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The App Educating the Children of Pakistan’s Slums

A new app called Taleemabad is bridging the gap of students overlooked by traditional schooling in Pakistan. While 51% of people in the country are expected to own smartphones by 2020, only 52% of children can read a simple sentence by the time they reach secondary education. Even in areas with no electricity supply, people bring phones to local mosques to charge their phones on mosque generators. Because of this, Haroon Yasin, founder of the Orenda Project, created the app with the children he saw struggling in Pakistan’s slums in mind. He believed that he could reach the impoverished children he saw while traveling through Pakistan, and conjectured that even though traditional education failed, a partial education using smartphones was possible.

“We began to see this as a terrific opportunity to put out the work that we did, and that’s how Orenda was born four years ago to digitise the natural curriculum, applying all of the things that we learned as teachers, despite being reluctant technologists,” says Yasin.

As some children don’t know their native language well enough to proceed to higher-level skills, Taleemabad offers basic numeracy and literacy skills, essentially creating an opportunity to learn for children starting from zero.

The app boasts over 100,000 users in Pakistan, many of whom are based in Pakistan’s poorest regions, like the Inner Sindh. The app teaches writing, identification, vocabulary, spelling, and phonics of English and Urdu along with math skills (counting, writing, addition, subtraction, concepts, and shapes), as well as general knowledge of plants, animals, social skills, family, and “common sense.”

Yasin has also joined the Malala fund, the charitable organization founded by Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai to increase educational equality. When the Taliban controlled much of northwestern Pakistan, girls were forbidden from attending school, and according to Human Rights Watch, 3.5 million Pakistani children do not attend school, 85% of them being girls. An education app like Taleemabad may reach children who have slipped through the cracks of the education system.

New Unified Inuktut Writing System Approved

The national Inuit organization of Canada has decided on a new standard of writing for a unified Inkutut writing system. The system is called Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait and uses Roman orthography (the alphabet used in English) rather than syllabics. Syllabics look like rows of circles, squares and triangles. The written language will be able to be understood across Canada, and will replace a patchwork of nine different scripts. While Inukut speakers could often understand different dialects, they couldn’t necessarily read the different types of writing. The new unified writing system is intended to be easy to learn, use, and understand. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) says that Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait is designed to write the Inuit language, in all its dialects, across all regions of Inuit Nunangat.

“It is a critical step in Inuit self-determination and taking ownership of our written language,” ITK President Natan Obed said in a news release.

“Our current writing systems were introduced through the process of colonization. The unified Inuktut writing system will be a writing system created by Inuit for Inuit in Canada.”

“This is why it includes sounds from every dialect—including sounds that only occur in a few dialects—so that speakers of every dialect can write their own dialect using Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait according to the words and pronunciation they normally use. ”

While the new, unified writing system does not use syllabics, ITK notes that the system does not aim to replace previous systems of syllabics, only to make it easier to read different dialects and share materials over time, leading to a greater consistency in Inuktut language education.

“It is important to note that Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait does not replace syllabics—regions can and will continue use of syllabics and other distinct writing systems. There is no expectation that people who already use older writing systems will have to change the way they write,” ITK said.

Indigenous-Language-Friendly Approach to Digital Learning and Data

The New Zealand Ministry of Education has chosen Edsby as the educational tool to form the basis of the country’s Te Rito National Learner Repository and Data Exchange—a system aimed at reducing administrative burden and helping educators tailor support for learners. The country had no way to transfer student records and needed a system that could help move achievement data, teacher observations, and individualized learning plans with ease in English and the New Zealand Indigenous people’s language, Māori.
The technology had to fit the needs of Te Rito, meet New Zealand’s stringent student data laws, and be useful for educators and students alike. Edsby combines a rich, modern user interface with a powerful data engine tailored to share important student information with teachers, parents, and administrators.

Most importantly, Edsby is adaptable, making it a great fit for districts big and small—no matter their locations—and entire states, provinces, and countries. The platform was designed to be able to integrate with a variety of student databases, support multiple system languages, and maintain strict data privacy guidelines.


Edsby worked closely with Māori and English Ministry groups to ensure that the Te Rito system is relevant for every resident in the country.
https://www.edsby.com/

Merriam-Webster Launches Vocab App for Kids

Merriam-Webster has launched Puku, a fun and motivating vocabulary-building app for kids. The app features Puku, a virtual pet that grows and evolves as players master new words, in an engaging display that rewards progress. Designed for children ages 8–12, the app’s unique format offers ongoing, leveled vocabulary play and gives users the ability to quickly create and share their own word lists, populated with Merriam-Webster definitions.

Every player has a personalized learning experience guided by adaptive learning technology. The app responds directly to the user’s performance, ensuring that learning is efficient and motivating: kids spend their time on new and challenging vocabulary and get immediate corrective feedback when a word’s meaning eludes them.

“We wanted to create a tool for kids who have outgrown entry-level vocabulary apps, and also for parents who are frustrated with the limited resources available to help their older children study words they are learning in school. Puku is delightful to play and empowers users to easily create and share custom word lists, with age-appropriate definitions, to align with classwork,” explains Lisa Schneider, chief digital officer and publisher for Merriam-Webster.

Puku’s virtual pet grows as players master new words and evolves at milestone accomplishments, rewarding kids for their progress and keeping them engaged and motivated to learn. There are three ways to play Puku: ongoing, leveled vocabulary lists; custom categories, such as words about food or mythology; or users can create and share their own lists to match areas of interest or curriculum. Teachers can also take advantage of Puku to quickly create and share word lists with their students, all automatically populated with Merriam-Webster definitions.

“Games are one of the ways that technology, used effectively, can help enhance learning inside and outside classrooms,” said Karthik Krishnan, global CEO of the Britannica Group.
Puku is available for iOS users now. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/puku-learn-new-words/id1460784777?ls=1

he Puku app was developed in partnership with PRELOADED, a BAFTA-winning games studio. The Android version of Puku will be available shortly.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/puku/about

Spanish through Music & Friendship in Tijuana

Univoice Corporation, the developer of a language-learning platform that teaches languages exclusively through music, has started its first learning class in Tijuana, Mexico. This inaugural class focuses on teaching Spanish to English speakers in an immersive, collaborative, and fun environment.


The free classes began in August at Espacio Migrante, a cultural center and shelter for Central American migrants, and will run through October. The program includes several language/cultural exchange activities including an excursion with a group of Mixtec women, working in the binational garden with local community volunteers, meeting professionals, and enjoying the best of Tijuana’s street food.

“Espacio Migrante and Univoice both share a common mission, and that is to connect people across linguistic and cultural borders, through direct dialogue with our transborder community and the people arriving to our region every day due to migration. We do so with enthusiasm, and we believe in the richness and diversity brought by this cultural exchange,” said Paulina Olvera Cáñez, director of the Espacio Migrante. “We are thrilled to host this program and look forward to providing a fun atmosphere where people can enjoy our music, our food, and have real human interaction, all while learning to speak Spanish.”

Classes are led by Daniel Watman, a 20-year language-teaching veteran with a master’s in Spanish linguistics. “We are delighted to be having someone of Dan’s caliber leading our first-ever class. He has been instrumental in driving cross-border relations through his efforts at Friendship Park, and his ability to mentor Spanish students is second to none,” said Sami Halabi, CEO of Univoice Corporation.

Univoice envisions sponsoring multiple classes across the globe, led by local community leaders who embrace the Univoice spirit of learning through music and human connection. To join a class or host your own, email [email protected].
www.univoice.app

UN Combats False Claims on Cantonese

Multiple recent posts on Facebook and Twitter that claim that the United Nations (UN) has officially defined Cantonese as a language and not a dialect and that it is not recognized as one of the six “leading languages in daily use” has turned out to be false. The UN told AFP Fact check that the posts, which have been shared thousands of times, are inaccurate, and that the UN does not define the status of languages and dialects. The UN also stated that Mandarin, not Cantonese, is one of its six official languages.

An example of one of these posts can be found here.

Translated to English, the post in traditional Chinese characters reads in part as: “The United Nations officially define Cantonese as a language, not a dialect, and it is recognised as one of the six leading languages in daily use, which are English, Chinese, Cantonese, Russian, French, Spanish and Arabic.

“Cantonese is a language with its own characters and pronunciation.

“Presently, Cantonese has become the fourth most commonly used language in Australia (the most commonly used languages in Australia are English, Italian, Greek, Cantonese and Arabic), the third in Canada (the most commonly used languages in Canada are English, French and Cantonese) and in the US (the most commonly used languages in the US are English, Spanish and Cantonese).

“Cantonese also enjoys the official language status in Hong Kong and Macau!”

In an email to AFP on September 25, spokesman for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric wrote:

“[The] UN intergovernmental bodies did not define Cantonese. The existing mandates define the official languages of the Organization, but do not define the status of languages and dialects. The United Nations General Assembly therefore did not provide guidance on the status of Cantonese.

“In the United Nations context, such a category (leading languages in daily use) does not exist.

“Mandarin, and not Cantonese, is one of the six official languages of the UN and is therefore in use at the UN on a daily basis.”

Voyager Showcases Literacy Tools

Voyager Sopris Learning showcased three of its most prominent products at ISTE 2019—Voyager Passport, LETRS, and LANGUAGE! Live:

With a new version launched in August, Voyager Passport is a proven, research-based reading solution that accelerates literacy in grades K–5 by targeting the priority skills and strategies learners need to be fluent, on-level readers. Voyager Passport, which can be used as a wraparound to any core reading curriculum for just 30 minutes per day, is intended for students who have not made adequate progress in core reading instruction, need instruction beyond the core, and need explicit, systematic intervention.
LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) is a blended professional development course that bridges deep, meaningful research into practical classroom success. LETRS provides educators with the background, depth of knowledge, and tools to teach language and literacy skills to every student. Lead author Dr. Louisa Moats, a nationally recognized literacy expert, has worked to ensure every concept and skill is solidly based in research about how reading and language work.
LANGUAGE! Live combines foundational and advanced learning skills with digital and teacher-led reading intervention to significantly improve literacy skills. Many teachers have been impressed by the engaging effectiveness of the solution, and students consistently show substantial growth while using it.
www.voyagersopris.com

Taking the Fear Out of Dyslexia

It has only been in the last decade or so that dyslexia has been recognized as a legitimate issue. In the past, dyslexia has been ignored, discounted, or morphed to fit under existing learning disabilities. With further research and clear evidence, it’s becoming not only recognized and understood but finally addressed in education. The movement is slow but powerful. States are beginning to compile handbooks, create mandates, and establish laws addressing dyslexia in education.  

As state mandates have come through requiring schools to identify students with dyslexia, educators have quickly realized that the mandates didn’t necessarily come with an instruction manual on how to support students once they were identified. If a student exhibits signs of having dyslexia, the educator’s role is to encourage parents to get a doctor’s diagnosis. If a diagnosis comes through positive, it’s an educator’s job to support this student through their journey, whether the educator is ready or not.

Though the definition of dyslexia is clearer than ever, there are still lingering fears to address. Individuals coping with dyslexia need help to overcome their fear of speaking about their struggles so educators can provide them with the help they need. Educators, in turn, need knowledge and resources so they can help their students with dyslexia, rather than being afraid of what a positive diagnosis might require of them. Here are a few ways that educators, students, and parents can change their mindsets about dyslexia so that, together, they can confront it fearlessly.

Shifting Students’ Mindsets

Our society tends to connect intelligence with the ability to read and write. Research is clear, however, that intelligence is not necessarily an indicator of reading success and that individuals with dyslexia are usually of average or above average intelligence. When I tell educators that research shows one in five of their students has dyslexia, it blows their minds. Then I remind them that those are only the students who have been identified and reported. A common danger for students who’ve gotten through school undiagnosed is developing the belief that their reading and writing challenges are tied to their intelligence and talents rather than the fact that they have a learning disability.

Whether they’re simply unaware or afraid to confront the reality of their situation, students can lose the motivation to learn. Once a student is aware, it’s no longer a question of whether they’re bright or capable—it’s a matter of accepting their learning disability and knowing their brains are just wired differently. That mindset alone changes a learner’s experience.

It’s never too late for individuals who think they might have dyslexia to improve their reading skills. Older students and even adults can still get the instruction they need to achieve progress. Those who’ve dealt with their dyslexia and have identified strengths have learned to think outside the box when it comes to problem-solving. Identifying strengths and taking on challenges can land them in a place where they excel and exceed expectations because of the human ability to overcome. There’s beauty in gaining powerful assets that they might not have otherwise, but it’s still vital for them to know that what they’re dealing with is not tied to their intelligence or talent.

Helping Teachers See the Value of the Struggle

Two items are generally correlated with motivation: self-efficacy and the notion of perceived difficulty. If something seems overly complex and people don’t feel confident in their ability to handle it, we tend to disengage with it completely. Individuals with dyslexia tend to shut down when they encounter reading assignments, and yet they encounter them every day in school.

These fears are the same for teachers. A teacher might recognize some characteristics of dyslexia in a student, but then what? If a teacher isn’t properly trained on how to support that student, the next steps seem intimidating. If an educator gets a complex reading program or a 70-page dyslexia handbook that is confusing, their motivation is going to be slim to none.

The other side of motivation is seeing the value of the struggle. Identifying and supporting students with dyslexia requires research, patience, and persistence—but it’s worth it. It’s important for these students to get the help they need so they know they’re not alone, that they have the ability to improve, and that they don’t reach adulthood not knowing how to effectively read.

Building Communities of Action

Fortunately, organizations like the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and Decoding Dyslexia offer a wealth of scientific information and are working to break their resources down into bite-sized, digestible pieces. In many states, IDA and Decoding Dyslexia also provide a supportive community where educators can find information and meet people with shared experiences who can support them on their journey and help them feel less alone.

It’s easy for dyslexia professionals to preach the science behind the effects of dyslexia, but educators ultimately need action items. Students with dyslexia have problems with decoding, which can only be addressed through phonics-based instruction. A wealth of research shows that if students are taught how to read with Structured Literacy, which includes a multisensory, phonics-based approach that’s explicit, systematic, and sequential, they can improve their decoding skills. It doesn’t have to be an overly complex process. Many phonics-based reading programs, such as Reading Horizons, provide this solution so educators don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Opening up the conversation about dyslexia works wonders. Schools can hold parent nights to answer questions and bring awareness to family members and educators. School administrators can connect educators with their IDA branch or create a collaborative community page where educators and parents can talk to experts who are knowledgeable about dyslexia. It’s all about creating those supports for parents and educators so they can provide the best support possible for their students.

Schools have been overwhelmed about confronting and supporting dyslexia for a while. Luckily, the support system and overall awareness is only growing. Finding the value in taking the responsibility to support students with dyslexia will not only improve their education, it will improve their lives.

Shantell Berrett is a former English teacher and tutor for reading, English, and dyslexia. She currently works as the lead professional development and dyslexia specialist for Reading Horizons as well as a reading and dyslexia consultant for schools across the nation. Berrett is a member of Decoding Dyslexia Utah and the International Dyslexia Association. She can be reached at [email protected].

What Assembly Bill 5 Means for Linguists

On Sept 18th, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 (CA AB 5) into law which will take effect in January. The new California state law reclassifies a large number of independent contractors as employees, making them entitled to labor protections, such as minimum wage and unemployment benefits. While AB 5 was written with companies like Uber in mind, the translation and interpreting industry has spoken out in regards to how this will affect a large number of professional linguists working in the field. Despite this opposition, the bill was passed without any sort of exemption for translators and interpreters. Both the American Translators Association (ATA) and the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) have both spoken out against the law, highlighting the need for an exemption.  

The author of the bill, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, has said AB5 would punish businesses that have tried to bend the rules in the past in regards to worker classification. However as the AIIC also points out, “Through our profession’s long history in the United States and abroad, the independent contractor status of conference interpreters has been shown to work.” There are exemptions for other professions, such as real estate agents, hairstylists and barbers, doctors, dentist and lawyers. But the bill was passed with no exemption for linguists. As the ATA points out in their statement, “Without an exemption, this bill would unduly lump together these independent professionals with individual workers who do not make a deliberate choice to provide freelance services.”

Michael Ferreira, president of the California Federation of Interpreters Local 39000 and a supporter of AB5, highlighted to the Los Angeles Times, “many interpreters are misclassified as independent contractors for large national translation companies and have no control over their wages or working conditions.” He continued, “They work solo for hours without breaks, when best practices require team interpretation, with switches about every half-hour.” 

While some like Ferreira, see this as a step in the right direction for individual worker protections and for allowing best practices to prevail, many more in the industry seem concerned with how this will affect the industry as a whole. This seems to essentially ban how many translation companies conduct business currently. The ATA points out that “few language service providers in our industry have sufficient work to hire individual translators and interpreters as employees for every language on the market…with the current wording of AB5, those companies would have to work with translators and interpreters based outside of California, thereby hurting the very people this bill has proposed to help as well as potentially limiting language access for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Individuals living in California.”

This is true – it would be astronomically expensive for a translation agency of any size to have to hire translators for every language they work with. Further, these companies usually look for linguist that specialize in a field, so specialist vocabulary is translated correctly. In practice, even though a translator may work wonderfully on medical texts, a translation company may still need to hire another linguist in the same language pairing who has more familiarity with financial documents. As the AIIC mentioned, this model of using databases of freelance, independent contractors has worked successfully for many years. Using freelancers allow translation companies to work with a database of linguists when the need for their languages and specialties arises. This allows for happy customers in that they have a “one-stop-shop” for all languages. While this idea of a “one-stop-shop” is relatively new in the language services industry it has helped fuel the large growth we’ve seen over the past 20 years. Without an exemption and the current wording of the bill, many in the language services industry are fearful that the growth of the translation industry will stall and, ultimately, hurt the linguists this was designed to protect.

Healthcare Hurdles for Limited English Proficient Patients

People whose first language is not English deal with additional hurdles to their healthcare. For non-native English speakers, talking to a doctor or dentist can mean listening to unfamiliar medical terms that may be difficult to understand. Trained medical interpreters can bridge the gap between patients, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff.

Often, unqualified but well-intentioned friends and relatives help limited English proficiency (LEP) patients navigate the healthcare system. This often means that immigrant children serve as translators for parents whose English is limited, or who don’t speak it at all.

LEP patients often don’t know laws exist that allow them to obtain qualified language assistance. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ensures the right to medical interpretation in a patient’s language, including the right to documents containing information in all programs that receive federal funding. However, Title VI didn’t specify who would fund interpreters and services for people who are LEP.

To try to solve the problem, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13166 in 2000. It called for federal agencies to look at their current programs, find gaps in access for those who are LEP, and create plans to help the LEP community participate in these programs in a meaningful way.

Supervision of programs for LEP beneficiaries of programs with federal funding was never standardized because all federal agencies have a Civil Rights division that oversees the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) further clarified that healthcare institutions can’t deny or stall language assistance to people with LEP. Regulation for the implementation of Section 1557 was issued in 2016 and required that medical interpreters be trained, important documents were to be translated into the 15 most spoken languages in a given state, and family or relatives could only act as translators per patient request.

Once again, the lack of a central measure to ensure the right to language assistance for the LEP community affects the life of patients and medical staff every day. This is especially the case in rural areas. Hannah Bascomb is a nursing professor at the Mississippi University for Women who spoke about her experience as a bedside nurse for labor and delivery in northeast Mississippi. Of her experience working interpreters, she says circumstances were best when a translator could arrive in person “[You] could go to a room and ask questions on the spot.”

Things got more complicated when patients spoke a language other than Spanish, something that complicated Bascomb’s job. She stated that staff often had to use a Dictaphone machine, which was usually locked and required the user to push correct buttons and wait until an interpreter could answer.

The good news is that at least, in Bascomb’s experience, it seems as if medical staff and patients did what they could to ensure patients had some language assistance. However, until governmental agencies, state governments, and medical professionals can decide who pays for interpreters, discrepancies in service will continue to exist.

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