[ELSA Japan]
The Aomori Prefecture Kazamaura Village Board of Education has decided to introduce ELSA, a generative AI English conversation service from Silicon Valley that receives funding from Google’s AI investment division.
*View in browser* *ELSA Japan*
Press release: May 2, 2024
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The Aomori Prefecture Kazamaura Village Board of Education has decided to introduce ELSA, a generative AI English conversation service from Silicon Valley that receives funding from Google’s AI investment division.
ELSA (CEO: Vu Van, Headquarters: California, U.S.A., Japan
Representative: Toshiya Tamaki)
We would like to sincerely welcome the decision by the Aomori Prefecture Kazamaura Village Board of Education (Superintendent: Junichi Murakami) to introduce the English speaking support service “ELSA Speak.”
ELSA will deepen its collaboration and cooperation with schools, communities, and families, and will generously provide support to maximize the potential of the children growing up and learning in Kazamaura Village. ELSA will do our best to support children so that they can be proud and attached to their hometown and play an active role in the world.
Through our partnership with the Kazamaura Village Board of Education, we sincerely hope that we can open up the future of English education in Japan and contribute to the development of human resources who can play an active role in global society.
*Background of ELSA introduction*
Kazamaura Village has been facing issues with English education. These include the lack of teachers to teach English, the lack of
opportunities for students to speak with native-speaking teachers, the educational disparity between urban and rural areas, and the lack of exposure to cutting-edge technology. ELSA’s innovative technology is a powerful tool to solve these challenges. Using AI, we can identify each student’s speaking weaknesses (pronunciation, accent, intonation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar) and provide audio and conversation guidance tailored to each individual student. This reduces the burden on teachers and allows students to effectively improve their English proficiency at their own pace.
In addition, by introducing ELSA, students in Kazamaura village will be able to obtain a state-of-the-art English learning environment equivalent to that of schools in the city. We provide opportunities to receive high-quality education, transcending geographical constraints, and contribute to eliminating educational disparities.
*Comment from Kazamaura Board of Education*
The Kazamaura Village Board of Education has announced the launch of ELSA, an English speaking support service that utilizes the world’s most advanced AI technology.
We have decided to introduce “Speak”. In order to realize the basic philosophy of the Kazamaura Village Educational Outline, “Developing people who, through learning, open up their futures with pride and attachment to their hometown, and live strong lives with rich hearts, dreams and hopes,” we are working to become the world’s most advanced university. We are confident that by incorporating this technology, we will be able to provide high-quality English education to children in the village. ELSA’s innovative technology helps students speak English with confidence and thrive on the global stage.
We aim to develop human resources who can Our mission is to respect the history, tradition, and culture of Kazamaura Village while providing education that balances knowledge, virtue, and physicality, and to develop human resources who can contribute to the community and society as a whole. With the introduction of ELSA, we will build a system of further collaboration and cooperation so that schools, communities, and families can work together to support students’ learning and maximize their potential. .
*Comment from Mr. Sota Sato of Kazamaura Junior High School*
I think a surprising number of Japanese people have complexes about English accents and pronunciation.
Actually, I am one of them. Now, as an English teacher, I think that if I had taken an English class using ELSA at a school that had introduced ELSA when I was a junior high school student, I would have been able to become a native English speaker at an early stage. I think I may have been able to learn that kind of pronunciation. That’s true. I believe that many junior high school students, if they are going to go to the trouble of studying English, have a desire to speak English with the same pronunciation as Americans speak. I am currently working every day to make that dream a reality using ELSA. Since it has just started, it is unknown how much the children will improve their pronunciation, but in class, we use it to practice reading aloud from the textbook, and during after-school module study, we have them work on the teaching materials in ELSA itself. We would like to support as many students as possible to bring them closer to realizing their dreams.
At our school, we continue to have various cross-cultural exchanges both face-to-face and online, including International School Day, so you can try out the pronunciation you learned in ELSA in a practical setting and gain confidence in speaking English. We hope that this will increase their motivation to further study while enjoying the fun of communicating in English.
○About ELSA
ELSA（English Language Speech）
Assistant) is an AI personal coach app that helps you speak English more correctly and confidently. Since receiving funding from Google’s AI investment arm in 2015, our unique speech recognition technology, which has been used by 40 million users in over 100 countries and was selected as one of the world’s 100 AI companies, enables learners to You can identify an individual’s speaking weaknesses (pronunciation, accent, intonation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar) and improve them in a short period of time. The app has been adopted by educational institutions around the world including Kyoto University, local governments in Japan such as Kyotango City in Kyoto Prefecture and Yuzawa City in Akita Prefecture, and more than 50 private schools such as Musashi, Sanda Kokusai, Seiko Gakuin, and Eiko Gakuen. .
○About Kazamaura Village, Aomori Prefecture
Address: 28-5 Okawame, Kazamaura Village, Shimokita District, Aomori Prefecture, 039-4502
Phone: 0175-35-2111
Kazamaura Village HP: https://www.kazamaura.jp/
-Contact information-
Person in charge: Kazuya Takahashi (ELSA Japan Senior Business Development Department Manager)
Contact: kazuya@elsanow.io
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