Infonews n°344 from 19/10/2008

A la Une this week, discover Diwali (Oct 28th), the Indian festival of lights and also some of the culture of India, with the legends, the rangolis and the saris. In the calendar, don't forget that next week (Oct 20th to 24th) is European week and then I'll be back from the holidays just in time for Guy Fawkes night (Nov 5th). In between, there is Halloween (Oct 31st), that you can present before or after the holidays, with songs and various videos or other activities like those around " The nightmare before Christmas". And of course don't forget US Election Day on November 4th...Here are some last minute sites to present the electoral system, the candidates and the issues. Primary school children will enjoy those sites of games, songs and rhymes and those flash cards about Halloween that you will use in class...or at home! Then find 4 resources for level A2 to B2+ for secondary school students, two internet tools : a media convertor and a worksheet generator, and finally four resources for teachers : a competition for teachers, a grant for students, a grid to build a teaching unit with examples and a book and cd of teaching units to buy.

Next week I'll be on holidays for almost two weeks, so you'll receive Infonews n°345 on November 8th, with ideas for Thanksgiving which is this year on Monday, November 13th in Canada and Thursday, November 27th in the USA.

Until then, have a nice time and enjoy your holidays, whenever they are!

Christine Reymond

Sommaire

A la Une : Diwali, the Indian Festival of lights

What is Diwali?
The legends
Rangolis
Lesson Plans
Photos
How to drape a sari
Funny commercials

In the Calendar

Semaine de l'Europe
Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night
Halloween

A nightmare before Christmas

Songs
Level A1 : the song "What's this?" by Danny Elfman
Level A2 : the video of the song "This is Halloween" by Marilyn Manson
Level B1 : Transcript, songs and original poem
Teaching Unit
Information about the film

US Presidential Election

Last Mac Cain-Obama debate
All about the elections
Where they stand
Compare the candidates
Debatepedia
Don't Vote
How to become a President
Dossier spécial du Café Pédagogique

Resources for Primary School

Games
Traditional Songs and Rhymes
Flash Cards for Halloween

Resources for Secondary School

Like Master, like dog : teaching unit level A2
Calculate your Carbon Footprint
E-newspaper
L'évolution d'un évènement dans le temps

Internet Tools

Worksheet Generator and calendar
Media Convert

Teaching Practice

Register for the 2008 eLearning Awards
Bourse pour un premier voyage d'élève
Grilles de séquences
"Trois en un" anglais collège


A la Une : Diwali, the Indian Festival of lights

My friend and our colleague from Guadeloupe Jean Sahai, who is of Indian origin, reminded me that October 28th is Diwali, and that I should talk about it in Infonews.
Also called Divali, dewali or Deepavali, Diwali is the most important celebration of the year for the Hindus. It is a festival of lights, and its celebration has something of our Christmas : people decorate their home, make special food, dress up for the day, give each other presents. It is also associated to fireworks and fire-crackers. "The celebration means as much to Hindus as Christmas does to Christians." says this site with a simple presentation of the festival:
http://www3.kumc.edu/diversity/ethnic_relig/diwali.html

What is Diwali?

Diwali this year is on October 28th. Read about the festival and what people do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/hinduism/diwali.shtml
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/india/diwali
http://www.diwalicelebrations.net/
http://www.seasonsgreetingsnc.com/index.php/site/entry/diwali
http://geography.learnhub.com/lesson/page/5161-what-is-diwali
http://www.pitara.com/special/diwali/diwali.asp
"In 2007, the house of representatives of US has for the first time passed resolution recognizing the “Religious and historical significance” of Diwali. It’s a great honour for the Indian festival."
http://anilm365.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/festival-of-lights-deepavali/
More informal, definition given on a blog by an Indian
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1323081.aspx
presentation by a 10 year old girl (written)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/club/your_reports/newsid_1677000/1677032.stm
Discover Diwali in Jaipur through a slide show with short texts
http://home.freeuk.com/elloughton13/dday.htm
Presentation in a video with music, no words but sentences written on the screen. level A2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRdyG0kgLQk

The legends

http://www.festivalsofindia.in/diwali/legend.asp
http://sathyasaibaba.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/deepavali-2008-diwali-2008-festival-of-lights-at-sathya-sai-baba-ashram/
ready to print worksheet level B1
http://www.journeythroughindia.com/pdf/diwali_ws.pdf
the legend in cartoon, with subtitles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMjbhV3SdOM&feature=related

Rangolis

Here are some rangolis that could be a starting point for a unit about Diwali
http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/43489/110379168_34057bfc2b_o.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5093/1233/320/rangoli.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Rangoli_with_lights_in_Hyderabad.jpg/800px-Rangoli_with_lights_in_Hyderabad.jpg
How to make a rangoli
http://www.ehow.com/how_2061663_decorate-rangoli.html
http://diwaligreetingcards.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-make-your-own-diwali-rangoli.html
http://www.rangoli.co.in/how-to-make-the-rangoli.html
video (level A2+ Indian accent)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAJXRhMtqUI

Lesson Plans

Here are some site with Diwali lesson plans:
http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/detail/diwali-doorway-lesson-plan/ (handicraft)
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/diwali_coloring_pages.htm (coloring pages)
http://cccoe.net/specialed/november/novL1lesson.html
To understand the festival and build a teaching unit about India, go to this page of addresses I selected for my students (including maps of India, tourist and culture guides, etc.)
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/themes/india.htm

Photos

Jean Sahai's son, Karim, lives in New Zealand at the moment. He is a photographer, and his photos are part of an exhibition to celebrate Diwali in Wellington, NZ. See his splendid photos of India on his website!
http://www.karimsahai.com/

How to drape a sari

These pages will especially attract girls level A2 and above. You can ask them to visit the sites autonomously or start with some of the pictures guides, and then check their understanding of the video (level B1) or ask them to make a presentation in class : one girls explains and the other does what she says, or one drapes the sari on herself and explain as she does it.
in pictures:
http://www.angelfire.com/al/saree/drapeasari.html
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/howtowear/
http://www.wikihow.com/Dress-in-a-Sari
http://www.shijucreation.com/wearingasari.htm
http://www.dmi-india.com/showcase11.html
videos:
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Tie-on-a-Sari---Putting-on-the-Sari-38368380
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v15816714k2r2DsZP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgXFCYSyiQI

Funny commercials---
Here is the classic Peugeot 206 commercial
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=WR4XvsNenk8&NR=1
and here is another funny commercial for multi channel TV, called "get used to choice" about arranged marriages.
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=b5HLsvwLPpQ

In the Calendar

Semaine de l'Europe

La semaine de l'Europe telle que définie dans le BO de rentrée est la semaine prochaine. Infonews vous a déjà donné de nombreuses suggestions. Voici celles des collègues de e-teach, dans un dossier nommé "semaine des langues" dans els documents de e-teach, avec diverses suggestions et fiches toutes prêtes, produites par Françoise Peyrissat et Marion M.Galtier, niveau collège.
http://teachers.domainepublic.net/shared/Preparations%20de%20cours/Semaine%20des%20langues/

Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night

It is on November 5th. To deal with it in class, you can use the resources in Infonews n°285. All addresses are still active except the second game.
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/archives/285.htm#guy

Halloween

Most of the links in Infonews n°285 are still valid
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/archives/285.htm#halloween
Except the clip of Michael Jackson's song Thriller. I found a new version that you can see in Le Café Pédagogique n°96, together with some other resources for all levels, from A1 to B2. Don't miss the unfortunate alphabet, my students loved it last year. You can also decide to work on "The Nightmare before Christmas", see all the resources in the next item.
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lemensuel/lenseignant/languesvivantes/anglais/Pages/96_Sommaire.aspx

A nightmare before Christmas

Tim Burton's film was released two years ago, but it remains a classic. Here are two songs, with sing along version and subtitles, and a teaching unit level A1+ based on the film. More advanced students can work on the making of the film and the songs from these information about the film and an interesting interview of Danny Elfman by Marilyn Manson.

Songs

Level A1 : the song "What's this?" by Danny Elfman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuWD-mSUtrU
sing along version (with subtitles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLG3NL2FScc
Lyrics and worksheet
Two precious documents sent by Catherine Serreau from académie de Versailles and published on Michelle Henry's site
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/Nightmarewords.pdf
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/Nightmare.pdf

Level A2 : the video of the song "This is Halloween" by Marilyn Manson without subtitles but with the complete lyrics in the "more info" window :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukeUeFVQ51c
The song without pictures, you just see the lyrics on the screen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCrnHjSH0dM&feature=related
Sing along version (pictures, song and subtitles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0bFDjT1wQ
Here are the lyrics alone
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thenightmarebeforechristmas/thisishalloween.htm

Level B1 : Transcript, songs and original poem
Here is the transcript of the film
http://halloweentown.org/transcript/english.htm
- the lyrics for all the songs (and the translations in several languages)
http://www.timburtoncollective.com/nmbclyrics.html
http://halloweentown.org/!/lyrics/
- the original poem Tim Burton based his lyrics on : it is long but worth reading.
http://www.timburtoncollective.com/nmbcpoem.html
http://halloweentown.org/!/etc/poem/

Teaching Unit

Michelle Henry has found this document for beginners (A1) : how to present the movie with symbols and simple words
http://www.symbolworld.org/news/03/december/nightmare/night1.htm
On e-teach, Monica Curnelle announced two years ago that she designed a complete teaching unit based on the film and a collaboration with the French teacher in a first year of lower secondary school (6ème, document in French):
http://pedagogie.ac-montpellier.fr/Disciplines/anglais/ressources/pe/contes.html

Information about the film

The first black and white version dates back to 1993, and the last 3D version is released for Halloween this year. The 1993 version was ignored by the public, but the cd became a hit. Then they released the sound track (featuring several Goth artists, including Marilyn Manson), several video games and even a manga version...
- an article about the film and how it went from 2D to 3D (is there an IMAX near where you live?)
http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/movies/NightmareBeforeChristmasMovieTrailerPosterTimBurtonPaulReubens.php
- all the info on wikipedia about the film and the director:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare_Before_Christmas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burton
- a bio of Tim Burton
http://www.timburtoncollective.com/bio.html
- articles about the video game
http://www.timburtoncollective.com/kingdom.html
http://www.gamerwithin.com/?view=article&article=599
- the original 1993 2D version on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/
- on My Space : for advanced students, see this interview of Danny Elfman (who wrote the score and sang several songs) by Marilyn Manson (who sings "this is Halloween") : very difficult to understand, by it is fascinating to see Marilyn Mason dressed as a businessman and behaving so conventionally!
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1308116926
- an article on MTV about the film and the sound track, which also explains how a film first ignored when it was released in 1993, became a hit for all Gothic kids when released as a cd.
http://www.mansonusa.com/php-bin/news/fullnews.php?id=394

US Presidential Election

Last Mac Cain-Obama debate

On e-teach, our colleague Gilles Siche shares with us what he has put online : the video and the script of this last debate. For advanced students, level B1 minimum.
http://lll.homeftp.net/~sicheg/For%20all%20classes/

All about the elections

Our colleague Jean Antelme from Nancy-Metz has sent me this super address full of .pdf about the US elections, free only for a few weeks. here is what the site says : "complete with candidate bios at multiple reading levels; sample ballots; materials to teach about the electoral process; a graph exercise for determining voter turnout; and a poster depicting past presidents. The Presidential Election Theme Pack will be offered as a free sample for the next few weeks so that all teachers and students can benefit from the content. "
You can download and print :
- the "quick read" files for grade 2 students (ESL level A2) with everything about each candidate : his family, his biography, his vice-president and his views on the main issues. And for more advanced students, you can download the same document, but with more details and more complex vocabulary.
- the presidents posters : you can download posters with the photos of all the presidents to decorate your classroom, or print them in small format for your students to keep in their note-book. There is also a questionnaire about the presidents.
http://www.readinga-z.com/theme/election08.html

Where they stand

On e-teach, Catherine Tertre suggests those two sites :
- one about the different positions of the candidates through concrete examples with the story to read and videos (interviews of Katie Couric on CBS Evening News) ,
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/10/eveningnews/main4436075.shtml
- CBS's page about presidential questions, with videos and transcripts
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/16/eveningnews/main4453216.shtml

Compare the candidates

On e-teach, Virginie Ferrante recommends this special report from The Boston Channel (level B1) where you can compare the candidates and read many other info.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/presidential-race/index.html

Debatepedia

On eTeachNet, Héloïse Egrot recommends this site called "debatepedia" from the Wikipedia group (which means that all documents have to be checked for accuracy before using them). It is produced by IDEA (International Debate Education Association). There are suggestions for lots of debates, including one about Mac Cain versus Obama to find out who would make the best president for the USA. For students level B1+ minimum.
http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debate:McCain_vs._Obama

Don't Vote

The video has changed address on YouTube, now it is there, and if it moves again, just type "don't vote" in YouTube search window and you'll find several. At the moment it is called "5 friends".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhDRVKDcXQo
and on e-teach Ann Joubert informs us that you can also find it, with several others of the same type, at:
http://www.declareyourself.com/index.php
You can find a worksheet and the teacher's notes on Florinda Fernandes site:
http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/0/43/50/45/2008-2009/TS3/5_Friends_teacher.pdf
http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/0/43/50/45/2008-2009/TS3/5_Friends_students_worksheet.pdf
the e-teachers spent a lot fo time to find out who all the actors were. The most difficult to find was finally discovered by Sophie Osmont : "Il s'agit d'Ethan Suplee, jeune acteur qui joue notamment dans la série "My name is Earl", assez rigolote. A fait tout un tas d'autres choses (L'effet papillon, Cold Mountain, etc...). Voir sa fiche:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0839486/
You can find all the names of the stars and when they appear in this document made by Ann Joubert:
http://teachers.domainepublic.net/shared/Civi%20Pays%20Anglophones/Elections%20USA/don%5C%27t_vote_stars-identification.pdf

How to become a President

On e-teach, Jean Le Mauff recommends this humoristic video [for students level B1+. It is full of information and also comments on the type of presidents elected in the USA.]
http://www.howcast.com/videos/17503-How-To-Become-President

Dossier spécial du Café Pédagogique

Retrouvez en français les adresses d'infonews, e-teach et eTeachNet dans cette page du Café Pédagogique N°96.
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lemensuel/lenseignant/languesvivantes/anglais/Pages/2008/96_anglais_elections2008.aspx

Resources for Primary School

Games

On e-teach, Sophie Morin recommends this site of games for young children, excellent for ESL in primary school. Some games are online and interactive, for others you can download the worksheet and the teacher's notes.
http://www.the-bus-stop.net/games.html
I loved the "find the difference" : there is so much to say!
http://www.the-bus-stop.net/Games/PDFs/Find-The-Difference-WS.pdf

Traditional Songs and Rhymes

The British Council offers parents (and teachers) several songs to download or that children can watch online : "old Mac Donald"; "if you're happy.." "Incy Wincy Spider" and 'this is the way". You have to register to download the songs, but it is free and I think it is worth it.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/parents-downloads-songs.htm
You can also download 15 rhymes, including Humpty Dumpty and 10 fingers.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/parents-help-rhymes.htm

Flash Cards for Halloween

The British council offers those beautiful flash cards about witches, pumpkins, bats, spiders and so on
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-flashcards-halloween-1.pdf
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-flashcards-halloween-2.pdf
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-flashcards-halloween-3.pdf

Resources for Secondary School

Like Master, like dog : teaching unit level A2

Our colleague Marielle Bianchi offers you this teaching unit made of documents created by Laurence Bernard and various personal addition. All the documents are there, including several exercises, an evaluation and several final tasks:
http://antice.apinc.org/stockpotatoes/accueil_visiteur.php?matiere_ID=1&niveau_ID=3&theme_ID=3

Calculate your Carbon Footprint

Our colleague Annie Gwynn has designed a lesson plan and a worksheet around this theme, level B1. An excellent way to make students work autonomously in the computer lab, at home or in the school library.
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/annie.gwynn/web_based_activities.htm#carbon_footprint

E-newspaper

The New York Times features an article and a lesson plan about a new Enewspaper made of a plastic display screen that mimics a real paper newspaper. The lesson plan also offers interesting links to understand how a newspaper is made. Level B2.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20081013monday.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20081013monday.html

L'évolution d'un évènement dans le temps

Notre collègue Jean Sabiron, de l'université de Poitiers, propose un travail très intéressant à ses étudiants, qui peut aussi se faire avec des élèves de lycée, en particulier en section ES. Voici ce qu'il en dit: "Illustration aujourd'hui de "l'évolution d'un évènement dans le temps" par 2 reportages espacés de 7 mois, sur les budgets "alimentation" des 6 mêmes familles de différents pays." Avec pour objectif cet item du CECRL : " La visée didactique : 1) le repérage des données chiffrées, des pourcentages, et des tendances; tant à l'écrit, d'abord, qu'à l'écoute (ici des vidéos en ligne), et 2) la capacité d'exprimer ces chiffres et l’évolution."
http://sabironlangues.typepad.fr/vigilangues/2008/10/m%C3%A9thodologie-documentaire-n-11-l%C3%A9volution-dun-%C3%A9v%C3%A9nement-dans-le-temps.html
http://sabironlangues.typepad.fr/vigilangues/files/academe_6_families.pdf

Internet Tools

Worksheet Generator and calendar

On e-teach, Sophie Morin recommends this site which enables teachers to make worksheets of word scrambles or crosswords, or about telling the time or recognising coins, etc. Easy to use, just give it a try!
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/printable-worksheets/
the site offers also an interactive calendar for each month, with links to the celebrations and events of the month
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/calendars/

Media Convert

Some of you have problems with converting their videos into a format they can read on a different machine. On this site you can convert all your videos online. Thanks to Laurence Bernard who gave us the address on e-teach.
http://media-convert.com/convertir/

Teaching Practice

Register for the 2008 eLearning Awards

European Schoolnet invites schools and teacher training institutions to take part in the 2008 eLearning Awards competition and present their best projects of using ICT in teaching and learning with an international audience.
http://elearningawards.eun.org/ww/en/pub/elearningawards/homepage.htm

Bourse pour un premier voyage d'élève

L'APLV annonce que "La Fondation Zellidja attribue des bourses de voyage jusqu’à 900€ à des jeunes de 16 à 20 ans pour leur premier voyage." Lisez l'article, voyez le B.O. et allez voir le site de la fondation.
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article1952

Grilles de séquences

Les premières visites approchent et les stagiaires cherchent des modèles pour bâtir leurs séances et leurs séquences. Sur e-teach, Laurence Bernard recommande cette page de liens utiles créée par notre collègue Florinda Fernandes :
http://bebos.chez-alice.fr/mon_site_web/For_Teachers.html

"Trois en un" anglais collège

Une équipe de professeurs de l'académie de Poitiers et une IPR, Eichelbrenner, ont créé le classeur "Trois en un" publié par les éditions RAABE. Voici ce qu'elle en dit : "Notre souhait est de fournir une aide aux professeurs d'anglais, un peu déroutés par l'approche actionnelle, la réalisation d'une tâche et l'évaluation des niveaux de compétence. Conçu sur la base d'une mutualisation entre différentes équipes, à partir de documents authentiques dont les droits ont été négociés et sont libres de tous droits de photocopie.
Notre souhait est de diffuser l'information et d'amener plus de professeurs d'autres académies à participer à ces échanges de pratiques.Le classeur est livré avec CD et DVD contenant les doc audio, vidéo, diaporama et exercices interactifs.
Une séquence type est en ligne à l'adresse ci dessous : vous pouvez la regarder et la télécharger grauitement..
http://www.editions-raabe.fr/2_colleges/2B_nosouvrages/ouvrages_editions_raabe.asp
Certains collègues ont fait remarquer sur e-teach que le prix était un peu élevé et qu'ils ne souhaitaient pas en plus payer pour les mises à jour régulières. L'éditeur réfléchi à une façon de résoudre ce problème. Si vous êtes intéressés, contactez-le.


Ceci est un message de la LISTE INFONEWS
réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
Les commentaires et réflexions entre [ ] ne
reflètent que mon opinion personnelle.
Sites Infonews:
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/une1.htm
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/une1.htm
Pour consulter les sources:
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/archives/sourcinfonw.htm
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/archives/sourcinfonw.htm
Pour vous inscrire ou vous désinscrire:
http://listes.ac-rouen.fr/wws/info/liste-infonews


_bouton_prec.gif (1239 octets)