Mental imagery impacts many cognitive processes in the brain: motor control, attention, perception, planning, and memory. So the brain is getting trained for actual performance during visualization. It’s been found that mental practices can enhance motivation, increase confidence and self-efficacy, improve motor performance, prime your brain for success, and increase states of flow – all relevant to achieving your best life! (LeVan, 2009)
Goal | Reasons | |
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Ordering a coffee | 1 | Realistic. I can achieve this easily, as the language is quite formulaic and predictable. |
Checking in at the hotel | 1 | Realistic. I can achieve this as long as there are no problems with the booking etc. |
Interacting with shop assistants | 1 or 2? | Realistic. I can achieve this easily at a very basic level, but it will depend on what I am buying (I might not have the vocabulary). |
Ordering food in a restaurant | 1 | Realistic. I can achieve this easily as the language is quite formulaic and predictable. |
Ordering a beer | 1 | Realistic. I can achieve this easily as the language is quite predictable. |
Visiting a museum and reading the German guide | 2 | This might be challenging, but I should be able to use my general knowledge about art to make sense of some of it. |
Attending some of the conference sessions in German | 3 | This will be very challenging. I don’t think I will be able to follow the sessions in German and I would need a lot more time. Not a realistic goal right now. |
Talking to colleagues about the topic of the conference | 3 | This will be very challenging, as I would need quite a lot of specialist vocabulary, and I don’t think I can learn that in the time available. Not a realistic goal right now. |
Chatting to colleagues in German | 3 | This will be challenging, but achievable provided we stay within topics I am familiar with and they are patient with me. |
Basic user | A1 | Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. |
A2 | Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. | |
Independent user | B1 | Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics, which are familiar, or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. |
B2 | Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. | |
Proficient user | C1 | Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. |
C2 | Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations. |
Why set goals? Top-level athletes, successful business people and achievers in all fields set goals. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge and helps you to organise your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life. By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you’ll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long, pointless grind. You will also raise your self-confidence, as you recognise your own ability and competence in achieving the goals that you’ve set. (MindTools, n.d.)
Language learning: | |
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Name of the app | |
Reading: does the resource provide texts in the target language? | |
Listening: does the resource provide audio in the target language? | |
Writing: does the resource offer opportunities to write in the target language? | |
Speaking: does the resource offer opportunities to speak in the target language? | |
Vocabulary: does the resource offer specific activities for vocabulary acquisition? | |
Grammar: does the resource offer specific activities for grammar practice? | |
Pronunciation and intonation: does the resource offer specific activities for pronunciation and intonation? | |
Cultural information: does the resource include information about customs and traditions in the areas where the language is spoken? | |
Use of visual content: are images and videos stereotypical or stock images? Do they represent the diversity of the areas where the language is spoken? | |
Language varieties: does the resource include different regional or national varieties of the language? | |
Pedagogy: | |
Description: does the resource description match what the resource does? | |
Teaching: does the resource present, explain or model language or does it just test it? | |
Progress: does the resource allow the user to track progress or see previous attempts? | |
Scaffolding: do activities in the resource progress in difficulty in a way that supports the learner? | |
Feedback: does the resource provide feedback? Is it just right/wrong or meaningful explanations? | |
Quality of content: does the content have any errors/omissions? | |
Use of media: does the resource make use of sound, images and video in a meaningful way? | |
Differentiation: does the resource offer different levels depending on ability? Can these be accessed directly? | |
Engagement: does the resource keep the user interested or are activities repetitive? | |
User experience: | |
Interaction: does the resource allow users to interact with each other? | |
Interactivity: is engagement with the resource content active or passive? | |
Sharing: does the resource allow or encourage sharing content? | |
Badging: does the resource provide recognition that can be shared on social media? | |
Price: does the user need to pay to download the resource? Is there a trial version? | |
Registration: does the resource require the user to register? | |
Advertising: does the resource include pop-up ads? Are these distracting? | |
Technology issues: | |
Interface: is the interface clear and uncluttered? | |
Navigation: is the resource intuitive to navigate, with clear menus and options? | |
Instructions: does the resource offer instructions on how to use it? | |
Stability: does the resource freeze or crash? | |
Gamification: does the resource have game-like features to increase engagement? | |
Support: does the resource have a help section? | |
Offline work: does the resource require an internet connection to work? |
Phoneme | Each of the individual sounds in a language. |
Tone | In some languages, such as Chinese, a particular pitch pattern on a syllable which changes the meaning of the word. |
Intonation | The rise and fall of the speaker’s voice. |
Word/sentence stress | Accentuating a certain syllable within a word/ certain words within a sentence. |
Connected speech | The continuous stream of sounds with no clear-cut borderlines between words that characterises the spoken discourse. |
Accent | A distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially because of the speaker’s country or area of origin or social class. |
How many words are there in the English language? There is no single sensible answer to this question. It’s impossible to count the number of words in a language, because it’s so hard to decide what actually counts as a word. Is dog one word, or two (a noun meaning ‘a kind of animal’, and a verb meaning ‘to follow persistently’)? If we count it as two, then do we count inflections separately too (e.g. dogs = plural noun, dogs = present tense of the verb). Is dog-tired a word, or just two other words joined together? Is hot dog really two words, since it might also be written as hot-dog or even hotdog? It’s also difficult to decide what counts as ‘English’. What about medical and scientific terms? Latin words used in law, French words used in cooking, German words used in academic writing, Japanese words used in martial arts? Do you count Scots dialect? Teenage slang? Abbreviations?
Frequency band | Example words | % Coverage added by level | Cumulative % |
1,000 | the, history | 77.86 | 77.86 |
2,000 | accommodate, prefer | 8.23 | 86.09 |
3,000 | digest, receipt | 3.70 | 89.16 |
4,000 | elastic, thread | 1.79 | 90.95 |
5,000 | locker, tranquil | 1.04 | 91.99 |
6,000 | diligent, undertake | 0.70 | 92.69 |
7,000 | fossil, jagged | 0.65 | 93.34 |
8,000 | abhor, obtrusive | 0.40 | 93.74 |
9,000 | remorse, wrench | 0.32 | 94.06 |
10,000 | barricade, pigment | 0.32 | 94.38 |
11,000 | glitzy, scam | 0.16 | 94.54 |
12,000 | epitome, resonate | 0.14 | 94.68 |
13,000 | outdo, tipsy | 0.12 | 94.80 |
14,000 | secede, yearbook | 0.10 | 94.90 |
Dans ma ville il y a un garer très joli.
Often/ Sometimes/ Not very often/ Never | |
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I use my background knowledge/the wider context to guess the meaning of new words. | |
I look for any definitions or paraphrases in the passage that support my guess about the meaning of a word. | |
When I see an unfamiliar word again and again, I look it up. | |
When I want to confirm my guess about a word, I look it up. | |
I pay attention to the examples of use when I look up a word in a dictionary. | |
I look for phrases or set expressions that go with the word I look up. | |
I look for phrases or set expressions that go with the word I look up. | |
I make a note if I think the word I'm looking up is relevant to my interest. | |
I put synonyms or antonyms together in my notebook. | |
I make a note when I see a useful expression or phrase. | |
I make vocabulary lists of new words that I want to learn. | |
I make online vocabulary flashcards with the new words that I want to learn. | |
When I try to remember a word, I repeat it aloud to myself. | |
When I try to remember a word, I write it repeatedly. | |
I group words into categories when I write them down. | |
I deliberately read texts in my areas of interest so that I can find out and remember the special terminology that I need to know. | |
I try to read as much as possible so that I can make use of the words I am trying to remember. | |
I use the words I am trying to learn in writing or when I speak. | |
I try to use words I am learning in imaginary situations in my mind. |
Oranges, bananas, pears Chicken, ham, soya beans Rice, pasta, bread
Oranges, ham, pears, bread, rice, soya beans, chicken, pasta, bananas
I live in a house.
I saw Michael walking down the street. I said hello. He didn’t hear me. He had his headphones on. I walked up to him and asked him where he was going. He said he was going to play with his friends.
I saw Michael walking down the busy street, so I shouted hello. He didn’t hear me as he had his headphones on. I walked up to him, greeted him, and asked him where he was heading. Michael replied that he was on his way to play football with his friends from school.