Say “How do you do” to Mike and Michelle, face-to-face tutors for English learners.

They’ll correct your grammar, answer questions, converse on a variety of topics, be there 24/7, and won’t charge a dime.

And they’re doing very well, thank-you.

The on-screen “English Tutor” interactive robots and their creator, adjunct Professor Ron Chang Lee of Pasadena City College, are heading to England’s Exeter University in October as one of four finalists in the 2011 Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence.

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Know of someone looking to improve their English? Learn to speak, read, write and understand English at Omni Adult Education, a program of Carrollton Public Schools, with openings in its English as a Second Language program.

Instruction is designed for individuals aged 20 and older, and offered in beginning, intermediate and advanced formats at no cost. Class is offered daily from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. (more…)

On a sweltering August morning, in a classroom overlooking New York’s Hudson River, a group of 3-year-olds are rolling sticky rice balls in chocolate sprinkles, as a teacher guides them completely in Mandarin.

This is just one toddler learning game at the total–immersion language summer camp run by the primary school Bilingual Buds, which offers a year-round curriculum in Mandarin as well as Spanish (at a New Jersey campus) for kids as young as 2.

Bilingualism, of course, can be a leg up for college admission and a résumé burnisher. But a growing body of research now offers a further rationale: the regular, high-level use of more than one language may actually improve early brain development. (more…)

Seven-year-old Pranesh Sopkota’s big brown eyes light up when he spots his teacher’s iPad. Ritha Fellerman sees this and immediately touches the screen and pulls up a story. Sitting side by side, Pranesh begins to read. The trust between them has grown during an eight-week summer English-language program at St. Francis Episcopal Church created for refugee children such as him.

They are from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and their families have been relocated to the far Northwest Side, most after experiencing war and bloodshed. Over the past seven weeks, Pranesh has attended a series of Saturday workshops that combine language skills with visual and performing arts. (more…)