reading to children

Cognitive scientist Michael Frank studies differences in how children and AI learn language. There is a “data gap” between the billions of words ChatGPT has to work with and the millions of words a toddler is exposed to. But, says Frank, children learn in a rich social context that supports their learning. He’s currently conducting the “BabyView Study,” where he puts cameras on young children's heads to help him understand their learning experience, as Frank tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.

Episode Reference Links:

• Wordbank: An open database of children's vocabulary development
• ManyBabies
• The SAYCam
• BabyView Study

Connect With Us:

• Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website
• Connect with Russ >>> Threads or Twitter/X
• Connect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

Russ Altman, host, introduces the episode's focus on the future of language learning and guest, Michael Frank, an expert on how children acquire language

(02:05) Child Vs AI Language Acquisition

Child language acquisition and the comparison with AI systems like ChatGPT, the differences in language learning between humans and AI, including the vast data exposure AI systems have compared to children.

(05:23) Data-driven Approaches

The importance of big data in understanding language acquisition and the Wordbank database.

(08:04) The Early Stages of Language Learning

The universal aspects of language learning across different languages and cultures, specifically babbling and its evolution into language-specific sounds.

(10:30) Exploring Multimodal Language Learning

Introduction to the SAYcam project, and the BabyView study both using camera footage from children to gather multimodal information. 

(13:12) Social Learning and Language Acquisition

Insights into how social interactions and grounded contexts facilitate children's language learning. Exploration of active learning strategies in children.

(18:22) The ManyBabies Project

A Global research consortium to understand child development across cultures, their first study documented infants' global preference for infant-directed speech. Michael outlines the funding challenges

(21:28) Understanding Pragmatics and AI Common Sense

Explanation of pragmatics in language acquisition and its importance in social cognition and inference making. The connection between pragmatic language skills in children and the challenge of instilling common sense in AI systems.

(24:21) The Role of Reading in Language Learning

The benefits of reading to children for language development while still recognizing diverse learning paths and early auditory learning.

(27:54) Multilingualism and Early Learning Flexibility

The natural ease of learning multiple languages in childhood  and when and why the flexibility in language learning begins to decline.

(30:35) Conclusion

Connect With Us:

Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website

Connect with Russ >>> Threads or Twitter/X

Connect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X

About our Guest: 

Dr. Richard Ferrier was born April 18th 1948, Berkeley California, married wife Kathyrn 1972, 8 children, 9 grandchildren. He is currently a faculty member  with Thomas Aquinas College (1978-present).  

• B.A. Liberal Arts 1971, St Johns College, Annapolis
• M.A. and Ph.D History of Science 1980, Indiana University
• Teacher at Key School, Annapolis 1969-74 (taught Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Greek, English and American Lit, Drama, and Music)
• Founding Board Member St. Augustine Academy, Ventura California.
• Chairman Ventura County Republican Party 1991-2, Vice Chairman "Yes on 209" campaign, 1996. Prop 209 banned, by Constitutional Amendment, preferential treatment by race, sex, or ethnicity in state agencies. It passed and is still state law.

His most recent book is
The Declaration of America,

Our Principles in Thought and Action, published by St. Augustine's Press. 
 

Show Notes
Dr. Ferrier is a true sage in classical education and his wisdom shines in this discussion. Hearing from his heart as a dad and grandparent was an absolute blessing. This interview was an absolute delight. We jumped from beautiful topic to beautiful topic. Dr. Ferrier and Trae shared several personal stories and especially discuss the upbringing of boys during several various points in this episode. The bullet point summary, as well as the book list,  provides a good snap shot of the depth and breadth of this conversation.  He wisely said "We live in a world of riches, why should we waste our minds?"

Some topics in this episode include:

• Defining classical education and making free men
• Liberal Arts v. Servile Arts (useful arts)
• Arithmetic & Geometry as the music and dance of the quadrivium
• The importance of music for the human soul 
• Civics through American patriotic hymns
• The importance of reading to your children
• How to read well and simply delight in great books from Dr. Seuss to the best American Speeches to Homer and back to nonsense poetry! 
• The arts of grammar, logic/dialectics, and rhetoric
• Teaching rhetoric with the best speeches
• The importance of integrative instruction through the 7 Classical Liberal Arts and the useful arts
• Why practitioners in the "useful arts" NEED to know how to think well and communicate well
• Educating boys and giving them great books as well as hands on experience with tools and going fishing
• Adventitious learning 
• The difficulties in homeschooling that drive a parent to online learning
• He shared his personal testimonies with homeschooling his children and what struggles they had

Books & Resources In This Episode

Mother Goose
Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat)
Ogden Nash
The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of the United States
Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Homer's Illiad and Odyssey
Lincolns' Speeches and Euclid's Elements
"John Brown's Body" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"By the Waters if Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron
The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge
Landmark Books
Tolkien Trilogy
Faust
Pensées by Blaise Pascal
Dostoevsky
"Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
"The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse
"Beneath the Wheel" by Hermann Hesse

Calvin Coolidge's Speech on The Declaration of Independence: Lecture by Dr. Ferrier

Movies
Gettysburg
John Adams
Ken Burn's Civil War series
Casablanca

Favorite Quote
Virgil when he is looking at the destruction of his home. "sunt lacrimae rerum"--- Tears for things

Please Support us on Patreon
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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

 
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved

Guest Biographies

Dr. Laura Eidt received her BA in English Literature and Linguistics from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and her MA and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been teaching Spanish, German, Comparative Literature, and Humanities at the University of Dallas since 2006 and has published on German and Spanish poetry and on ekphrasis. For many years she taught an applied foreign language pedagogy class that sent students to local area schools to teach their language to elementary children, and she was a mentor at a bilingual school in Dallas for four years. Her courses include classes on foreign language pedagogy, teaching classical children’s literature, and great works in the modern world. She is the faculty advisor for UD's Classical Curriculum team and is currently writing a Latin curriculum for K-5rd grade.

Robin Johnston
Robin Ann Johnston is a daughter, sister, wife, mother of five, grandmother of four (so far,) and a convert to Catholicism.  She graduated from Loyola University of New Orleans in 1985, cum laude, with a bachelor's degree in Cognitive Psychology and a minor in music. When her children were all old enough to go to school, she returned to the workforce as a teacher for Mount St. Michael Catholic School (MSMCS) in south Dallas. Robin taught mostly ELAR and World History during her years there, for grades ranging from 4th to 12th. As the lead middle-school teacher, she was instrumental in transitioning the school’s culture and curriculum instruction to a classical model. During those decades, Robin was given the “Work of Heart” award for excellence in teaching (twice) by the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.  After retiring from teaching full time, she began writing classical ELAR and Humanities curriculum lessons and novel study guides. Robin’s passion is for igniting students’ hearts with a love for learning and helping teachers have a toolbox of ideas that are easy to use while making a real difference in the classroom.  She is now working on a master's degree in Humanities and Classical Education. In her free time, she likes to craft, read, swim, and, along with her husband of 35 years, babysit the grandchildren. 

Show Notes
In part one of this two-part episode, we reconsider the foundations of good reading with the help of influential thinkers like C.S. Lewis and Mortimer Adler and think about how an overabundance of “screen time” paired with modern “reading strategies” and a focus on “college prep” pale in comparison to the potential for life transformation within the classical tradition.   

Some topics and readings in this episode include:
How can we become good readers?
Why is beauty harder to analyze than truth?
What role should “vocabulary words” play in our approach to teaching literature?
“College Prep” vs. Pursuit of Transcendence
Reading and the Fear of Grades
The Role of Morals and Virtues in Teaching Literature
The Origin and Place of Plot Analysis
Is it ever ok to skim when reading?
Narration and Picture Study

Readings and Resources
An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis 

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler 

Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins 

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Aesop’s Fables 

Little Red Ride Hood  
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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

 © 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved

Retired interior designer and now a Mallorca-based contemporary artist and children’s author, Christine Greenslade has just published her illustrated book ‘Flying Lessons’ – suitable for children aged two to six. 

Englishwoman Christine has been storytelling for many years and already has a wealth of animal stories soon to be published, with a Spot The Rabbit book (the first of a series about Spot) expected to be out for Easter 2022. 

In this episode, the author talks about her love of writing for children, her diverse animal characters, finding an illustrator, dealing with technology, and subjects that need special care and attention when writing for youngsters. She also talks about the adult memoir she’s penning, and finding support from the local writing community. 

And you can bring out your inner child for a few moments as Christine reads you a brief extract from ‘Flying Lessons’ – the tale of a family of baby blackbirds learning to fly. 

This interview was recorded on a beautiful February day in Mallorca, beside the swimming pool at the boutique hotel Ten Mallorca.

‘Flying Lessons’ by Christine Greenslade is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. 

Christine’s website:  https://www.spottherabbitandfriends.com

Check out the setting for this podcast interview here: https://www.tenmallorca.com

PODCAST THEME TITLE: “Lifestyles”

COMPOSER: Jack Waldenmaier
PUBLISHER: Music Bakery Publishing (BMI)

‘Daughter of Deià’ by podcast host Jan Edwards is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.

Following its acclaimed world premiere season, the Australian musical Fangirls returns. We learn how the show's writer, composer and original lead, Yve Blake, a theatre geek who can't play any instruments came to write one of the hottest musicals around.

Also, voice and dialect coach Leith McPherson shows us how to find the performer within when reading stories to children and Dr Erin Brannigan continues to share the joys of watching contemporary dance.