MSI Press Blog

    Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. #49 Learning Styles   Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process ~ Euripides If you are like most parents, you have repeated yourself many, many times to your children. You may have even uttered the words, “How many times have I told you...” If this sounds familiar to you, perhaps you need to think about how your child learns and learn to work with that style. How does your child learn? Consider the three types of learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Most children learn best through a combination of the three types of learning styles, but many children favor one over the others. Auditory Learners: Hear Auditory learners would rather listen to things being explained than read about them. These children can benefit from reciting information out loud or retelling it to someo...

Every few days this year (2025), we plan to sift through our author pages and find the hidden video and audio gems because, let's face it, though they often contain fascinating videos and audio gems, often those reading the pages don't have time to listen at the moment and may not find their way back easily. There is often something special about hearing an author's voice. We plan to bring that "special" throughout this coming year. Today's gem was recorded by Teach Russian.org and an interview with Dr. Betty Lou Leaver, MSI Press managing editor, on differentiated instruction. Listen to it HERE . Read more posts by and about  Betty Lou Leaver  and her works. VISIT OUR  WEBSITE  TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES. GET 25% OFF ALL OUR BOOKS WITH COUPON CODE FF25 AT OUR  WEBSTORE .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date) ...

  Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency  (Speaking) by Betty Lou Leaver is a research-based catalogue of factors that would seem to predict ability to reach the highest level of foreign language proficiency and is based on common characteristics shared by more than 200 near-native speakers, identified by self-report, survey, and interviews by master testers. Following up on previous posts, one of the motivational frameworks considered was achievement motivation. Twenty-six percent of the interviewees mentioned several aspects of achievement motivation . Many of them said that performing well in language learning was important to them, or at least had been so in at early levels of proficiency when they were in beginning language classes. In a few cases, interviewees defined “doing well” as getting a good grade; more commonly, these being adult learners, they defined it as earning the respect and approbation of their peers in the same class. (Teacher approbation has ...

  Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency  (Speaking) by Betty Lou Leaver is a research-based catalogue of factors that would seem to predict ability to reach the highest level of foreign language proficiency and is based on common characteristics shared by more than 200 near-native speakers, identified by self-report, survey, and interviews by master testers. Contrary to popular belief, far from all the interviewees, including the polyglots, were good classroom language students. One remembers receiving a D in a college Japanese course and being told to give up on languages and take an easier course. In a bygone day (clearly), a French professor threw a book at a current Level-4 speaker of French in exasperation at her then very strongly non-Parisian accent. A near-native speaker of Russian got C after C in college Russian courses and was gently encouraged to consider other languages. Many of the interviewees reported frustration with their early language-learning e...