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A stealthy 8D World last year looked like Age of Empires for the Asian market. It turns out, hopwever, they’re teaching English as a foreign language, with a beta product launched this month.
The 8D World product is a fantastical online virtual world called Wiz World, designed to let players interact in spoken English with computer-generated characters that correct their word choice and pronunciation. With Wiz World, Wang hopes to find a market in Asia for a product developed using Boston’s unique mix of expertise in gaming, artificial intelligence and education. Now available in China, Wiz World will expand across Asia and later to other global regions, Wang said. The fantasy setting was chosen for a cross-cultural appeal.
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The Times of India notes that a decline in reading habits, a weak foundation vis-a-vis understanding and the lack of expressive skills are the prime factors that continue to make English language a difficult subject to score at the higher secondary certificate (HSC, Class XII) level, feel academicians.
It doesn’t help matters that teachers, who are supposed to be the major link between the students and the language, often lack adequate expressive skills themselves, feel the experts.
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African children are more likely to be bullied at Irish schools than Eastern Europeans, a new report claims. According to the Irish Independent, ‘Adapting to Diversity: Irish Schools and Newcomer Students‘, compiled by the Economic and Social Research Institute, surveyed 1,200 primary and second-level schools across the country.
Most newcomers do not have English as a first language. Language needs, if not addressed, are seen to hinder the academic development and social integration of newcomer students.
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Today’s schoolchildren are growing up surrounded by examples of people making their way in another country and speaking another language, namely English, exclaims the Independent.
A recent report from the CBI, the employers’ organisation, has shown that around three-quarters of companies look for recruits with some foreign language skills, and are likely to demand more such expertise in the future.
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For a number of years now, English has remained a passing subject and despite calls from certain sections of society for a review of this, things have remained unchanged, notes the Observer.
Retired Army Commander and cultural connoisseur Brigadier Fonono Dube said it was irrational that English remained a passing subject when siswati was the country’s mother tongue. His speech was met with thunderous applause from the teachers although he might have ignited the English/Siswati debate and which amongst the two should be made a passing subject.
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According to the Sun Daily, the Language Centre of KBU International College (KBU) will be launching a new programme that will interest those who plan to embark on a career in English language teaching.
Ng Swee Lin, Head of KBU’s Language Centre, said the demand for certified English language teachers will be great because, in a globalised world, there will be a surge in the number of people who need to be proficient in English. She added that target students for the programme would be those who aspire to be effective English teachers, those who are looking for a career change and those who are already teaching English but do not possess the formal qualifications.
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GCSE pupils are being taught how to use social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, as part of their English Language qualification, with the launch of a new ‘social media’ course.
The programme, notes the Daily Telegraph, entitled Social Media Fundamentals, teaches students how to best use social media websites in promoting their skills to potential employers and improving their communication capabilities. The first school to incorporate the course into the English Language curriculum is the boys division of Bishop Challoner Catholic School, based in East London.
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Smiling, the second-grade teacher rested from a game that challenged her to fully use her English language skills. Celema Lechonsito of the Manili Elementary School in Lutayan, Sultan Kudarat, traveled all the way to Mactan, Cebu, to join 132 other grade school teachers from Mindanao in a 12-day camp that promised to help them improve their English in time for the school opening in June.
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Uganda: The first-language teaching policy highlights the rural-urban education divide, notes the Guardian. On a hot Friday afternoon at Katine primary school, in north-east Uganda, Santa Awiyo points her large wooden ruler at the blackboard as her year-three pupils chant the words she has written in white chalk. ” Idwe pore ngapo, igwen me sukulu gi . . . ” The paragraph, written in Kumam, the local dialect of this rural region, refers to the importance of school uniform and is part of a lesson that combines language and social studies.
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South Korea and America: Are you looking for a teaching job? Try going abroad, advises the Whitworthian. According to a recent article on the Florida Times-Union’s Web site, the “frightening job market is encouraging many college graduates to look abroad for work.” The article also states that “more students are inquiring about teaching overseas.” Two such students are seniors Ryan Sobotka and Luke Eaton.
Both are planning on going to South Korea for at least one year to teach English through an organization called Aclipse. According to the Web site, “Aclipse is dedicated to connecting enthusiastic college grads with the best teaching jobs in Asia,” and so far “has sourced, screened, and placed at least 10,000 teachers in TEFL jobs abroad.”
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