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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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