OLPC Karaoke for Fun Language Learning
Posted on January 15, 2008 by Guest Writer in Content: Games, Content: Localization
I was fortunate to get involved this October with a computer project at a farm school in rural South Africa. This school had 12 computers for 185 students. None of them were XO laptops. Leaving out the R (reception or pre-school class) this left more than 100 students to share 12 systems.
A better usage model
Some immediate observations.
First, the native language of these children is Xhosa. They are at best EFL learners of English. With 12 computers, the children were limited to one hour per week of computer use.
The usage was dependent on English-speaking volunteers mostly from Europe. The volunteers mind-set was that the children's use should be productive (i.e. each child works on the task du jour) A typical session lasted a half-hour and finished when the child completed the task.
The computer labs rules explicitly prohibited playing of games. However, the computers had Mavis Bacon which included some typing games. This was the most popular activity for the children. The stated goal was for the children to become computer literate (meaning they know how to use Microsoft Office) as a byproduct of educational tasks (primarily topics on environment).
OLPC has several things right.
First, the computer is available to the child 24/7. Second, the child is expected to explore the machine, not complete tasks. Third, the screen has simple, colorful graphics. Fourth, the OLPC laptop supports languages other than English (although not as completely as it should given that almost all of the contributors are native English speakers).
I believe activities which support learning English must be a high priority. Second, activities which support reading and writing in the child's native language is critical. For example, I am trying to think how one could develop tutorials on ' how the computer works' which would communicate with minimal text (video, slideshow, simple localization of the necessary text, etc.) Third, to support these requirements we need text-to-speech capabilities in the native languages (a really tough one).
XO laptop karaoke already?
OLPC Karaoke
In many Asian countries (e.g. Philippines), karaoke is immensely popular. I would like to see a reader on OLPC which shows the text - with audio (recorded reader or text-to-speech) synchronized with text highlighting.
This would be an effective tool to teach young readers in their native language as well as English. I have not had a chance to try TamTam, but I would also like to see tools which allow the child to make her own karaoke song - e.g recording a native folksong (or original creation) with an optional vocal track. The tool should allow the song to be shared with the original vocal or a sing-along.
Anyway, I'm hooked. I hope OLPC can meet it's goal of placing 12,000,000 machines a year.
Tony Anderson has his G1G1 order in, but doesn't expect it before mid-January. In the meantime he's trying to use the sugar-jhbuild with Ubuntu.
