It's all in your mind

Years ago (and I mean many, many years ago), I had a college classmate named Allison who was, shall we say, a little bit radical. She thought that many languages were fundamentally sexist because (she felt) that there weren't many ways for women to be present in grammar, and that that meant that if a language tended to favour masculine forms, the language caused people, in turn, to think in a sexist way.

That idea may appear to be radical, but it's not a new one. As this New York Times article shows, people have been trying to make the connection between language and thought for a very long time (http://tinyurl.com/33adeud.)

It's a good article, maybe a bit long, but works well in describing why that idea (called the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) isn't always correct.

Enjoy!

We're outta here...see you Monday!

Hi, everybody....

Just a quick note to let you know that we're taking off to Santiago de Compostela this weekend, but we'll be back on Monday with more fun and stuff.

Have a great (early) weekend!

...and while we're on the topic of English and immigration...

...I had a chance to talk to my friend Nancy over the weekend. Nancy is a program officer with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and she confirmed that yes, indeed, people who want to immigrate to Canada should do the IELTS exam, just as before.

There is some talk about introducing a new exam, but that's not for another year, and candidates who want to apply now should and can do the IELTS to show how well they can speak and work with English.

What it's like for us...

There's another great essay on the "Facts and Arguments" page of today's The Globe and Mail. This one talks about a Canadian woman who went to Zurich, Switzerland, six years ago, and how she deals with the language barrier -- and people's attitudes about what living in another country should be.

http://tinyurl.com/33kklnc

This essay also includes audio, so you can listen to the essay while you read it, or before/after.

Enjoy!

NEW! STOP SPANGLISH - The Intensive Course

• Have you been studying English for years, but still feel like you're not getting better?
• Do you want to study for a Cambridge Exam, but are afraid that you can't use your English enough to pass?
• Are you unsure why you still keep making the same mistakes, over and over again?
• Do you find that you're unable to develop your "English brain" and stop translating when you speak in English?
• Do you think you'll never really understand how to speak correctly?

If you answered "YES!!!" to any of the questions above...THE STOP SPANGLISH SEMINAR is for you.

You may be surprised to learn that most Spanish students of English find it extremely difficult to get beyond an intermediate level. But many students are also very surprised to find that English is actually a very simple language because of its lack of flexibility.

In many ways, English can't do the same things that Spanish does - and when you learn how limited English really is, you can make great progress in learning how to eliminate mistakes and reduce the amount of translation you need.

Over eight hours, you will learn:
- How rigid English syntax is - and why that is an advantage for you
- The seven ways to organize verbs
- How to train yourself to stop speaking and writing in Spanglish
- The important connections between grammar and pronunciation
- Valuable English-only dictionary skills - get rid of that old dictionary and find the one that works best for you!

...all this and more for only €129! (that's a 35% discount!)

WHEN: September 10, 17, 24 and October 1st (Friday afternoons), 15:00 - 17:00
WHERE: Hexagone Idiomas, c/ López de Hoyos (Metro Avenida de América)

FOR MORE INFORMATION... Write us at stop (dot) spanglish (arroba) yahoo (punto) es!

Life (and immigration) isn't always fair

One thing that's surprised me a lot this month is that I'm getting calls from a lot of people who want to improve their English...because they want to leave Spain and go live in another country. If you're among them, be warned that Canada now has new rules about language proficiency. These rules do not necessarily help people who have already achieved a high level of English... like, you know... English literature professors from the United States!

http://tinyurl.com/2cbf45y

I have a friend who works for CIC, the Immigration authority. I'll see if I can find some more information about the exam.

Another Stop Spanglish classic...

This one was taken in the Puerta del Sol, in Madrid.

Poor tourists...

If you're looking for a private teacher....

So here we are, in the middle of August. Within the next few days, as people start returning from holidays, many potential English students are going to start looking for English classes. A lot of people will choose to attend classes in an academy. Many will start looking for private English teachers, either for work or for fun. In most cases, the relationship between teachers and students will generally be pretty positive.

That said, every year, there are cases where one side, or the other, ends up disappointed. A lack of communication can prevent students from getting the help they need, and it can also prevent teachers from really understanding how they can work effectively with their students.

I'm not going to say that I'm an expert on student-teacher relationships. I have, however, taught for twelve years in different countries, and I hope that the information I can offer you will help you find and work with the teacher who's best for you.

THOUGHTS FOR STUDENTS:

Be honest with yourself before you're honest with your teacher. If you're going to hire a private teacher, be aware that you are helping provide someone with a salary. Who are the students who give up after three weeks? They're the students who do not have a clear idea of what they want to accomplish, or what they want to do, BEFORE the class.

Sit down with yourself for an hour and ask yourself the following questions:
- What are the things I currently do with my level of English?
-What are the things I cannot do, but either need or want to do?
- What are the things I need to do to bring my level up?
- How much time per week -- in AND out of class - am I willing to dedicate to working on my English? (Remember that, for every hour you spend in class, you need to spend an hour practising and working on your skills.)
- Do I really need English for my job, or do I say that because I think everyone else expects me to have English skills?
- What are the fun things that I can do that will keep me interested in English?

If you cannot answer those questions, please think twice before you contact a private teacher. Classes in a group situation in an academy may be a better option, because it's sometimes more fun to learn with other people than to learn alone.

Don't be cheap. If you want to have classes with a teacher but you think the teacher is too expensive, it's acceptable to negotiate. It is NOT acceptable to send the teacher insulting e-mails or to ask for the price of classes to be cut by half. You wouldn't ask your lawyer to lower his fees. You wouldn't ask your accountant to lower her fees. You wouldn't ask your dentist to lower his fees. It's not acceptable to do that with a teacher. I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but if you cannot afford a teacher's fees...look somewhere else for a different teacher.

One side note to that: If you're employed full-time want to take private English classes, and you're worried about the cost, ask your Human Resources department if the company has a student payment program. A surprising number of companies in Spain DO reimburse employees (=pay them back) for part of the cost of classes; they usually do this if the teacher is an autónomo and can issue invoices. It doesn't hurt to ask your company if they do this; and, if it's not company policy, ask your boss(es) to consider doing it. (Remind them that reimbursing is a LOT less expensive than hiring a company to give in-house classes.)

Remember that the teacher is trying to create lessons and tasks to help you improve. (What I basically mean is: Learn to follow instructions.) If I give you a writing task, I don't want you to spend half an hour telling me the answer. If I give you a grammar exercise that asks you to write the answer in complete sentences, don't give me two or three words. You may think that it's boring to do all that work, but that work is what makes you get better. Please do the work as it's presented to you, not as you think that you want to do it. I can't tell the difference between a student who doesn't understand a task and a student who simply doesn't feel like doing the work.

If you want to terminate your relationship with your teacher, be honest about it. Don't disappear. Attend your classes and let us know at the earliest moment if you can't attend. If you have a personal issue, like illness or family or money problems, be honest about it. Don't cancel eight classes in a row and then expect your teacher to help you four months later. Don't "forget" to pay your teacher for a month and expect the teacher not to notice.

THOUGHTS FOR TEACHERS:

Learning a language is scary. If you've never done it before, you should try it; it can be enriching and humbling at the same time. We have more credibility as teachers if we've been there before ourselves.

Don't sell yourself short. Don't work for less money than you think you rightly deserve. If the student doesn't want to pay what you're asking, let him or her find someone else. If you have a specialized skill that you think would be useful for students, for God's sake, make sure they know it. Market yourself well -- that includes presenting a professional images, preparing classes well, and knowing how to say you're sorry if something doesn't go right.

Each one teaches one. This is just a personal opinion, but I think the best classes I have are the ones where I learn just as much as the student does.

There is no finite pot of riches. And what I mean by that is that, professionally, you have little to lose and a lot more to gain if you help other teachers and work with them. Business guru Suze Orman likes to say that generosity pays off in ways you could never imagine; be kind and generous and you'll get back more than what you gave. If you have teacher friends who are on Twitter, follow them and retweet their posts. If you need that couple of days off, offer your classes to a buddy (trust me, I have never seen a case of one teacher stealing another's student - students are not credit cards or Bic pens.) Like the song says, you get what you give.

These are just my thoughts. Please feel free to share yours.

Q&A: Candy Lee Laballe on TOEFL and MBAs

No doubt about it: if you want to study in the US, the TOEFL exam is THE exam that schools ask for. As more students think about applying for graduate business school programs, demand for TOEFL exam prep has shot up... something Candy Lee Laballe, head of MBASpain, knows very well. We spoke with Candy today about what kind of language skills business schools are looking for.

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Most of your work is with students who want to study MBAs in the States. What level of English do MBA students need?

An MBA student needs to be nearly fluent, both to follow the fast pace of discussion in the classroom and to participate actively in study groups which are a required aspect of most programs.

If students can't communicate at that level, what are the things they do that prevent them from getting better?

It all comes down to fluency: the ability to integrate the four parts of communication (reading, listening, writing and speaking), which are the four parts of the TOEFL exam). Practice. At this level (MBA,TOEFL) it really is no longer about grammar, but about usage.

How closely do MBA programs look at TOEFL scores? If a school has two ideal candidates but only one place, does the candidate with the higher TOEFL score get in?

The TOEFL score in terms of MBA admissions is a benchmark, nothing more. If a school asks for 100, then you need 100 - 105 will not give you an edge. But don't think scoring close to the benchmark is enough. Dee Leopold, director of admissions and financial aid at Harvard Business School, which requires a 109 TOEFL, has said don't bother applying with a 108. With TOEFL, you need to meet the minimum required by the school--that is all.

If you could offer one piece of advice to students who want to improve their English to study in the States, what would it be?

Get daily immersion in the language. If you don't work in an environment where English is used regularly, then fill your MP3 player with American English podcasts such as This American Life or Harvard Business IdeaCast. Try to read for an hour a day on a wide variety of topics in websites such as http://www.nationalgeographic.com/, http://www.sciencedaily.com/, http://www.historynet.com/, http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/. You also need to build up your communication skills in writing and speaking. Consider hiring a private English teacher for in-person or phone classes to work on these areas.

For more information, be sure to visit MBASpain's website, at http://www.mbaspain.com.

Looking for help with business English?

A lot of business learners complain that they don't have time to practice outside of class. I'm not sure if that's true or not (after all, this IS a country where people have breakfast twice a day and spend a considerable amount of time drinking coffee!), but if you have found that it's hard to practice your business English when you're not in class, go to YouTube and take a look at the Business English videos that BizPod has created:

http://www.youtube.com/user/bizpod

The videos, which are about ten minutes long, cover a wide range of subjects. Among the topics that they have, you can find information about business vocabulary and writing skills. It's a useful solution if you don't have a lot of time to practice when you're not in class.

Wednesday's Word Challenge

The biggest difference between adverbs and prepositions is that adverbs usually give an idea of movement and prepositions describe the space relationships between things that don't move.

Which prepositions and adverbs would you need to describe your trip between home and work (or home and school)?

Thought for the day:

No one rises to low expectations. Aim for the moon and enjoy the ride!
-- Bear Grylls, TV host and adventurer

TRY THIS: I will... I will... I will...

Have you ever wondered why, at the beginning of every episode of "The Simpsons", Bart Simpson is trapped in a classroom and has to write a specific sentence over and over again?

Writing a sentence fifty, one hundred or two hundred times used to be a very common way of trying to teach school children not to misbehave or do things that would annoy the class. Psychologists now know, however, that this is also an extremely effective tool to get people to visualize positive change in their lives and to make themselves believe that something is true. The more times you hear something, the easier it is to remember it - and if it's easier to remember something, you're more likely to do it.

So if you're having problems keeping your focus or staying motivated....TRY THIS:

Think of a positive sentence (something you might want your teacher to tell you, for example) and write it down fifty times. Take a clean piece of paper, write the sentence at the top of the page in red ink...then take half an hour to an hour and keep writing and writing and writing the same sentence over again.

Here are some examples of sentences you might try:

* I don't need to translate from Spanish to English: my English skills are good enough.
*I will get excellent marks on my exam.
* When I go to (name city here), I will not have problems speaking English. I can understand and be understood.
* Learning more slowly does not mean that I will never learn English!

This trick also works well with words or structures that you have problems remembering, like not putting the modal verb in the IF- clause in a conditional sentence. (You probably don't need to write it fifty times, however...ten or fifteen times is probably enough.)

Why bother with Proficiency?

In this week's CPE newsletter, www.Flo-Joe.co.uk had some interesting thought about doing the Cambridge Proficiency exam:

CPE RECOGNITION - why bother doing the Proficiency exam?An important factor in a student's mind when deciding to take an exam is its currency for study or vocational purposes. CPE is wellrecognised both in the UK and abroad, so what are the typical benefits of passing the Proficiency? Firstly, CPE is recognised by just about all British universities for satisfying English languagerequirements and, according to Cambridge ESOL literature "a growing number of universities in the USA", where traditionally the TOEFL exam has greater recognition. It is not just in the academic fieldthat CPE is useful. Many companies around the world where potentialemployees are required to demonstrate a high level of language competence ask for CPE as evidence; furthermore, ongoing staff development programmes may work towards the exam. If you would like more information about how and where Cambridge ESOL examinations are recognised you can go the Cambridge ESOL website:
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/recognition/index.php

It's worth remembering that motivation is a key factor in how well you learn English. Having a specific goal in mind - doing an exam, for example - may help you improve your English and your learning skills this year.

Texts: Have your say

Some bloggers who write about education are debating the role of textbooks in the classroom. Most of the writers are people who teach kids and teens in regular, English-language schools, but a number of ESL teachers are contributing to the debate.

Some people say that textbooks give a false sense of security and learning.... that, for some teachers, it becomes too easy to rely on what's in the book, without thinking about what the students want or need.

What's your opinion? Do classes feel like "real" learning only if you have a textbook? Does it depend on the teacher? Do you feel more confident if you use a textbook in class?

FREE!! ESL Writing Checklist

In the time that I've been teaching English, both in Spain and in other countries, I've found that almost all of my students hate writing. It's easy to understand why. Effective writing (not just spelling, but constructing arguments and convincing people) isn't easy to do. Students also don't like to spend lots of time trying to write something that sounds intelligent...and then get a paper back that's full of mistakes.

One of the best ways you can avoid the disappointment of getting a (heavily) corrected essay back is to check for mistakes before you submit your text to your teacher. Many (if not almost all) mistakes are easily avoidable, and if you go back and look at the kind of corrections your teacher made on your essays, you'll probably find that you're not making a lot of different kinds of mistakes...you're making the same mistakes over and over and over again.

If this is the case, here's a downloadable writing checklist that can help you revise your writing before you submit it.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35772510/Writing-Checklist

This isn't a list of every possible thing that students do wrong, but it does cover the most common (and the most easily prevented) mistakes that teachers tend to see. If you're writing the First Certificate exam, these are the kinds of silly mistakes that make students lose points and risk failing.

Juan Francisco's guide to learning English

Hello everybody. I’m Juan, a Spanish speaker of English, in fact, the perfect model of a Spanish learner of English.

Patri has given me the opportunity to write in her fantastic blog about what the habits are that, in my opinion, successful English students have or should have to learn a foreign language like English. A foreign language that, of course, is really difficult to internalize because, among other circumstances, has a Germanic base so different of Spanish’s Latin origins...

You can read Juan Francisco's entire article here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35766798

Don't mention the war! (or George Bush, or smiles...)

There's a funny video on The Guardian's website that's worth a look. Apparently the London Tourist Board has decided that they don't want average Londoners committing possible mistakes when people from other countries travel to London for the 2012 Olympics, and the Board has created

http://tinyurl.com/38q9lj4

Take a look at the video and tell us what you think: Are these concerns justified? Or is the Board making cultural assumptions that simply aren't true?

Wednesday's Word Challenge

You don't find many wrods that end in "b" or the sound /b/ in Spanish, but they're fairly common in English: pub, tab, rub. How many words can you think of that end in that sound?

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Juan Francisco Martinez Corbi, of Arganda del Rey (Madrid), who was the first to write in with the correct answer to our Stop Spanglish photo competition:

Hi Patri!I have just read your blog, the last two posts to be precise, and I have decided to take part in your first STOP SPANGLISH contest against Spanglish.
QUESTION A: I think the mistake is 'Cards of credit'.
QUESTION B: It's wrong because there are noun + noun compounds (in this case, cards + credit) to describe many common ideas, things or people in English and, in fact, to describe that specific object in the correct way. For this reason…
QUESTION C: The correct English should be, in my opinion, 'We do not accept credit cards'. There are two nouns. The first one (in singular) describes what kind of cards are them.

Don't forget to keep visiting the STOP SPANGLISH blog, so you can take part in future competitions.... I have a LOT of photos like this one.

A request from the teacher...

I have a pair of students (a couple, really) who I have been teaching since the beginning of June. Truth is, I don't know whether I should use the present perfect continuous (have been teaching) or past simple (taught) to describe my relationship with them. We were supposed to start class again last Tuesday, but they wrote me an SMS to say that they were out of town and wouldn't be able to start again until today.

So, at 7:30 AM today, I sent them another SMS, asking them again if we were starting class today. I didn't get any response. I called them just after 12 noon, to find out what the story was. "Oh, sorry!" he said. "We're out of town for a couple of days, but we'd like to start again next Tuesday, at 3PM, like normal. Would that be possible?"

Folks, if I can only share one piece of advice with you, let it be this: Be HONEST. If you don't want to continue with your teacher, tell your teacher that you don't want to continue. All you have to do is tell the truth. You won't hurt our feelings, believe me; most of us have been teaching long enough that we will not take it personally if you a) don't have enough money for classes or b) think that we are awful teachers and you want to go somewhere else.

Remember that most teachers do not get paid for classes they do not have. This is how we earn our living and pay our rent. It makes it very difficult for us when students cancel classes randomly! This is why we start insisting on being paid for ten or twenty classes in advance - I know those are policies that students don't like, but your teacher is making a commitment to you when he or she agrees to teach you, and part of that commitment involves knowing that your student will be reliable, too.

If there's something you don't like about the way your teacher teaches, or you think that you should be learning something different or doing things in a different way, be sure your teachers knows. A good teacher should not get angry if you ask for what you want. Any teacher will get very angry if a student disappears or starts acting weird.

I welcome your thoughts and your ideas....

COMPETITION #1: What's wrong with this picture?

Take a look at the English in this photo. Technically, it's not super-wrong, because people can still (basically) understand the message.

It is, however, a perfect example of Spanglish. Whoever translated it did not think (or didn't know) about how English structures are different from Spanish structures, and it makes the message look sloppy and unprofessional.

So here's our first STOP SPANGLISH contest! If you are the first person to answer the three questions below correctly, you will win an Oxford dictionary designed for English learners, plus a copy of Enleno's excellent English Learner Notebook.

a) What's the mistake in the photo?
b) Why is it wrong?
c) What should the correct English be?

THE FINE PRINT: Send your answers to stop (dot) spanglish (at) yahoo (dot) com before noon Friday, August 13th. This competition is open to all students who reside in Spain (peninsular Spain, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands) and Portugal. We hate spam, too, so we will NOT use your e-mail for anything at all (you have my personal promise!!) unless you clearly tell us that you want to receive updates and more information.

Is it possible to learn TOO much English?

Too much English? It's a luxury that most people don't have to worry about. Most people struggle with learning English and being able to use what they learn in class!

As the New York Times reports, however, it's a problem that's becoming increasingly common in Indonesia. Learning English is promoted so heavily in Indonesia that, surprisingly, it's affecting how well people -- especially young learners -- can communicate in their native tongues.

http://tinyurl.com/33capnu

America's first Muslim college

There's an interesting feature today on VOAnews.com about the first American Muslim college. For those of you who are thinking about studying in the United States, it's worth remembering that many of the colleges and universities which are famous internationally were started by different churches; Harvard, for example, was started by well-off Protestants who settled in the Boston area and wanted a high-level university for their children.

You can listen to (and read) the feature here:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Americas-First-Muslim-College-Opens-this-Fall-99831529.html

The feature contains some ideas and vocabulary that you might find useful for the listening part of the TOEFL - especially those "not in classroom" discussions that you are tested on.

Now on Twitter!

STOP SPANGLISH is now on Twitter! Follow us at http://twitter.com/stopspanglish.

Wednesday's Word Challenge

Most irregular past tense verbs only have one syllable: ate, went, cut, put, dreamt.

How many irregular past simple verbs can you think of that have more than one syllable?

TOEFL Students: Why paraphrasing is important

One of the most serious mistakes that students make on the TOEFL Writing exam is not paraphrasing properly. It may seem ridiculous (why say it in your own words if it's already been said?), but it's important to remember that students in American and Canadian universities do a LOT more writing than in Spanish universities. The ability to write clear, accurate prose is fundamental, and part of that ability is to be able to say someone else's words in a different way - which allows you to compare and contrast ideas, thoughts and possibilities.

Problem is, a lot of students now think that it's acceptable to avoid this and to copy information directly from the Internet. This story from The New York Times explains how widespread (=common) the problem is, and why it's such a serious problem for universities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=1&hp

(Of course, TOEFL students who are well-prepared won't have this problem!)

Open Topic: Motivation

The chances are that you're probably on holidays now and that you haven't thought about September, much less starting classes.

So here's an open topic for those of you who are practising English over the summer: What keeps you motivated? What inspires you to get better at speaking and using your English?

"Norwegians in Brooklyn"

If you decide to get a private English teacher this fall, I strongly suggest that you ask the person if she or he has ever tried to learn another language. It's not because you should have someone who speaks perfect Spanish (although it certainly helps.) Language teachers who have experience learning a language can often understand those strange little situations that happen to language students - such as what it's like to develop an accent that people don't expect you to have.

James Fallows, a writer for "The Atlantic Monthly", lived in Beijing for a number of years, and understands what it's like to learn a language, since he speaks fairly fluent Chinese. He's also been tracking and organizing stories about how different English accents can happen in the places where you least expect them. The story about the Chinese guy who talks like Deer Hunter actor Christopher Walken is priceless....

http://tinyurl.com/37ay65a