2015
LARA Project Archives
10 July 2015
This ethnography programme is based on the idea that students will get the most out of their period of residence abroad is they take a leaf out of the anthropologists' book and undertake an ethnographic project. 'Ethnography' is the study of another group's way of life from their perspective. It is the fundamental method of anthropologists who seek to understand the cultural practices of others.
The rationale for developing language learners as ethnographers is to offer a systematic and rigorous approach to cultural and intercultural learning. Students learn new ways of looking at the ordinary and the everyday, drawing out patterns from careful and extended observation of a small group, e.g. students have studied dancers of the Sevillano dance in bars in southern Spain, blind students in Marburg University, Germany and Carnivaliers in Nice. Spending time 'lurking and soaking' in a particular environment or with a group helps students develop an insider perspective on cultural processes and immerses them in the language of the group.
© Copyright in the printed materials in these booklets written by Shirley Jordan and Celia Roberts belongs to them. Copyright in the publication is held by © LARA (2000). Teachers or librarians in higher education institutions in the UK may reproduce that part of the publication of which LARA/Shirley Jordan/Celia Roberts hold the copyright for use in class or independent research by students within that institution. No copying for third parties or for financial gain is permitted.
2010
Indigenous protest in Peru
13 September 2010
These materials concern a protest in Bagua, Peru on 5 June 2009 against a free trade agreement with the USA. According to official sources, 34 people (10 civilians and 24 police) lost their lives during an attempt by 600 Peruvian soldiers and riot-police to remove an indigenous blockade of the Belaunde Terry Highway at Devil's Curve in the northern Peruvian Amazon. They are based on an article published in Social Movement Studies: Hughes, N (2010) Indigenous Protest in Peru: the 'Orchard Dog Bites Back' Vol 9, No1, pp85-90, January. The materials are an example of how easy-to-use and cheap technologies can be used by lecturers to address the nexus between teaching, research and technology.
BSL language awareness tasks
9 August 2010
As a non-standardised language, British Sign Language (BSL) encompasses a rich variety of structures and vocabulary. This variation is very reflective of the culture and diversity within the Deaf community and is often seen as a source of great pride; however, for learners of the language, this variation can also present some challenges.
Unlike students of most spoken languages, learners of BSL do not have a huge range of dictionaries and grammar books at their fingertips, and so students often find themselves learning the foundations of the language through trial and error. These language awareness tasks aim to provide a series of structured activities that will enable students to discover new language features for themselves and deepen their existing grammatical knowledge.
Film, novel and social transformation in France
29 March 2010
This is a blended learning exemplar developed for use on a second year undergraduate module in French available on the Modern Languages Programme at Nottingham Trent University. The module, Film, Novel and Social Transformation in France, is currently taught by a team comprised of Professor Jean-Pierre Boulé and Dr. Enda McCaffrey.Writing a book review for publication in an academic journal
3 March 2010
Book reviews appear in a variety of publications including academic journals, magazines, newspapers and on websites. However, surprisingly little has been written about how a book review should be written. These activities, aimed primarily at postgraduate research students focus on writing book reviews for academic journals, though the principles can be applied to writing other kinds of book reviews too.
2009
Paraphrasing and Synthesising
William Tweddle - 7 October 2009
In this learning object you will be given the opportunity to practise paraphrasing and synthesising, which means using more than one source to support your arguments. It will provide practise in using synonyms to write effective paraphrases; raise awareness of the essential elements of a good paraphrase; suggest useful techniques when paraphrasing from a published source, and suggest ways that sources can be synthesised to support your arguments.
Punctuating correctly
William Tweddle - 7 October 2009
In this series of exercises, the vocabulary for the various punctuation marks will be checked, then their function will be explored. Finally, there will be some texts to punctuate in the correct way. This learning materials will: check that the vocabulary to refer to punctuation is fully understood; raise awareness of the correct function of various punctuation marks, and provide an opportunity to practise using punctuation marks correctly.
Academic Style
William Tweddle - 7 October 2009
The focus of this learning object is on how the vocabulary and grammatical choices you make affect the register (the degree of formality) of your finished piece of academic writing. It will give you a greater awareness of the formality that is appropriate to academic writing; assist you in choosing formal vocabulary, so as to adopt an academic style; introduce the Academic Word List and its educational purpose, and assist you in selecting alternatives to the overuse of personal pronouns.
Referencing correctly
William Tweddle - 7 October 2009
In this series of activities, you will become familiar with the most widely used system of referencing; discover how to reference websites and articles in periodicals correctly, and learn what some common Latin abbreviations mean and when they are used in referencing.
Student Participation and Motivation
Antonio Martínez-Arboleda - 21 January 2009
This resource contains a powerpoint presentation and videos originally given as part of a training event for new language tutors. This resource can be used to highlight the issues of motivation and participation for new language staff.
Understanding Essay Questions
David Donnarumma - 20 January 2009
These learning object activities will help you to understand how questions are structured and give you practice in recognising key components of essay questions. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Umgangssprache in deutschen Liedern
Kirsten Söntgens - 20 January 2009
This learning object activity is on the German language. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in German.
Subordinating Conjunctions in German
Christine Eckhard-Black - 20 January 2009
In these learning object activities, you will consider how to recognise and translate subordinating conjunctions and will practise locating the verb in a subordinate clause. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Introduction to social networking and Web 2.0
Marga Navarrete - 20 January 2009
After completing the tasks provided in thsi learning object, lecturers should; understand the basic concepts that make up Web 2.0, improve their knowledge of social networks, be able to evaluate different social networks for educational purposes, be confident in designing a task using social network. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Colloquial expressions with 'ser' and 'estar' (B2)
20 January 2009
This learning object is on the Spanish language. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is in entirely in Spanish.
Preparing for exams
David Donnarumma - 20 January 2009
In this learning object, you will learn; to identify the myths and realities about taking exams, to gain practice in using your memory for revision; to investigate what to do before, during and after an exam. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Strategies for moderating successful online courses
Marga Navarrete - 20 January 2009
After completing the tasks in this learning object, you should; understand what online education is about, increase your confidence in moderating courses online, improve your skills in designing online courses. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Managing your time successfully
David Donnarumma - 20 January 2009
In this learning object activity, you will learn to; practise ways of avoiding wasting time, Provide opportunities for improving your time management skills and look at ways of prioritising your time. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
What Is a Literature Review? An Introduction
Christina Janik - 20 January 2009
In this learning object activity, you will have a closer look at a literature review chapter from a published journal article. The following tasks will introduce you to what content goes into a literature review, how you can structure it and what kind of expressions you can use in English, when you write your own literature review chapter (LRC). Examples and some tasks and references are oriented specifically at undergraduate business students for whom English is a foreign language.
Reading practice: Kaiser Karl der Große
Christine Eckhard-Black - 20 January 2009
These learning object activities are to be used for a Reading Class in German after you have completed approximately 30 hours of tuition. You will revise and practice past participles, and you will learn vocabulary relevant to a particular period in history. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Die Gleichberechtigung der Frauen in Deutschland
Kirsten Söntgens - 20 January 2009
This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in German.
German beginners - revision: meeting, greeting, getting to know each other
Christina Janik - 20 January 2009
The aim of this exercise is to help you revise expressions you can use to greet someone, to introduce yourself and to ask questions about someone you have met for the first time. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Postcards from favourite places - reading and writing exercise (German)
Christina Janik - 20 January 2009
In this learning object exercise you will read a postcard that was published by jetzt.de in June 2007, learn some new expressions that are typical for the region it was sent from, answer some questions and finally write your own postcard. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Recognising 'faux amis' (A-N) in German
Christine Eckhard-Black - 20 January 2009
This learning object aims to provide an introduction to False Friends. False Friends, Falsche Freunde or Faux amis (they are commonly known by the French phrase) are words that look or sound alike in two languages. However, they are not what they seem. In these activities, you will be made aware of the most frequently occurring German False Friends (A-N), and practise translating them correctly into English. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Tips for lecturers using discussion boards
Marga Navarrete - 20 January 2009
This learning object aims to provide an introduction to discussion board software and websites for lecturers. After completing the tasks provided, lecturers should; Have a better understanding of what a discussion board is, Increase their confidence in setting up a discussion board, Improve their skills in designing tasks for discussion boards. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.
Turkish Flexi-Packs
Nathalie Ticheler and Nil Okan Paniguian - 6 January 2009
The SOAS-UCL CETL for ‘Languages of the Wider World’ (LWW CETL) aims to promote excellence in the teaching and learning of languages that do not have a large presence in higher education in the United Kingdom but which are of increasing strategic importance locally and globally. A key objective of the CETL is to support blended language learning, the combination of face-to-face learning and self-study, using multimedia materials.
LWW CETL has launched the Flexi-Pack project to create a whole range of mobile learning (M-learning) materials with a fully-integrated approach between traditional lessons and self-study. This paper will present the pedagogical rationale behind the Flexi-Packs and will also recommend further developments in relation to them (e.g., collaborative learning) in order to maximise students’ motivations.
2008
Los gestos y ademanes de los españoles
Leticia Goodchild - 17 December 2008
This learning object uses a video clip on YouTube relating to the use of gestures by Spanish speakers. It is intended to help improve audio comprehension, vocabulary and intercultural competence. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in Spanish.
Graffiti de Julio Cortázar
Leticia Goodchild - 17 December 2008
This learning object looks at a story by the Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar who was writing in difficult and oppressive political times during the last military dictatorship in Argentina which ended in 1983 just one year before his death.
This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in Spanish.
En esta unidad leerás el cuento Graffiti de Julio Cortázar (escritor argentino 1914-1984), el cual trata del flirteo de una pareja de enamorados durante los años de la última dictadura militar en Argentina (1976-1983). Aprenderás cómo se pudo haber sentido el ciudadano común en una época de represión cuando los actos más ingenuos se convertían en peligrosos y subversivos. Además de leer el cuento, podrás escucharlo en las grabaciones al principio de cada parte. El acento que escucharás es el de una nativa de Argentina.
Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE)
Leticia Goodchild - 17 December 2008
This learning object will be looking at Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for the teaching of Spanish. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in Spanish.
En esta unidad Ud. reflexionará acerca del Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE), conocido en inglés como Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Se cubrirán algunos de los principios fundamentales que sustentan la práctica áulica en AICLE, con tareas para pensar. La unidad propone lineamientos para una secuencia didáctica sobre el tema de los insectos, arácnidos y moluscos, en la que se ofrece contenido curricular y el lenguaje para expresar algunos de los conceptos. Se sugiere la implementación de la secuencia en la escuela primaria con alumnos ELE
Analysing paintings: an online introduction to formal analysis
Matthew Treherne - 11 July 2008
This online introductory course to the tools and techniques of formal analysis is aimed at students and anyone interested in art. It is freely available for anyone to use, and assumes no particular prior knowledge of the visual arts. The course guides you through some of the key aspects of form - from the colours in the painting to the materials used to paint it - and explores a number of examples through guided activities.
French urban space: The city in French literature
Charlie Mansfield - 27 June 2008
French Urban Space helps you read and study the Paris novels of the nineteenth century. Its key aims are to improve your reading strategies for French literature. The activities show you how to generate essay questions, develop arguments and create your own original material for writing papers. You can work through the whole package over a semester whilst reading the French novels of the nineteenth century, guided by your lecturer.
These online materials are a set of resources that encourage undergraduates to engage with area studies through French language and through French literary studies. The materials developed do not simply use web technologies to add interactivity to the learning objects (LOs) but also equip humanities students with an introductory understanding of the emerging technologies of mark-up for handling digital texts in the Web 2.0 era of The Semantic Web.
Phonology and Phonetics Review
Pamela Rogerson-Revell - 27 June 2008
A review unit for students of phonology and phonetics
Supporting international students in UK Higher Education: a course for staff
15 April 2008
These materials are a course pack commissioned by the Subject Centre for use by education developers (workshop mode) or by individual staff (online mode). The materials provide reflective activities designed to engage teachers with some of the key issues in working with international students and practical ideas for ways in which these can be addressed. They will be of particular interest to new staff or anyone new to working with international students. Learning outcomes include; increased awareness of areas of the UK learning experience that may present challenges for international students, Strategies for improving the learning experience of international students.
Turkish for self study
Senel Simsek - 17 January 2008
Turkish for Self-Study, developed by Şenel Şimşek at the Turkish Studies of Oxford University, is a set of online tools and resources to assist learners of Turkish to improve their language skills and to learn more about Turkish culture, politics, literature and society. The main tools available are: a photo dictionary with high quality pictures for learning vocabulary (flash card like); a collection of adventure stories ranging from 'An adventurous journey into Turkish mystic music' for beginners to 'Nationalism in Turkey' on advanced level; and a variety of language games like image scramble or crosswords with particular themes (e.g. colours, fruits, clock times). Learners can test their progress in various quizzes and sentence jumble and word gap exercises which also allow them to improve any gaps in their knowledge. This website is also a useful resource for teachers of the language. A collection of cartoons by the Turkish caricaturist Piyale Madra for use in class and a directory of useful web resources for learners and teachers of Turkish are also available.Teaching visual arts in a university modern languages syllabus
Matthew Treherne - 16 January 2008
This website provides the full presentations (as MP3 files) and PowerPoint slides from the National Workshop on Teaching Visual Arts in a University Modern Languages Syllabus, which took place on Friday 23rd November, 2007 in St Catharine's College, Cambridge.2007
German: Podcasting Goethe
Seán Allan - 20 December 2007
This website is designed to enhance the study and enjoyment of Goethe’s early poetry. It features readings of a selection of poems, available as podcasts, which span the period from roughly 1771 up to Goethe’s departure for Italy in the autumn of 1786. German transcriptions are provided, as are English translations to help listeners through the poems: these translations are of varying quality and are included as a guide only.Italian: Le Varietà dell'italiano
Cecilia Goria and Marisa Marmo - 22 November 2007
Materials for advanced (post A-levels) students of Italian which comprise a language package which focuses on the varieties of the Italian language. The aim is to develop students' awareness of the different registers of the standard language, of the main features of regional Italian, of the linguistic tools employed in the sectoral language and of the most significant linguistic aspects that characterize the speech of a number of selected Italian films.
VLEs: An introduction to online education using VLE (WebCT) communication tools
5 November 2007
These resources were created for a Subject Centre 'Workshops to Go' by Marga Navarrete. These materials are from a series of workshops which aimed to introduce experienced f2f (face to face) lecturers to online education. A set of powerpoint presentations are available that are based on the content of two face to face workshops delivered in 2007.British sign language: Photo story teaching materials
Helen Phillips - 15 October 2007
These materials can be used for a range of BSL teaching, as students will be able to develop many features from using these in and outside of class. From looking at these pictures and signing the storylines, students are able to improve their BSL aspects, including Placement, Role shifting, Direction, Movement and Referencing. For more general BSL study, students are able to establish a better knowledge of Vocabulary, Classifiers, Handshapes and Sign order. Students studying at all levels of BSL are able to develop their BSL grammar and acquire better understanding of the topic-comment structure, several parts of aspect and manner such as speed, duration and intensity.
OpenLearn modern languages courses
12 September 2007
The Open University has published several online language learning material on its OpenLearn website. The French module 'En ville' will suit absolute beginners while 'Bien dans sa peau' will suit those with some previous knowledge. The Spanish modules are available for beginners ('Espacios públicos'), upper intermediate ('La historia piedra a piedra'), and advanced ('Perspectivas porteñas' and 'Con mis propias manos'). The German materials include a unit at upper intermediate level about family life in Germany ('Lebensumstaende'), and at advanced level about regions and political structures ('Regionen, Traditionen und Geschichte').Intute Virtual Training Suite
6 September 2007
A set of online tutorials, authored by university subject specialists, are designed to help students develop Internet research skills for their university or college work, and can be used by lecturers and librarians to support their courses.Spanish: processing instruction
Emma Marsden - 2 August 2007
These materials set out the principles behind processing instruction. Processing instruction materials are reading and listening activities. The aim is to design tasks such that learners have to show that they have attended to the meaning of specific target features when they are reading or hearing sentences in the target language. These target features are those which a) appear to be slow to be acquired in production, b) have differences with the learners’ L1 and/ or c) are likely to be ‘ignored’ by learners when they normally hear or read the languages because the features are communicatively redundant (i.e. there are other clues in the input which communicate the same meaning, e.g. intonation, syntax, lexical items).Academic presentations: teaching presentation skills to foreign students
Rosemary Jane - 22 February 2007
These videos are designed to be used either in the classroom or for self-study. The video deals with the basic structure of an academic presentation including useful words and phrases, signposting, the use of notes vs. reading from a script, the importance of key content words.
E-learning: Learning object creation checklist
31 January 2007
A learning object is a particular type of online electronic learning material that is generally defined as a small, digital and self-contained unit of learning that can be broadly (but not exclusively) described as context independent, reusable and adaptable. A key quality of a learning object is that it contains a high level of interactivity, will have defined learning outcomes and specific tasks or activities for the learner. Although it may make use of other resources it will not depend on other resources or other units of learning and should be reusable in a number of learning situations. This tool is intended to help you to evaluate existing electronic resources for their suitability for repurposing as learning objects. Answering the questions in each of the 3 sections will help you to reflect on key issues for the design of online learning materials and give you guidance as to whether your materials are appropriate for use in learning objects.2006
Portuguese: Corpus do Português (45 million words, 1300-1999)
Mark Davies and Michael Ferreira - 9 November 2006
This corpus allows you to quickly and easily search more than 45 million words in more than 50,000 Portuguese texts from the 1300s to the 1900s. The interface allows you to search for exact words or phrases, substrings, lemmas, part of speech, or any combinations of these. You can also search for surrounding words (collocates) within a ten-word window. This corpus has been funded by the US National Endowment for the Humanities, and is now freely available online.Critical thinking: Internet Detective
Institute for Learning and Research Technology - 13 July 2006
Internet Detective is a free online tutorial designed to help students develop the critical thinking required for their Internet research. The tutorial offers practical advice on evaluating the quality of websites and highlights the need for care when selecting online information sources to inform university or college work. The tutorial adopts a film noir detective metaphor to offer a light-hearted guide to developing Internet skills. It takes around an hour to complete. The tutorial is available on the Web or as a VLE download, and is part of the RDN Virtual Training Suite.Spanish: Torquemada en la hoguera
Rhian Davies - 11 July 2006
An electronic edition of the 1889 novel, 'Torquemada en la hoguera', by one of Spain's greatest writers, Benito Pérez Galdós. This edition has been created as part of the Pérez Galdós Editions Project at the University of Sheffield and allows both students and scholars to engage with this classic text in new and innovative ways.Study skills for university
Julie Watson - 13 June 2006
This sample of online learning materials will help you to become familiar with and practise some important skills concerned with university study.EAP: English language skills for university study
Julie Watson - 13 June 2006
This sample of online learning materials introduces and practises some important English language skills needed by international students planning to study at a British university.EAP: University Challenge: a short orientation and listening course for international students
Roger Smith and Jo Parsons - 22 May 2006
The aims of these materials is to raise awareness of university life in the UK, to raise awareness of key study tasks and to provide listening and note-taking practice. The course consists of four short modules, each featuring a key study task: writing essays, understanding lectures, participating in seminars and tutorials, and reading/research skills.English grammar exercises
3 April 2006
This resource consists of graded 'Hot Potato' exercises to develop knowledge/awareness of the structure and function of English Language. The materials provide a useful resource for students (e.g. modern foreign languages) who wish to improve, refresh or develop their knowledge of English Language or for professional development for teachers.Spanish: Material for Spanish oral classes
16 March 2006
This pack contains beginners, intermediate and advanced classes. Each section includes: instructions and information for the teacher, the topic and learning objectives of the lessons, how to organise students and to conduct each activity, the role/s of the teacher; summary of grammatical points which will be used in the activity or indications of those which need to have been seen before carrying out the activity; suggestions about how to explore the topic of the lesson further by practising other language skills (writing, reading, etc.); and teaching material (ready to photocopy).Russian: Keyboard Tsar
Andrew Quilley - 14 March 2006
Keyboard Tsar is a typing tutor program developed under a University of Leeds Teaching Fellowship project led by Dr Sarah Hudspith, now available as freeware to the public. It teaches touch typing both in English and in Cyrillic. The program consists in a series of exercises that gradually build up familiarity and proficiency in touch typing, in groups of letters according to the keyboard layout. Users are given feedback on speed, accuracy and most common errors at the end of each exercise, and are encouraged to reach a certain level of accuracy before proceeding to the next exercise. Keyboard Tsar has a bright, modern interface which can highlight the required key and the necessary finger to use. Colours, font styles and sizes can be adapted to the user's preferences. The Cyrillic component is specially for non-native speakers of Russian. It includes a glossary of translations for the test words, a review of the Russian alphabet with sound, and it can toggle between English and Cyrillic keyboard layouts in its on-screen display.French: A mobile-learning resource for "The Book in Middle French"
27 February 2006
This development project was to design an introductory set of electronic exercises for Year 2 undergraduates approaching medieval literature for the first time. The reusable learning objects provide a phenomenological approach to the material existence of the book as it appeared in the early 1400s in France. The aim of the objects is to communicate the state of book- and script technologies at that time. The resource pack contains interactive exercises for use on the mobile smart-phone or PDA.
2005
Portuguese language online
5 December 2005
The aim of this website is to provide easy access to a range of up-to-date materials which will both complement formal classroom activities and facilitate and enhance independent and distant learning of Portuguese.Spanish: E-pack (sample)
Cecile Tschirhart - 24 November 2005
These materials represent a sample of the interactive online exercises developed at London Metropolitan University for beginners in Spanish. The exercises combine sound, image and text in a single activity and provide instant feedback. They cover the main language learning skills of listening, reading, writing and grammar and involve a variety of activities, such as matching, reordering and games.Italian: E-pack (sample)
Cecile Tschirhart - 24 November 2005
These materials represent a sample of the interactive online exercises developed at London Metropolitan University for beginners in Italian. The exercises combine sound, image and text in a single activity and provide instant feedback. They cover the main language learning skills of listening, reading, writing and grammar and involve a variety of activities, such as matching, reordering and games.VLEs: Making the best use of virtual learning environments (VLEs) for language learning
2 August 2005
This handbook was created for a Subject Centre 'Workshop to Go' by Christine Lyne and Barbara Scott. The 37 page booklet contains general guidance on the use of VLEs for language learning and practical advice on how to design and deliver effective on-line learning materials.Linguistics: Language and style
Mick Short - 1 August 2005
This is a web-based introductory course in Stylistic Analysis created by Mick Short with funding from the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) prize. Stylistics is a systematic way of exploring (primarily literary) texts. It looks at the language of texts and tries to explain how that language creates meaning, style and effect. Language and Style covers all three major literary genres (poetry, prose and drama), and also other text-types e.g. advertisments.Vocabulary: vocab.co.uk
Andrew Quilley - 22 February 2005
Resources for language learners including free vocabulary building software that helps students learn words and phrases in over 30 languages.2004
Bulgarian: Materials for an on-line course
15 November 2004
The aim of the project was to produce materials that can serve to teach Bulgarian to students who have some knowledge of Russian. The materials are not intended to be used entirely for self-study, but rather as a source of auxiliary practice to support classroom work. The materials have been chosen as a sample of what could be offered in different study areas, eg general Bulgarian culture (with links to articles on leading Bulgarian writers, composers and painters, as well as to an extract from a short story), newspaper extracts on contemporary events and historical topics. The materials were compiled with the following groups of students in mind: (1) those studying Bulgarian as part of a degree course; the reading materials would supplement other classes where the skills of speaking, listening and writing would be developed; (2) those wishing to acquire a reading knowledge of Bulgarian as part of a social science undergraduate or postgraduate course; (3) evening class students, who could use the materials independently, as a back-up to work done in class.French: Language resources
Pascal Venier - 15 November 2004
A gateway to French learning resources, produced by the School of Modern Languages, University of Salford. It contains links which include Contemporary Society, Culture and Business French.Arabic: Study materials
28 October 2004
Steve Cushion, London Metropolitan University, has expanded his Arabic teaching materials, which now include: GISMO 3 Arabic Authoring Package, basic text-editing software for Arabic, and Arabic study material for use off-line. The Arabic Authoring Package enables you to create your own interactive computer activities to develop proficiency in all four skills. You can tailor activities to the exact needs of your students and over time you can build up a bank of activities to support your classroom teaching. Activities can be carried out either in school or at home.Arabic: Learning to read Arabic - a beginners' guide
28 October 2004
This instructional booklet is for students who wish to learn to write Arabic. It is designed for independent study using a step-by-step approach. Each manageable unit has plenty of references to other materials. Dr Randal Holme, University of Durham Language Centre, directed the project.
Irish: Computer-Assisted Practice Activities for Irish Language Learners (CAPAILL)
28 October 2004
CAPAILL is an on-line learning package to help Irish-language learners with some previous experience of the language. The aim of the package is to support students in improving their knowledge and understanding of the language by practising selected topics, with the main emphasis on points of grammar, usage and spelling that are known to cause problems.Danish: Speak Danish website
Mark Anderson - 23 March 2004
An online Danish language learning site for beginners. This free interactive course includes lessons in pronunciation, grammar and common phrases.French: RealFrench.net
Chris Dawson - 12 March 2004
The realfrench.net website is a collection of free online French-teaching resources developed by the Department of Languages and the Department of Information and Communications, MMU. It includes a large number of interactive vocabulary games, grammar notes and interactive exercises, links, Internet worksheets and messageboards.Language Testing: Dialang: Diagnostic Tests for Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish
Dialang - 13 January 2004
DIALANG offers validated tests of different language skills, together with a range of feedback and expert advice on how to improve your skills. It also offers scientifically validated self-assessment activities and allows users to determine their language level, strengths and weaknesses as well as to increase their awareness of current skills and of what it means to know a language. It has been developed by more than 20 major European institutions, with the backing of the European Commission and is based on the Council of Europe's "Common European Framework of reference", which has become established throughout Europe as the most widely recognized frame of reference in the field of language learning.
2003
Czech Online
Dominik Luke - 8 August 2003
A collection of materials for Czech learners inlcuding grammar exercises, reading, games, dictionary, essays. Most of the material is freely available for use, but the source must be acknowledged.Linguistics: Quizzes
Jeanine Treffers-Daller - 17 July 2003
These quizzes are designed for students at the early stages of their Linguistics progamme or for non-specialist Linguistics students. They have been designed using Hot Potatoes authorware (http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/) which can be used to create cloze, mix, match, multiple-choice exercises as well as crosswords and quizzes. The materials were authored by (and are copyright to) the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of the West of England, Bristol.Authorware: The GISMO Project (Guildhall Interactive Software for Multimedia Online)
Steve Cushion - 1 May 2003
A selection of teaching materials produced by The Department of Humanities, Arts and Languages at London Metropolitan University using the authoring program developed within the department that allows language teachers to prepare their own audio-enhanced websites containing a variety of interactive exercises. Any educational institution is welcome to use this material. The software combines the ability to edit your own text and then to record someone reading it, all using the same program. The sound and text are then automatically integrated and a web page containing the exercises is generated.French: E-pack (sample)
Cecile Tschirhart - 20 March 2003
These materials represent a sample of the interactive online exercises developed at London Metropolitan University for beginners in French. The exercises combine sound, image and text in a single activity and provide instant feedback. They cover the main language learning skills of listening, reading, writing and grammar and involve a variety of activities, such as matching, reordering and games.REAL Reading and Listening for Adult learners of Dutch, Greek, and Swedish
REAL Project - 13 March 2003
A suite of reading and listening materials developed as part of an EU Lingua Project and in association with the TELL Consortium. Reading: Integrated suites of reading exercises, each containing a number of independent units based on an authentic text in the target language. Available in Dutch, Greek, and Swedish. Listening: Integrated suites of listening exercises similar to Reading Units and in the same languages, except that each exercise is based on an authentic audio passage in the target languageIndependent Learning: Manchester University Language Centre's Independent Learning Guide
Jocelyn Wyburd - 13 March 2003
An online set of resources aimed at supporting independent language learning. The site includes a needs analysis, a reflective questionnaire, tips for language learning, worksheets and guides to using particular resources, e.g. CAll software. Very useful as a complement to a self-access language centre.French: Reading French 2000
Brian Gill - 11 March 2003
A web-based independent learning course for French for students at the University of Calgary but freely accessible to anyone who wishes to study the course autonomously and online.Chinese: Language skills for Britain: dissemination of best practice
Glen Dudbridge - 11 March 2003
Over two years, from 2000 to 2002, within the framework of the FDTL 3 programme of the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund, Oxford's Institute for Chinese Studies has developed an experimental approach to non-intensive teaching of Mandarin Chinese. It goes counter to conventional teaching strategies by isolating particular skills and focusing a teaching programme exclusively upon each one. The aim has been to learn through experience how much can be achieved with volunteer beginners in each distinct skill, and to devise materials which can contribute flexibly to teaching or learning regimes serving individual needs. The four-phase project has dealt with three basic skills – reading, speaking, listening – followed by the needs of native Cantonese speakers embarking on spoken Mandarin. In each case a pedagogical specialist from China, Taiwan or Hong Kong has spent a month in Oxford developing material, and a student-teacher from China or Taiwan has spent four months in Oxford working with a class of volunteers. Achievements and results have been monitored through systematic testing, and the whole programme kept under regular review at the national level by a seminar of professional Chinese language teachersKey skills: Developing key skills and PDP in Higher Education
27 January 2003
A support package for university departments and LTSN Centres. The purpose of the Kit is to bring together information about skills developments and related activities across disciplines and thus provide an opportunity to learn from the experiences of colleagues working in other subjects.2002
Dutch: The Virtual Department of Dutch
Theo Hermans - 20 December 2002
The Virtual Department of Dutch is an inter-university teaching collaboration programme in Dutch Studies, involving four UK universities. Its web-based, free-standing and interactive self-study packs cover topics in Dutch language, literature, linguistics, history and cultural studies. They cater for different levels of linguistic competence in Dutch, from beginners to advanced. Their use is free.Spanish: From the caves to modern graffiti
Gladis Garcia-Soza - 20 December 2002
This is a specialist language course for students with an advanced knowledge of Spanish.The materials cover the history of the Spanish language from pre-history to modern times. Language artefacts are taken from disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, history, historical linguistics and popular media. The course looks into geographical and social varieties of Spanish from a historical as well as from a linguistic perspective.
Work and Study Abroad
Artie Vossel-Newman - 2 December 2002
This website is the product of the FDTL Residence Abroad Project (University of Portsmouth) and was produced in collaboration with the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. It contains advice for both staff and students and includes a taxonomy of objectives devised by Professor Jim Coleman (Project Director) which covers the following aspects of Residence Abroad: Academic; Cultural; Intercultural; Linguistic; Personal; Professional.Spanish: Los Peruanos
Carmen Mortara - 24 October 2002
A sample of a programme developed on the theme of Los Peruanos which includes linguistic and cultural work on web documents, simplified texts and videoclips. The materials are for intermediate level and can be used in combination with the work done in the classroom or as part of an independent learning programme.Portfolio: for Language Learning
24 October 2002
This portfolio was developed at the University of Central England and is based on the FDTL Translang (transferable skills in language learning) project materials. The TransLang approach was chosen as it aims to facilitate transferable skills in the learning and teaching of languages much more explicitly. Students are actively involved in planning their learning, monitoring their own progress and evaluating learning outcomes. The aims of the portfolio of independent work can be described as follows: - To provide a framework for independent work, especially in the light of reduced class contact time and a greater spread of ability levels because of the need to combine classes because of lower numbers. - To empower students and enable them to take more control over their learning. - To showcase language learning as a means of developing transferable and employability skills in undergraduate students.Self access: Guides for students
24 October 2002
These materials have been developed at the University of Southampton to support students using the self-access centre. They provide advice and guidance on self-managed language learning. The following study guides are included: 10 Steps towards making your language learning more effective, Dictionaries, Studying a language on your own: a guide to resources, How to be a good language learner, The Internet, Online resources for language learners, Television and video, Reading skills, Writing skills, Writing a report, Giving a talk, and Telephone English.Linguistics: Linguistic description: Above the sentence - weekly task sheets
18 October 2002
At the University of Portsmouth, first year modern languages students have a course in Linguistic Description. The materials here are a complementary set to those we use in phonetics/phonology/prosody, morphology, semantics and syntax, and cover above the sentence phenomena, such as text, discourse and conversation analysis, as well as stylistics and pragmatics. The lectures are built on the analysis of English and in the tutorials students carry out comparative analyses of other languages. The assessment for the unit consists of a portfolio of weekly tasks. Students are required to find out about a language of their choice from a native speaker informant. Students have traditionally investigated their chosen language of study (French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian), but some students have done their projects on more exotic languages such as Thai, Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Finnish, Swedish, Malay, Korean or Greek. We have found that the project encourages initiative, a strong sense of involvement, an attitude of enquiry, and a scholarly approach to linguistic analysis in the students. It prepares them for independent and systematic study of languages in the knowledge of the principles of organisation and use underlying them.Teacher training: Development of Postgraduate and Language Assistants (DOPLA)
2 October 2002
Staff development materials specifically for the training of Postgraduate Teaching Assistants and Foreign Language Assistants, but which can be used for the staff development of any language teaching staff who are new to the profession.German: grammar question bank
26 September 2002
This bank of over 1,000 questions was created using Question Mark Perception. It was aimed at first year Undergraduate students of German. The grammar topics covered include definite and indefinite articles, adjective endings, personal pronouns, demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, relative pronouns, indirect speech and verb tenses. Question types are either Selection (student chooses correct item from drop-down list) or Fill in Blanks. All questions have minimum feedback of correct answer; many have differentiated feedback and marking. The questions have been drawn mainly from GramEx German or devised using the Astcovea German concordancer. The bank can be used by institutions running Question Mark Perception to create diagnostic, formative or summative tests.German: verbs with dative objects
26 September 2002
This is a grammar exercise aimed at first year Undergraduate German students. It provides practice in the use of German verbs with dative objects. A list of 50 verbs is provided. The user is given a random selection of 20 sentences in English (from a library of 48) to be translated into German. Some vocabulary help is provided and the user can have up to three attempts at each question before the correct answer is displayed. This exercise was created using Question Mark for Windows. Institutions with a licence for Question Mark for Windows can copy the .qdt and .qdl files into their folder with Question Mark Presenter. Others must copy these files into a folder with Question Mark Testview (provided). Clicking on Testview (or Question Mark Presenter) should bring up a menu; select the programme and click 'Run'.French grammar question bank
26 September 2002
This bank of over 1,000 questions was created using Question Mark Perception. It was aimed at first year Undergraduate students of French. The grammar topics covered include possessive adjectives, partitive articles, demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, relative pronouns, direct and indirect object pronouns and verb tenses. Question types are either Selection (student chooses correct item from drop-down list) or Fill in Blanks. All questions have minimum feedback of correct answer; many have differentiated feedback and marking. The questions have been drawn mainly from GramEx French or devised using the Astcovea French concordancer. The bank can be used by institutions running Question Mark Perception to create diagnostic, formative or summative tests.French: Listening comprehension - Club Méditerranée - transcription exercise
26 September 2002
This is an audio transcription exercise aimed at first year Undergraduate French students. The recording gives information on the holiday firm Club Méditerranée and the kind of clients it attracts. There are buttons on screen which the user can click at any time to hear the whole recording or a short section of it. The user is advised to begin by listening to the whole recording at least once without trying to type anything, and then to listen section by section, typing what they s/he has heard. The user is allowed 3 attempts at each section, after which the work is checked for mistakes and automatically marked. The "Show Answer" button brings up the correct response and allows the user to proceed without scoring any points. During the course of the exercise the full correct transcript is compiled on the right of the screen. This exercise was created using Authorware. Provided the resources are in the same folder, double clicking the file '3clubmed' should launch the programme.French: for beginners and general French grammar
26 September 2002
Interactive exercises for French created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University. The materials come in two files (A and B) which are compressed files that can be self-extracted by clicking on them. The programs run using a web browser and can be started by clicking on the 'home' icon.Spanish: grammar question bank
26 September 2002
This bank of over 1,000 questions was created using Question Mark Perception. It was aimed at first year Undergraduate students of Spanish. The grammar topics covered include uses of ser and estar, definite and indefinite articles, object pronouns, prepositions, comparative and superlative adjectives, verb tenses and the subjunctive mood. Question types are either Selection (student chooses correct item from drop-down list) or Fill in Blanks. All questions have minimum feedback of correct answer; many have differentiated feedback and marking. The questions have been drawn mainly from GramEx Spanish or devised by Spanish tutors. The bank can be used by institutions running Question Mark Perception to create diagnostic, formative or summative tests.Spanish: for beginners and general Spanish grammar
26 September 2002
Interactive exercises for Spanish created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University (also available for downloading from www.llas.ac.uk). The materials come in two files (A and B) which are compressed files that can be self-extracted by clicking on them. The programs run using a web browser and can be started by clicking on the 'home' icon.Arabic for beginners
26 September 2002
Interactive exercises for Arabic created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University.German: for beginners and general German grammar
26 September 2002
Interactive exercises for German created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University. The materials come in two files (A and B) which are compressed files that can be self-extracted by clicking on them. The programs run using a web browser and can be started by clicking on the 'home' icon.Phonetics: for Students of Modern Languages
25 September 2002
An introductory phonetics course for students of French, German and SpanishGerman: Angelika's German webpages
Angelika Flynn - 25 September 2002
Reading comprehension exercises for beginners, threshold and intermediate levels. They can be used to supplement the Themen neu course books, and are intended for independent study.The exercises are part of my website which, in part, is a portal to Internet resources.French: Online language resources for intermediate/advanced learners
25 September 2002
The French language exercises available on this site consists of sentences for translation, grammar and vocabulary exercises which were originally designed for students on a second year French language course at the University of Portsmouth. They contain grammar difficulties and a variety of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions drawn from articles studied in class. They enabled students to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. The external links are grouped by the following categories: Grammaire, Dictionnaires/Glossaires, Traduction and Liens Utiles.Spanish: El problema del agua, de la seguía y el Plan Hidrológico Nacional
25 September 2002
WWW material covering the topic "El problema del agua, de la seguía y el Plan Hidrológico Nacional" which includes personal photographs with texts, links to other www sites relevant or relating to the topic, and exercises aimed at year 2 students to develop reading/summary writing skills and to increase knowledge of this topic.Linguistics: Item Bank
25 September 2002
A bank of multiple choice questions that can be used to examine first year linguistics students. Some 69 HEIs currently offer courses which include Linguistics as a named portion of an undergraduate degree, and most of these run a general introductory course - often called An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, or some variation on this theme. These courses attract large numbers of students, and therefore represent a significant marking burden for first year teachers. At the same time, these introductory courses often cover much the same ground in different institutions. These factors suggest that there is a strong case for sharing examination questions at this level. The fact that many institutions now use multiple choice questions in first year examinations opens up the possibility of establishing a national item bank for linguistics. A bank of this sort would allow institutions to set first year examinations with formally defined characteristics, and thus help to standardise achievement at this level.French: Corpus of spoken French
25 September 2002
Ce corpus contient les transcriptions de 95 entretiens, de longueurs variées, enregistrés sur le vif dans le Lot, le Minervois, à Paris et en Bretagne. Les thèmes de discussion comprennent une gamme de fonctions linguistiques différentes: transfert d'informations sur une région, instructions, narrations, argumentations sur les relations familiales, le racisme, la politique ou linformatisation de la société. Les thèmes de conversation ont émergé des centres d'intérêt des locuteurs. Les locuteurs, dont 45 hommes et 50 femmes, sont âgés de 7 à 88 ans et incluent un éventail de niveaux d'education. Le Résumé des entretiens détaille sous forme de table les donnes démographiques, sociologiques et contextuelles (identité, longueur en minutes, sexe, âge et niveau déduction) de chaque entretien/locuteur.Self access: Worksheets for self access language centre
25 September 2002
Advice on: "Watching Films on Video"; "Taking Notes"; "Writing"; "Learning Vocabulary"; "Conversation Exchange" Template for student's "Activity Record" for language learning folderFrench: Difficultés de la langue française
25 September 2002
This 2-semester grammar course is essentially geared towards English Learners of French and is intended to improve students' writing skills. Its main aim is to improve writing accuracy at noun phrase and sentence level; nevertheless, it also aims to strengthen students writing techniques and text-production/text-transformation skills through a review of linguistic processes of pronominalisation. It originated from the observation (i.e. via several error analyses conducted between 1997 and 1999) that foreign learners of French recurrently make particular mistakes when they write and that this is often due to a lack of grammatical knowledge. Thus, it is hypothesised that these mistakes can be avoided thanks to an introduction to/a revision of basic grammatical concepts (i.e. What is a Part of Speech? What is a Grammatical Function? What do Gender and Number mean? Etc). Further, though the course mainly focuses on writing skills, register differences, and in particular stylistic differences between written and oral expression, will also be underlined. Finally, this programme also reviews central difficulties linked to the choice and use of tenses in French (second semester).Spanish: accelerated reading and writing in Spanish
25 September 2002
The materials are devoted to the development of lexical structures in Spanish. They contain explanations, descriptions and exercises which will help the learner build up a solid lexical structure. The coursebook is made of 15 dual units (Spanish-English) for accelerated vocabulary acquisition. During the first 10 units the most productive processes for word recognition and word derivation are presented. The second 5 units add more advanced passages, taken from the literature of the Spanish-speaking world, and present vocabulary of high frequency and practical use. The materials in the course go from survival to Advanced Creative Spanish. The first 10 units consist of a Basic Passage, based on survival lexicon and intercultural issues, followed by a Reading Passage connected in topic but at a higher level. The last 5 units present a more literary style followed by practical exercises aimed at using this type of structures and vocabulary.Spanish: Contemporary Language and Culture
Gladis Garcia-Soza - 23 September 2002
This is a specialist online language and culture course for students who have achieved an advanced level in Spanish because they are in the final year of their University degree, have spent time in a Spanish-speaking country or are false native speakers. The course has been devised to reinforce and develop the language through reading, writing and speaking. The materials in the components follow each other closely and complement vocabulary expansion with development of linguistic structures. The contents of the course cover contemporary cultural issues such as TV, cinema, family and work, and linguistic minorities in the Spanish-speaking world. The cultural-linguistic diversity of Spain and Latin America is exploited through a selection of authentic materials showing different styles, accents and media. The course is structured to develop transferable as well as language skills through hands - on experience of IT use and language activities. The materials can be easily adapted to meet the requirements of students in secondary schools, sixth form colleges or Higher Education. The website also contains pages to help teachers to adapt their own materials or to produce their own courses.
Humbox
The Humbox is a humanities teaching resource repository jointly managed by LLAS.
