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.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700091766/English-is-increasingly-the-international-language-of-business.html?pg=all 

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.

http://suite101.com/article/the-importance-of-english-in-the-modern-business-world-a257848 

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.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/05/how-teachers-make-cell-phones-work-in-the-classroom/ 

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.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/mobile-learning/ 

¿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.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/feature/educational-apps/ 

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

 

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.

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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