The Sierpinski of Creation

The-Sierpinski-of-Creation

The Sierpinski of Creation is certainly one of Interopia’s greatest contributions to the world so far. Within the diagram Interopia’s core essence is summarized well. Click on the image above to order a copy for yourself. In the process you will be supporting the Interopia Project, and we thank you for that.

Coincidences 2

intersectionsI would give anything to read a list of all the strange coincidences I have experienced during the course of my life. Sadly, I’ve forgotten most of them to the depths of time. Which is why I have finally started to write them down when they happen. Though I must recall the sad truth that I have forgotten so many mind-blowingly unlikely coincidences, at least I can take some comfort in knowing that recording a few is better than not recording any. Today comes the second installment in the series.

By day I am a teacher, as you can see from the Education section, and these days I’m doing a lot of tutoring. My oldest student is a Vietnamese man in his 40s. Teaching him is easy because he prepares everything that he wants to be taught and I just have to go in and help him with pronunciation. For the first few lessons, he had me teaching him how to sing English language songs from the 70s and 80s, like disco group Boney M and pop single “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul. Lately, he has really been trying to get all the phonemes of English down, focusing on mastering the sounds that aren’t found in Vietnamese, like j, p, th, and z. It was the lesson he had prepared for today that was the coincidence.

After studying animals for a while, he took out another vocabulary list, one with the names of fruit. It was a list of all the fruits in Vietnamese translated into English. In the margin of the paper I read where he had printed out the list from. Interopia.com. I realized I had never told this particular student about my site. He had just randomly found my Encyclopedia of Vietnamese Fruit, printed it out and brought it to class without ever realizing he was showing it to the very creator of that list and owner of that site.

I’d call that a coincidence.

Second Life and EFL


Even before I began to pursue a master’s degree in education, I had heard of the potential the Second Life program had for learning.  Created in 2003, Second Life is an online virtual community of millions which is much like life itself; you can choose to do with it what you will.  You can spend your time socializing, exploring, creating, or learning, and there are many options for each.  Recently I decided to try it out, specifically from the perspective of education grad student and teacher of English as a foreign language.  How could I integrate SL into my EFL class?

Over the course of a few days, I created an avatar, took some tutorials, and figured out how to navigate this brave new world. I took classes within SL on subjects that interested  me and had conversations with the people I ran into.  Within the program, I searched for ways that SL could help my own students.  I also researched some outside sources to find out how others had used SL to teach English.  I kept a list of possible applications for EFL students:

Attend virtual classes – A major advantage of online learning is that teachers and students can be brought together regardless of geographic location.  In Second Life, teachers can broadcast their voices, show streaming video, pass out class notes, and do a variety of other actions that help make these virtual classes as educational as brick-and-mortar classes. Best of all, most of these are free!

Listen to podcasts – There are podcasts on nearly any subject imaginable, so students can choose what interests them.  Interest level is a major factor in students’ success.

Meet and chat with new friends in English – This is perhaps the most valuable opportunity for English learners.  Often my students ask me where they can meet native speakers to practice English with.  If the students have a computer with Internet, then Second Life provides the chance to meet plenty of speakers from around the world, and in an environment that is more exciting than just a box of text.

Explore and experience while using English – Students can practice English while simply roaming through the program’s world, viewing what others have created.  They can practice their shopping language while shopping or their restaurant language while eating.

Play alternate reality games – While SL is not a game itself (it is an immersive environment), it does contain many games within it.  Some of the more involved of these are alternate reality games or “quests”.  Advanced students will have so much fun playing these that they will forget they are even studying English.

How would I use these applications in my classes?  First of all, my students are of all ages, but it seems clear that SL is not for everyone.  The world is intended for only those 16 and above. Computer literacy is also a prerequisite.  There is the concern about inappropriate content, but the site has safeguards built in, and many educational institutions all over the world feel comfortable using it everyday.  So, for my older and more advanced students, there appears to be two options.  They can either use the computer lab at school to try SL with a teacher assisting, or they can connect from home.  Then they can discuss their experiences next time they come to class.

Second Life can be downloaded from its official site.  It is an open educational resource that should not be overlooked. For further information about EFL in SL, read this paper.

 

Wang, C.; Lefaiver, M.; Wang, Q.; & Hunt, C. (2011). Teaching in an EFL program in second life: Student teachers’ perspectives and implications. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, 4(1), 27-40.

Vietnamese Vocab Grid

Here’s the link to the document.

When I started learning Vietnamese I found it interesting that every word was only one syllable. Each word is made up of 4 parts: the (optional) initial consonant, the vowel, the (optional) final consonant, and the tone. Each of these 4 elements only has a finite number of possibilities. There are about 27 initial consonants, 43 vowel combinations, 8 final sounds, and 6 tones. This meant that one could construct a “2 dimensional dictionary” of every Vietnamese word. Whereas a normal dictionary is linear, listing all words in alphabetical order, this vocabulary grid would be arranged alphabetically in two ways, by initial consonant in one dimension and by vowel sound in the other dimension. Such an arrangement makes it easy to see the difference between similar-sounding and similarly-spelled words. A student of Vietnamese could practice pronunciation using the chart, because every word in a given column would have the same initial consonant sound, and every word in a given row would have the same vowel sound. The words included in the project are the most essential words for a Vietnamese language student, particularly if living in Vietnam. The chart is fully editable, so feel free to add any other important words you know. Happy studying and good luck!

The Names of Languages

The names of 13 languages in each of those same 13 languages.
The bold words are the names of the languages in their own language.
Horizontal scrolling enabled.

 

Spanish

Portuguese

Italian

French

German

Russian

Arabic

Japanese

Chinese (Mandarin)

Vietnamese

Korean

Swahili

English

ingles

inglês

inglese

anglais

Änglisch

angliskiy

английский

alengleziah

الإنجليزية

eigo

英語

Yīngyǔ

英语

tiếng
Anh

yeong-eo

영어의

Kiingereza

Spanish

español

espanhol

spagnolo

espagnol

Schpanisch

ispanskiy

испанский

الأسبانية

supeingo

スペイン語

Xībānyá

西班牙语

tiếng
Tây Ban Nha

seupein-eo

스페인어

Kihispania

Portuguese

portugués

português

portoghese

portugais

Portugiesisch

portugal’skiy

португальский

البرتغالية

porutogarugo

ポルトガル語

Pútáoyá

葡萄牙语

tiếng
Bồ Đào Nha

poleutugal-eo

포르투갈의

Kireno

Italian

italiano

italiano

italiano

italien

Italiänisch

italianskiy

итальянский

الإيطالي

itariago

イタリア語

Yìdàlì

意大利语

tiếng
Ý

itallia-eo

이탈리아의

Kiitaliano

French

francés

francês

francese

français

Französisch

frantsuzkiy

французский

فرنسي

furensugo

フランス語

Fǎyǔ

法语

tiếng
Pháp

peulangseueo

프랑스어

Kifaransa

German

alemán

alemão

tedesco

allemand

Deutsch

nemetskiy

немецкий

ألماني

doitsugo

ドイツ語

Déyǔ

德语

tiếng
Đức

dogileo

독일어

Kijerumani

Russian

ruso

russo

russo

russe

Russisch

russkiy

русский

الروسية

roshiago

ロシア語

È

俄语

tiếng
Nga

leosia-eo

러시아어

Kirusi

Arabic

árabe

árabe

arabo

arabe

Arabisch

arabskiy

арабский

alarabiah

العربية

arabiago

アラビア語

Ālābó

阿拉伯语

tiếng
A-rập

alab-eo

아랍어

Kiarabu

Japanese

japonés

japonês

giapponese

japonais

Japanisch

japonskiy

японский

اليابانية

nihongo

日本人

Rìyǔ

日语

tiếng
Nhật

ilbon-eo

일본어

Kijapani

Chinese

(Mandarin)

chino

chinês

cinese

chinois

Chineesisch

kitaiskiy

китайский

شجرة
اليوسفي

chūgokugo

中国語

Zhōng

中文

tiếng
Trung Quốc

jung-gug-eo

중국어

Kichina

Vietnamese

vietnamita

vietnamita

vietnamita

vietnamien

Vietnamesisch

v’etnamskiy

вьетнамский

الفيتنامية

betonamugo

ベトナム人

Yuènán

越南语

tiếng
Việt

beteunam-eo

베트남어

Kivietinamu

Korean

coreano

coreano

coreano

coréen

Koreaanisch

koreiskiy

корейский

كوري

kankokugo

韓国語

Cháoxiǎn

朝鲜语

tiếng
Hàn Quốc

hangug-eo

한국어

Kikorea

Swahili

swahili

suaíli

swahili

swahili

Suaheli

suakhili

суахили

السواحلية

suwahirigo

スワヒリ語

斯瓦希里

tiếng
Swahili

seuwahillieo

스와힐리어

Kiswahili

The Polyglot Vocab Project

Did you know there’s really no limit to the number of languages you can learn? The average person can get to a respectable level in a language in about two years of study and practice. That means you could learn 10 languages in 20 years. So that’s what I’m doing. Remember, if you get to 10 languages you can officially call yourself a polyglot!

So far I’ve worked on Spanish, Vietnamese, and a little Japanese. In studying those languages, I found out the two most important things for learning a language: vocabulary and practice. You need words because they are the building blocks of language. You can’t communicate at all if you don’t have them. Especially in the beginning, you need to make an effort to do a little homework and learn as many new words on your own as possible. You need a strong vocabulary foundation so that you can start the other vital part…practicing. With practice everything else (grammar, pronunciation, spelling) will fall into place.

You all know I love lists, so it should be no surprise that I love grids too. What if, I thought, I could make a giant spreadsheet translating the most important words in English into the various languages I wanted to learn? This plan became known as The Polyglot Project. Then I found out there was already a Polyglot Project. So it became the Polyglot Vocab Project.

With the creation of Interopia, it became obvious that crowd-sourcing would be the best way to accomplish this. I’ve already done a lot of the work by creating an approximate list of about 3000 most common words in English. Some words, like about, for instance, will be difficult to translate into other languages, but we will do our best. Other words, like cat, should be pretty straightforward translations. I’ve set up the project for 13 languages besides English: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, and Swahili. I narrowed down the languages to these for population, geographic, cultural, and personal reasons. So, the number of words times the number of languages means about 45000 total words that need to be entered.

I have no idea how much interest people will have in helping me complete the project. Even if just one person helps me, it would be appreciated. Just e-mail the site if you would like editing privileges. I’ll be working on it myself even if no one else helps, so you can tune in to see my progress. Whether it takes a month or twenty years remains to be seen. The Google Docs Spreadsheet is available here.