Infonews n°264 du 15/01/2005

A la Une this week, sites for and about deaf children and sign language; then a lot of addresses for MLK Day, which is tomorrow, including ready to use resources, videos, less known subjects such as the Greenboro's sit ins or Emmett Till, and ideas to go on with this theme in February which is Black History Month. Primary school students will enjoy working on the simplified illustrated biographies. For secondary school, find here a teaching unit about invention and a site to go with it, a video about the psychological problems of wives as breadwinners, several audio files from the BBC, including subjects such as Harrods, Georges Best or Friday the 13th, and a site of poetry where you can listen to the poets reading their poems. At the end of the letter, a call for participation to an international project about homelessness and a site where future primary school teachers can train for their English exam.
A nice week to you all!
Christine Reymond

Sommaire

A la Une : Sites for Deaf Students

MLK Day

WARNING!!!!!
A booklet
Biographies
Quizzes with links to find the answers
Ready to use worksheets
Webquests
*** Videos
"I have a dream"
Pages of links and resources
Special reports from TV and magazines
Articles from Time about MLK (For Time Magazine subscribers only)
From Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, January 5th
February one : the story of the Greensboro four

Resources for Secondary School

Inventing the future
Invention teaching unit
When the wife is the breadwinner (video)
Audio files from the BBC
Poetry Archive (from The Scout Report -- January 13)

Call for Participation

Eleanor Rigby Project

Teaching Practice

Concours PE


A la Une : Sites for Deaf Students

and those who want to communicate with them.
Sign language (UK)
http://www.british-sign.co.uk/
BSL online (British Sign Language)
http://www.learnbsl.org/
Learn sign language online (UK)
http://www.british-sign.co.uk/learnbslsignlanguage/
Here is a page of contacts (clubs, charities, organisations) and links
http://www.british-sign.co.uk/deafdirectory/
a film, "Welcome 2 My Deaf World" vwith a guide to use it in class which also suggests activities that you can organise without seeing the film (the film is not released in DVD yet, but I'll let you know as soon as it is available
http://www.metromagazine.com.au/metro/03/032b.asp?id=283
US Sign language basics
http://deafness.about.com/od/basics/
ASL (American Sign Language)
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/asl.asp
ASL fingerspelling alphabet (a power point presentation)
http://www.listen-up.org/dnload4/fingerspelling.ppt
Useful signs (US)
http://deafness.about.com/od/usefulsigns/
International sign languages and contacts
Australia : http://deafness.about.com/cs/travel/a/australia.htm
Ireland : http://deafness.about.com/cs/internationalsign/a/irish.htm
India : http://deafness.about.com/od/internationaldeaf/a/indiadeaf.htm
A very long and comprehensive list of useful links
http://www.listen-up.org/sign.htm
A chat site for deaf and hard of hearing people
http://www.alldeaf.com/

MLK Day

Martin Luther King Day is each year on the 3rd Monday in January. This year, it is tomorrow, January 16, 2006.
here are some sites about the holiday and how this day came to be celebrated (the only day commemorating an African American)
http://www.holidays.net/mlk/holiday.htm
http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/Holidays/celebrate/mlk.html
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkhistory1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Day
http://martin-luther-king-day.123holiday.net/

WARNING!!!!!

If you use a search engine (like google) to find sites bout MLK, or worse, if you encourage your students to do so, be warned that there is a supremacist site well hidden under the aspect of a normal MLK site.
--> the site martin luther king dot org ( I don't give the link on purpose) is a white supremacist site. At first glance, it looks normal, but when you read it, you soon get shocked (but only if you understand English) and when you look at the signature at the end of the page, you find a group promoting racism and nazi ideas.

Here are some sites you could use in class:

A booklet

for young children (to cut out, assemble and color)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/6459/mlk.html

Biographies

Short and simple biographies : kindergarten kids have drawn these pictures, and they are a bit simplistic, but the text accompanying them is short and easy and can enable weak students to remember the key moments of MLK's life and his movement. The sentences are in the present : a simple exercise could be to turn all theses sentences in the past to build a biography.
http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools-c/pages/buckman/timeline/kingframe.html
http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/taverna/98/1.htm (autre du même type)
for older students and without pictures:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/MLK/timeline.shtml
a full biography
http://www.netstate.com/states/peop/people/ga_mlk.htm
another, with links to news articles (from Christine Silvestri on eTeachNet)
http://martinlutherkingjrarchive.com/Biography.aspx

Quizzes with links to find the answers

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/classroom/MLKquiz.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/king/quiz.html
"the fight for rights" from Time for Kids ( nice photos but no links to find the answers)
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/games/white/0,9970,106918,00.html
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/bh_hunt_quiz.html (for advanced students. Interesting and useful, but two links are to be replaced:
- February is black history month
http://blackstudentadvisingcentre.studentservices.dal.ca/Files/AfricVoice_Jan_Feb_04.pdf
- Tupac Shakur
http://www.tupacfans.com/bio.php )
http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/king-sw.htm (a flash quiz where speed is essential. But don't worry, you can do the quiz several times over, and this even helps to memorize the answers!)
a simple quiz about an illustrated timeline:
http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/taverna/98/webquest.htm

Ready to use worksheets

- a crossword
http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/king-cw.htm
- a quiz and words to find in a grid
http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/taverna/98/king.htm
(two level, with a different number of words to find)
- *** lots of activities : quizzes, word search, printouts, printable activity booklets:
http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/king-cw.htm

Webquests

http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/mlkth.php (an easy treasure hunt )
http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/MLK/mlkbio.htm (even easier, for younger children)
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/mlkwq1.doc (a webquest/worksheet prepared by Céline Matus from Nancy-Metz)

*** Videos

Prévues pour des élèves de CM1 américain, ces vidéos n'ont ni script ni sous-titre, mais l'anglais est facile à comprendre et les images présentent une bonne redondance avec le texte. Vous pouvez les enregistrer sur votre disque dur pour les présenter hors ligne. Vous avez le choix entre des films complets de 8 à 10 minutes, ou des extraits.
http://www.gp.k12.mi.us/ci/ce/elem/holidays/mlkk5.htm
Je l'ai essayé avec des élèves de seconde qui avaient déjà exploré les sites de biographies faciles et le texte des Jim Crow Laws, cela marchera très bien aussi avec ceux qui ont déjà étudié Rosa Park. Ils peuvent y reconnaitre des phrases qu'ils ont lues ou apprises, et les reproduire à l'oral, puis mener une discussion sur Civil rights.

"I have a dream"

*** to hear the full speech and read the script as it goes:
http://www.hpol.org/record.php?id=72
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/historicspeeches.html
to read the text:
http://members.aol.com/klove01/dreamsp.htm
http://members.tripod.com/jean2000/jc/jc9.htm#dream
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/michel.barbot/supports_ce/mlk/have_dream.htm
to hear short extracts:
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/march40th/speeches.html (with other speeches and a short video)
for a full video of the speech which gives a good idea of the atmosphere (thanks to Laurence Bernard on eTeachNet)
http://student.bus.olemiss.edu/files/Evans/OB/MLK_I_Have_A_Dream.wmv
or this one from History channel
http://www.historychannel.com/broadband/clipview/index.jsp?id=tdih_0828

Pages of links and resources

- a very comprehensive teaching unit by Jérome Quintena on e-teach. he tried it and it worked!
http://teachers.domainepublic.net/shared/Civi%20Pays%20Anglophones/TERM%20STT%20-%20BLACK%20AMERICANS%20PROJECT-%20J_%20Quintena.doc
or go to http://teachers.domainepublic.net/ then choose "documents"; "civilisation"; "Term STT- black American Project"
- Three bios, three quizzes, and some questions
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/MLK.htm
- other pages prepared by colleagues
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/mlk.htm
http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/fetes01.php#mlk
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/martinlutherking.htm
- and some more ages of links
http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Holidays/MLK/MLK.html
http://www.theteachersguide.com/Martin%20Luther%20King%20Jr.htm
http://www.cumbavac.org/martin_luther_king.htm
http://k6educators.about.com/cs/martinlutherking/a/mlkingjr2.htm
http://www.educationworld.com/holidays/archives/mlking.shtml

Special reports from TV and magazines

- VOA : "King Holiday Considered 'Mixed Blessing' By Some Historians"(advanced)
http://voanews.com/english/archive/2005-01/2005-01-14-voa25.cfm?CFID=20477635&CFTOKEN=44690881
- Civil Rights: http://www.civilrights.org/campaigns/mlk/index.html
( an excellent and easy timeline and the making of the holiday)
- Seattle Times : http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/classroom/MLKplan.html
(a special report with ideas for the class and links)
- PBS : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/
- BBC :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/king_martin_luther.shtml (bio)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/28/newsid_2656000/2656805.stm (August 28th 1963)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3170387.stm ( I have a dream, audio, interviews)
- Encyclopedia Britannica : http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/study/index_eb.htm (interesting study guide for advanced students, with videos and audio documents)
- Stanford University : http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/classroom/MLKplan.html or http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/

Articles from Time about MLK (For Time Magazine subscribers only)

if you have a subscription to Time Magazine, you can access the full archives.
They now have a new feature which allows you to flip through past magazines by turning the pages online, just as you would do with a normal magazine. I flipped through the special Time Magazine from January 3rd 1964 "Martin Luther King Junior, man of the year" and found interesting documents (photos, articles, even only the titles)
But the limit of this new feature is that you can print the pages, but not save them or select a part of a page. Still, it is worth a look!
http://www.time.com/time/archive/digitalmagazine/issue/0,23890,19640103,00.html?internalid=pdfcover
See also this article "Attack on the Conscience" from Time magazine dated Feb. 18, 1957 : it is strikingly full of the word "negro" and you can read : " The man whose word they seek is not a judge, or a lawyer, or a political strategist or a flaming orator. He is a scholarly, 28-year-old Negro Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who in little more than a year has risen from nowhere to become one of the nation's remarkable leaders of men." Interesting to have a glimpse at the context of the moment.
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,809103,00.html
For advanced students too, read this article from Time Magazine dated January 9th 2006, with excerpts from a book describing the last year of his life and how things were changing.
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1145260,00.html

From Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, January 5th

MLK Cliparts
Find a great selection of clipart here, all themed to celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
http://www.teachersandfamilies.com/open/preschool/worksheets/tpl-themematch.cfm?id=14
A clothes timeline for MLK
Use this unique idea to explore the major events in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students will create artistic representations of those events, then sequence their depictions on a classroom clothesline timeline.
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/02/lp248-03.shtml

February one : the story of the Greensboro four

If, like me, you are in the middle of another teaching unit, you can just have one lesson presenting MLK Day, and then start Black history month (February) with this less known story. The Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro started on February 1st 1960 with four students and a modest idea spurred on by the brutal killing of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Read more on PBS, with a timeline of the events:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/februaryone/sitin.html
Greensboro sit-ins : an interesting site about the events
http://www.sitins.com/index.shtml
a timeline of the Civil Rights (placing the full desegregation of schools in 1971!)
http://www.sitins.com/timeline.shtml
a lot of audio testimonies and interview of the actors (no scripts), a photo gallerie and a video of the inauguration of the statue built in memory of the events
http://www.sitins.com/keyplayers.shtml
http://www.sitins.com/multimedia.shtml
http://www.sitins.com/multimedia.shtml

Rosa Parks and Emmett Till

We all have talked about Rosa Parks just after her death or on the 50th anniversary of the day when she refused to leave her place to a white man. But few people know that she also was thinking of Emmett Till when she started her revolt. You can find links to study both RosaParks and Emmett Till in Le café Pédagogique:
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/disci/anglais/67.php

Black History

February is Black history month, so you can go on studying black history with those links:
*** excellent photos: http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/moore/mooreIndex.shtml
A quiz about who did what
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_black_history_101.shtml
*** An animation from Brain Pop about Civil Rights
http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/civilrights/
Resources about Emmett Till and Rosa Parks
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/disci/anglais/67.php
Black history month crossword puzzles
<http://info.riverdeep.net/Key=51036.Cf7.P.J6F2By>http://library.thinkquest.org/10320/Crossword.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/10320/Tourmenu.htm
Consider this art and history project for a Black History Month activity, where students will research a famous African American, create a cardstock bookmark, and inscribe a quotation.
http://www.gale.com/free_resources/bhm/activities/activities.htm#bookmarks
Black history wordsearch
http://library.thinkquest.org/10320/Histwds.htm

Character education portfolio project

Students will create their own character traits portfolio, collecting prose, poetry, and the students' own works to illustrate a topic in character education. Try using this project to complement your studies on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or as a leadership investigation for Presidents'Day. Songs, magazine articles, cartoons, and television programs can all be used. Rubrics are included.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/nccep/lp/lp99ab.html
Rosa Parks and Emmett Till
Black History
Character education portfolio project

Resources for Secondary School

Inventing the future

Students will consider current technologies before designing new ones in this inventors lesson plan for middle school students. They will work in groups to consider the worst inventions, describing negative criteria, then brainstorm positive criteria to make a good invention. They will also need to use persuasive writing skills in order to promote their final products; see complete directions here. Use the 2nd
link above to enter great final products into the Exploravision student competition for envisioning future technology.
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/1372.html
http://www.exploravision.org/2005/home.htm

Invention teaching unit

I prepared this page of links for my students. They have to study and invention of their choice, fill in a product sheet (name, inventor, description, use, availability, drawbacks, advantages), write a report about this invention and then take part in a debate to present their invention and choose the best invention or the most stupid, most useful....
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/inventions.htm
[ très efficace avec les élèves de SSI et de sections technologiques, y compris BTSI.]

When the wife is the breadwinner (video)

J.L.Cormier on e-teach recommends this video of a program on CNN about wives as breadwinners and the consequences on their relations with their husband. Interesting to start a discussion in class:
http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=892affcc-16bb-4673-8d65-a4e41e50c74f&f
or that one if the former one does not work:
http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?f=msn-l

Audio files from the BBC

- Pronunciation
the BBC has enlarged its pronunciation section adding more information, exercises and activities. There are over 60 new downloads including worksheets and audio examples.
http://www.bbclearningenglish.com/multimedia/pron
- Harrods
In this edition of BBC London Life: listen to "Harrods - London's best known department store "
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1128_london_life/
- Football
This week: Musical tribute to a football star, Goerges Best
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1218_the_charts/
- Friday the 13th
In Weekender this week: Friday the 13th
http://www.bbclearningenglish.com/radio/specials/1412_weekender/

Poetry Archive (from The Scout Report -- January 13)

Poetry is often seen by some as inaccessible, which is quite a shame, considering the beauty that can be contained within a single stanza, or in some cases, the mere elocution of one word. Hearing poetry read is a wondrous joy, and The Poetry Archive is a great way to enter this world. Established in 1999, The Poetry Archive contains readings by hundreds of poets, including a number of real historical gems from those who have passed away. The site also includes a “Lucky Dip” feature, which takes visitors to the work of a poet selected at random from their generous collection. The homepage contains links to a number of educational resources, including those for teachers seeking to utilize the contents of the site in their classroom and for those looking for a brief introduction to reading poetry.
One recording that should not be missed is by the late John Betjeman, whose poem “A Nip in the Air’ contains the words: “Now if the harvest is over/And the world cold/Give me the bonus of laughter/As I lose hold”. [KMG]
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do
[ for students in literature...and all those who like poetry. Don't miss the readings!]
Listen especially to this short and easy poem about the Black by Langston Hughes
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1552

Fashion in Colors (from The Scout Report -- January 13)

Fashion in Colors creates a new way to explore the history of costume - by color. Historic garments are displayed along with fashions designed by over a dozen twentieth century designers, including Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Junya Watanabe. For example, the blue grouping includes an English brocaded taffeta dress from the mid-18th century; a late 19th century day dress dyed mauve, the first synthetic aniline dye color; a Balenciaga cocktail dress from 1959; and a pleated polyester organdy dress designed by Watanabe/Comme des Garcons in 2000. Yellow, red, black, multi-color and white all provide similar groupings.
Visitors may also browse by designer, or take a virtual tour of the galleries by color. [DS]
http://ndm.si.edu/EXHIBITIONS/fashion_in_colors/
[ for students in art, design and fashion.]

Call for Participation

Eleanor Rigby Project

"Middle School students across the world are invited to join 'The Eleanor Rigby Project', a telecollaborative project that will introduce them to the real people behind the homeless façade. Participants will study the facts, examine the stereotyping placed on those who are homeless, and be introduced to the people who live on the streets in towns and cities close to home and abroad. And after all the facts and emotions have settled, they will be challenged to ask themselves why we all have a strange feeling of discomfort each time we see a home-
less person, and what we can do to help.
Visit the project site to learn more about the project:
<http://info.riverdeep.net/Key=51035.C1s.R.GqFfz3>http://www.masters.ab.ca/bdyck/Homeless/
To participate,please email the Project Coordinator, Brenda Dyck:
bdyck@masters.ab.ca
Brenda Dyck
Master's Academy and College
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Fashion in Colors (from The Scout Report -- January 13)

Teaching Practice

Concours PE

Cécile Cottenceau de l'académie de Caen vient de mettre en ligne, sur le site de l'académie de Caen, les sujets de l'épreuve orale concernant le concours de recrutement des Professeurs des Ecoles: 34 sujets audio et leurs fiches.
http://www.discip.crdp.ac-caen.fr/anglais/documents/cottenceau/PE/concoursPE2004.htm


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