April 2011
25 posts
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Being of Chinese ancestry poses unique challenges... →
The challenges that Locke faces resonate with many minority groups - being misunderstood by both sides about cultural or social affinity.
Will Gary Locke Be an Effective Ambassador to China?
The Chinese officials may presume Locke to possess certain cultural empathy and can pick up the nuances and innuendoes that a white person cannot, and they would expect Locke to be more sympathetic to the...
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Why has bilingualism lost its cachet? →
Calgary schools end mandatory 2nd language classes
“And I think we are unique across this province in saying that every student starting in Grade 7 will have an option to take a second language if that is their choice. But we’re no longer saying you must, that’s the difference,” she said.
Source: CBC News
tina--cohen--chang asked: You're welcome. Your pictures of chinese food are really pretty and they all make me hungry :D!
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A True “Ethnic Vote” Tale: Overheard during...
Trainee: Why don’t voters have to provide a certificate of citizenship for identification?
Trainer: Oh, it is not a requirement to vote but people in the “ethnic” areas love to proffer their cards to show they are citizens.
What is wrong with this picture?
The trainee assumes a certificate of citizenship is required to vote. Yet the trainee, who just happens to be white, can’t possibly have a...
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Cut Reading and Writing Skills, add Digital Media... →
Clearly much of my class had arrived in Grade 7 without having internalized the most basic rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation.
My initial thought was that perhaps they had not been instructed properly at the elementary level. However, I soon recognized that this was not about their previous teachers; this was about a provincial ELA curriculum that reduces reading and writing skills to...
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Is a triple heterograph an infographic?
緣
源
園
Yuan Yuan Yuan
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Additive bilingualism is good for you →
A study Dr Tucker undertook with other experts in Canada and the US for over 20 years in the field of linguistics proved students who develop additive bilingualism turn out to be creative and cognitively flexible than learners who just focus on one language.
Additive bilingualism is a kind of bilingualism in which a second language is acquired without detriment to the mother tongue.
...
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Why is a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics not...
We are all familiar with the scene of newcomers who stay within their own cultural or linguistic enclaves. It is often assumed that is the reason they are unable to join the larger community. Here are two stories from outsiders who are actively seeking to belong and participate in new social circles. One is an Anglophone while the other is not, they originate from opposite ends of the earth yet...
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“The essence of it is that people love diversity as long as you’re just like us....”
– Ashindi Maxton via Center for American Progress
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हिंदी में कमेन्ट कर सकते हैं 應該是快了
#www2011: Abdul Kalam Pitches A Multilingual, Mobile Web
The language barrier is the biggest hinderance in making the Web truly democratic.
Source: Medianama
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Multilingual poetry slam →
Whither multicultural Canada?
How does translation fit in the globalizing cultural world? Spivak will argue the importance of learning foreign languages to reduce the risk of distorting literature through prejudice, while Damrosch will take the position that translation is an essential part of the cross-cultural experience.
Source: The Vancouver Sun
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