#multilingual-education

#multilingual-education

The territory was named La Louisiane in 1682 by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, in honor of King Louis XIV, who claimed for France the vast Mississippi River basin. When French settlers later founded New Orleans in 1718, the region quickly became a center of French culture in North America.

Research has shown there is a reading for pleasure crisis among children in the UK, where enjoyment of books has fallen to its lowest level in two decades. Not so here at Christ Church primary, a tiny Church of England school tucked behind the maze of HS2 construction works in Camden, north London, where children fizz with excitement about books.

Computational linguistics is a two-way street: You're either using a computer to do things with human language or communicate or translate or teach a foreign language, or you're using computational techniques to learn something about human languages. Her work documenting and preserving endangered languages uses a little bit of both.

When respondents were asked which languages feel the most welcoming, Portuguese emerged on top, selected by 34 percent of participants. Spanish came in a close second with 33 percent of respondents calling it the friendliest, followed by Italian in third. Together, these languages form a clear cluster associated with warmth and approach.

Duolingo is confident that it can find ways to grow its subscriber base without adding more friction to its free tiers. Only about 10% of the language learning app's active monthly users pay for its services. Adding friction to the free experience has been the fastest way for Duolingo to increase monetization, but it came at the expense of daily active user growth.

Parents often hear the warning: "If your child doesn't learn a second language early, they'll never be fluent." Adults, meanwhile, are told: "It's just too late for you to learn now." These claims are familiar and tidy, but misleading. Are they actually true? Is it better to learn a second language as a child or as an adult? The short answer is that it depends on what we mean by "better."

I regret many things. To not have learned English as a boy. I had the time to have at least studied English and I didn't do it. I deeply regret it. I experienced situations where I was with incredible and spectacular personalities to be able to talk and have a chat and you feel half ignorant.

Learning today doesn't usually look broken. It looks like a well-run treadmill, always on, always moving, quietly exhausting everyone. New initiatives, new tools, new priorities. New "must-have" skills. Even when learning is thoughtfully designed, there's a nagging sense that nothing sticks because nothing gets a chance to. People finish the course, grab the badge, and move on to the next thing before the last thing has had time to show up in how they work.

A German lesson is starting in a public-school classroom in the Philippines, and it opens with a greeting: "Guten Morgen," the teacher says. Students respond carefully, shaping unfamiliar sounds before moving on to short dialogues about directions, food, family, and eventually, culture. German has a reputation of being a difficult language to learn, but this also makes it a valuable assetImage: Stanley Gajete/DW In a Philippine public school, that routine still feels unusual.

While everyone is subject to their individual situations, for many, the process begins with an F-1 student visa, which they hold as they complete a Ph.D. over five to six years. After graduation, they may choose to transition to Optional Practical Training (OPT), which provides a year of work authorization, with a two-year extension for STEM graduates. Some may then transition to a H-1B temporary work visa, which provides for three years of work authorization and is renewable for another three years.

The most exciting moments for a teacher come when students stumble onto something unexpected-when they run to my office to tell me about a new twist in their thinking about birds in Sula or the discovery of yet another biblical reflection in Housekeeping. Those revelations come only when they survey the text as it is, not as they assume it to be.

The program introduces Cali, a "human-centered" AI tool designed to enhance-not replace-human support. Cali can converse in more than 140 languages and help students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA). The tool is expected to reduce errors on the forms and help students stay on track toward enrollment and graduation.

Education is compulsory in France for children aged between three and 16 years of age. Schools can be public or private and, under certain circumstances, there is the possibility of home-schooling. Some parents moving to France may choose an international school for their children or teenagers, with lessons taught partly in English, sometimes following a UK or American curriculum. We moved to France with children aged 14 and 11 in 2018.

Now, Gary, repeat after me: Quiero una margarita, por favor, my Spanish tutor instructs. I cringe at the butchered Spanglish my estuary accent produces. Like Del Boy Trotter ordering a cocktail: Key yeah row oon margari'a, pour far four. It's 2023, I'm 41, living in Argentina and battling the frustration and disempowerment of learning a new language at this age, longing for my elastic 11-year-old brain over this husked-out mush.

Education has long been understood as a cornerstone of social development, shaping not only individual futures but also the collective capacity of societies to respond to change. Observed annually on 24 January, the International Day of Education invites reflection on the role education plays in addressing global challenges and sustaining social progress. As the world confronts overlapping challenges, from technological transformation to deepening inequalities, the question of how education is imagined, governed, and experienced has become increasingly urgent.