WASHINGTON, D.C. /eNewsChannels/ — The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is pleased to announce the release of the free “American English” mobile application for lower-tech feature phones and Android devices. Developed in partnership with English Education Alliance (E2A) members, biNu and Worldreader, the application provides new audiences worldwide with “anytime, anywhere” English language learning resources on the mobile devices they already own.
Expanding access to English language learning is a top public diplomacy goal for the Department of State. English language skills open doors to economic empowerment and educational opportunities for billions of people around the world. The application consolidates State Department English language learning content in one easy-to-access location.
Content includes e-books, audiobooks, music, quizzes, and the “Trace Word Soup” vocabulary game. Voice of America news feeds for English learners and a variety of other language, news, and social media content are also available. Learners can use the application to practice language skills and expand their academic and professional opportunities.
biNu’s data compression technology makes accessing the “American English” app more cost-effective by reducing download time. As a result, English language teachers in less well-connected areas of the world can bring multimedia content into their classrooms through their mobile phones and encourage study outside of class time.
biNu, a privately held company, uses a free mobile application platform to improve internet access, speed, usability, and social connectivity for lower-end mobile phones. These phones account for over five billion subscribers, more than 80% of the global mobile phone market.
Worldreader is a non-profit organization working to put books into the hands of one million children in the developing world by 2015 by making digital books accessible via e-readers and a mobile phone application hosted by biNu.
Editorial Note: UPDATE 7:45am PDT May 15, 2013: on request of the State Dept., I updated the story title to better reflect the intent of the app. -CLS
