An interesting article from Zachary M. Seward at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard U., pointing out how the New York Times has been sifting through its data generated when readers highlight words to look up their definitions. Not only does the Times’ tracking its own data like this show us what [...]

Last week, on the same day, I got emails from both my brother and a Linguistic Landscape research group discussion list, with links to the same article on the BBC News’ site. I knew this thing must be going around the internet…how often do multilingual signs make the news?

The featured article was actually a slideshow [...]

Message from Alisa Shekhtman & Maia Wolins, Vagabond co-Chief Editors:

Calling all Vagabonds! Want to share your multilingual poetry LIVE with UCB?!

Vagabond Journal is looking for volunteers for Calapalooza, which is
happening next Thursday, 8/27, from 5:30 to 9pm. The club fair is a
fantastic opportunity to let incoming freshmen and junior transfers know about Vagabond and give [...]

Since we live in a hurry-up culture, it’s not surprising that we like to find ways to speed up communication – or at least appear to be doing so. But linguistic shortcuts are not an altogether new thing. Some have been around for centuries (at least.), though one seems to me to be, if not [...]

This evening, Sunehri Market, the local bazaar, was awash in green, white, and deep saffron, the colors of the Indian flag. There were tricolor kites, delicate (miniature) paper flags, exercise wristbands, streamers, paper caps, garlands, towelettes, artificial flower bouquets, and cloth flags. Tomorrow is Independence Day, the 62nd anniversary of Indian freedom from [...]

Over the last two months, protests have been breaking out in Iran over the “election” of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President. The dissenters comprise of supporters of the candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who are convinced that the election has been stolen from them. I have been following the [...]

Back in Paris again, I had the opportunity recently to meet with French teachers and researchers of English, German and French as a foreign language. They couldn’t wait to leave on vacation and were venting their frustrations that the “bac” or high school graduating examination lets 80-85% of students through these days and thus lowers [...]

From flyer:

CW 121: Issues in Teaching English Internationally
CCN: 16576 ; Units: 3
Time/Place: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-5:00pm in 203 Wheeler
Instructor: Melinda Erickson (erickson@berkeley.edu)

Learn about principles that contribute to effective English language teaching and become acquainted with teaching opportunities abroad. CW 121 also satisfies one of the electives for the new minor in Applied Linguistics Studies.