Language Learning for All Seasons

And welcome to the second issue of the Breaking the Barrier Quarterly! To say that your response to our first newsletter has been "enthusiastic" would be putting it mildly. We thank you for your hearty endorsement and your message that you want us to continue fulfilling our mission - to enlighten and entertain you with innovative ideas and timely resources for the study of Spanish and French.

Here are our gifts to you this holiday season:

in-depth information about one of John Conner's all-time-favorite classroom activities, the "Guión" Series

a personal copy of one of John's monthly articles, Hablando de Gramática, featured in Think Spanish Magazine

an interview with Mirabelle Kirkland, a French actress and independent film director, who is the featured voice on our newly-released audio CD set, Breaking the French Barrier, Level One/Beginner

a reminder to come see us during our travels around the country

a free Breaking the Barrier title! Scroll down for details.

John Conner and Cindy Beams

Teaching Tips and Timely Resources Guaranteed to Enlighten and Entertain Take a deep breath. You are now going to learn about the single best drill you will ever do in a language classroom. It's fun. It's fantastic. It works. It's called a Guión series. So, what is a Guión series exactly? It's a collection of five sentences that usually highlight just one grammatical concept. Choose sentences that can easily be acted out. Here's how the drill works ...

Click on the first link for an in-depth description of this Guión series. Short on time? Click on the second link for the "Executive Summary."

The Guión Series

The Guión Series "Executive Summary"

John Conner Tackles his Favorite Subject Each month I write a column for Think Spanish magazine. This wonderful publication has articles of great cultural interest to students studying Spanish. Each month, Think Spanish also features an absolutely stunning cover page, beautifully photographed in color, highlighting a place or thing of interest in the Hispanic world.

I enclose for you here an article that I wrote for last July's issue. It highlights the most important things to remember about cardinal and ordinal numbers. After reading the article, test yourself with the enclosed ten practice exercises. The answers are hidden at the bottom of the page. For more practice, the other link connects you to a terrific site developed by Colby College professor, Barbara Nelson. ¡Buena suerte!

Breaking News of Our Products, Workshops and Travels Mirabelle Kirkland, the multi-talented star of our newly-released audio CD for Breaking the French Barrier, Level 1 joins us for an interview. Click on the link below to read about Mirabelle's thoughts on language learning, as well as her exciting work as an actress, screenwriter and film director in Paris.

We're delighted so many of you came to Nashville to see us at ACTFL. The Breaking the Barrier writing team, John Conner, Catherine Coursaget and Micheline Myers, enjoyed talking shop and appreciated the valuable professional commentary that helps us to improve our products. Once again, John Conner's workshop, The Ideal Lesson Plan - Ten Steps to Making your Students Fluent, drew a standing-room-only crowd. Make sure to read about one of John's favorite drills in the preceding article. If you or your colleagues plan to attend upcoming regional conferences in Atlanta (SCOLT), Kansas City (CENTRAL STATES), New York (NORTHEAST) or Las Vegas (SWCOLT) -- not to mention state conferences in California, Colorado and Alabama -- please be sure to stop by to say hello.

Discussion Forum Blasts Off Our Discussion Forum is up and running! Join the exchange of ideas and resources with professional colleagues and fellow language enthusiasts. We're learning from participating teachers and students that the world really is flat!

More Tips and Resources on Language Learning Await You! To view past editions of the newsletter, please visit the Newsletter Archive.

Tis the Season - for the First 100 Respondents - to Give or Receive a Free Book! Simply send an email to Free Holiday Book Offer with the name, address, and email of a friend who might enjoy receiving a free Student Edition of any one of our books (Spanish or French: Level One - Level Two - Level Advanced). Just let us know the title you want! Your friend will thank you.

(P.S. By all means, feel free to send this gift to yourself, instead!)