Planet Word
Intriguing Museum Coming Soon to Washington, D.C.!
Those of us who care deeply about education and museums are delighted to hear that the city of Washington, D.C., has accepted a proposal to turn the Franklin School, a National Historic Landmark building, into Planet Word, a museum of linguistics!
We at the Museum of Teaching and Learning (MOTAL), along with our national alliance, have had our eye on this site at 13th and K Streets, NW, since last year. After all, downtown Washington, DC would be the perfect location for an engaging museum ABOUT education. And since we all love the city’s fabulous Newseum, our endeavor could perhaps become the EDseum.
Well, the Museum of Teaching and Learning's pitch did not get the green light. Still, the news that a museum closely related to MOTAL's vision has met with success is gratifying. We would be delighted to share our ideas with Planet Word.
Philanthropist Ann B. Friedman (wife of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman) is the leader of Planet Word. The museum will be an interactive center devoted to exploring a single subject (language arts), quite similar in approach to the successful National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) in New York City, where visitors can have fun while learning deeply.
As Kriston Capps wrote in CityLab, from the Atlantic: "It's good that the city sees the wisdom (again) in preserving the Franklin School by turning it into a museum meant for residents…. For the city, a quality museum at the Franklin School is a two-for-one deal."
And . . . So what does one do at a linguistics museum? It's not entirely clear yet. On the Planet Word site, founder Friedman invites future visitors to "[i]dentify accents, tell us how you say soda and hoagie, learn tips from professional dialect coaches, and climb a Tower of Babel or tunnel through a prepositional playground.
“One thing is clear: Planet Word will definitely be unlike anything else in D.C.— or really anywhere.”
Many tips of our hat to a worthy group and a fantastic project about to become reality! And as for our EDseum project—watch us go for Plan B. Stay tuned!
Greta Nagel, PhD
President and CEO
WWW.MOTAL.ORG
FYI Trends:
http://dcist.com/2017/01/franklin_school_to_become_a_linguis.php
http://languagehat.com/planet-word/
Those of us who care deeply about education and museums are delighted to hear that the city of Washington, D.C., has accepted a proposal to turn the Franklin School, a National Historic Landmark building, into Planet Word, a museum of linguistics!
We at the Museum of Teaching and Learning (MOTAL), along with our national alliance, have had our eye on this site at 13th and K Streets, NW, since last year. After all, downtown Washington, DC would be the perfect location for an engaging museum ABOUT education. And since we all love the city’s fabulous Newseum, our endeavor could perhaps become the EDseum.
Well, the Museum of Teaching and Learning's pitch did not get the green light. Still, the news that a museum closely related to MOTAL's vision has met with success is gratifying. We would be delighted to share our ideas with Planet Word.
Philanthropist Ann B. Friedman (wife of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman) is the leader of Planet Word. The museum will be an interactive center devoted to exploring a single subject (language arts), quite similar in approach to the successful National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) in New York City, where visitors can have fun while learning deeply.
As Kriston Capps wrote in CityLab, from the Atlantic: "It's good that the city sees the wisdom (again) in preserving the Franklin School by turning it into a museum meant for residents…. For the city, a quality museum at the Franklin School is a two-for-one deal."
And . . . So what does one do at a linguistics museum? It's not entirely clear yet. On the Planet Word site, founder Friedman invites future visitors to "[i]dentify accents, tell us how you say soda and hoagie, learn tips from professional dialect coaches, and climb a Tower of Babel or tunnel through a prepositional playground.
“One thing is clear: Planet Word will definitely be unlike anything else in D.C.— or really anywhere.”
Many tips of our hat to a worthy group and a fantastic project about to become reality! And as for our EDseum project—watch us go for Plan B. Stay tuned!
Greta Nagel, PhD
President and CEO
WWW.MOTAL.ORG
FYI Trends:
http://dcist.com/2017/01/franklin_school_to_become_a_linguis.php
http://languagehat.com/planet-word/