leila kyla

I don't think multiple choice tests help students learn how to think on their own because there are ways around multiple choice tests. You can use "testing strategies" where you eliminate the answers until you have a few answers left and then you make an educated guess. This way, students don't really learn I think. I think essay tests are preferable because that way you get to present your argument and really get to think well about how you're going to solve a problem. However, you can't have essay questions for all kinds of subjects and some classes may be too large to administer essay exams.

I have two favorites as of the moment, one is a Korean film called Finding Mr. Destiny and the other is a Bollywood film called 3 Idiots. Finding Mr. Destiny is sort of like a Serendipity meets Eat Pray Love meets Before Sunrise movie where the girl falls in love with a guy during her trip to India and then she looses contact with him. Then she enlists the help of a "find your first love" company set up by this guy who just lost his job. I love movies about destiny and serendipity so that's why I really enjoyed the film. I love 3 Idiots because it touches on the issue of doing well in school because you love to learn; excellence for the sake of excellence. The film is so inspirational and it's well shot too. One of my favorite quotes from the film is: "pursue excellence and success will chase you pants down"

In my university, for my course specifically, we have a foreign language requirement of twelve units. I think it's good that it's required because it adds breadth and variety to our curriculum. I'm not sure though, after reading everyone else's opinions, if requiring a foreign language subject will affect a student's motivation to learn the language. The student may not want to learn the language because it's required. However, I'd like to argue that having a foreign language requirement might help some students find that they enjoy learning languages. Like they wouldn't have found out otherwise that they like learning languages if not for the foreign language requirement.

I'm also not a fan of dubbing because like what the others said, we don't get to hear the intonations of the real language. Also, there's something unnatural about the dubbing as if the dubbed language doesn't quite capture the character.

I'm a quotes person and I really love finding out about new quotes. If I had to pick some of favorites they would be.. "If you can dream it, you can do it" - Walt Disney "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players"- William Shakespeare (from As You Like It) "Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious.. and curiosity leads us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Thanks for the link! I've been looking for some good Korean language learning resources. The reason why I want to learn Korean is because I like watching Korean drama series too (Boys Over Flowers anyone?). I don't think you need to learn Hangul first though. I suppose you can learn to speak it first and then follow it up with Hangul (like side by side learning). Listening to iTunes podcasts might help too (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/learn-korean-koreanclass101.com/id262223371). What do you guys think about PSY's Gentleman? Did it live up to Gangnam Style?

I have a friend who loves learning languages so I can practice my Spanish with him. I think going on language exchange forums also helps. The native language speaker will talk to you in their language while you get to talk to them in English. That way you both learn. I also really like using language learning apps like Duolingo. I even subscribed to some learn spanish twitter accounts that teach you new words everyday. I guess it also helps to read the newspaper in your chosen language. I used to read the spanish paper (you can find one online). Also like the others said, listening to music and watching TV shows in the language will definitely help.

I was lucky enough to go to the World Youth Day held in Madrid, Spain last 2011. We spent a few days in Valencia before moving to Madrid. I remember feeling so frustrated because I couldn't express myself fully to the spanish speakers around me. Once I got back home I promised myself I would learn the language and maybe even go back to Spain. I also have a godmother who lives in Spain and would like to converse with her in Spanish someday.

I really love watching Korean dramas and movies. I read the subtitles but sometimes I wish I could understand what they're saying even without reading the subtitles. I think it would be interesting to learn. I haven't started any lessons yet but I've downloaded a learn Korean podcast from iTunes. Would you have any recommendations? I'm not sure if I should take formal lessons because I really just want to understand the movies/tv series more. I'm not sure if that is enough motivation.