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Robots Teach Language Skills to Preschoolers

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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have launched an eight week trial to test how well preschool children can learn language skills from robots.

The experiment is monitoring rates at which children learn and remember new vocabulary from a selection of storytelling robots, at a local Boston kindergarten.

Supplemented by a tablet computer to illustrate the stories, the robots – dubbed “DragonBots”, adapt their stories each week, coordinating their pace with the progress of the child. The research team, led by graduate student Jacqueline Kory and Dr Cynthia Brezeal, then logs and tracks the data to determine any patterns.

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Total Satisfaction Achieved at Accent Français

accent francais logoAccent Français is proud to announce that, since the beginning of the year, 100% of their students recommend them.

When asked to fill in a survey to get feedback on all aspects of their stay, 100% of the students since January 2014, said they would recommend Accent Français.

Presale

Accent Français attributes its success to pre-sales: they answer all enquiries within two working days; they provide all information related to the stay, attend to student arrival in France and plan everything before the student leaves home.

Once on-site, the students are welcomed with an information meeting where they receive a booklet that includes all information about their learning process and their stay (courses, activities, excursions, administrative steps, security measures to take into account, and information about the city).

Their teachers are all graduates with a university degree in French teaching for foreigners. They provide vibrant and dynamic lessons and adapt their teaching methods to the group of ten students maximum they have and to the level of French of their pupils.

They also organize roundtables with students on a specific subject each time. This enable them to take into account the suggestions and comments of the students and to adapt their service accordingly.

Classrooms

Accent Français classrooms and offices are regularly renovated to offer a nice and fitted work environment. In this respect, the school is getting bigger in 2014 with three new classrooms, a multimedia space and library. All of their buildings have air conditioning, and each classroom is equipped with a TV, and a computer. The whole of the school provides free wi-fi access.

Accommodations

The accommodations are also a very critical point during the students’ stay. Accent Français strongly advises them to stay with a host family for a complete immersion — and an even greater learning experience — in French as well as in the culture of our country and of Montpellier. Accent Français pays close attention to the students’ hosting arrangements, and fulfills requests promptly in order to provide them with a quick and responsive service.

Accent Français provides cultural programs all year long, including excursions within the region accompanied by their own guide. Other activities include workshops with mindful topics dedicated to completing the students’ learning process and highlighting the joys of Montpellier culture.

Hitler’s Birthplace to Become Immigrant Language Center

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In an interesting turn of events, the Austrian guesthouse where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 is likely to become a language center for immigrants it has been reported.

The future of the building in Braunau am Inn has been debated for decades, drawing concern that if neglected, the site could become a shrine for neo-Nazis.

Until last year, the structure was used as a day center for people with learning difficulties; and aside from a small memorial stone, there is little to mark its historical significance.

Subsequent to its use as a guesthouse, the building has also served as a bank and public library whilst under control of the Austrian state after World War II. Local media have reported that little has changed in recent years, as the current owner has refused to sell or alter the interior.

Past proposals to turn the premises into an anti-fascist information center were rejected, with the mayor of Braunau claiming “there are already enough memorials in the region”.

In a bid to agree on a suitable solution, town representatives met with the Austrian interior ministry in Vienna last week, where plans were presented to property’s anonymous owner.

According to the Austrian Times, “insiders” present at the meeting believe the scheme to turn the building into an “integration center” would be accepted by the deadline this Friday. If approved, it will provide language courses for migrants, in addition to other social services.

Hitler’s Birthplace to Become Immigrant Language Center

hitlertownThe Austrian guesthouse where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889, is likely to become a language center for immigrants it has been reported.

The future of the building in Braunau am Inn has been debated for decades, drawing concern that if neglected, the site could become a shrine for neo-Nazis.

Until last year, the structure was used as a day center for people with learning difficulties; and aside from a small memorial stone, there is little to mark its historical significance.

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Making Multilingual Movies

Nile Stanley and John Ronghua Ouyang encourage teachers to use the new literacies to inspire the next generation of multilingual filmmakers

Most prospective teachers and the pupils they will teach have been surrounded by constantly evolving information and communications technology (ICT) — computers, email, social networks, smartphones, and digital cameras — since preschool. The internet is this generation’s defining context for literacy and learning and requires new skills, strategies, and dispositions (Castek et al., 2007). Paradoxically, teacher candidates have lived a digitally saturated life, but many have not had the preparation in the new literacies of how to integrate ICTs in their multilingual classrooms. To read the full story, click here.

Using foreign language increases rationality

114336952A new study from psychologists at the University of Chicago and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona finds that people using a foreign language take a relatively utilitarian approach to moral dilemmas, making decisions based on assessments of what’s best for the common good. That pattern holds even when the utilitarian choice would produce an emotionally difficult outcome, such as sacrificing one life so others could live.

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Twitter Ads Targeted by Language

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Social media giant Twitter has launched a new feature that will allow advertisers to target users based on their language.

The ‘language targeting’ feature will give brands the opportunity to direct promoted tweets and promoted accounts towards 20 different language demographics and users will be able to view ‘highly relevant ads’ in their own language.

It comes as Twitter’s move to raise its advertising revenue, a step up from its current features that target users by interest, geography, keywords and gender.

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Spanish Blog Contest

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Online Spanish is growing fast – it is now the third most-used language on the internet by number of users, according to a report by the Instituto Cervantes. Its use has grown by 807% in the period of 2000-2011, compared with an increase of 301% for English, and still Spanish has a huge potential for expansion. It is also the second most used language in the two major world social networks: Facebook and Twitter.

Mindful of this enormous capacity for development, Google, the Instituto Cervantes, Madrid Spanish Network-Platform, University of Alcalá, Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Latin American Journalism (FNPI) and Monografias.com have launched the third annual Spanish Blog competition to promote Spanish and Hispanic culture.

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May 2014

May 2014 Cover

International Education Revamped
As governments invest in student exchange and communications redefine immersion, will global study become the norm?

English is Golden
Diverse and dynamic California offers a wealth of English immersion opportunities

Making Multilingual Movies
Nile Stanley and John Ronghua Ouyang encourage new teachers to use the new literacies to inspire the next generation of multilingual filmmakers

Spanish Teen Choice
Christophe Chabaudie offers ten factors to take into account when choosing a Spanish immersion destination for teens

From Language Skills to Teaching Prowess
Montserrat Villar González offers a personal view on developing as a language teacher

Last Writes
Richard Lederer reveals the religious foundations of common English terms

CA Senate Committee Recommends Restoring Bilingual Education

bilingualeditCalifornia’s Senate Education Committee has recommended that the state’s voters be asked to repeal Proposition 227, the 1998 initiative requiring public school instruction in English.

The California Ed.G.E. (Education for a Global Economy) Initiative (Language Magazine, April 2014), authored by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Huntington Park/Long Beach) advanced out of the Senate Education Committee by a vote of 7 to 0. The bill, SB 1174, would place an initiative before voters on the November 2016 ballot and ask them to amend portions of Proposition 227 which limits public school instruction to English-only.

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