… and I don’t mean cartoon animals! I found this great Fresh Air interview with Irene Pepperberg, all about her pet parrot Alex. Alex could talk, count, recognize shapes, materials, colors, even absences…

Here’s Alex at work:

One of the main educational models Pepperberg describes is the “Mock Rival” method, where two researchers play off each other to focus the bird’s attention on learning a new word. My brother pointed out that people respond to similar methods; to whit, this English-teaching program from Japan:

Don’t you want to get those words DOWN? This show is fascinating for those of us who make a casual study of modern Japanese culture… but it pales in comparison to other English teaching methods from Japan:

All right, I’ll leave you with that. I’m off to the Center for Cartoon Studies tonight, for tomorrow’s Professional Practices lecture! Stay tuned…

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