Infonews n°256 du 16/10/2005

A la Une this week, discover who the new Literature Nobel prize winner is, and listen to his latest radio play; in the news, find information about the bird flu and the earthquake in India; and then many site about Halloween, with interactivity, flashcards, and several activities. As a positive alternative, read about Diwali : it is also on November 1st this year, and a festival of lights is much more cheerful!
Find also two sites of free worksheets, and two for advanced autonomous student work : one about biology and one about Einstein (excellent for DNL or TPE); then three sites about food and food trade, two about handicrafts for primary school and one with songs and poems for the youngest. Don't miss the call for the Instructor training for Kids' ISO 14000 Programme, organized by a Japanese university professor in Paris, at the UNESCO ( I forward this invitation to you all in the hope that some of you can manage to get free to go : I wasn't allowed to leave my classes!). And in the end, find a site where you can download a sample of the new Gramster program, and two other softwares : skype and an organiser.

Note : I'll be on holidays, so you will receive the next Infonews on November 6th.

Until then, have a nice week and enjoy your holidays too!
Christine Reymond

Sommaire

A la Une : Harold Pinter

about his anti-Americanism
about silence
Orhan Pamuk would have been a wiser choice
Appraisal
Websites about Pinter
Teaching Resources

In the News

Bird Flu: Health Officials Keep Close Watch on Bird Flu ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)
Bird Flu: 1918 Influenza Pandemic ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)
Asian Earthquake

Halloween

Activities, worksheets, interactive sites and games
A treasure hunt for lower intermediates
Halloween story planners and prompts ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, October 14th)
Halloween Flash Cards
Halloween Bingo
Halloween Preposition cards
Halloween puzzle "Who’s the Thief?"
Thriller by Mickael Jackson
Pumpkin Carving
** Halloween safety game
Safety Alert ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)
a guide with lots of addresses

Diwali

What is Diwali?
Lesson plans and activities
Other links about India

Resources for Secondary School

Free worksheets
Einstein’s Big Idea ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)
Get Body Smart (from Cursus)

Food and Food Trade

Food & Society ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)
California Apple Commission ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)
Washington Apples ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)

Resources for Primary School

Alexander Calder Mobiles ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, October 14th)
Goemetric cardboard sculptures
Songs and Poems

Project, Training Course

**** Instructor training for Kids' ISO 14000 Programme

Internet Tools

Gramster 2
Skype 1.4.0.71 ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)
Plans 7.4 ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)


A la Une : Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter has won the Nobel Prize. Here are some sites to discover the man and his work.

about his anti-Americanism

Celine Roos on e-Teach recommends this article to teachers. It contains rather offensive language, and allows you to read some of Pinter's very strong (indeed) anti-American writings. the Editor's note says : "This article contains poetic obscenities and vulgarities."
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051013-051618-3053r
Here is a milder interview from the Guardian, where you can still feel the humor of the man
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051013-051618-3053r
from India http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/15/stories/2005101504171400.htm
and read this article from CBS News!!!!!
"Sweden has a reputation for a high suicide rate.[...] Yet like a pack of lemmings drunk on home-made aquavit, the Stockholm snobs have continued their rush to fully discredit the literature Nobels, by selecting Harold Pinter as their 2005 laureate.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/14/opinion/main944151.shtml

about silence

Some other newspapers focus rather on his silence:
Newsweek : "silence is golden"
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9709966/site/newsweek/
the NYTimes : "A Pinter Actor Must Know His Between-the-Lines"
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/weekinreview/16isher.html
the Taipei Times : " Harold Pinter wins Nobel Prize for the sounds of silence"
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/10/14/2003275669

Orhan Pamuk would have been a wiser choice

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1593087,00.html

Appraisal

in the NYTimes: "Fear and Miscommunication in Pinterland"
"Harold Pinter is the greatest living practitioner of viral theater, [...] the kind that changes the way you see and hear the world, acts like a virus. It creeps into the bloodstream, without your really knowing it, while you are watching a performance. Then it grows, it mutates, it seizes the senses. And often it won't leave you for hours, even days, after the curtain has come down."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/arts/14pint.html
in the Observer: "pause and effect"
"Harold Pinter, just awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, has dramatised the pain of being human for four decades."
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1593028,00.html
in the Scotsman : " Master's silence is golden"
"HE IS, of course, not just a man, not just a dramatist and poet, not just a passionate political activist, but an adjective as well. Does any other living writer claim a place in The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary - "Pinteresque... of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the British playwright Harold Pinter"? "
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/thereview.cfm?id=2094242005
in the Times : "Early reviewers left baffled by shock of the new "
"What Pinter’s theatrical work does is demonstrate the fallibility of memory and the inability of language to convey meaning. “Pinteresque”, like Kafkaesque, has entered the language, and is generally used to convey a sense of peculiar, ordinary menace, speech filled with elliptical pauses, a sense that there’s something going on in the background that no one really gets. "
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-1825920,00.html
in the Guardian : 'In Pinter you find expressed the great struggle of the 20th century - between primitive rage on the one hand and liberal generosity on the other'
http://books.guardian.co.uk/nobelprize/story/0,14969,1592010,00.html
from the BBC : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4339894.stm#

Websites about Pinter

The official Pinter website : http://www.haroldpinter.org/home/index.shtml
Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Pinter (with lots of links about the plays and his biography)
BBC 4 : (a timeline, exclusive videos and a quiz) http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/pinter/
a bio and links : http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc28.html
another one : http://www.arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Harold_Pinter
a longer bio : http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hpinter.htm
another one : http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4985
see especially "the essential of Harold Pinter" : http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/interviews/article317672.ece
an overview of his career, with links http://www.curtainup.com/pinter.html
the Harold Pinter Society : http://www.pintersociety.org/

Teaching Resources

Listen to the recording and script of the phone call announcing him his prize
sound :http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-interview.ram
script : http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-telephone.html
**** Listen to his recent radio play 'voices' on Radio 3 and NPR (I couldn't find the script, sorry!):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/voices_pinter.shtml
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4957823&ft=1&f=1046
"New Pinter Radio Play on Torture and Interrogators to Air Voices, by Harold Pinter, a musical composition by James Clarke with words by Harold Pinter (composed from several of his recent plays), will be performed live on <http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/voices/pip/2v1eq/>BBC Radio 3, on October 10 in honor of Pinter's 75th birthday. "
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/012651.html
Read some excerpts from his plays
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/books/pinter-excerpts.html
an essay about "speech in the Caretaker" by Lesley Clark
http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/45/4500105.pdf
an audio review of The Caretaker
http://www.wbgo.org/realfiles/jrnl031128/article5.ram
from the British Film Institute : a free lesson plan about the Caretaker:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/teaching/caretaker/
an essay about "The Power in Harold Pinter's 'The Homecoming'
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/homecoming/essay1.html
an essay about "Discordance in the scenes of Moonlight"
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/moonlight/essay1.html
Study guide of the "Dumb Waiter"on Spark notes
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/dumbwaiter/

and excerpt and an activity : "Conversational implicature and The Dumb Waiter"

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/stylistics/topic12/14dumb1.htm
a full guide about the Birthday Party
http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/education/productions/birthdayparty/bparty_edpack.pdf
Best free online books and articles about Pinter on Questia (lots of interesting resources)
http://www.questia.com/library/literature/literature-of-specific-countries/british-literature/20th-and-21st-centuries/harold-pinter.jsp

In the News

Bird Flu: Health Officials Keep Close Watch on Bird Flu ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)

A compilation of radio programs from 2005 about the response of world leaders and health officials to "an especially virulent strain of the bird flu [that] is spreading out from Southeast Asia. Known as H5N1, the virus can infect humans as well as birds." Also includes information about the 1918 influenza epidemic and about "Wickett's Remedy," a recently published novel set at the outset of the flu epidemic. From National Public Radio (NPR).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4949542

Bird Flu: 1918 Influenza Pandemic ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)

"In 1918, a highly virulent form of the influenza virus [known as the 'Spanish Flu'] killed at least 20 million people worldwide." This site features information about an October 2005 report that scientists in the U.S. reconstructed the 1918 flu virus. Includes links to related articles, some of which are only available to subscribers. From Nature magazine.
http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/1918flu/
This site explores the influenza epidemic that killed more than 600,000 Americans and between 20 and 40 million people worldwide. Includes reflections about the pandemic and its epidemiology, a pathologist's analysis of whether the same type of devastation could occur again, a map showing the spreading of the disease in the U.S., audio files of interviews, a timeline, a teacher's guide, and the epidemic's effects on Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Based on the 1998 PBS American Experience program.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/

Asian Earthquake

Here are some news about this earthquake and the relief efforts:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0C74016F-97F6-4288-8DC3-7765D3CE7CBC.htm (newsarticles about the last events)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc108?OpenForm&emid=EQ-2005-000174-PAK&rc=3 (maps and last updates)

Halloween

Activities, worksheets, interactive sites and games

Find all those good links and ideas of activities from our colleagues from Paris (collège, lycée)
http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/halloween.php
and also on Michèle Henry's site at Nancy-Metz (primaire, collège)
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/directhall6.htm

A treasure hunt for lower intermediates

don't miss this very useful page also from our colleagues from Paris, with a worksheet, and easy sites to work from:
http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/halloweenTH.php

Halloween story planners and prompts ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, October 14th)

Use the 1st link to access several creative story starters for writing exercises, and then help your students plan their stories with the template included in the 2nd link.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/starters.htm
http://abcteach.com/Halloween/storyplanner.htm
[ this activity can be organised in primary school as well as with older students.]

Halloween Flash Cards

<> Print out these flashcards for vocabulary or spelling entries, for matching or concentration games.
http://bogglesworldesl.com/halloween_flashcards.htm
[ from primary school upwards.]

Halloween Bingo

Create a halloween bingo game to help students memorize the vocabulary. Note that this site can generate lots of other useful features.
http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/
[ from primary school upwards.]

Halloween Preposition cards

Review prepositions with a Halloween theme and these learning flashcards. Then use your cards as story starters.
 http://bogglesworldesl.com/prepositions.htm
[ from primary school upwards.]

Halloween puzzle "Who’s the Thief?"

Our colleague Laurence Bernard has tried for you this puzzle and her students liked it. Who’s the Thief? : Your students can practise past modals for deduction (must have been / can’t have been) with this fun Halloween puzzle.
http://www.link2english.com/teachers_resource_files/Upper%20Int-G-festivals%20p24.pdf

Thriller by Mickael Jackson

Julie Laporte on e-teach started a thread about this song. Here are the resources the colleagues suggested:
lyrics and exercises : http://www.english-teaching.co.uk/sample/thriller.doc
MP3, lyrics and exercises (less convincing) : http://www2.gol.com/users/johnm/song-lyrics.htm

Pumpkin Carving

Make a Jack'O Lantern, find the right tools, the right pumkin, discover and print patterns, etc.
http://www.pumpkin-carving.com/

** Halloween safety game

A excellent game for students from lower intermediate level upwards. The game consists in teaching children to avoid dangerous situations as they go trick and treating. For each situation, they have to make the good choice, and as they play along, they find interesting new vocabulary related to Halloween.
http://www.halloweenmagazine.com/play.html

Safety Alert ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)

Safety tips from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, covering safe costume designs, flame-resistant costumes, pedestrian safety, and more. Includes a diagram illustrating safe Halloween costumes.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/hallow.html

a guide with lots of addresses

to decorate the house, choose a costume, organize activities, etc.
http://www.halloween-online.com/
see especially :
The pumpkin patch, to learn everything about pumpkins (including unusual facts)
http://www.pumpkin-patch.com/
101 ideas of decoration, activities, food, etc.
http://www.101halloweenideas.com/
Halloween stories (short and easy to understand, also including urban legends and poems)
http://www.halloweenghoststories.com/
Safety advices
http://www.halloween-safety.com/

Diwali

Our colleague from Guadeloupe Jean Sahaï is of Indian origins. He sends us this message, encouraging us to celebrate the festival of lights instead of the festival of darkness. They both happen to take place on the same day this year: November 1st!
Here is what he says:
" Do you want a change from, or a compensation for, the infamous monsters and the obscure ugliness of Anglo-Saxon Halloween festival?
Autumn ushers in another beautiful celebration : Diwali, the Festival of Lights, on the Eve of the Indian New Year.
Here are a few pedagogical links on the celebration of the victory of good over evil, from the ancient Mahabharata Indian epic.

What is Diwali?

http://www.diwalifestival.org/ (with nice patterns for Rangoli, des mandala dessinés sur le sol)
http://www.diwali.nl/
http://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/holidays/niharica.html ( with the full history)
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Festivals/Diwali.html
http://www.indiaexpress.com/faith/festivals/deepavali.html (history, significance and recipes)
http://www3.kumc.edu/diversity/ethnic_relig/diwali.html
http://www.bawarchi.com/festivals/diwali1.html
http://www.ruchiskitchen.com/festivals/deepprepare.htm (see the preparations)

Lesson plans and activities

http://www.cccoe.net/specialed/november/nov.html

Other links about India

See also some other links about India including maps and more general information about India at
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/india.htm

Resources for Secondary School

Free worksheets

- ESLindex.com
Our colleague Sophie Morin recommended this site on e-teach. You will find there lots of .pdf worksheets on various subject, ordered by level. Some of them can be quite useful, but you can't modify them and sometimes they are uncomplete : you have to add your own words to make the worksheet efficient. They are supports for short activities, and none of them is supposed to fill in a whole teaching period, but punctually, they can be of some use.
http://lessons.eslindex.com/
- English-teaching.co.uk
Martine Martin recommended found the free lesson about Thriller on this site. Have a look at the sample lessons : they are mainly literary (Shakespeare, Owen, etc) but
http://www.english-teaching.co.uk/

Einstein’s Big Idea ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)

It is hard to overestimate the importance of Albert Einstein’s equation, “Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared”. A recent special from NOVA explores many different facets of the lasting and pervasive effects of this revolutionary statement. The website was developed to provide a host of complementary resources to the actual television program, and as such, anyone with even a trace of interest in the history of science or physics will want to take a close look. The interactive features are excellent; they include 10 top physicist’s explanation of the famous equation and a timeline of Einstein’s life. The essays offered here are also top-notch, and they include a piece titled “Einstein the Nobody” by David Bodanis and “Relativity and the Cosmos” by Alan Lightman. [KMG]
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/
[ for TPE or DNL.]

Get Body Smart (from Cursus)

Find here high level anatomy courses. For students of biology and sciences. Could be very useful for a DNL biology or a TPE.
http://www.getbodysmart.com/

Food and Food Trade

Food & Society ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)

With an increased concern over the nature of food production across the globe, it would make sense that a number of organizations and foundations would see fit to address these conditions through any number of crucial initiatives. Launched in 2000, Food & Society is one such initiative. Created by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the purpose of the initiative is “to support the creation and expansion of community-based food systems that are locally owned and controlled, environmentally sound, and health promoting.”
On their homepage, visitors can sign up to receive news updates and look through a calendar of upcoming events. Another highlight of the homepage is the “Food in the News”, which features the latest information on such topics as farmers’ markets and recent reports, such as “Perceptions of the U.S. Food System: What and How Americans Think About Their Food”. [KMG]
http://www.foodandsociety.org/

California Apple Commission ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)

Find descriptions of leading apple crops, a timeline for California apple production, a map of California apple growing regions, children's games, and more. Includes recipes for apple crisp, sugarless apple pie, and other dishes.
http://www.calapples.org

Washington Apples ( from [LII New This Week] October 13)

This attractive site contains extensive information about varieties of apples grown in the state of Washington, an apple usage chart, nutritional information, recipes, statistics and "core" facts. Directions to the Washington Apple Commission Visitor Center in Wenatchee are available as well as a Just for Kids section, media kit, and large graphics library which includes historical photographs.
http://www.bestapples.com/

Resources for Primary School

Alexander Calder Mobiles ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, October 14th)

Who was Alexander Calder and what did he create? Your students will learn about this important artist, and then create their own spectacular mobiles with this lesson plan.
http://www.sdmart.org/pix/education/Calder.pdf
[ this activity and information can also interest art students of any level. They can use with profits the links provided there to learn more about Calder and his sculptures.]

Geometric cardboard sculptures

Your students will be viewing works by Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Frank Lloyd Wright, and others in this 3-D art lesson plan, as well as learning about organic shapes and positive and negative space. By closely observing environment and familiar scenes through a zoom perspective, students will refine their views and create interesting sculptures.
http://www.ket.org/artonair/artists/morenoguide.htm

Songs and Poems

Ellen Foucher recommended this site on e-teach. The songs are without sound, but the words are nice and can be used as poems if you don't know the tunes they suggest.
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems.html

Project, Training Course

Instructor training for Kids' ISO 14000 Programme

Le message est en anglais car il propose à des enseignants de primaire ou de collège de participer à une conférence internationale en anglais, animée par un japonais, à l'UNESCO.
Education for Sustainable Development ­ESD- is becoming more essential education of children to survive in the 21st century. Among many elements of ESD, environmental education is one of the keys components. The environmental education programme system, called “Kids’ ISO 14000 Programme” started by ArTech in 2000 in Japan has been showing its effectiveness in (1) stimulating environmental awareness of children, (2) teaching simplified methodology of environmental management, and (3) in giving children the concept of working together locally and internationally to solve current local and global environmental issues which we are facing today. In this programme system, Eco-Kids Instructors play an important role in evaluating the workbook done by children, coordinating and managing this programme.
The Kids’ ISO 14000 Programme is now expanding internationally through UN organizations (UNU, UNEP, UNESCO) and International organization (ISO). Special attention is being paid to the cultural diversity in each local context in relation to the environmental management and education.
In this Eco-Kids Instructors training course, participants will be provided with basic knowledge of Kids’ ISO 14000 Programme, and also will learn how to make evaluation of the introductory level workbook. Consultation on specific country implementation will be organized at the end of the course.
dates : lundi 7, mardi 8 et éventuellement mercredi 9 novembre 2005
prix : 75 euros
nombre de participants : 30
à noter : indispensable de venir avec un ordinateur portable équipé de Word et Exel
Pour plus d'information:
http://www.artech.or.jp/english/kids/envedu/EKI/itc/itc.html
http://www.artech.or.jp/english/kids/envedu/EKI/itc/2005Paris.html
contact, createur du concept et responsable de la formation:
Takaya KAWABE, Prof. Dr.
ArTech & United Nations University
E-mail: kawabe@artech.or.jp
URL: http://www.artech.or.jp/english/kids/envedu/index.html

Internet Tools

Gramster 2

Gramster2 est un deuxième module pour apprendre la grammaire anglaise. Il contient 35 points de grammaire différents, tous expliqués dans un style clair et simple déjà utilisé dans le premier Gramster. L'approche pédagogique est moderne et les sujets illustrant les différents points de grammaire sont issus de la vie quotidienne et de l'environnement actuel. A la fin de chaque niveau, 8 tests vous permettent de réviser et d'évaluer vos progrès. Une version légère de Gramster2 est téléchargeable gratuitement
To download a free test version of Audioster, Gramster and Vocabster edited by Edulang, go to:
http://www.gramster2.com/index.php?page=download&langue=fr
Edulang also offers several other programs, see:
http://www.edulang.com/

Skype 1.4.0.71 ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)

With costs for all types of consumer goods on the rise, users might be looking for any deals they can find. One program that might help with these costs is the Skype application, which uses peer-to-peer technology via the Internet so that users can make long-distance calls. The program includes a sophisticated encryption and a surprisingly excellent level of audio fidelity. The program is compatible with computers which run Windows XP or 2000. [KMG]
http://skype.com/

Plans 7.4 ( from The Scout Report -- October 14)

Most everyone would enjoy a new and easy-to-use way to keep their daily and long-term activities in order, so with that in mind, it is worth taking a look at this helpful web calendar tool. With Plans 7.4, users can customize their own template and also create multiple calendars quickly. The site also contains a number of user forums and an interactive demonstration feature to get new users started with their own calendar. This version of Plans is compatible with all computers running Linux. [KMG]
http://www.planscalendar.com/


Ceci est un message de la LISTE INFONEWS
réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
Les commentaires et réflexions entre [ ] ne reflètent que mon opinion personnelle.
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