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Showing posts with the label foreign language

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

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

Just Released: Journal for Distinguished Language Studies, Volume 8

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  Joining our other volumes of this journal -- as well as our other respected foreign language books -- is Volume 8 of the   Journal for Distinguished Language Studies . Volume 8 covers 2021-2022. The purpose of the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies  (ISSN 1547-7819) is to provide a forum for exchanging information about teaching to and reaching near-native foreign language proficiency for teachers, learners, and professional language users. Areas of interest include research, theory, and practical application. The  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies  has been published annually since 2003. In the early years, the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies  was published by the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers, which closed in 2010. The current issues are published by MSI Press LLC in Hollister, California. JDLS is available on Amazon . It can also be purchased at 25% discount from the MSI Press webstore , using coupon code FF25.  From more posts about thi

Today's Fortune Cookie: Some of the Best-Kept L2 Secrets

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  Today's fortune cookie is associated with Practices That Work (Garza)  Read more about Dr. Garza and his book HERE . Get a copy at  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 contact information on our  Authors' Pages .    

Today's Fortune Cookie: Speak another language like a native

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Today's fortune cookie is associated with Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency by Betty Lou Leaver. 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 contact information on our  Authors' Pages .    

Available on Pre-order: Diagnostic Assessment by Bella Cohen

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  Diagnostic Assessment at the Superior-Distinguished Threshold is available on pre-order at MSI Press webstore . Written by the director of the diagnostic assessment center (retired) at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, one of the most knowledgeable teachers about the finer points of language learner, individually applied. Due to be released in late July. Provides copies of instruments for personalization of instruction, ways to find a learner's zone of proximal developments, explanation of the E&L Cognitive Styles Construct not found elsewhere, delineations of distinctions between ILR 3+ and ILR 4, and sample learning plans for very advanced learners of foreign languages.  For more unique and impressive MSI Press language teaching and language learning 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 sub

Daily Excerpt: Working with Advanced Foreign Language Students (Shekhtman) - Preface

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Excerpt from Working with Advanced Foreign Language Students (Boris Shekhtman) -  Preface  This little booklet is far weightier than many tomes four times its size. The nuggets of wisdom distilled in it come from more than two decades of extraordinarily successful experience in working with students at the highest levels of foreign-language proficiency. The quality of Boris Shekhtman’s instruction and his insight into advanced students’ learning needs is a subject with which I have had first-hand knowledge year after year.  Many years ago, in 1984, Boris, and a colleague, Natalia Lord, approached me, as their supervisor at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), with a request to develop a course for advanced students. Any student who had already reached Superior-level proficiency at that time and was returning to FSI for a refresher or enhancement course, was treated as a tutorial. However, Boris and Natalia saw the possibilities in grouping these students into small classes

Look Here! A Great Book Review of Practices That Work (Garza)

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  We recently learned about a great review of Tom Garza's wonderful and unique book on how to get language learners to super-high levels of proficiency, Practices That Work .  Written by Olena Chernishenko of American University for Russian Language Journal , some of evaluations include: " Practices That Work is an excellent resource for both new and experienced foreign-language instructors, as well as for foreign-language learners. The volume is a compilation of short, thematically organized articles written by numerous experts in the field of foreign-language teaching who share invaluable insights about bringing learners to high-level professional proficiency in world languages. While Practices That Work offers a plethora of effective techniques for instructors, it also provides deep understanding of the learning process, which will benefit the development of learners' development of self-awareness and autonomy." "...every article in the volume gives excellent

Learn Language Like a Diplomat. Seriously.

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  Ever seen those planes in airplane magazines -- learn languages like a diplomat? The implication is that a course being sold teaches you like diplomats are taught. Misleading. I taught diplomats for six years. While the "courses" are generally ripped off, older, public-domain courses that very likely were used at the Foreign Service Institute at some point in time, they actually do not represent how diplomats are taught since diplomats learn language from interactions with skilled teachers, working in highly individualized environments and very small classes. Very little of what they do in their intensive day-long classes can be represented in a textbook, which generally is just a jumping-off point for work on language development.  That said, a few MSI Press books are written or edited by teachers who did teach or supervise teaching programs for diplomats. They wrap the theory in content meant for non-diplomats, self-learners, or specific kinds of language classes in ways

Daily Excerpt: Communicative Focus (Shekhtman): Why is the language performance of native and non-native speakers different?

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  Excerpt from Communicative Focus : Why is the language performance of native and non-native speakers different?       On the face of it the answer to this question is quite easy. The difference in language performance between native and non-native speaker can be explained by the degree of their command of the language. Native speakers have excellent command of the language and non-native speakers, poor command of it. But why is this so?                                                                   In his book The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality, Alan Davies (2003) defines 6 factors which make a person a native speaker. The most important factor is the acquisition of language in childhood. Successful acquisition of language typically happens by the age of four and is   guaranteed for children up to the age of six.   After that, the potential for native   language acquisition is steadily compromised until shortly after puberty and is rare thereafter. Maturational ch

Book Review of How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately (Shekhtman) by Luca Lampariello

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Summary of a review by Luca Lampariello, foreign language learning guru and tutor, of How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman: In a field where most books deal are colorful, well-produced, and full of information on one specific language, Boris Shekhtman’s  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  stands out for being almost the complete opposite—short, unassuming, and devoted to teaching the skills of language, rather than one language in itself. This unusual combination of factors leads to a book that is greater than the sum of its parts; a book that I believe every serious language learner should buy, read, and reread regularly. The book’s communicative tools shine as intuitive guidelines for improving language fluency  right now . With the advice in the book, you have everything you need to communicate your “current” level, navigate difficult conversations with natives, and  speak in a more fluid, natural way . Given the book’s short, compact f