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Language learners: it’s 2015. Do you know where your humans are?

Language Learners: it's 2015. Do you know where your humans are?I’m going to IATEFL again this year. Last time was fun (well, depending on who you ask) and certainly gave lots of people lots of ranting material. But you don’t need conferences to see how the language learning landscape evolves. And if you just want to learn to use a language, you don’t really care. Here’s one thing I would like you to think about today. It’s important regardless of the language you’re learning or teaching.

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“Almost didn’t happen” vs “Here’s why it happened”

We got together with my friends and started sharing some stories the other day, and I started thinking of some more on the same theme. The best-selling solo jazz album of all time. My choice of study. Our friends getting and staying together. 

These things almost didn’t happen. If Keith Jarrett decided the piano was too painful to play on… If I’d chosen the other city to go to college…if my friend hadn’t come back to that club later that night…

There’s a value to sharing these stories, there’s a reason why we remember the luck, the adversity, the fate. 

But there’s another story that can be told each time. Instead of an “almost didn’t happen” story, there’s a “here’s why it DID happen” story. 

The Köln concert actually happened because Keith Jarrett loved playing music, and because his young impresario convinced him to play anyway. I ended up in the place I didn’t choose because I had lots of respect for my Dad’s advice. My friends got together because the signals they kept sending that night were strong and authentic enough to get through the noise and the booze.

It’s a story about the same thing. But the emphasis shifts to what went right, to what you did, to what you had going for you. 

Needn’t be 100% true. The other ones aren’t either, are they?

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Take your lessons and conversations back! Flashcard templates for full immersion language lessons and dialogues

language learning flashcards for students and teachers of foreign languagesToday’s language learning resource addresses one problem and gives you a range of solutions. I often tried to make my foreign language classes more communicative – and I still wish I could go through my exchanges in German or Portuguese without switching back to English or Polish! This is how language learners and users can manage themselves, their teachers, tutors and conversation partners.

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BRAVE Review – “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain

Overview: Susan Cain’s meticulously researched and passionately constructed story will make you look around you very carefully. It will make you think again about the talents that other people are showing (or hiding), and about the culture which allows them to shine (or drowns them out). One of the most useful books on my shelf this year.

1. What’s the book’s big idea?

“Quiet” is a cultural study of introversion and extroversion, whose main premise is probably this: the introverts have been unseen, unheard, and under-appreciated in many areas of Western culture. The book’s arguments and its supporting examples – both from people we know and from research we ought to rediscover – go on to prove one thing: if your leaders, your teachers, your bosses or your learners are introverted, this is by no means a bad thing. And you may need them today, more than ever.

2. What’s the reality described in the book?

“Quiet” was written from a perspective that could perhaps be labeled “Extrovert Central” (a New-York based ex-lawyer, devoted to tracing psychological and personality traits in American population). Except it isn’t. The author describes herself as introverted, and her story fits well into what she (in the latter part of the book) calls “redemptive life story” – her search for the value of introverts in Western societies, schools and businesses is her search for kindred spirits.

Despite this, the book’s distinctly American in its focus. The proportion of extroverts and introverts between societies may not change, but the values associated with those traits will – and the book reads differently in the UK than it would in the USA or Canada.

3. What did the book inspire me to do?

Every other page in “Quiet” is scribbled with my underlinings and exclamation marks. And some paragraphs I’m truly grateful for. Susan Cain’s story is something that most introverts will tend to cherish, appreciate and discover for themselves.

This book made me search for balance between my solitary and schmooze-filled activities; it made me look for ways to enjoy both in their own way. It also made me find new ways of discussing how I feel (and what I feel like doing) with those close to me.

In my coaching work, “Quiet” made me question even more assumptions made by clients and their surroundings. Why is an open-plan office the only way to be? Why is an after-work drink “a necessity?” And how well would introverts adapt to big British towns?

4. What other voices / books are there?

Elaine N. Aron is on author often referenced in “Quiet.” Her book is titled “The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You.”
For the extroverted perspective, Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is still the classic; a more modern take is Keith Ferrrazzi’s “Never Eat Alone.”

5. What effect is this book likely to have?

If you’re an introvert, it may help you feel more okay with how you behave and how you gain/lose energy. If you’re an extrovert, it may help you understand or identify the introverts around you, and work/love/live more enjoyably with them.

For those who work, manage, teach or learn, “Quiet” is a perfect guide to making the spaces and discourses around us more open to all forms of work and study. It’s a useful reminder that throughout history, good ideas happened when quiet people worked with the outgoing ones – and trouble began when the contributions of those who think, worry and observe more carefully were disregarded or hurried through.

Get this book.

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5 Questions I ask when reviewing any book

Take it from someone who works with books, married to a person who works with books: there are good ones and bad ones out there. And even within the good book league, there are useful books and less useful books. Many of them help me and my clients in getting things done; a lot of them can be used in teaching, life coaching or self coaching. So how do I decide if a book is useful or not?

There are 5 questions I prefer to ask. Instead of giving out points or stars, I found that when I think about these 5 areas, I end up with a good overall look at a book. Feel free to use or modify these as you go about your personal library; for this website – and for my coaching work – I will use those.

1. B stands for Big: What’s this book’s big idea?

A book is a story, but in my work, it’s a toolbox first and foremost. And every box of tools can be used to some effect. So my first question is this: when all works well, and all the readers of this book end up using 100% of its lessons and potential – what happens? What’s the big change which this book tries to bring? What’s the big shift in the readers’ minds, opinions, actions?

Even the smallest books have it. Even the funniest books have it. Harry Potter helped millions of people believe they had power in the face of bad events, and unleashed millions of imaginations. Dilbert comic books mock the absurd constraints of office culture, allowing readers to reflect on a saner, simpler world, where people get out of work at five and retain their lives.

Think of a big idea which a book makes you have. It’s usually an interplay between the way it’s written and the way it’s read- but it’s always there!

2. R stands for Real: What reality is being described?

Now, about Harry Potter…

The reality of J.K. Rowling’s books is close to ours, but not quite. And if you think these books were an exception, think again. Every book, manual, essay, blog post – will be written from a particular reality. And there’s no 100% match between what people write about and where people read.

It’s important to decide what the writer holds as true and real. You don’t have to agree with everything, but it’s important to know it. bell hooks (which I reviewed earlier) writes mainly of a pre-digital academia: the reality has changed since. Naomi Klein (which is on my reading list now) writes about the interplay of causes of climate change: even its existence is a topic of debate among some circles.

This may not be an easy task, but it’s worth it: take a minute to ask about the kind of world described by the book. And see where it matches yours. The next question depends upon it.

3. A stands for Action: What does the book inspire you to do?

Notice we’re not talking about “the author” at all. And notice we’re using the word “inspire” rather than “convince.” That’s because the reading, and the reader, are much more powerful here.

You can read Seth Godin’s books and become inspired to start your own advertising business in the new digital world. Or you can read the same books and lash out at how elitist, limiting and shallow their worldview is – and how impractical their lessons are for anyone still not blessed with income and digital resources. Two readings, two inspirations – possibly from the same title.

A good book will make you consider and ponder doing something in response. A great book makes you leap around the room several times a day, starting things up, writing things down, looking things up as you get an idea which is impossible to resist.

Just remember it’s your ideas, not always the writer’s.

4. V stands for Variety: What else can you read apart from (or instead of) this?

If a life coaching client seeks more empowerment in their lives, I can think of Tony Robbins or I can think of Susan Cain. Two completely different perspectives on what personal power is, and what it does – and two different types of recommendation.

This part of my review looks at the book as a toolbox again. What if someone can’t use this technique – where else can they find solutions? Suppose my clients don’t enjoy self-help authors too much – are there any fiction or biography titles where similar perspectives are described?

Very few people are able to survive their lives on one book alone. And very few books claim to be the only source of answers for everything. The more books I recommend, the better my chances of giving you a great set of tools to coach yourself.

5. E stands for Effects: How did this book work for me?

This is different from “actions.” It describes what changed in my perspective, or even in my life – as a result of reading this book. And it’s also different from the “big” part we started out with. Sometimes books with small intentions have a profound effect (“Winnie the Pooh,” anyone?) – and sometimes a book’s big goal results in something quite opposite.

I usually try to make this section as concrete as I can. “Four Hour Body” helped me trim and select my kettlebell workout routine. “The Dip” helped me, many years ago, when I was considering completing a teacher training course. “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat” allowed me to connect my psychology training with a descriptive, argument-based view of mental health…and so on.

These will vary from one reader to another. Reading about the effects the book had on people, though, may be a good argument for buying the book yourself.

These are the five questions I will be using much more often. Books are not the only thing it works for! Got any books for me to review next? Catch me on Twitter and add them to the (very, very long) list 🙂

 

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The Good Power of Official Language Exams

language-testing-officialLanguage learners have regularly been told (also by me) to do what they love, use the language in an enjoyable way and to aim for foreign languages that motivate them to meet people. This remains true – but recent news that reached me make me wonder about the future of more formal language study. What good are state language exams – and why should you care about them even if you’re just learning a language for yourself?