Pair can help when words don’t come easy

Dec 10 2009 The Journal

FOREIGN language students at home and abroad will be able to fine-tune their English skills thanks to online software developed by two former teachers.

Graham Shipman and Mark Osborne, from County Durham, aim to target the UK and – in the longer term – international markets with their software Wordready 2.0 Academic English.

The multimedia producers, who run Barnard Castle-based L2, have funding from the North East’s Design and Creative Fund for the software.

Mr Shipman and Mr Osborne worked for over 15 years in Greece where they taught English, trained teachers and developed language learning software projects for the British Council.

After receiving proof-of-concept funding for the software three years ago, the technology is market ready to help non-native speaking university students grasp the core language used on their courses.

Mr Osborne said: "The Design and Creative Fund will take the program to market, aiming for UK release hopefully before Christmas.