We are fascinated by the news stories about teenage polyglots such as Tim Doner at Dalton School.
One of the commenters to the recent New York Times story about Tim surmises that "polyglot brains are different" in some way.

We could not disagree more, except to say that just as athletic experience makes one a better athlete, there's no doubt that exposure to more language-learning opportunities can make one a better language-learner.

To awaken the inner language learner within, it's essential to bypass the "translation impulse" and instead begin thinking and speaking right away in the target language. That's what all the QTalk books and teaching tools enable - and that's why our Student Books look like comic books, with very few words and lots of pictures!

While we know that technology and online learning tools can assist, we think they are best as practice tools; to really activate your skills, you need to be speaking with others, ideally without any use of English or your first language. Self-study has its role, but we believe you can only reach a certain level through self-study. Because language is interpersonal, it's really important to learn language through interaction with real, live people.

Polyglots and would-be polyglots --  one and all: if you want to try the QTalk Online Games, post a comment to this blog or visit our website to post an inquiry with your contact information and a link to your blog or website. Let us know why you want to learn French, Spanish, Chinese, or English, and we'll set you up with a FREE 90-day subscription to QTalk Online Games for your target language. Please make sure to refer to this blog post and the "Polyglot offer" in your comment or inquiry.

(Games in Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, Arabic, and Hindi are on the development list, so if you'd like one of those languages let us know -- you'll need to wait for a while, but when those games are ready, we'll contact you and ask you to help us out by testing the games and letting us know what you think.)

Classroom technology - Is "Does it Work?" the right question?

Check out the very interesting article by Trip Gabriel and Matt Richtel in yesterday's New York Times, about the "report card" of technology in K12 education.

When evaluating technology, are people asking the right question, "Does it work?"

Would it be more useful to ask, "What is the proficiency objective?" before deciding how to assess any specific technology's effectiveness?

There seems to be wide agreement that student assessment should consist of more than a numerical score on a standardized test, and teacher assessment should consist of more than an aggregate of students' standardized test scores. So - can textbooks or technology be evaluated based on student test scores alone? Wouldn't it make sense to begin with what the teacher is trying to accomplish in the classroom, and find out how well the textbook and/or technology (or game, or gadget, or teaching tool) actually assists and promotes what the teacher's goals are for the lesson or the class period?

The New York Times article's 130 comments (as of this evening) range from thoughtful to vitriolic. It's a little disconcerting to see the comments that accuse school officials and curriculum publishers of somehow colluding to defraud or hoodwink the taxpaying public. We cannot remember a time when emotions ran this high about education standards, curriculum decisions, and school purchasing/finance strategies.

Our position has always been that technology cannot replace a good teacher, and that the best technology assists and supports the teacher to provide an engaging learning experience for every student. What could be controversial about that?

What do you think? Will we continue to see technology purchases portrayed with suspicion as somehow "replacing" the teacher? Is it fair to assess a technology investment based solely on aggregate standardized student test scores' improvements? Even if technology is not viewed as "replacing the teacher," how can educators avoid creating this impression, when teacher layoffs are taking place even while technology investments are increasing? Is your school facing this kind of situation?

Can you imagine a toddler forming their first words, taking their first steps, laughing with delight at the new experience, suddenly presented with a sixteen-chapter syllabus to "help" them master talking and walking within a prescribed number of classes? It may not be so for other subjects, but when we are teaching language, we are very close to the private worlds of our students. They are vulnerable, and unsure of themselves, especially if they are monolingual and this is their first attempt to think, speak, and understand a new language. The teacher can be the key to a lifetime of language learning or a lifetime of "that's too hard." It's an awesome responsibility.