Infonews n°226 du 10/10/2004
Global School Network Alliance
Random Act of Kindness of the Month
FactCheck.org: Annenberg Political Fact Check
How to watch debates
Videos
Treasure Hunt
Debates and problem-based teaching
Debate central
International Debate Education Association IDEA
Essentials of Ramadan, The Fasting Month ([LII New This Week] October 7)
Stop Smoking
Teach with Europe
Emotion Painting ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, October 8th)
The Great Pumpkin Patch (fromRiverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, October
7th)
Halloween Resources for Teachers (from Dorcas Peres on eTeachNet)
To write Phonetics
Looking for addresses to send a student abroad?
ePortfolio : participez à la première enquête internationale en ligne
lancée par EIfEL (from thot.cursus.edu)
Time Magazine features Heroes in all its magazines this week. There are
- European heroes:http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero2004/story.html
- Asian heroes : http://www.time.com/time/asia/2004/heroes/hopener.html
and you can also find other heroes on this page:
http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero/
This site is excellent to discover people and learn how to read and write
biographies. It also fits in with the French upper secondary school new
curricula : "living together" (2nde) , "conflicts" (1ère)
and "opening to
the world" (terminale). According to each theme, you will find astounding
people who will surprise your students....
- The Independent (UK) "A Kenyan has become the first green activist
to win
a Nobel Peace Prize."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=570487
- Terra Daily (green) "Nobel Peace Prize goes to Kenyan ecologist Wangari
Maathai "
http://www.terradaily.com/2004/041008172242.trdvll6f.html
and also this article which links it to the Australian elections which are
taking place at the moment:
"Nobel Prize to ecologist a "great omen" for Aussie election:
Greens"
http://www.terradaily.com/2004/041009042748.etf8wppb.html
- NPR (audio) "
Kenyan Activist Wins Nobel Prize for Peace"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4077230
- Xinhua (China) "Reaction mixed to Nobel Peace Prize choice "
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-10/09/content_2065723.htm
- East Standard (Kenya) "Cheers to a simple lifestyle"
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news_s.php?articleid=2654
- CNN (US) "
Kenyan in surprise Nobel peace win"
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/10/08/nobel.peace/
and read her profile :
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/10/08/nobel.maathai.profile/index.html
- Democracy Now (audio) "Kenyan Environmentalist Wangari Maathai Wins
Nobel
Peace Prize "
audio : http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/08/1530239 (to
download in the format you choose)
transcript : http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/08/1530258
Global School Network Alliance
During the recent World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva
from 10-12 December 2003, over 100 school networks met to form a new
alliance (see the http://www.gsn-alliance.net/ww/en/pub/gsn/index.html )
that would:
- help teachers and students get involved in discussions on global issues
and provide opportunities for them to participate in finding solutions to
these problems;
- further extend their reach into schools around the world by making their
projects and educational resources available to any interested teachers and
student.
The GSN Alliance School Project is the first project to be launched by this
new affiliation of school networks and marks its support of the Millennium
Development Goals that aim to significantly reduce extreme poverty in the
world by 2015.
This web site and these activities have been designed by
European Schoolnet ( http://www.eun.org )
and the
United Nations Cyberschoolbus (http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/ )
for the GSN Alliance.
[ The project is only just starting, but it seem very promising. You can
already register and post messages if you plan to take part in the projects.]
Random Act of Kindness of the Month
Join us in recognizing children's acts of kindness. Let us know when
children in your class should be celebrated for going the extra distance by
being kind to one another. Too many times children's good deeds go
unnoticed. Let this be the first step in their successes!
Each month you will submit a paragraph about one student in your class who
performed a "Random act of kindness". We will post the child's act
and
picture (JPEG or GIF), if you wish, to celebrate him or her. You must send
in your entry by the 25th of each month. Hopefully we will give all
children the incentive to just be nice!
Project Email Address: hstolz@aol.com
Age Range: 5 to 18 years
Registration Instructions: Please send a message to
hstolz@aol.com including : teacher's name,
school
name, email address.
[ For students of all age, including the youngest. A very nice project to
encourage and promote peace among students and throughout the world.]
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/home2.cfm
This site features the latest news about environment.
For beginners and intermediates: I especially liked their slide show with
short captions, that can be used to make students react and speak:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/mediacenter.cfm?subnav=slideshows
For intermediates: explore this link to a site about what seafood is safe
to eat, with a buyer's guide, recipes and consumption advices. Also ideal
for those who study cooking!
http://www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm
See also the "Pocket Seafood Selector", a handy guide to Eco-Best
and
Eco-Worst fish:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/1980_pocket_seafood_selector.pdf
For advanced : choose one of those fact sheets
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/mediacenter.cfm?subnav=mediacenter_factsheet
or read more in depth reports at:
http://www.ems.org/climate/facts.html
FactCheck.org: Annenberg Political Fact Check
This site describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer advocate
for voters that monitors "the factual accuracy of what is said by major
U.S. political players in the form of TV ads,debates, speeches, interviews,
and news releases." The site's original articles analyze and comment on
political claims and statements, providing summaries and the facts.
Searchable. From the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the
University of Pennsylvania.
http://www.factcheck.org/
[ for advanced students.]
You can also find complete coverage of the elections on :
NBC : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553/ (US
television)
BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/americas/2004/vote_usa_2004/default.stm
(UK television)
New York Times : http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/campaign/ (US
newspaper)
The Guardian :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/0,13918,1047353,00.html (US
newspaper)
How to watch debates
Get Educated on Debates ( from [LII New This Week] October 7)
This resource from the League of Women Voters offers tips for watching
candidate debates, a handbook on sponsoring debates, a
debate-watching toolkit, and links to related resources.
http://www.lwv.org/voter/geteducated.cfm?pid=debates
[ a very interesting site on how to watch a debate on tv.]
The History of Televised Presidential Debates
Video clips, photos, headlines, and commentary on the presidential
debates on television from 1960-2000. Essays, statistics, and
interviews with scholars, and classroom activities are included.
Explores "television's impact on the American political arena."
From MBC: The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
http://www.museum.tv/debateweb/html/index.htm
[ to analyse TV debates from a historical point of view. With class
activities, guidelines and debates to analyse:
http://www.museum.tv/debateweb/html/curriculum/govtpoly/classroom.htm ]
Videos
Have a look at those electoral ads, on a biased site. For example, show
your students "surfer Dude" and then "What if" and ask
them to guess who
the site is for...
http://www.pfavoterfund.com/
For beginners and intermediate, they will immediately react to the pictures
and the tone of the ads, and this is a first step.
Advanced students may want to study more in depth the content of the ads
and check the fact : you find an analysis of some of them at:
http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx@DocID=268.html
for other electoral videos, direct from the candidates websites:
- Kerry : http://www.johnkerry.com/tv/ (I
liked "husband and father", since
it refers to his biography)
- Bush : http://www.georgewbush.com/VideoAndAudio/ (
I liked "victory"
because it depicts how the US sread democracy throughout the world, and
links it to the Olympics that we have already studied this year.)
- Nader : http://www.votenader.org/media_player/video.html (
the first
three videos are TV ads. I liked the second "shift the power" because
also
of the last sentence : "the people must rule"....)
Treasure Hunt
Our colleagues from Paris have created this treasure hunt to help our
students understand how US elections work.
http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/uselectionsTH.php
The questions are simple, and can be used by lower intermediate students.
Don't miss the three links at the end of the page with interactive exercises!
]
Debates and problem-based teaching
« Exploring the Environment » :
to help students develop problem solving skills in a real context:
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/teacher/teacherout.html
Debate central
http://debate.uvm.edu/
Created by Alfred Snider, a law professor at Vermont University, USA, this
site tell you all about debates. You can watch some debate between
students, reflect on what happens, contact other debating societies and
read the "complete code of the debater" :
http://debate.uvm.edu/code2001.pdf
[ For advanced students. Unfortunately all the other guides are to be bought.]
International Debate Education Association IDEA
This site allows you to take part in online debates, and also to prepare
yourself for debates by reviewing the pros and cons on some important issues.
http://www.idebate.org/main/home.asp
As an example, see this page about age discrimitation on the workplace
http://www.debatabase.org/details.asp?topicID=293
[ for upper intermediate and advanced students.]
Essentials of Ramadan, The Fasting Month ([LII New This Week] October 7)
This site is adapted from the book by Tajuddin B. Shu`aib, which serves
as a guide and reference for Islamic studies courses. Find the religious
significance to Muslims of the month of fasting, the laws for fasting, and
the prayer recited every day. From the Islamic Server of the Muslim
Students Association, University of Southern California.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/pillars/fasting/tajuddin/fast_1.html
[ for teachers and advanced students, a complete guide to the Ramadan
traditions, with all the things allowed and not allowed, and the things to
do during those days. For information about how some sites suggest
activities for muslim children, see:
http://www.submission.org/YES/child2.html
Impossible to use in class of course, but you can hear songs, read them,
and get a glimpse of what is taught to children in " Quranic Study Classes".
]
Stop Smoking
http://unfilteredtv.com/
Excellent videos about the bad effects of smoking on health. Very visual
and with a good redundancy between the text and the pictues. This site can
be used even by beginners.
Teach with Europe
http://myeurope.eun.org/ww/en/pub/myeurope/home.htm
European SchoolNet (EUN) offers its new site "My Europe" to "Bring
Europe
into your Classroom". You will find there various resources to inform
your
students and yourself about what's going on in Europe, work with European
partners on project, and find partners for your own projects.
Emotion Painting ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, October 8th)
http://www.kinderart.com/painting/emotion.shtml
Line, color, texture, shape, and music all work together to help express
emotion in art. Find instructions here to help you and your students
express feeling through art.
[ With also a link to this "how to look at art" activity:
http://www.kinderart.com/artspeak/artart3.shtml ]
The Great Pumpkin Patch (fromRiverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, October
7th)
http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2001/10/102201t_pumpkins.jhtml
Charlie Brown would surely appreciate these giant pumpkins, though he might
have to consider how he could move a one-thousand pound pumpkin in order to
enter it into the great pumpkin fair. Pumpkins are a very serious business
at these fall festivals, and your students can get involved by measuring
the world's largest pumpkins, estimating weights and circumferences of your
own class pumpkins, and linking to spectacular designs for jack-o-lanterns.
Halloween Resources for Teachers (from Dorcas Peres on eTeachNet)
http://www.caslt.org/research/halloween.htm
this Canadian site offers lots of links to study the history and traditions
of Halloween, including pumpkin carving
http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/carvepumpkin.php
[ for this subject, see this complete guide http://www.pumpkin-carving.com/
with step by step visual explanations :
http://www.pumpkin-carving.com/pumpkin_carving_basic.html ]
, puzzles and games and a page suggesting lots of language activities
http://www.caslt.org/research/halloween3.htm
There is also a page of links in French, very useful for those who wish to
study the theme with beginners:
http://www.caslt.org/research/halloween4.htm
To write Phonetics
- A program to download : ''Phonmap''
http://janmulder.co.uk/TEFLOnline/phonmap.htm
http://janmulder.co.uk/Phonmap/
You write the phonetic word of your choice by clicking on the symbols they
show you, and then you copy and paste it wherever you need it.
- Online:
http://users.otenet.gr/~petermac/call/pron/type.html
If you don't want to download the program, just use it online. It works the
same way : you type your word by clicking on the symbols and then copy and
paste it in your document.
Looking for addresses to send a student abroad?
Have a look at all the addresses that our colleague Sarah Rapnouil has put
together for her students' parents. I'm sure you'll find what you are
looking for!
http://ndaeuro.rapnouil.net/html/parents.htm#organismes
ePortfolio : participez à la première enquête internationale en ligne
lancée par EIfEL (from thot.cursus.edu)
Partagez votre expérience sur l'utilisation des ePortfolios par les
personnes et les organisations pour identifier les principaux bénéfices et
les barrières à sa mise en oeuvre.
http://thot.cursus.edu/rubrique.asp?no=21081
http://www.europortfolio.org (in
French)
http://www.qwiki.info/projects/Europortfolio/index_html/en?set_language=en&cl=en
( in English)
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Une compilation réalisée par :
Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr