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Wijng

Posted by Anne on December 29th, 2008

Wijng is an emerging online platform for learning English, and currently it’s free. I’ve looked at a few of the units, including one on skiffle, that nice music of the 50s, and here are a few thoughts:

The makers of this platform are taking existing videos, e.g. on YouTube. These are not skripted or specifically spoken [...]

Dalango

Posted by Anne on December 12th, 2008

A star is born. Dalango is a brand-new web-based series of language courses (English, Business English, Spanish).

1/2 a year in the works, a major investment (so they say), Spotlight Verlag inside expertise and cool young dudes and gals bringing in new media ideas, some 300 minutes worth of good videos based on great scripts, subtitles, [...]

I’m looking forward to hearing from you

Posted by Anne on October 28th, 2008

Here’s another chant, this one created on the spot in Paderborn at Benteler (for Akademie für Sekretariat und Büromanagement).
Hi ladies !
Snap your fingers to anchor the +ing in your memory.
I’m looking forward to seeing you
I’m looking forward to meeting you
I’m looking forward to hearing from you
I’m looking forward to talking to you.
Why? “To” [...]

Up to Speed

Posted by Anne on October 14th, 2008

Carole Eilertson & Louise Kennedy have just published their lovely EFL coursebook Up to Speed (Cornelsen) for business professionals who want to fine-tune their upper-intermediate English skills. Geared to one-to-one learners (and small groups), their book focusses on day-to-day operations, teamwork, meetings, presentations, networking and project management.
What I like about their approach is a winning [...]

How long have you been here?

Posted by Anne on October 11th, 2008

Management Circle offered a business communication seminar for management assistants in Frankfurt that I had the privilege to teach. They do a really professional job of organising these events. My students, Astrid, Christine, Elke, Petra, Sladana and Theresia were such a pleasure to be with. Two days are obviously very short, but I have the [...]

My blog. Your blog?

Posted by Anne on October 6th, 2008

When I first started this blog I was unsure what approach I should take. I mean, I don’t stand in the middle of town talking to myself. And I keep my private life private. At least I used to think I did. Until I got this message on Skype from a woman in Russia who said, “Anne, do you know that your secret journal is online?” Last week, when I told my brother Adam over a Mass at the Oktoberfest that I had blogged about our mother, he gave me this very strange look. My husband tells me my topics are too complicated. So what am I doing it for? Give me a few minutes of your time, and I’ll explain.

Just show up

Posted by Anne on September 26th, 2008

“The golden rule of language learning: Absolutely any method of language learning, as long as it includes regular exposure to the target language, will eventually yield fluency if followed faithfully enough. … Some methods of language learning may be better or worse than others, but there is no “wrong” method. … It’s like the saying [...]