If you’re worried that texting and instant messaging are destroying children’s respect for proper English, Kristen Turner, Ph.D., assistant professor of English education, wants you to relax.

“I can’t tell you how many times I introduce myself to parents, and the first thing I hear is, ‘Oh, this texting language is ruining English. All my kids do is text,’” she said. “That’s a big misperception of what’s happening.”

Turner has coined the phrase “digitalk” to encompass communication that occurs between adolescents via modern communication technology, such as text messages, instant messages and social networking comments. “People think that texting is random and that it’s born from laziness. Actually, it’s neither of those things,” she said.

Read the complete story at http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources

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ScienceDaily (Feb. 17, 2010) — Perception of second language speech is easier when it is spoken in the accent of the listener and not in the ‘original’ accent of that language, shows a new study from the University of Haifa. The study was published in theJournal of Psycholinguistic Research.

Many adult schools teaching second languages insist on exposing their students to the languages in their ‘original’ accents. However, this new study, carried out by Dr. Raphiq Ibrahim and Dr. Mark Leikin of the University of Haifa’s Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, Prof. Zohar Eviatar of the Department of Psychology and Prof. Shimon Sapir of the Department of Learning Disabilities, found that this system is not necessarily the best and certainly not the most expeditious.

Read the complete news by visiting http://www.sciencedaily.com

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Comics, computer games and Disney films have long been the bane of parents trying to encourage their offspring to develop a love of reading classic children’s books.

Now academics at the University of Cambridge have given comic strips and saccharine movies cachet by subjecting them to scrutiny of a sort previously reserved for classics such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

The university opened a Centre for Children’s Literature yesterday, which will give as much consideration to blogs, fan fiction and video games as to the works of established children’s authors. Its founders say they deserve the same attention, as all can have a deep and lasting impact on children and teenagers.

Read the complete news item at http://www.timesonline.co.uk

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A survey of 3,001 children aged nine to 16 found that 24% had their own blog and 82% sent text messages at least once a month.

In addition 73% used instant messaging services to chat online with friends.

However, 77% still put real pen to paper to write notes in class or do their school homework.

Of the children who neither blogged nor used social network sites, 47% rated their writing as “good” or “very good”, while 61% of the bloggers and 56% of the social networkers said the same.

Children who use technology are ‘better writers’ – BBC

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The study argues that human languages may adapt more like biological organisms than previously thought and that the more common and popular the language, the simpler its construction to facilitate its survival.

Traditional thinking is that languages develop based upon random change and historical drift. For example, English and Turkish are very different languages based upon histories that separate them in space and time. For years, it has been the reigning assumption in the linguistic sciences.

R E A D   M O R E…

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Download this ebook for free by visiting this site: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/transform

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AS with almost everything else they’ve touched in education, the present Government has made a pig’s ear of foreign languages in schools.

Read the complete news here: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/opinion/Nick-Seaton-School-language-teaching.5438889.jp Dhreima children hone

English language skills DOHA: Fifty-five children started training yesterday at the Qatar Orphan Foundation (Dhreima) to hone their English language skills. For the first time, Dhreima flew a five-member team of experts in teaching English from the UK to conduct the four-week-long Camp, Hassan Manan, an expert at Dhreima told The Peninsula at the conclusion of the press meet held to announce the programme. Also present at the press conference held at the Dhreima premises were Khalid Kamal, Director General of Dhreima and Jade Stevens, Director of Studies, British Council.

Read the complete news here: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=July2009&file=Local_News2009070814857.xml

War against the English languag We live in the United States of America. We speak English. We do not speak Spanish. Not that you would know in some places in the U.S. It’s pissing me off that these days, I go into stores and the employees are speaking Spanish. The billboards are in Spanish. The wrappers on candy are in Spanish, with the occasional English subtitle thrown in. The English language is being subjugated. And it’s time to say enough. There’s a thin line people balance about racism. Wanting to be able to speak your own language in your own country and expecting others to speak it as well is not tipping over the edge. To put it kindly, I am very sick of having to ask for translations when I go to McDonald’s. I’m sick of miming questions that should take a person a few seconds to understand and not much longer to answer.

Read the complete news here: http://www.uiargonaut.com/content/view/8211/49/

Young N. American immigrants to be trained as English teachers In an increasingly globalized world, Israelis are feeling the pressure to improve their English proficiency – and their secret weapon may be new young immigrants from North America. A 14-month Teachers for Israel program, which has been developed by the Jewish Agency, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Absorption and Nefesh B’Nefesh, will allow North American students with a bachelor’s degree to immigrate to Israel while becoming English teachers. The program, in which students are supported by a stipend, launches this summer for the inaugural class of 50 students, who will begin a five-month Ulpan followed by teacher certificate courses and a paid internship in a small Israeli classroom.

Read the complete news here: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443746598&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Languages without the nuances

PIERRE Ryckmans, one of Australia’s most distinguished public intellectuals, has drunk deeply at the springs of East and West. The Belgian-born Sinologist, author of a suite of groundbreaking essays written in protest against Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, is fluent in French, English and Mandarin. Ryckmans, who writes under the pen name Simon Leys, was formerly professor of Chinese at the Australian National University and the University of Sydney. He taught Mandarin to Kevin Rudd at the ANU.

In semi-retirement from academic life he has written, among other things, an exquisite novel, The Death of Napoleon, in his native tongue and a new translation of The Analects of Confucius. Book reviews and essays on subjects as diverse as novelist Andre Gide and the shipwreck of the Batavia flow from his pen, as he eschews the computer. A study of Stendhal, that most vivid and attractive 19th-century French novelist, is under way.

Read the complete news here: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25746992-16947,00.html

Pupils to study Twitter and blogs in primary schools shake-up

Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.

However, the draft plans will require some children to master Twitter andWikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.

The proposed curriculum, which would mark the biggest change to primary schooling in a decade, strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11 to allow schools greater flexibility in what they teach.

Read the complete news here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/25/primary-schools-twitter-curriculum

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The English of Saudi university graduates is very poor. Since the labor market in the Kingdom largely depends on foreign manpower, English has necessarily become the language of business. Anyone who does not master English will be in a weak position when competing for a job. His or her chances for progressing in terms of career will be severely compromised.

Read the complere news: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=13&section=0&article=124214&d=2&m=7&y=2009

Neglecting English will be agreat loss to nation

After months of public debate the Ministry of Education is finally to make the all awaited decision whether to continue the teaching of mathematics and science in English. Meanwhile the debate of whether to carry on teaching these subjects in English or revert to Bahasa Malaysia continues to be a main issue in our mainstream media.

Read the complere news: http://blog.thestar.com.my/permalink.asp?id=24542

English tests need more English

Regarding the column “Leave language education to teachers” (June 26, 2009), the grab line used is “The country already has half a dozen perfectly good English tests. Why do we need another?

As a longtime English teacher in Korea, I have to strongly disagree that Korea has “perfectly good” English tests. My elementary school students have been entertained numerous times by the gross errors that they have found within some of the tests listed below.

Read the complere news: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2906834

Entrance test for English language course for madrasa graduates on July 15

Mumbai: Markazul Ma’arif Education & Research Centre (MMERC), Mumbai has announced combined entrance test dates for Diploma in English Language and Literature (DELL) for batch 2009-2011. The written test will be held on 15th July at Public Girls Higher Secondary School, Deoband, Saharanpur.

The test will be held for a total of 65 seats — 25 in MMERC, Mumbai: 25 in Madrasa Sulemania Kandhla, UP: 10 in Markaz-e Islami Ankleshwar, Gujarat and 5 in Jamia Jalalia Hojai, Assam. Only the candidates who pass the written test will be eligible for the interview to be held on 17th July 2009.

Read the complere news: http://twocircles.net/2009jul01/entrance_test_english_language_course_madrasa_graduates_july_15.html

Teachers facing ‘classroom MOTs’

Teachers in England will need licences to work in the classroom which will have to be renewed every five years, under government plans.

The proposal, intended to weed out weak teachers, is included in an education White Paper announced by Children’s Secretary Ed Balls.

There is also a guarantee of personalised tuition for all pupils who have fallen behind in English or maths.

Read the complere news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8127085.stm

Mass Asian language program is not sensible

TO raise serious doubts about the mass Asian language scheme proposed by Kevin Rudd and Michael Wesley, I need demonstrate only two things: first, that the inherent difficulty of character-based languages at the heart of this vision – Chinese-Mandarin and Japanese – is a genuine barrier to broad-based linguistic competency; and, second, that the commercial case for these languages is much diminished by the extent of English language learning in our region. Let’s take the degree of difficulty question first.

The US Defence Language Institute in Monterey, California, estimates that it takes three times as many hours of instruction for a student of Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic and Korean to reach the same level of proficiency as students of Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French with the same exposure; in other words, it is roughly three times more difficult.

Read the complere news: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25713098-7583,00.html

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MALAY is my mother tongue, the language of home and family, the language in which the most tender of feelings are expressed, the tongue with which the harshest of emotions are spewed!

My first two years of formal learning was in a Malay primary school in Rasah, Seremban, where I picked up the rudiments of kira-kira and alam sekitar. After that it was off to the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Seremban where my love for the English language and literature was sown. I went on to read English literature and linguistics later.

Read the complete news at http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=34646

English in Brighton with us – English Language Centre in Brighton by liz Tyrrell & Sue Williams

Philippines’ challenge as English slips

A western academic publisher warns that the Philippines needs to maintain high standards of spoken English or risk losing valuable business in teaching and call-centre operations.

Paul Robertson, who publishes academic journals about the teaching and learning of English, says that in the last two years the Philippines has become “the mecca of English language learning” in its region.

On top of millions of its own citizens learning English, up to a quarter of a million foreigners have travelled to the Philippines to learn the language.

Read the complete news at http://australianetworknews.com/stories/200906/2598360.htm?desktop

English opens window to world

JAIPUR: Surge in the number of applicants for BA English (Honours) and postgraduate programmes in English in Rajasthan University (RU) is a recent trend.

This is due to the increase in job opportunities for students from this department. “There has been a rise in the number of applicants with the improving level of placements,” said Arun Soule, a professor of English, RU.

Looking at the increasing number of applicants in the department, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it is one of the most popular disciplines among the language programmes.

Read the complete news at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Jaipur/English-opens-window-to-world/articleshow/4660292.cms

FTK and Educomp Co-Develop Vernacular Interface

FTK Technologies and Educomp Solutions have co-developed ‘MagiKeys’ — a software-based language interface for those who would like to learn computers but are not proficient in the English language. Magikeys, is based on FTK’s LooKeys software and co-branded with Educomp Solutions, which is an education solutions provider.

MagiKeys has been introduced into government schools in India. MagiKeys has been designed to cater to the needs of Indian government schools, allowing both students and teachers across India to use computers in their native language, all through an intuitive and easy-to-learn interface. According to FTK Technologies, the language barrier is the main obstacle for government schools that want to introduce computers to its students. Since pupils are more familiar with their native language, FTK and Educomp developed MagiKeys to make the process of learning computers easier. Educomp Solutions helped FTK Technologies create a special interface that functions similarly to LooKeys. As a result of which computer-aided teaching can be done in various Indian languages.

Read the complete news at http://enterpriser.cxotoday.com/India/Know_It/FTK_and_Educomp_Co-Develop_Vernacular_Interface/551-103222-449.html

Partners in English Language Learning

What is your mission?

Help English language learners become thriving members of our community by offering one-on-one tutoring and building bridges that foster cross-cultural respect, understanding and friendship.

What is your yearly budget, and how many paid employees do you have?

We operate on an annual budget of less than $17,000. Our part-time program Coordinator is PiELL’s only paid staff member. We occupy a small office at Lyman Gilmore Middle School, donated by the Grass Valley School District.

Read the complete news at http://www.theunion.com/article/20090615/WEBUPDATE/906159990/1001/NONE&parentprofile=1053

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