Learn While Creating

Studies show that learners who use learning strategies are more effective learners than those who don’t use strategies. While there is some debate over the definition of what is strategic learning and what is “normal” learning, there are tricks, techniques, methods to improve the effectiveness of learning. I am a big fan of strategic learning and consciously use different techniques. For example, I used avocado to remember the Spanish word for lawyer: Abogado, and to practice pronunciation. If you’re interested in learning more than I highly recommend you take the following MOOC from University of California at San Diego:

https://www.coursera.org/course/learning

I also recommend you read the very practical book “Language Learning Strategies” by Rebecca Oxford. There are other very good books such as work by Andrew D. Cohen, but I found Dr. Oxford’s book the easiest to read and implement into my studies and teaching.

There are also some great websites dedicated to language learning:

http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/best%20of%20bilash/language%20learning%20strats.html

and especially for Spanish learners like myself:

http://carla.umn.edu/strategies/index.html

Enjoy and best wishes with your studies.