1. What strategies do we use when we encounter a language we don’t know?
What strategies do we use to help other people understand a language that can be difficult for them?
European Centre for Modern Languages and European Commission cooperation on Innovative Methodologies and Assessment In Language Learning

2. Strategies to understand
Use the languages they knew for the skeleton
Use the idea of the fable to make sense of the „barking“
Use familiar words from other subjects e.g. subito
Use of international word
One language was simiilar to their language
Common experience – collaborative work
Make connections between languages

3. Strategies to understand
Compare with own languages
Compare with other languages we know
Does it look like something I know?
Does it sound like something I know?
Use the context
What kind of word is it? Category? Verb – action?
What kind of word is it? Meaning? Animal – place in a house?

4. Strategies to understand
Use non-linguistic clues
Gestures
Facial expressions
Voice - intonation
Pictures
Lay-out
Anticipation – World knowledge

5. Strategies to help others understand
Point at some elements (identify key elements beforehand)
Guided task
Anticipation
Use of world knowledge
Linguistic clues
Repetitions
Choice of words
List of words belonging to the same group
Non-linguistic clues