Infonews n°160 du 01/09/2002

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Welcome to Infonews for a new school year! "A la Une" fin material
about the 11th of September, to start this year differently: Dive straight
in actuality and the theme of heroes!
Also in this Infonews, some back to school resources for primary school and
other levels, resources for secondary school, which include a surprising
"Labor Day" on 2nd September, some websites to visit, found by your
colleagues on e-teach, and an article and several addresses about
webquests, from our colleague Phil Benz, the specialist of webquest in
france, who also offer an opportunity to work with him at a distance if you
feel like it!
So I wish you all a nice "Labor Day" and a pleasant first day at
school!

I'll be in Spain for the international Tandem training session for
the next two week-ends, so your next Infonews will come out on September
22nd. Sorry for the inconvenience....I hope that you will find in this
edition and in the archives enough to find teaching ideas until then! ;)
amicalement à tous,
Christine Reymond

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Sommaire
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September 11th
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September theme: heroes (from Thirteen Ed Online Bulletin -- September 2002)
a pool about how American kids feel about hte 11th of septe
What our children need to know (PEN Weekly NewsBlast for August 30)
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resources for primary school
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Back to school printable book (from The Classroom Flyer Friday
Edition 08/30/02)
Back to school time capsule (from The Classroom Flyer Friday
Edition 08/30/02)
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resources for secondary school
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"Trick or treat for UNICEF kicks off its 52nd season! (PEN Weekly NewsBlast
for August 30)
Worldwise Worldwide ( Blue Web'n Update: August 30, 2002)
Rafting safety
Labor Day (from WOW> Wonders of the Web)
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our colleagues found for you....
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newspapers' first pages online and in colour (from Alexandre Bazin on e-teach)
A lesson about Elvis (from Tahéra AMOD)
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teaching practice
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Ten-Hut! Teachers Attend Boot Camp (from Education News Headlines Vol. 1
Issue 22)
free workshops
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Back to school
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Back to school guide from About.com
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Webquests (from Philip.Benz@ac-grenoble.fr )
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September 11th
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September theme: heroes (from Thirteen Ed Online Bulletin -- September 2002)
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Start off the school year by honoring the brave individuals who risked
their lives for our country. Explore our theme, "Heroes," inspired by
Thirteen's HEROES OF GROUND ZERO, a documentary about New York City
firefighters and their experiences on September 11, 2001. Look through the
two new lessons, find out what students had to say in Students' Take, or
watch the program that inspired the theme. Our Dealing with Tragedy site
and student projects on "Rebuilding" will provide your classroom with
thought-provoking resources and materials. Also, have your students read
about how some amazing teens have dealt with the effects of September 11th
by visiting the IN THE MIX:THE NEW NORMAL Web site. Finally, don't miss out
on our many new workshops and professional development opportunities to
kick off the school year!
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/
[ this website allows you to start the year differently with PBS and
Thirteen Education. All the documents you may want are available. The page
"heroes of ground zero" leads to video interviews of some of the
firefighters, with their full transcripts!
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heroes/
in "students take" you find various pages produce by children about heroes
(a good example for your students!):
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/studentstake/index.html
and on "my hero" they can write their own page online, and it will appear
to the world!
http://www.myhero.com/New_Create/create1_table.asp
"my hero" website, features the lives of many heroes of all types:
http://myhero.com/home.asp
for the youngest, you can only show them the flash intro, and then have a
look at the directory. All my students were always happy to see that there
are not only soldiers, sportsmen and writers, but also animals and everyday
people!
http://myhero.com/New_Directory/directory_table.asp
this can be the starting point of a work around biographies. I know , it
seems a bit hard to start the year right away with a study of the past, but
it can make a pleasant change too, from the traditional start with the
'introduce yourself' unit the students have to face each year!
to find links to various biography websites, you can go to this page in
Infonews thematic index:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/infonews/themes/biographies.htm
( I made it last year and did not review it , so there might be some
missing links...)
After studying a biography of their choice, the students can:
- write a report about it
- make an oral report to the class
- make an oral report to you or the assistant alone (difficult to organise
but possible...)
- work in pairs and describe orally their hero to their partner
- study their partner's hero with his/her help, and write a report about it
or report it orally to the class
then the students could stress out the common component of an efficient and
attractive biography, and then you give them a written assignement:
' we are in 2050, you are famous, and a journalist writes your biography" (
no changes to your real biography are allowed before 2002)
It is an excellent exercise to boost their self confidence, and make them
work out what they can do to become famous. They will also have all the
basic expressions to recycle from the biographies they have studied.
And then you publish their work on the school website! ]

a pool about how American kids feel about hte 11th of september
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http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/story/0,6260,346015,00.html
A short article from Time For Kids, which reveals that:
"A strong 61 percent also favored declaring September 11 a national holiday."
[ dès la 4eme. to make your pupils talk and compare their feelings.]

What our children need to know (PEN Weekly NewsBlast for August 30)
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September 11th was one of the defining events of our age, of our nation's
history and of these children's lives. Educators have an obligation in any
such circumstance to provide the information, the analysis, the
conclusions and the lessons that they believe their pupils need. What
happened? Why did it happen? How should we think about it? What are we
doing about it? What should we do about it? How can we keep it from
happening again? What are the major lessons of September 11th that
teachers should introduce to their young charges? In this report, the
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, with the help of 23 various authors, seeks
to provide answers to those questions and to suggest what U.S. schools and
educators should teach their students so that they will better understand
9/11, its precursors and its aftermath. By exploring questions and
answers, it is hoped that our nation's schoolchildren will be better able
to function as young citizens of a nation that has endured a wicked attack
and is now engaged in a serious and protracted war.
http://www.edexcellence.net/
[ if you feel like talking about it again.....]

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resources for primary school
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Back to school printable book (from The Classroom Flyer Friday
Edition 08/30/02)
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http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/backtoschool/
Create a memory book at the beginning of school, where
students get a chance to share information about them-
selves and their families. Eight pages guide students
through their family trees, creating a self-portrait,
writing a page of favorites, and describing where they
live. All pages should be colored and designed further
by students as they wish to individualize their projects.
[ as always, Enchanted Learning offers the best resources for primary
school. you will find eight pages of a personal book, including a self
portrait, a family tree and so on. ideal for our pupils!!!]

Back to school time capsule (from The Classroom Flyer Friday
Edition 08/30/02)
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http://family.go.com/crafts/season/feature/famf89school/famf89school4.html
Using a simple three ring notebook, students will create a scrapbook to
record their favorites, summer memories, expectations and anticipations for
the coming school year, and more.
[ the pupils have a wider choice of things to present about themselves, and
they can illustrate the pages with photos and collages. the written part
will be limited to the essential, the words or sentences they really need
about themselves....]

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resources for secondary school
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"Trick or treat for UNICEF kicks off its 52nd season! (PEN Weekly NewsBlast
for August 30)
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Through "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF," children in the United States have
raised more than $115 million for their peers around the world. In
addition to its fundraising component, "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a
valuable service-learning vehicle used to educate American children about
their global peers, the value of helping others and empowers them to make
a difference.
http://www.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/
[ interesting free material online, including a .pdf Time For Kids Special
Magazine with posters and articles. The focus of what I read was about the
eradication of polio, but there are other sujects as well.... à partir de
la 4ème]

Worldwise Worldwide ( Blue Web'n Update: August 30, 2002)
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http://www.worldwiseworldwide.com/
Worldwise Worldwide is an organization created by the participants of
the 2001 International Geographic Olympiad held in Vancouver, Canada.
The International Geographic Olympiad is a biannual competition
sponsored and organized by the National Geographic Society. This website
is staffed by students from around the world and features a free online
magazine published bimonthly and a collection of geography facts and
statistics the Geofacts. The site is easy to read and easy to navigate.
Maps and pictures are clear and engaging.
[ for maps for all levels, and resources for crosscurricular activities
(DNL, classes européennes, TPE et autres travaux croisés...)]

Rafting safety
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http://web.tusco.net/rafting/beginner.htm
a nice site to visit after your holidays! you can use it even in lower
secondary school, and lead the students to write a list of dos and don'ts,
then transfer it to another sport or activity, and turn it into a poster
contest!

Labor Day (from WOW> Wonders of the Web)
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Every day, millions of people head off to work to do
everything from teaching students to growing the food
we eat. This Labor Day, set aside a few minutes to
learn more about the importance of labor in our lives.
This special page of resources contains links to a
detailed history of the American labor movement and
more.
http://i.bigchalk.com/U/laborday
http://www.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/labor.html
[ surprising to discover that the American have a Labor Day on the first
monday of september!!!!!
By the way, note this website of the American Ambassy in Sweden. It offers
one page description of all the main American holidays, and as you see, it
is very instructive!!!
http://www.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/index.html ]

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our colleagues found for you....
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newspapers' first pages online and in colour (from Alexandre Bazin on e-teach)
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Une adresse intéressante pour rapatrier la première page de plus de 200
quotidiens, au format PDF si besoin, ce qui est bien pratique.
Avantage : possibilité d'imprimer en couleur la page sur un transparent pour
ensuite la projeter au rétro projecteur devant une classe
( possiblilté aussi d'en faire des copies en noir et blanc pour chaque
élève)
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages
[ the pages look really nice! unfortunately, the choice of newspapers is
very limited, and there are no British newspapers!!!! but the site is under
construction and will soon improve. Bookmark it and come back!]

A lesson about Elvis (from Tahéra AMOD)
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I've found an address in which you have what is called an "extra large
lesson" i.e listening + reading + grammar and vocabulary exercises, but the
only problem is that you have to be a member to have access to all the
activities (maybe one of you is a member and could share with us). The
address is: http://www.tolearnenglish.com/free/full/elvis/index.php
Oh! the lesson will be available until the 8th September...
[ don't miss the last days......this lesson is well made! in the archives
of e-teach you can also find other resources about this theme:
http://listes.educnet.education.fr/wws/info/e-teach]

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teaching practice
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Ten-Hut! Teachers Attend Boot Camp (from Education News Headlines Vol. 1
Issue 22)
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Teachers from Highland Park (Illinois) Middle School attended a morning of boot
camp exercises before school opened as part of a team-building program.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-boot28.html
[ what about this, as a first day of school for teachers? :) ]

free workshops
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http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/index.html
Thirteen presents many excellent workshop available online. Ideal for
student teachers, or for teachers who want to go back to some theory. You
will find there:
- constructivism
- multiple intelligence (Gardner's theory explained)
- webquest
- collaborative work
all these with videos, interviews, concrete stories straight from the
classroom....
don't miss it!!!!

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Back to school
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Back to school guide from About.com
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beginners: http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aabackschool_beginner.htm
intermediate: http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aabackschool_intermediate.htm
advanced: http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aabackschool_advanced.htm
teachers: http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aabackschool_teacher.htm
most of these pages suggest language activities designed to revise some or
other grammatical rule.
the teachers' page offers some more original activities, like "brain
friendly" activities, to work with all parts of the brain.....

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Webquests (from Philip.Benz@ac-grenoble.fr )
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http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html
Il s'agit de "The WebQuest Page" de Bernie Dodge, concepteur des
WebQuests. Ce concept exist depuis 1995, et a pris d'assault à peu près
toutes les matières dans l'enseignement aux états-unis. C'est une
application des principes du constructivisme au travail des élèves. Quand
une WebQuest est bien fait, les élèves travaillent en autonomie à la
recherche des informations, dans un but précis selon des modalités fixées
par le professeur.
Par exemple, dans une WebQuest sur Ellis Island et l'immigration conçu
par Claude Covo-Farchi, Solange Soinard, Florence Viquerat et moi-même,
les élèves doivent se mettre dans la peau d'un immigré, visiter un site
qui décrit l'expérience d'Ellis Island, et développer ce qu'ils ont
appris dans le but d'écrire une page de leur journal intime.
Sur "The WebQuest Page" vous trouvez donc plein de ressources. Vous
trouvez des centaines de WebQuests prêts à l'emploi. Vous trouvez des
"templates", des sortes de modèle ou de cadre vide prêt à remplir de
votre propre contenu. Vous trouvez aussi plein d'articles qui expliquent
ce que c'est qu'une WebQuest, ou qui entrent en détail sur tel ou tel
point de conception. Bernie Dodge, le concepteur, fait également une
conférence virtuelle par mois sur un sujet rattaché aux WebQuests, à
laquelle vous pouvez assister, si vous le désirez, de chez vous. Cela
vous permettra de poser des questions et de voire quelques exemples ou de
glaner quelques idées pour votre propre pratique. Voici donc quelques
liens:
The WebQuest Page à http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html
Les Missions Virtuelles (un site précieux basé à Québec) à
http://www.csduroy.qc.ca/mission/
Ma propre page d'informations sur les WebQuests, à
http://www.ardecol.ac-grenoble.fr/english/tice/en-webquests.htm
La WebQuest sur Ellis Island, à
http://www.ardecol.ac-grenoble.fr/english/ellisislandwebquest.htm
Si vous voulez, un de ces dimanche soirs à 21h on pourra clavarder en
direct pour en parler par le truchement de nos claviers. Vous n'avez qu'à
le dire. Mais d'abord, lisez quelques articles sur "The WebQuest Page" et
peut-être ma propre présentation.

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Une compilation réalisée par :
Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
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