[etni] South Korean Robot English Teachers Are Go
- From: "Ask_Etni" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "ETNI" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:44:39 +0200
South Korean Robot English Teachers Are Go
Popular Science - February 24, 2010
A shortage of English teachers has compelled South Korea to take the next
logical step and plan a $45 million rollout of robotic teaching assistants.
That official go-ahead follows several months of robot trials, io9 says
based on Korean news reports. But the idea of replacing old fashioned human
English teachers has already stirred much debate.
The robotic teachers would deploy in 500 preschools by 2011, and 8,000
preschools and kindergartens by 2013. In the short run, that could help
address the lack of English teachers in rural areas or remote islands.
Learning English represents a necessary educational step for competitive
South Korean students, and especially those aiming to study abroad at major
universities in the U.S.
But South Korean robotics experts have already begun predicting that the
bots could replace more than 30,000 native English teachers in Korea's
language institutes within the not-so distant future, according to the Korea
Times. Most of those teachers hail from the U.S., Canada, UK and Australia.
(To read the whole article, go to -
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/south-korea-gives-go-robot-english-teachers-classrooms
-----------------------------------------------
** The ETNI Rag **
http://www.etni.org/etnirag/
Much more than just a journal
** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org
or - http://www.etni.org.il **
** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
-----------------------------------------------
Other related posts:
- » [etni] South Korean Robot English Teachers Are Go - Ask_Etni