duolingo

True to the motto of this blog, let me present you another aspect of how every student (and individual) is unique in both how they function and what they need. Many people turn to me with questions regarding language learning techniques. Some emphasize that they need constant supervision and personal contact to keep themselves motivated. They are the ones that come to have classes with me. Some of these people point out that they prefer to have some coursebook and workbook, so they can keep track of their development. Others, however, are bored of language books; for them I prepare individual materials. There are those who demand home work and those who oppose to it. Another, all the more significant, group is looking to find e-learning tools, which can either function as a complement to guided learning (like group or individual classes) or it can even be the way: something they can apply for their own needs, in their own tempo, with their own supervision.

Let us see one such tool in more detail. Duolingo is gaining more and more popularity in Hungary. It is free, it offers extensive English exercises in Hungarian, and if you already speak English, you can learn German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Danish, and Swedish, among others. Naturally, the fact that it was advertised in a free, daily newspaper of ours also contributed to its success. But how does it work?

After an easy and user-friendly registration, you will find yourself on a pleasantly designed and well structured site. Once you pick the language you wish to master, the course begins with a welcome test. The practice is split up into different levels and you can advance only if you manage to solve the exercises with less than 3 mistakes. Your development (as far as levels are concerned) is illustrated on a vertical scale, while your daily performance (measured in Lingot points) is visualized on a graph.

If, say, you want to practice prepositions, the system divides them into smaller chapters focusing on 4-5 items at one time. The tasks include translations, first from English to Hungarian, so the learner gets familar with the meanings. Then the Hungarian sentences need to be turned into English, so the learner becomes able to produce the meanings as well. Then, the same sentences and phrases, with occasional mild alterations, are brought to oral comprehension: the uttered sentences need to be written by the learner. This way pronunciation and spelling are coupled.

The system always gives feedback about the learner's production. If the solution was incorrect, the correct one is provided. At this point I must point out some obvious shortcomings. Even on the elementary level, with simple sentences, I bumped into problematic cases of what is correct and what is not. Occasionally, the system is very (even unnecessarily) strict, while other times it is inconsistent. Why this is frustrating is because once you collect 3 failures, you need to return and start over.

To compensate the rigidity of the system, Duolingo built in a message board, which makes it possible for the language learning community to comment on every task. The above sentence was, for example, widely discussed. Even if it seems a pain in the ass to go back and start the exercise again, it can give you some comfort if you see others found it problematic or unfair as well.

As we see, Duolingo's e-learning system offers a lot, but to stay realistic, it's not flawless. Why I do find it worth trying is because it applies many characteristics of community learning. Not only does it try to give you feedback on your progress -- like a teacher -- but it also creates the feeling of being part of a community -- like a language group. In short, it endeavors to combine the advantages of individual learning (doing it when you want, as frequently as you want, where you want) and the benefits of community learning (doing it with supervisors and peers, in short, with people). To see how it fits your specific needs, give it a (Lin)go.

this goodbye

Last time I wrote you how my kid learner and I said goodbye to each other for the summer. Well, actually that turned out to be not a real goodbye, as she asked for another class before the vacation. I was moved that she convinced the parents to meet me one more time. As a matter of fact, I also was planning, because we always end bigger blocks with a conclusive poster, which is what I was preparing for the end as well. That class when the parents suddently told me this was the last, I still wasn't ready to deliver the closing collage project, so it felt awkward for me too to wave goodbye like this. But anyway, we won over the parents for a decent pre-vacation project: yay!

Every time we created something in class -- and it was almost always -- I took a photo of it. Not just for future reference, but also for future use. For these closing lessons, I always print some of these art projects of ours and build exercises around them, so we recall them both as learning experiences and as creative experiences. She can contemplate and comment on the material we learned and on the feelings their production triggered. I must say, it was very rewarding to do this last poster with her, because she kept saying how much she liked this and that. She picked at least 4-5 favorites. As far as language learning is concerned, we went through the alphabet, the numbers, the seasons and months, school subjects, clothing, sports, animals, and some cultural events like Saint Patrick's Day, Christmas, or Halloween. So far little grammar was introduced, because at this age she is not yet familiar with grammatical terms in her mother tongue either. 

At the end of the class, then, she gave me a chocolate she fancies ("Merci"), with a hand-written letter:

Dear Anna,

Thank you for teaching me.

Whit (sic) love,

L.

It was just adorable. Then she asked me if I am going to be stricter next year. ;-)

look up

A couple of days ago a former student of mine posted a video on her Facebook page. Her description of the short film was: "This is a very thought-provoking film. Watch it, then get away from the computer." Her words made me wonder, so I gave it a shot. And it was worth. Watch it with me:

I was amazed, not so much by the novelty of the message, but by the extensive presentation of how far we go (or fail to go). I remembered how strange it feels lately that if I look around on the subway, 7 out of 10 people are on their phone, texting, emailing, playing, sometimes talking. Even if you overcame your shyness and wanted to exchange a word or two with someone, or just a look, it would be just impossible. Of course, I haven't given up on trying (though I must admit, ever since I have a smartphone, occasionally I also fall into the trap of being "efficient" while travelling: sending another email, instead of letting go of virtual problems and embracing real happenings). So, the other day I was watching a guy who was plugged into his phone. Listening to music -- ears occupied -- and texting -- eyes occupied. He was so absorbed by his phone that he almost fell when the subway -- gently -- stopped. Then, as he bounced back on his feet, he wanted to lean on the door, but it just opened: he almost fell out. Not only do we make clowns of ourselves but we also tend to risk our lives (to send one more sms or email while driving).

I used the video in one of my classes as a closure. My student was thrilled by it and admitted how true it is and we know that! Just as she uttered these words, her office phone started to ring... she hesitated a bit but then she picked up. So our class -- an hour of freedom and relaxed conversation in the middle of a crazy working day -- ended prematurely. It is hard to allow ourselves to be. Present. Relaxed. Free.

waiting for godot .. and summer

My kid learner just can't wait for the summer to come. Summer means sunshine and freedom for a kid. And no English classes. :-) As a farewell to the classes and a welcome to the vacation, we decided to make a poster about some of the things that might await her in the following months. 

First we selected and cut some pictures, typically from magazines and commercial material (see what all that crap is good for?). Then we collected a couple of words and phrases connected to and inspired by those images (because it is also about the associated feelings not just objective reality). We arranged the photos on the colorful paper and prepared labels to accompany them. Of course, we turned to her favorite tools: sticky notes. After putting everything in place and fixing them there by glue, we admired our work for a little while. Children like to comment what they like the most (and least :-).

Which do you think she liked the most: being with friends, bathing, hiking, or visiting exhibitions?

Obviously, the exhibition. :-) Check where her pencil was (accidentally) caught. Well, she's a future scholar. ;-)

Happy holidays, kids!

down

At the end of March, we celebrated the International Down Syndrome Day, which calls attention not so much to a genetic disorder but more to the people who live with this disorder. Their struggles and lives are hidden for mainstream society, which is one reason that worsens their opportunities to succeed. As a person and a language teacher, I decided to join the movement and spread the word, or rather, visibility. I chose short videos for my classes, not only because they are perfectly suitable materials for a multitude of tasks like comprehension, communication, grammar, and so on, but also because they have the power to place the students in a different world, unknown to most. Next to widened horizons and a stronger social engagement, eye-opening discussions and a re-evaluation of every day problems can be fortunate by-products of these classes.

In my class, this was the video we used:

To talk about dreams and watch others talk about dreams is always inspirational. You come to realize how relative things are and that reality is always subjective. Then why not choose to cheer up no matter why you are down?

how does your dog bark

As a linguist and a language learner, I have always been exposed to and interested in the issue of how much language is arbitrary. In plain terms, does the word form that denominate a certain concept have any internal logic? That is, does the word chair have any relation to the artifact we use for resting our buttocks on?

Etymology, the study of word origins, suggests that every word form is motivated, deriving from something related and meaningful. In the case of chair, the origin is Greek kathedra (through Latin cathedra), in which the stem is -hedra, meaning seat. In German, however, chair is Stuhl, whose origin is different: it comes from Proto-Indo-European *steh, just like stehen (to stand). One language emphasizes its function (that you can use it as a seat), while another its position (being erected, standing). Why does one language choose this form and this emphasis and another that form and that emphasis? This is what seems to be arbitrary, "random".

Animal sounds are somewhat different, as they are onomatopoeic (which means they are supposed to imitate the sound that they describe). So you would expect that dogs bark, cats meow, birds tweet, etc. the same way everywhere in the world. Well, not quite. Here's a short list of how dogs bark around the globe: woof-woof, bow-bow, vau-vau, blaf-blaf, guk-guk, mung-mung, hong-hong, wff-wff, au-au, bho-bho, and so on. Any preference? 

In one of the classes, my kid learner and I went through some of the main animal sounds in English, and I must say, I would have had troubles guessing some of them right. So much for onomatopoeia being universal. Do you want a challenge? Then identify the animals by their sounds:

cluck-cluck
hee-haw

ribbit-ribbit

thump-thump

squeak-squeak

to whit to whoo

.. and my kid's favorite: bla-bla-bla :-)

For the solutions, check the video.

chai

Share a tea with me, my blog keeps saying. Well, it is not just a virtual invitation, at least in a certain amount of cases. Some of my students have the privilege to share and enjoy a real cup of tea with me, instead of the cyber tea parties I am organizing for you, rest of the world. Sometimes I serve herbal teas (chamomile is good for the belly, mint is refreshing and helps digestion, lemongrass calms your nerves, and the list could go on). Other times we have black tea, like Earl Grey or English Breakfast, to pay tribute to Britain, a tea giant and an English-speaking civilization. Occasionally, we take an Oriental trip to China or Japan, for some non-native adventure, and sip green tea, such as gunpowder or sencha. Last time, however, I thought of trying something less popular and well-known: I made us some Indian spicy-milky chai.

I searched the web and found a bunch of youtube videos about how to make this delicious beverage. I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone? Not only did I use the video as instructions for making the tea for the class, but I also incorporated it into the lesson plan. I prepared a warm-up task (jotting the ingredients and the instructions on small pieces of paper) and made a guessing-listening exercise, just to lead to the ecstatic moment of tasting the chai itself.

As always, I served the tea in the beginning but I didn't introduce or comment it. We just started the class with the planned warm-up. My student had to guess, based on the ingredients (like ginger, milk, cardamom, etc.), what it might be for. He felt it was some kind of tea but wasn't sure. Then, to get closer to the solution, we moved on to the instructions. He had to put the different steps of its preparation into order. More or less he got it right. Afterwards, we watched an authentic video, made by an Indian woman, to check how much his guesses were adequate. 

Finally, when the instructions became clear, he finalized his visual collage about "how to make chai". As a true reward, we could complete the exercise by even tasting and enjoying what we learned about.

use your anger constructively

February is Black History Month. I am sure, most people would think of Martin Luther King, Jr. to use as an emblem of commemoration. Or bring up Obama. Or Oprah Winfrey. Really, who do you think of when trying to connect a figure to Black History?

As for me, although MLK is one the three great leaders I like to turn to for inspiration (it is enough to quote his genially simple "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind"), I would now remember another, less renown but inspirational figure, Audre Lorde. Not only to introduce someone you may not be familiar with, but also because February is also LGBT Month.

Audre Lorde. She was black, she was a woman, and she was a lesbian. Three dimensions of not fitting our white, chauvinistic, and heteronormative society. Three reasons for "us" to call her a freak. And she was called one, or rather, three-in-one. 

And this made her angry. But what she realized was that anger is a tool. Anger is self-expression. Anger is not something to be ashamed of or swallow. If you do, like I wrote before, it eats you up. If, on the contrary, you stand up for yourself, admitting the harm and the anger it triggered, it sets you free and gives you hope.

It is Audre Lorde who said: "Your silence will not protect you," because, as she continues, "when we speak, we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed, but when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive." At the end of the day, we are all going to die, so there is nothing to lose. Be yourself, today, this month, this year, and always.

blind side

Let us return to the exciting experiment I presented to you last week. As a practice of adjectives and pronouns, my beginner student had to collect 10 attributes that he felt describe him the most, for one. For two, he also had to ask at least 3 other people to list some adjectives they found fitting for him. The atrributes, then, needed to go on the appropriate side of the face (the left was reserved for his self-description, while the right was the space dedicated for the opinions of the others).

Just to give you a short evaluation about his experiences, the student reported to have enjoyed the home assignment, because -- not only did he learn new vocabulary -- he had fun with his colleagues and friends. All in all, he said the majority of the qualities others considered characteristic of him were in line with his own perception of himself. (Although it was funny how someone described him as lazy, whereas someone else called him meticulous, orderly, and tidy -- slightly contradictorily.)

But instead of going into an analysis of his figure, keeping his personal rights safe, I thought I would give some feedback on mine. Last week I filled out the "me" side and asked you to provide me with the "them" side. Your comments were highly appreciated, as they proved to be useful not only for the class but also for my self-consciousness. Observe the results:

(I know, I know. The head looks like an octopus.)

There were 4 adjectives that both me and you (them) found characteristic (sensitive, empathic, creative, and sporty). Almost all of the qualities listed on the right side I could agree with and, if I had more space, I would have included. (What was maybe a bit surprising was cosmopolitan -- here I would be happy about some explanation :-). All in all, however, the biggest lesson lay in the comparison of what type of qualities I considered to be my first and most characteristic features and what others considered them to be. I mostly chose what I labeled hard "individualistic" qualities, in connection with mental capacities and willpower (analytic and dedicated), while others saw me much more as someone whose soft "interpersonal" qualities are more emphatic (gentle and caring).

If you check the figure above, you will find the shared adjectives in white, my descriptions in yellow, and those of the others in orange (creative and analytic, right? :-). Although it is obvious the perspectives are different (me observing myself from the inside, while others through interactions, that is, from the outside), the distribution of the colors says a great deal. 

I must conclude, you helped me find my soft spot... or blind side.

me and them

New year -- new meetings. I have a new student, a beginner, or rather, a re-beginner. We have just started, so we are now in the exciting period of getting to know each other. As usual, I began with some self-introduction (his reaction to my prezume was, as expected: he appreciated it, admitting that visuals helped a great deal in filling his gaps to understand the talk). In the form of a game, tailored for his level, he was also made to share his -- initial -- thoughts about himself. 

Today, I felt, we could move on, both in digging out his forgotten English knowledge and in going deeper into a mutual opening up. I designed a game for him, in which pronouns, already refreshed in class, and adjectives, just introduced, could be practiced, while contemplating on something we are most interested in: ourselves.

He was expected to collect 10-15 adjectives that best describe himself and list them in the left side of the face. Then, in order to fill the right part of the face, he needed to ask 3 acquaintances to name 5-5 adjectives they think describe him the most. Of course, this game has not only linguistic but also psychological relevance.

Instead of revealing his answers, let me test the game on myself. Here are the adjectives I gathered about myself.

I am looking forward to filling the right side; so comments, with the 5 adjectives, are welcome.

how to be positive

Although with business classes you are used to early morning or late evening classes, at the university you feel you have a choice and so do students. At the beginning of a semester, I  was shocked to realize that Scholarly Writing, the most difficult course I held, was scheduled early in the morning. By "difficult" I mean for the students. The course promised to be painstaking, because it involved a serious, creative process, writing -- both on the spot and in the form of home assignments. And students tend to agree with the quote, from Dorothy Parker, I like starting the course with:

"I hate writing. I love having written."

Foreseeing the troubles students were going to have, with the nature of the course and with the early hour (which at this age is a very serious problem), I decided to apply some of the methods I use in non-academic classes. I spent a couple of days brainstorming to find the appropriate warm-up activity that students would like and the course could use as a start. Eventually, I picked the popular and broad concept of music. The idea was that we start each class with a short piece of music (up to 5 minutes) that one of the students brings. This way, we get to know each other a bit better, we can build a stronger community, and we would overcome the problems specific to the start of the class, namely sleepiness corrupting concentration and late arrivals interrupting the flow. I tested the idea among my student-aged friends and it was approved.

You might ask how I integrated this task into the classes. Most of the times we had some short writing task connected to music, so students could feel this intro was not only about fun but also about work.

By now you must be dying to know how it went. I must say, it had a huge success. Students remembered and recalled it as a pleasant experience even way after the course ended. Because, as many students admitted, they "couldn't live without music." Apparently, I found a soft spot. 

Of course, I wouldn't be fair if I hadn't acknowledged that, while overall my choice was a success, it involved some less fortunate moments as well. It was just when I was exposed to its operation in practice that I realized how risky it was. Imagine, you have 15-20 students, each one different, with a different taste in music. And I handed the power of starting the class (that is, defining the tone of the class) to someone, whose mood and personality will influence us a great deal. For example, one student brought "Smack My Bitch Up" from Prodigy. It was not a positive start, but due to its extreme and well-known violence many people could isolate themselves from it, so the class was not wasted. One other time, however, someone's choice was a beautiful but devastatingly heart-breaking soundtrack. It killed us all. This was when I asked the group to pick something "positive" for the sake of all of us. Next class this is what one of them gave us as a positive start:

I love this song ever since. :-)

o come

The holidays are approaching. Let me wish you a peaceful, yet inspirational period with a song which is traditional, yet modern at the same time, bridging not only cultures but also time and space. I wish you openness and joy.

PS.: O come, let us adore TEA. :-)

self-reflection

Like I wrote before, the end of the year calls for summary and closure. With children, I tend to find that creative frameworks work better, also for such a "serious" task as summarizing and visualizing the progress achieved in a period. With adults, however, more straight-forward methods seemed appropriate. First, I wanted to write, efficient, but I realized that would be an overstatement. Why? Because I experience that these self-reflective summaries have a very limited efficiency. Some people are more willing and able to observe (themselves) but a large majority just settles for what they think the teacher wants to hear.

I keep repeating that these evaluation forms are important to take seriously, because it is self-reflection that provides the most realistic feedback about their weekly efforts, serving either as an impetus or as a heads-up. And by the way, the assessment can be a source of valuable information for the teacher, the facilitator of those weekly efforts, as well. 

Funnily, the most useful feedback I received in these feedback forms was from a guy who didn't have the courage in any other way to ask me to call him not Andris (Andy) but András (Andrew).

i learned all this

At the end of the year, I like to summarize what we have done -- what material we have practiced and what skills we have developed. The goal is two-fold: I find it both effective and rewarding, for the student and for the teacher, to see the steps of progress.

What I did with my kid learner was that I collected the works of art we produced in the preceding months, took a photo of them, and designed some tasks connected to each. This way, we spent some time with appreciating the piece of art, while also refreshing and practicing the knowledge we had acquired during the creative process.

 My student was very enthusiastic about the summative-reflective manual work -- until I made an unfortunate decision and told her that I have a Christmas surprise for her. From that moment, she couldn't wait to get over and done with the before-so-exciting summary, so she can succumb to the overpowering curiosity that only a child (or a genius) can have. 

To put a fair end to the story, I also reflected on what I had learned: I learned, when with children, to speak as little as possible. :-)

creativity?

Creativity is a crucial element in my life. It is as much my antidote to boredom and monotonicity, as it is my expression of vitality and presence. I cannot imagine teaching, or more generally, human relations, to survive without it. However, I had to realize that, even though this statement may hold true, what creativity means for the specific person or group of people is not self-evident. 

With children I tend to experience that creativity means handicraft, involving drawing, coloring, cutting, gluing, assembling, and so on, which must bring a tangible result -- a piece of art to take home.

For academic people, may they be students or professors, it is much more verbal production that is the safe manifestation of creativity. Debating challenging topics or writing dialogues and short essays functions as the canvas for them to express their intellectual power and creativity.

 

The toughest cookie, as far as creativity is concerned, seems to be the business environment. Accepting that it is a far too broad category, I still feel like grouping office jobs together, because, no matter what the specific topic and field is, they are quite standard in their expectation, and in the implications, of sticking the employees to their chairs for 8 hours. In such circumstances, the language teacher needs to be cautious with too much of creativity imposed on workers who, outside of the classes, are required much more to bear and conduct monotonous tasks. With business English students, what seemed to work is the variation of activities, each involving just a little bit of creativity, so to keep them within their comfort zones but to bring some color into the office black-and-white.

It also happened that someone just couldn't tolerate any extent of creativity. He refused to engage in pair assignments, situational tasks, or discussions involving personal opinion, let alone in the creation of his visual resume. I must say, I was struggling with him for a month until I managed to reconcile the group's needs, my expectations, and the dynamics of the class with his comfort zone. I don't intend to imply that he was wrong; he was just the exception, in that group. And it's a piercing dilemma how to "leave no man behind" but to satisfy the needs of the majority.

pro

Pronunciation is an important part of language learning. You have mastered a language if you manage to express yourself in a way that the majority understands you. With English, used as a common but foreign language by millions of people, it is tricky to decide what guidelines to follow when teaching pronunciation.

Do you pick one of the most dominant English-speaking cultures, say British or American? But then why not Irish, Canadian, Australian, South African, Nigerian, Indian, and the list could go on. Or do you expose the student to the dominant accent of the culture he/she will need to use the language in, say German English? Since for most students the destination is not this clear-cut or exclusive, do you choose to use different Englishes, giving up on a uniform, standardized input? Either way, it remains a dilemma, and most probably you will need to adjust the material to the needs of the specific student(s), while of course you won't be able to change your own (acquired, inherited, chosen, preferred) dialect. Or could you?

Check out this guy and be amazed by the variety of how English can sound and still be English.

Any preference?

guess who

The other day I had a funny incident with my adult learner. It is not only its specificity and comic value that I decided to share it for, but also because it felt to me to be a general manifestation of our globalized society. So here's the thing. The class was focused on the practice of prepositions and numbers. At some point I introduced an exercise in which the particular linguistic units were embedded in a list of sentences referring to one person. After identifying the numbers and the prepositions in the phrases, she had to guess the subject of the sentences. The first set was about a notorious Hungarian celebrity, known for accidentally shooting himself to death and for earning the honorable title of the world's ugliest woman. The second set of sentences referred to one of the learner's acquaintances, someone she used to meet several times a week and just saw a couple of days before.

 

Can you guess how it went? She immediately knew the first one. With the second, however, she was seriously struggling. I had to confirm several times that she did know this person.

Were the questions wrong?* Or does she know a person she never met better than someone she played, laughed, cried with? Or is she not the exception but the rule, because we tend to spend more time, paying more attention to Twitter and Facebook than to our neighbor, sister, mother?


* Actually, I even made a mistake in the first description, as Zámbó Jimmy died, not, like I wrote, around 2004, but in 2001. But still, she was not misled.

versions

As the third film festival of the week, Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival brings more than 50 films, in original language with English subtitles, to 3 Hungarian cinemas, for almost a week. The festival, which was inspired by Prague's OneWorld Festival, still the biggest human rights documentary film festival in the world, had its 10th anniversary this year (feel free to check out who made the promo video :-). Featuring documentaries in four different sections, Verzió offers a journey for you to travel through time and space and wake up from your life which is too comfortable for you to realize. Think of the Guinean students who fail to have the luxury not only of the computer and internet you are now using but they even lack such a basic utility like electricity. In the evening they need to travel to a gas station or to the airport, to study. Would you go that far, every night, so you can learn to speak English?

 

Or imagine being an albino in Tanzania. Not only does the sun damage your skin, your face, and your vision, but your neighbors are also hunting you, because they believe, thanks to the local witch doctors, that you are the incarnation of the devil and owning parts of your body brings fortune. Can you imagine that you cannot go to school, work, or simply fall asleep unguarded, because you may wake up like some of your fellows: without an arm or cut up into pieces?

Or do you know how it feels not to remember your name, recognize your mother's face, recall the fact that you had children, or to forget whatever you were so busy to achieve in your life and collect on your CV? Can you imagine to live without memory? To live without a past, only in the present? Don't we define ourselves through yesterday and tomorrow?

I hope you didn't miss out on these previously described festivals, not only for the sake of language practice, but also for the sake of gaining insights into the diversity of the wide world and your own micro universe.

mazel tov

To continue with film festivals and their generous offer of thought-provoking movies in original language, let me turn to the Jewish Film Festival. In the program of the event, taking place from November 7 to 10, you can find short films, feature films, and documentaries, from various countries like the US, France, Poland, Brazil, and Hungary, in addition to Israel.

The film that I wish to recommend is Deaf Jam, portraying a community which is especially quiet about its existence, let alone about its achievements, but would really deserve the world's attention. Why? Well, would it stop you from doing music if you couldn't hear? I bet it would. Ladies and gentlemen, these people it just didn't. 

Like I wrote last time, we are all minorities in some way. But equally true is it to say, we are all unique in some way.

pride

As mentioned before, Hungarian cinemas stopped featuring films in their original language, which is an unhappy circumstance both for movie fans and language learners. Film festivals, however, are pleasant exceptions, and the first weeks of November abound in options. The first I will introduce is the LGBTQI Film Festival, between October 26 and November 3, in Budapest and other major cities of Hungary. The festival features numerous award-winning films from around the world, most of which are shown for the first time in Hungary (and one can expect, for the only time in the near future). The topics cover a wide spectrum, from gay to intersex themes, from fictional films to documentaries, from positive idealisms to realistic accounts. You can read the detailed program of the festival on their webpage.

The festival, whether you are involved in LGBT issues or not, is definitely worth a visit. Challenge yourself and your students about gender and sexual orientation. Is it really a given? Is there really just one (or two) ways(s)?

Your neighbor could be one of them. Your teacher could be one of them. You could be one of them. 

We are all minorities in some way.