Infonews n°329 from 24/03/2008

A la Une this week, a video that you can find everywhere : Stupid Americans, then you'll find all the links you may need for April Fool : the story of the tradition, ideas for simple and childish pranks and jokes, a **mock test to trick your students, various hoaxes (or maybe they are not hoaxes?), and a wonderful idea suggested by my friend Mary : Pastafarianism. You children and primary school students will enjoy listening to those traditional tales, and secondary school students will love learning from a video game or debating about how their parents are allowed to monitor their activities. Lower secondary school teachers will find a ready to use teaching unit about English speaking countries and a site with flash cards and a quiz maker. A la fin de cette lettre, vous trouverez les nouveau programmes de primaire, une pétition de l'APLV et des syndicats pour retarder l'évaluation niveau A2 au DNB et un appel à communication de l'association Cyber-langues pour son colloque qui aura lieu en aout à Dijon.

Have a nice week,
Christine Reymond

Sommaire

A la Une : Stupid Americans

April Fool

Story of the Day
How different countries celebrate it
April Fools in world media
**Quizzes and Tests
Practical jokes and Pranks
Hoaxes
Links
*** Pastafarianism : is it real or is it an April Fool joke?

Resources for Primary School

Audio tales to download

Resources for Secondary School

A teaching Unit about English speaking countries
Gaming motivates students
Debating Spyware as parental monitoring

Internet Tools

Digital Age Assessment (flash cards and quiz maker)

Teaching Practice

Nouveaux programmes de primaire
L'APLV et syndicats demandent le report de l'épreuve de langue du brevet
Cyber-langues : appel à communication


A la Une : Stupid Americans

This video is going round at the moment, and you can find it everywhere. It features interviews of people on the street in the US, edited so that they would appear stupid and ignorant. Some people find it funny, others just well edited for a purpose. The whole report is a bit long and repetitive, but if you keep only short segments, you can use it even with beginners (as long as you tell them the wrong answers were selected on purpose). It presents stupid answers people give to questions like : what religion are Buddhists monks? (catholic?) Give the name of a country starting with a U (Yugoslavia? Utah?) etc. (version with subtitles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/730204/stupid_american/
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x19aqw_americans-are-not-stupid-with-subti_fun
Video found on this page:
http://www.thethinkingblog.com/2007/04/top-10-april-fool-pranks-2007.html

April Fool

Story of the Day

http://www.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/april.html
http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/Holidays/celebrate/april.html (the same)
http://wilstar.com/holidays/aprilfool.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fool's_Day (including several hoaxes)
short texts
http://www.bartleby.com/65/ap/AprilFoo.html
http://www3.kumc.edu/diversity/other/aprlfool.html
longer ones
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/april/aprlfool.htm
http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p593.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/aforigin.html
http://www.2camels.com/destination44.php3
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/5365/fool.html (plus ideas of how to turn the prank on the kids)

How different countries celebrate it

http://www.calendar-updates.com/info/holidays/canada/aprilfools.aspx
http://holidays.mrdonn.org/aprilfools.html
http://homepages.tesco.net/%7Ederek.berger/holidays/aprilfool.html

April Fools in world media

The most famous: the spaghetti trees in Switzerland, from the BBC. Here is the story and the clip:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6505837.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news/video/86000/nb/86407_16x9_nb.ram
Several stories published in the papers, described but no links to show the real thing
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/1254570.stm
April fool's day sampler, plus links
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa040201a.htm?terms=April+Fool+Gags
A long list in Wikipedia with presenting 2007 April fools
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1,_2007

Quizzes and Tests

A quiz about the history of the day
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/hisholidays/l/blquizholapfool.htm
A written test : is it true or is it a hoax
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/tests/afquiz.html
A classic, but you have to write the test yourself
http://www.ilovethatteachingidea.com/ideas/010402_april_fools_day_quiz.htm
**The same, with the text of the mock test
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/assemblies/index.cfm?mode=searchdisplay&id=34&history=keyword
Short funny online test : in two click, got ya!
http://www.virtualgravy.com/cards/aptest.shtml
Spot the language mistakes. very difficult. for advanced students.
http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa040198.htm

Practical jokes and Pranks

The Simpsons' April fool joke (available on various sites, sometimes with poor quality)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6182783430158511464
Various suggestions :
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1939-april-fools-practical-jokes-and-pranks
jokes for children, by categories, including the famous knock-knock ones...
http://www.scatty.com/

Hoaxes

A list of hoaxes ordered by year. See especially the GM carrots, or the tax on pets, there is also a list of pranks...
http://www.april-fools.us/
The top 100 hoaxes of all time. Read about the spaghetti tree, and some other hoaxes.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/
Urban Legends and Virus Alerts
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/virushoax.html
Et vous pouvez envoyer vos élèves sur ce site français qui repère les hoaxes : cela leur évitera de transmettre à tout leur carnet d'adresse des messages qui ne font qu'encombrer les boites et sont en réalité du spam. La dernière en date ( deuxième adresse) concerne des messages à envoyer par Instant Messenger, un logiciel que nos élèves utilisent beaucoup...voyez aussi ( troisième adresse) cette info sur "mobile phone shock horror" qui présente en anglais le message annonçant les danger de téléphoner avec un téléphone en charge.
http://www.hoaxbuster.com
http://www.hoaxbuster.com/hoaxliste/hoax.php?idArticle=64006
http://www.hoaxbuster.com/hoaxliste/hoax.php?idArticle=65128

Links

http://www.2meta.com/april-fools/links/ (humor sites and newspapers, etc.)
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/categories/category/April%20Fool
and don't miss the excellent addresses on Michelle Henry's site :
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/april.htm

*** Pastafarianism : is it real or is it an April Fool joke?

Discover the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. What is this Spaghedeity? Do Pastafarians really exist?
presentation by the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A18740559
the official site of the church
http://www.venganza.org/
presentation by wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
a short article about Bryan Killian, a boy who was suspended from his school because "he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear 'full pirate regalia' as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism."
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=43272&in_page_id=2
some more explanations
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311925,00.html
a debate
http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/11/flying_spaghetti_monster

Resources for Primary School

Audio tales to download

From Candlelightstories, you can download traditional tales to use as bedtime stories for your own children, or in class. The stories are availalbe in MP3 and you are invited to burn cds of your favourite. You can listen to : "three little pigs", "Snow White", "Tom thumb" and a few others.
http://www.candlelightstories.com/soundstoryblog/SoundStoryBlog.htm

Resources for Secondary School

A teaching Unit about English speaking countries

Our colleague Nathalie Cadot from Martinique share with you a complete teaching unit she created for her A2 students (classe de 5ème). The lesson plan and the directions are in French. the students will also have to work online, with hotpot exercises to help them get on with their work of describing a country.
http://cadot.over-blog.net/article-17552088.html
This lesson plan can be transferred to other levels. the students can find information about the countries on the CIA World Factbook or on BBC Country Profiles:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm
and you can train your students to the final game "Who wants to be a millionaire?" by playing online. Choose the first game, just to get the right vocabulary. The second game (the new one) starts with a long advertisement and is not interesting if you didn't know the recent contestants.
http://www.millionairetv.com/playonline.html

Gaming motivates students

Read this article from 21st Century Connections and discover how Power Up, a new free game designed by IBM can motivate students to study sciences and engineering:
http://21centuryconnections.com/node/448
and here is what you can read on the website of the game :
"Teachers, do you dream of a learning resource that will grab your students’ attention and engage them as thoroughly as the video games they play at home and on their mobile phones? Are you looking for a classroom resource that will motivate your students to apply science and math concepts to real world problems? Would you like to spark your students interest in pursuing a career in Science or Engineering?
Enter the world of PowerUp, a free, online, multiplayer game that allows students to experience the excitement and the diversity of modern engineering!" (copied from the site)
http://www.powerupthegame.org/
"Playing the game, students work together in teams to investigate the rich, 3D game environment and learn about the environmental disasters that threaten the game world and its inhabitants.
Players meet Expert Engineer characters and experience the great diversity of the field. Conversations with these experts and engaging interactive activities allow players to explore ways engineers design and build systems to harness renewable energy sources as alternatives to burning fossil fuels.
Players take on the role of Engineers, working together designing and building energy solutions to save the world.
The Teacher's Guide is designed to be a classroom companion to PowerUp, providing background information for teachers and lesson plans that give students opportunities for more in-depth exploration of science and engineering concepts addressed in gameplay. " (copied from the site)
http://www.powerupthegame.org/teachers.html
[ the game is free, and the teachers' pages offer several engineering lesson plans about alternative energy. Excellent for all students level B1 or above, interested by engineering and video games.]

Debating Spyware as parental monitoring

The New York Time offers a lesson plan based on the article "The undercover parents" By Harlan Coben,March 17, 2008:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20080317monday.html
The lesson plan starts with a class survey about what type of parental monitoring the children find acceptable, then they move on to studying the risks and writing a chart about what they think their parents can monitor or not. An interesting lesson plan for students level B1+ or above, where you can also organise a debate.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20080317monday.html

Internet Tools

Digital Age Assessment

Read this article in The March Issue of Technology & Learning about Digital age assessment. You will find new ways to assess your students, through quizzes, surveys, digital logs and spread sheets.
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=196605062
Through this article I discovered a new site offering a free quiz maker and lots of free flash cards. A free non-commercial site to bookmark:
http://www.proprofs.com/

Teaching Practice

Nouveaux programmes de primaire

Les nouveaux programmes pour l'école primaire sont en consultation sur le site du ministère:
http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid146-cid21006/reforme-ecole-primaire-presentation-des-programmes-soumis-consultation.html
Pour l'anglais, quelques lignes p17 (CP, CE1) et p22 (CE2 à CM2), qui soulignent que les programmes détaillés pour les langues sont déjà parus dans le B.O. Hors Série n°8 du 30 aout 2007:
http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2007/hs8/default.htm
Les collègues de l'APLV Joëlle Aden et Laure Peskine signalent une inquiétude : le récapitulatif des horaires a oublié les langues vivantes.
http://media.education.gouv.fr/file/02_fevrier/24/5/horaires_ecole_primaire_24245.pdf
Espérons que cet oubli sera réparé dans la version finale...

L'APLV et syndicats demandent le report de l'épreuve de langue du brevet

"Nous exigeons que l’attestation du niveau A2 ne soit pas prise en compte pour l’obtention du DNB 2008. Nous proposons que, en cohérence avec la mise en application des programmes de Langues Vivantes rénovés, cette mise en place ne soit pas effective avant la session 2010". *L'APLV*, une association de professeurs de langues vivantes, avait
lancé en janvier une enquête sur la connaissance des épreuves au brevet, à la suite de laquelle elle a demandé début mars un moratoire sur ces épreuves.
Une nouvelle étape a été franchie le 8 mars. L'APLV a rencontré les principaux syndicats (Snes, Snalc, Unsa, Sgen). A l'issue de cette réunion une déclaration commune demande le report. L'APLV justifie cette demande en arguant de la confusion créée par les termes, "l’évaluation des activités langagières est continue et ne doit pas donner lieu à la mise en place d’une épreuve ponctuelle particulière. En LV1, le contrôle continu effectué en cours d’année vise le niveau B1 du Cadre Européen et en LV2, le niveau A2 est en cours d’acquisition pour l’obtention du DNB.
Comment évaluer en continu ce niveau A2 pour l’obtention du DNB à raison de 3 heures par semaine ?" et de "l’absence d’une vraie formation des professeurs à ce dispositif".
paru dans l'expresso du Café Pédagogique et signalé sur e-teach par Remi Thibert et Dominique Varela:
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lexpresso/Pages/2008/03/05032008Accueil.aspx
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article67

Cyber-langues : appel à communication

Voici un message de l'association Cyber-langues:
Vous le saviez déjà, le prochain colloque Cyber-Langues se tiendra à Dijon, du mardi 26 au jeudi 28 août 2008. Il a pour titre cette année : "TICE et langues : de l'expérimentation à la généralisation". Vous souhaitez venir présenter quelquechose, faire part d'une expérience, animer un atelier ? Il vous reste jusqu'au 30 mars pour renseigner un formulaire de proposition en ligne à:
http://www.cyber-langues.asso.fr/spip.php?article39
Vous voulez en savoir plus sur l'association, le colloque à venir et les colloques passés ?
http://www.cyber-langues.asso.fr/


Ceci est un message de la LISTE INFONEWS
réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
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