flash sites

[Brett Encelewski]

Mia, thank you so much for your response and for the information--I 
will pass this on to our more technical people and partners.  We are 
just now starting to gain outlook for incorporating Flash components 
into our Dena'ina Athabascan language learning site.

I think that a community-based effort to develop these types of 
technological/ software applications to language learning would be a 
very good idea (as you said).


BRETT A. ENCELEWSKI

"A people with no history has no past, and therefore no future."
                --Robert A. Heinlen

"Think globally, dream universally."
                --Unknown



----- Original Message -----
From: Mia Kalish <MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US>
Date: Saturday, January 7, 2006 6:45 pm
Subject: Re: [ILAT] flash sites

> Hello Brent in Kenai.
> 
> I almost made it to Kenai a few years ago . . . hope to make it to AK
> sometime  . . .
> 
> I'm willing to share, even develop, but I don't want to do stuff 
> that uses a
> bridge language. I think it's bad form. It also doesn't provide the
> opportunity for the brain to develop knowledge of syntactic and
> morphological patterns. The prime goal of 2L<-->Bridge is the 2L<--
> >Bridgerelation. This doesn't help develop speakers. 
> 
> Flash forms could be developed for "plug-ins", but not easily for 
> languagesthat use special fonts, since they have to be broken 
> apart and regrouped
> into symbols, which I guess could be scripted, although selecting 
> the text
> would be tricky. . . but then, the person using the plug in also 
> has to be
> able to "copy" the language into the Flash environment. . . 
> usually the
> fonts are the problem, because a) specialty fonts don't map to 
regular
> fonts, frequently because people have used the number keys; b) 
because
> without the break apart I mentioned, the user has to have the font 
> on their
> machine to display the font correctly . . .(Flash 8 might have an 
> imbed, but
> this is another sophisticated scripting option if the procedure is 
> to be
> externalized for plug-in-ability). Sounds like a pain to me, and 
> certainlynot something I (personally) would want to spend my time 
> on, since there are
> so much more interesting things to do. 
> 
> On the other hand. . . . 
> 
> I think it would be easier - and certainly more fun (at least for 
> me) if
> there was a community who worked on the materials together. That 
> way, people
> could have the fun of working together, software wouldn't have to be
> developed that tried to imagine how it might be used without 
> knowing who all
> the users would be, and people wouldn't have to develop all the 
> differentexpertises (See? I made up a word! Isn't it nice?) to be 
> able to get their
> language projects off the ground. 
> 
> Also, as a community, we could develop some really interesting 
> animatedgames that could work so people not only learned the 
> language, but also the
> syntax and morphology. As a community, we would have the benefit 
> of all that
> creativity. I met a man at the conference, he's Miami, and he did 
> some cool
> flash-card games for learning morphology. And it worked; the kids 
> were able
> to figure out the patterns without someone having to hammer them 
> into their
> heads. This would be cool, and the games could be reusable for all 
> languageswith particular forms. With lots of formlets, people 
> could pick and choose
> to suit their individual languages. For example, both Miami and 
> SouthernAthapascan have a collection of words that are effectively 
> stems and cannot
> be used correctly without the personal prefix. So a Body Part game 
> could be
> used for Miami, Chiricahua, Lipan, Navajo, and Mescalero and all 
> the other
> languages that have this form. <SMILE> See? 
> 
> I have number games on my website at LearningForPeople.us that 
> work for
> Welsh, Estonian, Spanish, English, and maybe soon Navajo and 
> Apache. It
> takes about 6 hours to do the car puzzle and the 6-format number 
> practice.So if people can do the numbers 1-100 in their languages, 
> and they can do
> the recordings of the numbers and send them to me appropriately 
> labeled,they can have games in a few days. <SMILE> Is that a good 
> share? 
> 
> Mia 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology 
> [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]On Behalf Of Brett Encelewski
> Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 6:17 PM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] flash sites
> 
> I would be very interested in knowing if the webmasters would be 
> willing to share--as well--it would cut down on training, 
> planning, 
> and implementing costs as well as time.  If these orgs are willing 
> to 
> share (for the greater good) it would keeps us from reinventing 
> the 
> wheel.
> 
> > I want to learn how to use it now. 
> > Do you
> > know if there is any sharing of formats so you could use one 
> > format and plug
> > in another language? This might be a naive question on my part, 
> > but I'm
> > asking anyway.
> 
> BRETT A. ENCELEWSKI
> Language Archivist
> Kenaitze Indian Tribe, IRA
> Kenai, AK
> 
> "A people with no history has no past, and therefore no future."
>                --Robert A. Heinlen
> 
> "Think globally, dream universally."
>                --Unknown
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jan Tucker <jtucker at STARBAND.NET>
> Date: Friday, January 6, 2006 3:38 pm
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] flash sites
> 
> > Thanks Jordan, I really enjoyed exploring all the different ways 
> > that flash
> > can be used to teach language. I want to learn how to use it 
> now. 
> > Do you
> > know if there is any sharing of formats so you could use one 
> > format and plug
> > in another language? This might be a naive question on my part, 
> > but I'm
> > asking anyway.
> > 
> > The sounds of Gaelic, Sami, and Inuit I believe where wonderful 
> to 
> > hear and
> > compare. This is some amazing work in my view. What a fun way to 
> > use the
> > internet to learn language.
> > 
> > Jan
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
> > [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]On Behalf Of Jordan Lachler
> > Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 8:01 AM
> > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> > Subject: [ILAT] flash sites
> > 
> > 
> > For the flashmongers out there, here are a couple of sites doing 
> some> interesting stuff with flash and indigenous language learning.
> > 
> > Gaelic
> > http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/alba/foghlam/beag_air_bheag/
> > 
> > Sami
> > http://www.ur.se/ur/sok/frameset_web.html?/samasta/index.html
> > 
> > Tlingit
> > http://www.sealaskaheritage.org/programs/language_resources.htm
> > 
> > ---
> > Jordan
> > 
>