ghislaine barbe - the devil's advocate

Ghislaine Barbe

AIS NSW

Dr Mona Lingual

Helluva University

The government

doesn’t support

Languages in this

country. We don’t

even have a

national

languages policy!

Look at kids today!

They don’t want to

learn a language! They

think it’s going to be

hard work and they’re

not wrong either…

My resource

budget is so

limited… how

can I possibly

make language

learning

engaging?

There are so many

attractive elective subjects

to choose from on ‘our line’

… there’s no way we can

compete against them!

It’s so hard to

convince them

that what we

are doing will

be useful to

them one

day…

My students don’t

feel like they’re

making any

progress. No

wonder, there are

so few hours

allocated to the

course…

Kids are

dropping out of

language study

all over the

world! Why

would it be

different in

Australia…?

Boys aren’t

interested in learning

languages…

Parents have so

much influence

on the kids’

subject choices…

and most don’t

give a damn

about language

learning...

They’ll only want to

study a language if

their friends are doing

it too…

Languages receive

so little support

from the

executive staff…

half the time,

we’re not even

recognised as a

legitimate Key

Learning Area…

THINK POSITIVELY

!!!

Languages receive

so little support

from the

executive staff…

half the time,

we’re not even

recognised as a

legitimate Key

Learning Area…

It’s great that I

have access to

people on the

executive who

will listen to me.

I can really move

Languages

forward in this

school.

OK, THIS IS WHAT I’LL DO:

•Build good rapport with

executives who have a

‘language’ sensibility

• Initiate things that are

good for Languages and good

for the school

• Volunteer for key positions

as they become available

• Work on my assertiveness

•…

1. Re-frame the statement on your table to turn it into a positive

thinking statement

2. List 2 or 3 initiatives you can undertake at your school to

support your re-framed statement

3. Write 1 and 2 on butcher’s paper or on the back channel

http://gimundo.com/news/article/new-tele-scouter-glasses-could-provide-instant-translations/

Dear Ghislaine,

Many thanks for contacting us with the below email.

Although the translation software is still under development and a commercialization date has yet to

be decided, the glasses, equipped with different software, are scheduled to begin shipment in Japan

later this year.

Please see the below announcement from October 2011 for more detail.

http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/1110/1701.html

If we have any more detail on the translation software, we’ll be sure to make another announcement.

In the meantime, please feel free to be in touch with any other needs.

Best regards,

Joseph

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Joseph Jasper

NEC Corporate Communications Division

Email: j-jasper@ax.jp.nec.com

Phone: +81-3-3798-6511

Fax: +81-3-3457-7249

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