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6.bis How do I fill out my logbook ?

Transcription

In this tutorial, we will first see how to add activities to your logbook and then, secondly, how to analyze your learning activities.

If, beforehand, you need to take stock of what the logbook is and what it is used for, watch this tutorial.

We advise you to regularly fill out your logbook to manage your learning journey.

There are two ways to add activities to your logbook: automatically or manually.

The activities added automatically once completed are: services in language resource centers (workshops, conversations or advice interviews), consultation of online resources via the EDOlang catalog, personal work and borrowing of documents in centers language resource.

For all your other learning activities, you can manually create an activity line by clicking on “new activity” and filling in the different fields.

You can thus create an activity for your initial self-assessment, to define your objectives or for your learning activities outside of EDOlang (film viewing, tandems, etc.). The activity created appears as a “free course”

Please note, you cannot delete a line in your logbook unless it is a “free course” activity without comment.

Why comment on your activities? To help you manage your learning by choosing the most appropriate activities and resources to achieve your goals. Your teacher can also support you by reacting to your comments in your logbook.

Write, yes, but what ?

The idea is to describe and analyze the activity you carried out.

An example: you want to write your CV in English to find an internship and you used the “how to write a CV” website from the EDOlang catalog: what did you do? have you read all the pages, why? did you look for vocabulary, why, how? have you compared your CV with the advice given? was this resource sufficient to achieve your objective, why?

It is not a question of detailing the content of the resource but rather of describing how you used it and to what extent this resource was useful to you in achieving your objective.

You can write your comment directly in the logbook or copy and paste from a text editor.

Here you see your comments and those of your teachers.

Now it’s your turn!

>> Download transcription file « How to fill out my logbook ?«

7. How to use the resource catalogue ?

Transcription

In this tutorial, we will introduce you to the EDOlang resource catalog and how it works

How to find resources ?

You access the catalog from the EDOlang home page. Log in to have access to all features.

You can start by choosing the language you want to work with.

The catalog offers you both physical resources, which can be consulted in one of the language resource centers, and digital resources.

Well, that’s no use, there are teachers for that !

You can search for resources in different ways :

If you have information on the resource you are looking for, you can enter the title, author, etc. You can also do a keyword search.

you can also do a simple search :

by skill: “write”, “speak”, “listen”, “read”. By clicking, you access the summary description of the resources. It is possible to filter these resources by type, medium, etc. When you click on the chosen resource, you access the detailed description ;

you can also search by type of resource: audio, video, literature, etc. “Reference tools” are common ones (dictionaries, grammars, etc.). The “learning sites” are all accessible from any computer station except subscription sites. To consult these sites, you must go to a language resource center. “Language methods” are books with CDs or DVDs, so they can only be consulted in language resource centers. The “build my learning” resources help you define your objectives and your organization ;

you can finally select bundles of resources: these are resources gathered by objectives.

if you want to cross several criteria, you can do it with the advanced search. You access domains in particular.

When you find a resource that interests you, you can add it to your favorites. You access all of your favorites on the catalog home page.

There are plenty of ways to self-assess! It actually depends on what you want to evaluate yourself on. If you want to self-assess your written comprehension, you could for example choose a text, a book or an article, or even a conversation by SMS, it all depends on your objective. You would then try to estimate your comprehension rate as a percentage. And for oral or written expression, you could for example meet a native speaker, if you feel capable, at the language café or during tandems. And if your goal is to chat via text, you could try chats or apps, such as Hello Talk. You could also use a logbook online or on paper.

In any case, if you think you need it, you can always make an appointment with an advisor at a language center.

How to use catalog resources ?

When you use a resource from the EDOlang catalog, an activity line is automatically created in your logbook.

For physical resources, this line appears once you have returned the document to the resource center.

For digital resources, you need to go to the detailed description of the resource and click on “launch”. When you’re finished, remember to click on “stop”: a line will be created in your logbook with the duration corresponding to your activity.

You can thus analyze the activity you have just carried out by adding a comment.

If the language is not the correct one because the resource is multilingual, you can modify it in the “action” column.

If you would like more information about the catalog and resources, you can follow a workshop on this topic or request information at a language resource center.

>> Download transcription file « How to use the Resource Catalogue ? »

8. How to self-evaluate your learning of a foreign language ?

Transcription

Hello there, budding learner! In all your knowledge and autonomy, do you happen to know what self-assessment is?

Well no, tell me, what is self-assessment ?

Sit down, I have to explain to you : Self-assessment is the fact of being able to evaluate one’s skills, one’s abilities to respect or not respect one’s objectives, which one has set for oneself !

It’s comparing yourself with yourself and others. Thanks to self-assessment, you can observe the progress you have made and how you got there… or not.

Well, that’s no use, there are teachers for that !

Yes, it’s useful for something !

Self-assessment is part of the empowerment system. It is used to know yourself better and to review your goals if they are too high, too vague or unrealistic, for example. In addition, you can observe your progress and direct your learning based on it.

Oh yeah, not bad ! And so, what can I do ?

There are plenty of ways to self-assess! It actually depends on what you want to evaluate yourself on. If you want to self-assess your written comprehension, you could for example choose a text, a book or an article, or even a conversation by SMS, it all depends on your objective. You would then try to estimate your comprehension rate as a percentage. And for oral or written expression, you could for example meet a native speaker, if you feel capable, at the language café or during tandems. And if your goal is to chat via text, you could try chats or apps, such as Hello Talk. You could also use a logbook online or on paper.

In any case, if you think you need it, you can always make an appointment with an advisor at a language center.

Whoa, but it’s all complicated! Where do I start ?

Perhaps you can start by asking yourself these kinds of questions: Where am I in my learning? What is my main goal? What should I do to achieve it? How will I know I have achieved my goal? Am I spending enough time on my learning? Or should I give it more time?

Oh yeah, not stupid, not stupid! I’ll think about that next time!

THANKS ! In the meantime, you can always take a look at our short questionnaire, which will allow you to better self-assess yourself.

Goodbye, see you again, have a good trip, arrivederci, sayonara!

>> Download transcription file « How to self-evaluate your learning of a foreign language ?«

How can a series be used to learn a language ?

Transcription

SLIDE 1

Choose a series

SLIDE 2

Remember to choose the series according to your objectives and also to vary the series to discover the diversity of accents and registers of the language being studied.
SLIDE 3

Watching a series can help you to develop LE skills in a number of areas, as long as you are active in your learning and set yourself goals. Listening, speaking and vocabulary acquisition are the areas for which we suggest activities in this tutorial.
SLIDE 4

You can watch a series with the aim of understanding a scene as a whole, or even the whole episode. Several activities are possible. You can watch the series in English with the subtitles in English. Using the subtitles in the language will help you to associate the written form of a word with its spoken form. You may have a tendency to read at the beginning without listening to what is being said: one possible solution is to read before then listen afterwards while trying to read to work on this oral/written link.
Having the subtitles in LE allows you to see how the words are spelt, so it’s easy to look up words in the dictionary that really seem to be blocking your overall understanding. Look up the words if you feel you need to, but don’t look up all the words or you’ll lose the thread of the scene… You can also watch the series in English without the subtitles and then check your understanding in the video series with the subtitles in English or French.
SLIDE 5

In any case: don’t worry about not understanding everything in detail, that’s normal and that’s not the point !
SLIDE 6

If you want to understand how the language works in more detail, you can choose a line that seems interesting to you and dissect it: look for the vocabulary, try to understand how the sentences are constructed… Don’t do this for every line !
SLIDE 7

Losing your accent is not a very important objective when learning a foreign language, but it is important that this accent should not be a barrier and that you should be able to make yourself understood in a foreign language. Pronunciation difficulties are often due to the fact that you have to string sounds together in an utterance, respecting intonation and rhythm. You can work on this aspect by watching a series. For example, you can listen to a character’s line, paying attention to pronunciation, intonation, the way the words are grouped, identifying the most accented parts, those where the voice rises or falls, etc. You can then practise repeating them after him. If you want to assess your progress, remember to record yourself so that you can compare your utterances with the model. « Acting » can also help you overcome your apprehensions about speaking the language. Of course, remember to be critical of the model you choose and to vary the models !
SLIDE 8

If you want to work on the production of statements in LE, you can use a series you already know, which you have seen in LM or with subtitles in LM, for example. You can select a scene and then try to invent what a character is going to say in LE. Then you can check with the LE version. Be careful, even if your statement doesn’t correspond to the LE version, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong… There may be different ways of saying the same thing.
SLIDE 9

Just as it is not useful to try to understand everything when watching a series, it is not useful to try to learn all the words that you do not yet know. Indeed, the word that prevents you from understanding a statement is not necessarily interesting to remember for expression or even understanding… It is important to differentiate the lexicon useful for understanding from that useful for expressing oneself. Listening work in FL accompanied by lexicon research already allows you to memorize useful vocabulary in oral comprehension. You can use a translator to translate words or expressions that you do not know, also consider using a monolingual dictionary or a concordancer to understand a term or expression that does not necessarily have an equivalent in LM.
SLIDE 10/11

Seeing the lexicon available for oral expression requires deeper memorization, in fact you need to be able to find this lexicon quickly when you express yourself. You will therefore have to learn this lexicon. Set a goal for yourself based on your possibilities. For example, 5 words to memorize and 2 expressions for example. Look for expressions, words that come back often and above all which seem reusable to you or which you think you need the most. You can note them with the context, it’s better than a simple French translation of the word.
SLIDE 12

We can learn to write by reading but the transfer is not automatic. This requires going through several stages and training, so look for as many writing tasks as possible, corresponding to your level. For example, take reading notes or when you listen to something, write about it. This will help you overcome the fear of writing in a foreign language, gain confidence in your expression ability and above all clearly improve your writing skills. Use every opportunity for real exchanges. Mail and exchange emails with acquaintances, friends, teachers. Or take a text that interests you and summarize it in writing. The ideal is to be able to send these writings to a third party likely to give you constructive feedback on your production.
SLIDE 13

Be careful once again to keep a critical eye: can the language used by the characters be transposed into the communication situations you have to deal with ?

SLIDE 14

Up to you ! Set a goal, be active and regular and above all enjoy learning !

>> Download file « How to use a series to learn a language ? «

What does it mean to express yourself orally ?

Transcription

What does it mean to express yourself orally?

Hello.

So, what does it mean to express yourself orally?

First of all, to express oneself is to : intervene in a communication situation

For example: Asking for information

Giving information

– It also means proposing

– Or refusing

In fact, we express ourselves to help someone, to inform them, to advise them, to invite them, but also to apologise, to say what we are going to do, to ask for a favour, etc.

How do we express ourselves?

When you want to express yourself, you first have an idea of what you’re going to say:
saying you want a hotel room or explaining a recipe or saying you have work to do.

So to express yourself is at least to have an intention: to inform someone, to know what they want, for example.

And this idea is gradually shaped.

We start with the vocabulary and the rules for combining words in the language.

Then we choose the ones we use according to the situation and the person we are addressing.

Par exemple, vous êtes étudiant et vous voulez inviter quelqu’un. Vous avez a priori de nombreuses possibilités d’expression, comme par exemple : « On pourrait aller au restaurant ce soir « , ou alors » Et si on mangeait ensemble ? », ou encore « Tiens, on se fait une petite bouffe ? « .

Learning to express yourself in a foreign language means :

→ on the one hand, to automate and perfect the mechanism of linguistic formatting, to say what we have to say ;

→ it also means choosing and learning a limited number of formulas that can be used to express ourselves in situations that concern us ;

→ is learning useful words and expressions, and learning how to use them appropriately. For example, if you’re travelling, you need to know how to ask for directions, order a meal or buy a train ticket. ;

→ And finally, it means learning which forms you can use with different people:
We’re going to vary the choice of words we use… We don’t speak in the same way to a friend as to someone we don’t know very well.

Now you have a few ideas for expressing yourself orally in the languages you are learning.

Now it’s your turn !

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