02/17/2006 - 02/18/2006

scam aimed at translators and interpreters uncovered

Vadim Yekelchik, 33, responded to an advert in a magazine from a company offering a job as a freelance interpreter. When he went for an interview he did a short test, which was to translate a short article.

After that they said he first needed to do a course that they provided. "They promised a certificate afterwards and said the course was free but to make sure I worked with them afterwards, I had to pay a £100 deposit refundable after six months. "They showed me the contract, which looked legal, and took me to their office in central London. It was impressive, lots of people, lots of computers and faxes and it was quite busy."

Equality Act gains royal assent

The Equality Act has gained royal assent, paving the way for a new 'one-stop shop' for advice on employers' and individuals' rights and duties under discrimination law.

Under the Act, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will bring together the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission from October 2007. The Commission for Racial Equality will join in 2009, putting expertise on equality, diversity and human rights all in one place.

japan sees preschool english learning boom

Japan may have one of world's most elderly populations, but the face of the country's English language education is younger than ever. Students in business suits are being joined by those in nappies, and teachers accustomed to dealing with sleepy heads in class must now put up with learners who dribble and cry for their mothers.

Japan is in the grip of a boom in preschool English learning. Parents, frustrated at the glacial pace of change in the formal education system, are exposing their children to English before they can even walk, driving a multimillion-dollar industry in materials and instruction in the process.

classes in ethnic languages scrapped

A school in London is to scrap its policy of teaching science to Turkish children in their ethnic language.

The new head teacher of White Hart Lane School in Tottenham says the system did little to improve results. About 400 of the school's pupils speak Turkish and those taking GCSE science had been given bi-lingual lessons. But results for this group and for other students remained stubbornly low, with only 23% getting a grade C or higher at GCSE.

word of the day: imbue

imbue \im-BYOO\, transitive verb:
1. To tinge or dye deeply; to cause to absorb thoroughly; as, "clothes thoroughly imbued with black."
2. To instill profoundly; to cause to become impressed or penetrated.

Beauty is equal parts flesh and imagination: we imbue it with our dreams, saturate it with our longings. -- Nancy Etcoff, Survival of the Prettiest

Along with the rest of us he would certainly applaud attempts to imbue the young with the spirit of fair play. -- John Bryant, "Football should heed the Corinthian spirit," Times (London), February 17, 2000