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Showing posts with the label Boris Shekhtman

Publisher's Pride: Books on Bestseller Lists: How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately (Shekhtman)

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  Today's Publisher's Pride is How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman, which reached  #15 in study and teaching reference and #35 in academic and commercial writing reference .  Read more posts about Boris and his books HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with  MSI Press LLC ? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their

Language Islands at Level 4 ILR, ACTFL scales)/near-native language proficiency

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  Continuing in what seems to be coming a trend -- we keep coming across videos of readers -- teachers and language learners -- who have fallen in love with     How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  by  Boris Shekhtman . The falling in love is not surprising; this book is the darling of diplomats and international journalists, both groups of individuals that Boris spent his life teaching. What is a little more surprising is the number of people who have quietly made videos about the book and its contents -- and which we stumble across upon occasion, such as today. Here is one such video: How to Use Language Islands to Reach Fluency Faster - YouTube The book contains seven tools, one of which is "islands." While the assumption may be -- and often is -- that these tools can help improve language proficiency at intermediate and advanced levels, it can also improve proficiency at the very lowest and very highest levels. With islands (which are essentially completely i

Level 4: Boris Shekhtman

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It is Thursday, and we are talking about the highest levels of foreign language proficiency as we do every Thursday.  One of our bestselling books for language learners, How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately , is not necessarily for Level 4 learners, but rather it provides guidance for learners and teachers at all levels of language proficiency. The author was Boris Shekhtman, shown above, the Una Cox Chapman (i.e. most outstanding) teacher at the Foreign Service Institute, where he taught diplomats at all levels of proficiency. Later, he taught foreign correspondents at the New York Times and the LA Times .  Another book, much lesser known, is his book, How to Use Your Russian in Communication Effectively , an MSI Press affiliated book.  For more posts about Boris and his books, click HERE . Read the full review  HERE . For more ideas about teaching at near-native levels (and to share your experience and research), check out the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies

Released! Audiobook for Communicative Focus (Shekhtman & Kupchanka)

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  Recently released - the audiobook for Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka. In the current volume, the author describes in detail the theory and nature of the principles and practices used in his approach to language teaching. He is not afraid to talk about some aspects of language learning and teaching, such as the development of lexical and grammatical accuracy, as well as the need for memorization and the development of memory, that have been increasingly omitted from the classroom as a result of the rise in popularity of theories that debase their significance but which are very important, especially if students are to reach the highest level of proficiency. He also discusses some ideas, such as the unique nature of the connection between language and meaning that native speakers experience that non-native speakers must learn to deal with-in differing ways at differing levels of proficiency. His focus throughout is on communication and the nature of communic

Publisher's Pride: Books on Bestseller Lists - How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately (Shekhtman)

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  Today's Publisher's Pride is  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  by Boris Shekhtman, which has been a reader favorite for a very long time and is described in Amazon reviews as "the book most polyglots recommend." It recently reached #87 on Amazon's bestseller ranking for academic and commercial writing. For more posts about Boris and his book, click  HERE . For more publisher pride posts, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communi

Terrific Review of How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately (Shekhtman)

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"... a book that I believe every serious language learner should buy, read, and reread regularly"  says Luca Lampariello I recently stumbled across his review of this book, and it is rich. He understands the book; he has absorbed every idea and every sentence. But more than that, he has put together a rich and highly detailed review, including youtube presentations and written review all on one page... HERE . It is the most thoughtful and comprehensive review I have ever seen. Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written r

Bestselling Kindle Book in July: How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately

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  The bestselling Kindle book in July 2023 was How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman. Click HERE to learn more about this book -- reviews, excerpts, and more. For more posts about Boris and his books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can!  Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .

Daily Excerpt: How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately (Shekhtman) - Tool #5 (Breakaway)

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  excerpt from How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman -  TOOL #5: BREAKAWAY There is a second tool which can enable us to say what we really want to say. To understand the functioning of this tool, we have to understand the dynamics of knowing two languages. There is a very interesting relationship between these two languages, determined by the extent of the foreigner’s knowledge of the second language. In fact, if the foreigner knows the second language as well as he or she knows the first, it is possible there will not be any dependency at all between the two languages. These languages can exist independently of one another. Our foreigner can turn on the first language, or the second one, at will. But the relationship between these two languages can become complicated very quickly if our foreigner does not know second language as well as the first. In this case, the foreigner, as he or she encounters deficiencies in speaking the second language, relies o

Today's Fortune Cookie: Communicate Like a Native

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  Today's fortune cookie is associated with Communicative Focus by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka. (Note: communicative is more complex than just speaking.) For more posts about this book and its author, click HERE . For more posts about our foreign language publications, click   HERE .                                    This book is on discounted sales at the  MSI Press webstore . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their

New York Times Writer Shares Experience with and Insight into Author of MSI Press"s Bestselling Book

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  Although Boris Shekhtman died several years ago, the sales of his book, How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately , continue to top MSI Press LLC charts. One reason for this may be that the book reflects his extraordinarily effective teaching methods, as attested to by journalists, diplomats, and others.  In testimony to Boris, upon his death, NYT journalist, Sam Roberts, who studied with him, wrote a highly insightful column about Boris and his methods -- and one that is enjoyable to read. An oldie but goodie. Here is an excerpt: “The first time I met Boris he didn’t talk at all about language,” Lucian Pugliaresi, a former National Security Council official in the Reagan administration, told The New York Times in 2001. “He talked about power relationships and fascinated me instantly. He said, ‘When you don’t speak the language over there, you have no power.’” Mr. Shekhtman’s methods were intended for everyday face-to-face exchanges — like “two guys on a park bench,” as Strobe

Daily Excerpt: Communicative Focus (Shekhtman & Kupchanka) - Teacher’s Guidelines for Working with Student’s Repetitions

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  Excerpt from Communicative Focus - Appendix. Table 2. Teacher’s Guidelines for Working with Student’s Repetitions     REQUIREMENTS     MISTAKES   RECOMMENDATIONS   1.   Set up the assignment clearly and keep your promise.   Instructor changed the assignment and did not inform the student about it, as a result the student did not understand what the instructor wanted him to do Every time a change is made  in the assignment, make the student aware of it, even if the change is seemingly insignificant.   2.   It is their repetition, not yours.   Instructor performs the repetition more times than the student himself or herself Present the expression once, at least twice and then let the student do the job   3.   Make the repetition fun.   Repetition was carried out in a monotonous fashion, b