Language Teacher Toolkit: Steve Smith's blog

This post aims to give you a little background about the topic of second language learning aptitude, how to identify high aptitude language learners and what you might do with this information. It is based on a section of Memory: What Every Language Teacher Should Know (Smith and Conti, 2021). Teachers sometimes hesitate before using the phrases high ability and low ability since they risk implying that a student's attainment is constrained by a pre-existing level of aptitude. However, few if any teachers would not recognise that some students just seem to be far quicker than others. There is, in fact, quite a long tradition of research into language learning aptitude. There’s no doubt that aptitude for language learning exists and back in 1959 John Carroll and Stanley Sapon attempted to identify the factors which make up aptitude and predict a person’s ability to learn another language (Carroll and Sapon, 1959). Carroll is considered by many to be one of the premier psychologist...

Today (10th June) is the anniversary of the massacre by German forces of inhabitants of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane. Here is a text and questions about the event. Le massacre d’Oradour-sur-Glane En février 1944, la 2e d ivision Panzer SS " Das  Reich" est stationnée dan s la ville de  Valence-d'Agen  au nord de Toulouse, en attendant d'être ravitaillée en matériel neuf et en troupes fraîches. Après l'invasi on de la Normandie en juin 1944, la division, commandée par Adolf  Diekmann , reçoit  l'ordre d'arrêter l'avance des Alliés vers le nord. L'une de ses unités était le 4e Régiment de Grenadiers Panzer SS ("Der Führer").  Tôt le matin du 10 juin 1944  Diekmann  apprend  qu'un officier de  Waffen -SS était retenu prisonnier par la Résistance à Oradour-sur-Vayres, un village voisin. L'officier capturé serait le SS- Sturmbannführer  Helmut  Kämpfe , commandant du 2e Bataillon de reconnaissance des Panzer SS (également de la ...