Using Strategies For A Purpose: A Resource Guide For Secondary Foreign Language Learners

Using Strategies for a Purpose
A Resource Guide for

Secondary Foreign Language Learners
Georgetown University
Center for Applied Linguistics
The George Washington University
Dear Students,
Your teacher has given you this booklet NOT because he or she takes some sort of
sadistic joy in giving you more work (although we do wonder about that sometimes), but
because he or she wants to make your life EASIER.
Learning strategies are the key to learning more in less time. Get it? Less time studying
equals more time for fun things, the things you actually want to be doing. If you use
learning strategies when you study, you’ll get more out of the time you spend studying,
spend less time overall studying, and you’ll probably even get better grades.
Actually, you already use a whole bunch of learning strategies to you do and remember
things, both inside and outside of class. The point here is to make you aware of the way
you think so you can take control of those special tools your brain already knows how to
use.
Here’s an example. Have you ever been reading a story in Spanish and come across a word
you didn’t know? You could probably make a guess about that word by looking at the other
words in the sentence or story. When you did that, you were actually using a learning
strategy called Make Inferences. You made a guess by using what you already knew to
figure out the meaning of a word.
How about another example? Have you noticed that when you conjugate different French
verbs, you tend to use the same set of endings? This is your oh-so-smart brain using the
strategy Find/ Apply Patterns. You figure out that there seems to be a set of rules
conjugating French verbs, and you use this set of rules to conjugate new verbs that you
are learning.
These strategies can be used to learn any language, plus other school subjects like English
and Science. The trick is to think about thinking. Once you learn how your brain works,
you’ll figure out how YOU learn best, and before you know it, you’ll be acing those exams!
Best Wishes,
Erin
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© National Capital Language Resource Center Learner’s Guide to Using Strategies for a Purpose
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How to use this Booklet
This booklet is designed to make your life easier and more interesting. You will find
a list of 20 language learning strategies with specific examples of how they can
help you complete foreign language assignments and activities. Most of these
strategies will help you in all of your subjects – not just foreign language – because
they will help you become a more independent and confident learner.
Using Strategies for a Purpose is divided into the following sections:
Examples
Communicate With other Have conversations in pairs or groups
People in the Foreign Practice questions and answers in the classroom
Language Learn grammar for various speaking purposes
Use and remembering new vocabulary
Examples
Read a picture caption, an advertisement, or a paragraph
Find information about current events
Read and/or Listen in the
Listen to dialogues or watch videos
Foreign Language …and
Listen to songs
Understand
Listen to spoken sentences and complete a worksheet with correct
verb tenses
Read and respond to authentic materials
Examples
Make Oral Presentations or Write an essay, an email or a letter
Write Texts in the Foreign Create and perform a skit
Language Make up TV or radio broadcasts
Give short oral presentations
Examples
Read and write about elements of daily life in the culture
Learn About the Cultures of Listen to conversations and discuss traditional celebrations
the Foreign Language Learn about festivals, rituals, and events in the culture
Learn about the art, fashion, and music of the culture
Research and present information on a place in a foreign country
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Examples
Read about the geography of a country in the foreign language
Get Information About Other Listen to a talk about Art History in the foreign language
Topics Using the Foreign Make a web page using the foreign language to present information
Language Read about historic events affecting countries where the foreign
language is spoken
Apply strategies for reading to a difficult passage in English
Examples
Discuss traditional celebrations such as birthdays in various cultures
Compare My Culture to the Discuss sports in the foreign culture and compare them to U.S. sports
Foreign Culture Compare the government of another country with that of the U.S.
Watch a video about young people abroad and then compare their
interests to your own
Examples
Listen to popular music in the foreign language.
Talk to native speakers of the language.
Use Your Foreign Language
Use Internet resources to plan an imaginary journey in a foreign
Outside the Classroom
country
Plan a meal for a dinner party with foods from the foreign culture.
Read an electronic discussion list in the foreign language.
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When You Have to Communicate with Others
In language class you have to communicate with others in a lot of different ways.
For example, you have conversations, role-plays, group discussions, working in pairs
or groups and written correspondence such as writing personal letters and emails.
The activities described below are ones that you might be asked to do in a foreign
language class.
Sample Activity Strategy Use of Strategy
Substitute/ Substitute/paraphrase helps you speak fluently and helps

Work with a Paraphrase you express yourself. If you don’t know a particular
group to create an vocabulary word in French, then use other words that you
alphabet book in do know to express the same idea.
French. If you don't know the French word for “turkey,” say “the
Spare Tire big bird that Americans eat” in French.
Cooperate
Work together to keep the conversation going. When you
Talk with a
are trying to think of a word, let your partner suggest
partner about
vocabulary you can use. If your partner has trouble, help
things you do at
by offering what you know how to say. Helping each other
home
learn will make the process more fun.
Together
Access Look around you for things that will help – posters,
Information gestures the teacher is making, and cognates. Follow a
Answer questions
Sources model that you remember from the foreign language
the teacher asks in
instead of translating from English. Use standard phrases,
the foreign
greetings, hesitation noises, and clarification questions in
language
the foreign language to give yourself time to think of an
Read all about it! answer to a question.
Use Real
Objects/ Spend a little time imagining yourself in a situation where
Roleplay you make requests, such as in a Mexican restaurant. Go
through the possible conversation in your mind: What will
Learn how to
you say? What will the waiter say? What will you reply?
make requests.
Most highly talented language learners do a lot of “play
acting” in their minds. It gives you practice and improves
Lights, Camera, your performance.
Action!
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Transfer/ Use
Cognates Look at the vocabulary list for cognates, words that are
Use new
similar to the English names of school subjects. Check
vocabulary related
your understanding of the words with the glossary and ask
to school subjects
your classmate about the classes they like or dislike.
to interview a
Notice how the words may have a different stress or
classmate about
telephone/ pronunciation in the foreign language, so you won’t
likes and dislikes. teléfono/ pronounce them the same way as in English.
Telefon/téléfon
Comprehending What You Read and Hear
Reading and listening in a foreign language can be demanding. These strategies will
be help you better understand what you read or hear. You can use these
strategies to help you when you listen to lectures, view foreign language films or
plays, watch television, listen to songs, and read articles and stories.

Make
Look at pictures and the title to predict what the passage is
Predictions
Read a short about. Think of words you know about that topic. Remember
passage in your to check your prediction as you read. If your prediction was
text. not accurate, that’s fine; it still helps start your learning
processes.
Crystal Ball
Find out who Use
Selective Find an online newspaper in Russian. Read it quickly,
won yesterday’s
Attention looking for headlines with words that you think might relate
presidential
to the election. When you find such words, read the
election in
sentences around them to find the information you need.
Russia. Look for It
Use
Background Use what you know about dating to help you understand the
Knowledge dialogue. For example, there are different ways to ask if
Listen to a
someone is free on a certain date in English. How do
dialogue about
speakers of your foreign language handle the situation?
making a date.
Notice how the speakers make a request and respond to a
request for a date.
I know
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Listen to a song Make Listen to the song carefully and use the words you know and
by a popular Inferences the music itself to guess the meaning. For example, when the
singer. Answer
singer says “amor” you can guess she is singing about love.
questions about
From the music you can guess if she’s happy or sad about
the song’s
love.
message. Use Clues
Manage Depending on your own pace and learning style, decide on
Your Own how to attack this task. If you work well with flash cards,
Learn a long list
Learning make them for your words and plan a regular time to study
of vocabulary
them. If you study best by listening, record the words and
words for a final
meanings to listen to over and over on your portable player.
exam.
Break the list into several smaller lists and schedule time to
Pace Yourself learn them well in advance of the exam.
Read a travel Monitor Begin reading the brochure and stop periodically to see if
brochure.
you are understanding what you are reading. Stop to monitor
Answer
your progress frequently. If you don’t understand, access
questions about
resources such as the glossary, your notes, or your
the place in the
Check dictionary.
brochure.
Listen to Find/Apply
Think of the patterns you know in English for past tenses.
sentences and Patterns
What do you listen for that tells you a sentence will be in the
complete a
past tense? Notice what you can listen for in the foreign
worksheet with
language. Look for patterns that will help you catch the tense
the past tense Sound Out of spoken verbs.
forms of verbs.
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Presenting Information Orally or in Writing
The next learning strategies are particularly useful for any activities that involve
formal speaking and writing compositions. These are different from the first group
because the product involves little or no direct interaction with others. Some
examples of these activities include: oral presentations, making up TV or radio
broadcasts, monologues and writing essays, short stories, and poems.

Organize/
Plan Don’t panic and think the task is overwhelming. Stop to
make a list of what you need to do to accomplish your task.
Write about your
For example, what rooms will you describe? Then follow
dream home
the list carefully, one step at a time. Use spatial order to list
Calendar the things you want to describe in the home.
Stop for a moment to encourage yourself. Tell yourself that

you can do this assignment because you have good
Talk Yourself
Create and strategies for language learning. You can use cooperating as
Through It
perform a skit you work with a classmate to plan the skit. You can use
(Self-Talk)
about ordering in what you know as you remember phrases in French to talk
a French about food, drinks, and money. You can monitor as you
restaurant. practice the skit to check if you can understand the lines you
I can do it! and your classmate write. When problems come up, you can
access resources to get the help you need.
Monitor As you speak, look at your teacher’s face and the faces of
Tell your class
your classmates to see if you are being understood. If you
about your
think there is a problem, try saying it a different way or
family.
Check asking a question.
Make Before doing any research, make some guesses about what
Give a
Predictions you will learn about lifestyle, shopping, transportation,
presentation on a
politics and sports in that city. As you read about the city,
foreign city that
check your predictions. Don’t worry if they were not
particularly
accurate. Their effect is to begin the process that will help
interests you. Crystal Ball
you take in new information.
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Exploring Culture
Exploring new cultures is an important part of learning a language. For language

learning, we divide “culture” into three major categories: products, practices and
perspectives. Products are the things a society creates, such as clothes, art,
furniture, literature, movies, electronics, food, cars, medicines, tools, jewelry, CDs.
Practices are the societies’ traditions and rules. Perspectives are the beliefs and
attitudes that people in a society share such as patriotism, religion, and politics.
These learning strategies are particularly useful for activities about the products,
practices and perspectives of the cultures of the foreign language you are
studying. Activities that encourage this understanding include reading articles,
stories, and poetry, listening to music and radio broadcasts, watching television,
going to movies, exploring artifacts and objects and talking to representatives of
the foreign language culture.
Read a magazine
article about Make
Austrian sports and Inferences Use the headline, photo, caption, and key words to infer
write a summary what the article will focus on. As you read, check to see
about what types of if what you inferred matches information in the article.
sports they play in
Use Clues
Austria.
After listening to a
dialogue about a
wedding in Kuwait, Use Imagery
list the practices As you listen to the description of the wedding, create an
you learned about image of the ceremony in your mind.
and talk about what
this tells you Mirror, Mirror
Kuwaiti culture.
Write a description Access
of an Italian work Resources Search the Web for Italian works of art. Museum
of art. Discuss why websites are frequently valuable sources of information
this painting was about art.
influential to
Italian culture. Read all about it!
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Personalize
Research a Include what you would like and dislike about the city in
European city and your discussion. What activities or sights appeal to you
give a talk about personally? Thinking of your personal opinions about the
what you would do city will help you recall things you plan to say in your
there. talk.
Me
Use
Background
Read a magazine Knowledge Before reading, brainstorm what you already know about
article about fashion and French fashion in particular. For example,
current fashion what clothing names do you know in French? How about
trends in colors? Apply what you know to help you understand the
Paris. article.
I know.
Other School Subjects in Language Class
A lot of teachers encourage you to learn about other subjects such as history, art,
or social studies through the foreign language. This is not as hard as it seems; the
next learning strategies will help you!

Remembering mental images you have of other Caribbean
Use Imagery islands can help you to understand the description of
Learn about Puerto
Puerto Rico's beaches and tropical fruits. Imagine the
Rico's geography,
kinds of food you know that grow in a warm climate and
climate, foods, and
look in the text for the Spanish names of those foods.
customs Mirror, Mirror Look at the photos in the text as you practice new
vocabulary.
Listen to your Art Take Notes Take notes in your Art class and try to supplement this
teacher talk about information with additional information in an Italian
works of Italian language art book. Or use the Internet to search for Italian-
art. Notepad language art and museum sites.
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Make a web page Use Remember and apply what you learned in Health class
in Spanish about Background about choosing healthy foods and about exercises that
healthy living. Knowledge reduce stress and give more energy. As you create the web
Recommend what page, use phrases you have already learned in Spanish for
foods to eat and suggesting or recommending foods or activities. When
what exercises are you need help with vocabulary related to healthy living,
best for different access resources such as Spanish language health
types of people. I know. websites.
Read in World Make
History class about inferences Read a work of African literature written in French during
how European colonial times and try to understand how the writer felt
countries about the French colonists. Use clues you get from the
established writer’s language and descriptions of the colonists.
colonies in Africa. Use clues
Transfer/Use
cognates
Use the strategies you used for reading in a foreign
language, such as Make Inferences and Predict, to help
Read a difficult
you improve reading comprehension in English. This
passage in English.
transfer will help you apply the strategies more naturally
telephone/ when you read in your foreign language, too.
teléfono/
Telefon/téléfon
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Comparing Your Culture to the Foreign Culture
Cultures have similarities and differences. We can expand our understanding of

world societies and ourselves by making comparisons between cultures. The
learning strategies below are particularly appropriate for helping you see language,
issues, objects, other people and yourself from a new and different perspective.

Read about how a
girl's 15th birthday Use
is celebrated in Background
Latin American Knowledge Use what you know about birthdays in the US and talk to
culture. Talk with
friends about their parties. Compare the celebrations in
a partner about
Latin American culture with those you have experienced.
how a girl's 16th
birthday is
celebrated in US I know.
culture.
Access
Prepare for a class Resources
discussion Talk with people who know about the sport, read Internet
comparing the sites about the championship, watch videos of sporting
World Cup with events in the foreign language
the World Series Read all about
it!
Personalize
As you watch the documentary, try to relate the interests
Watch a
and hobbies of the young people in Asia to your own
documentary about
interests and hobbies and those of your friends. When you
young people in
discuss the documentary in class, compare your daily life
Asia.
with that of the Asian youth you saw.
Me
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Use Graphic
Write a report Organizers/
comparing Take Notes Make a chart showing how leaders are chosen in the US
government in the and in the foreign country. Note where similar events occur
U.S. and another on both charts. Use your chart to help organize your report.
country.
Notepad
Using your Foreign Language
Learning another language will enrich your life in many ways. For example, you can
get a better job, you can speak to people in their native language when you travel,
you can read foreign literature in original form, and you can understand the lyrics
to international music. The strategies below will help you learn, have fun with your
foreign language, find opportunities to practice the language outside of class, and
develop a deeper appreciation for the language and culture you are studying.

Use Think about what you know about talk shows, interview
Listen to songs of a Background questions, and pop music to help you understand what’s
pop singer. Think Knowledge going on. Remember the kinds of questions you have
of questions to ask
heard interviewers ask singers. Think of the questions
the singer about his
you know how to ask in your foreign language as you
or her career.
I know.
prepare to do the assignment.
Access
This strategy is particularly useful outside the classroom.
Information
Do your best to find speakers of the foreign language, and
Sources
Practice your engage them in conversation in the language. Research
foreign language has shown that the most successful language learners are
outside of class. those who seek out opportunities for practice. Find out if
your school has a conversation partners program with
participating native speakers of the foreign language.
Read all about it!
Evaluate
After writing about your day, read your sentences aloud
Write to your pen
and listen for parts that sound natural in the foreign
pal about your
language. If any sentences sound strange, check them
typical school day.
with the teacher or a classmate.
I did it!
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Access
Information Look up the weather online and follow the format used to
Make up a weather Sources forecast weather in your foreign language to organize
report for a city in your weather report. Get ideas from TV or Internet
another country. weather forecasts to help you create graphics to aid in
creating your report.
Read all about it!
Make Make inferences about life in the country based on what
Use Internet Inferences you learn from travel brochures, maps, accommodation
resources to plan
ads, travel guides, and exchanging email with people who
an imaginary
lived there. Use the clues to plan how you should travel,
journey in a
where you should stay, and what you can expect to see
foreign country. Use Clues
and do.
Draw and label each course to help you describe the
Use Imagery dishes. If you can’t draw, cut out pictures from a
Plan an imaginary
magazine or find them on the Internet by searching in
four-course meal
your foreign language. As you plan each course, say the
for a dinner party.
Mirror, Mirror
name of each dish aloud so you can associate the sound
with the image.
Summarize
Subscribe to a At least once a week, tell a classmate what particular
listserv to receive issues are important to that community. Try to use your
emails related to a own words in your foreign language to give the main
foreign language. Main Idea ideas of the messages you read.
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Using Strategies for a Purpose

A Resource Guide for

Using Strategies for a Purpose is divided into the following sections:

Sample Activity Strategy Use of Strategy

Substitute/ Substitute/paraphrase helps you speak fluently and helps

Comprehending What You Read and Hear

Sample Activity Strategy Use of Strategy

Sample Activity Strategy Use of Strategy

Stop for a moment to encourage yourself. Tell yourself that

Exploring new cultures is an important part of learning a language. For language

Other School Subjects in Language Class

Sample Activity Strategy Use of Strategy

Cultures have similarities and differences. We can expand our understanding of

Sample Activity Strategy Use of Strategy

Using your Foreign Language

Sample Activity Strategy Use of Strategy

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