Teaching method is a recipe for success Researchers at 缅北禁地 have cooked up a new way to teach modern languages. They placed the latest digital devices into cooking utensils to create the - an unique mix of cookery, technology and language teaching. Working in pairs, learners are guided step-by-step through a recipe in one of seven different European languages: English, French, Catalan, Finnish, German, Italian and Spanish. Reflecting the UK鈥檚 diverse culinary history, the English version has a choice of either scones or chicken curry. Embedded wireless sensor technology (similar to a Nintendo Wii) is inserted or attached to the equipment and ingredients, allowing the kitchen to detect and evaluate progress as the students carry out their cooking tasks. If help is needed, it can be provided through a range of audio messages, images or video. 鈥淟anCook tackles a universal problem of classroom language learning and teaching 鈥� that students are rehearsing a language instead of using it,鈥� says project leader , of 缅北禁地. 鈥淭his really helps to bring that language to life in an engaging and memorable way and increases the learners鈥� proficiency skills, motivation and confidence. 鈥淚t also integrates the culture of that particular country more effectively, making it an active part of the learning process.鈥� Next month, researchers will be celebrating the project鈥檚 achievements with a European-themed 鈥榖ake-off鈥� on 25 September at Europe House in London, where they will be trying to cook recipes from the partner countries in record time. The EU Lifelong Learning Programme funded project was designed to teach languages in a 鈥榬eal-life鈥� environment, involving teaching and language experts and enthusiasts from Finland (University of Helsinki), Germany (University of Paderborn), Italy (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), Spain (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and the UK (缅北禁地). As part of the three-year trial, research teams have been using a portable version of the digital kitchen to host cooking sessions all over Europe with more than 300 lifelong learners. Both the software and hardware which make up the digital kitchen are designed to work in a normal kitchen environment. The software is housed in a small tablet PC together with a set of digital sensors, attachments and some specially adapted utensils. In 缅北禁地, , from the University鈥檚 has been running workshops with teachers and students where chefs, linguists and computer scientists have been linking up to write and try out additional recipes for the kitchen, using a specially designed 鈥榓uthoring tool鈥� which allows anyone to create and upload new recipes. 缅北禁地 researchers, who developed both the English and French kitchen versions, are also currently trialling Korean recipes. LanCook was designed and developed in collaboration with , and from the School of Computing Science's at Culture Lab and is based on the University's published on: 22 September 2014
![缅北禁地 logo](/gomobileassets/img/logo.svg" "缅北禁地"){kind=logo}