jumebug

It looks like I may be doing some tutoring to help someon get ready for the TOEFL. I have worked with children who are English language learners, but never an adult. Do you have any tips to help me get started with her? Is there a way I can quickly assess her English skills? I will be looking at the TOEFL to see what it involves, but any help you can give me to point me in the right direction would be really helpful.

Good suggestions. I'm going to have to check out that app and the website. I have also thought about getting some children's books in French (since that's really the level I'm at) But I also like the idea of getting a beginning/intermediate workbook to work on myself. I'm going to check on Amazon to see what they've got. Thanks!

I'm actually kind of the opposite of what others have mentioned. In school whenever we were asked to read something silently to ourselves, I was always one of the first done (and usually had fairly good understanding and recall of what I'd read) But when I'm reading for pleasure, I tend to read a lot slower. I have no idea why:)

Interesting topic. I always find those nontraditional celebrity baby names a little odd. But every once in awhile I think about how a certain word has a nice ring to it. I once misheard someone's name as Maroon, and thought that would make a nice name (for either a boy or girl) It reminds me of the episode of Seinfeld where George wants to name his child Seven or Soda:)

I agree completely that grammar and spelling have gone downhill and it drives me absolutely crazy! But - to play devil's advocate - language does evolve over time. Do you think some of the mistakes that are becoming more common - the example given here or the misuse of their/they're/there - will become acceptable, not only in informal speaking/writing, but also in more formal settings? I hope not, just giving another perspective on it to hopefully get people thinking:)

I'm a speech-language pathologist so I have an understanding of language from that perspective. Maybe it depends on whether your receptive (understanding/comprehension) or expressive (use/formulation) language is stronger. I feel like my receptive language might be a bit stronger than my expressive language, though I have no testing to back that up. So it would make sense that reading a foreign language would be easier than speaking it. However, I do have a hard time understanding spoken French (the only foreign language I've studied), and find it harder to write in French also. So maybe my theory is completely wrong:) Perhaps it depends on which foreign language you're learning?

I took about 6 years of French many many years ago, and haven't been exposed to more than basic French since then. I would love to relearn what I knew and even more. Would be so cool to be fluent in French. Can you suggest the best way for me to refresh what I once knew? I always found it easier to read than to understand what others were saying, if that helps in making suggestions. Thanks for any advice!

Is there research to back that up? I actually have found it easier to read French than it was to speak it. It's been quite awhile since I've read or spoken more than just basic French, but if I see something written in French that's a little more complicated, I can take a pretty good guess about what it says. But if I had to speak that same thing, I would have a very hard time coming up with the vocabulary and the right sentence structure. But maybe that's just me

Hi, I'm new here. I'm interested in learning French. Or I should say RElearning French. I took about 6 years of French in middle school/high school. I wasn't great at it, but I enjoy learning French in a less academic concept (for fun, rather than for grades) I'm also interested in helping others learn English. I have a very good grasp on the English language and good teaching skills so hopefully I can help someone out!