Robot English Teachers Helping Korean Kids Learn

English teaching robots have taken over the classrooms in South Korea. Engkey is a teaching robot which takes English language classes in the coastal city of Masan in South Korea.

This is part of a pilot program called "R - Learning" which the government has launched to teach English to elementary school children by these robot teachers. The unique effort is in lieu of the fact that certified English teachers are scare in the nation.

French company Aldebaran Robotics and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) led by Mun-Taek Choi developed Engkey as a solution to this scarcity. According to KIST 36 Engkeys are due to be implemented in 18 elementary schools across the Korean city of Daegu by the end of this year.

Mun-Taek Choi said that the educational robot system indeed helps increase students' interest and self-motivation in studying English and improves their English skills. He said that robots have not replaced human teachers but serve as assistants. They are a cost effective way to help teachers when relatively simple and repetitive training is required.