Episode IV: Learning a foreign language by Livemocha

We (me and my fellow Puntino) have talked yet about some communities useful for English Learning.

In this forth episode I wanna talk about LiveMocha.



LiveMocha it's a well organized community for language learning.
This site use an interactive way of practicing a foreign tongue, through a very smart method.

You can practice at the same time your skills in, reading, writing, listening, speaking.
For instance you can practice and traing your speaking abilities recording a short dialogue.
The other members of community are able to listen to it and send you some advice or simply correct mistakes you have done.

And all this not only for English but for other languages too! (French, Spanish and so on)

IMHO the best featurs of the mocha are three.

1) It is free (obviously :P)
2) It is very simple and useful
3) It is a cosmopolitan community.


So....see you around the mocha ;)

Episode III: Learning a foreign language by Dave's ESL Cafè

By TopGun

In my first Year at University there was a good English teacher.
His name was Roy Boardman.

I liked his way to do.
He often used new media and innovative methods to teach English.
One of these was, obviously, online resources.

He gave us a list of links.
One of these was Dave's ESL Cafe.

Dave's ESL Cafè is "a meeting place for ESL teachers and students".
ESL means English as Second Language if you don't knew this.

It contains a lot of useful links, didactic materials,podcasts,forum links and a good frequented chatroom.
In Dave's ESL Cafè chatroom you can practice English with beginners as you are, and ask for help from ESL teachers.

There is only one thing to do.
Try it and let me know what you think about.



See you Fellows ;)

I thank guusebumps for his corrections.

FireFox tools for our English

By Puntino

How many times have you made a spelling mistake?
It could be lots of times, after you posted your comments or wrote a mail and so on.
In this case, a tool provided by FireFox (FF) could be very useful: Dictionary
To add it to your FireFox, you have only to click on the world "install" of chosen dictionary and let FireFox install it, then you need to restart FireFox.
The dictionary checks the spelling of the words and when they are wrong written it suggests possible solutions (right click on the word and it will appear some possible correctrections , look at the picture below, I wrote "word" badly)
From now on your spelling mistakes will be fix for ever :)

Another utility that can help us, but has nothing to do with the spelling check, is Backwards, the developers state the following features:

*Translate an English word into French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional or Simplified Chinese when mouse cursor hovers over it.
*With one click, remember all context of the word, such as URL of the page and the paragraph which the word belongs to.
*Get Pronunciation of the word with a flash.
*Write a note for the word.
*Search more explanation of the word with one click.
*Review all words and context collected on a build-in page.

I add that the translation function is a bit shallow but useful to get, just in time, the gist of the unknown word and it is easier to use, indeed you need only to place the pointer near the world that you desire to translate.
At the first use, you have to point out which language to put the English words in.

1. Go to Tool (FF' s tool bar)->Add-ons.
2. You'll find Backwards-> click on "option" button.
   
3. Choose the language in "Dictionary".
   

If it seems not to work you need to enable it, you should find a little grey cross in the right low corner of FF (take a look at the snapshot below), double click on it, the cross turn into green from that point on Backward is enabled but sometime it could disable on its own and you need to click on the cross again, instead by turning the cross from green into grey you can disable it when, for example, it's annoying you .

Backwords has a helpful feature that allows the user to make a note of the meaning of the word and check it in the future, you have just to click on, respectively, the red cross and the "B" letter that appear when you place the pointer near the word.

That's all

Episode II: Learning a foreign language with RosettaStone SharedTalk

By Puntino

It's probable that many people already know Rosetta stone line-products for self-teaching a new language aided by PC.
In this item, however, I want to speak about a new tool provided by Rosetta Stone to learn a foreign language not being alone, but with the help of a community.
Differently from the other RosettaStone products, Shared Talk does not need any installations
but you can make use of it without an installer and free of charge (at least at the time I'm writing!)
Indeed, all you need is an Internet connection and to sign up on the SharedTalk web site.
Since ShardTalk is a community you'll find many people that live in different angles of the world
and want to exchange their native language(s) with the one(s) they want to learn.
Going on look over its main features:

1) Mailbox.
After your registration, you''ll have the right to a private mailbox that you can access only by logging in on the SharedTalk web site.
However they provide a notification service to make you know when a new mail has been sent to you. Simply you'll receive a notification message on your electronic mailbox that you have provided during the registration.
In this way, they avoid spreading your email on the Internet.

2)Partner Search engine.
As I said SharedTalk is a community where people wish to learn a language by exchanging it, in
other words when you fill in your profile form, you have to choose which language(s) you can
teach and which one(s) you wish to learn.
Then with a partner search engine you can find among the community members the best for you.

3)Text Chat
As other Internet communities, SharedTalk is equipped with either a public text chat or a private text chat.
The public chats are categorized by language, for example there is a chat for speaking English, another for Russian and so on.

4)Voice Chat
At last but not least there is the Voice Chat, I think it's an innovative and useful feature and
probably SharedTalk is one of the few learning communities that have this tool.
In order to enter the Voice Chat you don't need any software like Skype but simply a microphone.
The voice chat is well developed because it lets you know which members are speaking and
which aren't, moreover you can know the country where the people are from.
and which language(s) they wish to practice.
These are the major characteristics in my opinion, however we have to take into account that SharedTalk, currently, is a beta release and probably new features will be added or improved.

On the whole I honestly suggest this website and the benefits like the registration which is free of charge, because in the future to join SharedTalk could become charged or conditioned by purchase of a RosettaStone product (This is my prevision I can't ensure you about that!)

Join Rosetta Stone Shared talk
http://www.sharedtalk.com/

I thank Zsófia for her corretions

A few minutes a day with English

by Puntino

I think that it's very important to train our English every day even if for only
a few minutes, now I don't want to deepen this concept but simply I'll suggest
you an easy and fun way to refresh our vocabulary and increase it with new words and "slangs".

There are two Italian radios which broadcast programs for English training:
Radio Monte Carlo RMC
Radio 24

RMC with its program "Speak Easy by Clive" help us to build up our English by listening to
famous songs and explaining to you the meaning of the words.
Generally, Clive focus your attention on the same word but show its different meanings and uses with songs.
Speak Easy is on air every day at 13:30, 16:30 and 20: 30.

Radio24 with its "English24 by Marta Cagnola and Giulia Crivelli" differently than RMC
not use only the songs to improve and keep your English alive but also short pieces
of interviews or advertisements.
Marta Cagnola and Giulia Crivelli show you, by example, words and expressions that are currently used.
English 24 is on air every Saturday at 19:15

Both English 24 and Speak Easy take few minutes so they are very useful for everyone needs
to practice English but don't have time to accomplish it.

Episode I: Learning a foreign language by eTandem

by Puntino

How many times have you wondered where can I find a mother tongue in order to help me
learning a new language?
Certainly you can learn a new language at private school
but it's expensive and time consuming...it could be tricky.
If you have a bilingual friend, you are very lucky
because without paying while enjoying yourself you
can learn a new language, but if you have an Internet

connection... you are lucky too!
Indeed you can join the eTandem community in which you
will find other people, like you, interested in learning a foreign language.
How does it work?
Suppose you are Greek native (so you can teach Greek)
and want to learn Swedish, by joining eTandem, you could find someone who
is a native Swedish speaker and interested in Greek.
Then by helping one another you'll learn the foreign language.
Moreover it is an opportunity to know someone who lives in another country
with traditions and background different than yours.
To achieve this, first, you have to sign up at the eTandem Project,
and fill out your profile (name, language you want to learn, language you can teach, etc.)
The eTandem system will match as best as possibile your profiles with other members
and establish a contact (by email) between you and your partner.
About one month after my registration, I have been communicating with my English partner for 7 days with email,

and we'll start as soon as possible chatting and speaking...
For more details:
http://www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/etandem/etindex-en.html

I thank Holly for her corrections