Infonews n°343 from 12/10/2008
Lingua.net
ESL Video
Elllo
Sound Guide
The Troopergate
A kilometer high tower
Britain versus Iceland
Videos
Articles
Lesson plan
Would you like to star in the BBC learning English calendar for 2009?
Register for the eLearning Awards 2008 and share
good practice using technology in schools
Learn the 50 states song
Pages of links
Clip and animations
The Green Squad
Discover the job of engineer through a video
Observations of climate changes
Vote in Maine and Nebraska
Zamzar
Lingua.net
Lingua.net features films and animations in a
special format, with subtitles and the full
script. I don't like all the videos they
selected, but have a look through then and I'm
sure you'll find something you can use in your classes.
http://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/details.php
You can also access the films through Agendaweb:
http://www.agendaweb.org/listening/movies.html
I liked : the unfortunate alphabet, level A2+/B1 (see the Halloween section)
http://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/details.php?productid=22
The commercial with the German coastguard, level
A1+, very easy and funny, about sink/think.
http://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/details.php?productid=83
Michael's job interview, level B1 with implicit :
Michael does everything not to have the job...and
yet he gets it! You can then discuss what makes a good job interview.
http://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/viewmovie.php?productid=52
Poetry in motion : a kind of rap song but easy to
understand, about the subway in New York. level B1.
http://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/viewmovie.php?productid=38
and their page of links, where I found ESL Video
http://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/page.php?pageid=6
ESL Video
ESL video offers a selection of videos with a
short quiz. Some videos also come with the transcript, but only a few of them.
http://www.eslvideo.com/
Here are some examples : they have selected the
episode from Friends when Joey put the turkey over his head (no transcript)
http://www.eslvideo.com/quiz_int1.php?id=941
a song by "human league" called "don't you want
me" (level A1+) with a quiz and the transcript
http://www.eslvideo.com/quiz_int1.php?id=834
and a video about how to tip in the US. It is
certainly more than we do in France : 20% in
restaurants and a dollar a drink in bars! Level
B1....and I didn't get well the thing about
teachers at the end : does it suggest tipping the teachers?!!!!!!
http://www.eslvideo.com/quiz_int3.php?id=686
Elllo
Yes, with three Ls! Many of you already know the
site, and it is really the best for audio comprehension.
http://www.elllo.org
It now has a large choice of topics and for each
video, you can listen to the audio segment by
segment, see pictures that can help you, answer a
simple question to check what you have
understood, and at the end go back to each
segment and read the transcript. See for example
this video level A1+ about making a sandwich:
http://www.elllo.org/yeartwo/games/sandwich.htm
Sound Guide
You certainly know Rodolphe Maurel's site : Sound
Guide. One of its section is a selection of
videos presenting big towns : New York, Montreal,
San Francisco... For each town you can watch a
video and then do a Hot Potatoes exercise to show
that you have understood : fill in the blanks,
matching, etc. This is another useful resource
level A2 or above for your students to work autonomously.
http://www.soundguideweb.com/soundguide/spip.php?article189
The Troopergate
Read this article from Time magazine explaining
what the consequences of this scandal might be
for Sarah Palin and the elections.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1849399,00.html
A kilometer high tower
The Scout Report features a section about the
Burj Tower, the highest tower in the world being
that is currently being built in Dubai. On the
1st of September it was already 688m high! Read
the article and visit the 5 addresses they have selected.
http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/2008/scout-081010-inthenews.php#1
http://www.burjdubai.com/
Britain versus Iceland
BBC Learning English features this week an
article with audio, script and vocabulary, about
"a British delegation is going to Iceland to seek
assurances that UK depositors will not lose money
as a result of Iceland's banking crisis."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2008/10/081010_iceland.shtml
Videos
Understanding the crisis : an animation with
pictures to help you understand. Level B1 but a bit long : 04:00.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Ns4ltUvfw
I also like this video made by Hank. It is a bit
long too, but I loved the mock dialogue in the
beginning. <Level B1, and a real good document to
work on the intonation and word stress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT2Wg7lVYAs
Articles
Time Magazine features two articles :one entitled
"Behind the Global Markets' Meltdown" explaining
the most recent events in the crisis:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1848511,00.html
and the other, entitled "Gloat at your Peril" and
written by the former editor of "Die Zeit" is
about the different ways the US and Europe tackle
the crisis, and it surprisingly finishes with
those words: "This is the oldest European story
in the book, the mother of all sobby mantras: no
will, no purpose, no power. Yet Europe will get
out of this mess by being Europe: by bickering,
compromising, doing less than required, and doing
it slowly. Americans underestimate the Old Lady's
moxy just as Europeans underrate Yankee vitality
and ingenuity. Still, it's a reasonable bet that
the U.S., one nation with one government, will
emerge from the wreckage sooner than the E.U. does."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1848594,00.html
[ note : here is the Webster's definition of
gloat : "to observe or think about something with
triumphant and often malicious satisfaction,
gratification, or delight <gloat over an enemy's
misfortune> " et WordReference le traduit par : "jubiler".]
Lesson plan
The New York Times offers this lesson plan with an article level B2
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20081010friday.html
Would you like to star in the BBC learning English calendar for 2009?
BBC Learning English is launching a contest to
encourage learners to learn vocabulary as they
prepare a special dish. Then you take a photo of
you and the dish, and send it to BBC Learning
English. Read this article and hurry, because the
contests lasts only until October 19th! The
contest is opened to students of all level, all age, anywhere in the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/staff/0000013416.shtml#comment
Register for the eLearning Awards 2008 and share good practice using technology in schools
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. The 2008
Awards, organised by European Schoolnet, have
been running since 2001 and are the leading
competition for schools in Europe to demonstrate
how they are using ICT to build a future Europe
and citizens of tomorrow. This year there are new
categories including a special award for
individual teachers, thousands of euros in cash
prizes and state of the art equipment to be won.
Winners will be invited to the EMINENT conference
in Rome on 4 December 2008. The Rome conference
is a unique experience to meet and influence
European ministries of education, global
companies and key stakeholders in education. The
prize-giving ceremony takes place on 4 December
2008 and is followed by a prestigious gala
dinner. Prize-winners' trip to Rome includes a
two-night stay which gives the opportunity of
visiting the ancient city and appreciating its unique atmosphere.
http://elearningawards.eun.org/ww/en/pub/elearningawards/homepage.htm
Learn the 50 states song
On eTeachNet, Rémi Thibert recommended this 50
states song. Here is what you can read on the
site : "Teacher And The Rockbots help you
memorize the 50 States in alphabetical order.
This song and other educational songs about
America are available on CD or iTunes. "
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=24921dbdb9e1db1b7b0d
[ It is a heavy metal song made by teenagers to
present the 50 states by alphabetical order. The
students will like the tune, and they can learn
the names of all the states through this video.
Just remember to tell then that Alaska is not in
the pacific ocean South of Mexico!]
Pages of links
Are you preparing for Halloween? Here are pages
packed with links to songs, pumpkin carvings,
horror stories, ghosts houses and other interactive activities. See:
The page created by our colleagues from Dijon for primary schools
http://crdp.ac-dijon.fr/Halloween.html
The page created by Barbara Dieu, our colleague
from Brazil, for students in lower secondary school
http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/halloween.html
The reference : Michelle Henry's page
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/hallo.htm
And last year's Infonews n°256
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/archives/256.htm#halloween
Clip and animations
All the addresses in Infonews n°256 are still
valid except Michael Jackson's clip of Thrillers.
It is history now, and even if it is very 70s and
full of conventions, it can be interesting to
study in class, at level A2 or above.
http://www.videocure.com/music-video-code/m/0db94dd1f9e416cbdd548816a5201d7f.html
What my students liked best was the unfortunate
alphabet. You can watch it in the version with
subtitles, you can also read the script and do a quiz. It is level B1.
http://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/details.php?productid=22
The Green Squad
Our colleague from Martinique Laurence Bernard
recommends this interactive site that she used
with her students specialized in health and
services. The site is meant for American
teenagers and aims at raising awareness about the
health and environment risks in the school. An
excellent interactive site for an environmental project!
http://www.nrdc.org/greensquad
Discover the job of engineer through a video
Discover this interesting resource from Teachers'
Domain, Ask an Engineer, published May 9, 2006, retrieved on October 12, 2008,
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/eng06.sci.engin.design.askengineer/
You can watch the interview of an engineer
presenting his job, you can download and
distribute this video : it is free and permitted.
Observations of climate changes
You can also use this student's activity from
Teacher's Domain : 16 slides to invite your
students to reflect on climate change and carry
out observations of the changes in their community through a chart,
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ipy07.sci.ess.watcyc.saobclimate/
with a teacher's guide to download. Level A2/B1
http://www.teachersdomain.org/assets/wgbh/ipy07/ipy07_doc_saatgobserve/ipy07_doc_saatgobserve.pdf
Vote in Maine and Nebraska
On e-teach, Patricia Saez recommends this page to
learn the way votes are differently allocated in Maine and Nabraska
http://www.fairvote.org/e_college/me_ne.htm
and here is an exclusive document : the voting
form for a distant voter called an absentee
ballot from the town of Norway in Maine. It
really looks very different from our voting
bulletins, and they vote for more than only the
presidential election: several local referenda
are also included. Thanks to my friend Nicole for this authentic document!
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/archives/ballot.pdf
Zamzar
On e-teach, Brigitte Baudet recommends Teachit, a
site where she found a new way to download and
save videos from YouTube in any format. This new
tool is a free online video convertor called
Zamzar. Here is the article from Teachit and the link to the tool.
http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/10524.pdf
http://www.zamzar.com/url/
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réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
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