An AI-driven tool, the Babel bear, that can support NT2 students. The Babel bear allows young multilingual students whose first language is not Dutch to communicate with their peers and teacher in their own first language.


Babel bear for young multilingual children
- Duration
- 1 September 2024 until now
- Project member(s)
- J.L.M. Wiggers (Annelies)
- Project type
- Research
- Organisation
- National Education Lab AI (NOLAI)

Key question
How does an AI-driven toy bear improve the communication between NT2 students and their teacher and peers?
Regular education keeps welcoming more and more children who do not have Dutch as their first language. The big increase of these NT2 children is not manageable for the international language class, and this is also not always desirable; a lot of students prefer to join regular education as soon as possible. Students can use the application that is being developed to communicate with their peers and their teacher in their home language. This will allow them to participate fully in the educational process. The application in the shape of a teddy bear will translate the spoken home language of the student into Dutch and vice versa.
NOLAI is the national education lab AI for primary, secondary, and special education in the Netherlands, funded by the National Growth Fund. €80 million has been awarded for the period of 2022 to 2032 in order to develop prototypes and gather knowledge about AI in education together with schools, corporations, and scientists over the span of ten years. Each academic year, around ten new projects are launched all across the Netherlands. A project takes three years on average.

Want to know more?
You can read more about this co-creation project by NOLAI in the NOLAI magazine AI in education 2023-2024.