The use of YouTube to teach or learn a language is pretty much a given today. Yet, speaking with colleagues and students, I realized that not all of them were aware that there are some features available that are really useful for language education. Here are two of them: Subtitles (or closed captions) and the […]
Best Reads of 2018
After a survey of my best readings of 2016 and 2017, time has come for the 2018 edition. Once again, I had meant for this to come out in a timely manner in January. Maybe next year. After a less than lackluster literary 2017, 2018 proved to be a richer crop: more diverse and with […]
Learning a Language? Improve Your Pronunciation with the International Phonetic Alphabet
You’ve done it (or you had no choice). You’ve decided to learn another language! But then, quickly, the frustration builds up. Reading and writing is going along ok, but the speaking … the pronunciation. The bane of many language learners: how to actually speak that language without making a complete fool of yourself. Two quite […]
Hardware and Software Tools of the Trade 2018
After several years, time has come for an update of my 2015 Tools of the trade post. These are the hardware and software tools I work with in 2018. Computers and other hardware I’m still a Mac person (an old 2009 IMac and a 2010 MacBook Pro 13 inches, still reliable, albeit a bit slow). […]
Best Reads of 2017
After a pretty heavy semester, I finally have some time to follow up my 10 best reads of 2016, with my best reads of 2017. Having changed jobs to teach modern languages, I have been busy reading a lot of professional literature the last year or so, which has given me little free time for […]
How to pronounce the “th” without sticking your tongue out
“ze mozer of ziz boyz iz tirti-tri” A standard problem of English pronunciation: the English “th.” With a little help and practice, it actually is not that hard to master. (Note: For the first more technical article on “th” see my How I Teach the English “th” page.) Three Ways to Pronounce the “th” Contrary […]
My Ten Best Reads of 2016
If Emma Watson can do it, so can I. So after Emma’s year in books, here are my ten best reads of 2016. Be forewarned, these are not the best new books of 2016, but my favourite reads of the year, meaning some of these go back quite a while.
Setting up a Multilingual Drupal 8 Site
Many blogging and Content Management Systems have trouble handling bilingual content. Setting up a multlingual website usually requires a bunch of plug-ins, modules and often getting your hands dirty in the code. Such was the case with Drupal until version 7. Drupal 8 totally changed this. It is now really easy to set up a […]
Why You Should Use a Reference Manager
The bane of most academic writing is the bibliography. You’re writing a paper, an assignment, a thesis and the tedious typing and retyping of references to articles, books, book chapters, papers, etc., comes back to haunt you! That’s when you need a reference manager. A reference manager will take care of most of the chores […]
Why Use Styles in Word
Most writing software use what are called “Styles,” yet few people know about them or use them. Many who know about styles find them intimidating. They seem to be too complicated and a pain to learn and work with.