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South Korea Introducing Robotic Teachers
dorkygeek writes "The Korean Advanced Intelligent Robot Association (KAIRA) will have 64 educational robots deployed by the end of 2005. Able to read out English stories and correct pronunciation of English words to children, these robots are going to be supplied to apartment complexes in Seoul, Bucheon and Bundang in Gyeonggi province for testing purposes. After testing is complete, the Ministry of Information and Communication and KAIRA plan to commercialize the robots as early as 2006. If there exists sufficient demand, education robots will sport other subjects (as mathematics, etc.) apart from English, as well as also target older students." Update Link removed when host decided to change it to porn. Sorry.
Exactly. Electronic educational aids/toys have been around for ages. What does lookin like a robot have to do with anything?
Huggable Unreliable Malitious Adorable Naughty Which is why they are indispendible.
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
that Japanese, in comparison to English, has far fewer sounds and a completely alien grammar. It simply takes a huge amount of effort for a native speaker of one of these languages to learn the other.
Seems like most of the teachers I had growing up were fairly robotic. Not much of a difference here.
Yes, you are way too cynical. You fail to remember that talking about your favourite foods and how to make them is a safe field because it's easy, not because it's the only non-taboo topic. Try talking about the recent development in the relations between Japan and North Korea, and how to go about reunification in a foreign language. This won't be a problem in Japanese (unless hte person is completely uninterested), but it is in English. Discussing complicated topics requires Deep Insight in a language, and since many Japanese don't have this (for English), it's safer and more convenient to talk about easy stuff, or keep silent.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
here's an easy system for learning a different language. Go to a place in your country where people speak only that language. The embarasment and need to know will make you learn the language. Droning words like an idiot will do nothing but make you stupider.
... to learn a language you HAVE to use it ALL the time.
That's always bothered me about ESL programs and people *trying* to learn a different language by going to school and hanging out with a bunch of kids that speak the same foreign language as them. Guess what
-> replace pupils by robots
-> replace homeless and welfare receivers by robots