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TOKYO — Nestled in the wooded mountains of Japan’s northwest lies a small liberal arts college that has pioneered an all-out method to raise the English-language skills of its students — total immersion. All classes and daily interactions are conducted in English at the school.
Learn more about this topic by reading on AsiaNikkei.
After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
PDF #105 – Catherine McLoughlin – Who is in Control Defining Interactive Learning Environments
This paper seeks to address the pedagogical principles inherent in the design of learning environments with such educational media as telematics and live interactive television.
After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
New Mandarin-English preschool opens in south London
One of the first few Mandarin-English immersion schools in Britain officially opened in south London, joining the continuing zeal here and beyond for learning Mandarin.
Petts Wood Mandarin-English Preschool, which opened Friday at Bromley in southeastern suburb of London, is also the very first Mandarin immersion preschool founded in partnership with a church in Britain, according to the school website.
Learn more about this topic by reading on Xinhuanet.
After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
East Africa: Kiswahili Goes to School in South Africa
South Africa has become the first southern African country to offer Kiswahili as an optional subject in schools, raising hopes for the growth of the language considered the lingua franca of East Africa.
Kiswahili will be taught along with French, German and Mandarin. The government plans to roll out the teaching in 90 schools.
It is the first African language from outside southern Africa to be offered in schools. Already, South Africa has reached out to Kenya and Tanzania to recruit teachers of the language. Learn more about this topic by reading on AllAfrica.
This article reports on an ESRC-funded project which investigated the use of corpus-based activities in a primary-school context, with children aged 8-10 years. The study aimed to explore the contributions that could be made by a corpus – comprising language written for a child audience – and a modified version of the associated software, in helping these young children (all L1 English speakers) to learn about language.
After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
Thousands of young Syrians opt to learn Russian at school
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Omar al-Tawil, a 15-year-old school boy in Damascus, is one of 24,000 Syrian youngsters now learning Russian at school after the country added the language of the government’s most powerful ally to the curriculum.
Many young people in Syria, where Moscow intervened in 2015 to help President Bashir al-Assad win back territory, are eager to study Russian in order to travel to Russia or work in Russian companies they expect to appear in Syria in the future. Learn more about this topic by reading on EgyptIndependent.
Free “Language Learning with Netflix” extension makes studying Japanese almost too easy
Back when I was studying Japanese in the ancient days of the early 2000s, we had two options to find shows with Japanese subtitles: import them for exorbitant prices, or try your luck at Chinatown where bootleg DVDs sometimes came with them.
And while the Japanese dubs of Seinfeld and Star Trek that I poured my meager earnings into were funny, and the bootleg DVDs that crapped out halfway through were what I deserved, they were both pretty disappointing. I would’ve loved a way to watch a bunch of different shows with Japanese subtitles, for a reasonable price. Learn more about this topic by reading on SoraNews24.
PDF #103 – Otto Jespersen – Language its Nature Development and Origin, 1922, University of Copenhagen
The distinctive feature of the science of language as conceived nowadays is its historical character: a language or a word is no longer taken as something given once for all, but as a result of previous development and at the same time as the starting-point for subsequent developments.
After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
Nigeria’s local languages as endangered species
Twenty nine Nigerian minor languages have become extinct, while another 29 are in danger of extinction. Three Nigeria’s major languages -Yoruba, Igbo, and Ishekiri are also endangered, according to studies by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and views expressed by language teachers, and linguists. Learn more about this topic by reading on PMNewsNigeria.
Immersive learning
One of the first few Chinese-English immersion schools in Britain officially opened in south London, joining the continuing zeal there and beyond for learning Chinese.
Petts Wood Mandarin-English Preschool, which opened Friday at Bromley in southeastern suburb of London, is also the very first Chinese immersion preschool founded in partnership with a church in Britain, according to the school website. Learn more about this topic by reading on GlobalTimes.