FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
STUDY
ACTIVITIES
Handout
online
LISTENING
COMPREHENSION
 Read aloud,
listen to yourself,
then copy it and listen a lot
more.
 Team up with someone
(classmate, tutor)
to rehearse listening and
speaking exercises.
 Listen to songs
and try to write the words
(or download lyrics
from Internet).
Sing!
Spend time on local
TV's foreign language
channel or go to the
Multi-media Lab.
 Go to subtitled movies
in your foreign language and
try to listen for
comprehension first, reading
afterwards.
Spanish: Motorcycle Diaries
The Sea Inside
Pan’s Labyrinth
French: Intimate Strangers
Joyeux Noel
Cache
German: Lives of Others
Mostly Martha
The Counterfeiters
Rent English DVD’s and put on the
foreign language subtitles
underneath the English dialogue
or
rent foreign language DVD’s and
watch a second time with the foreign
subtitles on to see how it was
translated
 Get copies of lab CD’s:
• Listen and read simultaneously
• Listen and write what is said (like
dictation)
• Copy the questions, answers,
dictations, etc. for further listening
• Listen, stop the CD, and repeat
• Carry CD’s with you for down-time
listening (waiting, walking, etc)
LEARNING
WORDS
Vocabulary
 Verbs
 Grammar
Handout
online
 Flashcards:
- 3x5 for individual words
- 4x6 for families of words
and verb conjugations
Include sample
sentence to put word in
context and to use
more of the language
Handout
online
Use color to
differentiate parts
of speech
Verbs
Use color on verb cards
to highlight the pattern
of changes
andare (future, to go)
andrò
andremo
andrai
andrete
andrà
andranno
Put synonyms and
antonyms on the back to
expand association
Test yourself in both
directions – the back's
answer and the front's
prompt
Keep various sets rubberbanded together
because:
- they're related materials
-a language builds unit by unit
-you want to use association.
Have a partner or
tutor drill you on your
cards
Shuffle the cards
occasionally so you
don't get dependent on
a sequence.
Separate into "I know"
and "Don't know" piles
each time you test
yourself.
Retire words you've
mastered into a file box
to make room for new
ones
Use language lab
tapes to focus on:
- specific grammar
points,
- verb forms
Take dictation from the
CD’s, check that you’re
right
and then practice it aloud
to yourself.
 Use computer programs
in language lab.
 Consult current
newspapers and magazines
in your foreign language.
 Start a journal in your
foreign language.
 Label everyday objects
in your room with foreign
language names on postit's.
 Bring the language into
everyday conversation with
*foreign songs
*foreign nicknames for your
friends
*foreign catch phrases
“¿Qué está sucediendo, Dude?”
Language learning is MEMORYintensive
•
•
•
•
•
•
Vocabulary
Verb tenses
Idioms
Diacritical marks: ä á â ã å ç č
Punctuation: ¡ ¿
Pronunciation, accent, inflection
MNEMONICS
(GREEK FOR “MEMORY TRICKS”)
• ASSOCIATE – MAKE
CONNECTIONS
• GROUP AND “CHUNK”
• USE SOUND
Handout
online
Some Limitations
of Mnemonic Devices
• They don’t always help you
understand material
• They can be complicated to learn
or develop
• They can be forgotten, too
ASSOCIATE = MAKE
CONNECTIONS
LITERAL
ASSOCIATION
redondo
Jaune, rot
GROS
oreja
le roi
vs. Petite
l’etiole
L’argent
J’ai la grippe
Visual reminder
OPPOSITES
Hier
Premier
Seul
Jamais
Arriver
En avance
aujourd’hui
denier
ensemble
toujours
partir
en retard
malade
bien
CHUNK into
logical groups
comer
hablar
SPANISH
VERBS
vivir
CATEGORIZE
by function
le dita
la mano
il braccio
il ginocchio
la gamba
il piede
Words that belong with
body parts
Spanish furniture
silla – el sentarse abajo
cama – el dormir
escritorio – el estudiar
estante – el almacenar
SETS OF
WORDS
Los deportivos
Los días de la semana
La ropa
Los juegos
Los países
Los muebles
La medicina
Un dentista
Un doctor
Un enfermero
Un veterinario
RELATED
WORDS
schnell
seul
molto
poco
Fa …
comer +
schneller
seulement
moltissimo
pochissimo
(caldo, freddo, fresco)
la comida
• MALADE
• FATIQUÉ
• CHAUD
• SANTÉ
ORGANIZE…
Alain
Christophe
David
Eric
Hélèn
Jeanne
Pierre
taille
miniscule
petit
grand
enorme
colossal
PARTS OF
SPEECH
Los verbos
Los nombres
Los pronombres
Los adjetivos
Los adverbios
Los idiomas
•NOUN
•VERB
•FEMININE
• IDIOMS
SOUND is the
SHAPE of WORDS
ALLITERATION
Who? Qui
What? Que
What? Quoi
When? Quand
Which? Quelle
What is? Qu’est-ce que
Italian questions
Che cosa?
Perché
Chi?
Quando?
Dove?
Come?
FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
TIME
MANAGEMENT
Handout
online
A foreign language is
different from most
courses:
you need to study every
day
not just MWF.
DO’S
DO keep up with
classwork!
It’s harder to catch up
than to keep up.
Language is cumulative
with the current lesson built
on the previous one.
Neglect and falling behind will
snowball.
DO schedule your time
to allow
daily study time.
The rule is at least two
study hours for every
hour in class…
but language study should
be
spr e a d
o u
t
through the week.
DO try to divide your
study time so that as
much as 80%
of it is spent
in recitation and practice.
DO try to schedule
some of your
study hours
BEFORE
you go into class.
As a participation-type
class,
you need the material
fresh in your mind
to be
used or performed
in class.
DO schedule language study
hours
ASAP
if they have to be
after class
in order to minimize
forgetting.
Immediate
reinforcement helps
solidify new material
longer and
more accurately.
DO study
when you’re most alert,
when you feel you can
absorb and retain
the most material for such a
memorization-heavy subject.
“Prime time”
will vary, obviously,
from person to person...
DON’T’S
DON’T try to cover the
whole assignment in one
sitting – break it up into
smaller chunks of time.
Break it up into “digestible”
portions of material,
probably following the
sectioning already done by the
textbook publisher.
DON’T cut class – you will
get behind,
(possibly irretrievably).