Montag, 17. Dezember 2012

35 Modern Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Oxford Dictionary Online is a warehouse of over 600,000 words. Despite this large arsenal, we continue to coin, clip, and blend new words into existence, and the Oxford folks pump some of these new words into their dictionaries. Here are some more recent additions with their official definitions.
1. Bling (n): Expensive, ostentatious clothing and jewelry.
*
2. Bromance (n):
A close but non-sexual relationship between two men.
*
3. Chillax (v):
Calm down and relax.

Read the full text here:

Freitag, 7. Dezember 2012

Bringing languages to life: teaching tips, tech and ideas

I have loved using music to bring languages to life in my language classroom. Music videos are a great way to introduce students to the culture of French-speaking countries and develop speaking/writing projects. For this particular project, I used French rap and encouraged groups of students to write about chosen common themes. We used mind maps to explore the links between ideas and the sounds of the key words, such as the 'tion' 'isme' words.
Students used online rhyming dictionaries and wrote their rap around the main rhymes with the support of a dictionary and a sound file with a beat. The text was then uploaded to a text-to-speech software http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/ to allow students to practise their pronunciation independently.
Some students needed more support and I recorded myself saying their text using Audacity for them to practise listening, reading and saying the text on their own. They could then try to say the text, record themselves and decide if they were ready to perform it.
The performance was recorded into a PowerPoint presentation with pictures and the words in French and English. It was shared with the staff and other classes and it is still used in school to promote languages. 

Donnerstag, 29. November 2012

English or Hinglish - which will India choose?

Today's aspirational Indians want their children to go to a school where lessons are taught in English. But often the pupils leave speaking a language that would not be recognised in London or New York. Could this Hinglish be the language of India's future?
Why, half a century after Indian independence, does English remain the language of higher education, national media, the upper judiciary and bureaucracy and corporate business?
The answer is that India, unlike its rival Asian giant China, has no truly national language of its own. Hindi, the official language of central government, is an artificial and largely unspoken 20th Century construct.
Even the colloquial Hindustani of Bollywood films is spoken by only 40% of the population, concentrated in the "cow belt" of northern India.
The rest of the subcontinent speaks hundreds of regional vernaculars.
Amid this Babel, English remains the country's only lingua franca.

Tipps, die das Lernen leichter machen

Vor dem Einschlafen lernen wir effektiver, Aufgeschriebenes behält man besser – heißt es. Stimmt das? Psychiater Manfred Spitzer erklärt, wie wir Dinge wirklich behalten.
Studieren heißt oft, komplizierte Dinge in den Kopf zu kriegen. Jeder hat da seine eigene Technik. Ein bisschen haben die Eltern dazu beigetragen, ein bisschen hat man selbst herausgefunden. Außerdem hört und liest man ja allerlei von Experten: Zum Beispiel, dass man am besten vor dem Einschlafen lernen soll. Oder dass Handgeschriebenes sich eher im Kopf festsetzt als Getipptes. Was stimmt davon?

Montag, 17. September 2012

Tea Leaf: English is increasingly the international language of business

It's the year 2012. Your employer, a major global firm, announces that within two years all meetings and written communication within the company will be based on or conducted in Mandarin, the primary language of China.
Imagine our shock — our anger — our displeasure — at the need to suddenly learn an extremely difficult language, all in the name of keeping our job.

The Importance of English in the Modern Business World Read more at Suite101: The Importance of English in the Modern Business World

Despite the fact that English does not have the largest number of speakers in the world, English has emerged as the international language of business.
While the British Council calculates that English is only the third largest language in the world, with about 2 billion speakers, English has emerged as the international language of business communication, particularly in certain industries such as travel, hospitality, engineering and construction, healthcare and finance.


Sonntag, 8. Juli 2012

How Teachers Make Cell Phones Work in the Classroom

When we talk about using cell phones in class, we’re not just talking about using cell phones in class.
The idea of mobile learning touches on just about every subject that any technology addresses: social media, digital citizenship, content-knowledge versus skill-building, Internet filtering and safety laws, teaching techniques, bring-your-own-device policies, school budgets.
At its core, the issues associated with mobile learning get to the very fundamentals of what happens in class everyday. At their best, cell phones and mobile devices seamlessly facilitate what students and teachers already do in thriving, inspiring classrooms. Students communicate and collaborate with each other and the teacher. They apply facts and information they’ve found to formulate or back up their ideas. They create projects to deepen their understanding, association with, and presentation of ideas.

14 Smart Tips for Using iPads in Class

For schools that are about to deploy the iPad as their main mobile learning device, there’s wisdom to be learned from others who’ve gone down that road. At Marin Country Day School in Corte Madera, Calif., the first year of a pilot iPad program for sixth-graders has just ended, and some clear lessons have emerged. Here are some tips to help smooth the transition.

¿Hablas español? There’s an App for That

App stores are chock-a-block with apps for language learning. Most of them boast colorful flashcards and cute characters for kids, and others are translators that help travelers with phrases, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The big names are in the mix: Rosetta Stone has apps for both Android and iPhones/iPads, but they’re mobile companions to the expensive software packets that contain the main course. Berlitz sells apps to help you brush up on your vocabulary and phrases before you travel.
But a few new language learning apps are moving in on the “gamification” trend in education, making a game out of learning phrases and words. For young students accustomed to playing games during their off-hours from school, or for adults who have a few minutes to kill on the bus, these game apps are meant to help with casual, conversational language learning in languages like Spanish, Italian, French, German, Mandarin, and Portuguese.

Mittwoch, 16. Mai 2012

Technology can sometimes be wasted on English language teaching

Computers are meant to have transformed the way language is taught and learned but in many classrooms expensive equipment is of little value and barriers to successful integration remain

computer class india
 
Bitter suite ... a computer class in Gujarat, India, but learning opportunities can be lost in such a setting. Photograph: David Gee/Alamy

Opinion

We are now 12 years into the new millennium and technology has become a prime element of almost all English language teaching (ELT) conferences and journals around the world. Yet, when we look for real improvements in student performance and effective use of technology by teachers, I think that the results are pretty disappointing.

I have spent the past 10 years doing technology-focused training work, materials writing and conference presentations and it still saddens me to see how much resistance and cynicism exists among teachers to the introduction of technology. But is it their fault? I don't think so. Even as an enthusiastic and experienced trainer, I can see that once technology gets into schools, things start to go wrong.

Investment in technology has often been equated with investment in hardware. In many ways this is the easy fix: throw money at the challenges that technology integration poses. For example, education ministries around the world have been willing to invest in expensive interactive whiteboard (IWB) technology without really considering the benefits inside classrooms. Having made the investment, teachers are often left to sort out how to use IWBs in a pedagogically effective way, often with very little training or support. Meanwhile managers can wash their hands of the problem and report back that they have done their part in integrating technology.

Read the rest of this article...

Montag, 14. Mai 2012

Become Fluent with Language Immersion for Google Chrome

Learning another language is hard when you aren’t immersed in it. Sure, you could move to Paris like you’ve always wanted to, but it’s probably more cost effective to use the Internet. Luckily, Google has released a few new tools to help you on your way.

The most fun is the Language Immersion extension for Google Chrome. Install it and all of a sudden snippets of everything you read will be in another language. Choose from 64 languages and pick an immersion level ranging from novice to fluent.



http://techland.time.com/2012/05/03/become-fluent-with-language-immersion-for-google-chrome/?iid=tl-article-mostpop1

Dunkin' Donuts Accused of Verbicide

According to a report at TODAY.com, Marc Fintz, the director of business development at Davidovich Bakery in Queens, N.Y., has filed a complaint against Dunkin' Donuts for its abuse of the word artisan.

Dunkin's Artisan Bagels, says Fintz, aren't even remotely artisanal. To label a food item artisan "creates the perception that your products are produced by hand, using traditional methods in small quantities. This is not the case."


http://grammar.about.com/b/2012/05/07/dunkin-donuts-accused-of-verbicide.htm

Donnerstag, 3. Mai 2012

'Supersizing' the College Classroom: How One Instructor Teaches 2,670 Students

In October, Myanmar's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, got a quirky request on YouTube. A hyperactive instructor in a plaid jacket posted a video inviting her to do a Skype interview with his "World Regions" geography class at Virginia Tech.
Ms. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate often compared to Nelson Mandela, might have ignored this plea were it not for how the video ended. The camera pivoted from the instructor, John Boyer, to an auditorium filled with some 3,000 students. They leapt from their seats, blew noisemakers, and chanted her name as if the Hokies had scored a touchdown.
It worked. On December 5, Ms. Suu Kyi, who last month won election to Parliament after spending much of the past two decades in detention, took questions from Mr. Boyer's students via Skype. "I cried a little bit," says Alex Depew, a senior. "I'm not gonna lie."
The moment marked the biggest coup yet in Mr. Boyer's experiment with supersizing the classroom. Conventional wisdom deems smaller classes superior. Mr. Boyer, a self-described "Podunk instructor," calls that "poppycock." He's exploring how technology can help engage students in face-to-face courses that enroll from 600 to nearly 3,000 students.

Montag, 23. April 2012

Stop Telling Students to Study for Exams

Among the problems on college campuses today are that students study for exams and faculty encourage them to do so.
I expect that many faculty members will be appalled by this assertion and regard it as a form of academic heresy. If anything, they would argue, students don't study enough for exams; if they did, the educational system would produce better results. But this simple and familiar phrase—"study for exams"—which is widely regarded as a sign of responsible academic practice, actually encourages student behaviors and dispositions that work against the larger purpose of human intellectual development and learning. Rather than telling students to study for exams, we should be telling them to study for learning and understanding.

Sonntag, 22. April 2012

A Point of View: In defence of obscure words

Text from Shakespeare sonnet
We chase "fast culture" at our peril - unusual words and difficult art are good for us, says Will Self.
We are living in a risk-averse culture - there's no doubt about that. 

But the risk that people seem most reluctant taking is not a physical but a mental one: just as the concrete in children's playgrounds has been covered with rubber, so the hard truth about the effort needed for intellectual attainment is being softened by a sort of semantic padding. 

Our arts and humanities education at secondary level seems particularly afflicted by falling standards - so much so that universities are now being called upon to help write new A-level syllabuses in order to cram our little chicks with knowledge that, in recent years, has come to seem unpalatable, if not indigestible - knowledge such as English vocabulary beyond that which is in common usage. 

Donnerstag, 19. April 2012

How Immersion Helps to Learn a Language

Learning a foreign language is never easy, but contrary to common wisdom, it is possible for adults to process a language the same way a native speaker does. And over time, the processing improves even when the skill goes unused, researchers are reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/how-immersion-helps-to-learn-a-new-language.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=foreign%20language&st=cse

How To Speak Like A Native

Can an adult learn to speak a second language with the accent of a native? Not likely, but new research suggests that we would make better progress, and be understood more easily by our conversational partners, if we abandoned a perfect accent as our goal in the language learning process.


http://ideas.time.com/2012/04/04/how-to-speak-like-a-native/

Mittwoch, 18. April 2012

Cockney cash: Lady Godivas and speckled hens

Money-related cockney terms

Cockney rhyming slang cash machine 
 
 
Need a speckled hen and not near a cab rank, where do you find some sausage and mash?

Why, you go to your local cash machine of course and, if you live in east London, you might even come across one which gives you the option of proceeding in a variety of languages - and offering cockney.

The idea is the brainchild of Ron Delnevo at the Bank Machine Company, which already offers the option of Welsh - where else but in Wales - and is introducing Gaelic in Scotland.

Read the rest of the article...

Montag, 16. April 2012

How can I learn vocabulary?

One of the biggest problems with vocabulary learning is that what’s ‘learned’ today is often forgotten tomorrow! We’ve all experienced this problem: what can be done about it? This leaflet presents some solutions.

http://lc.ust.hk/~sac/advice/english/vocabulary/V4.htm

Freitag, 13. April 2012

Tips for Learning English

Learning any new language takes a lot of dedication, practice and time. But all of that pays off when you are able to express yourself in an exciting new way. Learning English has limitless advantages. Job markets increase, grades go up and new friends are made. You will benefit greatly from learning English simply because so many people speak the English language. New horizons and opportunities will expand before your eyes. Use the following tips to help you in your language learning process.
 
Have desire –Want to learn a new language. Learning English requires a lot of study and dedication. Only true desire will keep you motivated.
    
Know your motive –Why do you want to learn English? Is it to help you in school, your business or something else? Identify your reason and remember it when you are having a hard time.

Set goals –Set goals for yourself whether it be learning twenty words a week or giving a presentation in English at work next month. Goals will keep you motivated.
   
Study a little each day –Studying formally for at least 30–60 minutes a day will help you retain what you learn. At the beginning of each study session, review what you learned in the lesson before.

Read more:

http://esl-software-review.toptenreviews.com/tips-for-learning-english.html

Freitag, 30. März 2012

The cult of the hyperpolyglot


Alex Rawlings demonstrates his 11 languages



Many people want to speak a second language, but for some people two can never be enough. Welcome to the world of the hyperpolyglot. 


Ray Gillon speaks 18 languages. To be precise, he only speaks eight fluently. His grasp on the other 10 is merely conversational.


Throw anything at him in Portuguese, Thai, Turkish, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Bulgarian or Mandarin and he will banter back. 


In the UK, where there has been a growing anxiety over the failure to learn additional languages, Gillon might seem to be a bit of an anomaly. More and more children have been giving up languages since the last government made learning foreign languages optional in England from the age of 14.

Donnerstag, 22. März 2012

Study reveals words' Darwinian struggle for survival

Scientific analysis of language usage in literature over the last 200 years suggests that words are competing – and now losing – in a battle to survive

Words are competing daily in an almost Darwinian struggle for survival, according to new research from scientists in which they analysed more than 10 million words used over the last 200 years.

Drawing their material from Google's huge book-digitisation project, the international team of academics tracked the usage of every word recorded in English, Spanish and Hebrew over the 209-year period between 1800 and 2008. The scientists, who include Boston University's Joel Tenenbaum and IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies' Alexander Petersen, said their study shows that "words are competing actors in a system of finite resources", and just as financial firms battle for market share, so words compete to be used by writers or speakers, and to then grab the attention of readers or listeners.

Montag, 19. März 2012

How 'Flipping' the Classroom Can Improve the Traditional Lecture

Andrew Martin's teaching techniques get students out of their seats during his class on evolutionary biology at the U. of Colorado at Boulder. Some students enjoy the "flipped" lectures that require them to help one another understand the material. Others resent being forced to work in groups.

Andrew P. Martin loves it when his lectures break out in chaos.

It happens frequently, when he asks the 80 students in his evolutionary-biology class at the University of Colorado at Boulder to work in small groups to solve a problem, or when he asks them to persuade one another that the answer they arrived at before class is correct.

When they start working together, his students rarely stay in their seats, which are bolted to the floor. Instead they gather in the hallway or
...

You can buy this article from:
http://chronicle.com/article/How-Flipping-the-Classroom/130857/

A Boom Time for Education Start-Ups

Despite recession investors see technology companies' 'Internet moment'

Harsh economic realities mean trouble for college leaders. But where administrators perceive an impending crisis, investors increasingly see opportunity.

In recent years, venture capitalists have poured millions into education-technology start-ups, trying to cash in on a market they see as ripe for a digital makeover. And lately, those wagers have been getting bigger.

Investments in education-technology companies nationwide tripled in the last decade, shooting up to $429-million in 2011 from $146-million in 2002, according to the Na­tional Venture Capital Association. The boom really took off in 2009, when venture capitalists pushed $150-million more into education-technology firms than they did in the previous year, even as the economy sank into recession.

"The investing community believes that the Internet is hitting edu­cation, that education is having its Internet moment," said Jose Ferreira, founder of the interactive-learning company Knewton. Last year Mr. Ferreira's company scored a $33-million investment of its own in one of the biggest deals of the year.


http://chronicle.com/article/A-Boom-Time-for-Education/131229/?sid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en

"Die Uni nutzt Methoden wie vor 1000 Jahren"

Er war Professor an der US-Eliteschmiede Stanford - doch Sebastian Thrun, Experte für Künstliche Intelligenz, hat genug vom alten Uni-Geschäft. Im Interview erklärt er, warum er nur noch über eine Web-Plattform lehren will und was Hochschulen mit Ex-Freundinnen gemeinsam haben.

http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/studium/0,1518,817889,00.html#ref=rss

Montag, 27. Februar 2012

Tech Tools for Teachers: Podcasting

In the first instalment of his brand-new series, Nik Peachey looks at podcasting and how it can be used to help students develop their listening and speaking skills both inside and outside the classroom. Nik provides a comprehensive overview article on podcasting, a downloadable lesson plan, a video screencast tutorial and a printable how-to guide.

Is English or Mandarin the language of the future?

English has been the dominant global language for a century, but is it the language of the future? If Mandarin Chinese is to challenge English globally, then it first has to conquer its own backyard, South East Asia. 

Mittwoch, 15. Februar 2012

Agatha Christie cut down for language students


New versions of 20 detective novels produced for 'upper intermediate' English language learners

Agatha Christie
 
Agatha Christie: tall order to cut down. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty
 
From Queen of Crime to Queen of the Classroom: a new series of simplified, abridged Agatha Christie novels are set to introduce non-native English speakers to the glory of the British murder mystery.

Publisher Collins has cut down 20 of Christie's detective novels – including Poirot's first case, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and Miss Marple's debut outing The Murder at the Vicarage – by 60%, simplifying the language and adding character notes and glossaries. The books are aimed at "upper intermediate" English language learners, and are intended to ensure that "studying English is as captivating as it is educational".

Read the rest of this article...

Is there an app for getting language learners reading?


Ebooks have the potential to be powerful tools but publishers are cautious

graded reader ebooks 

Shelf life ... Apple’s iBooks platform could change the way graded readers are published. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Extensive reading is widely acknowledged to be an important language skill and a valuable gateway to vocabulary development and other skills. But for many students, authentic texts are just too difficult, and simplified or "graded" readers are used by teachers to help encourage their students to read for pleasure in English.

Such books have become a staple of the publishing industry, and publishers offer readers graded for each language level. They can include illustrations, glossaries and audio files on CD or online and come with ideas for teachers on how to promote reading in class, such as reading circles.

Read the rest of this article...

Montag, 13. Februar 2012

Removing Barriers to Learning for Long-Term English Learners: Free Webinar

As the number of long-term English learners in U.S. public schools continues to rise, educators are seeking innovative solutions to help these students reach proficiency in literacy and writing. On Tuesday, February 14, 2012, educational software company Imagine Learning is sponsoring a free webinar by Lily Wong Fillmore, a renowned linguist and scholar who will share the latest research on helping long-term English learners overcome obstacles and achieve proficiency.

Recent data indicates that long-term English learners are now one of the fastest-growing student populations in U.S. schools. This student group, which is comprised of English learners who have been enrolled in school for at least seven years but are no longer progressing toward English proficiency, now makes up a significant segment of students in grades 6–12. 

Read the rest of this article...


Some tips for learning English, as demand for speakers is set to rise

With the Asean Economic Community only three years away (2015), it is imperative that Thailand prepare itself linguistically for this highly interconnected regional environment with so many opportunities and challenges.

There has been discussion suggesting that Thai could become the language of Asean. While Thai is an elegant and beautiful language, it is totally wishful thinking to think that it would be adopted as the Asean lingua franca. Clearly English will be the common language of Asean.

Thus, it is imperative for Thailand to enhance the quality of its English language teaching and learning.

The approach presented here is not from linguistics but derived from the Kalama Sutra of the Lord Buddha and its call for learning from direct experience.

Read the rest of this article...

Arabic-speaking students learning English at local grade schools


 
Zeyad Aljumaili, 10, read the text of "How Glooskap Found Summer" with a smile on his face, correcting himself and occasionally glancing up at his teacher when he pronounced a hard word correctly.

"All around him, the forest, no, frosty land was barren of everyone," read the fourth-grader during an English as Second Language class at Pine Valley Elementary School a few weeks ago.

Zeyad's native tongue is Arabic, but he has picked up English quickly since his family came to Wilmington last year after immigrating to the United States from Iraq.

Read the rest of this article...

Do Elected Officials Have to Speak English?

A Spanish-speaking woman was recently barred from running for city council in Arizona, sparking a national debate about the role of language skills for office holders

Alejandrina Cabrera meets all the requirements for serving on the San Luis, Ariz., city council — except one. Cabrera, whose first language is Spanish, speaks limited English — too little, it turns out, to legally run for elected office in Arizona. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled last week that Cabrera did not meet the state’s requirement that elected officials must be proficient in English. It is rare for a city-council candidate to make national news, but Cabrera’s story has made headlines across the country — and prompted a fevered debate over what role English should play in American democracy.

Donnerstag, 2. Februar 2012

How English-Language Learners Have an Edge

During my first year of teaching, Samantha sat in the back of my first-period American government class. Having moved from Mexico, she had only been in the United States for two years. Her oral English comprehension was moderate, but she spoke rarely and was embarrassed to speak in front of native English speakers.

Overwhelmed with the task of teaching anyone anything as a first-year teacher, I felt that reaching Samantha was a Herculean task. Describing the challenge in one of my graduate courses, I mentioned that Samantha hardly ever spoke. When she did, it was always in "broken English." I lamented that she seemed to understand next to none of the material, and I received commiserative nods from other new teachers in the room.

But the professor burst into tears.

Face flushed, our professor related her journey to the U.S. from Hong Kong as a child. She told us about the trauma of entering a new school and a new culture with no support from parents or teachers in learning English, and she recalled a time a stranger had ridiculed her for her "broken English."

Read the rest of this article...

Advice for Native English Speakers

Whether or not you think learning a language other than English is valuable, it's true that English has become the language of international communication. But that doesn't let native English speakers off the hook. In order for them to really benefit from the status of English as a global lingua franca, they still have linguistic investments to make.
It helps to learn how to hear around accents, word choices and grammatical patterns.
Namely, they could learn from instruction in linguistics and the history of English, which would expose them to the varieties of English that are spoken by people with another mother tongue. At any given time, the vast majority of English used on the planet is spoken and written by people who aren't native speakers and who may have learned it as adults. It may be their second or third language. Their interactions will tend to be with other non-native speakers. They'll say things in ways that you don't say them in your version of English.

Read the rest of this article...

Visual aids and repetition are keys to building vocabulary

Students in Darota Haber-Lehigh's English as a Second Language (ELS) class at Seaside High School take turns repeating in Spanish, then English, a list of animal terms, each with its own picture for example. Lehigh crisscrosses the same group of terms with her students, in nearly every sentence construction imaginable.


The visual aids and repetition are key to students building a vocabulary before they go more in-depth into a subject, said Lehigh.

She and almost all other teachers in Clatsop County use the visual aids and repetition as part of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) teaching strategy, one piece of a continuing effort to seamlessly integrate English instruction into the more common curriculum.

Read the rest of this article...

Digital Learning Day opens up opportunities

Skyping with the Packers, using Twitter in English class, they were all reality Wednesday at one local high school


Governor Walker declared Wednesday Digital Learning Day across the state.

In business teacher Mary Byrns classroom, students used Skype for the first time to connect with Packer's public relations pro Aaron Popke.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to use Skype as a tool to connect the students with a business that we normally wouldn't get to speak to. And I just thought the Packers would be something they’d be very interested in,” Byrns tells us.

The Skyping session was all part of a national initiative to showcase technology projects in the classroom
“I think it shows them the power of technology, it just opens up new doors for them, versus when I was in school we just didn't have those opportunities,” Byrns explains.

Read the rest of this article...

Mariela Dabbah: If You Don't Speak English, Don't Run for Office

When I read that Yuma County (Arizona) Judge John Nelson ruled that Alejandrina Cabrera couldn’t run for councilwoman of San Luis given her insufficient English proficiency, I had all sorts of mixed feelings.

On the one hand, the woman was running for a City Council seat in a border town where 90% of the population speaks Spanish. The New York Times reported that initially Cabrera’s opponents spearheaded the effort to block her name from the ballot. This move soon became a divisive issue given the lack of clarity in the law regarding how much English politicians must speak.

Cabrera has maintained that she communicates with the community in Spanish and that she speaks enough English for her work with the council. She was, however, unable to answer some questions the judge asked her in court in mid-January. Whether it was because she was nervous, as she said, or because she didn’t understand, is anyone’s guess.

When a Textbook Is Online, Not on Paper

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Electronic books have changed the way many people read for pleasure. Now online textbooks are changing the way some students learn and some teachers teach.

More than one hundred seventy-five thousand students attend the public schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, outside Washington. Last year, the school system used digital books in fifteen schools. This school year, middle schools and high schools changed from printed to electronic textbooks in their social studies classes.

Read the rest of this article...

Self-analysis key to learning English

“When it comes to learning English these days, it’s a jungle out there,” quipped Kim Tae-ho, a 26 year old architect, studying English to meet the demands of his job.

“There are so many options now; I think I have wasted lots of time doing the wrong thing.”

Kim’s frustration is common. Today’s tech-fueled industry includes mobile devices, e-learning, interactive tables, and, as is the case at Hagjeong Primary School in Daegu, talking robots. These are in addition to traditional mediums like human beings, English TV, and good old fashioned books.

With the recent decision to phase out native speakers in public schools, Koreans are asking what is the most efficient and cost-effective way to learn English.



Read the rest of this article...

Donnerstag, 12. Januar 2012

Learning English can be a life-changer for foreign-born adults

Visiting a foreign country where one doesn't know how to speak or write the language can be daunting for anyone. Moving to and living in a country where the language is different can be paralyzing.

Hundreds of such adults have changed their lives learning to speak, read and write English by taking classes with the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program at Canton City Schools Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE).  Here in the second of three articles about adult literacy students we meet Buu Dinh Truongpan, and learn of her determination to attain higher education and get a better paying job.

Truongpan, was born in China and at age 2 moved to Vietnam. Her family is made up of 11 girls and three boys. She has lived in the U.S. for two decades, 10 years in Jackson Township and 12 years in Cleveland. She met her husband in Vietnam, and later married him in France. The couple have two daughters, ages 14 and 18.

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Paul Seedhouse: learning a language is much more fun in the kitchen

Professor Paul Seedhouse explains his talking kitchen, a new way to learn languages using motion sensor technology

Paul Seedhouse, professor of education and applied linguistics at Newcastle University, is the brains behind the French Digital Kitchen, a learning site that teaches its users aspects of the French language while they prepare dishes from the country. It is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's Digital Economy Programme and obtained an EU grant of €400,000 earlier in the year.


Read the rest of this article...

China launches English language TV service

China's state-owned broadcaster has launched an aggressive international push to extend the country's influence, opening a new headquarters in Washington that will broadcast English-language programming from the heart of the US capital.


China Central Television, which produces the ruling Communist party's news shows and other propaganda programmes, is constructing a studio in Washington which will serve as its US broadcasting centre. It aims to begin broadcasting from the site by the middle of 2012 and produce up to six hours of original programming a day, according to people familiar with the plans.

CCTV has also built a studio facility in Nairobi, from where it will broadcast its English-language channel in Africa, and plans to open a broadcasting centre in Europe, according to several people briefed on the plans.

Read the rest of this article...

Learning English remains a hard nut to crack

JEDDAH: Nobody can underestimate or belittle the significance of English as a global or universal language. It is a powerful means of communication and interaction for people all over the world that helps them not only to interact with each other but also with finding a job, doing business, undertaking foreign trips, taking examination, doing research, surfing the Internet and so forth.

Despite being among the most widely spoken and understood languages, English has not yet acquired its customary omnipresent status in Saudi society, where all official work is carried out in Arabic.

Even though the Saudi government is making every effort to promote learning English as a second language at its schools and universities in addition to extending all financial and logistic support to establish this language for over 80 years ever since the Kingdom’s foundation in 1927, is it has not rooted itself yet in society.

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Namibia's language policy is 'poisoning' its children

English has been the medium of instruction in most of Namibia's classrooms for nearly 20 years, but with teachers shown to be failing in competency tests, calls for change are mounting
 
Namibia's commitment to English as the main language of education has been undermined by revelations that 98% of the southern African country's teachers are not sufficiently proficient in the language.

Leaked results of government tests carried out last year indicated that all but 2% of teachers need to undergo further training in basic English

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EU laws put NHS patients at risk, warn senior doctors

Heads of two royal colleges want urgent action over poor language skills and 'stifling effect' of working time directive

NHS patients are at risk because of European laws that govern how overseas doctors work in the UK, the heads of two royal colleges have said.

They claimed "urgent action" was needed on the issue of EU doctors' language skills and criticised the restriction on the number of hours a week trainees can work for.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Professor Norman Williams, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Sir Richard Thompson, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, wrote: "The language competency of doctors from the EU working in Britain, and the stifling effect of the European working time directive [EWTD] on the time that trainee doctors have to learn on the job, need urgent action.

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