During data collection earlier this year for my dissertation, exploring language and literacy socialization among a group of young boys at an orphanage in the suburbs of New Delhi, India, I headed over to National Council Of Educational Research And Training, or, as it is widely known, the N.C.E.R.T. I grew up […]

The doorbell-which makes the sound of chirpy, chirruping birds-shrieked for my attention on a late Monday morning a few months ago. I was living in a suburb of New Delhi, India, collecting data for my dissertation. As I went to unlock the grill door, I saw a lady dressed in a dark salwar kameez […]

A bit of a public service announcement: Modern Language Association President Russell Berman has issued a letter calling upon its members to protest the cuts to education, especially languages and the humanities, that are written into the new federal budget. This section from the letter, in particular, highlights the damage that […]

I’m working on a project right now for the Berkeley Language Center called “Languages at Berkeley”. It’s an effort to put a comprehensive list of the languages that are being taught at UC Berkeley on one page, and to link from that page to introductions to each language. The basic idea is to give visitors […]

Education First, “The World Leader in International Education” (as it calls itself) released what it called “the world’s first index to compare the English-language ability of adults in different countries,” which caused a flurry of excitement in the international news media. You can download the full report here. The report, compiled based […]

From the FIT afternoon gathering last Friday, April 1. Several people seated around a table outside started passing a piece of paper around as we talked and this is what happened. What does it all mean?