Sunday, November 2, 2008

Keep track of your language learning

linguafolio
While learning a language you might want to record what you have learned and what you would like to learn. The LinguaFolio is the perfect tool for this. From the web site:

LinguaFolio is designed for use by students and educators in secondary schools and in universities as well as for adult learners. Businesses and community employers may choose to use the document to profile language proficiency of their employees or job applicants.

LinguaFolio is designed to assist students with guidance from their instructors in assessing and describing individual language skills and to facilitate articulation from high school to the university level. The three sections of the portfolio are available to teachers and students for building individual portfolios in notebooks and/or as electronic files.

LinguaFolio should facilitate the earning of college credit for language study completed in high school or in transfer agreements among colleges by providing evidence of language learning experiences and intercultural experiences.

There are three parts: the Language Passport, Language Biography and the Dossier which are available in PDF format where applicable.

For younger learners, there is the LinguaFolio Jr. I have used this with my elementary-age student to assess what he knew and what he would like to learn. His mother commented that she really enjoyed filling it out with her son and that it gave her a clearer picture of what he had learned from previous Spanish classes and where he still needed help.

Some sample questions from the language biography section:

What helps me understand when I read words in another language?
What goals do I have for learning a language?
What activities help me pronounce words like my teacher says them?

You will also find a checklist for each level (novice, intermediate, advanced) and activity (speaking, listening, reading, writing). You can assess your child four times a year or fill it out over several years to track his/her progress. Here's a screenshot of a small part of the Advanced section under Speaking:

snip

The LinguaFolio and the LinguaFolio Jr. can be very useful tools in school or at home to keep track of your language learning progress or the progress of your child.

(Here's a link to the Junior European Language Portfolio and the link to the adult version.)
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5 comments:

Cody's Cuentos said...

Karen,
This looks like a great find. Thank you for reviewing it for us!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic tool! I always like to have my students do some type of self-evaluation. Looks like a great thing to use before parent-teacher conferences next week. You're always making my job a little easier :-)

Unknown said...

The post is interesting...Its better that every one should learn new languages like Spanish.In the United States, which has a large Hispanic population, it is the 2nd most spoken language, after English. All of this makes it highly desirable for us to learn Spanish by opting for a conversational Spanish course. etc..One can comfortably learn Spanish at home, in your office, or for that matter, anywhere, with the help of a private live online Spanish tutor.
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Anonymous said...

Just wanted to mention the European language portfolio, but you already found it ;-).

Recording things is ok for credits, but it could also be a HUGE motivator. What I used to do (or am doing) is recording myself an keep the recording on my pc with the appropriate date. Whenever I feel down and think; "dude, I suck at speaking Spanish", I open the folder and listen how bad I was in the past and how much I've progressed.

Karen said...

Glad you found the post useful! I agree Ramses, it would be a great motivator. :)