Colingo: Difference between revisions
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==Free English Practice== |
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{{Translations}} |
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Colingo is a website that helps people practice English by connecting them with native English speakers in the United States. |
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'''[[Image:Colingo_logo.png]] | '''Free language learning for all''' |
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== About == |
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Colingo aims to make it free and easy for everyone to learn [[languages]]. To make this happen, Colingo is creating a free web portal, software packages, and [[content]]. Colingo aims to promote language exchanges using digital video, games, and videoconferencing. |
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Along with [[OLPC]], Colingo is a [[non-profit]] organization aiming to combat a worldwide crisis in affordable education. Colingo also takes a [[constructionist]] approach to education, in which students are encouraged to learn through exploration and discovery, rather than rote memorization. |
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Colingo is an OLPC [[developer]] and is actively developing material for the October release of the XO, most notably [[ColingoXO]], a video library, and the English-learning movie series ''1-2-3 ingles''. |
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==ColingoXO== |
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{{main|ColingoXO}} |
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[[ColingoXO]] is a package for collaborative language exchange customized for the [[XO]]. It will allow children to learn languages by constructing video dialoges out of short video clips. Akin to magnetic poetry for refrigerators, ColingoXO will permit the remixing of short video phrases. |
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ColingoXO is currently under active development; a stable release is due to be released in October. [[Python]] developers interested in working on this project are encouraged to write to the [http://www.colingo.org/abc/node/69 Colingo discussion list]. |
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== 1-2-3 ingles == |
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A second Colingo initiative is producing 1-2-3 ingles, a series of free short movies designed to help Spanish-speakers learn English. The initial focus of the movies is to highlight a diverse group of native English spekaers reciting basic 'survival English.' |
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The first beta release of these movies can be watched in a Flash-enabled web browser at colingo.org (Watch [http://www.colingo.org/abc/node/68 1-2-3 ingles]) |
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On August 22, 2007 Colingo released 1-2-3 ingles #1, a content bundle for the XO laptop. |
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==Philosophy== |
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Colingo is committed to linguistic equality and does not hold one language, culture, or individual superior to others, Colingo does, however, find some software and licensing superior to others. Content is released under an attribution [[Creative Commons]] license. |
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Colingo is based on open source software to the fullest extent possible; similarly, we submit most of our language-learning resources into the public domain, freeing anyone to legally share and remix them. |
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Ultimately, Colingo operates under a premise that better language exchange resources are necessary to facilitate understanding, tolerance, and peace in the new globalized world. |
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== Submitting videos == |
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Technical instructions on how to submit videos to Colingo for Debain [[Linux]] systems) (This section being actively edited 8.15.07) |
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<ul> |
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<li> Record videos onto a DV camera |
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<li> Use dvgrab to automatically capture all the video on the tape, and break it up into separate files using the timestamp (a timestamp is created whenever you hit the record button): <pre>sudo nice -n-20 dvgrab --autosplit --timestamp --format dv2 filename_prefix-</pre> |
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<li> Rename all clips as <pre>language (en, es, zh ISO code)]_[level (1-10)][lesson (a-z)]_[phrase].dv </pre> |
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<li> Use ffmpeg2theora: <pre> ffmpeg2theora -x 240 -y 160 -v 5 -a -1 en_1a_can_you_speak_louder_please.dv</pre> |
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</ul> |
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You may find [http://remino.net/en/taxonomy/term/151 this tutorial] helpful. |
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== Content bundle == |
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Colingo released its first [[content bundle]] on August 22, 2007. This first installment of 1-2-3 ingles highlighted 14 common English phrases. The library file can be downloaded from http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Image:colingo.xol . |
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== Community and Developers == |
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Colingo is an open project growing at a quick pace. We will post more information on getting involved shortly... |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://www.colingo. |
*[http://www.colingo.me Colingo] |
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*[http://www.colingo.org/?q=node/68 Colingo's first video series, 1-2-3 inglés] |
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Latest revision as of 05:15, 20 February 2011
Free English Practice
Colingo is a website that helps people practice English by connecting them with native English speakers in the United States.