35. The Magic of Middlebury World War I shattered a way of life for millions. But one positive result, invented by a German-American immigrant, continues to deliver blessings to Americans today. Almost no one knows her name or her story, but the peacemaking legacy of Lilian L. Stroebe, today called summer language immersion experiences, continues to flourish at the Middlebury Language Schools that she founded. These schools are the subject of Episode 35 of America the Bilingual: “The Magic of Middlebury.” In the summer of 2018, 1,500 students were enrolled in Middlebury [...]

33. Let’s Go to the Movies…in Another Language IMDB/Warner Brothers image Immersion, say many who’ve done it, is the best way to learn another language. But moving to Florence or Fez isn’t the only way to achieve it. Movies, especially with the help of new streaming services and à la carte language options, offer a virtual language immersion where you can choose how deep to wade in—from just dangling your toe to diving in head first. In Episode 33 of the America the Bilingual podcast, we venture into the four stages [...]

31. Not Your Uncle's Language Class Steve Leveen's Spanish test What older generations may remember from their language classes—drills of verb conjugations, constant corrections of grammar and sentence structure—is not what they’ll find in many global-language classes today. What we’ll hear in “Not Your Uncle’s Language Class,” Episode 31 of the America the Bilingual podcast, may shock many of us old-schoolers: Global-language teachers are no longer looking for perfection from their students! A new and not-so-perfect order At the 2017 national conference of the American Council on the [...]

29. When Baby’s First Words Are Not Spoken This little one is clearly communicating a desire: “More!” Used by permission of Dr. Joseph Garcia. “The hearing community tends to see deaf people and signing as something that’s on the sidelines of our society rather than in the mainstream….[but] the world is starting to see that there is a great gift that the deaf have given the hearing by using their language to communicate to pre-speech—or I should say, pre-articulate speech—infants.” “And yeah, it is amazing.” Meet Dr. Joseph Garcia, a long-time [...]

27. How to Learn a Language Without Studying It When people find out I’m learning Spanish, they frequently ask me, “How are you doing it?” It’s an obvious question. But over the years I’ve discovered that it’s not the best question. A better one is, “What are you doing with your language?” For when you can answer that question, you have discovered a place, or places, where your adopted language can live in your life. That, as we’ll hear in this episode, makes all the difference. The way we acquire language About 70 percent [...]