Infonews n°297 from 11/02/2007
A clip
The actions
Some tips
Count the bananas (from The Classroom Flyer, Monday, February 5th)
Free karaoke
A landscape adventure
Painting Poetry Pebbles (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
Mosaïc Heart (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
Can you name that president? (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
English and Chemistry (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
English and Mathematics (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
English and Technical Sciences (from crosscurricular tasks, like the French
TPE)
Irregular verbs
Some more for Valentine's Day
Discover poetry in 30 days (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
Reports from a Warming Planet (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Family Fun TV
The presidential diary (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
Black history month
Mid-American Earthquake Center (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Loose Lips : Exploring the Prejudiced Words of Celebrities
Songwriters Hall of Fame Virtual Museum (from The Scout Report -- February
9)
How to download a video
FastStone Capture 5.2 (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Évaluer dans une perspective actionnelle
A clip
On e-teach, Maud David-Leroy recommends this clip from You Tube. The sound
track is the song
"Another brick in the Wall " from the Pink Floyds produced by the
new famous Swedish DJ Eric Prydz Vs Floyd , and the story presents a group
of teenagers in school uniforms who take all the risks to save electricity
and water. It's funny, and I think it is something the students will like to
comment and talk about.
http://www.clip-video-musique.com/show-238-proper-education.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CivLKzRo48Y&mode=related&search=
and they will also want to know the lyrics and they'll link them to the clip
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pink+floyd/another+brick+in+the+wall+part+i_20108775.html
read these comments in French about the clip:
http://lemeltingpotdeclytia.centerblog.net/1002491-Proper-education
and see the clip with Tony Blair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJTDSEPSfhk&mode=related&search=
The actions
You can also link the end of the clip to this article (short and easy) from
the BBC announcing a black out in London on November 4th 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6114788.stm
http://www.workface-limited.co.uk/html/blackout.html
See also this switch-a-ton on the site of an Irish radio programme
http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/fp2007/energy.html
and this Earth Hour in Australia, organised by the WWF, on March 31st 2007
http://wwf.org.au/act/takeaction/
Results of the action in France : a fall of 1% of the national consumption
for five minutes on January 31st (article in French)
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3228,36-862674,0.html?xtor=RSS-3208
Some tips
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6076658.stm (UK)
http://www.dochange.net/environment/ENV_DoALittle.jsp?pContentID=323&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show& (UK)
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.es_at_home_tips (US)
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/take_action/12_steps (US,
from Greenpeace, with diagrams)
Count the bananas (from The Classroom Flyer, Monday, February 5th)
Audio enhances this online game for preschool students. They will be counting
the number of bananas the monkey eats in each episode. With wrong answers,
they are encouraged to try again before going on to another number.
http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/activities/monkey.asp?themeid=1
[ a short and easy activity for a class of young beginners : they learn one,
two, three, four; bananas, carrots, pickles; help, count, sleep, good night...that's
all, but they will remember it!]
Free karaoke
On eteachNet, our colleague Bernard Russo recommends this free karaoke with
lots of songs for children in English:
<http://www.espace-francophone.com/karaoke/index_e_ab.html>http://www.espace-francophone.com/karaoke/index_e_ab.html
A landscape adventure
Find a virtual art learning adventure here for primary students, where they
can explore landscape art, tone, and mood in painting. Students will also be
creating their own landscapes to match the elements they have learned about
while visiting the paintings of Monet, Innes, Gauguin, Manet, Church, and Hiroshage.
http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/play/landscape1/index.html
[ learn some vocabulary as you watch and analyze paintings : discover how paintings
can express the mood of someone...fascinating! ]
Painting Poetry Pebbles (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
If you can't have a green garden in your classroom or at your school, then
try creating a poetry pebble garden instead. Have your students decorate pebbles
with paint, then choose words from a word list to write on them, according
to your grade and skill level. You can create your poem as a class once your
pebbles are all dry. Make a new poem each week for a changing poetry garden
vista that your whole school can enjoy. (All)
http://www.kinderart.com/across/poetry.shtml
[ you can do this activity with beginners who will write just a few words and
then play with them to write poems, but at the same time also learn basic rules
of word order.]
Mosaïc Heart (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
Here's a creative and unique approach to Valentine's Day art, where paper
mosaic pieces are glued on a poster board to craft a colorful heart and background.
Challenge older students to cut out themed words in irregular shapes in order
to make their mosaics with words, as well as with pictures. (All)
http://www.kinderart.com/seasons/mosaicheart.shtml
Can you name that president? (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
Who was the first President to live in the White House? Which American President
has his image on both the one dollar bill and on the twenty-five cent coin?
Whose picture appears on the twenty dollar bill? How well do you know your
American Presidents? Find out here, along with a bit of interesting trivia
for each one. (4-6)
http://www.primarygames.com/presidents/start.htm
[ This game is easy but a bit repetitive. And the children get to know simple
information about several presidents (on what dollar bill they appear, what
happened as they were president).]
English and Chemistry (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
General Chemistry I Digital Lecture Material
Dr. Mark Ott, a professor at Jackson Community College in Wyoming, has created
a set of compelling screencasts and accompanying audio tracks that are designed
to complement his general chemistry lectures. Visitors can look over these
materials at their leisure, and they will find very well-thought out lessons
that cover such topics as unit conversion, molecular formulae, balancing
chemical equations, and ionic and covalent bonding. All of these materials
are lucid and might be used both by students who are becoming more acquainted
with the world of chemistry, or by educators who might be seeking to assist
their students in the learning process. These learning modules are available
here in either the Flash format or via Google video. [KMG]
http://docott.com/files.141/screencasts/
English and Mathematics (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Math Review: Basic Mathematics
A number of community colleges across the United States have been actively
working on creating helpful online tutorials and educational guides to a
variety of subjects. Created by the staff at the Student Learning Assistance
Center at San Antonio College, this site offers a set of online presentations
and exercises that review topics such as whole numbers, integers, fractions,
decimals, and statistical measurement. For each of these topics, users will
find a slideshow overview and a set of short exercises designed to make sure
that students understand the material.
Additionally, visitors can click on the
“Mathematics handouts” section to examine worksheets that cover the concepts
of beginning algebra, exponents, and other more advanced mathematical subjects.
[KMG]
http://www.accd.edu/sac/slac/ppointshows/math_0300/math_0300_review.htm
English and Engineer's Sciences (from crosscurricular tasks, like the French TPE)
Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms (from The Scout Report -- February
9)
Starting with its rather lyrical title, visitors to this particular National
Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary website will be taken on a breezy
and visually stimulating tour of some of the sites that document America’s
aviation history. All told, the site provides information about over 100 sites,
including airfields, research and testing facilities, and launch and control
facilities. From the homepage, visitors can peruse a list of the sites, look
for sites using an interactive map, and read essays on air power, modern aviation,
and, not surprisingly, the Wright Brothers.
While the sites are spread across 35 states and several US territories, creative
voyagers could easily create a number of interesting journeys. Additionally,
the site offers a fine set of external links under the “Learn More” tab. [KMG]
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/
Irregular verbs
On of our worries is to decide how to make learning irregular verbs attractive
to children. On e-teach this week, our colleague have suggested several sites.
Sylvie Brod recommends this snake and ladder game designed by Hervé Hubert
http://rv.humbert.chez-alice.fr/java/snakesandladders/vbirreg3e/vbirreg3e.htm
Some more for Valentine's Day
A Valentine's treasure Hunt
Our colleague Brigitte Rempenault has created for you this nice treasure hunt
for intermediate students.
http://rv.humbert.chez-alice.fr/cinquieme/5eact2scene0sports1match.htm
A page of links
from our colleague from Laurence Bernard de Martinique, clear and comprehensive.
http://cms.ac-martinique.fr/discipline/anglais/news.php?lng=fr&pg=208
Discover poetry in 30 days (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
This collection provides thirty different lesson plans, each with its own
format for students to experiment with and "discover" that they may
actually enjoy this genre of creative writing. Many of the formats contain
templates, making it easy for reluctant writers to commit themselves to the
task.
http://www.msrogers.com/English2/poetry/30_days_of_poetry.htm
[ excellent for beginners and students with difficulties : how to make poems
with a few easy words! ]
Reports from a Warming Planet (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Never afraid to take on controversial topics, American RadioWorks has recently
released this special report on the early signs of climate change. For this
particular report, they brought together a team of eleven young reporters who
were led by noted environmental journalist Sandy Tolan. Their assignment was
to identify different places around the world where global
warming was making changes to both “life and landscape”. Visitors to the site
can listen to the entire radio documentary, or they can also read about some
of the individual locations profiled in this presentation. Some of these areas
include the fabled snows of Kilimanjaro, the island of Tuvalu in the Pacific
Ocean, and the town of Churchill in Upper Manitoba, which has been known as “The
Polar Bear Capital of the World” for decades. [KMG]
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/earlysigns/index.html
Family Fun TV
Discover those videos (no script) featuring handicrafts ( lamp shade, paper
flowers, sparking bracelets) or recipes ( see the princess castle cake!)
http://familyfun.go.com/utilities/global/feature/fftv-archive-video-player/
The presidential diary (from The Classroom Flyer, Friday, February 9th)
What would it be like to be President for a day? Students will write a diary
entry for their own lives, and then visit different sites to get a glimpse
at a day in the life for an American President (use the 2nd for the correct
link to President Ford's diary entry). They will compare their lives to that
of a President, understanding the roles and duties of executive
leadership and visiting the PBS interactive exhibit, "President for a
Day" (third address). Links for student research and assessment are included.
(4-8)
http://pbskids.org/democracy/educators/presdiary.html
http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/exhibits/daylife/dailydia.htm
http://pbskids.org/democracy/presforaday/index.html
Black history month
Black History Month begins annually on February 1st and was first organized
in 1926, largely due to the extraordinary efforts of historian Dr. Carter G.
Woodson. Consider having your students create a timeline for Black History
Month, entering events and all the great African Americans who have influenced
the course of history. Try this site for resources:
http://www.history.com/minisites/blackhistory/ (comprehensive
but difficult, from History channel. Some useful videos)
http://www.aakulturezone.com/kidz/abc/contents.html (easy)
and those cyber-hunts:
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/bh_hunt_quiz.html
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_black_history_101.shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_black_history_102.shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_black_history_103.shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_black_history_104.shtml
Mid-American Earthquake Center (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Understanding earthquakes is a complex process, and the Mid-America Earthquake
Center is one of three national earthquake engineering research centers set
up to work on a variety of approaches to a broad set of related scientific
concerns. Based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Center
consists of a consortium of nine core institutions and
is funded by the National Science Foundation. The Center’s primary work is
within four areas, including information technology and consequence-based risk
management frameworks. Recognizing that they serve a broad range of visitors
to their website, the Center has established a number of informative introductions
on their homepage for the general public,
potential industry partners, members of the press, and K-12 educators. While
a number of visitors may be interested in their technical reports and software
packages, most visitors will want to look over the graduate and undergraduate
teaching modules, which will be of great use to educators in the engineering
and geophysical sciences and their students. Additionally, the Center’s site
provides access to a number of informative webcasts, including presentations
on seismic performances of bridges. [KMG]
http://mae.ce.uiuc.edu/
Primary school teachers can find interesting things to build and experiments
to do around the notion of earth quake, and students of all level will find
useful resources among those selected on this page (including an earth science
webquest)
http://mae.ce.uiuc.edu/K-12/teacher_resources.html
Loose Lips : Exploring the Prejudiced Words of Celebrities
This thought provoking article from the New York Times can be used with advanced
students. It is entitled : "My Big Bad Mouth" and deals with what
celebrities do to make the public forgive them some racist or homophobic remarks.
The reflection about prejudice and how it can or can't be cured is quite interesting
and can start a debate.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20070209friday.html
In the accompanying lesson, you can watch videos of what they said and find
some more ideas to go deeper into the topic, like this extension activity : "Write
a children’s book explaining different strategies that can be used to diffuse
anger "
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20070209friday.html
Songwriters Hall of Fame Virtual Museum (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Paul Anka and Francis Scott Key don’t usually come up in the same sentence
(or paragraph, most likely), but here in the Songwriters Hall of Fame Virtual
Museum both men are part of the heady mix that visitors will find on this interesting
and entertaining website. This Hall of Fame has a distinguished pedigree as
its first president in 1969 was Tin Pan Alley icon
Johnny Mercer, who himself was followed by another tunesmith of note, Sammy
Cahn. Visitors to the site can browse through the “Inductee Exhibits” area,
which includes information about all the inductees over the past four decades,
organized into three broad thematic categories. Along with a brief biographical
sketch, visitors can look over a discography for many of the songwriters. For
a special treat, visitors can also listen to clips of some of these ditties,
including Nat King Cole’s rendition of “Almost Like Being in Love” (penned
by Alan Jay Lerner) and Bobby Darin’s very own, “Splish Splash”. [KMG]
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/homepage.asp
[ for fans of singers of the past four decades....Don't miss the videos!]
How to download a video
Some of you ask me how to copy videos. There were some tips in English in
infonews n°194, and this article from Techlearning
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=196604076
and here are some more, from our colleague Stéphone Busuttil
http://stephane.busuttil.free.fr/linx_video.htm
and don't forget the video downloader among the Firefox addons
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2390/
FastStone Capture 5.2 (from The Scout Report -- February 9)
Screen capture software can be quite helpful and potential applications include
looking at graphics for use in a report or just reviewing visual material later
for other purposes. The latest version of FastStone Capture allows users to
capture full screen rectangle regions, scrolling windows, and other objects.
The application takes up a small amount of memory, and it
also allows users to add comments to each captured image. This version is compatible
with all computers running Windows 95 and newer. [KMG]
http://www.faststone.org/
Évaluer dans une perspective actionnelle
L'APLV signale la parution de l'ouvrage : «
Évaluer dans une perspective actionnelle, l’exemple du Diplôme de Compétence
en Langue ». Vous y trouverez des idées transférables à notre enseignement
qui vous aideront à travailler avec le CECRL, car le DCL est depuis longtemps
bâti sur ce type de fonctionnement où : "Dans le cadre d’un scénario (ou
macro-tâche), l’évalué devra remplir une mission définie par un objectif à
atteindre ; pour ce faire, il effectuera des micro-tâches autour d’activités
de communication langagières sur les modes réception, interaction et production. "
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/article.php3?id_article=778
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réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
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