English News Web Site for English Language Learners

Practice your listening and reading skills, as well as increase your vocabulary, by reading and listening to articles at Simple English News. This web site offers a variety of news in simple, easier language than that found in a regular English newspaper. There are unusual news features, words in the news, entertainment & sports news, and even polls asking opinions for everything from "Would you like to travel in space?" to "What kind of cola do you drink when you are thirsty?".
Have fun exploring the site!

No jobs for Anglophones (English-speakers)

The French are known for being protective of their language and a bit "anti-American", but is this going too far? Kim Willsher writes an article for The Guardian about how a number of Anglophones in France feel that they are being discriminated against and not allowed to teach English in select universities because of elitism. Some Americans are crying foul at the French system, claiming that they need to have perfect French in order to pass the exams that allow them to teach English (which, in their opinion, doesn't make sense). While it may not be the exact situation here in Ecuador, it raises some important questions:

• Should any English-speaker be allowed to teach English, or should they go through rigorous training such as that in France?
• Is it necessary for English teachers to know the language of the country they teach in?
• Should public universities and schools restrict the number of native English-speakers that can teach in their institutions, in order to give more opportunities to the non-native teachers?
• If the number of Anglophones working in a public institution is restricted, is this fair to the students? Will this affect their learning English?

I think we need to hear from the students themselves. Post a comment below if you have an opinion!

Learn English - Use Your Cell Phone!

An article about a new service in China: Learn English through your cell phone! The Guardian Weekly has a blurb about this new service, currently only available in China, but maybe we will see something like this someday in Ecuador, too! Imagine having English lessons being sent directly to your cell phone.

Nokia launches English-by-mobile service for China
Finnish mobile phone company Nokia hopes to tap into China's English language learning market and boost sales of its handsets with the launch of an English-by-mobile-phone service. The new education platform is called Mobiledu and will deliver audio and text-based lessons to subscribers' mobile phones.

Full article here.

Nokia plans to charge $0.26 per download. Seem like a good deal? Is this something you would be interested in? Why or why not? Post a comment!

The Problem with Wikipedia...

Have you ever used Wikipedia? Have you thought of it as an amazing, informative site, or one "broken beyond repair"? Apparently, one of the founders of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, believes it is no longer reliable. He openly criticizes the Education Secretary, Mr. Johnson, for saying that children should use Wikipedia as a good source of information.

He told The Times:

“I’m afraid that Mr Johnson does not realise the many problems afflicting Wikipedia, from serious management problems, to an often dysfunctional community, to frequently unreliable content, and to a whole series of scandals. While Wikipedia is still quite useful and an amazing phenomenon, I have come to the view that it is also broken beyond repair.”

Sanger has launched a new web site, Citizendium.org, and says that, even though the public will also be able to contribute, the site will be more reliable academically.

See the full article in The Times.

So, how do you research information? Do you use wikipedia?