New website!

So....I've finally gotten organized and have set up a little website to advertise Stop Spanglish's services. It's not much...YET. I still have to figure out what I want to do with the content and the organization, so it's still pretty basic. The full website should be up and going by September.

How NOT to learn English - the video

How not to learn English. I couldn't have said it better myself...

What to do about place names

I've seen this sign around Madrid for several years now, and it never fails to bother me. Why? "Gran Vía Street" is redundant. A "Vía" is a kind of street, so it doesn't make any sense to say it twice.

Generally speaking, you do not need to translate place names. The Plaza Mayor is the Plaza Mayor. Cibeles is Cibeles, not Cibelle Place. If an English speaker asks for directions, say the name in Spanish. That's what's printed on the maps the Tourism Office gives out.

What level are you? And how do you know?

Six or seven years ago, when I was teaching at AXA Insurance, one of my students had to hire an administrative assistant with a "good" level of English. Problem was, when he had to do the job interview, he found that most of the candidates spoke a little bit of English, but not much. They'd have enough English to survive in a bar or supermarket, but not much beyond that.

"Well," I said, "what do you mean by 'good' English?"

"Good!" he shouted. "You know, good, as in...good?"

"You need a better description than 'good'," I said. "Everyone thinks they speak 'good' English, the same way they think they make a 'good' tortilla española, or that their mother is a 'good' person."

The problem with words like "good" (as I've said before) is that it's an extremely useless and inaccurate word. That's a problem for managers, who may need employees with specific English skills, or for job candidates, who want to show how much better their English is. For more people, however, that's a problem. If they haven't done any kind of English exam, such as the First or TOEFL, how can they show what they can do?

Here's one way. If, in the past few years, you've had to use an English textbook, take a look at the back. There should be a code listed on the back with a letter (A, B or C) and a number (either 1 or 2.) That code will tell you where you are, more or less, on the European Common Framework of Languages - the EU system of showing where students are, depending on what they can do.

This description, from the Oxford University Press, gives a pretty basic background into the history of the Common Language Framework, and how it works for all languages, not just English. (So if you're also studying French, German, Italian or any EU language, there'll probably be a similar code on your materials.) To make the description even more basic, here's a quick summary.

If you're A1, you're a total beginner. You had little or no previous knowledge of the language before you began taking classes.

If you're A2, you're more than a beginner. You can talk about yourself, you can ask for basic products and services and you can have simple conversations.

If you're A2/B1, you can speak more or less clearly about yourself, but having a detailed conversation may give you trouble. You might have one specific skill, such as listening or writing, that gives you trouble. If you're in Spain, you know that you have enough language, but you know that you don't have enough English to survive in an English-speaking country

If you're B2, your skills are advanced enough that you could survive in an English-speaking job, or with an English-speaking family, without too much trouble. You might not have enough language to do anything really complicated, like negotiate, but you could present an opinion about a topic, solve a problem with a friend or co-worker, and listen to a short lecture or radio show without too much trouble. (This is the level of competence that you need to pass the First Certificate.)

If you're functioning at the C1 level, you're doing pretty good! You've probably spent a lot of time with native English speakers, or you've lived in an English-speaking country. Watching movies or reading books might take you longer than it would for an average native English speaker, but you're comfortable in most social situations; you have enough language to find a solution to a detailed problem, and you could probably read a longer magazine article or take part in a university class without too much trouble.

If you've worked your way up to the C2 level...congratulations! You're practically the same as a native speaker of English! Now, no one's going to confuse you with a native speaker, but you can probably do most of the things that a native speaker could do without too much trouble.

Obviously, this is a HUGE simplification of the system, and if you'd like a more detailed idea of what people can do at each level, the Association of Language Teachers of Europe Can-Do Document has a much better description than the one I've provided here.

So give yourself a grade -- it's much better than simply saying "I'm good"!

It's TOUR time!

You know it's summer when the Tour de France starts! Here are three web pages that will help keep you up to date on what's happening:

Bicycling Magazine - BICYCLING used to be the best source of information about anything and everything that had to do with Lance Armstrong (which meant that if you wanted to read about any other American rider, you had to look elsewhere.) Recently, however, it's become a lot more diverse, and provides tons of information about training, nutrition and people who enjoy cycling. It's diverse, but it's not too hard to understand.

NY Velocity was originally set up as an information website for amateur and professional bike racers in New York City. Most people, however, read the page for its very sarcastic (and very funny!) comic strip, "As the Toto Turns", which imitates a soap opera (=telenovela) and has some very funny insights into life in the pro pelotón.

CyclingNews is one of the most diverse websites that talks about cycling (road, mountain, and cyclocross). Its coverage of Spanish cycling isn't so great (it looks like most of the articles were taken directly from AS and MARCA) but it's a great place to get results and statistics, and it's also one of the few websites that covers women's cycling.

Great listening practice this summer...

As a Canadian, one of the things I love about the European Union is that it motivates countries and organizations to work together. To give you an example: take a look at NORTH BY SOUTHWEST, a new radio documentary series that the British Council and Radio Nacional de España are collaborating on.

I especially like the episode about bilingual education - there's some good stuff to think about in there.

Bookmark this page!

Madrid doesn't have a lot of websites that try to bring together Spanish and English speakers - you see websites for English speakers who work in Spain, and websites for Spanish speakers who want to learn English.

Now there's a website that combines the best of both. English Warehouse is a website that provides practical help for students who want to know how to take their English to the next letter; and there's also a section for English speakers who want to make the most of their time in Madrid.

Check it out!

Hey, at least he's trying...

Seen on "Alguna Pregunta Mès"...musician Mario Vaquerizo, giving English his best effort. It may not be very elaborate, but hey! At least he's trying....

One way to remember participle adjectives

If you have problems remembering which participle adjective to use (bored or boring?), here's one trick that you can use.

-ING adjectives can be used to talk about the reason why you use something:
running shoes
frying pan
hiking boots
mixing bowl

-ED adjectives are used to describe what has happened to the thing. (This is why you see -ED adjectives used a lot in the names of foods:)
baked potatoes
fried fish
toasted almonds
roasted chicken
barbecued ribs
chocolate-dipped peanuts (like Conguitos)

And see the photo below to see a perfect example of how NOT to use participle adjectives to describe food.

If you're looking for conversation classes this summer...

One of the academies I teach for, Hexagone Idiomas, is offering a very special price for English classes this summer - €30 for eight hours of conversation.

I should say that the main focus of the course is conversation, but I've put in a proposal to do other courses as well - a course on phrasal verbs, a shorter version of the Stop Spanglish course, and maybe one on writing. It depends on the demand.

If you're interested, contact Céline or Eva at Hexagone... (91) 563 2148.