A "talking kitchen" teaches studentshow to cook French and speak French.Researchers at New Castle Universityin the United Kingdomhave developed the French Digital Kitchen.Professors Paul Seedhouse and Patrick Olivier led the project.Professor Seedhouse told us on Skypethat it works like a satellite navigation system in a car.PAUL SEEDHOUSE: "The sat nav speaks to you and it tells you,for example, to turn left.And if you turn left then it continues with the program.If, for example, you turn right, then it's a mistake,so it loops back and it gives you further instructions."The kitchen equipment and tools use motion sensor technologysimilar to the Nintendo Wii game system.The sensors help a computer guide the studentsthrough instructions in French.PAUL SEEDHOUSE: "The system can tell whether you've donewhat you were asked to do or not.So let's say, for example,the system tells you to take some butterand cut it with a knife, right?There's a sensor on the package containing the butterso it can tell where the butter's being moved.The sensor in the knife not only knows that the knife is moving,but it also knows what motion the knife is making.So it can detect whether the knife is slicing,whether it's scraping or what.And so it doesn't go on to the next stage of the programunless you've done what it senses you've done."Students can ask the computer to repeat the instructionsor translate them into English.There are vocabulary lessons before and after the cooking.Professor Seedhouse became interested in the ideaafter he visited a talking kitchendesigned for a different purpose.PAUL SEEDHOUSE: "It was actually for communicating with peoplewho suffer from dementia.And so, for example,it can speak to those people and it can tell them,for example, that they've left the oven onand they should switch the oven off."He says the French Digital Kitchen turns the processof learning language into a real-life experience.PAUL SEEDHOUSE: "Here you're taking it out of the classroomand you're actually using the language to produce somethingwhich you can eat at the end of it. It's very enjoyable."But the idea -- known as task-based language learning-- required a few changesas the researchers were designing the system.PAUL SEEDHOUSE: "For example, we've found that we put a sink full of water, right,and as soon as people have finished cooking with an instrument,they throw it in the water.And for us that's deadly because the digital sensorswere immediately ruined by being in the water.Okay, so - so you have to take actionsso that you don't have water in the sinkand you tell people not to throw them in the sink."The system could be available for sale by the end of twenty twelve.Adding the technology to a new kitchencould add an estimated ten to twenty percent to the building costs.The system could also be added to an existing kitchen.The researchers are also developing portable versions.And the European Union has given them moneyto begin programs in six other languages,including English, Italian and Spanish.And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report,written by June Simms.You can find a link to videos of the talking kitchenat 51voa.com. I'm Steve Ember.