Infonews n°255 du 09/10/2005
My opinion
General Links
Teaching Activities from Film Education
Teaching Activities on Infonews
Information about the period and workhouses
Email Dickens!
Bali Bomb Attacks Claim 26 Lives (from [LII New This Week] October 6)
What has Europe brought us?
Tate Collection: Carousel (from The Scout Report -- October 7)
Free online dictionaries
New Words (from [LII New This Week] October 6)
Write an online newspaper with students from the Philippines (from EUN newsletter)
eTwinning Prizes
Tips for creating a peaceful classroom
Games As Learning Tools ( from CIT Infobits -- September 2005)
Videoblogging Primer ( from CIT Infobits -- September 2005)
Canal U : les vidéos des cours d'université en ligne
Wikibooks
My opinion
The film by Roman Polanski was on preview today, and is officially released
on October 19th. I saw the preview and was disappointed. It is a very beautiful
film, with lovely pictures (a sunset or sunrise with all its rays, lovely pictures
of children behind dirty windows, a view of two girls in red room like a Wermer
painting, lovely streets of London with so clean pavements you could eat on,
and nice people walking exactly where they are told...) and lovely children
(Dodger is far from Dickens's description of a wicked child) who keep washing
even in a mud pool or in a shabby apartment (very Victorian indeed!) but the
story drags on, and I doubt it can captivate rowdy students studying mechanics
or compute sciences. it seems fit for good students of lower secondary school,
and student of upper secondary school interested in comparing the novel and
the adaptation. Here are some activities that can motivate the students to
go and see the film. And don't let yourself mistaken by the Sony site which
offers the first chapter : the first chapter doesn't appear at all in the film
and is so difficult to read that it will put of even the best willing students!
Saying that, my companion, who hadn't prepared anything before the viewing,
loved the film and got completely into it. So it does work on some people!
I already suggested some links in Infonews n°151. Here are some useful sites
to study it in class, and some ideas of activities.
General Links
- the official site in French (with trailers and a very good guide, but in
French!)
http://www.olivertwist-lefilm.com/site.htm
- **** the teaching guide from Film Education
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/images/oliverweb.pdf
- the official site in English, with trailer in English, but the the English
teaching guide ( 6 pages with the synopsis and ideas of activities, and a contest,
but only for the US) is all aimed at this writing contest which is not opened
to schools from abroad. The informations about the period are not very interesting
because they mainly compare photos and don't give much information.
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/olivertwist/
- it also gives the first chapter of the book, but it is rather difficult to
understand and quite irrelevant with the film.
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/olivertwist/teacholivertwist/first_chapter.html
- the best site about Dickens : David Purdue's site, recommended on the site
of the film
http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/
- Wikipedia offers a good an comprehensive page with links, about the film,
the author and the book
http://www.answers.com/topic/oliver-twist
- you can also download the whole book (free online, and free of copyright)
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DicOliv.html
- teachers may also like to read this article which explains the plot and says
why Polanski can't come back to the US:
http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/tickermaster/listing.cfm?TMID=1251
Teaching Activities from Film Education
The excellent British site "film education"
offers very useful resources for teachers about film and media, English and
history. The resources are organised around themes (adaptation, marketing
the film, social justice, etc.) and there are also excellent activities,
like a reflection on script to screen adaptation and another on how the scenes
are constructed, with ready to use .pdf files.
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/
There are also some very interesting and easy to use clips analysis:
- clip "I want some more" , with an interesting analysis of the use
of sound and a reflection on why and how it is filmed that way
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/clip1.html
- clip : "Oliver meets the artful Dodger" with a focus on how we
discover the character of Dodger through the way it is filmed. You can compare
it to their meeting in the book, beginning of chapter 8. Note that in the book,
Dodger BUYS bread, ham and beer for Oliver. you can invite the students to
reflect on why Polanski (or the screenwriter, Ronald Harwood, who also wrote
the script for the Pianist) chose to present it that way. This lead to a reflection
on how to convey something through writing or through filming.
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/clip2.html
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DicOliv.html (choose
chapter 8)
- clip : "Oliver arrives at Fagin's den" focused on Victorian London
and way of life, with a parallel with end of chapter 8 of the book. You can
also stress the fact that when Fagin introduces himself, he bows in a funny
way, thus offering the mock traditional image of the Jew that we also find,
for example, in the Merchant of Venice.
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/clip3.html
- clip "The game" focuses on how the director has created a light-hearted
comedy with a sinister undertone.You can also compare it to the quick description
( 9 lines) in chapter 9 of the book (p78)
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/clip4.html
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DicOliv.html (choose
chapter 9)
Teaching Activities on Infonews
You can also find this on the Infonews website http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/olivertwist.html
I compared two clips "I want more" and "thief!"
to the corresponding chapters in the book:
Chapter 2
Watch the beginning of the full trailer, compare it to the text and answer
the questions:
trailer : <http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/olivertwist/video/trailer/trailer_high.ram>http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/olivertwist/video/trailer/trailer_high.ram
text : http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/olivertwistchap2.html
Questions :
- does the master hit him with his stick?
- does the master run after him?
- does "that boy will be hanged" mean the same thing in the trailer
and in the book?
Have a look at the different values of "will" ( http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blfuture.htm ),
then read the end of the text and explain what effect the film director wanted
to achieve.
Chapter 10
Watch teaser n°1 on this page http://www.olivertwist-lefilm.com/site.htm (without
the sound, because it is in French)
Describe the scene and write it in your own words (remember to express feelings
and describe the actions)
Read the text in chapter 10 http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/olivertwistchap10.html and
compare with your description.
Information about the period and workhouses
Here are some useful sites to study the life of children in the Victorian
period and discover the workhouses. Channel 4 offers us some useful and easy
resources aimed at primary school British children.
Victorian Children's
What was their life : <http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/Q/qca/victorians/>http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/Q/qca/victorians/
What is a workhouse?
<http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide19/part06.html#workhouses>http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide19/part06.html#workhouses
http://www.judandk.force9.co.uk/workhouse.html
<http://users.ox.ac.uk/%7Epeter/workhouse/>http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/
http://history.powys.org.uk/school1/newtown/life.shtml
and you will also find lots of information on the Film Education site about
Oliver Twist
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/deathdiet.html
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/crime.html
Email Dickens!
Film Education also offers this service to students : they can email Dickens!
http://www.filmeducation.org/olivertwist/maildickens.html
Bali Bomb Attacks Claim 26 Lives (from [LII New This Week] October 6)
News article about "three bomb attacks [in October 2005] in two tourist
areas on the Indonesian resort island of Bali [that] have killed at least 26
people - among them foreign nationals." Also includes video and links
to related stories, including those about the two explosions in October 2002
in Bali. From the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4300274.stm
Catherine Serreau on eteachNet recommends those sites to teachers of English
in primary school:
http://www.primlangues.education.fr
http://auch2.free.fr/Html/LanguesVivantes.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
http://www.the-bus-stop.net/games.html
http://www.educreuse23.ac-limoges.fr/cddp_eile/index.htm
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/primaire/primaire.htm
http://crdp.ac-dijon.fr/reseau/ressourc/crl/angprim/index.htm
http://missionlangues.scola.ac-paris.fr/
http://www.ac-versailles.fr/pedagogi/anglais/ecole/default.htm
What has Europe brought us?
Brigitte Parry from European SchoolNet has selected this site for students
from intermediate level onwards. They will love it because it is presented
like a cartoon, with the characters talking and captions telling us what they
say (so you hear the sound and read the words). The debate is : what has Europe
done for us? It starts strongly negatively and is then very convincing. Worth
a look...and a try!
http://www.whathaseuropedone.org/
Tate Collection: Carousel (from The Scout Report -- October 7)
The Tate Gallery in London is perhaps one of the world’s finest museums of
modern art, and is well-regarded for its creative online collections and galleries.
Most recently they developed a rather novel way to browse through approximately
2000 of their artworks online. They are calling it “Carousel” and this website
will allow the curious user to weave their way through this large collection.
As their site notes, “It’s like a random walk with a subtle guiding hand”.
The works are randomly generated on the site, and visitors can highlight images
by clicking on them as they appear and also add them to their
“favorites” list. No doubt this site will prove most efficacious for art educators,
artists, and those interested in engaging in a bit of a peripatetic online
artistic journey. [KMG]
http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/carousel/
[ for art students, and all those interested in art.]
Free online dictionaries
The Webster used to be my reference, but it is no longer available online
for free, so here are some other free online dictionary that you can use:
- All English: the Free Dictionary
dictionary with pronunciation, definitions in English and thesaurus, and links
to wikipedia and Columbia encyclopedia. On the first page, find also other
resources such as the word, quote, anniversary and birthday of the day, plus
access to computing, legal, medical and financial dictionaries.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
- English/French, French/English and synonyms: Dictionnaire de l'Institut des
Sciences Cognitive du CNRS
An excellent dictionary for advanced students and for teachers. To test something
difficult, I entered some words I found in Dicken's Oliver Twist chapter 10
: I looked up "slap-dash", and it couldn't find it, I tried "helter-skelter",
and he offered no translation but suggested some synonyms, among which pell-mell
which is also in the text and I discovered : <http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/dico/tr/search_en?r=harum%2Dscarum>harum-scarum, <http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/dico/tr/search_en?r=holus%2D%20bolus>holus-
bolus, and <http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/dico/tr/search_en?r=hurry%2Dskurry>hurry-skurry.
http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/dico_html/
- Technical dictionary : le Grand Dictionnaire
I have used the grand dictionnaire for several years now to find very precise
technical terms, and I always found a satisfying answer. It is produced by
l'Office Québequois de la langue française.
http://www.granddictionaire.com
New Words (from [LII New This Week] October 6)
A Sampling of New Words and Senses From the New 2005 Copyright of Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition
"Find a sample of the nearly 100 new words and senses that have been added" in
2005 to this well-known dictionary of American English. Terms include "cybrarian
(noun) ... a person whose job is to find, collect, and manage information that
is available on the World Wide Web."
http://www.m-w.com/info/new_words.htm
[ have a look, but these words don't seem so "new" to me...]
Write an online newspaper with students from the Philippines (from EUN newsletter)
Those colleagues from the Netherlands have started a cooperation with an
upper secondary school from the Philippines. They plan to write an online newspaper
in english and are looking for partner schools from other countries. Students
can be any age, and several classes from a same school can take part because
the classes in the Philippines often count 60 to 80 students.
Contact : henk.sligte@uva.nl
Site web : http://ejournal.eduprojects.net/philippines
eTwinning Prizes
you have organised an interesting project using eTwinning? register and win
a prize! Brigitte Parry from European SchoolNet informs us that a grand finale
will take place on January 13th in Linz, Austria, and that the winners will
be invited to a summer university in a sunny part of Europe. To register, go
to:
http://www.etwinning.net/ww/fr/pub/etwinning/prizes.htm
and if you still don't know eTwinning, go and have a look, hundreds of partners
from all countries with hundreds of exciting projects are waiting for you to
join in!
http://www.etwinning.net
Tips for creating a peaceful classroom
Seven tips offer suggestions on how to enforce rules and create a peaceful
learning environment within your classroom.
http://education.indiana.edu/cas/tt/v2i3/peaceful.html
Games As Learning Tools ( from CIT Infobits -- September 2005)
The July 2005 issue of CIT Infobits presented a roundup of articles on computer
games as learning tools : "Games Children Play" http://www.unc.edu/cit/infobits/bitjul05.html#4
For more on this topic, see the special issue of INNOVATE (vol. 1, issue 6,
August/September 2005) which is devoted to the "role of video game technology
in current and future educational settings." Papers include:
- "What Would a State of the Art Instructional Video Game Look Like?" by
J. P. Gee, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- "Changing the Game: What Happens When Video Games Enter the Classroom?"by
Kurt Squire, Assistant Professor of Educational Technology,University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- "Game-Informed Learning: Applying Computer Game Processes to Higher
Education" by Michael Begg, David Dewhurst, and Hamish Macleod, University
of Edinburgh.
The entire issue is available online at
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=issue&id=9.
You may need to register on the Innovate website to access papers; there is
no charge for registration and access.
Videoblogging Primer ( from CIT Infobits -- September 2005)
The next development in blogging -- videoblogs or vlogs -- incorporates video
images captured by digital cameras or camera-equipped cell
phones. What implications does this type of content on education? Read "7
Things You Should Know about . . . Videoblogging" to get a quick overview
of what videoblogging is, who's using it in higher education, why it's significant,
and what are the downsides. The paper is
available online at no cost at
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7005.pdf
Canal U : les vidéos des cours d'université en ligne
voyez le catalogue et téléchargez ce qui vous plait : http://www.canal-u.education.fr/canalu/affiche_chaine_30445.php?theme_id=483384&vHtml=0&page=prg&cycle_id=600586&chaine_id=2
les cours sont en particulier sur l'utilisation des news dans l'enseignement
de l'anglais, en direct de l'université de Strasbourg. intéressant!
Wikibooks
mot much choice of book yet, but here is the catalogue:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page
Ceci est un message de la LISTE INFONEWS
réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
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