Culture and Stereotypes: Understanding Others

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Mobile Phones: A New Language-learning Device?

More and more people are carrying cell phones around the world, and now companies are trying to turn them into a new tool for learning English or other languages. However, whenever considering the potential of such tools, you have to ask yourself if the technology can be used in a sound, pedagogical way. In other words, just because people have cell phones and we can put audio on them, can people think of good, effective ways to learn a language through them? Are companies just trying to increase their profits, or are they truly concerned about end users: students and teachers. Do you have any opinion on this topic? Please share your ideas.

Randall

Making Friends: Natural Conversation Starters

Although many English textbooks teach students to say, "Hello. What's your name?", how often do we really begin conversations this way? Almost never. Imagine you are on a bus, and someone asks you, "Hello. What's your name?" I would be taken back and very surprised. So, how would you strike up a natural conversation in any one of these situations?:

- waiting for a train
- relaxing on a park bench
- standing in line for a movie
- sitting in a soccer stadium waiting for the match to begin
- attending a wedding of a friend

Personally, at a soccer game, I might simply say something like, "Well, I really hope the team wins this match. They haven't been doing so well recently", or something like that. Now, share your ideas.

Randall

Email Services: Chatting and Sharing Ideas Online

Not too long ago, my kids encouraged me to give Gmail (www.gmail.com) a try to communicate with them, and I'm glad I did. One of daughters is at college, and I find the Gmail chat feature very helpful, especially since it keeps a record of the chat session. For language learning, I can see this as a very useful tool in that a teacher and student could share a live conversation which is recorded, and the student could review the chat session later. How about you? Do you have any favorite online tools, including email, to communicate and learn English?

Randall

Network Sites: Are they safe for meeting people?

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Penpals: Finding Friends Worldwide

While cell phones are becoming more and more popular, writing traditional messages, either by regular mail or email, is still an important way of communicating. In fact, there are Websites, like http://www.studentsoftheworld.info, that put you in contact with other language learners who want to meet other students with similar interests. This is also a great way of using your language skills to introduce yourself and share your hobbies and life. However, like all online services, students should use caution when sharing private information. Do you know of safe and friendly Websites that provide such services?

Randall

Honesty: Do you always tell the truth?

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