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Breaking Barriers in Communication while Illustrating our Humanity

Michelle Zimmerman explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can facilitate communication and storytelling, and, thus, learning

LEILA: Why isn’t it talking?
CUB: Is it a good robot or a bad robot?

The children inched toward the robot and proceeded to inspect its wires, screws, arms, the wall plug, and the wheels that functioned as its feet. They wanted interaction. They wanted to know if it was friendly. Would it scare them, or would it shake hands with them? (Zimmerman, 2018)

Communicating with Technology


This excerpt with Cub and Leila, at ages 5 and 6, is from the new book, Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning (http://www.iste.org/TeachAI). Both children have practice communicating together and with other people around them. They hoped a robot would respond in the same way. Instead, when they tried to communicate, the robot stared blankly back at them. That kind of response didn’t seem very friendly to them, calling into question the moral compass of the robot. They knew both good and bad robots existed from stories with WALL-E and Eva, C-3PO and R2-D2.


Whether they realized it or not, asking each other those basic questions demonstrated a social process of learning and social uses for language. It demonstrated a command of language more sophisticated than a machine is currently capable of. Jared Zimmerman, design lead at Google, described the current level of artificial intelligence (AI) as a machine that is capable to doing “tasks a child would do, but quicker and in parallel. Basically, it gives you tens of thousands of six-year-olds doing something over and over again. Very specialized six-year-olds. It’s as if you can only train each six-year-old to do one thing” (Zimmerman, 2018, p. 22).


Cub and Leila’s questions demonstrated more than one thing. They showed transfer of learning, emotion, an understanding of context, and prior knowledge from storytelling. Trying to read the emotional state of the robot to determine if it was good or bad was part of attempting to understand communication. AI has still not been able to reproduce the social, emotional, historical, contextual, and symbolic understandings that humans have as they communicate. Machines learn from very large amounts of data, most often in a very different way than humans approach learning. However, Language Magazine recently published about a model that hopes to have a robot use perception to learn language similar to the way children learn by interacting with the environment. AI can learn from itself or other external sources. The difference in the way a machine learns typically leads to different outcomes and challenges in creating AI that interacts with humans in a way that feels natural to the humans that interact with it.


This excerpt with Cub and Leila, at ages 5 and 6, is from the new book, Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning (http://www.iste.org/TeachAI). Both children have practice communicating together and with other people around them. They hoped a robot would respond in the same way. Instead, when they tried to communicate, the robot stared blankly back at them. That kind of response didn’t seem very friendly to them, calling into question the moral compass of the robot. They knew both good and bad robots existed from stories with WALL-E and Eva, C-3PO and R2-D2.


Whether they realized it or not, asking each other those basic questions demonstrated a social process of learning and social uses for language. It demonstrated a command of language more sophisticated than a machine is currently capable of. Jared Zimmerman, design lead at Google, described the current level of artificial intelligence (AI) as a machine that is capable to doing “tasks a child would do, but quicker and in parallel. Basically, it gives you tens of thousands of six-year-olds doing something over and over again. Very specialized six-year-olds. It’s as if you can only train each six-year-old to do one thing” (Zimmerman, 2018, p. 22).


Cub and Leila’s questions demonstrated more than one thing. They showed transfer of learning, emotion, an understanding of context, and prior knowledge from storytelling. Trying to read the emotional state of the robot to determine if it was good or bad was part of attempting to understand communication. AI has still not been able to reproduce the social, emotional, historical, contextual, and symbolic understandings that humans have as they communicate. Machines learn from very large amounts of data, most often in a very different way than humans approach learning. However, Language Magazine recently published about a model that hopes to have a robot use perception to learn language similar to the way children learn by interacting with the environment. AI can learn from itself or other external sources. The difference in the way a machine learns typically leads to different outcomes and challenges in creating AI that interacts with humans in a way that feels natural to the humans that interact with it.

Human-Computer Interaction


Human-Computer interaction is on the rise. While storytelling has portrayed machines and humans interacting in science fiction for a while, these images and stories may lead adults and children to assume robots are at a level of sophistication with artificial intelligence where they should be able to interact and communicate with us at a nearly human level. We are not there yet, although there are daily advances.


The rapid advancement has inspired educators to begin teaching coding fundamentals and basics of coding languages to children as young as four and five to prepare them for the future. The hope is to help young people better transition to fields where they can help develop AI. In addition, another way of thinking is to build learning experiences that are more personalized and adaptive where machines support human learning with AI built into the tools. There are new uses of artificial intelligence tools like natural language processing, computer vision, and machine learning in tools that support reading comprehension, improve accessibility for English Language Learners (ELLs) or students with dyslexia, and assist students using Sign Language or learning world languages.

Ways of Thinking of Language Learning with AI


When thinking about how AI can support language and language learning, there are different approaches to consider. Teaching children to memorize processes with basic coding would be parallel to learning a vocabulary.
That is one step to take in preparing children for a future where they design AI experiences for themselves or others. It is not the same as learning to communicate with others in that language where vocabulary is only part of the communication. Computational thinking goes beyond being able to replicate a process for basic code. Computational thinking helps prepare students for creating and designing solutions and solving unknowns.


Another approach is to teach with tools that are supported by AI already. This can help support educators in creating a more adaptive or personalized learning experience for students. Changing education paradigms to prepare a mindset and way of thinking is another important way to help prepare young people for a world where AI is becoming more prevalent. Language will continue to be relevant in the development and use of AI. Here are some examples:
How to teach to prepare students to design AI solutions in the future
Teaching coding languages
Identifying problems and supporting students to practice designing solutions
How to teach with tools that use AI to support adaptive and personalized learning


IBM Watson and Sesame Workshop (http://www.sesameworkshop.org/) using AI to support early literacy and vocabulary development for English Language Learners (ELL) and students just learning to read (Harris, 2017).
Mia Learning’s voice chatbot (http://www.mialearning.com/) built with machine learning to support elementary and middle school students in their independent reading.


Microsoft Learning Tools and Immersive Reader have a wide variety of use cases, from learning to read for the first time to supporting struggling readers, English Language Learners and students with Dyslexia.
Microsoft “Accessibility Tools: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners” explores features that are already built into Office 365 tools, which use natural language processing and machine learning to support accessibility for people with dyslexia and vision impairment, as well as young students who need reading assistance.


Microsoft Translator (https://translator.microsoft.com/) uses natural language processing, part of artificial intelligence, to break language barriers.


Motion Savvy has UNI, a two-way communication software, in pilot phases now. UNI uses motion capture to convert American Sign Language into speech and text for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Read Robert Szczerba’s “Four Game-Changing Technologies for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.”


How to teach in a way that supports knowing how to use AI
effectively now, and in the future


Train students to excel in skills machines cannot
Teach students to recognize AI in action and use cases

If machines can also be trained to learn, memorize, and repeat, then students need to excel in areas machines cannot. When students learn to teach, they are not only reinforcing language and communication skills, they are also building social and emotional capacity. Young people that learn to teach other humans first will also be better positioned to understand how learning is a social process. Knowing how to teach humans to learn will help them to suggest more authentic ways for machines to learn. This may help lead to a more natural human-computer interaction in the future.

The Human Side of Technology and Communication


Human Learning as a Social and Cultural Process
Language is more than memorizing words and turning them into sentences. Our brains have the capacity to develop empathy and relationships, transfer learning across multiple settings, remain flexible as we adapt to unexpected responses, and use storytelling to help support learning and remembering. At Renton Prep (https://www.rentonprep.org/), we are fortunate to have a Computer Science TEALS teacher (https://www.tealsk12.org/) with a background in linguistics and computer science who draws on multiple domains and varied experiences in the way he approaches teaching computer science. Chris Nearman spoke with me on the intersection of computer science, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and education:


“As we automate existing processes, humans need to adjust what they do to be able to react in ways that didn’t exist previously. It is an inevitability that the problems of tomorrow haven’t been even thought of yet, and building machines that can perform this kind of ‘thinking’ are ways we can continue to build on the education and knowledge of people previous to us.”
From observing young children like Cub and Leila who want a robot to interact with them as a human would, we need to creatively identify ways that allow for increased automation and different types of interaction with technology, while helping support what makes us human. An example of this kind of creativity using technology that supports humanity, language, and communication is seen in a 9th grade Ethnography project by Afomeya Hailu. Afomeya’s parents are from Ethiopia.

Language is one way to capture history, tradition, culture, emotion, and present a rich heritage to others. Because Afomeya speaks English, she is able to tell the story to an audience outside of Ethiopia. Among the range of technological tools she used, she compiled the story in Sway, a free tool built with machine learning, a component of AI. The foundations of AI in Sway support the design layout and research within the tool, so the user can focus on creating content. In this way, Afomeya could spend more time on the language of developing the story and communicating generational first-person perspective to share with her peers across cultures from her ancestry though Ethiopia. Preparing students for a future with AI will mean highly collaborative teams and a greater understanding of global perspectives. AI can assist with communication, language translation with Natural Language Processing, and facilitating the complexity of the process by doing the heavy lifting of designing a presentation to look polished. This next example demonstrates a focus on humanity though culture, art, and language, but supported by AI powered technologies, Sway and Microsoft Translator. In cases like these, we want the AI to fade into the background and let the communication and language become the primary focus.

Communicating though Art and Language


Last fall, lawmakers from Japan (http://www.rentonreporter.com/news/delegates-from-japan-shown-nontraditional-learning-at-renton-prep/) visited our school, Renton Prep, to experience the intersection of humanity and creativity, and the technology that supported such learning. They were interested in bringing back ideas for teaching creative processes in Japanese schools. We presented gifts of artwork that our students created as a way of communicating what our students learned about Japanese culture though research at the Seattle Art Museum and online. We wanted to balance technology and in-person experiences for learning about culture.
Students documented their creative process and used AI tools to support their construction from documentation to communication, then used natural language processing (NLP) to help make their thinking visible to others in Japan. NLP is still developing and is not perfect; native Japanese speakers suggested the translation is about 70% accurate at this point. Sway, a digital storytelling app which is part of Microsoft Office and designed for creating presentations, is supported by machine learning for searching creative commons licensed resources. It also allows students to focus on content, while machine learning suggests a layout design that looks polished at any point. Using Microsoft Translator, students included another level of machine learning as a way to communicate inside of Sway. See an 8th grade student example by Charisse Vales (http://www.sway.office.com/uox9YPUJ0mQx6Vwj).


As I continued talking with Chris Nearman about language and culture, he pointed out that language is a social tool:
“In and of itself, it’s a contract we’ve defined between ourselves and others as to which sounds carry what meanings. But of course, as cultural artifact it carries much more than that. The language you speak and how you speak it can often be a signifier of group identity. The stories that are communicated in your language help build your relationship to the group. Language doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s a living, breathing set of regulations that we’ve imposed on ourselves, but since we’re often masters of our own, we also know how to break out of them.”

Personalization with AI


Unlike more traditional approaches to education, personalized learning focuses on the human element of learning—the unique needs and differences of students as they explore the depths of their own curiosity and how they communicate with others. As we work to develop the capabilities in today’s young people that will distinguish them from ever-smarter machines, personalized learning offers a pathway for allowing vital skills like creativity and critical thinking to flourish though language and other modes of communication. AI tools help expand the teacher’s capacity to allow students to explore different avenues of inquiry, while gleaning valuable insights about how each child learns.

Students Learning to Teach with Technology


Unless people decide to enter a teaching or training profession, rarely do they have the opportunity to experience what it is like to shift from the role of a learner to the role of teaching someone else in a formal learning environment. Most often, students have the experience of being the one trained—the learner who memorizes, understands, and repeats. If machines can also be trained to learn, memorize, and repeat, then students need to expand their capacity beyond a machine’s capacity by learning to teach as well as to learn. This will be a necessary skill in communication for fields that need humans who know how to communicate with and teach machines. To help machines respond more like humans and interact with them in a more human way, humans need to first understand how to teach other humans. The next example demonstrates how middle school students learned to teach younger students. Camille Mercado used technology to support her as she taught an English Language Learner. This removed the learning from a setting where students complete an assignment for the benefit of the teacher, to having an authentic reason to practice communication and language skills—to help someone learn while developing relationships, empathy, and transferring learning across multiple settings. This project created the foundation for further projects that utilized AI in the process of creating story.

A Student Mentor: Camille’s Story


Camille used video captured on her laptop, audio, and digital ink with her little buddy for conversational English, pre-literacy, and practice in written communication. Tracy, at age three, was still working on mastering her first language at home, Vietnamese, and her second language in school, English. Without the footage Camille recorded on her computer, Tracy’s teacher would not have known how much skill Tracy gained through the mentorship.

Using technology to support older students mentoring ELL students benefits both students in the partnership. Camille, now 20 and planning to study Informatics at the University of Washington, contributed to the book, Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning and reflected on her experience as a middle school student: At the time, I never really understood the importance of how my class would spend a year being mentors to preschoolers. I just thought of it as a way that preschoolers can have the ability to become friendlier with older kids or adults; but it became way more than that.

Devoting my time that summer to review the information I gathered with my preschooler, Tracy, made me understand the importance of technology alongside its ability to improve social interactions and learning with children (Zimmerman, 2018, p. 91). The full research is published in Springer’s Human-Computer Interaction Series (Zimmerman, 2016), and told in context of how technology can support humanity and language learning in Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning (Zimmerman, 2018).

This became the foundation for future literacy projects including The Little Book Project, led by educator, Kayla Vrudny. Visit https://sway.office.com/dTo7zMhK6w1Br2Cb for an example of student work where humanity was at the center of learning and literacy, but the language and communication were supported by AI.


We know that communication is a complex process and technology is becoming more sophisticated in its ability to support language learning, acquisition, and communication. From observing young children like Cub and Leila who want a robot to interact with them as a human to a high school student like Afomeya who harnesses technology to support storytelling and culture, technology can help us highlight the beauty of language and facilitate communication.


As educators, we know how powerful storytelling can be in the learning process. Storytelling and language can help us remember. It can become part of our culture (Nasir, Rosebery, Warren, & Lee, 2006) and tradition, as various cultures express wisdom through oral and written stories (Choi, 2015; Faggella, 2015; Tillman, 2006). To tell stories is human. AI can support us in telling, reading, creating, and understanding these stories.

References
Choi, A. S. (2015, March 17). How Stories Are Told Around the World. We Humans. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from http:// https://ideas.ted.com/how-stories-are-told-around-the-world
Faggella, D. (2015, September 8). Finding Artificial Intelligence Through Storytelling—An Interview with Dr. Roger Schank. Lifeboat Foundation Safeguarding Humanity. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://lifeboat.com/blog/2015/09/finding-artificial-intelligence-through-storytelling-an-interview-with-dr-roger-schank
Harris, R. (2017, June 6). IBM Watson and Sesame Workshop Launches AI Vocabulary Learning App. Retrieved May 6, 2018, from https://appdevelopermagazine.com/5263/2017/6/6/ ibm-watson-and-sesame-workshop-launches-ai-vocabulary-learning-app-
Nasir, N. S., Rosebery, A., Warren, B., & Lee, C. D. (2006). Learning as a Cultural Process. In K. R. Sawyer (Ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, 489–504.
Tillman, L. C. (2006). Researching and Writing from an African-American Perspective: Reflective Notes on Three Research Studies. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(3), 265–287.
Zimmerman, M. (2016). An Aqua Squiggle and Giggles: Pre-teens as Researchers Influencing Little Lives Through Inking and Touch Devices. Hammond, T. Valentine, S. Adler, A. (Eds.). Revolutionizing Education with Digital Ink: The Impact of Pen and Touch Technology on Education. New York, NY: Springer International Publishing. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31193-7_17
Zimmerman, M. (2018). Teaching AI: exploring new frontiers for learning. Portland, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education.

Michelle Zimmerman, author of Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning, has worked in multiple areas of education, from apprenticeship and co-teaching to research, leadership, and educator training, and she has taught all ages from 3 through 16. She received her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Human Development from the University of Washington College of Education in Seattle, and her research on learning design has been recognized with multiple awards. At Renton Prep Christian School, she has put her research into practice with blended, authentic learning environments, in which students learn to become mentor teachers and researchers. Under her leadership, Renton Prep has been selected by Microsoft to be a Showcase School since 2015, and in September 2018, was selected as one of 17 schools around the world to be part of the Microsoft Flagship Schools program and the only K-12 school in the United States to be selected. Since 2007 she has presented around the world, including at the American Education Research Association, New York Academy of Sciences and New York Academy of Medicine, NYU Polytechnic School of engineering, UCLA CRESST, CARNET in Croatia, DigiPen, ISTE, BETT London, and Global Educator Exchange Leadership Summit in Singapore, as well as educational technology conferences, and multiple universities. Her students have been presenting and co-authoring with her since 2011. She has been invited to add perspective to global leadership events at the headquarters of Microsoft, Google, and T-Mobile. Michelle wrote this article to address the guiding principles outlined in: https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/11/06/edtech-for-english-learners/

Two Teams Share $7M Adult Literacy XPRIZE

Learning Upgrade’s App

XPRIZE, in partnership with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, has announced two grand prize winners of the Adult Literacy XPRIZE, a multi-year, multi-phase competition focused on transforming the lives of low-literate adults across the nation.

Launched on former first lady Barbara Bush’s 90th birthday in 2015, the $7M Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE presented by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation challenges teams to develop mobile applications for smartphones that increase literacy skills among participating adult learners. With research showing that 77% of Americans now own a smartphone, the competition aims to dramatically change the way the United States meets the needs of the 36 million adults with low literacy skills, by tackling the largest obstacles to achieving basic literacy – access, retention and scale.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush asked XPRIZE, the leader in designing and operating global competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges, to help create a competition to tackle the largest obstacles to adults achieving basic literacy.

“Mom and I shared the belief that literacy is the gateway to live a life of purpose. Just imagine trying to find a job, get a driver’s license, or understand your child’s report card without the ability to read and write,” said Gov. Bush, former Barbara Bush Foundation board member. “We launched this project to leverage the power of competition to infuse innovation and fresh ideas into the adult literacy landscape.”

Grand prize winners, Learning Upgrade and People ForWords, will divide a $3 million purse, while each also receiving a $1 million achievement prize, for having the best performance in two key demographic groups: native English speakers and English language learners.

A panel of independent, expert judges determined grand prize winners after their apps generated the greatest gains between a pre- and post-test, which were administered approximately one year apart to learners in a 12-month field test in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Philadelphia. After careful review of overall student achievement among both native English speakers and English language learners who initially were reading English at a third-grade level or below, the judges declared a tie between the two top performing apps:

  • Learning Upgrade (San Diego, California) – Led by Vinod Lobo, the team helps students learn English and math “the fun way” through songs, video, games and rewards. The app is available on both Android and iOS devices at no cost.
  • People ForWords (Dallas, Texas) – Led by Southern Methodist University’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development, in collaboration with SMU’s Guildhall and Literacy Instruction for Texas, the People ForWords team has developed “Codex: Lost Words of Atlantis,” a mobile game based on an archeological adventure storyline to help adult learners improve their English reading skills. The app is currently available on Android devices at no cost.

“We believe the ability to read proficiently and a basic education are fundamental to a person’s success in society. When we helped launch the Adult Literacy XPRIZE, we hoped to find a way to eliminate barriers and help create equal access to educational instruction for all individuals,” said Denine Torr of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. “We are excited about the impact these innovative, award-winning apps will have on reducing literacy program waiting lists while increasing their capacity to serve and reach students during times that fit within their busy lives.”

Jeb Bush, together with Denine Torr of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and XPRIZE board member Amir Ansari, announced the grand prize winners at the Barbara Bush Foundation’s Florida Celebration of Reading in Miami. The event also celebrated the legacy of Mrs. Bush and featured guest speakers including humorist Dave Barry, the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer and Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA TODAY.

The second phase of the initiative is the upcoming $1 million Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition, a 15-month competition for organizations, communities and individuals to recruit adult learners to download and use the apps developed by the two grand prize-winning teams along with the following two finalist teams:

  • AmritaCREATE, Amrita University (Amritapuri, Kerala, India) – Inspired by Amrita University’s Chancellor AMMA and led by Dr. Prema Nedungadi, this team of educators and developers has created a personalized learning app along with engaging, culturally appropriate e-content linked to life skills. The app is currently available on Android and iOS devices at no cost.
  • Cell-Ed (Oakland, California) – Led by Dr. Jessica Rothenberg-Aalami, this team brings more than 20 years of EdTech experience with low income, low-literate adults in the U.S. and worldwide by offering on-demand essential skills, micro-lessons and personalized coaching on any mobile device, without internet.

Along with Learning Upgrade and People ForWords, AmritaCREATE and Cell-Ed will each receive $125,000 for their participation in the Communities Competition.

“XPRIZE is a powerful platform for impact, and we’re so proud of have been a part of this historic effort to empower adults to take their learning into their own hands,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “Through all their efforts and creativity, Learning Upgrade, People ForWords and all of the competing teams have done remarkable work in supporting adult literacy, and are proof that innovation and competition can help solve some of the greatest challenges of our time.” 

In the Communities Competition, a total of $1 million will be awarded, with $500,000 available for teams who submit the most innovative, feasible and scalable plans, and $500,000 for teams who recruit the most adult learners to download and consistently use the learning apps.

“For 30 years, the Barbara Bush Foundation has played a leadership role in the field of adult and family literacy,” said British A. Robinson, President and CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. “The Adult Literacy XPRIZE celebrates the enduring legacy of Barbara Bush and the Foundation’s commitment to ending the epidemic of low literacy in the United States.” For more information about the winning teams and the Communities Competition, visit adultliteracy.xprize.org and communities.xprize.org

Spanish Musician Lau Noah Wows on NPR Tiny Desk

Lau Noah is a singer-songwriter from Reus, Spain who recently performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk series—a web series that showcases emerging and established musicians in a pared-down format similar to 90’s TV show, MTV Unplugged. Noah is multilingual and speaks Catalan, Spanish, English, and Hebrew. “There’s a language we speak in the Northeast of Spain called Catalan in a region called Catalonia, this is where I come from,” she said during her performance before delivering her song “L’Adéu (The Goodbye).” “And for many years I only sang in English because I was too scared of what they would say if I sang in my mother language. I’m not any more. I’m really happy to share a song in Catalan with you.” Noah is the first Catalan artist to play a Tiny Desk concert and sing in Catalan, and stated on her Facebook page, “Cultural diversity is the key to evolution, respect and peace.”

Before she played her final song, “Red Bird,” at the Tiny Desk, she quoted Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, from his novel Don Quixote: “When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies,” Lau said, reading from her notes. “Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams is madness. And maddest of all: to see life as it is and not as it should be.”

Noah got her break on Tiny Desk by submitting her song, La Realidad to the Tiny Desk Contest in 2018. Bob Boilen of NPR stated, “This is the sort of poetic tale that captured my heart amongst the thousands of entries I watched.”

Lau Noah can be found at her Facebook page

Check out her performance above, courtesy of NPR.

New OAS Ambassador for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples



Venezuelan activist, actress, and model Patricia Velásquez has been designated as the Organization of American States (OAS) Goodwill Ambassador for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.
Velásquez, who is descended on her mother’s side from the Wayúu Taya people, said she will fight for the rights of all indigenous peoples. “It is an honor to echo the call by all the indigenous communities of the Americas. I assume this commitment with great responsibility. It is not only for my Wayúu people, but also the Quechua, Yanomami, Guaraní, Aymara, Secoyas, and many others—we are all cousins,” said Velásquez.


For his part, the secretary-general of the OAS, Luis Almagro, indicated that with the new appointment the OAS takes a step further in promoting its theme of “more rights for more people.” “I am proud that the OAS can count on the support of a faithful defender of the rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas to help us in the effort to foster understanding and promote their inclusion,” he added.


Patricia Velásquez is the president of the Wayúu Taya Foundation, a nonprofit organization that strives to improve the situation of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Photo: Patricia Velásquez, Credit: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS

Official Launch of International Year of Indigenous Languages

Photo Courtesy IYIL

The official launch of the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL), co-organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), took place on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.


To be held under the theme “Indigenous languages matter for sustainable development, peace building, and reconciliation,” this official launch event will gather indigenous peoples, governmental officials, civil society, academia, media, information organizations, United Nations agencies, public language harmonization and documentation institutions, and private-sector bodies.


The aim is to provide a global forum for a constructive debate in which officials and prominent experts will address new paradigms for safeguarding, promoting, and providing access to knowledge and information for the indigenous languages’ users.


“Indigenous languages matter for social, economic, and political development, peaceful coexistence, and reconciliation in our societies. Yet many of them are in danger of disappearing. It is for this reason that the United Nations declared 2019 the Year of Indigenous Languages in order to encourage urgent action to preserve, revitalize, and promote them,” explains the IYIL website.


In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages, based on a recommendation by the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. At the time, the Forum said that 40% of the estimated 6,700 languages spoken around the world were in danger of disappearing. The fact that most of these are indigenous languages puts the cultures and knowledge systems to which they belong at risk. 


In addition, indigenous peoples are often isolated both politically and socially in the countries they live in, by the geographical locations of their communities and their separate histories, cultures, languages, and traditions.


And yet not only are they leaders in protecting the environment but their languages represent complex systems of knowledge and communication and should be recognized as strategic national resources for development, peace building, and reconciliation. 


They also foster and promote unique local cultures, customs, and values which have endured for thousands of years. Indigenous languages add to the rich tapestry of global cultural diversity. Without them, the world would be a poorer place.


Celebrating IYIL2019 will help promote and protect indigenous languages and improve the lives of those who speak them. It will contribute to achieving the objectives set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.


The celebration is also expected to strengthen and reinforce the many standard-setting tools adopted by the international community, which include specific provisions to promote and protect languages.

To partner or find out more, visit https://en.iyil2019.org/.

Korean Royal Code

Gyeongbokgung Palace at night in Seoul, South Korea.

The new crown prince of Korea, tech entrepreneur Andrew Lee, a Korean-American, owes his royal title to a plan to create a free coding school for Koreans, inspired by the story of how his ancestor, King Sejong the Great (1397–1450), profoundly impacted Korea’s history by creating Hangeul, the phonetic writing system for the Korean language, in order to make the population literate.

Last year, a distant relative, King Yi Seok, 77, the nominal emperor of the Joseon dynasty, who promotes tourism and teaches history, nominated Lee as next in line for the crown.

The king, who lives in the South Korean city of Jeonju, chose Lee, co-founder of the popular VPN service Private Internet Access—who was living in California with his wife Nana Lee and their two small children—because of his “positive energy.”

Most South Koreans have forgotten the five-century-old royal dynasty that ended with the Japanese occupation of the peninsula in 1910, but Lee hopes he can use his new position to benefit the population of a country he has only visited four times and whose language he barely speaks. 

He is planning to launch a $100 million fund to help entrepreneurs who want to launch their own businesses, with $10 million of his own as start-up funds. The plan is to give budding entrepreneurs the chance to escape from the traditional career expectations of South Korea’s conservative society.

Lee told the Telegraph that King Sejong the Great was the inspiration for his next venture, an online coding school: “He realized that the only people who could read and write were rich and could afford the time to learn… His solution was to make a super-easy language that everyone could understand. I do think that everyone needs to speak the language of technology because that’s the direction that we’re going in. If you don’t speak technology, then you’re illiterate.”

Lee will teach at the coding school, which will be run online and in “live lecture form,” offering the chance of smaller class sizes where students can ask questions.

China Wants Filipino English Teachers

An English-teaching platform aimed at the $4.5 billion market for online language lessons in China is looking to hire 100,000 Filipino English teachers over the next five years to meet growing demand.


51Talk, which has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2016, currently employs 18,000 online English teachers, of which 16,000 are Filipino, said its founder and CEO Jack Huang on Philippines television.
English proficiency is key to tapping demand, with online education estimated to be worth $50 billion, Huang told ANC’s Early Edition.
“We believe that Filipino teachers are the best teachers, best online English teachers in the world to teach Chinese kids,” Huang said.


“Naturally happy and friendly” Filipinos are a perfect fit to educate children ages five to twelve years, who make up about 80% of 51Talk’s students, he said.

Russian Wrangles with Ukrainian

Evening Moscow, View of the Moscow Kremlin, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and the University. Russia

More than 60% of Ukrainian citizens want the Ukrainian language to be the only official state language in the country, according to the results of a new poll released at the end of last month.
“A total of 63% [of respondents] believe that the Ukrainian language must be the only official state language, 17% want the Russian language to be official, while 15% would like to see it as official in some regions,” according to the survey conducted by the Sociological Group Rating.
The idea of granting official status to the Russian language is most popular in the regions of Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Odessa.
The poll was conducted among some 40,000 respondents from all the regions of Ukraine from November 16–December 10.
However, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson from the Russian Foreign Ministry, has demanded “at least some status” for the Russian language in Ukraine, claiming that “the majority” of Ukrainians speak it. “Most of the country speaks Russian. While city leaders, government representatives, and journalists speak it, they cannot give it at least some status in a state whose culture was created including using this language,” Zakharova told a Moscow briefing, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.
At the same time, she expressed surprise over the round table held in the Ukrainian parliament on violations of rights of indigenous peoples in Russia, including encroachments on freedom of speech, conscience, and assembly, as well as violations of the right to study in their native language. “It’s as if Ukrainian lawmakers have nothing else to do than discuss the situation with indigenous peoples in the Russian Federation,” she said, calling the situation “ridiculous.”
Zakharova went on to claim that Ukraine’s government had itself hindered basic rights of national minorities in Ukraine. Russia has no Ukrainian-medium schools, despite 1.8 million Ukrainians living in the country, according to the latest census.

Celebrating International Greek Language Day

Sunset view of the blue dome churches of Santorini, Greece, Europe.

February 9 has been declared international Greek language day in hopes of sparking interest in the language worldwide. The date coincides with Commemoration Day of Greece’s ‘national poet, Dionysios Solomos, whose lyrics are featured in the Greek National Anthem.

In its press release, regarding this year’s celebration, the Ministry of Education writes: “It is important to learn and love the Greek language, because of its virtues but mainly because it has expressed a great culture, that shaped and codified the first and statutory layer of the upper vocabulary and the basic concepts of Western civilization. Over the centuries, its contribution has been decisive as a means of enhancing and spreading Greek culture and today, it is considered as one of the world’s oldest languages”.

The celebration was formulated by the Federation of Greek Communities and Fraternal Organizations of Italy in 2016, and continues to spread worldwide for the third year in a row.

Education Counselor Georgios Kosyvas stated, “This day is expected to highlight the constant contribution of the Greek language to the development of the European and international culture. Our aim is to promote and disseminate the Greek language trying at the same time to render its projection and reinforcement an issue of paramount importance, both for the Greek schools and for the international community. “

To celebrate the event, find three apps below to brush up on your Greek:

Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/course/el/en/Learn-Greek-Online

Memrise: https://www.memrise.com/courses/english/greek/

Mondly: https://www.mondly.com/

Children’s Rights to Read Pledge

More than 1,000 individuals and organizations, representing over 50 countries; 30 organizations; 20 schools, districts, and universities; and 175,000 students, have pledged support to the International Literacy Association’s (ILA) Children’s Rights to Read initiative. The global movement focuses on making sure that every child has access to the education, opportunities, and resources needed to read.

Supporters have pledged to enact ILA’s Children’s Rights to Read—ten fundamental rights ILA asserts that every child should have. The yearlong campaign will focus on activating educators, policymakers, and literacy partners to join.

in their efforts to raise awareness of these rights.

“Exceeding 1,000 supporters demonstrates the momentum and unity around our vision of literacy for all,” says executive director Marcie Craig Post. “Now we’re focused on channeling this momentum into action.”

Organizations that have signed the pledge include Child Smile Liberia, Kids Own Australian Literature Awards Inc., Poetry Ireland, the Taiwan Reading Association, the American Eagle Institute, DisruptED, and the British Virgin Islands Reading Council. Individual supporters span a wide spectrum of ages, backgrounds, professions, and expertise. More than 50 countries are represented overall.

“I commend the efforts of ILA for igniting the flame of such a critical movement,” says Stephen G. Peters, superintendent of Laurens County School District 55 and current ILA board member. “[It] will create multiple pathways for success for millions of children across the world.”

As part of the ongoing campaign, ILA will be developing and distributing practical resources that educators can use to enact these rights in their classrooms, schools, and communities. The first, The Case for Children’s Rights to Read, is available now. Visit literacyworldwide.org/rightstoread to download “Children’s Rights to Read,” available in eight languages, and sign the pledge in support.

Alina O’Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily. 

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