[BobK]

I think your point about language learning depending crucially on lip movements is too often missed in discussions of this case. When I first heard the story on the news I couldn't see the point of the school letting her wear the veil in corridors and the staff room; the story didn't mention language teaching at all.

When I was learning Spanish, in Spain, I thought watching films would help. But they were mostly American films, and often not sub-titled but dubbed. As the lips told me nothing, having Spanish sounds coming out of the box was useless.

b