LEA Newsletter Mar 2024

Greetings on the LEA Newsletter Mar 2024!

Dear LEA followers,

It’s by coincidence that this email should reach you on Good Friday/Easter weekend. From the latest source I can gather in this short time, it’s estimated that there are approximately 2.6 billion Christians as of mid-2023, which is about 32.5% of the world total population. Just by statistics, I assume that a good number of us might be busy this weekend and would probably see this on a fresh Monday (which is April’s Fool Day by the way).

March has been a productive month for Language Educators Assemble (LEA), although I can’t say that the fruits of productivity have been “published” for your viewing. For the early followers, we may have seen that the resources page has stagnated for a while, as I’ve been experimenting with the different ways I can share those resources without placing a toll on the website itself. Well, I have sort things out this month, and is looking to make a comprehensive update next month. We can look forward to updates on the “infographics” page that’d be launched.

Also, I’m excited to share with you an EXCLUSIVE FEATURE for our Newsletter Subscribers. In February, I had teased the development of a tool capable of aggregating pertinent language education news. Following rigorous programming and experimentation, as promised, LEA NewsWatch has been presented to our email subscribers (Do subscribe to our newsletter – you can do so below).  I eagerly anticipate witnessing the continuous evolution of this feature and its potential impact on our professional pursuits. As always, feedback is invaluable to me, and I remain committed to delivering a professional yet friendly experience – hopefully one that can be tailored to our own interests and needs.

For new content, this month has been about one language that holds a special place in my heart.  Not only is it my national language, but it’s also the mother tongue of many of my esteemed colleagues who perceive it as a fundamental aspect of their cultural heritage. Growing up in this part of the world, I can personally attest to the importance of the Malay language in the lives of those in my community.

In this article, I shared about 7 fascinating facts about the language, which together form a compelling and interesting narrative about the origin and history of the language – one that can hopefully captivate our interest to add it to our repertoire of languages. Since it’s the Ramadan period, why not take the chance to find out more about the language spoken by the largest Muslim-majority country?

I’ve also made important updates to 2 articles published in 2022. First is on the language learning blogs which I’ve reviewed back then. In my quest for innovative ideas for language learning, I often turn to language learning blogs. These are usually written by laypersons or industry practitioners who are mainly sharing their experiences, albeit sometimes citing a few research articles in supporting their claims. Notwithstanding such, sometimes the “freedom of not knowing” may allow them to uncover new possibilities without knowing it. So, I’m sharing here to see if these blogs might also be your inspirational jumpstarts before heading into the rigorous validation by scholars.

The second one is a simple accident. I’ve shared earlier that I want to write an article on “Why Naturalistic Input should be featured in our classrooms”. Naturalistic Input is one of the 7 types of language input that has a role in language acquisition. As I reviewed the earlier article, I thought I should give it an update too, considering the growth in knowledge I had gained about this topic. Also, I believe we are also interested more in how to feature Naturalistic Input in our classrooms. As such, I’ll address that instead.

In my professional work, Apr marks the start of a new financial year. It could also sometimes mark the official start of new innovative projects that are supported by institutions. Just wondering: what new endeavours are you making this year? Would love to have you sharing with us! Otherwise, till then!

Making a difference with you,
Chin Yew KIEU
Founder, Language Educators Assemble