IXL Learning’s Post

Looking to learn languages faster? As a polyglot who speaks over a dozen languages, I'm always exploring new techniques to boost language acquisition. One approach I'd highly recommend is the N+1 method. The core idea behind N+1 is that you only need to understand about 90% of a language to fill in the gaps via context. By focusing your learning on the essential 20-30% - like vocabulary, phonics, and basic grammar - you can reach that 90% comprehension threshold efficiently. The best part is you continue acquiring vocabulary and nuances naturally this way. Rather than grinding through textbooks front to back, you get right to using and enjoying the language, which makes the process so much more rewarding. If you feel overwhelmed diving into a new language, give N+1 a try. Focus on getting across that 90% threshold, then let contextual learning work its magic through native media and conversations. You might surprise yourself with how quickly your skills progress!

What’s a language without words? Nothing. That’s why becoming a superior vocabulary learner is vital if you want to get to grips with your second (third, fourth etc.) language. https://lnkd.in/ddWHBxN

New research suggests your childhood might hold the key to how easily you crack the code. The study explores how people raised with just one script, like the Latin alphabet, tend to struggle with entirely new writing systems. But for those who grew up with multiple scripts, like Arabic and Cyrillic, these new systems seem more approachable, almost like a fun brain teaser. Tim Brookes finds polyscriptal folks are more adaptable, he asks linguists and translators to share their experiences with multiple scripts to broaden understanding of writing systems globally. Read more: https://buff.ly/3LcGjSP #MultiLingualMedia

Sharing my hobby project on linkedin! This is software I made to help teach myself Finnish. So far, I generate en->fi and fi->en translation exercises and Finnish audio transcription exercises from scraped articles. Then I grade the answers with embeddings + cosine distance, and track my progress over time. It's been fun learning React, LLM stuff, and, optimistically, Finnish. Since my time at Pandora, I've been interested in data-optimized learning (learning to appreciate a song == learning anything else), so that's coming eventually. If you're patient, check out my video or article in the comments. Kippis kaikille jotka opettelevat suomea.

My clients complain sometimes. They tell me that they don't like verbs with dividable prefixes in German. That's OK. We don't need to like everything about a language. But we need to give it a try to really get to know it first. Let's take the verb "ausschalten" as an example. 𝘐𝘤𝘩 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞 𝘮𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘺 𝐚𝐮𝐬. 𝘐 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦. Do you see some similarities in the structure here? The words "aus" and "off" are "floating freely" in both languages, because they are words on their own. And this is one of the main clues on how to recognise a dividable verb in German: the prefix can also stand on its own, it has its own "life" (ein, auf, um, mit, vor etc). Non-dividable prefixes can't "live independently" (be-, ent-, emp- etc.) 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬: now this is where the real fun starts! A prefix can give a verb a poetic or practical "kick"! (or both 😉) What do I mean by that? By adding a few letters we get an entirely new word, often connected to a concept we are already familiar with. Sometimes, the prefix also already gives us a clue on what the word means, even if we don't know it yet. For example: lesen vorlesen = to read out loud durchlesen = read through s. einlesen = to read about, get familiar with sth, "read in" ... sprechen aussprechen = to pronounce ("speak sth out loud") ansprechen = to address (a topic, an issue) mitsprechen = to have a say in sth ("speak with others") ... So many new possibilities to say something new and something precise, all in one adjustment of a word! 🛼 There's so much more I could tell you about such verbs, but I hope this suffices to wake up your interest in them, since that's the foundation of all language exploration and learning ☺️ How do you feel about verbs with dividable prefixes? Is there any other topic you might dislike? I am happy to offer a perspective shift in one of my next posts! 🙌

Have you ever wondered how different it is to learn a second language as an adult compared to learning your first as a child? Read our latest blog https://bit.ly/3SVTuvN as we explore the fascinating journey of adult language acquisition and how every word adds another layer of understanding to your world ✨ #languagelearning #languagejourney #learningasecondlanguage

Very CLASSy tips to support young children's literacy and vocabulary skills. I see a lot of strategies that support effective Language Modeling interactions! https://gag.gl/C90zN9

Very CLASSy tips to support young children's literacy and vocabulary skills. I see a lot of strategies that support effective Language Modeling interactions! https://gag.gl/C90zN9

Very CLASSy tips to support young children's literacy and vocabulary skills. I see a lot of strategies that support effective Language Modeling interactions! https://gag.gl/C90zN9

Continued from Part 1 of this post yesterday. Read it here: linkedin (dot) com/posts/hope-m-anderson_edtech-languagelearning-languageteaching-activity-7201960614494154754-apyv (Broken link so LinkedIn doesn't throttle my post in the algorithm; just paste it back together) Part 2 In education, there’s a prevailing idea that “I taught it, therefore they’re responsible for it” – and with many subjects, if you have confidence in your ability to teach a topic and have most of the students “get it,” that might work. But language doesn’t work that way. I wish it did, but it’s unfortunately not possible to just learn a rule and then immediately begin applying it in the way that you speak—your native language or any other. Think about a language feature that you’ve been “corrected” on in a language that you speak. Did it immediately change how you started speaking? For example, the classic “Me and my friends…” “No, MY friends and I…” Of course not! And that’s in a language that you speak well! Imagine trying to expect students to instantly adopt all of these kinds of corrections in a language that they’ve just barely started learning. That is what I mean about not lowering my expectations, but rather, changing them—if students aren’t going to instantly adopt a correction, why not focus on building their skills in what they’re able to understand and communicate with language? Of course I’m not the inventor of this idea – ACTFL has been doing it for many years, and a lot of the research on language acquisition and teaching has been moving in this direction for nearly 70 years. But yet, trying to implement it still makes a young, new teacher—or any teacher—an outlier in their program and draws too much negative attention. That’s part of why it’s so hard to make changes on the program level, whether you’re in a position of authority or not—and why I’ve moved into helping teachers individually with Teaching Solved. I’d love to be the trainer who comes in and kindles the spark in teachers who have started figuring this out for themselves, so they don’t feel so alone and so they have easier ways to implement it without reinventing the wheel. I’d also love to see our product, Lesson Magic, adopted on the department and school level so that teachers are supported in teaching for communicative skills instead of just explaining the grammar in the chapter—and are provided with useful material to do so, rather than having to create everything themselves. If you can help us by introducing me to innovative, creative schools that have their own budget, want to support their teachers and students, and aren’t restricted to only using the materials that come down from their district, please let me know—I’d love to get in touch. (Light bulb image from @vlisidis on Unsplash) #EdTech #LanguageLearning #LanguageTeaching #Entrepreneurship #TransitioningTeacher #Entrepreneur #PrivateSchools #CharterSchools #WorldLanguages #PD #ProfessionalDevelopment