Mingoville
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| Type | Privately-held company |
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| Industry | Education, e-Learning Entertainment |
| Founded | May 23, 2007 |
| Headquarters |  Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Stephan Stephensen (CEO) |
| Products | English e-Learning Internet application, English for kids |
| Employees | 20 (2007) |
| Parent | Laessoee (Læssøe Holding) |
| Website | mingoville.com |
Mingoville is an online English learning program for children 5–15 years old. Mingoville is a narrative universe also known for its virtual town inhabited by flamingos, each of whom has a unique personality and speaks only English. All instructions in the program are explained in English. The program is translated into 32 languages and it is said to be more than 700,000 users worldwide are using Mingoville as a part of the English learning process (as of September 2008).
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[edit] Origin of name
The name "Mingoville" derives from a combination of two words "flamingo" and "ville" (a French word for city or town). Thus, Mingo-ville.
[edit] Background and content
The program was designed and developed by Danish e-Learning Center (DELC) as a part of the project initiated by the Denmark's IT Center for Education and Research under the auspices of the Danish Ministry of Education.
Mingoville was developed in such a way that children learn English as a second language (ESL) by exploring the Mingoville universe, which comprises ten thematic missions:
- The Family
- Colors and Clothes
- Numbers and Letters
- Nature and Seasons
- The Body
- Food and Shop
- Time and Travel
- Animals
- House and Furniture
- Sport and Media
Each mission contains up to 13 different learning activities such as stories, rhymes, interactive games, dialogs and songs.
[edit] List of content
- 10 Missions
- 126 activities
- 10 English 'sing-along' Karaoke songs
- Interactive stories
- Games (Pacman, Memory)
- My Book
- Dictionary
- Mobile fun
- Downloads
[edit] Edutainment concept
Mingoville is a multimedia application that is based on the idea of edutainment (education + entertainment). Virtual language immersion based on technologies for developing rich Internet applications (Adobe Flex) combined with the pedagogical approach of making learning fun allows children to learn English by clicking, doing, exploring and interacting. Through a variety of methods such as direct interaction with the exercises and games, visual learning, and recording and audio elements to perfect English pronunciation, kids are encouraged to explore and learn English in a fun way.
On its official blog, Mingoville announced to launch its own Virtual world fist in Scandinavia on May 12, 2009, then in other countries around the world in June 2009. According to Stephan Stephensen, the CEO of Mingoville, the Virtual world is based on English learning for kids, community and addictive fun games. In addition to its own virtual currency (coins), the Mingoville team is introducing a new concept of earning feathers when kids play fun educational games while learning the language at the same time.
