Canguro English

Today's daily digest shows how you can learn and especially teach language not with grammar and textbooks, but with ideas, concepts, discussion, and deep knowledge. And flying penises.

Today's daily digest is all about fluency. What is fluency? How can you test your fluency? How can you get fluency? You might be surprised at the answers to some of these questions.

Unfortunately, most people view language as grammar, and rules, and concrete concepts. But we need to think about language differently. In this interview I speak to Peter Gärdenfors, professor of cognitive science at Lund University in Sweden. His interest in language spans human cognition, philosophy, evolution, and conceptual spaces. We talk about some of the more abstract elements of language and language learning and I hope it changes the way you see language.

Today's daily digest shows how things are hidden in language, and how your hidden native language structures interfere with your ability to be like a native speaker in English.

Today's daily digest starts with a joke about politicians and then explains how they make us believe lies, what it tells us about the way our brains work, and the truth about language learning.

In this interview I talk to David Crystal: a legend in the world of the English language. He is a linguist, lecturer, and broadcaster, and he has written or edited over 100 books about language including the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language. We talk about language change, the myth of the native speaker, and why learning languages is part of being human. I hope you enjoy it!

Today's daily digest shows the magic of eye contact and how a trick from the internet might help you to understand native speakers quickly and easily.

Today's daily digest explains why people from some languages appear to speak faster than others, and why syllables are not the same as information.

Today's daily digest talks about the science of vocabulary learning and why you are more likely to remember magicians and dogs, than newspapers and belts.

Recently I had the pleasure of talking to Scott Thornbury, a giant in the world of English language teaching.

He is a teacher, teacher trainer, award-winning author, and speaker, and he has been pushing for change in the way we teach languages for more than 20 years.

We spoke about many different aspects of language teaching and learning, especially what teachers can do differently in the classroom and the importance of social learning.

I hope you enjoy it.