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U.S. Raises Bar for Special Education Standards

The US Department of Education has announced it will begin monitoring the progress and achievements of students with special needs, with aims of boosting their academic success.

The Obama administration expressed on Tuesday that a vast majority of the 6.5 million students with disabilities in the United States are not receiving an adequate education.

States will now be held individually accountable for recording and demonstrating the progress of these students, in what the Education Secretary Arne Duncan describes as “a major shift”.

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Speech Therapy App Helps Brain Injury Sufferers Recover Language Skills

Lingraphica: The Aphasia Company today announced the release of TalkPath Therapy for iPad and the Web– an award-winning app component of a speech-therapy solution to help adults suffering with aphasia.

The integrated-cloud based initiative has been designed to improve the language skills of adults with the inability to speak, write or comprehend language.

Features include over 4600 language exercises for reading, writing, speaking and listening, tailored to the progress of the user.

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Learning by repetition blurs nuance

A new study by University of California, Irvine neurobiologists Zachariah Reagh and Michael Yassa have found that while repetition enhances the factual content of memories, it can reduce the amount of detail stored with those memories. This means that with repeated recall, nuanced aspects may fade away. The findings could have significant implications for more advanced language learners.

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Repaving the Campaign Trail

Kathleen Stein-Smith proposes a campaign for world language education in the U.S. based on social and political engagement, using best practices and modern strategies

America needs a campaign for world languages based on social and political engagement, inspired by best practices in language education around the world and informed by current theory in change management, innovation, strategy, and social marketing.

An increase in language skills among Americans is important for a variety of reasons, ranging from self-improvement and education for global citizenship to our national and economic security.

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Foreign Language Skills Deemed a Necessity in UK Business Firms

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has announced nearly two thirds of 300 recently surveyed UK businesses prefer staff with foreign language skills.

The statement comes ahead of the CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey for 2014, due to be published in July.

According to the report, European languages such as French, German and Spanish are highly sought after, but Arabic and Mandarin are of growing importance.

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French 3.0: The Next Generation

Report predicts the rise of French by 2050

Since Language Magazine’s last report on the ongoing, public debate over the importance of French (“French on the Menu,” March 2014), the prediction that French may be the world’s most-spoken language by 2050 (based on research by Natixis, an investment bank) has spurred media reports across the world challenging the suggestion.

The prediction that French will be spoken by 750 million people by 2050 is based on the fact that French-speaking populations are growing faster than English- and Mandarin-speaking ones.

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U.S. Dept. of State Works to Internationalize Colleges and Universities

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural affairs is to host the fifth annual EducationUSA Forum in Washington, D.C. this month; with aims of increasing the number of international students in U.S. higher education and encouraging more American students to study abroad.

Between June 23rd and 25th, over 550 representatives from U.S. colleges and universities will meet with Department of State officials and over 60 EducationUSA educational experts and country advisers from across the globe.

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Mandarin Introduced to UK Schools

Thousands of pupils across the United Kingdom are to be given Mandarin lessons in a government bid to double the amount of Mandarin learners in the UK by 2019.

It has been announced that more than 1,200 specialist Mandarin teachers will be trained in the subject to give public (state) school pupils the same opportunities to learn Mandarin, as those in private schools.

Education Minister Elizabeth Truss said The Conficus Institute – a new Mandarin teacher training center, would be set up in at the Institute of Education, London next year to help elevate the profile of the “language of the future”.

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£1.6m Boost for the Welsh Language

The Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones has announced plans to strengthen the Welsh language over the next two years.

A total of 1.6 million pounds is to be spent on measures to promote and maintain the language, including support for Welsh language businesses and a pilot scheme to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) provide services in Welsh.

The plans come after analysis from the last census, where figures showed the number of Welsh speakers in Wales has fallen dramatically since 2001.

Mr Jones assured assembly members that the plans are the basis for other schemes and initiatives across Wales in the near future.

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Win a Trip to Study Spanish in Spain with SPanishYouTOO.com

To celebrate the launch of SPanishYouTOO.com, Tourspain and International House Spain have teamed up to offer the chance to win a 10-week Spanish language course at International House Barcelona.

Following the success of AUssieYouTOO.com, SPanishYouTOO.com has been launched to assist students and budding linguists in planning their visit to Spain – from choosing the right language course to making travel arrangements.The site provides a virtual office service, and online assistance is available through Skype and social media.

To enter, visit the “Spanish identity Generator” Facebook app – via the SPanish You TOO Facebook page, and answer the questions given. The app will then create a unique Spanish character for each entrant, and the user whose virtual identity receives the maximum number of votes will win the 10-week course in Barcelona.

For more information visit www.spanishyoutoo.com or follow the hashtag #IneedSPANISH on Twitter. For further details on how to enter, visit the Spain in USA and SPanishYouTOO Facebook pages.

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Language Magazine