>Local educational software publisher Topologika - short-listed for a BETT 2007 Award - has released its latest pack, this time aimed at foreign language learning. According to managing director Brian Kerslake, textThing MFL is the first educational software pack to offer Cornish.

"To be honest, the inclusion of this ancient language was serendipitous," said Brian. "The pack is really aimed at helping primary and secondary pupils read French, German and Spanish. We’ve been wanting to ‘do’ a Cornish pack for ages, so this one gave us the chance.”

Research shows that the sooner children start listening to and speaking another language the better. "From 6 up is what the government recommends," said Brian. “And anyone who's been over the water knows that continentals often speak English better than us, because many learn from age 5. Although this initiative is of course welcome, it’s hardly revolutionary. And older pupils of course need to get into reading for understanding as well, which is where textThing MFL comes in.”

So how does textThing MFL work? Brian plugged in his lap-top to demonstrate the pack on Topologika's interactive whiteboard, just like the ones used in most well-resourced Cornish schools. It allows teachers to load any of the texts supplied - say an extract from a newspaper or the web - and to turn it into 10 different on-screen or printable exercises, including spelling tests, rebuilding the text word-by-word, putting back missing words or punctuation, learning lists, etc.

All of this can be done not just in Cornish, but also in Welsh, Gaelic, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, and Italian. “Whatever texts teachers use,” said Brian, “whether the ones we supply (the Cornish texts were translated by Plymouth University’s Dr. Ken George) or their own Word documents or web pages, textThing MFL will try to speak them in order to help pupils’ understanding. Unfortunately no-one as far as we know has yet produced the necessary speech engines (the software that does the talking) for Cornish, Welsh and Gaelic, so until someone does, unfortunately textThing MFL can’t yet speak them.”

Brian invites readers to contact Microsoft to ask why they’re ignoring an EEC-recognised minority language, and teachers to contact Topologika to try the pack free of charge for 30 days. To take up this special offer, contact Topologika on 01326 377771, email sales@topologika.co.uk or visit www.topologika.co.uk from where schools can request it ‘on approval’ and parents can buy a Home Edition.

For further information please contact Topologika's press officer Mrs Jules Godfrey on 01326 377771 (email jules@topologika.com). This release is available as a text file along with the accompanying pack and screenshot.