Infonews n°291 from 17/12/2006

"A la Une" this week, the new naturalization exams in many countries : a topical issue that can start a debate; "in the News" read a long article about Litvinenko and find another site about the origins of Christmas. There are also several resources for primary school : flash cards and bingos, an interactive site to talk about clothes, another for math and Christmas ornaments, and a free magazine with lots of resources. Then discover two sites full of videos and animations : just make your choice... Then find some new resources about  Global Warming : a webquest, articles and a site. Technicians will discover a new flat battery made of paper, two sites about car making, one about how to take good photos and another about the Channel tunnel. The resources for secondary school are varied : a radio and a new site for foreign information, a text (and audio) about the words cell phones and mobiles, one against death penalty, another about child labor, the pages of Time magazine this week to discover the heroes of the last 60 years, and a site about microcredit (Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with it). At the end, discover a page of tips for class management, a free online book in French, the last information in the B.O. : training sessions abroad, and the dates for the exams, and at the end, read about Mme Bourguignon's conference about teachers and the European Framework (CECRL).
        Next week you'll receive the last Infonews for this school year, with two main topics, New year and MLK Day (jan 15th). Then I'll be on holidays, so you will get Infonews n°293 on Sunday January the 14th.

Have a nice week,
Christine Reymond

Sommaire

A la Une : Naturalisation exams

- in the US
- in Latvia
- in the UK
- in the Netherland
- in Germany

In the News

Litvinenko
Christmas

Resources for Primary School

Flash Cards
Christmas Bingo Cards and short activities
Dress the Elves (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, December 13th)
Math and handicraft : polyhedral ornaments (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, December 13th)
Lang Primary (free magazine)

Videos

View Do
50 online animations

Global Warming

Webquest
Articles
Virtual World

Science and Technology

Flat paper batteries
Auto and Truck Repair and Advice (from The Scout Report -- December 15)
Modules d'anglais professionnel automobile
How to Take Great Photos of Holiday Lights (from [LII New This Week] December 14)
The Channel Tunnel (from [LII New This Week] December 7)

Resources for Secondary School

The World  (from The Scout Report -- December 15)
Use my cell!
Against Death Penalty
Stop Child Poverty (from The Scout Report -- December 15)
60 years of Heroes
Microcredit (from The Scout Report -- December 15)

Competitions

New Blog Competition from the BBC
Make your Video

Teaching Practice

The two minutes rule ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, December 13th)
Ouvrage gratuit
Stages à l'Etranger
Calendrier des épreuves du bac, brevet etc.
Conférence à lire en ligne


A la Une : Naturalisation exams

There seems to be an exam to be naturalized in most countries, except France. Read this report (in French) and then see how it works in several other countries:
"tous les Etats étudiés, à l'exception de la Suède, ont établi ou vont bientôt introduire un test de citoyenneté pour l'obtention de la nationalité par naturalisation. La France, qui n'en a pas, fait figure d'exception. Tous les pays étudiés, à l'exception de la Suède et du Danemark, ont ou vont aussi bientôt introduire une cérémonie obligatoire pour l'obtention de la citoyenneté, avec ou sans prestation de serment. " (extrait d'une intervention à l'assemblé nationale du 6 décembre)
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/europe/c-rendus/c0191.asp
en français aussi, sur un blog perso, le compte rendu de l'épreuve et la cérémonie au Canada:
http://www.gabuzomeu.com/quebec/article.php3?id_article=10

in the US

See how it work on the site of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
and read the 144 questions and answers from New Pilot Naturalisation Exam
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=dcf5e1df53b2f010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD
more information on the test in an Indian newspaper
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=77644#compstory
it's new (September 2006) and there's even a video!
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2006_11_27/us/new_citizenship_test_01.htm

in Latvia

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/03/wlatvia03.xml

in the UK

Here is a site "to help you to prepare for the Life in the UK Test. It does not give you the knowledge you need to take the test. You can find this information in the 'Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship' handbook. This is the only book you will need to buy to prepare for the test.
Not everyone has to take the Life in the UK Test. Visit 'About the test' to find out if you do. Depending on your level of English, you may choose to attend combined English language (ESOL) and citizenship classes.
The test is computer-based and only available to take at an accredited Life in the UK Test centre in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
http://www.lifeintheuktest.gov.uk/
And you can learn more about the test and find useful links to more details on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_in_the_United_Kingdom_test

in the Netherland

This country make the applicants take the exam in their country of origin before they are allowed to travel to the Netherland for a long stay. Read:
http://www.hollandemb.org.eg/english/civilintegration.htm

in Germany

read this article, see the questions, and you can even go to wikipedia for a cheat sheet with all the right answers in German
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=28656

In the News

Litvinenko

- Everything about Litvinenko
Time Magazine features a long article ( 7 pages!) about "the mysterious death of Alexander Litvinenko -- the ex-KGB agent who turned on the Kremlin -- may read like the plot of a spy thriller. But the classic methods of the murder inquiry still apply: Who had the motive? The means? The opportunity?"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568482,00.html
[ for teachers and advanced students.]
- It's Elemental: Polonium (from [LII New This Week] December 7)
Background about the radioactive element polonium, which was "discovered by Marie Sklodowska Curie, a Polish chemist, in 1898. She obtained polonium from pitchblende, a material that contains uranium." Includes a brief description of uses, facts and figures, and other details. From the Jefferson Lab, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele084.html

Christmas

Solstice, Sacaea-Saturnalia, Yule, and Today(from [LII New This Week] December 7)
This site examines "the ancient origins of the winter holiday season" and how pagan and Christian celebrations have merged into Christmas traditions. The site includes factual tidbits about ancient and current winter solstice celebrations; Egyptian, Persian, and Roman celebrations; and northern European Yule traditions. Also includes a description of holiday celebrations for the day, a bibliography, and related links.
http://www.candlegrove.com/sacaea.html

Resources for Primary School

Flash Cards

On e-teach, Florinda Fernandes recommends this site where you can find flash cards on many topics, such a Christmas at the moment, but also clothes, jobs, animals, places, etc.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-flashcards.htm
On LearnEnglishKids by the British Council, you can find lots of other printable sheets and activities
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-print.htm
This page is for Christmas, but just follow the links and find resources on other topics like pirates, school, shopping, rainforest and super heroes...
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics.htm
and there is also a page of tips on how to use these resources
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-parents-tips.htm

Christmas Bingo Cards and short activities

Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, from December 13th recommends this site where teachers can "find a generous supply and variety of Bingo cards to use as holiday treats, learning reinforcements, or simply as sponge activities for those few extra minutes at the end of the day or before breaks."
http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/bingo1.asp

Dress the Elves (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, December 13th)

There are two elves that need to dress up for Christmas, with beautiful dresses and winter coats, boots, and hats. Have your students create stories about the elves, where they are going in their wonderful costumes, what their names are, what they do at the North Pole, etc.
http://www.akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/dresself.htm
from this page, you can also access a whole page of "dress up":
http://www.akidsheart.com/dress/dressup.htm

Math and handicraft : polyhedral ornaments (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, December 13th)

Combine holiday festivities with math in action, where your class will be studying geometric solids and then learning how to create those solids with paper. Use red, greens, golds, and sparkly silver papers to make these polyhedrons into wonderful Christmas ornaments.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/geometry/solids/

Lang Primary (free magazine)

Vanessa Bertrand has discovered this excellent site of an Italian ESL magazine to teach English in primary school. The site offers online the full version of old issues of the magazines, with teaching tips, lesson plans and worksheets. Click on "volume completo" to download the magazine in .pdf, and then everything is in English.
http://www.langedizioni.com/varie/riviste/index.html

Videos

View Do

You certainly all know "you tube", where anybody can post any home made video, or almost. You can find there excellent videos that you can use in class, but avoid sending your students directly to the site, because some videos are definitely not suitable for the class....
http://www.youtube.com/
Thot Cursus ( <http://thot.cursus.edu/rechforum.asp?query=&s=1&Btn.x=23&Btn.y=7>http://thot.cursus.edu/ ) recommends another site of the same type in their last letter. It is called "View Do" and claims to teach you to do things through videos. What you can learn is varied and often interesting and well done, from cooking recipes to break dancing or wrapping gifts. Note that there is a "message from the sponsor" (and some are rather disgusting...) before the videos, which makes them more difficult to copy and if the ad isn't allowed through firewall (as it is in my school) then you can't even see the video in streaming!
wrapping gifts : http://www.viewdo.com/now_viewing.php?id=139
making a yule log http://www.viewdo.com/now_viewing.php?id=139
break Dance : http://www.viewdo.com/now_viewing.php?id=110

50 online animations

Focus on animation is a stunning site made by our Canadian colleagues from the Natioan lFilm Board (NFB) in French and in English.
http://www.onf.ca/animation/objanim/en/index.php
Explore the NFB’s rich animation heritage, learn about the techniques used in our films and discover some of our key filmmakers, relive the history of a world-renowned institution, from 1941 to today, learn about the many different animation techniques honed by NFB filmmakers over the years, explore 43 NFB animated shorts and three optical games in this section designed for 9- to 12-year-olds and their teachers, and view 50 NFB animated shorts, including several classics of the animated art (this is the part I like best).
http://www.onf.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/
For example, watch 'Christopher, please Clean up your room!"
http://www.onf.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?sort=director&director=Gauthier%2C+Vincent&id=50445

Global Warming

Webquest

Our colleague Valérie Gély has created a new webquest for her intermediate students about Global warming, based on very useful documents like three front pages from Time magazine, two videos : "Global Warning" from Di Caprio and the trailer of "An uncoinvenient truth" and two audio documents from VOA. The site also offers links to several online dictionaries and a debate.
http://perso.orange.fr/ecole.st.sulpice/eleves2/globalwarming/total.htm

Articles

On eteachNet, our colleague J-Marc Brauer who teachers physics in English, recommends this interesting article from the New York Times, with two animations
" By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers"
http://tinyurl.com/y9vd5t
or in full:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/science/earth/12arcti.html?_r=2&n=Top%2fNews%2fScience%2fTopics%2fGlobal%20Warming&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
and our colleague Frederic Chottard recommends this article from the Guardian:
"Britain 3C warmer"
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1769825,00.html>http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1769825,00.html

Virtual World

This site for advanced students provides information on Global Environmental problems, and lists the NGO and NPO that work for the global environment:
http://www.virtualglobe.org/en/
problems and solutions : http://www.virtualglobe.org/en/info/env/index.html
NPO, NGO : http://www.virtualglobe.org/en/info/env/01/index.html
It is the result of a project lead by three Japanese groups : Global environment Action (GEA), The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency in Japan (ERCA)
GEA : http://www.gea.or.jp/
IGES : http://www.iges.or.jp/
ERCA : http://www.erca.go.jp/english/index.html
On eteachNet, Françoise Campo recommends this site for answers to questions like "what is a fuel cell" or "what is the Kyoto protocole" in short and to the point articles. See espacially the page about global warming:
http://www.virtualglobe.org/en/info/env/01/index.html

Science and Technology

Flat paper batteries

Time Magazine Europe this week presents SoftBatterys by Enfucell, a new battery, made of paper, 0.4-mm-thin, measuring about 5 cm by 5 cm and with a cost of only a penny. "If saving bits of energy and environment here and there add up, then Finland's Enfucell has a battery that will help people make a difference by cutting down on all the metal, lithium and alkaline that leaks from conventional cells." read more at:
http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901061211-1565509,00.html
[ for technicians, from intermediate level upwards.]

Auto and Truck Repair and Advice (from The Scout Report -- December 15)

George G. Scott, Jr. has been an auto mechanic for over thirty years, and he has also found time in his busy schedule to create this website dedicated to providing both the average person and future auto mechanics with information about car and truck repair. While the site does contain some banner advertisements, there is plenty of fine free material here as well. Visitors can begin their journey by looking into areas titled "How Your Car Works". After that, they can look over an alphabetical list that includes sage advice on everything from alternators to water pump repair.   The site is rounded out by a fun collection of sounds of cars in "trouble", including a bad motor mount of 1994 Saturn and the valve train tapping of a 1993 Isuzu Rodeo. [KMG]
http://www.econofix.com/
[ a data base of articles, but no pictures or videos that we could use in class. The part with the 'noises' is short, but unusual : you could try it and see if your students specialisez in mechanics and cars agree on the diagnosis...]

Modules d'anglais professionnel automobile

L’ANFA – Association Nationale pour la Formation Automobile – met à disposition sur son site internet un nouvel outil pédagogique en anglais professionnel automobile. Créé dans le cadre de la convention de coopération avec le ministère de l’Education nationale, cet outil a été construit avec l’appui d’enseignants formant les jeunes aux métiers de l’automobile. Il propose, sous une forme interactive, des textes sonorisés, des rappels de grammaire et plus de 80 exercices. Organisé sous la forme de 28 modules de formation thématiques, cet outil permet à l’enseignant de construire une approche modulaire des apprentissages et d’individualiser les parcours de formation. Ces modules multimédias de formation, contextualisés automobile, ont été conçus à l’attention des jeunes préparant un Bac Pro en carrosserie-peinture ou en maintenance (automobile, moto et véhicule industriel). Ils peuvent également être proposés à des publics en fin de BEP et en début de formation BTS.
http://www.anfa-auto.fr/anglais/

How to Take Great Photos of Holiday Lights (from [LII New This Week] December 14)

This article offers ideas for taking photos of tree lights, candles, holiday lights on buildings, and other indoor and outdoor lit subjects. Includes tips for both film and digital photography, and examples of photographs of holiday lights. From a photography school.
http://www.nyip.com/ezine/holidays/holidaylights.html
[ for all those who are not sure how to take photos of lights...]

The Channel Tunnel (from [LII New This Week] December 7)

This illustrated feature provides a history of the Channel Tunnel, the train tunnel connecting France and Britain under the English Channel, officially opened in 1994. Features photos, images, and diagrams of the tunnel. From the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk/04/channel_tunnel/html/default.stm
see also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/1/newsid_2516000/2516473.stm

Resources for Secondary School

The World  (from The Scout Report -- December 15)

Any effort to provide high-quality news coverage of events around the world must include a crack team of international correspondents drawn from some of the world's most prominent news organizations. Fortunately, Public Radio International's well-regarded program, The World, draws on correspondents from the BBC and other respected news agencies. On their well-organized site, visitors can listen to each program in its entirety, or move through a number of online-only special reports, which include features on Afghanistan and ethnic conflicts in Africa. The World's site also offers three different podcasts and RSS feeds. Another fine feature of the site is the section where reporters for their program offer journals from their recent investigative excursions to Israel, Mexico, China, and Northern Ireland.
Overall, the site is a fine way to stay up to date with current events of importance from Ghana to Goa. [KMG]
http://www.theworld.org/

Use my cell!

BBC Learning English features a simple and easy text about the word cell as in cellphones, which tends now to replace mobile phone in England too. You can download the audio file, the transcript and even the lesson plan. A ready to use lesson for intermediates onwards, which also contains useful internet vocabulary like "I did a seach on Google" or "synchronize your cell" ( I don't know exactly what that means, but I can rely on my students to willingly explain it to me!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1130_uptodate2/page6.shtml

Against Death Penalty

Time Magazine Europe this week feature these articles against death penalty. You can consider them a bit catchy, and I'm not sure they're appropriate for our students, but they can also be a starting point if you want to deal with this issue in class, because they deal with being innocent (with the touching image of an Italian child signing the coffin of the alleged Texan murderer) and with how painful death by injection can be. You can relate it to the film "the green line", or find additional resources among those:
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/disci/anglais/70.php#117
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/disci/anglais/17.php#58 (scroll down, it is the second article)
Here are the two articles from Time Magazine this week ( for upper intermediates onwards)
- "How Gregory Summers, a Texan triple-murder convict, came to rest in Italy"
http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901061218-1568443,00.html
- "Executions halted in 2 states after botched injection" ( some details are shocking, and since many teenagers are attracted to gory details, I think it would be better to edit the text before using it in class...if you ever feel like using it!)
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/LAW/12/15/diaz.execution.ap/index.html

Stop Child Poverty (from The Scout Report -- December 15)

A number of international organizations are committed to helping end child poverty, and one of the best known of their number is the Global Volunteer Network. Through their advocacy work and the Stop Child Poverty campaign, they are dedicated to the proposition that child poverty can be completed eradicated. Through sections titled "Learn It", "Live It", and "Pass it On", visitors to this site will learn about the "big picture" of child poverty and how they can become directly involved in any number of volunteer projects. The "Pass It On" area is quite fine in this regard, as visitors can look over a message board where they can discuss the campaign, and then use a zip-code search engine to find volunteer opportunities in their area. [KMG]
http://www.stopchildpoverty.org/
[ The big picture offers articles and information about all the areas concerned : child labour, landmines, health, slavery, children soldiers, etc.
http://www.stopchildpoverty.org/learn/bigpicture/
Also about Child labour, see those animations from a Canadian website (an there are many resources, available both in French and English):
http://www.in-terre-actif.com/english/extension/exploitation_travail/anglais/activite.html
you can also access several lesson plans and teacher's guides
http://www.in-terre-actif.com/english/show.php?id=2579
see for example this lesson on fair trade:
http://www.in-terre-actif.com/english/fichier/FAIRTRAD.pdf ]

60 years of Heroes

Time magazine features several portraits and biographies that can be very useful in class. They are organised in three categories which mix surprising people. In "culture and entertainment" you find side by side the Beatles, Paul Bocuse, Enzo Ferrari, J.K.Rowling and Coco Chanel. The next category, "rebel and leaders" is quite appropriate to our upper high school curriculum....and in "inspiration and explorer", find Cousteau and princess Diana next to Mother Teresa and Jean Claude Killy.
http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero2006/opener.html

Microcredit (from The Scout Report -- December 15)

As founder of the Grameen Bank receives Nobel Peace Prize, the profile of microcredit lending grows . Read this psecial report from The Scout Report and visit the sites they recommend. (from upper intermediate and advanced students in economics.)
http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/2006/scout-061215-inthenews.php#1

Competitions

New Blog Competition from the BBC

If your students are 16 or above, invite them to answer a simple question and become next month's student blogger on BBC Learning English. The winning blogger will need to write a daily diary about their life on this site. Read this page to enter the competition:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/blog_competition.shtml

Make your Video

anybody can take part : you, your school or one of your students. The only request about the content is that at the end the viewer must fel able to do something he didn't know how to do before. Read the article on Thot and register!
http://thot.cursus.edu/rubrique.asp?no=25139

Teaching Practice

The two minutes rule ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, December 13th)

Need some help getting organized? Try following this set of rules to get the paperwork in place, the task done, and the focus on track.
http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/organization/2minute.html

Ouvrage gratuit

Voyez la rubrique biliographie de la partie langues vivantes du Café Pédagogique : vous y trouverez entre autre la dernière publication en français du CELV est un manuel sur l’interculturel :"Miroirs et fenêtres - Manuel de communication interculturelle" de Martina HUBER-KRIEGLER, Ildiko LAZAR et John STRANGE, gratuit et intégralement en ligne
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/disci/langues/78.php#77

Stages à l'Etranger

Sylvie Brod sur eteachnet nous signale que la liste des stages et les procédures d'inscription sont parues au BO du 14 dec, pour des inscriptions avant le 10 janvier
http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/46/MENE0602910C.htm
Voyez la page d'accueil, vers la procédure et les formulaires d'inscription:
http://www.ciep.fr/stageslinguistic/
voici la liste des stages pour ensiegnants du 2nd degré
http://www.ciep.fr/stageslinguistic/stagesprofs.htm
Et si vous preferez la Fondation Fulbright
http://www.fulbright-france.org/
ou des echanges de postes
http://www.ciep.fr/echposte/

Calendrier des épreuves du bac, brevet etc.

au B.O. n°14 sont aussi parues les dates des examens pour cette année:
ftp://trf.education.gouv.fr/pub/edutel/bo/2006/46/calendrier_bac.pdf
http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/46/MENE0602993N.htm

Conférence à lire en ligne

Sur le site de l'APLV, ne manquez las de lire la conférence de Claire Bourguignon, Maître de Conférences HDR, IUFM de l’Académie de Rouen, sur "La responsabilité des enseignants de langues à l’aune du Cadre Européen Commun de Référence"
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/article.php3?id_article=655


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