Posts Tagged ‘Elective’

How To Learn Any Foreign Language

November 17th, 2007

Recommended Website:
How To Learn Any Language

This website was recommended by ClickSchooler extraordinaire, MaryAnna. She wrote:

“I know I’ve recommended plenty of sites in the past, but this one is really a goodie! It offers excellent advice for the independent language learner.
The site owner is an experienced polyglot and his website is full of information from general advice about choosing and learning a language to more detailed info about each language, its difficulty, related languages,
advantages and disadvantages to learning it, and even links to online learning resources for each language. As an experienced language learner myself, I have to say this guy is really on track. Five stars!”

She’s right! You’d better bookmark it now, because there is no way you can see all of the resources provided here on one visit. When you get to the site
read the introduction and click on the embedded links to further information, or use the drop-down menu at the top of your screen, or the stationery menu on the left to explore the site. You will find suggestions and activities for learning all of the following languages:

  • Arabic
  • Cantonese
  • Czech
  • English
  • Esperanto
  • Finnish
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Hungarian
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Mandarin
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Serbo-Croatian
  • Slovak
  • Spanish
  • Thai
  • Turkish

Use the handy Language Profile page to get a quick overview of the difficulty and popularity of the language.

Under the basic “Guide” on this site, don’t miss the article on “How To Raise Polyglot Kids.” It includes general advice along with suggestions for
inexpensive as well as costlier resources you can use. You’ll also find information and advice on how to get the most out of language camps and immersion programs. This site even provides free downloadable software so
you can make your own foreign language flash cards!

Note: On some of the pages at the site, the Google ads appear at the top of the page. It can give the illusion that there is nothing else on the page. You have to scroll down the page below the Google ads to find the text and resources. It’s a minor inconvenience. :)

This site is a fantastic resource that foreign language learners will refer to again and again.

Electives — Singing!

February 3rd, 2001

Recommended Website:
The Singing Voice

This is a wonderful site for people who love to sing – and because it also contains some fascinating information on singing anatomy, technique, history, and the biographies of some singers, it can be used to enhance the study of subjects other than music as well.

For singers, the site has information on vocal health, a timeline of the evolution of singing techniques and styles, a dictionary of singing terminology, and extensive information on opera (including scores, books, and CDs).

Links to other sites devoted to singing abound. There are chat rooms and message boards so that singers can share information and resources with one another.

The site seems to be intended for users about high school level and up. Parents with young singers may want to preview the site, find the areas that will be of interest to your children, and explore that category with them.