Infonews n°317 from 25/11/2007
Trailers and NYT
Read also
Spot the references
Definitions
Articles
Monday, November 26th is Cyber-Monday
Cruise boat sunk in the Antarctic
Béjart's death
Metro and the school of English
Webster's Visual Dictionary
Fingerprint shopping
Career videos
Pet sitter's problem
In Search of Lost Time
The Importance of Being Earnest
Audio resources for FCE oral comprehension, production and interaction level
B2
Maths : College Algebra Online Tutorials (from The Scout Report -- November
23)
Chemistry : Interactives: The Periodic Table (from The Scout Report -- November
23)
Psychology : AllPsych Online: The Virtual Psychology Classroom (from The Scout
Report -- November 23)
Earth Sciences : The Educational Multimedia Visualization Center (from The
Scout Report -- November 23)
Business : Small Business Administration: Free Online Courses (from The Scout
Report -- November 23)
Vient de paraitre
Appel à communications
The last Disney comes out next Wednesday in France. It is a parody of all the classic Disney stories and magical tales : you find all the ingredients of the traditional tales, but presented in an unusual way and in our present world! Our game may be to spot the references...;)
Trailers and NYT
See the trailers and read the article from the New York Times.
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/enchanted/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLdKwdGdZaI
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/339604/Enchanted/trailers
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2007/11/25/2007-11-25_in_enchanted_princess_gisele_goes_from_c-2.html
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/movies/21ench.html?n=Top/News/Business/Companies/Disney,%20Walt,%20Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/media/25steal.html?n=Top/News/Business/Companies/Disney,%20Walt,%20Company
Read also
""Enchanted" is the best Disney fantasy-musical since "Mary
Poppins," a hilarious, dazzling send-up of the thing that made Disney
what it is today -- fairy-tale princesses." from the Orlando sentinel
in the article entitled: "supercalifragil...well, you know!"
http://www.bnd.com/entertainment/story/185215.html
"enchanted pays homage to the other Disney films"
and article from Reuters which says : "Enchanted"
is a loving homage to many classic Disney princess movies of yore. "
http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2364190520071124
This article from the Khaleej Times from the United Arab Emirates, stressing
the romantic content of the film
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/CityHome.asp?xfile=data/citytimes/2007/November/citytimes_November225.xml§ion=citytimes&col=
"a fairytale turned upside down" from the International Herald tribune
(IHT)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/22/arts/flik24.php
Spot the references
*** This article from USA Today which studies precisely the references to
past Disney movies, with pictures and explanations : " Cinderella (1950)
: The soap bubbles during Happy Working Song show Giselle's reflection, just
as they do when Cinderella cleans."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-11-22-enchanted-homage_N.htm
same type of article, but shorter
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071124/film_nm/enchanted_dc
I kept hearing that word on the radio and couldn't even spell it. Well, here it is : subprime, and it refers to the special rates charged to borrowers with insufficient resources. In short, this is what I think I have understood ( but you'd better read some reliable resource like the BBC to check it out!) : This credit is often offered with a normal rate at the beginning and the rate increases dramatically in the following years ( for example the 2/28 with 2 year at a rate of about 3%, raising up to 11% in the course of the 28 following years). It was designed for people who needed a home for their family and expected their revenues to increase a lot in the coming years, like students for example. But the problem came because many people in the US and the UK started using this credit to buy houses and sell them with a benefit in the first 2 years (they could repay the loan and still make enough benefit to live from it), and some banks issued those type of credits to enable people with low or no income to refinance another loan. This broke the market, and then the borrowers could no longer pay the bank back, and the bank couldn't even sell the house which was offered as a guaranty at a price which would cover their investment. Then the banks started borrowing from other banks to cover their losses, and the problem increased according to the snowball effect and resulted in the subprime meltdown.
Definitions
"the Prime Rate: The interest rate that banks charge their most creditworthy
customers.
Subprime - A term referring to borrowers with a less-than-perfect credit history,
also called B&C credit. "
http://www.guarantybanking.com/glossary_l.aspx
"B&C (subprime) Credit – Borrower credit that generally does not meet
the credit underwriting guidelines of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, who purchase
mostly “A” credit loans. B&C credit is part of a grading system that ranges
from A to D or F. "
http://www.imfpubs.com/glossary/
"Subprime lending can be defined simply as lending that involves elevated
credit risk."
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/Speeches/2004/20040521/default.htm
"Mortgage loans are typically classified as either prime or subprime,
depending on their credit risk."
http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/mt/20070601/cover.pdf
"A subprime mortgage loan is a mortgage that is specifically designed
for people who are denied prime or standard mortgages by traditional or hard
money lenders. A subprime mortgage may be suitable for people who have a poor
credit rating or have difficulty proving a regular, reliable income." (definition
form a mortgage company)
http://www.adverse-mortgage-centre.co.uk/subprime-mortgage.html
"A subprime mortgage is a type of loan granted to individuals with poor
credit histories (often below 600), who, as a result of their deficient credit
ratings, would not be able to qualify for conventional mortgages. Because subprime
borrowers present a higher risk for lenders, subprime mortgages charge interest
rates above the prime lending rate. (from a finance encyclopedia by Forbes.)
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/07/subprime-mortgage.asp
Articles
From the BBC
The BBC explains the problem clearly and relates it to other financial crisis
like the crash of 1929, but they even go back to 1866.
Questions and answers about subprime lending
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5144662.stm
" is the credit crush finally over?" : a beginner's guide to the
crisis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7003139.stm
"financial crisis, a lesson from history" ( 1866, 1890, 1829, 1985,
1987, 1998, 2000
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6958091.stm
From the Federal Reserve of the US
read this article dated from 2004
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/Speeches/2004/20040521/default.htm
with tables (don' t miss the homeownership by race and household income!)
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/Speeches/2004/20040521/default.htm#table1
From NERA (economic consulting)
This article, "The Subprime Meltdown: A Primer"
won a http://www.mondaq.com/content/awards.asp?id=6A36CF9C-05DB-48ED-9C60-A98B7C9F5A0E" 5-star"
award for being the most-read US article on Monday during July 2007
http://www.nera.com/image/SEC_SubprimeSeries_Part1_June2007_FINAL.pdf
From NBC (with a video news report)
"Will subprime mess ripple through economy?"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17584725/
From Wikipedia
the content of this article on wikipedia might not be fully accurate or reliable,
but you can use the long list of references at the end of the page (from CNN,
reuters, USA today, the federal bank, bloomberg, the BBC, IHT, the Telegraph,
and so on)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_meltdown
Monday, November 26th is Cyber-Monday
for those who didn't have time to present thanksgiving and black Friday last
week, here is you chance to keep up : talk about the results from last week
(key word, "lure"), or present Cyber-Monday.
- from NBC : "Black Friday shoppers lay siege to the mall", with
a video showing gift cards and people rushing in to get the best sales items
(pictures for lower intermediated, audio ** for advanced students interested
in economics.)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21938918/
- from The Independent : " US retailers set for tough times on Black Friday"
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3191581.ece
- *** from the Chicage Tribune: Cyber-Monday is the same as Black Friday (see
infonews n°316) but for cyber-shopping. Read this guide from the Chicago Tribune:
how do I start? How much do I save? what are the benefits? etc.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/chi-ym-spending-1125nov25,0,2574553.story
Cruise boat sunk in the Antarctic
Read this article from the Times describing the event and surprisingly entitled
: "Titanic jokes helped cruiseship survivors" !
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2937076.ece
Béjart's death
on Vigilangues, Jean Sabiron offers several files to read about Maurice Béjart
and hints to discover the vocabulary of art and critic. Useful for upper intermediate
students of students in dance and art, and also for those interested in the
writing of biographies and obituaries.
http://sabironlangues.typepad.fr/vigilangues/2007/11/bjart-vu-daille.html
Metro and the school of English
The newsletter Thot Cursus recommend those sites of educational games for
young children.
http://cursus.cursus.edu/cours.asp?no=26922
They recommend "Poisson Rouge" but I didn't find anything that we
could use in class there, the games are essentially visual, and for very young
children. Maybe you could use this snake and ladder game to make students learn
simple numbers
http://www.poissonrouge.com/board/index.htm
And then I discovered Metro :
http://www.interactica.com/metro.htm
The titles are attractive, but finally only the school of English can be useful
: this site introduces basic vocabulary to young beginners (clothes, family,
toys, science, animals, etc.) : there are only a few words on each page, and
there are no sentences, but young children may enjoy learning new vocabulary
this way, as long as you will encourage them to use it in class to really communicate
(I like cow but I don't like birds...)
http://www.interactica.com/school/index.htm
Webster's Visual Dictionary
On e-teach, Elisabeth Buffard recommends the Webster's visual dictionary
for children, but after looking through it, I found it also appropriate for
scientists and technicians of all types, to learn specialized vocabulary through
drawings. You can find the different types of cars and all the parts of a car,
but also the different types of bridges, the names of several the fishes, game
and poultry, kitchenware, herbs, trees, clothes, sports and games, a nuclear
plant and how to produce clean electricity from wind, water and sun, everything
about chemistry, physics and measuring, etc. It is purely visual, so you don't
know how it works, but the diagrams are superb and very precise, with the names
of all the parts and the pronunciation.
http://visual.merriam-webster.com
Fingerprint shopping
BBC learning English features a text (and audio file) about fingerprints
which replace credit cards in some supermarket in the south of Germany. interesting
new device, but also a basis for a great debate about privacy and identification.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2007/11/071123_fingerprint.shtml
There is also a video (interesting for technicians and all those interested
in how it works and describing a process)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7100000/newsid_7102500/7102539.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1
Career videos
On e-teach, our colleague Jean.Le-Mauff from Guyana recommends those videos
describing several jobs and showing what they do. It is mostly a voice over
commentary, but it still is very interesting. For students level B1 and above.
http://jobs.collegegrad.com/JS/CareerResources/CareerVideos/
Pet sitter's problem
on his blog Vigilangues, Jean Sabiron presents this case : "Abuse claim
after pet-sitter let pig get fat". You will find lower intermediate resources
(level A2) that you can easily use with young children who love pets, and with
older students who will consider it from the cultural point of view.
http://sabironlangues.typepad.fr/vigilangues/2007/11/the-lighter-sid.html
In Search of Lost Time
"The land of Proust, Monet, Piaf and Truffaut has lost its status as
a cultural superpower. Can it regain its glory?"
the cover story in the last issue of Time magazine is about French culture.
A must read for English teachers that can also be used with profit for advanced
students in literature, because of a well chosen language ( if France weren't
France...p1) and all the cultural references.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1686532,00.html
The Importance of Being Earnest
Many teachers have chosen to study this book. On e-teach, colleagues have
offered sites of resources about this book:
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/wilde.htm#earnest (from
Michelle Henry)
http://theatre.anglais.free.fr/2006_2007_earnest/dossier_index.html (from
Sarah Rapnouil-Dunn)
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/frat.st.paul/Premieres.html (from
Florinda Fernandes)
http://english.byu.edu/novelinks/reading%20strategies/Importance%20of%20Being%20Earnest/Importance%20of%20Being%20Earnest.html (from
Annie Papin-Champion)
Audio resources for FCE oral comprehension, production and interaction level B2
On eteachNet, Sarah Rapnouil-Dunn recommends this free ressource to download.
She says : "I've just discovered some very interesting resources for teachers
or for your students who are preparing for the December session of the FCE.
The 14.2 Mb programme is free to download (you get sent a registration code
via email) and the "Speaking" one includes
15 tasks for Speaking Part 2 (individual long turn) and
10 tasks for Speaking Part 3 (collaborative task)
complete with native speaker examiner giving the instructions.
It's also possible to download the "Listening"
modules (50 Mb) and a "Level 1 Elementary eWorkbook" (19 Mb) which
includes over 200 interactive exercises, more than 150 images and 80 audio
recordings.
Link to Cambridge FCE eWorkbooks:
http://www.ewbooks.info
Maths : College Algebra Online Tutorials (from The Scout Report -- November 23)
The introduction to this site remarks, "If you need help in college
algebra, you have come to the right place." Their statement is accurate,
as the staff members at the West Texas A&M University's Virtual Math Lab
have done a fine job creating a series of online algebra tutorials for students
and anyone else who might be returning to the world of algebra. First-time
visitors should look at their online guide to the tutorials to learn how their
tutorials are organized. After that, they should feel free to browse through
any of the 59 tutorials offered here. Each tutorial contains information about
learning objectives, full explanations, and numerous examples of how to correctly
solve problems. [KMG]
http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/col_algebra/index.htm
Chemistry : Interactives: The Periodic Table (from The Scout Report -- November 23)
It can be tricky to remember the position of lanthanides within the periodic
table of elements, but this interactive feature from Annenberg Media's "Interactive" series
will keep students in the know about those so-called "rare earth" elements.
This particular feature begins with "Atomic Basics", which provides
an overview of the atom and its various functions. After
completing this section, visitors can test their knowledge with the "Name
That Atom" game. The game is full of protons, neutrons, and electrons,
but it should be no problem for students who've been paying attention to this
lively exploration of the atom. Moving on through the site, visitors will learn
about the periodic table's organization, isotopes, and the groups within the
table, all the way from the alkali metals to the boron family. [KMG]
http://www.learner.org/interactives/periodic/index.html
Psychology : AllPsych Online: The Virtual Psychology Classroom (from The Scout Report -- November 23)
For instructors or students looking for material on many aspects of psychology,
the AllPsych Online site may prove to be indispensable. The site was started
in 1999, and it contains eight primary sections which cover everything from
classic psychology studies to an extensive reference area. First-time visitors
may wish to start by looking through the "Reference"
area, which features an expanded timeline of psychology through the ages, a
dictionary, and biographies of prominent persons in the field. People interested
in entering the field of psychology will want to click on over to the
"Careers and Education in Psychology" section for the materials on
various academic programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology. For
a bit of a diversion, the site also has a "Fun and Games" area where
visitors can take a look at some optical illusions and crossword puzzles. [KMG]
http://allpsych.com/
Earth Sciences : The Educational Multimedia Visualization Center (from The Scout Report -- November 23)
Teachers looking for ways to incorporate dynamic visuals into their earth
science courses need look no further than this fine site. Created by staff
members at the department of earth science at the University of California,
Santa Barbara, the site contains dozens of interactive animations and visualization
tools that can be used in the classroom to demonstrate various processes. These
resources are contained within the "Downloads" section, and visitors
can peruse the table of contents for specific features. The table of contents
includes global tectonics, regional plate tectonics, Ice Age earth, and four
other chapters. Some of these animations include the deglaciation of North
America, the South Atlantic spreading, and the Himalayan collision. [KMG]
http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/
Business : Small Business Administration: Free Online Courses (from The Scout Report -- November 23)
The failure rate of small businesses continues to remain quite high, so those
individuals wishing to start such an enterprise may wish to consult some of
these free online courses. Offered as a service by the Small Business Administration
(SBA), these courses come from a variety of organizations, including Kutztown
University and the South-West Texas Small
Business Development Corporation. Most of the courses take approximately 30
minutes to complete, and they include such offerings as
"Starting Your Small Business", "Developing a Successful Business
Plan", and "Building Your Brand". Other courses cover such timely
matters as government contracting, risk management, and e-commerce. The site
also features links to relevant resources offered by the SBA and courses available
in Spanish. [KMG]
http://www.sba.gov/services/training/onlinecourses/index.html
Vient de paraitre
** Les Langues Modernes 3/2007, "La compétence phonologique" **
par Sylvestre VANUXEM, Numéro coordonné par Ruth Huart.
Voir le sommaire.
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article1349
Appel à communications
Colloque international "La traduction audiovisuelle : approches pluridisciplinaires" -
Montpellier, 19-20 juin 2008
article par Christian PUREN, Colloque organisé
par les équipes EA 740 (Etudes culturelles) et EA 741
(Etudes anglophones) de l'Université de Montpellier.
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article1336
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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