If you’ve been inside the East Melbourne Language Centre, you’ll know it’s a grand old building with many nooks and crannies. Everyone knows the front room full of language books, the classrooms and the cosy kitchenette. However, there is a special room out the back that no one ever sees. A room with strange and wonderful instruments; part library and part mad scientist’s laboratory. The hidden room that allows the language centre to travel through space and time. Yes, that’s right, the East Melbourne Language Centre is not just a school, it’s also a time machine. Let’s walk down the ...
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The benefits of music for language learning are well established. Listening to foreign language songs helps with vocabulary and syntax, while singing along improves pronunciation. However, it might not be obvious which artists you should listen to in another language. Fortunately, the internet is full of advice on which artists or which songs to listen to in your chosen language. These posts are great to get ideas for new singers and individual tracks. However, I have found a few advantages to listening to entire albums. Okay, before I go on, I have to admit that I am an album lover, ...
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In these strange times, it can be difficult to keep ourselves entertained - rocketing sales of baking ingredients, trampolines, and craft supplies are proof of that. Language learning apps have also seen a huge surge of interest since restrictions began – mastering the Konjunktiv may turn out to be the surprise silver lining of our severely reduced social lives. We’ve put together a few tips for our German learners on how you can use your time at home to take your German studies to the next level: Working from home? Replace your commute with dedicated German-learning time Now that we ...
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Learning Languages with Virtual Travel Many of us learn languages because we love travelling overseas, or travel to other countries so that we can practice our hard-won skills that we have honed in our language classes! With international travel off the cards for the foreseeable future, it can be depressing to think how long it will be before we can practice our German in a kneipe again, or casually request a tarte tartin at the boulangerie, mais oui! Luckily, there are still ways for us to “travel” from the comfort of our couches, thanks to the wonders of technology. With ...
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Learning Languages Online through Film: What’s on at MIFF 68½ For Melbourne cinephiles and many of our fellow students at the East Melbourne Language Centre, MIFF is the film festival event of the year: people plan their August around those must-see movies, some even taking leave from work to ensure that they can get into as many matinee screenings of obscure Uzbek documentaries as possible. They are also an excellent chance for language learners to challenge themselves outside of their language course, with movies produced in countries across the globe. When the coronavirus crisis hit it looked as though MIFF ...
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