Wikipedia defines the language laboratory as an audio or audio-visual installation used as an aid in modern language teaching. I still remember the language lab in my university comprises a teacher console which is connected to a number of rows of student booths each of which contains a headset with a boom arm microphone. The teacher used the teach console (tape recorder) to play back the tape, and usually it is one way communication from teacher to student. When the language lab goes online, things are getting changed. You can take the advantage of web technology to choose the course and communicate freely with your tutors and classmates who may be far away from you. And you can even download the lesson to your iPod or mobile phone and listen to it on the go. We have written about many online solutions to language learning, they all look good, but Hank Horkoff, CEO of ChinesePod wants to bring the language learning to next level. He said: Language Lab should die and OpenLanguage is the future, which sounds very ambitious but also promising.
OpenLanguage
Hank recently published a post detailing his idea of OpenLanguage project. He wrote the mission statement:
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