FRIENDSHIP THROUGH EDUCATION INITIATIVE RECEIVES
$3-MILLION-DOLLAR SOFTWARE GRANT FROM FAIRFIELD LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGIES
One Thousand U.S. Schools Set To Learn Elementary
Arabic Through Friendship Through Education and Fairfield Language
Technologies Collaboration
San Antonio, June 19, 2002 - The Friendship
Through Education Consortium today and Fairfield Language Technologies
announced today the Rosetta Stone Project to help U.S. students
involved in collaborative work with students in Arabic-speaking
countries by supplying them with free copies of the Rosetta Stone
Language Learning Software Libraries in Arabic.
Through this collaboration, U.S. students who
participate in the Friendship Through Education initiative will
have free access to the Rosetta Stone Arabic Language Software,
a language-learning tool retail valued at $3,000 per school site
license.
"Learning a new language is a fundamental
part of building relationships between people of different cultures,"
said Allen Stoltzfus, president of Fairfield Language Technologies.
"Our software contribution gives students a simple and effective
way to do that," he added.
U.S. students currently interacting with Arabic-speaking
students overseas through Friendship Through Education programs
have already exchanged views on a diverse range of topics, including
culture and ethnicity, human rights, civic responsibility, and religion.
The Rosetta Stone software libraries will enable these youths to
develop their friendships further by learning how to communicate
with their peers in Arabic-speaking countries in their own language.
"These learning tools will help students
to learn first hand about the culture that is transmitted through
the language itself. This generous contribution will also help to
deepen the awareness and understanding we want to foster through
the Friendship Through Education initiative," said Ed Gragert,
director of the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN-USA),
the organization responsible for coordinating the Friendship Through
Education Consortium.
Other members of the Friendship Through Education
Consortium include ePALS Classroom Exchange, Inc., Global SchoolNet
Foundation, NetAid, Peace Corps Coverdell World Wise Schools, People
to People International, Schools Online, Sister Cities International,
United Nations Global Teaching and Learning Project, and U.S. Fund
for UNICEF.
Since announced by President George W. Bush
and leaders of the Friendship Through Education Consortium on October
25, 2001, the Consortium has provided opportunities that facilitate
online and offline interactions between youth around the world through
classroom-based interactions in order to build a culture of peace
and understanding in which the dignity and rights of all human beings
are respected. Although the initial focus of this commitment is
an effort to expand links between U.S. schools and those in Islamic
countries, the Friendship Through Education organizations offer
programs and projects that reach out to students in more than 100
countries worldwide.
The Rosetta Stone Arabic Language Software was
released in December, 2000 by proprietor and publisher, Fairfield
Language Technologies. The Arabic language software program was
designed to contain the text with and without vowels so that users
at all reading levels can hone their skills. The company produces
both elementary and advanced levels of the language software, each
accompanied by a real-life image and voiced by native Arabic speakers
in an interactive format. Fairfield Language Technologies publishes
and produces the Rosetta Stone language-learning software libraries
that teach 24 languages to millions of users in schools, businesses,
homes, and government agencies in 55 countries around the world.
For more information or to request a copy of the software, please contact:
Diane Midness
(212)87-02693
Friendship@us.iearn.org
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