Infonews n°153 du 28/05/2002 

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"A la une" this week, a unit about cartoons. Actually there, the
text you start from is not really important, as long as it contains enough
references which need to be explained. See the method : if, like me, you
have been working on the internet regularly with your students, they will
now be able to produce this type of work. I can't show you the result yet,
it should be online by the end of next week....By the way, discover Herb
Block and his three Pullizer Prizes and Rube Goldberg and his 'contraptions'...
Talking about cartoons and drawings, do you know the term "anime"?
It seems to be the term used for "dessins animés", especially if they are
Japanese. I suppose that like me, your culture of Mangas and Japanese
animes is limited. But do you know that the "anime" "Le voyage de Chihiro
is doing great, and that many of your students have seen it? Here are some
sites to learn about the story, the characters and the director, Hayao
Miyazaki.
And May the 4th is "Free Comic Book Day" : I found an address in
Paris and some others in Europe where you can go and pick up you free
books. in the resources for secondary school, you'll also find sites about
the film 'Spider-Man' which will be released next week, and a coloured
Super Hero. Then you will find some other interesting resources, an
interactive dictionary and its activities for primary schools, along with
various interesting resources from Time For Kids.
It is time to prepare things for Mother's Day, which is on May
12th in the USA. You will find useful sites there, along with a very
interesting Poetry project. Then you'll find the address of a form where
you can send one of your teaching stories, something about a special day in
class....
Sounds are often very useful to make students talk. You can work
from this week free lesson from english-to-go, which deals with animal
sounds, and use this interesting new seach engine to add other sounds....
Everybody is talking about politics, and the rise of the far right
at the moment in France : in resources for secondary school, you'll find
'what kids can do' a website orientated towards service, suggesting useful
things children can do for the community, to promote through action ideas
like "conservation of environment" or "care for your everyone in your
community, especially if they are different". Sylvie Adamon also suggests a
page from Time For Kids to talk about the palestinaian conflict.

A lot of things to read in Infonews this week!

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A la une
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A Learning Unit about Cartoons
Class
Global purposes
The text
The learning unit
Evaluation
Helpful links
Block, Herbert -- 1909-2001 (LII> [LIIWEEK] April 11)
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In the News
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here are the sites I found in French, Japanese and German
the story introduction (and the video)
Main characters and synopsis
Miyazaki's biography
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Freebies
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Free Comic Book Day!
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Resources for secondary school
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Spider-Man
Static Shock ( a coloured Super Hero )
Start the presses! (in Time for Kids)
What Kids Can Do (PBS Teacher Previews: April 28-May 5)
Let's hear what people in conflicts say
Animal Chatter ( english-to-go )
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Resources for Primary School
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Interactive Dictionary from Enchanted Learning
Big Picture Edition of Time for Kids
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Mother's Day 2002
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Mother's Day kit (FREE> [FreeThings4Educators Update] )
Here are some links for this year
For more links about Mother's Day
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Project
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Poetry project
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Teaching practice
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Contest ( FREE> [FreeThings4Educators Update] )
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Internet tools
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FindSounds.com (from Michèle Henry)

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A la une
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A Learning Unit about Cartoons

Class
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a group of 25 16/17year old science students (1ère S) will work on it for
four periods ( two on computers, one in a U shaped classroom for
discussion, and one for evaluation)

Global purposes
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- make students understand a text by themselves
- spot the references which they need to start a search for
- use search engines and appropriate keywords to understand the references
- organise their work as a class to produce a document
- communicate between themselves and exchange informations (by email and
orally)
- produce a final product that themselves and other students can learn from.

The text
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http://library.thinkquest.org/50084/cartoons/?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0129
This text is for advanced pupils in its content, mainly because of the
numerous references. If you work on the references as this unit suggests,
then you can work with upper intermediate or even intermediate pupils. The
vocabulary in itself is not difficult : the only word to look up in a
dictionary is "searing". But the pupils will not understand "contraptions"
or "Mac Carthyism" and those are not vocabulary but cultural references.

The learning unit
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- give the text to the students one week before, with, as assignement, to
look up no more than 5 words in the dictionary and write down the
definitions, and determine in the text the references they need to look up
on the internet.
- ask for two volonteers, to centralise the informations and make an
interactive webpage of the text (each reference will lead to a page of
explanations and links made of all the informations the others will give
them).
- ask those volonteers to organise the research work in the class, so that
no reference will be left out and no student will be without a task.
- allow one or two research sessions, according to the amount of
informations collected at the end of the first session.
- organise an intermediate session in class, when everybody will put
together their informations, and list what they miss or couldn't find. The
teacher will come in if needed to clear up a point or help them to find the
key words for a search.
- during the second session, the pupils will look up the pages they
discovered from others in the class common session, or look for the missing
informations to complete the work.
- in between the sessions, they will communicate through the internet with
the pupils who centralise the informations and make the pages.

Evaluation
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the pages will be put online, and the whole class will learn from it. Then
they will answer in class a serie of questions which will show that they
have read and understood everything.

Helpful links
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for , you will find an interesting unit on Goldberg from NBC:
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1208/teaching/teaching3.htm
the contest and its history
http://www.anl.gov/OPA/rube/rube.html
Rube Goldberg site
http://www.rube-goldberg.com/
Herblock and Mac Carthyism (see the cartoon with the GOP (Grand Old Party,
republicans) elephant and the pots of tar (use Lucky Luke to explain "tar
and feathers" en particulier dans "le pied tendre" qui subit ce châtiment
pour être différent....) http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/fire.html
Infonews page about cartoons
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/infonews/themes/cartoons.htm

Block, Herbert -- 1909-2001 (LII> [LIIWEEK] April 11)
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Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to
the Millennium features the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning
editorial cartoonist Herb Block. He is best known for
caricatures of American presidents from Herbert Hoover to
Bill Clinton and for his work during the Watergate
investigation. He died last fall at the age of 92.
The site includes a biography of Herblock and
his own writing on political cartooning. An exhibit from the
Library of Congress.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/
[ political cartoons are always difficult to understand, but those are
worth knowing...!
for advanced students. A complement to the unit described above.]

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In the News
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"Le voyage de Chihiro" has just come out in France. It is different from
the traditional Walt Disney we all know, but the quality is just as good
,and it can be watched by children and adults, and all will enjoy it at
their own level. In English, it is called "Spirited Away". As teachers, we
shouldn't overlook this new trend of mangas, and, just as with TV, it is
our job to show the pupils what is good in this field and help them take
the best out of it, instead of rejecting it altogether or just ignoring it.
My pupils brought the subject to me, and worked on Myazaki's ( director)
and Takahata's (animation) biographies, so I had to get into those "anime"
classics ( I even discovered that word!). here are the sites I found :
en français (commentaire de France 5):
http://www.france5.fr/maternelles/D00032/15/
le site officiel japonais (en japonais....!)
http://toho.co.jp/sentochihiro/index2.html
site officiel en anglais
http://www.spirited-away.com/
the film got the golden bear award in Berlin last . Here are pages in German
http://www.film.de/film/kino/5031.shtml

A synopsis,
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/story.html
and the story introduction, a poem in english
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/poem.html
a page of videos, trailers and interview ( and the video of the
introduction poem)
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/relmedia.html
all about the film
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/

Main characters and synopsis
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http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hn7y-mur/chihiro/chihirolink01e.htm#book2
for lower intermediate (dès la 5ème) very short and easy texts presenting
the story and the characters. (Note : there are a few grammar mistakes )

Miyazaki's biography
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http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/miyazaki/
[ a short and a long biography, plus links towards other works and other
people.]
a shorter bio:
http://www.lambiek.net/miyazaki_hayao.htm
a comparison of the biographies of Miyazaki and Takahata
http://www.cjas.org/~echen/articles/fall95/12_02a.html
[ one of my pupils gave it to me as his own work!!!! When something like
that happens to you, just take one of the most sophisticated sentences and
type it into google between "". You will immediately access the source, and
then see if it has been used as such or just copied! But managing to find
such a text shows a good mastery of the search engine, and the ability to
choose the appropriate keywords ( ceci vous permettra de lui valider son
B2i, à défaut de lui donner une bonne note en anglais!) .
And we will study this text in class, as a support for the correction of
the assignement : "compare the biographies of two famous people", stressing
the comparisons and seeing what other more traditional grammatical elements
we might have used, and how someone could write an interesting text using
this one as a basis.]

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Freebies
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Free Comic Book Day!
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Saturday May 4th is Free Comic Book Day.
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/Default.asp
On this day, you can go to a book store and pick up a free comic book
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/pub_com.asp
This is mainly available in the US and Canada, but I also found some
addresses in Europe : one in Paris, one in Belgium, and 7 in the
Netherlands and 9 in Germany! (lucky you!!!)
find the nearest place on :
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/fcbd_locator.asp
they give the addresses and the phone numbers : maybe they can send it to
people who live too far to come to the store. It might be worth trying...
Here is the address for Paris :
LEGENDS
46 RUE BROCA
PARIS
FRANCE
75005
Phone: 33143361282

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Resources for secondary school
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Spider-Man
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the film is to come out next week in the US.
official site : http://www.spiderman.sonypictures.com/(also in French and
German, with Aerosmith music... but not ready yet)
http://www.thespidermanmovie.com/
with the trailers : http://spiderman.sonypictures.com/main.php?link=trailers
http://superherohype.com/spider-man/
http://www.eonline.com/Features/Features/Spiderman/?fdpop
http://movies.go.com/movies/S/spiderman_2001/

Static Shock ( a coloured Super Hero )
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read this interview in TimeForKids
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/specials/0,6709,202549,00.html
and see the super-hero's website (with videos!)
http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/staticshock/home.jsp
Dans le style BD, n'oubliez pas le superbe "Nemo en Amérique" un livre au
Seuil et un site interactif avec du son, à découvrir à :
http://www.nemoenamerique.com

Start the presses! (in Time for Kids)
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en collège, Erik Stéfanini va tester le module "mag-O-matic".
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/yourturn/white/0,6405,53275,00.html
Voici ce qu'il dit :
"Le module mag-O-matic permet de créer en ligne sa propre "une" à partir
d'images prédeterminées. On peut travailler sur le titre à donner à chaque
rubrique, etc... On imprime.
On présente les différentes unes à la classe ( cela permet de ne pas rester
collé à l'écran!). Les indices présents sur la partie personnelle de la
page permettent de travailler la supposition( I think.../ it must be); les
phrases complexes (because) et surtout la prise de parole en continu (les
's' à la troisième personne, les pronoms personnels) .
[ this interactive activity is excellent for beginners, in primary school
for example : the pupils could create the first page of their newspaper,
and then go on in French to write the articles. For more advanced students,
you can imagine having them create their own magazine from these prompts.
Let them also be free to bring their own photos or drawing to use instead
of those offered, and they must feel free to alter what they want.]

What Kids Can Do (PBS Teacher Previews: April 28-May 5)
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Do you think kids don't have a say in what goes on in their community
and their nation? This project features high schoolers making a
difference on real-world issues such as the events of September 11,
conflict resolution, race relations, human rights and environmental issues.
http://www.whatkidscando.org/home.html
[ make your pupils get positive, concrete ideas of what they can do to help
and change the community around them. The Americans practice a lot the
notion of "service", and all pupils who want to take an active part in
tomorrow's world should be invited to take action now, not just through
demonstrating in the streets, but also in doing things that really help and
will eventually make things and minds change.]

Let's hear what people in conflicts say
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http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/magazines/story/0,6277,218393,00.html
Sylvie Adamon a presente à une classe de 3eme faible des
interviews de jeunes et leurs parents ,palestinian and israeli...
Elle a repris le "when I finish school" , perception verb et meme
introduit "used to "qu'ils n'avaient jamais vu ...
Bref , ce sujet brulant a été l'occasion de parler anglais, de voir des
points de grammaire, et de réfléchir ensemble au problème.

Animal Chatter ( english-to-go )
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English-to-go offers you this week a lesson on the noises animals make, for
low-intermediate and intermediate students. Note that this lesson is
available for free (after registration) this week only.
http://www.english-to-go.com/members/view_lesson.cfm?lesson_id=841
[ remember to visit this site regularly and save the lessons when you find
them interesting....]

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Resources for Primary School
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Interactive Dictionary from Enchanted Learning
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Annie Gwynn posted on e-teach the address of this little interactive
dictionary. It is very easy to use, and I've been watching it gradually
build up since 1997. It is now almost complete, and it still has mistakes
(porte-monnaie pour purse (dessin d'un sac à main) le c de pain d'épice qui
manque) but you find interesting links behind most of the entries. It also
exists in English/German.
for ideas of activities, you can go to:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/classroom/
but you will need to adapt the activities which have been created for
little Americans learning French or German.

Big Picture Edition of Time for Kids
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a special edition for very young children. lots of pictures, not too much
text, and the texts are read aloud! You students of all age could practice
pronounciation with these news articles.
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/magazines/bigpicture

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Mother's Day 2002
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Mother's Day kit (FREE> [FreeThings4Educators Update] )
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http://www.tcpnow.com/mother'sdaykit/intro.html
Mother's Day history, ideas of gifts and activities, from Kindergarten
onwards.
Don't miss their page of links to organisations and websites:
http://www.tcpnow.com/mother'sdaykit/part3/md3.2.html
lots of links towards site about intergeneration activities and genealogy,
as well as arts and crafts.
Their idea of considering the family as a whole, and talking about the
generations and intergeneration relationships can be interesting in some
contexts.

Here are some links for this year
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holiday.net ( the best for all type of celebrations)
http://www.holidays.net/mother/
A girl's World ( teen type)
http://www.agirlsworld.com/amy/pajama/mothersday/
find true stories about "how cool my mom is", and give them the recipe for
"the ultimate breakfast in bed treat"!!!!
Just for you....a lovely site, with sweet music, lovely pictures and poems....
http://durangogirl.tripod.com/mothersday2002.html

For more links about Mother's Day
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go to the Infonews Archive page
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/infonews/archives/archives.htm and type "mother's day"
or see last year's sites:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/infonews/archives/121.htm#Mother's%20Day

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Project
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Poetry project
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Join this project : you register your pupils, and they find a correspondent
who will read and criticize their production. It seems a bit complicated at
the beginning, but it is well explained.
http://www.itvs.org/poeticlicense/teach_poet.html
When your pupils have finished working with their partners, they can have
their poems published in the "online poetry journal". You can see the
previous editions, read the poems for this month, and submit their poems
for next month edition
http://www.itvs.org/poeticlicense/youth_entries.html
for upper secondary school pupils on their own, or younger ones with their
teacher.

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Teaching practice
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Contest ( FREE> [FreeThings4Educators Update] )
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Don't forget to enter this month's contest! All you need to do is
submit your (true) funny or heart-warming teaching experience! (If you
have submitted a story in the past, please send in a different one).
The form you need to use to submit your story can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Oaks/9122/form.html
This contest will run until May 1, 2002 9:00pm ET.
The winner of this contest will be randomly selected from all qualifying
entries on May 1, 2002. The winner's first name & last initial will be
posted on the Free Things for Educator's web site, and in the weekly
newsletter. The winner will receive $50 worth of Children's or Young Reader
books!!!
[ share your practices online!]

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Internet tools
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FindSounds.com (from Michèle Henry)
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http://www.findsounds.com/
the search engine for finding sound effects on the Web
( Types of Sounds : TV and Movies - Vehicles - Sports and Recreation -
People - Office - etc
http://www.findsounds.com/types.html )
(à enregistrer) déclencheur de parole
[ a good complement to the Englsih to go lesson on animal sounds.... ;) ]

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Une compilation réalisée par :
Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
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