America, (U.S.) Public Radio Podcast reviews: Spanish language learners (Janiss blog) o Rojas Spanish Language o Notes in Spanish (Janiss pick for advanced learners) o Show Time Spanish (especially good for intermediate learners) 10. Video Links to video-clip exercises for self-study: Dutch, English, French & Spanish (Janiss blog) Drama Fever (dramafever.com) Soap operas and series (subtitles optional) in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish Ted Talks Audio, video with power points for key ideas, and transcripts with translations 11. Exploring and collecting with Pinterest and Tumblr Janiss Pinterest collection: el Test de Bechdel -- Chistes en espaol que lo pasan A description of the collection in English (Janiss blog) 12. More Spanish online Theres a lot to love. Spanish Playground resources for teaching children Spanish Review of Spanish Playground (Janiss blog) Agencia EFE and Instituto Cervantes: Prctica Espaol News & cultural topics for three levels Trivia Tests in Spanish at Frikitest.com Review of Frikitest (Janiss blog) Jumbled Sentences in Spanish at Arquilabra Review of Arquilabra (Janiss blog) 13. Best TESOL/ESL/TESL/TOEFL Resources: Your One-Stop Shopping for Great Ideas and Help An overwhelmingly huge list of resources from Jim Becker, Professor Emeritus, University of Northern Iowa 14. Open Culture: The best free cultural & educational media on the web A collection of links for learning 46 languages online for free 15. Do-it-yourself Learning Gurus Lifehacker (the search bar is in the upper right corner, somewhat hidden) Josh Kaufman, author of The First 20 Hours: How to Learn AnythingFast! o Kaufmans Ted Talk o Connecting Kaufmans ideas to do-it-yourself language learning (Janiss blog) Special thanks to Jenny Brunk, Jean Hindson, Reggie Mora, Fernanda Gonzlez, and the UW-L School of Education for their generous help with this project.