Today I thought it would be fun to record a short interview with my colleague Richard Lashley, our Head of Geography at Nodehill who decided that for one of his New Year's resolutions, he would endeavor to learn Spanish from scratch using a mixture of new and old technologies before going on a family holiday to Palma this Easter.
Spending about £40 on resources and allocating himself around twenty minutes a day to his new hobby, Richard has been listening to podcasts on his iPod and mobile phone, playing CDs on his way to work and reading the odd textbook or two in his free time.
It was great to hear that his efforts had obviously paid off when upon his arrival at the airport, he was able to ask for directions to the bus stop in Spanish and was rewarded with an appropriate response! In fact, he goes on to say that whenever he tried to use his Spanish, the reaction was always positive and that his enjoyment of the holiday was doubled because of his interest in learning the language.
Equally interesting, is Richard's reflections on his realisation of how he learns best and how this revelation will inform his teaching in the future.
These are encouraging words for anyone thinking of following suit while trying to juggle the demands of a busy day job and I was delighted that Richard took the time to share his impressive language learning experiences with us. I really hope he carries on from this fantastic start and I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did recording it. Click on the link below to hear Richard's words of wisdom.
Download Interview_with_Richard_Lashley.mp3
Here's a link to a Spanish learner's music video. Very funny.
http://tinyurl.com/2e6c2q
Posted by: AllanahK | 23/04/2008 at 03:23