So I started Duolingo officially 694 days ago (though the Streak Freezes have been generous in protecting that "streak"). I started with Dutch, because my daughter is studying in the Netherlands and doesn't really intend to return and someday there might be grandchildren to eavesdrop on. And Chinese, because I have friends and family who are Chinese. And Arabic, because my husband's close friend is Sudanese, and his wife is scared of our pets and I want to be able to talk with her. Dutch is very much a language; I can even somewhat speak it. Chinese definitely a language, and just as definitel ..read more

It's easy to recognize that your language and accent come from your family and culture, but we rarely think about the rhythms of language. In particular, the pauses that we use to indicate whose turn it is to talk. They’re like traffic lights, and just as tricky. (As I learned moving from Philly, where you watch the others’ light and start just before yours turns green, to Boston, where the first few seconds of red are really more a dark yellow…) When someone stops talking, how soon can you speak up without it sounding like you're cutting them off? But if you wait too long -- when does that be ..read more

Whenever there is an activity that we wish we could do better, we recognize that practice and training is needed. We don’t expect our legs and lungs to just naturally have the strength and stamina to run a marathon, but accept that if we put work into running, the ability will improve. Maybe not to marathon levels, but at least some. Yet when we need our brain to do something, the idea of practice rarely comes up. It’s curious that we view the most plastic organ in our body as some sort of immutable blob. We try something once, and decide based on that one attempt whether it is possible. It’s ..read more

SNLP hoped to re-establish state funding for the 23-24 school year, but was unable to do so. That means we remain dependent on speakers fees and donations -- and I can no longer afford to basically work for free. So if we don't get donations, the program will end. I'm looking at how to make donations more tangibly related to services, and have revamped the Donation page to enable people to specify whether their donation should help schools afford PD, or to sponsor consultation calls, or to keep the Website up. That one's the smallest, and the most immediate, because if I don' t have $500 by Ju ..read more

A lot of people have reached out to me, asking what they can do to help SNLP survive and thrive. Having done this by myself for so long, it’s really hard to delegate. But there are some things that I simply can’t do, and others that could go faster with more hands. So, let me know if you could help with any of these. Each can be as small or as large a task as you like. Details for how to do each of these will be in its own blog post, so that people can use comments to coordinate and avoid duplication. EMAIL FORWARDING – Simplest, yet most helpful OUTREACH RESEARCH – Best help for the future of ..read more

We tend towards one of two responses to Anxiety: either run away, or shove the feeling down and try to ignore it. Those around the anxious person often echo these options – by either helping the person avoid their anxiety triggers and offering accommodations or by reassuring them that there’s nothing to be afraid of, and that if they just do the scary thing, it will get easy. (Never say that. At most, suggest it might get less hard.) Anxiety is often distinguished from fear by saying that fear has a focus, while anxiety is a free-floating sense of threat, without a specific cause. This definit ..read more

From the Archive: June 2022 There’s a reason this newsletter is late. What is there to say? There are no words. Unfortunately, that’s not an option. You go to school, and the students have questions. They want you to tell them…. What happened? How could such a thing happen? Is it going to happen here? How can you prevent it? And you can’t tell them you’ll get back to them later about that. You can’t say “Now is not the time to talk about such things,” because such a deflection is patently ridiculous. And since you can’t avoid the questions, neither can I. It would be nice to hit pause and go s ..read more

From the Archive: February 2022 In a nutshell:There are many aspects of treatment for people whose lived experience is different from the gender they were assigned at birth. Let’s start with the basics: Even the specifics of biological sex (chromosomes, hormones, genitalia) fall on a spectrum and are far more complicated than you’d expect. When a baby is born, the adults look at it and take their best guess about its gender. This is the “gender assigned at birth.” Sometimes they get it wrong, and the child grows up feeling forced into an identity that doesn’t fit. Many people try to imagine wh ..read more

You’ve been working all your life for this day, and it’s finally here! Your art class! You line up to enter the art school, waiting to be given the box of art supplies that you’ve been dreaming to see. They hand you your box and direct you towards your table to work. As you walk down the aisle, you look at all the students who came before you. Some are proudly displaying masterpieces, others have quirky but still delightful works. Most are still working on theirs. Some are not happy. “But I was planning to work in oils, not watercolors!” one cries, then looks around, embarrassed to have said t ..read more

From the Archive: December 2021 It’s the time of year when many cultures have holidays, and holidays have stories, and stories have meaning. The fun part is, the meaning is brought by those hearing the story, as different aspects of it speak to people in their current situation. For example, Hannukah. Briefly: Israel was occupied by the Greeks, and King Antiochus decided everyone had to assimilate and converted the Temple into a temple for Zeus. There was a rebellion (led by Judah “Hammerhead” Maccabee – unclear whether the nickname referred to his strength or the shape of his skull), and even ..read more