Quotes

Don’t just take our word for it! Here are what some Linguacuisine app users have had to say about the app and associated projects…

Delighted to see the new Linguacuisine app: clever idea attractively presented https://linguacuisine.com/app/  Hope it attracts many new language learners. David Crystal‏ (Twitter)

It was a lot of fun, as I love eating and languages, I guess cooking in a foreign language is the answer. University student

I thought the app was great. If I would rate this out of five stars I would give it 6. School pupil

Perhaps the way to a language learner’s brain is through their stomach. Oren H, Jerusalem (Twitter)

Brilliant idea, combining food and language learning- genius! Sheena. SCILT (Scotland’s National Centre for Languages)

Thank you for sharing this fabulous resource. It reminds me of how I used to teach Italian to my primary school students! We cooked lots of food. I will definitely be using this resource with my tertiary students, in our schools and encouraging them to use it in their teaching too. Annamaria. Lecturer, Edith Cowan University, Australia.

There is so much going on in terms of what you are learning. It’s beyond belief really. Asylum seeker participant.

I started with no knowledge about Vietnamese vocabulary. But then I think after today, I know all these basic things, all the words. Student studying Vietnamese recipe.

I think the app is very useful as you watch it and you see the text at the same time. You can also see and touch the items while you are making the dish. So a lot of senses are being used at the same time. Student studying Vietnamese recipe.

I think it is way easier to learn while doing and seeing items. I don’t think I will be able to remember any words at first if I don’t get to see it and touch it. Student studying Vietnamese recipe.

It’s kind of enhancing the experience of learning the vocabulary. I can memorise it from repeating the words after the recordings, watching the video and also while doing the cooking. Student studying Vietnamese recipe.

Learning from this app is more interesting than learning from books or just listening to audios because you learn and do at the same time, so it does help you to memorize the terms better. Student studying Vietnamese recipe.

It’s awesome, we cooperated very well. Because he is so good at cooking, so I was giving instructions. Student studying Chinese recipe.

Whenever you go into this kind of environment, you learned so quickly. Everybody learned from it. But in the class, you have to learn, you have to put yourself in it. But here, you are in it, you are doing and using it actually, you will grab so many things so quickly. It’s important things to learn something from the environment, we’ve so many things. Student studying Chinese recipe.

I don’t think I’ll forget the names of ingredients and utensils. It’s easy to remember. It’s good. Student studying Chinese recipe.

We use it, that’s more effective. We cannot forget. Maybe I won’t forget these words that learned today! But in the classroom, we can easily forget if we don’t practice. Student studying Chinese recipe.

We’ve learned so many vocabularies that we never used before. Student studying Chinese recipe.

I don’t think I would ever I have thought about learning another language unless I started doing this course so I think it has helped me come ahead in ways that I never thought I would’. ‘I did learn languages I’m doing French, Spanish and Portuguese. Participant from Workers Educational Association

I am completely sure that people will enjoy learning languages, creating multinational recipes or simply using the app. It has been a wonderful project, I have enjoyed every single session. Migrant participant from Workers Educational Association

The Linguacuisine app has changed my life a lot in many ways, especially my PhD journey. As a social interaction researcher, I am more interested in the way people interact in the real-life contexts. And I love cooking, I love enjoy different kinds of food. And Linguacuisine has just combined both of them! I never thought before that I could learn a new foreign language while I am cooking. The recipe builder website was so much useful and handy, all I did was simply clicking and adding everything I need for my recipe, and more important, it allowed me to type in both Chinese character and also pinyin which I found necessary for helping participants’ learning. And it didn’t take me a long time to do all of them. After that, I began to use it for my own research, so I recorded and uploaded my own Chinese recipe videos. Although I have recommended this app to lots of friends, I still want people from all over the world to give this app a try, upload your own recipe from your country or try other foreign ones, you’ll definitely love and enjoy it! Simin, PhD student.

Participant confidence also increased in terms of presenting and communicating, both on and off camera, as they collaborated to create the video sections for the recipes. Being able to use their own recipes to introduce their cuisine, culture and language to the wider participant group was a new experience to many, and putting them in a position of authority as they switched between languages and explained themselves to others also brought about increased self-confidence. Action Foundation (partner organisation for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants)

Students on this project, have increased their confidence through learning new skills such as storyboarding, using an iPad and apps, creating and designing recipes and developing language learning materials, which has enabled them to progress in their learning and opened up opportunities for them. They were motivated to take up further learning and they have worked together collaboratively with people from different countries and cultures, which has developed their team working, language and social skills, along with an increased knowledge of recipes and food from around the world. One student, Paul, was so motivated he walked 6 miles to attend the bridging course and another student, Ampara, gave up a lot of her own time to ensure her recipes contributed to the success of the project. Workers Educational Association (partner organisation for adult learning)

Reviews of the book ‘Task-Based Language Learning in a Real-World Digital Environment:The European Digital Kitchen’ (Bloomsbury, 2017)

“This volume offers a fascinating example of the meaningful introduction of technology into the language classroom to provide contextualized, real-world scenarios that, while being authentic, allow a team of two students to socially create a language experience together … A worthy addition to language learning with technology, and a valuable resource for those who want to create a similar project.” –  CALICO Journal

“Overall, the volume represents a valuable addition to project- and task-based research scholarship in digital settings … Due to its innovative design and careful implementation research agenda, the volume offers insightful ideas and perspectives to those interested in using real spaces to afford foreign language learning.” –  LINGUIST List

“The book presents a convincing argument for the digital kitchen concept and its expansion into new areas of study.” –  International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching

“The European Digital Kitchen Project manages to bring pervasive computing practices into the realm of language learning by integrating the everyday task of cooking (with real-world equipment) with language and culture learning through tasks. 
The chapters in the book not only build a mosaic that helps understand how people engage in a digital sensory environment, they demonstrate that experiential learning in a digital environment provides opportunities for language learning (mainly for lexical items).
The project and this book open an exciting research venue into digital sensor technology and how it can be applied for cultural and language learning beyond lexical development and into different environments.

” –  Marta González-Lloret, Professor and Chair of Spanish & LAIS, University of Hawaii, USA,

“This edited volume provides an innovative take on language and culture learning with technology in a unique context, the digital kitchen. It merges theories and concepts in human computer interaction, computer-assisted language learning, and task-based language teaching in the European digital kitchen to examine how ubiquitous and ambient technology, such as that found in our homes, can support language and culture learning through the cooking of national dishes.” –  Shannon Sauro, Associate Professor in the Department of Culture, Languages and Media, Malmö University, Sweden.,

“An enjoyable initial interrogation.” –  BAAL Newsletter

“A wonderful book that paints a bright future for how CALL and TBL can be combined in highly innovative ways.” –  CALL-EJ