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    From a research standpoint, this decision by the Ethiopian gov is
    great!<br>
    Doing this in English avoids all sort of "noise" from family, etc.,
    who might "help" outside of the research.<br>
    In the back of my brain I recall someone doing some research here
    using Klingon, for this very reason.<br>
    <br>
    The half-full glass is in the Ethiopian kids gaining some English,
    which eventually will be required to do as they continue their
    schooling. I can't see a similar advantage for Klingon, though :-)<br>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/31/2012 08:29 PM, Caryl Bigenho
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
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        <div>Hi Folks,</div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Actually, C.Scott did post
            the videos (it is in 2 parts) and the accompanying slides on
            his blog at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
              href="http://cananian.livejournal.com/67703.html">http://cananian.livejournal.com/67703.html</a> </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">For anyone who missed it,
            it is worth the time (60-</span><span style="font-size:
            10pt; ">90 min?) to watch it.</span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">As you will see, it is a
            "pre-pilot" sort of a "proof of concept" project. The
            children did not learn to </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">read, but 55% did show that
            they were "pre-literate" at the end of a year based on
            getting 12/15 </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">correct on a letter
            recognition test. </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">One huge obstacle to their
            learning to read is that, at the request </span><span
            style="font-size: 10pt; ">of the Ethiopian government, the </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">lessons are in English. The
            children speak only Amharic. </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Long ago, when I was taking
            classes for </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">ESL
            certification, we were taught that children should be </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">taught to read in their
            home language </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">first.
            The decoding skills transfer if it is an alphabetic
            language </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">and probably other
            alphabets but  </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">not
            completely true for a </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">character
            based language such as Chinese. </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">That is probably why the </span><span
            style="font-size: 10pt; ">Chinese government invented the
            phonetic pinyin system.</span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Caryl</span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">BTW... C.Scott and Chris
            describe the theory and methods behind the project and data.
            It is a very well</span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">designed study that meets
            all of the requirements for good academic research. </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div><br>
          <div>
            <hr id="stopSpelling">From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:cbigenho@hotmail.com">cbigenho@hotmail.com</a><br>
            To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:cjb@laptop.org">cjb@laptop.org</a>; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:curiouslee@gmail.com">curiouslee@gmail.com</a><br>
            Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:04:15 -0700<br>
            CC: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org">iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:yamaplos@gmail.com">yamaplos@gmail.com</a><br>
            Subject: Re: [IAEP] OLPC tablets and Nell in the wild?<br>
            <br>
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              Here! Here! Cheers for Chris Ball and C. Scott Ananian (a
              brand-new Daddy) who were our "house mates" at Casa
              Sarandi in Montevideo. 
              <div>Two great guys and supporters of Sugar Labs and OLPC
                in every way.</div>
              <div><br>
              </div>
              <div>Caryl<br>
                <br>
                <div>> From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:cjb@laptop.org">cjb@laptop.org</a><br>
                  > To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:curiouslee@gmail.com">curiouslee@gmail.com</a><br>
                  > Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:41:32 -0400<br>
                  > CC: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:yamaplos@gmail.com">yamaplos@gmail.com</a><br>
                  > Subject: Re: [IAEP] OLPC tablets and Nell in the
                  wild?<br>
                  > <br>
                  > Hi,<br>
                  > <br>
                  > On Wed, Oct 31 2012, Mike Lee wrote:<br>
                  > > That experiment did not involve anyone from
                  Sugar Labs or the<br>
                  > > community. The article is based on an
                  education panel at EmTech 2012<br>
                  > > that, for some reason, has not been posted
                  as video yet. Check<br>
                  > > here:
                  <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www2.technologyreview.com/emtech/12/">http://www2.technologyreview.com/emtech/12/</a><br>
                  > > <br>
                  > > But Matt Keller and the OLPC Association
                  team who ran the project went<br>
                  > > into great detail in their talks at the OLPC
                  SF Summit over a week<br>
                  > > ago. The Livestream on the subject has been
                  archived and is viewable<br>
                  > > at the these links:<br>
                  > <br>
                  > A minor point: I consider myself part of the
                  Sugar Labs community<br>
                  > and expect that C. Scott does also; maybe others
                  from the team too.<br>
                  > <br>
                  > - Chris.<br>
                  > -- <br>
                  > Chris Ball <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:cjb@laptop.org"><cjb@laptop.org></a>
                  <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://printf.net/"><http://printf.net/></a><br>
                  > One Laptop Per Child<br>
                  > _______________________________________________<br>
                  > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop
                  project!)<br>
                  > <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a><br>
                  > <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a><br>
                </div>
              </div>
            </div>
            <br>
            _______________________________________________
            IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
            <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>
            <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a></div>
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