Lockdown language learning

By Christine E Sas, on 2 June 2020

By SELCS Language Co-ordinators (Marie Fournier, Anne Grydehøj, Helga Hlaðgerður Lúthersdóttir, Joana Jacob Ramalho, Christina Massaccesi, Marga Navarrete, Mazal Oaknín, Dagmar Paulus, Christine Sas)

Some students may feel that the lockdown has bereft them of essential face to face contact time with peers and tutors to develop fluency and gain a better understanding of the languages they study. We have all been adjusting to these changing times and finding our way around this conundrum too and would like to invite you all to think creatively and share with each other how you have been practising your Danish, Dutch, French, German, Icelandic, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swedish, this vast array of fascinating languages on offer in SELCS!

Let’s kick-start the discussion with some of your language co-ordinators’ tips!

First of all, do things you enjoy in the target language! Do you like Manga? Read them in Portuguese. Are you interested in motorcycling? Listen to a podcast about it in Norwegian. Love music? Share playlists and practise lyrics with lyricstrainer! Plan your time and devote short stretches of time to developing different skills.
Understand your (language) learning style, so you can develop your study time accordingly and realistically – why not try an online quiz to understand how you ‘work’, such as this one?
Join the SELCS book club [password: SELCS], and read in the original language, or opt for one of the wonderful translations out there, in whichever language you can read – broaden your language horizons and delve into the wonders of translation while you are at it.
Join the SELCS film club, every Tuesday at 5pm; immerse yourself in the stories, sounds, multiple varieties and melodies of all our wonderful languages. Even if you can’t leave your locality, expand your horizons culturally and linguistically.
Don’t forget about your individual language module Moodle pages which will contain a genuine wealth of resources, learning tips, and links.
Contact your tutor if you would like to pair up with students in another year group either to improve your own language or to help them – you can do both!
Set up a Facebook group or use any social media platform to bring students together, use the target language, give each other feedback and share tips and resources. Which series in another language have you been binging recently? What is the foreign press writing about the UK or your home countries? Share!