Show notes
Hey everyone, welcome to podcast episode 5! The interview in today's episode was one of the most amazing and inspiring ones that I have ever recorded. I loved talking to André Klein, a fellow German native speaker and teacher of German. It is really a gem, there is so much in there just for you to take a new, fresh, alternative approach to language learning.
Fluent News
My books Fluency Made Achievable and The Vocab Cookbook are finally here, and you can buy them to really improve your language learning methods. There is a special discount for early buyers, available only until 31 July! Full info over at www.fluentlanguage.co.uk/book
When we find ourselves in an immersion environment, sometimes it can be hard to remain entirely at ease with the language we grew up with. The BBC collected stories and opinions from 20 readers who shared their own stories.
Examples include swearing in your native language versus swearing in a foreign language, saying "I love you" and losing your native dialect.
Here is a sound sample of Moselfränkisch, my fun German home dialect (does NOT sound like German)
Send me your own opinions to kerstin@fluentlanguage.co.uk
- Have you lost fluency in your own first language?
- Is immersion worth losing your languages over?
- Do you fear this ever happening to you, or would it make you proud?
Main Event: Interview with André Klein
André is a writer, teacher, linguist and creator. He runs learnoutlive.com, a fabulous blog and learning resource for language learners AND teachers. What I love about André is how he innovates quietly, and in his own way. A total pioneer. His books are now read in schools teaching German, and students get to enjoy language learning much more!
An App shows you smiley faces, but if you don't go out and speak to someone you will never know where you are on the scale.
Stories help learners get the feeling of relating to the language as a whole, not just individual parts of it.
You can't torture people with the Konjuktiv 2 and sentences that go on and on forever and nobody knows where the verb is!
We must not treat learners as empty receptacles - go out and explore!
Main Points:
- Which Language is André learning right now - and why doesn't he find stories to study with?
- Why it's so tricky to speak to those native speakers!
- André's surprising tip: What is the best genre for finding simple and engaging language learning content?
- Where is the riskiest aspect in learning a language through reading by yourself?
- André's amazing and innovative Choose Your Own Adventure Kindle Books -- and what happens when you misunderstand something in one of those
- How has the internet changed language learning? Forums, Duolingo and exchanges, are they actually making learning easier?
- How are Andrés self-published story books different from classic textbooks?
- Why are we independent language teachers, writers and educators? Yes, we finish by talking about uncompromised freedom!
Great Links for Today's Episode
Learnoutlive.com, home and online store of André Klein Online
André's Twitter Account, the Learnoutlive Twitter Account and the German-focused account
A Fluent Review of Genowrin
Duolingo, an online language learning resource
Have you learnt a language through André's books? Do you use Duolingo and feel like it's missing something? Have you developed a feel for your new language?
Get in touch and let me know by email or in the comments below, and we'll discuss it in the next podcast. I would currently love to bring in a call-in line or voicemail facility, so if you know how this works please find me on Skype as "fluentlanguage".
With lots of independent greetings - can't wait to hear from you!
Kerstin
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