Infonews n°175 du 02/02/2003

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Sommaire
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A la Une today, a website packed with ideas for those who teach
English in kindergarten and primary schools. And some of those activities
can also be used in the first years of lower secondary school. Then another
resource for primary school, and some for secondary school, including a
vocabulary builder and various games for lower secondary school mainly, and
sites to find free worksheets and lesson plans. Then, for upper secondary
school, two sites about drugs and some for science and technology, which
could be very useful in transcurricular projects, two sites about teaching
practice: about teaching methods in China and the risks of standardized
exams in the US, and two tools : a site of flags, and a guide for
videoconferencing.....
Have a nice week!
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Sommaire
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A la Une
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Preschool Express (from Classroom Connect)
Calendar of fun
Music Station
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Resources for primary school
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Resources from kindergarten educators
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Resources for secondary school
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Vocabulary builder
Free worksheets
Ask ERIC
"Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)" (from PEN January 31)
History Channel: This Day in History (from The Scout Report -- January 31)
Textile Links (from [LIIWEEK] January 30)
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Drugs
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DrugDigest (LII> [LIIWEEK] January 23)
MEDLINEplus: Drug Information (LII> [LIIWEEK] January 23)
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Science and technology
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Science Museum: Antenna Science News [Windows Media Player]
ISS Earth Kam (from The Classroom Flyer 01/30/03)
exploreMarsnow.org (LII> [LIIWEEK] January 23)
MIT OpenCourseWare (The Scout Report -- January 24)
Technical dictionary (from Jacques Dupraz on e-teach)
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Teaching Practice
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Roll over, Confucius! (from PEN Weekly NewsBlast for January 31)
Standardization and its unseen ironies (from PEN Weekly NewsBlast for
January 31)
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Internet tools
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Flags
Video conferencing cookbook

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A la Une
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Preschool Express (from Classroom Connect)
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http://www.preschoolexpress.com/index.html
This site is for pre-school homeschoolers, and it is packed with ideas that
you can transfer easily to Learning English with beginners in primary
school or even kindergarten. Since it is directed at children who can't
read, the activities are all oral, and this is exactly what we need for our
beginners!
See also the short and educational activities in "toddler station"....
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/toddler_station.shtml
and also:

Calendar of fun
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http://www.preschoolexpress.com/calendar03/calendar_of_fun_feb03.shtml
Here is the calendar for February : nothing yet for March, but it'll be
coming soon. An idea for something educational to do everyday. From a
language learning point of view, you can transfer it to simples activities
linked to the curriculum and their everyday life to do everyday in English :
- count the circles in the class ( it shows that they know what a circle
looks like and that they can count in english)
- list the things you love at home ( can be done as a homework followed by
a get together in class. they will learn simple vocabulary regarding their
family and favourite things, and practice : I love, he loves, what does he
love.... )

Music Station
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http://www.preschoolexpress.com/music_station.shtml
several ideas of songs. There is no music, but the tunes are traditional :
"Frères Jacques" or "Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush"
see for example the sons for March:
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/music_station02/music_station_mar02.shtml

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Resources for primary school
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Resources from kindergarten educators
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http://www.hummingbirded.com/
Peggy Drake has put together all those precious ideas and resources for
early childhood education. You will find there resources and lesson plans
ideas which can be used to teach English and points of the curriculum, but
also to help the kids to feel unique, considered and cared for. See for
example these "me and my family" activities:
http://www.hummingbirded.com/allaboutme_families.html

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Read and write
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Strategies for Reading Comprehension
Writer's workshop (from The Classroom Flyer 01/30/03)
The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (from The Scout Report -- January 31)
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Resources for secondary school
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Vocabulary builder
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http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words/
on this site you will find words and their definition, and also games such
as wordscrambler, hangman, crossword puzzles and drop down letters.....

Free worksheets
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http://www.sitesforteachers.com/
on this page, you will find links to all the sites which offer free
worksheets, on all subjects, at all levels. A page to keep bookmarked!

Ask ERIC
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http://askeric.org/NewNote/Updates/2003/AEUpdate_Feb2003.shtml
on this essential website, you can access a huge data base of documents on
all subjects, and also find lesson plans submitted by other teachers and
the precious : "ask an expert" where you can find an answer to any tricky
question you may come across.

"Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)" (from PEN January 31)
----------------------
More than 30 Federal agencies formed a working group in 1997 to make
hundreds of federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to
find. The result of that work is the FREE website.
http://www.ed.gov/free/
[ you can access there a data base of various documents : articles, links
to website and a few lesson plans.]

History Channel: This Day in History (from The Scout Report -- January 31)
----------------------
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
For those looking to find out about a variety of important historical events
on a particular day, this site provided by the History Channel will be both
entertaining and informative. This Day in History collects information about
historical events organized around a number of topical sections, such as
Cold War History, Literary History, Old West History, Technology History,
Wall Street History, and Civil War History. Along with brief essays
describing the events of a particular day, some of the more recent events
also have short video clips that users can watch. On one recent day (January
28th), events covered included the tragic explosion of the Challenger space
shuttle in 1986 and the United States' failure to capture Pancho Villa, the
Mexican revolutionary. Visitors can also type in their birthdays to find out
about events that occurred on that day, as well as for a list of well-known
persons who share their birthday. [KMG]

Textile Links (from [LIIWEEK] January 30)
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"Articles and links covering spinning, weaving, quilting,
felting, knitting, sewing, dyeing, and the whole world of
textiles. Links to supply sources, organizations, museums,
events, training, etc." The links are annotated and the site
also has a glossary. There are quite a few dead links but
the collection is large and has a lot to offer.
http://textilelinks.com/

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Read and write
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Strategies for Reading Comprehension
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http://www.sarasota.k12.fl.us/sarasota/interdiscrdg.htm
this site presents lots of things we already know, but it is good to find
them all together on the same page, and maybe you'll come across a few you
didn't think about and who are going to help a lot........

Writer's workshop (from The Classroom Flyer 01/30/03)
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http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/writers/workshop.html
Find a good selection of writing aids at this online
writing workshop for students. If stuck for ideas, they
can click on story prompts or Story Builder. Also avail-
able here is a printable story planner to help organize
prewriting notes.

The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (from The Scout Report -- January 31)
----------------------
http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/
Despite the relatively high levels of literacy among the general populace of
college students in the United States, many of them have difficulty with
writing clearly and effectively. A new writing primer has been developed by
Michael Harvey (a professor at Washington College in Maryland), and will be
of great help to many students who find themselves grappling with writing
college-level assignments and papers. The homepage for the guide contains
hypertext links to various sections, including those dealing with style,
structure, evidence, and paper mechanics. From the main page, students and
educators can access any of the primer's many sections quickly, such as
those dealing with the use of the historical present, finding a voice, and
nominalizations. All of these sections are complemented by a profuse number
of examples that illustrate the different writing tools and potential
pitfalls that students may encounter. This online guide is a welcome
addition to the Web resources available to students seeking to become more
effective and compelling writers. [KMG]
[ although this site aims at college students, some of our older pupils can
really benefit from this excellent site about how to write an essay or a
report. The menu on the left leads you to all the different chapters. For
example, we often need to teach about link words : there is a very useful
list of link words and pointers at:
http://www.nutsandboltsguide.com/middle.htm#links
And for teachers and students who want to write in English, have a special
look at the chapter about punctuation, where you can find all the little
detail which make a text really "look" English...or American...;)
http://www.nutsandboltsguide.com/punctuation.html

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Drugs
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DrugDigest (LII> [LIIWEEK] January 23)
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Consumer health information about drugs, herbs, and
supplements. Features include a page to check for drug
interactions, glossary, drug comparison page, and a
treatment options page. Searchable.
http://www.drugdigest.org/
[ un site super pour les nombreux TPE et autres projets sur ce thème. ]

MEDLINEplus: Drug Information (LII> [LIIWEEK] January 23)
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"Information on thousands of prescription and
over-the-counter medications is provided through two drug
resources -- MedMaster, a product of the American Society
of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and the USP DI
Advice for the Patient, a product of the United States
Pharmacopeia (USP)." Browse by generic or brand name of
the drug from an alphabetical index. The results include
warnings and side effects of the drug.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html
[ plus technique que le précédent.]

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Science and technology
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Science Museum: Antenna Science News [Windows Media Player]
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http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/wellcome-wing/antenna/
The Web site of the London's Science Museum (last mentioned in the April 21,
2000 _Scout Report_) now offers Antenna, a section of frequently updated
popular science news delivered with a decidedly British sense of humor.
Antenna offers both short (about 3 screens of information) and longer
features (6 or more pages), some with video. Recent short features are
"First human clone - or is it?"; "Bond robot," examining real world uses of
James Bond technology; and "Cod and chips at risk," a look at the causes of
reduced availability of fish and chips as cod is overfished. An example of a
longer feature is "Tiny tickers fixed before birth," an offering about heart
surgery performed while Baby is still safe inside Mum. Be sure to check the
archives for past articles, both long and short. [DS]

ISS Earth Kam (from The Classroom Flyer 01/30/03)
----------------------
http://www.earthkam.ucsd.edu/
Your middle school students can get involved with this
exciting partnership program with NASA, whereby digital
images taken from the International Space Station and
guided by middle school students involved in related
projects, are used to support classroom resources for
space science, communications, and geography. Teacher's
guides and student image banks are also available.

exploreMarsnow.org (LII> [LIIWEEK] January 23)
----------------------
This site presents an interactive, three-dimensional model
of a possible base station and habitat for the first humans
on Mars. It includes the base exterior, the layout, work and
living spaces, greenhouse, Mars car, robot rovers, and, and
other details. There is also a section of Mars facts. From
Nexterra, a nonprofit group composed of "design
professionals and educators" interested in space exploration.
http://www.exploremarsnow.org/
[ pour les techniciens ou des TPE.]

MIT OpenCourseWare (The Scout Report -- January 24)
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http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
With MIT OpenCourseWare, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology plans to
make course materials for nearly all its undergraduate and graduate subjects
available online, free of charge to anyone who cares to use them. An
ambitious project created as part of the university's mission "to advance
knowledge and education to best serve the nation and the world," MIT
OpenCourseWare currently offers course materials for a wide range of
subjects, including biology, with much more on the way. Users should bear in
mind that MIT OpenCourseWare is an informal learning venue only, not a
degree or certificate-granting program.

Technical dictionary (from Jacques Dupraz on e-teach)
----------------------
This canadian French and English dictionary is really fabulous to find any
kind of technical translation, in many specialised fields (medicine,
mechanics, sports, sciences, etc.)
http://www.granddictionnaire.com

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Teaching Practice
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Roll over, Confucius! (from PEN Weekly NewsBlast for January 31)
----------------------
Throughout the millennia, students of all ages in China have had to endure
the miseries of learning by rote. Teachers have stifled creativity in the
pursuit of the accumulation of facts, and parents have forced children to
spend mind-numbing hours cramming for exams. But for the past year, the
government has been experimenting with what could amount to revolutionary
changes in China's classrooms. The aim is to make education more pleasant,
more useful and, above all, to challenge students to think for themselves.
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1548706

Standardization and its unseen ironies (from PEN Weekly NewsBlast for
January 31)
----------------------
How does one measure the growth of intellect, imagination, and aspiration?
How does one measure curiosity, self-confidence, and hope? Peter Cookson
asks, "Why would we believe that educational potential could be captured
by a standardized test?" He fears that the current test frenzy will create
a dumber, not a smarter America. According to Cookson, "By reducing
education to a numbers game, the standardizers and the testers will ensure
that very little goes on in America's classrooms except test preparation.
Instead of curing illiteracy, we will deprive children of the one thing
that makes reading compelling: curiosity. Instead of rousing minds to
life, we will be putting our children to sleep at the very time when the
future depends on their intellectual strength and flexibility."
http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=19cookson.h22

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Internet tools
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Flags
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we often look for the flag of a country to illustrate a page : the Scout
Reports points at the very useful site, where you can find all the flags in
the world:
http://flagspot.net/flags/

Video conferencing cookbook
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http://www.videnet.gatech.edu/cookbook/
Find several uses for video conferencing to promote
active use of technology and collaboration with your
class or school. Basic requirements, practices, eti-
quette, and network guidelines are all outlined.
[ for those who plan to start videoconferencing...]

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