Monthly Archives: November 2009

The Journey (5)

It was time. Dalilah looked at her house one more time, just to have the last glance. ‘I promise, I will come back again,’ she mumbled to herself. Then, she slowly pulled her last luggage toward the taxi. This was the last ride to the airport. Then, having to wave goodbye to all her dear friends and relatives before her final set-off to her final destination. She felt relief yet uncertain – intertwined with other mixed feelings which continually dragged her to down and down. Her stomach was twisted, yet again!

She wanted to console and convince herself, that this journey would be the best and the last ride of her life. Her search for true love has finally ended.  Dalilah’s body trembled a little. She smirked. Such a heavy feeling. She felt as if her lunch was reaching the tip of her throat. ‘I should be happy. I should be happy.’ She murmured again.

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Is your mind rather synthetic or analytic ? This free tool will help you to determine which category you belong to

Opening a new category on our website

The Lingua Franca Academy, the Research and Education Department of the Lingua Franca Foundation, is opening a new category on this website : the Free Tools category.

In the articles of this new category, you will find free tools to help you in your daily life, to know yourself better or to act as a professional trainer or teacher.

Today, we open this new series with a test to determine the way you analyze new information and resolve problems.


Synthetic VS Analytic

According to your tendency, you will collect and analyze problems, situations and general information differently.

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International day for the elimination of violence against women

On 17 December 1999, the United Nation General Assembly designated the 25 November as the Day for the Elimination of Violence against  Women. Since 1981, women activists marked this day as a day against violence.

Based on country data available, up to 70 per cent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime.

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Earning credits in history… by playing video games!

Now, you can get a credit in history by saving America! Of course, it is a video game and not a real plot against the US.  But the credits you earn are for real!

That’s the new course that le Florida Virtual School put online recently.  This web-based public school has already offered more than 90 online courses.

American History – Conspiracy Code Game!

Eddie Flash and Libby Whitetree, two students in high-tech Coverton City, have to unravel a large plot against American History led by Conspiracy Inc., a corrupt corporation which is modifying the past archives in order to rule the future.

They collect clues, play mini-games to enhance what they have learned, they fight enemies and they reestablish the historical truth in the city archives…

By doing so, they “strengthen higher-order thinking, written communication, problem-solving, and collaborative skills through:

  1. Playing engaging concept practice games
  2. Responding to a variety of question types
  3. Writing assignments and essays
  4. Completing authentic game-based assessments
  5. Participating in discussion-based assessments

Students test their knowledge during in-game challenges, engage in student-to-student collaborations and discussions, exchange information with peers (similar to group projects), and eventually use their knowledge to complete culminating mission assessments, each step eliciting a higher-order analysis of the material.

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Our new Safety Net Project brochure is ready!

We already talked a lot about our Safety Net Project. We are proud to tell you that the new presentation brochure for this project is ready!

You can already see the cover here under and you can see the whole thing on our Issuu page or you can download it from our Box.net space on the right side of this website.


Enjoy your reading!

Pearltrees : organize and share your information in a few clics!

If you know and like Mind Mapping, you’ll love Pearltrees.  It is a new way to organize  your web contents and to share them with people who are interested in the same fields.

It’s so simple : in a few clics you build a tree of pearls that contain your web contents and people can connect to your pearls.  So, in the same time. you organize your info and you broaden your network…

See the video below and you’ll be convinced.

The future of science is already here… and mostly Asian!

A young genius

His name is Pranav Mistry and he is the perfect model of new stunningly brilliant Asian students who are busy reshaping our future.  He is currently studying in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT’s Media Lab.  Before joining MIT he worked as a UX Researcher with Microsoft. He received his Master in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and Master of Design from IIT Bombay.

But, above all,  he is the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the digital world.

And now, he is developing an unbelievable number of new projects like a programming language for children or sticky notes that are understood by your computer…  You can find all this on his website : www.pranavmistry.com

In this jaw-dropping video, he tells us how we use objects in the real world and how we can create bridges between the real world and objects and/or data from the numeric realms. And how he was led to create his strange but true invention…

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East vs. West — the myths that mystify

Devdutt Pattanaik is a self-taught mythologist.  He is currently Chief Belief Officer at Future Group in Mumbai.

In this video of a TED India Conference 2009, he is explaining how myths can shape our vision of THE World and My World and how we can understand each other.  Through the story of Alexander the Great and a gymnosophist, 326 years before Christ, he analyzes how their beliefs about life and death shaped their thoughts and feelings.  This is a great intercultural lesson with loads of humor…

But ancient myths can also provide resources to understand our modern world and the cultural conflicts that prevent business people around the world to work together…

Find more on Devdutt Pattanaik’s home page.

Piccolingo in the Netherlands?

The Piccolingo logo

As you have read about the Piccolingo – an European program aimed to promote early language learning for preschool children; I am wondering  and strongly hoping that this sort of project is achievable and manageable in the Dutch region.

The Lingua Franca Foundation (Lingua Franca Academy) – is seriously promoting such cause – wanting full exposure for very young children to adapt to more than one language. Having to master more than one language is considered a skill – and to be able to learn and sharpen one skill at a very tender age is a long lasting investment! Not many children having this unique advantage, but those who do, should be given full boost to further their knowledge in this field.

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Bilingual children learn better !

Two days ago, I published a post about Piccolingo, an European program aimed to promote early language learning for preschool children.  Here, is an article I wrote several month ago on early language learning and its benefits.

Some myths and legends about language learning seem very difficult to eradicate…

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