Infonews n°283 from 08/10/2006
Shootings in Amish school
Halloween
Pumpkin Concentration (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Monday, October 2nd)
Snake and Ladders (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Monday, October 2nd)
Telling the Time
Working abroad
Fish Tank Root (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, October 4th)
Daily Exercises in English (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, October
5th)
School Uniforms
King Arthur
Webquests
Masters of American Comics (from [LII New This Week] October 5)
NationMaster ( from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
Life stories
Physics : The Physics Front ( from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
Physics : Capture the Cosmos ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday,
October 4th)
Mathematics : Internet Resources for the Mathematics Students (
from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
Small Business Video Seminar ( from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
Add captions to your photos
"School rules" by Laurence Bernard
"Job Discrimination" by Philippe Hattais
Top 10 secrets for Classroom management ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer,
Wednesday, October 4th)
10 instant energizers for busy teachers (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer,
Wednesday, October 4th)
26 teaching tips for the dog days (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday,
October 4th)
Sujet du Bac Septembre 2006
The colleagues on e-teach have been talking a lot about this song this week.
Here are the lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pink/dearmrpresident.html
you can download the MP3 file at:
http://www.downloads.nl/cgi-bin/meta/do/nph-zoek.cgi?qry=dear+mr+president+pink&monitor=1&where=mp3
you can watch various video versions of the song on yourtube
the singer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eDJ3cuXKV4&eurl
the song with pictures as comments : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITZZ6-qCYIE&mode=related&search=
and there are several other clips, some more shocking than others, and some
of really poor quality.
J'ai réussi à récupérer la vidéo en .mov avec des sous-titres français sur
http://www.veoh.com/videoDetails.html?v=e64688jZ8cknFC
for me the best pages with lyrics and video for class use are:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12980.htm
http://urbansemiotic.com/2006/05/01/pink-on-the-president-or-the-president-gets-pinked/
and here is an interview of Pink for MTV
http://www.mtv.com/bands/p/pink/news_feature_060220/
for other protest songs, go to this page on Neil Young's site:
http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwvideospage.html
Shootings in Amish school
Maybe you consider dealing with this news item in class. Personally, I wouldn't
do it, because I find that this attack was the fact of a sick person, and there
may also be some sexual implications there that I wouldn't like to deal with
in class. And I found the same problem with the last school shooting (in Colorado?).
When the shooting was the fact of a teenager suffering from the bad influence
of violent films or video games, bullied, under peer pressure of some kind,
or with such family problems that he couldn't cope, I found it interesting
to study it in class, and relate it to "Bowling for Columbine". But
in the last cases, it's a man coming from outside the school, and interested
in girls : it's a completely different problem.
But maybe you feel you can present the facts in such a way that this side of
the shooting won't come out. Then here are some addresses to visit:
- in the "New York Times"
"Amish School Survivors Struggle After Killings", By SHAILA DEWAN,October
6, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20061006friday.html
The lesson plan
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20061006friday.html
aims at:
1. Examine their personal beliefs about forgiveness.
2. Consider the ability of the Amish to forgive a schoolhouse shooter by reading
and discussing the article, “Amish School Survivors Struggle After Killings.”
3. Research various aspects of the Amish culture; present their findings to
the class.
4. Write fictitious dialogues highlighting interaction between them and an
Amish peer.
- in "The Times"
"Amish children knew their killer" (interesting because they say
he was telling them stories about the world outside and was their only contact
with our world.)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2393640,00.html
- on BBC News
Funeral for Amish school victims
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5408784.stm?ls
and also, "who are the Amish?"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5400904.stm
and a timeline of school shootings
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4371403.stm
and if you need figures, this site has them all:
National Center for Education Statistics: Crime and Safety Surveys ( from [LII
New This Week] October 5)
Compilation of school crime and safety data and reports, including the annual
Indicators of School Crime and Safety (2002 to the present), and surveys of
principals, teachers, and students. Includes reports on student discipline,
victimization, gangs, bullying, weapons, drugs, and other school violence and
crime topics. From the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department
of Education.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=108
about the Amish
- two webquests from our colleagues Fanny Cottenceau and Eric Santoni
http://www.discip.crdp.ac-caen.fr/anglais/documents/cottenceau/The%20Amish%20Webquest.htm
http://santoni.club.fr/amishwebquest.htm
- several sites:
http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/pennsylvania/a/amish.htm (Amish
101 from About.com)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish
http://www.amish-heartland.com/ (the
Amish in Ohio)
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/amish.html (history
of the religious movement)
Halloween
Our colleague Michèle henry has put on her page all the most interesting resources
about Halloween for beginners and lower intermediates:
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/hallo.htm
Pumpkin Concentration (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Monday, October 2nd)
Create your own game of concentration with these October or Halloween-themed
playing cards, where students will have to turn them over and match them up
in order to win the cards.
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag64.html
Snake and Ladders (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Monday, October 2nd)
You probably remember this game as a board game you played as a child. The
same game is online now, for one or two players to practice their counting
skills. Watch out for that last snake just before reaching 100!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/numbertime/games/snakes.shtml
Telling the Time
Here is a nice quiz from the BBC to learn how to tell the time, or check that
you know it:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/worldservice/quiznet/quizengine?ContentType=text/html;quiz=1258_time
Working abroad
the BBC offers this section about working abroad to adults lower intermediates.
You will find audio files with transcripts and quizzes. Could be very useful
for BTS students, for example.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/wab/u1_1_1.shtml
Fish Tank Root (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, October 4th)
In this interactive learning exercise for upper elementary students, they
must fill the fish tank by correctly identifying the prefix, base, and suffix
of the given word.
http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/fishtanks1/fish_tanks_front.htm
[useful exercise to help the students recognise how a word is built.]
Daily Exercises in English (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, October 5th)
Have your students practice grammar, spelling, and writing formats with this
online and interactive learning tool, specializing in the twists and turns
of the English language.
http://www.english-daily.com/
[ tongue twisters, quote of the day, grammar, they are ll there for you, and
for free.]
School Uniforms
On e-teach, Linda Legrand recommends this Australian video about a new law
imposing school uniforms in the Northern Territories (with transcript)
script: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/australiawide/stories/s1739240.htm
video: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/australiawide/video/20060912_1524/meta/hq8.smi
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/australiawide/video/default.htm?program=austwide&pres=20060912_1524&story=8
Address for Net Transport : mms://media3.abc.net.au/winlibrary/ozwide/200609/20060912-gennext-uniforms_16_9_bband.wmv
King Arthur
Our colleague Jean-Christophe Sapet & Jean-Marc Gébelin have created this
senario about King Arthur. A nice page full of resources.
http://perso.orange.fr/websidestories/Arthur/index.htm
Webquests
Here are some webquests from our Canadian colleagues:
Vacation Request (plan your holidays)
http://www.emsb.qc.ca/recit/wq/teacher.htm
World Wonder (natural wonders of the world)
http://www.emsb.qc.ca/recit/rosehs/wonders/wonders.htm
Poverty and homelessness in Canada and Montreal (for upper intermediate and
advanced students, includes a survey)
http://www.emsb.qc.ca/recit/rosehs/poverty/poverty.htm
Famous people (for lower intermediates)
http://www.cssamares.qc.ca/eco_104/protic2003/anglais2/section_prof/webquest.html
A flag is born ( for upper intermediates and advanced, what is a good design
for a flag?)
http://www.recitlangues.org/projets/documents/esl/flags/index.htm
These addresses are the webquest in English from this page of links to webquests
recommended by Thot Cursus:
http://carrefour-education.qc.ca/ressdic/resultat_recherche_rd.asp?res=2&cyc=&dis=&dom=&mctous=&mcun=&mcphrase=&mcaucun=
and if you want to try some other webquests or discover what a webquest is
and how to build your own, go to this page from Michèle Henry:
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/idecours.htm
Masters of American Comics (from [LII New This Week] October 5)
Companion to a 2005-2006 exhibition of work by
"15 artists who shaped the development of the American comic strip and
comic book during the past century." Includes images of 30 works by artists
such as Winsor McCay (Little Nemo), George Herriman (Krazy Kat), Chester Gould
(Dick Tracy), Will Eisner, Charles M. Schulz, R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and
Chris Ware. From the UCLA Hammer Museum at the University of California, Los
Angeles.
http://www.hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/94/
[ often old fashioned, but there are 30 pages of comics to view (and print?),
like this Popeye:
http://www.hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/94/work_449.htm ]
NationMaster ( from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
With endorsements from such respectable institutions as the New York Times
and the BBC, NationMaster presents a formidable amount of data for the general
public in a way that is both accessible and at times, downright addictive.
The website brings together data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook,
the United Nations, as well as other such organizations. On the left-hand
side of the page, visitors can peruse areas such as “Top Stats”, “What’s New” and
“Stats in the News”. The “Top Stats” presents information on the countries
with the greatest life expectancy, the highest median income, and so on. Journalists
may find the “Stats in the News” area particularly helpful as it presents data
on topical areas of interest such as statistics on bird flu infection rates
and oil consumption.
Additionally, users can offer comments on some of the data sets, and at any
given time, there tends to be a great deal of commentary on almost all of the
items featured on the site. [KMG]
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php
[ very comprehensive, maybe even too much. Anyway, it's a site to bookmark
and keep as a reference. But there are too many information and it is difficult
to see them all. I used to ask my lower intermediate students to produce comparative
sentences comparing France and Haïti, for example, but I used an old version
of the CIA World Factbook which offered only one page on each country, with
the same information for all countries. Now you have more choice, but you have
to select your information yourself and build the page for your students. You
can also use :
- the country profiles in the CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/docs/profileguide.html
- the country profiles from the BBC (shorter)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm
- the country guide from country report (less figures, more facts about lifestyle)
http://www.countryreports.org/
- the country profiles from the Foreign and Commonwealth office
http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365 ]
Life stories
On e-teach, Hélène Cayuela recommends this site with audio stories told by
people who went through some important event in their life : the talk about
their parent's life, their own life, going through the ordeal of 9/11 or Katrina,
etc. there are no transcripts but the sound is good and easy to understand
for intermediate students upwards.
http://www.storycorps.net/listen/
Physics : The Physics Front ( from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
Richard Feynman was one of the great communicators and scholars within the
field of physics, and his very accessible lectures remain the stuff of legend
today. While Professor Feynman is no longer with us, physics teachers can avail
themselves of the very nice resources offered at The Physics Front. Created
by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the National Science Foundation,
the site contains lesson plans, activities, labs, and other pedagogical tools
for physics teachers. The site also is notable for its “First Time Physics
Teachers” section which contains a bit of information about the nature of teaching
physics and how these resources might be best used in the classroom. The “Activities” area
of the site is a real treat, as educators can find activities by subject, which
include optics, energy, momentum, and wave energy. [KMG]
http://www.compadre.org/precollege/
Physics : Capture the Cosmos ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, October 4th)
Take a tour through the cosmos, visiting the far reaches of our solar system
with trading cards, playing an online game to service the Hubble space telescope,
taking a trip through a black hole, and more. Teaching tips are included.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/capture/
Mathematics : Internet Resources for the Mathematics Students ( from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
Back in the late 1990s, the Scout Report first reported on this site, which
was a collection of useful mathematics resources intended to serve both students
interested in college-level mathematics and their teachers. Since that time,
the site has grown substantially, and they have redesigned their site with
an emphasis of graphical economy and simplicity of use. The resources were
compiled by Langara College in British Columbia, and they remain responsible
for the maintenance of the site. The database contains over 800 different educational
tools, and visitors can browse through them by topical headings which include
statistics, calculus, and the history of mathematics. From each of these topics,
visitors can continue to narrow their search. If they so desire, visitors can
also revert to the previous incarnation of the site, which may be easier to
use for some. [KMG]
http://qpr.ca/math/resources/
Small Business Video Seminar ( from The Scout Report -- October 6, 2006)
Starting a small business can certainly be a risky proposition, but with a
little assistance from those who have embarked on such an entrepreneurial venture
in the past, the whole process can be made a bit smoother. The New York Public
Library has teamed up with the Partnership for New York City to create this
collection of
“how-to” seminars and podcasts. While the sessions relate to doing business
in New York specifically, much of the material and suggestions could apply
to persons interested in starting a business just about anywhere in the United
States. Currently there are eleven broadcasts available, and they include
such presentations as “How to Start a Fashion Line in Today’s Market”, “Legal
Strategies for Small Businesses” and “A Quick Guide to Building a Successful
Export Business”. [KMG]
http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/smallbiz/video.html
[ for advanced business students. No scripts.]
Add captions to your photos
Our colleague Catherine Serreau has dicovered "
Captioner" : this site which enables you to add captions to you photos
or photos from the internet. Then it's up to you to invent you own use : ask
beginners to add short captions (excellent for primary school) , create a transparent
with a photo including prompts for a dialogue, etc.
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/captioner.php
Two colleagues have worked a lot to design teaching units, and now they share
them with you all:
- "School rules" by Laurence Bernard for levels A2/B1
- "job discrimination" by Philippe Hattais for technically
orientated students in their 6th year of English ( 1ère STI Génie Civil)
"School rules" by Laurence Bernard
On [ interlangues CECRL], our colleague Laurence Bernard from Martinique recommends
this free online video:
http://www.archive.org/details/SchoolRules
from which she prepared a complete sequence based on the European Framework
(CECRL in French), including the different items at every step. Here is what
she says:
" Je viens de mettre en ligne sur mon site perso une séquence autour du
thème "school rules"
intégrant 4 compétences (sauf Interaction orale) niveaux A2/B1 , intégrant
le CECR et reposant sur plusieurs types de supports et fiches d'aides pour
la reception et la production.
supports :
-Reception audio-visuelle: "school rules: how they help" (film US,
1953) + grilles de comprehension
-Compréhension de l'écrit ecrit: school rules from St Lukes (Birtish school)
+ grille de comprehension
-PPC: echelles de descripteurs pour la planification et l'auto-évaluation
http://perso.orange.fr/absolutenglish-972/notes/education/SchoolRules_sequence.doc
she also found this grid to evaluate an oral production (PPC) that you can
use in many other contexts:
http://landmark-project.com/classweb/tools/printable.php?rbrc_id=168925
"Job Discrimination" by Philippe Hattais
Just have a look through all the resources Philippe Hattais offers his students,
and all the lesson plans! First, read the progression:
http://englishonline.over-blog.net/10-categorie-776085.html
http://englishonline.over-blog.net/5-categorie-776085.html
http://englishonline.over-blog.net/0-categorie-776085.html
then see the documents and tests
http://perso.orange.fr/mybestenglishteacher/pages_web/1ere.htm
including the mock interviews showing what should or shouldn't be done and
said. They are sometimes difficult to understand, but you find the full transcript
for both interviews in the worksheets.
and here are some other useful documents about job interviews I found in this
blog:
- how to deal with a job interview ( useful vocabulary and phrases) :
http://bebos.chez-alice.fr/mon_site_web/doc/job_interview_vocabulary.pdf
- a job interview from the film prison beak
http://englishonline.over-blog.net/article-3974142.html
Top 10 secrets for Classroom management ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, October 4th)
If you're experiencing problems with your students in class, try out some
of these tried and true classroom management suggestions.
http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2006/08_August/pg02.html
10 instant energizers for busy teachers (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, October 4th)
In need of a bit of a break? How about trying out these tips to help you get
super organized, charged up, and ready for just about anything in your classroom.
http://teachers.net/gazette/APR02/gruber.html
26 teaching tips for the dog days (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, October 4th)
For those days when absolutely nothing seems to be working as planned, you
need a few good tips to help you get through your day. The list compiled here
should come in handy throughout the school year.
http://teachers.net/gazette/APR02/dwpage.html
Sujet du Bac Septembre 2006
Yvan baptiste nous signale que les sujets du bac de septembre ( avec
les corrigés!) sont en ligne sur son site:
http://www.franglish.fr/bac/index.htm
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lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
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