ALTHOUGH the number of international students in New Zealand is up, the future looks bleak for English language schools as forward bookings are decreasing. A survey conducted by English New Zealand, which represents private and public English schools, has found 55 percent of schools reporting forward bookings down from last year. Rob McKay, chairman of English New Zealand, said 54 percent of international students began with English language study, so what the figure showed was that there would be a negative flow to all sectors of education.
English Language Unity Act gets more support
美国百名国会议员赞成英语为官方语言
LESS than a month after being introduced in the 111th Congress, the English Language Unity Act, the legislation to make English the official language of the United States, has picked up its 100th co-sponsor. The Unity Act will require the US government to conduct most official business in English. Bills to make English the official language garnered more than 150 co-sponsors in both the 109th and 110th Congresses, and the Senate passed amendments to make English the national language of the US in both 2006 and 2007. However, the measures these amendments were attached to did not pass before the end of the session.
Pearson to offer online language learning
培生首推在线英语会话系列课程
PEARSON, the world’s leading education company, and Livemocha, a Seattle-based online language learning community, announced an agreement to co-develop a new conversational English language learning experience available on Livemocha’s online platform. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will build a series of online conversational English courses. This will be Pearson’s first venture into direct-to-consumer online products for English-language learning. The first products are scheduled for launch in August 2009.
