November 21, 2018

Travelling corner: Best secret beaches in South Cornwall

Cornwall is one of my favourite travel destinations in the UK, and finding secret beaches is part of its awesomeness. This year I went to South Cornwall and discovered some amazing beaches which had some breathtaking views of the sea. Where to find them?

Freathy Beach

Beautiful sandy beach with lifeguards and a slightly steep descent towards it. The sea views are spectacular. When driving, turn when you see the sign “Freathy Cliffs”.

Lantic Bay

Amazing beach with turquoise waters. I walked there from Lansallos (NT parking available in the village). It took me around 1.5 hours to get there and the descent towards the beach was quite steep, but completely worth it for the views.

Readymoney Cove

It’s quiet, relaxing & beautiful. The beach is just outside Fowey and you can walk there from the town (around 30 minutes). The beach is small, but not too crowded, with beautiful views of the bay and the coming yachts and boats. Tranquilising.

What are your secret beach recommendations in South Cornwall? Let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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November 14, 2018

Book review: Small Pleasures by The School of Life

I first came across Small Pleasures in the little paper boutique, Papersmiths, in Clifton Village, Bristol, UK. But, when I returned there, all copies were sold out so, thanks to modern technology, I ordered my copy online. I guess that means that the book seems to be interesting not only for me! I found the book incredibly relaxing to read and a great journey to discovering or re-discovering the pleasures of everyday life. Just look at the chapter titles: Stars, Sunbathing, Up at Dawn, A Hot Bath, Kissing, Sunday Mornings, A Favourite Old Jumper, A Book that Understands You, Pleasant Exhaustion after a Productive Day, Whispering in Bed in the Dark, Figs, etc. There are 52 chapters (one for each week of the year?), so you can easily find great joy in exploring all the tiny pleasures we all experience in our life. I don’t want to say too much to spoil the pleasure of reading the book, but I have some quotations which may inspire you to read it or to get it as a Christmas present for a friend.

“[Some small pleasures can create the] respect for civilisations that have more time for things that are simultaneously delightful and wholesome.” p. 13

“Time could be rearranged: there are plenty of things that can contribute to leading a life more like the one we want. We could get new chances. Every day, it happens.” p. 59

“(…) [T]he pleasure of bath is primarily intellectual. Baths are ideal places to think.” p. 66.

Kinga Macalla

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November 7, 2018

What are the main challenges of bilingualism? How can you keep both languages balanced? (5)

Some time ago, we introduced a new series of video interviews and online interviews which are devoted to the subject of bilingualism. We find the topic of bilingualism fascinating and we want to discuss some of the issues and benefits linked with being bilingual, as well as many other bilingualism-related topics. If you have any ideas or questions related to bilingualism, let us know in the comments below.

Today, in our fifth YT video, we attempt to answer  the question “What are the main challenges of bilingualism? How can you keep both languages balanced?”. Our special guest is Łucja Miniewska, an expert on bilingualism both academically (she holds an MSc in Bilingualism) and practically (she’s a mum of two bilingual children). Please click the link to watch our YT video.

Kinga Macalla

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October 31, 2018

Public Service Interpreting – Using Your Language Skills to Help Others

You are learning a language so you will have heard of interpreting: the art of converting one spoken or signed language into another spoken or signed language. The role of an interpreter is to help two or more people who don’t speak the same language to communicate with each other. You may have heard of the different styles of interpreting as well, the most common ones being Conference Interpreting and Public Service Interpreting, but perhaps you weren’t sure of the difference. This blog post looks at what we mean when we talk about “Public Service Interpreting”, sometimes called “Community Interpreting” or “Liaison Interpreting”, and the main differences between this type of interpreting and Conference Interpreting.

How does a Public Service Interpreter Work?

When you think of an interpreter, you may picture a person wearing a headset in a booth at a high-profile meeting, perhaps at the United Nations. They do not speak directly to the people they are interpreting for and can sometimes be “invisible” inside their glass booth. They mainly translate speeches into another spoken language and sometimes translate questions put to speakers who are talking in front of a large audience. Public service interpreters work very differently. Their role is to facilitate a conversation and they are usually physically present beside the people they are interpreting for. Sometimes they are available over the telephone but still a key part of the conversation at hand.

 

Conference interpreters usually interpret simultaneously, meaning they listen and interpret at the same time in order to convey a speech without breaks. Public service interpreters interpret consecutively: they wait for each speaker to finish and say what they just said to the other speaker in a language that speaker understands, creating a conversation. They may need to take notes or have a good memory to be able to do this effectively. Occasionally, Public service interpreters do do simultaneous interpreting, usually to allow one person to understand a speech or court proceedings, for example, and they will do this in a hushed voice so that person can hear but it will not disturb the proceedings. This method is called “chuchotage” (“whispering” in French).

 

Another difference between Conference and Public service interpreters is that Conference interpreters usually only interpret from one language into another (usually into their mother tongue), whereas Public service interpreters work bidirectionally, which means they translate into and out of each language needed in the conversation.

 

What Environments does a Public Service Interpreter Work in?

Public service interpreters are needed to make sure that everyone can have equal access to public services, whichever language they speak. Public service interpreters usually facilitate communication between public service providers and users of these services. They can work in hospitals and GP surgeries, mental health treatment sessions, immigration interviews, Job Centres, the courts and police stations, schools, council services and many more. The fact that they work in a variety of environments means that Public service interpreters must have an excellent grasp of specialist vocabulary in both languages they work in. They also need to speak both languages very well.

 

What Obligations does a Public Service Interpreter have towards their Clients?

Public service interpreters often translate sensitive or emotive information for speakers. This can be stressful for the interpreter. Public service interpreters must also maintain strict confidentiality: they must not talk about anything they have interpreted outside of the interpreting session and not reveal the names or experiences of anyone they have interpreted for. They must also be impartial – it is not their role to give advice or advocate for one or other of the speakers. Their role is to interpret what is said; it is up to the service provider to provide advice. The interpreter can of course mention if they feel there may have been a misunderstanding but it is up to the service provider to try and correct that.

 

We hope you have found this post interesting. If you have any comments or reflections, please leave them below!

 

Suzannah Young

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October 24, 2018

Travelling corner: Best camp-site in South Cornwall

We went camping in Cornwall this summer (obviously!) and we had one of the best camping experiences. We went to a campsite called Keveral, which is located not far away from Looe in South Cornwall. There is an organic farm, too, so you can order some super fresh fruit and veg to prepare your meals.

Why was it so special? We loved the atmosphere of the campsite; relaxed and friendly. The campsite is not too big, so everybody has enough space to enjoy some privacy yet, at the same time, not to feel lonely. The area is green and quiet but close to the beach (walking distance), to Cornish towns – Looe, Polperro and Fowey (by car), and to beautiful beaches (Freathy Beach, Lantic Beach and Readymoney Beach). But the best thing about the site was the people; many from Holland and also from Bristol! We met some wonderful people there, had camp-fires and open-air pizza-baking together, and we even managed to organise a get-together once back in Bristol. Magic!

I know we’ll be back (many of the other guests also visit regularly)! It’s a wonderful place for a summer holiday or a weekend escape.

Kinga Macalla

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October 17, 2018

Book review: The Bilingual Family. A Handbook for Parents by Edith Harding and Philip Riley

Learning is the product of ‘motivation x opportunity’ – Edith Harding and Philip Riley

With over half of the world’s population being bilingual, as Edith Harding and Philip Riley remind us, I find the topic of bilingualism important to discuss and learn more about. The Bilingual Family by Edith Harding and Philip Riley is a practical guide to bilingualism. We can find there many useful topics being covered and issues discussed. It starts with an introduction to language and bilingualism (definition, level of fluency, simultaneous and successive acquisition). The chapter that I found really important was about the factors that influence the decision on whether to bring up children bilingually. After all, the decision on bilingualism will influence the whole family’s life, and it’s crucial to make it as informed as possible. Obviously, sometimes bilingualism is a completely natural consequence, as it was in my family’s case. I did read some books on bilingualism, but rather than thinking about pros and cons against bilingualism, I thought about how to implement it and what language plan to have for my family. Another interesting chapter is devoted to case studies. Here we find 16 different examples of bilingual families and learn how they approached bilingualism, and how their children learnt to be bilingual (to various degrees). To whet your appetite, I’ll only mention that there is also a sub-chapter on intelligence and bilingualism.

I highly recommend this publication to parents who face the decision of introducing bilingualism and don’t know how to approach it and for those who are already bilingual, but need some support or have some unanswered questions.

Are you a bilingual family? What books on bilingualism have you read and would like to recommend? Please let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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October 10, 2018

Book review: Teach like Finland. 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms by Timothy D. Walker

Once, I walked into [the] first grade classroom at my Helsinki school, and I found tiny children with real needles in their hands. It was especially scary, because I couldn’t find [the teacher] initially. Timothy D. Walker

Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

In 2001, Finland shocked the world when its pupils achieved the highest scores on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a set of tests evaluating critical-thinking skills in maths, science and reading. What was their secret? – I wanted to know. My query lead me to a book by Timothy Walker, Teach like Finland, where he walks the readers through the Finnish schooling system from an insider’s perspective, him being a teacher in Finland.

When we read the book, we come across many surprising facts, e.g. in Finland, pupils have frequent breaks, short school days, light homework, long holidays and little standardised testing. We also learn that the education system finds it important to invest in certain values, such as well-being (recharging, physical activity, simplicity, playing outside/in the wild), belonging (building strong relationships with the pupils, having fun and celebrating with the pupils, banishing bullying), autonomy (valuing freedom, getting to know pupils’ passions, planning with the students, demanding responsibility), mastery (the importance of teaching the essentials, leveraging technology, implementing some music elements, preparing summative assessments, discussing grades with the pupils), mind-set (enjoying the teaching process and then the holiday time, collaborating with other teachers, welcoming experts). The last two sub-chapters talk about time-off (vacate on vacation) and about joy of teaching, and I find both of those topics essential if one wants to implement any of the suggested strategies. Taking time off to recharge is crucial if we want to be more productive and enjoy our work, and joy of teaching (learning) means that we’re not only passionate about what we’re doing, but we actually enjoy the process of teaching (learning), which makes us happy.

I think the focus in Finnish schools is more on developing different life skills (e.g. mindfulness, interpersonal relationships and self-awareness) than concentrating only on their academic achievements. At the same time, this education system is deeply rooted in Finnish culture and heritage, which may mean that implementing it in another country may not be as successful (worth checking?). However, through making small changes and amending our teaching styles or our approaches to teaching, we may experiment to see if the Finnish approach (or parts of it) can work in our teaching/learning setting.

The book is a fascinating publication for those who are involved in the education system: teachers, scholars, policy makers… but also for parents, if they wish to learn more about the Finnish teaching and learning style.

Have you read any interesting publications on the Finnish education system or other countries’ education systems? Please let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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October 3, 2018

How do you start? What would be your key tips for parents wanting to raise their children bilingually?(4)

Three months ago, we introduced a new series of video interviews and online interviews which are devoted to the subject of bilingualism. We find the topic of bilingualism fascinating and we want to discuss some of the issues and benefits linked with being bilingual, as well as many other bilingualism-related topics. If you have any ideas or questions related to bilingualism, let us know in the comments below.

Today, in our fourth YT video, we attempt to answer  the question “How do you start? What would be your key tips for parents wanting to raise their children bilingually?”. Our special guest is Łucja Miniewska, an expert on bilingualism both academically (she holds an MSc in Bilingualism) and practically (she’s a mum of two bilingual children). Please click the link to watch our YT video.

Kinga Macalla

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September 26, 2018

How to learn vocabulary by grouping words together

In this blog post, we look at a useful way to help us remember vocabulary – putting words into groups.  We find out how to harness our brain’s natural tendency to understand the world through association (this object is green and has leaves – it must be a plant!) to help us create groups of related words that will help us learn and remember them.  We can create groups based on different things: themes, verbs/nouns and adjectives, synonyms, prefixes – these are just a few that we explore here.

I know what you’re thinking, another post on learning vocabulary! But this technique is different from the visualisation technique or the recognising cognates technique we explored in other blog posts.  And remember, everyone is different and so everyone learns a language differently – and once you have worked out which type of language learner you are and which techniques work for you, you will have a recipe for success!

Grouping By Theme/Context

You will have heard it before, context is key to language learning.  Children learn that “hello” means “hello” because people say it to them when they see them for the first time and not when they are going away (that’s “bye bye”).  They learn that “yummy” is an adjective to describe food but not, say books.  We are no different from children in the way we learn.  When we associate words with a context, we learn and remember them more quickly.  I can assure you that you will remember that “cucchiaio” means “spoon” in Italian much more readily if you are using it to eat soup with than if you ask, “how do you say ‘spoon’?” in a car trip across the Alps and then try to remember it after a fun day’s skiing.

So, how do you group words by theme?  Try drawing and labelling a picture.  Draw a picture of the kitchen in your house and label all the things in there, draw a picture of the human body and label the parts, draw a picture of a car and label that.  If you are learning words that go together or make up a whole, you will remember them more easily.  Learn words about the weather together, learn how to say whether you are well/ill/have a headache/have a toothache together.  Learn words you will use in the classroom together.  Learn words and phrases you will need to use in a restaurant (“I’ll have a…”, “the bill, please!”).  You will remember them better than if you are learning random clusters of words.

Making Nouns and Adjectives out of Verbs

I remember when I learnt this technique to learn three words for the price of one – I was literally excited because it opened my eyes to a new, efficient way of learning!

Think of a verb in the language you are learning.  Let’s take “éclairer” (to brighten/become clear/clarify) in French.  If we look in a dictionary near “éclairer”, we will see “éclaircie” – a clear patch in a cloudy sky (which metaphorically means an improvement in a difficult situation), and “éclaircissement”, clarification.  We will also see the adjective “éclairé”, informed/enlightened.  With this exercise, we have just learnt four words instead of just one.  Try this with verbs you can think of.  You can combine this grouping technique with tools such as tables and diagrams if this will help you.

Learning Synonyms

Another way to learn several words instead of just one word at a time is to learn synonyms.  It is a good idea to use a thesaurus for this exercise.  Think of the word “hungry” in English.  How many synonyms can you think of? “Famished”? “Starving”? “Ravenous”? “Peckish”?  Try looking up  synonyms in the language you are learning and use them in conversation instead of the standard word.  This will help you remember them because you are using them and may impress your friends!

Grouping Words by Prefix

It is likely that the language you are learning will use prefixes (beginnings of words) that have a specific meaning.  Let’s look at Spanish.  If we know that “des-“ means “un-“ or “not”, we can work out that “desconocido” (des-conocido) means “unknown” and “desbloquear” means “to unblock”.  “Descubrir”, literally “to uncover”, means “to find out/discover” (it’s similar in English).  This amazing word is similar in a lot of languages – “scoprire” in Italian is “to uncover” or “discover”, “ontdekken” in Dutch is the same and “odkrywać” in Polish is similar.  These words all have prefixes (s-, ont-, od-) which also mean “un-”, “away” or “from” in the respective languages.  If we identify these little parts of words, we can understand the gist if not the meaning of new words and remember them because of their theme (such as “un-“ meanings).

Can you think of other ways to group vocabulary together?  Share them with us in the comments!

Suzannah Young

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September 19, 2018

Italy: Practical notes from my travels

Today I’d like to share with you some practical notes from my travels in Italy.

Accommodation

We stayed on a campsite and rented a summer chalet. The chalet was very comfortable, clean and nicely presented. The staff members were very nice, but if you wanted something on time and right now, you still needed to wait. For example, one day the Internet stopped working and they were very relaxed about it and said they would call the technician the next day (if the problem still persists). On the other hand, we’re on holiday, right? Do we need to hurry somewhere?

Trains & bikes

The trains were very reliable while we travelled around in Italy (late only once) and the prices were relatively fine. I found it very convenient that you could buy tickets from the ticket machines available at the train stations. The trains were modern and quite a few Italians commuted by them!

Bikes are everywhere in Italy and I loved it! I was especially fond of those old-fashioned bikes which were rusty & simple (e.g. without brakes). You can meet bike riders cycling beautifully and those who at a super fast pace cut your way (I guess all styles & manners allowed!).

Food

Oh, Italian food, I think we could write poems about it. The taste, the quality, the look… OMG, it’s scrumptious. I enjoyed shopping in Italy, even though my Italian is limited to a few greetings, I would still go and buy fresh products from the local deli, bakery or grocery store. The smiling shop assistants would always make the effort to understand me and were very nice, so the whole shopping experience was fantastic. BTW, do you know that there are no supermarkets (e.g. big chains) in Italy, the slow food movement is doing a very good job there. I’m very impressed!

Prices

Prices are not always fixed, you can literally pay a different price every day. It may annoy you, but if the price is going down then it may not be too bad at all. Seriously speaking, I found that some items were so over-priced but, on the other hand, others were very under-priced. Be prepared to be often surprised when it comes to prices.

Final tip

The smaller the town the better. We stayed in a small sea-side town and we really enjoyed it. No crowds, super fresh food, lots of personal contact with the locals, slow-life experience.

If you’ve travelled to Italy before, let me know in the comments what practical tips you can share.

Kinga Macalla

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