577. Discover new things




One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “An advanced learner, even a proficient one, will continue speaking with words and expressions that are not the ordinary ones of a native speaker. I have seen it. He or she has to carry on a lifelong learning, although not less exciting: they are learning new things, new words, targeting a native speaker! This is a special moment, when the learner has to utilize very personal learning strategies, like using the dictionary, consulting an online dictionary while typing a text, focusing and noticing a native’s ways of saying, realizing that what he usually says is a Spanish translation of certain word or phrase. Everyday we can hear foreigners who use words from their language, and which we don’t say in our L1.



More strategies? Reading, talking with native speakers, listening to a radio station in the Internet, contributing to a web forum and reading from other people...”





/ Photo from: granadatourist com. This is a photo of the picturesque suburb of Albaicín, close to the Muslim palace of Alhambra, in Granada, where I live. It’s downtown. It was part of the streets and market spaces of the Muslims, when they lived in Granada, even after the conquer by The Catholic Sovereigns, Isabella and Ferdinando, in 1492. Presently all this old city and surroundings are a place worth to visit, now with a background of a Sierra Nevada so white with snow. Awesome. It’s simple to find bars where the waiters and waitresses may serve a cool beer with tapas.

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