off the WAL

This blog has now moved to its new site on the Washington Academy of Languages homepage: http://www.wal.org/wordpress
Please come visit us!

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I’ve worked at WAL for many years as an activities coordinator with our English language students. At the beginning of each new term, I must plan a menu of things to do, see or play so that the students can enjoy using the English language skills they are learning at WAL.
But sometimes… I just need [...]

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Presidential debate John McCain Barack Obama Black and white 08
Originally uploaded by Haneybabe
There is a great thing that can be done with language in our culture, that is, the rules of politeness are suspended during presidential elections. We are allowed to call presidential candidates names, tell lies, and alter the pragmatics of the language. [...]

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Sarah Palin
Originally uploaded by Celeste Van Kirk
It is ironic that we are celebrating Noah Webster’s birthday – the founder of American English would be 250 years old this week. It should be recalled, but seldom is, that when his dictionary of American English appeared, only about 60% of Americans spoke English. This was [...]

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Hilary Clinton speaks in Elyria, Oh
Originally uploaded by bridget commisso-caswell

In this political year, we are particularly sensitive to gender-specific language which may brand one as a sexist. There are certain speech patterns that are followed by gender and they have been known for a long time. Here are a few patterns which we hardly [...]

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Back to School
Originally uploaded by Danarah
Welcome back to school, teachers and students! With all of this fall’s discussion about Bellevue School District’s Curriculum Web, we wanted to take a look at how curricula are created for our local ELL classes.
We hear from teachers in our ELL Endorsement program all the time about the curricula [...]

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Wednesday Morning Sunrise at Kerry Park
Originally uploaded by Cap’n Surly

From the World Languages dispatch desk, here’s a rundown of the World Language news. Read on for an update of our class schedule – now with more schedule options! And don’t miss info regarding WAL joining the twenty-first century online!
For those of you busy folks whose [...]

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As activities coordinator for our international students at WAL who are learning English as a Second Language, I have a lot of fun. Plus, a lot of “on the job” adventures to share. Let me tell you about one…
A few weeks ago, a small group of students and I went to Seattle Premier Outlets in [...]

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Close up of The Thinker
Originally uploaded by marttj
What have I learned about second language acquisition?
1. That it is systematic, rule-governed and yet it is a creative process of discovery.
2. It involves acting on received language input by trying to make responses and by making plenty of mistakes in the new language.
3. It involves interacting with [...]

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When I moved from Paris to Seattle five years ago, it wasn’t a totally joie de vivre decision but more a comme ci comme ca change of life. I didn’t expect much from Seattle because, as all snobbish Parisians think, Paris was my raison d’etre. Seattle, in my mind, was an industrial rainy city lost [...]

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