Well fame at last! There we are three of us with our pictures in the paper and all in the name of raising money for a library in India. The newspaper is the Birmingham Independent[U.K.] and it specialises in publishing good news.It is a free newspaper delivered to some houses and also with some distribution centres around the city.So keep a look out for it. The article was in last Friday, March 30th. If you are local [or not] you may wish to look at this site www.bookcrossing.com
There are people all over the world and also groups in various cities and towns.I hope to meet some bookcrossers in Finland this year. It is a good way of meeting other people and also a good way then of meeting and talking to people who speak the language you are learning.
Cheers
Anne
Many of you will have heard of this man and his mindmapping ideas and techniques. Using a mind map is a very good way of adding to your vocabulary and learning the words.We all love pictures and seeing something makes it easier to remember. Actually drawing the mind map is one way of helping the words to stick.You need to have a topic for your words and then divide the topic up into sections and away you go.You do not need to be a good artist and you can have a lot of fun.
Tony Buzan has written many books one of which is Head Strong[How to get physically and mentally fit] in which he shows the powerful connection between the body and the mind. Order through Amazon through the web site www.languagesforall.co.uk
Have fun
Cheers
Anne
One of the best ways of learning a language is listening to it. After all that is one of the main ways that we learn our mother tongue isn’t it? For those of you who are learning Spanish go to the web site www.languagesforall.co.uk for one of the best ways of listening to the language.Many of my students swear by them. They constantly tell me stories of phrases, words or sentences they use simply because thay have heard it many times on a CD of ours. It is such an easy way to learn and who doesn’t like easy?
More tips for easier learning can be found at this site www.ezinearticles.com where you will find a couple of articles published by me. There are more to come.
Have fun browsing
Cheers
Anne
Most of what I will write today will have little to do with languages but I thought that I would write it anyway!
There was an e-mail for me saying “Congratulations, you have won a prize!” Great excitement!
Next, news of a the husband of a friend. He has a serious illness and he is now stable and feeling well. That was good news!
I dash off to the post office for some stamps and to post a letter. On my return I made my lunch and as I was eating it there was suddenly a police officer at the door with two other officers in tow, one a woman. I feared the worst but all was well. It appears my alarm, connected to the police station, had gone off and they had come to see how I was. I was fine and my alarm hadn’t gone off, or least not in my house. It was a false alarm and a mystery.The police had a wasted journey but I was impressed by the speed of their response and their pleasant attitude.
Last but not least a photo session has been arranged with a local newspaper in connection with my Bookcrossing group and our efforts to raise the money for a library in India.All that was interspersed with a normal day of phonecalls, e-mails ,marketing , sending out details preparing and teaching lessons.
There is never a dull moment.
Have you signed up for the e-zine yet? Tomorrow I will tell you about some of the articles that I have written and published in various places.
Cheers
Anne
Many years ago when I was doing some voluntary work in mental hospital in Greece I was with a consultant and met one of the patients there. As I didn’t speak Greek and she didn’t speak English we smiled at each other. She then said through the consultant “A smile is the most beautiful language in the world” Now there is a way that you can send or give a smile away[apart from actually smiling that is!]. Go to this site http://www.helpothers.org/ and look at their project about smile cards. It will cost you nothing[unless you wish to donate of course] I think that it is a great idea.You can even get them in different languages. So go ahead and spread smiles and languages.
Cheers
Anne
www.languagesforall.co.uk
1] Some of you may know that I am teaching myself Finnish.As predicted learning Finnish is challenging. Trying to fit it in with all the other languages requires a certain amount of ingenuity. There is not much out there in the way of resources. I do a lot of listening in my car of the other languages that I speak and this I find particularly helpful.
Life has been particularly busy with discussions about new products for Languages for All. I do now know two verbs, to have and to be, in the present tense and a number of nouns, colours and numbers. I expect to add the verb to go and some places in town within the next couple of weeks. Then I wish to speak to my daughter in law for some help with pronunciation.
I have to constantly plan and assess how I will fit the learning into my life. In the summer I will visit Finland again and can then try out my language skills. That should be fun.. Let me know if you are also learning Finnish.
Cheers
Anne
www.languagesforall.co.uk
What do www.bookcrossing.com , www.goodgifts.org and penguins have in common?
To know how these are linked you will have to e-mail me, anne.taylor@languagesforall.co.uk but let it be said now that the answer is “A library in India” To build a library in a village costs £1200.00 and to help my Bookcrossing group raise this money Languages for All is contributing .20p from every pack of Prompt Cards sold and .30p from every CD sold.Languages are made up of words and to have a library in a village will surely help people in their learning of lots of things not just languages. it seem inconceivable not to have a library to visit.I will keep you posted as to how quickly we are raising this money. Cheers Anne
Tomorrow I am going out to give a talk entitled”Learn with laughter, Learn that much faster” We can so often remember vividly things that make us laugh so we need to find ways of incorporating laughter into our learning. Not only does it make things memorable , but easier and fun. Who can resist fun? This laughter can apply to any learning and not just languages.
However it is fun to write about green dogs and red elephants and people taking their cats to the cinema and so on.!It helps to make the words you are learning more memorable.It creates vivid pictures in your head.Give it a try. Opt for fun and laughter and easier learning.You won’t regret it.
Apparently there is a link between education and a long life. Studies appear to be suggesting that the longer you study or stay at school the longer you live.[or does it just seem that way.?] I want to look into this further as it raises many questions but I myself have never been in any doubt that lifelong learning is a must. Learning a language is particularly beneficial to the brain. Why stop at learning one.? Why not go on to learn an other.? Learning a language is a continuous process. I am continually learning new words in my own language. The way to look at the learning of a language is to consider it to be a fun journey with no final destination.People often ask how long is it going to take. I often answer with a question”How long are you going to live?” Enjoy and have fun on the journey.
