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Eilonwy

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Everything posted by Eilonwy

  1. This seems really helpful! I’m going to try to find some too. It was hard to figure out goals this year.
  2. In the iOS app, if I tap on the Section heading, it will show me a list of all of them.
  3. Yes, that is also true. Ukrainian has 2 sections of lessons, Welsh/Scottish Gaelic has 3, German has 5 and French has 7. They might not all be the same length, but the more popular languages do have more lessons and resources like Stories. I think the more unusual languages are developed by volunteers, so it’s great they have as much as they do.
  4. It is easy to use the app consistently but I haven’t found that it gets me to the point where I can jump to other resources. However, that could be because I didn’t just focus on one language, so that breaks up my Welsh consistency even though I’m using Duo consistently. I started a new language impulsively a few times, and this is very likely not the best way to make progress in one…Duo has more languages available than most other programs and I find that very appealing. I have the paid version because the ads were really annoying me. I use the review features regularly.
  5. It works for learning vocab and grammar but only up to a point, at least in the languages with medium amounts of lessons. The two languages I could actually have a basic conversation in or read Harry Potter in I didn’t learn on Duolingo. I’ve probably been doing Welsh for 5 years now and finished all lessons and I tried to read Harry Potter and couldn’t. So somehow it seems to reach a lower level than I need to take the next steps with other resources. But, there are no Welsh speakers or readily available resources in my area, and I don’t have time for a Gaelic night class, so it’s way better than nothing but doesn’t replace learning by talking with people.
  6. What I do to reduce confusion is to not try to do all of them in each session. Usually I’ll choose 1 per session. I could do 2 sessions a day, morning and evening, and do two languages a day, but not switching between them in the same session. It probably helps that none of my languages are very similar, and I don’t have a opportunity to speak any of these, so I don’t have to struggle with under-pressure recall in a conversation. This is more of a problem for German and French, both of which I can speak to some extent with actual people. I tend to inadvertently substitute German words in a French conversation, which confuses everybody!
  7. I use Duolingo daily for Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, and Ukrainian, though not each of them every day. It would be easier to focus on fewer languages! I read twitter posts in each of these as described by @Ausmumof3, by reading it as best I can and then using the translate feature. I am reading a children’s book in German and then translating it with my 10 year old, so that gives me some practice for German. I also listen to the Duolingo French podcasts sometimes. They are very well done and have interesting topics. I wish they had them for more languages.
  8. My least shelved book is The Two-headed Whale by Sandy Winterbottom (shelved 134 times). It was a follow up to Moby Dick, and showed how much more destructive whaling in the Antarctic became in the 20th century as technology improved. I thought it was really interesting, but there were a lot of different threads to follow, which sometimes made it jumpy.
  9. I had a look at this today and it is really impressive! Thanks for sharing. Our library has this, but I'm not sure if it will seem too young. On the other hand, the adult Indigenous short stories that I found so far don't seem like they would be the right age range either. I'll have a look at it, thanks for suggesting. Thanks! that is quite a commitment in time, but explains the cost of the course.
  10. How many hours was the Beowulf course that you did? And would you say it's accessible for someone who has read the poem but doesn't have a lot of other background? Thanks!
  11. Thanks, I was looking at that yesterday, but wondering whether I was interested enough to pay that much. I enjoy her podcast. Have you seen her course on Beowulf, a comparable book, and thought it was worthwhile?
  12. I've been pre-reading some of my list for this year. Beowulf was really enjoyable, and I think that will work well. There are a number of places where more historical and literary context would be interesting. Do any of you know a good study guide for this poem? I also read The Hate U Give, and it has a lot of swearing in it, which I am not all that comfortable with reading aloud, though it sounds like how I would expect the characters to talk. Did anyone change the way they covered some books on account of this? A friend who has a current university student who was home-schooled throughout says there were some books that worked better not done as read-alouds, and he thought this was one of them. Other possibilities are reading it anyway (though others could overhear, and this is not language that I feel comfortable using, I think it has more shock value that way compared to reading it silently and then discussing), or substituting "frig", etc., or portraying it a la Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey: That d--- horse! We could watch the film version only, apparently it has less swearing, but possibly is more graphic? I am leaning toward both of us reading it silently and then discussing, but I'd be interested in how others have handled this. Romeo and Juliet is already finished (thanks, @Rosie_0801 for the Veer Zaara recommendation, this was a hit).
  13. Thanks, @Lori D., I had heard those ones were well done.
  14. I read this one last year and sent me right down a Richard III rabbit hole for about a month. It was really well done. I think she would like Wodehouse, and probably also I, Robot. It’s a good point about seeing the mindset and culture in sci-fi. That’s great that it worked well. It could still have a lot to do with the background preparation you did, but good to know that it can be clear enough and be effective.
  15. I think it's fine to not be a fan, and not to get your kids to read it - I strongly dislike Lord of the Flies, and that one is also near the top of the "10 Must-read books" for high school, which I am not going to cover. The point about TKAM being a child's book (she sounds a touch snippy), that should be covered not too late is interesting. For me it seems important that the reader to recognize that Scout is seeing a child's view of the world, that she doesn't have a complete adult view of things. I don't know that most Gr. 8s would be able to understand that very well. I'm not sure my daughter would either, at 15. If you cover the background of the author, and her real-life inspiration in her father, it also becomes clear that although he was doing some good things, and better than many of his era, he also held strongly racist views at the same time. That also seems like a set of ideas that are not that easy to understand in Gr. 8 or 9. I think someone else on this board listed it as one not to rush on, so I was wondering. Looking at the booklist as a whole, I'm leaning towards more levity in the 30s-50s book. I expect that Things Fall Apart, Beowulf, and The Hate U Give are all going to be on the heavier side, and R&J is a mix of very tragic and the Nurse. Northanger and Chinese cat poems will be lighter, so the last novel should be lighter too. I was looking at what I could get for Indigenous short stories at the library today, and came up with Moccasin Square Gardens by Richard van Camp, Glorious Frazzled Beings by Angelique Lalonde, and Buffalo is the New Buffalo, by Chelsea Vowel. I have not read any of these yet, but will over the next few days.
  16. I do need a couple of nice books to balance out the harder things, thanks!
  17. @Lori D. and @kokotg, thanks so much for the short story recommendations and the thoughts on Mockingbird and Their Eyes Were Watching God. That one wasn’t one I was thinking of, but I’ll have a look at it (perhaps for next year, since it doesn’t look like it’s set in the 30s to 50s). Set then, so it doesn’t need to be written then. I’m not familiar with I Capture the Castle, that sounds interesting. Fahrenheit 451 would be very timely for now, but not set in the 50s. I’m doubting I’m authentic enough to pull off Catcher…
  18. Thanks! Our library has this, and she would rather see this than a Hollywood film version (though maybe both). I’ll look up Miss Pettigrew too.
  19. For Gr.10 English for my daughter I’m planning Romeo and Juliet (read-through, live theatre, probably a film version), Beowulf (Seamus Heaney version), maybe Mulan legend poem and medieval Chinese cat poems, Northanger Abbey (read and film), Things Fall Apart (maybe with Bravewriter lit guide), The Hate U Give (read and film), and then maybe The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio or something else. My daughter requested a number of categories including something set in the 30s to the 50s but not in wartime. I thought about To Kill a Mockingbird as well, but I’ve heard that one is better understood at a higher grade. Any thoughts on this or recommendations for something else (like short stories set in that era, perhaps, that is a genre I’m missing, partly due to low personal interest/tolerance)? ETA: I enjoy some short stories but didn’t like the ones we did in school at all. Indigenous or Eastern European short stories would be of interest if there are any recommendations, and don’t need to be set in the 30s to 50s.
  20. I do the same, in that I read aloud the books I want them to hear, and don’t assign other books, though sometimes my partner might assign something. I read at bedtime, starting with about 15 min. of the story for the youngest, then she goes to bed. Then I read 15 min. of the story for the next oldest, and he goes to bed, and finally something more complex for the oldest. The older two can listen to the ones for kids younger than they are. Most of the time it’s me actually reading, but occasionally we’ll listen to audiobooks.
  21. Agreed that picking one park/region might make more sense to avoid a lot of driving. Annapolis Royal and Wolfville have the best gardens in the province, I think, but Cape Breton has more wildlife (as well as lots of local music, etc.) and more dramatic scenery.
  22. If you are looking for these things, I would consider Annapolis Royal and Kejimkujik National Park. Halifax is great but it’s a small city so not much wildlife. There are some good hikes in the Halifax area, though, and the Public Gardens are nice. Another good possibility for September is the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. There are lots of good trails there too.
  23. I asked my son (11) if he liked Anne of Green Gables, and he said yes but he liked Wind in the Willows better because there was more adventure. Somewhere around 9 or 10 worked well for us for that book.
  24. I’ve come across books that didn’t work at the time (I tried Anne of Green Gables with my kids too early) and they worked great later. I built up to Wind in the Willows by reading a graphic novel version with him first. If you wanted to do it later, maybe an audio book version or a read-aloud from you? But, I worked up to it because I like the book. If you find it dull, don’t hesitate to leave it and just move on. Hope My side of the Mountain works out well!
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