Infonews n°192 du 07/09/2003

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A la Une, discover some néologism, including the delightful
"Dorian-graying". In the news, the Blackout, with a super lesson, and many
addresses. Then two resources for primary school about character
education, another one for lower secondary school, and also a site of
stories and poems, one about road safety and one about WWF and protection
of the planet. Then three resources for upper secondary school, two sites
for girls, two forums, to correspond with teenagers in English. In teaching
practice, find a list for segpa, and a report about what skills are
expected to learn in the 21st century. And two internet resources : a site
to generate flash cards and other documents, and a guide to making
webpages, including free resources to add to your pages.
Good reading!
Your Infonews is a bit longer this week, because I will be in
Spain next week-end. Your next Infonews will come out on Sunday September 21st.

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A la Une : Néo-logisms
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Douglas Coupland's "Generation X" Neo-logisms (from The Scout Report
-September 5)
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in the News : the Black Out
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A ready to use lesson (from Annie Gwynn on e-teach)
Blackout addresses from Olivier Colas
Everything about the Blackout from CBS
Blackout videos of Congress (video without text)
Blackout statement from President Bush (text without video)
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Resources for Primary school
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I am special
What is friendship?
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Lower secondary school resources
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Character Education
Pitara Kids Network, India ( from Michele Ben on Etni)
Traffic Safety Kids Page ([LIIWEEK] September 4)
WWF Virtual House ([LIIWEEK] September 4)
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Upper secondary school resources
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The Right State (fromRiverdeep's Classroom Flyer September 4th)
Wild, wild West Unit (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer September 5th)
NutritionData (from [LIIWEEK] September 4)
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Sites for Girls
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Educating Jane (from CRC Digest #2003-138)
GirlHealth (from [LIIWEEK] September 4)
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Forum for students
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Join YICOM ( from Kátia Martins Pereira on Etni)
Discuss on Viv@
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Teaching practice
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Liste Segpa-diffusion
Learning for 21st Century (from Infobourg)
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Internet resources
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Personal Educational Press (Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer September 4th)
WebDesignHelper (The Scout Report -- September 5)

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A la Une : Néo-logisms
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Douglas Coupland's "Generation X" Neo-logisms (from The Scout Report
-September 5)
--------------------------
http://www.scn.org/~jonny/genx.html
compilation of the neolgisms utilized by Douglas Coupland's interesting
tale, Generation X, which was first published in 1992. As the book deals
with the post-Baby Boomer population, the phrases
included here range from such witticisms as "café minimalism" (which means
to espouse a philosophy of minimalism without actually putting into
practice any of its tenets) to "Dorian Graying" (which means the
unwillingness to gracefully allow one's body to show the signs of aging).
[ for teachers and very advanced students.....see how life and culture
influences language!....I just love the Dorian Graying!!!!!!]

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in the News : the Black Out
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A ready to use lesson (from Annie Gwynn on e-teach)
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See this ready to use lesson designed by Annie Gwynn on a text suggested by
Darren Rigby on e-teach. There is a cartoon to introduce the vocabulary to
the class as a warming up, a complete worksheet to elucidate the text, and
even a follow up work!
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/annie.gwynn/cours/blackout.pdf

Blackout addresses from Olivier Colas
--------------------------
Some of you were at Cyber-langues, and heard Olivier Colas' conference
about teaching with the news. He had done a great reserach work to find
interesting pages, and he accepted to share them with you in Infonews:
several cartoons from Cagle:
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/Blackout/main.asp
http://www.cagle.com/caglecards/main.asp?image=http://cagle.slate.msn.com/comics/updating/cagle00.gif
from Yahoo News
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/blackout_investigation
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/canada_us_power
from ABC
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030815_1809.html
Full coverage from BBC, with video, pictures and a chat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3153000/3153005.stm
from Yahooligans (a short text and a slideshow)
http://www.yahooligans.com/content/news/article?c=1775&p=/030815/222/4zgqh.html
Cnn questions and coverage
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2003/fyi/news/08/14/discussion.power.outage
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/08/14/power.outage/index.html

Everything about the Blackout from CBS
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/15/national/main568414.shtml
a very complete coverage of the event, with photos, videos, analysis of the
causes, stories. Ideal to invite the students to explore the event in depth
on their own.

Blackout videos of Congress (video without text)
--------------------------
C-Span offers various official speeches in connection with the Blackout at:
http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=blackout
including President Bush News Briefing in Response to Blackout on 8/19/2003
in WASHINGTON, DC (7 min)
http://video.c-span.org:8080/ramgen/fdrive/60days/wh081903_bush.rm

Blackout statement from President Bush (text without video)
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in San Diego on August 14th.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/08/20030814-4.html

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Resources for Primary school
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I am special
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http://www.union-city.k12.nj.us/curr/preschool&K/F-PreKThematicUnits_Mat/special/learncentersc.html
(copy and paste together the two parts of this long address)
This site for US pre-school (kindergarten) teachers, provides lots of
interesting ideas to help children feel special, accept their image and
their feeling, discover themselves and the others. This includes several
physical activities that can be organised in an ESL class in primary school
: just try it, and you'll see the difference it makes!

What is friendship?
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http://www.shuntington.k12.ny.us/Projects/quilts/shepherd.htm
This site shows pictures drawn by children to illustrate a story and a
sentence like 'friends are always there for you' . You can show your class
the drawing, encourage them to find the story behind it, and what it means,
and then encourage them to draw their own.

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Lower secondary school resources
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Character Education
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Suggestions for activities, and lots of useful addresses for character
education:
http://www.goodcharacter.com/index.html

Pitara Kids Network, India ( from Michele Ben on Etni)
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http://www.pitara.com/
This site run by parents for 13 year old English speaking children is full
of interesting resources, easy to use with lower intermediate students. It
is also safe, and you can let the students explore it on their own and
report what they found to the class.
Here is how the site describes itself : "The idea of Pitara was born out of
the recognition that education is not an end in itself. That it has a
higher goal - of helping our children become intelligent human beings.
Intelligent and sensitive to their immediate
social-political-cultural-ecological surroundings."
You can find there:
- in Tale-Spin : stories (about one page long), folktales and poems, quite
fit to make intermediate students study a story or a tale.
- in Magazine : Fun Do (riddle, limericks, jokes) and People, with the
profile of several famous people, including our Cousteau....
- in Discover : find other stories in the 5W/H section, like 'what is the
mystery of Dracula', from Vlad Tepes to a theme park! And the Eureka
section, with articles about a smart kitchen, an electronic schoolbag
weighing 2.5kg and clothes that don't get dirty....
- in Activities : arts and crafts, quizzes and word play...

Traffic Safety Kids Page ([LIIWEEK] September 4)
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http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/kids.htm
This colorful site highlights safety while walking, bicycling, skating,
riding in cars, and using school buses and public transportation. There are
coloring pages, puzzles, a traffic sign quiz, and other activities. Also
includes links to sites for children on other safety and health issues.
From the New York State Governor's Traffic Safety Committee.
[ for lower secondary school.]

WWF Virtual House ([LIIWEEK] September 4)
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http://www.virtualhouse.org/
This site from the World Wildlife Fund invites users to "come in and make
yourself at home -- and learn about our connections to biodiversity"
through answering questions related to touring a house. This interactive
game features facts and statistics on topics such as forests, toxic
chemicals, wildlife, and global warming. Also includes links to detailed
topical information.

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Upper secondary school resources
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The Right State (fromRiverdeep's Classroom Flyer September 4th)
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http://www.learningspace.org/teach_learn/lplan/library/Pirog.html
http://www.theus50.com/
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/states.html
Your teacher will be buying a vacation property in one of the fifty states.
It's the students' job to team up, take a state, and find where the best
place is in that state to purchase vacation property, using online
resources. Lastly, they must design both a brochure and an oral
presentation to persuade the teacher that their location is truly the best
way to go. Use the 2nd and 3rd URLs above for replacing inactive state and
city resources included within this lesson plan.
[ here is a webquest and projet to add to the US webquests from n°191.]

Wild, wild West Unit (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer September 5th)
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http://www.coreknowledge.org/CKproto2/resrcs/lessons/01_5_WildWest.pdf
Cowboys, Buffalo Bill, the Transcontinental Railroad... What could be more
exciting to study than the wild American West? Here is an excellent unit to
use from Core Knowledge, covering political and socio-economic changes that
occurred with westward expansion. Horace Greely of the New York Times
recommended that all young men go west, and your students will have to
write an ad campaign to the same effect. Learn about homesteaders,
immigrants of all nationalities that helped to build the railroad and
settle the western frontier, rugged women and wild outlaws... The
culminating activity is a Wild West Day, showcasing student presentations
across the curriculum, with costumes, games, music-stage a down-home barn
dance, complete with hay bales, and invite the whole school. Handouts and
student worksheets are included.
[ Even with advanced students, this unit, designed for 5th graders (CM1),
cannot be used as is. It is very interesting, and I discovers lots of
vocabulary, laws, people and references (sodbusters, Homestead laws, Golden
Spike...) that I didn't know. But the unit is mainly based on non-internet
resources, such as books and videos difficult to find here. Nevertheless,
the structure and the process are good and the three "projects" at the end
are interesting too....]

NutritionData (from [LIIWEEK] September 4)
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http://www.nutritiondata.com/
This site provides a searchable database of food composition and nutrition
information. Each result includes a nutrition facts panel; a calorie ratio
pyramid for carbohydrates, fats, and protein; and detailed information
about minerals, vitamins, and other components of the food item. Also
includes nutritional data for some fast-food restaurants and other
nutrition tools. Information is based primarily on data from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), supplemented by other sources.
[ site for students studying sciences and for those interested in nutrition.]

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Sites for Girls
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Educating Jane (from CRC Digest #2003-138)
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http://www.educatingjane.com/
Educating Jane is a site for girls, aiming at making them better at school,
and showing them that female can succeed in a men's world. You will find a
list of useful links in all subjects:
http://www.educatingjane.com/Study/8-12.htm
And an interesting "be" section (be active, be a leader, etc. ) where you
will also find links to site for good table manners. But you can skip the
strange 'vision quest' section, encouraging shamanic practices...
http://www.educatingjane.com/Be/Be%20Active.htm

GirlHealth (from [LIIWEEK] September 4)
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http://www.girlhealth.org/
"Created by young women for young women," this site provides links,
information, interviews and personal stories addressing mental and physical
health issues important to teenage girls. The site covers many topics
including college and career choices, relationships, immigration, drugs,
physical abuse, pregnancy, healthy diets, self-esteem, depression, and
stress. Girlhealth is produced by "urban, low-income young women who are
between the ages of 14 and 18 and who live in the San Francisco Bay Area."
[ Pages about bulimia, anorexia, depression, self esteem, suicide, alcohol,
drugs, abuse, etc. And read interesting pages about girls and gangs:
http://www.girlhealth.org/gangs/index.html ]

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Forum for students
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Join YICOM ( from Kátia Martins Pereira on Etni)
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This ESL colleague from Brazil invites us to join her students on a forum
and a chat. Have a look at what they already started:
http://www.english4all.pro.br/yicom.htm
ESL teacher swill also be interested in her page of teacher resources:
http://www.english4all.pro.br/teacheresourses.htm

Discuss on Viv@
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And, of course, you can also discuss (in several languages) on Viv@, the
forum created by our colleague Phil Benz and the CDDP of Privat:
http://www.ardecol.ac-grenoble.fr/viva/
The design is really superb, and you can also ask them to open a new area
if you have a new idea!

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Teaching practice
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Liste Segpa-diffusion
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http://aisnet.lautre.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/segpa-diffusion
Vous enseignez l'anglais en segpa? Ne vous sentez plus seul, adhérez à
cette liste et vous trouverez des collègues avec qui échanger vos problèmes
et vos solutions.

Learning for 21st Century (from Infobourg)
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http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/default.asp
These various educational partners worked together and produced a report.
You will find online a free report offering a grid to allow you to see how
much of the 21st century skills you integrate in your everyday teaching
(and this might also give you ideas about how to do it better) :
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/downloads/P21_MILE_Guide_Chart.pdf
And researchers on this subject can find there an excellent, extensive
bibliography :
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/downloads/P21_References_Endnotes.pdf

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Internet resources
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Personal Educational Press (Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer September 4th)
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http://www.educationalpress.org/educationalpress/
This free service supplies tailor-made flashcards, worksheets, quizzes,
wordsearches, signs, word lists, and more. Simply plug in your parameters
and choose your function to generate a work page.

WebDesignHelper (The Scout Report -- September 5)
--------------------------
http://www.WebDesignHelper.co.uk/
For those individuals who would like to design a Web site, but still might
not have the technical acumen required, this site is a free resource that
features numerous templates, Web graphics, fonts, and a number of other
useful items that can be used to create a complete Web site. The template
section alone contains 129 free full-page templates, along with 21
horizontal menus, 26 vertical menus, and 23 table templates. The Web
graphics and fonts section contains 144 fonts, 120 icons (with such popular
images as tables, graphs, and charts), 67 types of arrows, and 128 buttons.
For users with queries, an online forum is also available where users can
submit and read questions. Lastly, there is an area where advanced users can
submit their own contributions for inclusion on the site. [KMG]

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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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