Infonews n°229 du 14/11/2004
Discover WinDi
Free Downloadable PowerPoint Presentations (Net Happenings Newsletter #4 November
9)
New video Games released : halo2, GTA3, and some others
Teaching unit
UN Environment Program
Shopping Buddy
Family opinion on cars (Net Happenings Newsletter #4 November 9)
Kizclub
Webquests and resources
The greater Good
Give Freely
Fundraising Ideas
Union History (Net Happenings Newsletter #4 November 9)
Calendar for November activities
Immigration
Catching Digital Cheaters (Edupage, November 10)
Cooperative Learning ( from Library Hot Five #248)
Discover WinDi
A really interesting and intelligent online translator!
http://www.langdy.com/dacc_g.htm
This dictionary and automatic translator doesn't give you a ready-made answers
which might not be accurate. It suggests several possibilities for each word,
and the students then have to choose themselves the meaning which fits their
sentence and the context. An excellent tool for reflection on language, to
learn how to use a dictionary acurately, and how to translate intelligently
with an online translator. this resource seems so good that I fear it might
soon become paying, but for the moment it is free, don't miss it!
Free Downloadable PowerPoint Presentations (Net Happenings Newsletter #4 November 9)
Free Downloadable PowerPoint Presentations for Most Subjects. I browsed through
the social science section, and found lots of interesting and varied presentations
(MLK, civil war, Iroquois, Columbus, women's right, etc.). This is a slow site
to download due to the heavy bandwidth requirements of the presentations, but
they are worth a look. This site can save you a lot of time. And since it was
made by American teachers for their students, these documents are first centered
on culture and history and use language as a tool ( as is required in the French
national curriculum! )
http://jc-schools.net/ppt.html
New video Games released : halo2, GTA3, and some others
You certainly don't know, but your male students do : last Wednesday, Halo
2 was released, and this week it will be Grand Theft Auto 3
Watch NBC news about it:
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/videostills/cnbcdj/111204_1150_24306761.vmod.jpg
Here is a short revue of the latest releases:
"New games go from car wars to Star Wars "
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-lihalo-game-sidebarnov08,0,314348.story?coll=sfla-features-headlines
and read articles:
"Not Playing Games" (Parents, take note: If you don't mind the 17-year-old "Mature" rating
on the box, then you're the one committing the real crime.)
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/31425.htm
"New video games hit shelves just in time for the holidays"
http://www.citizen-times.com/cache/article/thescene/70658.shtml
"Video games get serious"
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041109/BIZ02/411090337/1076/BIZ
Teaching unit
I started a teaching unit on this subject with my terminales STI . I organised
in groups of 4, and gave each group a text to study, analyse to find arguments
for or against video games. In each group there are two secretaries who take
and organise notes, and two who work on the oral presentation of the text.
Then each group will present orally their text to the rest of the class who
will take notes and finally write their own report discussing the good and
bad sides of video-games.
Here are some of the texts I used:
"It's violent - and teens will want it"
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=14814475&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=it-s-violent---and-teens-will-want-it-name_page.html
"Blame player, not game"
http://www.purdueexponent.org/interface/bebop/showstory.php?date=2004/10/29§ion=columns&storyid=ColumnMike1029
"Computer games should be taught in schools"
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/14277086?source=Evening%20Standard
"EFFECTS OF OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF VIDEO GAMES"
http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed365477.html
"Media literacy crucial in 21st century" ( too long, reduce it)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-10/30/content_387017.htm
"Video Games in American culture" (also to be edited)
<http://www.educationarcade.org/gtt/pubs/IJIS.doc>http://www.educationarcade.org/gtt/pubs/IJIS.doc
"Fiona : let the games begin...at last!"
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14813993&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=fiona--let-the-games-begin---at-last--name_page.html
UN Environment Program
"Cool site of the day"
http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com/cgi-bin/stillcool.pl
recommends this site with the United Nations Environment Programme
http://www.unep.org/
this useful site provides information about the reports and conferences about
environment and sustainable development. I selected for you:
- *** For beginners and primary school, this cartoon about the problems of
the ozone layer
http://www.unep.org/ozone/cartoons/ozone-cartoons.pdf
- ideas for discussion about environmental issues for youth and kids (with
drawings):
http://www.grida.no/geo2000/pacha/contents.htm
see for example, what you can do:
http://www.grida.no/geo2000/pacha/response/index.htm
- booklets to download about how to "increase awareness about environmental
issues and sustainable development", a theme stressed out as essential
in all subjects by the Ministry.
http://www.unep.org/tunza/youth/Publications/index.asp
- chats, forums and stories : you can also invite your students to share their
views on the subject through chats and forums (moderated), read some stories
written by youth or publish their own:
http://www.unep.org/tunza/youth/Hear_from_you/index.asp
As an exemple, read the BebZed story (a zero-energy house)
http://www.unep.org/tunza/youth/Action_Around-the_World/story8.asp
Shopping Buddy
Elisabeth Champeyrache has found for us this article about a device which
allows you to build automatically your shopping list and add the articles prices
as you take them from the shelves...but also allows the supermarket to analyze
and memorize your shopping habits and then push some advertising on you. A
good subject to discuss!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5462556/
[ there is an interesting text, and a video which I couldn't access, but maybe
you will...]
Family opinion on cars (Net Happenings Newsletter #4 November 9)
http://www.motorists.org/new/carreviews/index.html
[ An interesting site with cars presented from the user's point of view : for
each of the cars, the review includes the strong and weak points, a description
of its specificity, and the opinion of the different members of the family
: Mom, Dad, young man, and the decision of the family conference. See also
this article to decide which is the best SUV from a fuel efficiency point
of view. it starts with this sentence: "It is an oxymoron when you write
about fuel efficient SUVs". A good opportunity to introduce the word
oxymoron to non literary students? ;)
http://www.motorists.org/new/carreviews/suvgas.html ]
Union History (Net Happenings Newsletter #4 November 9)
This site has the main points in union history by years and in easy to use
form. Handouts and simple questions, too. For high school or gifted middle
schoolers, a side of history too often forgotten in today's textbooks, this
site has some startling data that should make for great learning opportunities.
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/curricul.htm
Calendar for November activities
Find all the activities for this month, including several easy quizzes and
worksheets, excellent for beginners and lower intermediate students.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/fun_month/1104.shtml
Immigration
See this resource from the Library of Congress : documents about Native Americans
and immigration.
and a page of links about immigration:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/immig/interv/resources.html
Kizclub
Fabienne Guerin on eteach has found this corean site full of resources for
primary school.
http://www.kizclub.com/
She liked the activities called "rainy day mobile" and "weather
wheel"
http://www.kizclub.com/seasonalcrafts.html
And especially the booklets with simple vocabulary and lovely illustrations,
to read and listen to online.
http://www.kizclub.com/Sbody.html
Don't miss it!
Webquests and resources
Thanksgiving is on November 25, 2004. To find webquests and sites to explore
about thanksgiving, go to : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/infonews/themes/thanksgiving.htm
If you want to explore the "charity" site of this holiday, here are
some sites recommended by Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, November 12th:
The greater Good
http://www.greatergood.com/newsroom/ths/activities.html
Find a well-considered selection here of resources for giving at Thanksgiving
time, as well as suggestions on how to explore charity activities with your
class during the holiday season.
Give Freely
http://www.thehungersite.com
http://www.therainforestsite.com/
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/
http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/
http://www.dameunacasa.com/index2.html
Even young children feel proud of giving to worthy charities, and your class
is able to make regular donations through the "click and give"
sites above. The above charities include giving to ease world hunger, saving
the rainforest, assisting breast cancer research or children's health globally,
aiding animal rescue, or building homes. While "click-to-give" sites
do not replace volunteer efforts and community outreach work for your students,
they can teach them an introduction to caring, sharing, and choosing to become
involved citizens of the world.
Fundraising Ideas
http://www.teach-nology.com/ideas/fundraising/
Do you want some fundraising ideas that have actually worked for teachers and
classrooms? Try this site for educator-submitted suggestions of fundraisers
with proven track records, and then brainstorm with your students to give
to a selected charity over the holidays.
Catching Digital Cheaters (Edupage, November 10)
Learn how to write proper quotations and bibliographies. Find website sources
that are used by cheaters and find the website
sources that are use to fight digital cheating and plagiarism. very useful
when entering part of the text in Google isn't efficient.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/plagiarism.html
Cooperative Learning ( from Library Hot Five #248)
- Theory:
Cooperative Learning
http://www.ce.umn.edu/~smith/docs/CLHks.pdf (Visit
this site to learn about the various aspects of cooperative learning and the
instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize
learning.)
http://www.co-operation.org/ (The
Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota has a series of
helpful articles on the benefits of cooperative learning.)
- Activities and assignements:
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/cooperativelearning.htm (Review
the elements of cooperative learning and try out the nine activities that use
this teaching strategy.)
http://www.schoolmission.net/SCHOOLHOUSE/lp_index.html#cooperative (Browse
links to cooperative learning lesson plans for language arts, math, reading
comprehension, science, spelling, social studies, vocabulary, and writing.)
- assessment:
http://www.zianet.com/cjcox/edutech4learning/cincorubric.html (Use
this rubric for assessing group work.)
