Infonews n°273 du 09/04/2006
What is TV Turn Off Week?
Quiz
Posters
Tips and advices, suggestions of activities(to face this terrible week!)
Facts, figures and statistics
Booklets
TV spots
Conference and guides for advanced students
The great Garbage Caper ( Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, April 7th)
Recycle Trash into Artwork ( Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, April 7th)
A poster to download
Page of Links
Flight 93 (from The Scout Report -- April 7)
Songs from LearnEnglish Kids
Poetry ReadaThon
Listen to UK Radio online
Moving Words ( from BBC Learning English Newsletter)
Words in the News ( from BBC Learning English Newsletter)
Migration
CATrain
Google Creator
Techniques for active listening
Lu au B.O.
TV Turn Off Week is from April 24th to 30th, 2006. Here are some resources to prepare your students, from posters for beginners, to conerences for advanced.
What is TV Turn Off Week?
Here are the sites who support the action. You will find lots of articles
and material to support the action and inform the students. There are also
lots of thought-provoking material, to start a discussion in class.
Adbusters : http://www.adbusters.org/metas/psycho/tvturnoff/
White Dot : http://www.whitedot.org/issue/fix_tvturnoffweek.asp
Kill your TV : http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/
TV Turn Off network : http://www.tvturnoff.org/
TV-B-Gone ( a mock site for a turn off TV remote control, in the style of the
60s) : http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php
Go Kids : http://www.gokid.org/html2/tvoff04.htm
Quiz
are you a TV addict?
http://fun.familyeducation.com/quiz/0,1399,45-6380,00.html
Posters
http://www.tvturnoff.org/images/2006%20poster%20copy.jpg
http://www.adbusters.org/metas/psycho/tvturnoff/pdf/bw_full.pdf (black
and white)
http://www.adbusters.org/metas/psycho/tvturnoff/pdf/CLR_poster.pdf (color)
http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=turnoffposters (
four posters, same image, different catch phrases)
http://www.whitedot.org/images/redmouth.gif (logo,
gif animé)
http://www.mediaed.org/handouts/pdfs/10ReasonsPoster.pdf (10
reasons why media education matters)
http://www.mediaed.org/handouts/pdfs/Missing-poster02.pdf (what
are you missing?)
Tips and advices, suggestions of activities(to face this terrible week!)
http://fun.familyeducation.com/television/family-time/32940.html
http://www.tvturnoff.org/action.htm
http://fatherhood.about.com/od/activities/a/turnofftv.htm
Facts, figures and statistics
http://www.tvturnoff.org/factsheets.htm
Booklets
TV is hazardous for your life (two pages, easy ): http://www.tvturnoff.org/images/facts&figs/factsheets/Hazardous.pdf
leaflet from Media Education Foundation ( 2 p, intermediates) http://www.mediaed.org/handouts/pdfs/TVTurnoffWeekHandout.pdf
TV spots
from Adbusters : http://www.adbusters.org/metas/psycho/tvturnoff/#
if you can find it, the beginning of the serie
"dream on" is also very efficient.
Conference and guides for advanced students
*** Killing us softly 3 : listen to this conference (with images) about how
we are influenced by ads.
information on the tape : http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaGenderAndDiversity/KillingUsSoftly3
a long preview, enough to work from : http://207.234.145.91:8080/ramgen/mef/mediaed.org/video/previews/media_kus3.rm
plus a study guide handout http://www.mediaed.org/studyguides/pdf/KUS3handout.pdf
** deconstructing an advert ( a fascinating and useful analysis : try it on
the sink or think ad from Berlitz, and see what you get...)
http://www.mediaed.org/handouts/pdfs/DeconstructVideoAd.pdf (
3 page desconstructing)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6077326441742307086 (the
sink or think ad)
and lots of other handouts and conference transcripts for advanced students:
http://www.mediaed.org/index_html/handouts
Earth Day is on April 22nd : you can start the theme right now! Here are some suggestions....
The great Garbage Caper ( Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, April 7th)
In this interactive and online investigation into school trash, students
will explore how to properly recycle and what can be done with more toxic substances.
http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/fun_n_games/storybook/waste.cfm
[ an online story for intermediates and above. Designed for American under
10s, but lots of valuable information.]
Recycle Trash into Artwork ( Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Friday, April 7th)
Do explore the wonderful art lessons available at this site, where the premise
is to reuse discarded materials for very creative art projects. On this page,
you can choose your recyled material and then match it with an art lesson.
http://www.kid-at-art.com/htdoc/matchtmp.html
[ lots of handicraft ideas for Primary school.]
A poster to download
Download this poster from Planet Pals and comment it with your students.
http://www.planetpals.com/pdfimages/recyclekit3_b.pdf
Page of Links
Find lots of resources (games, songs, articles, interactive pictures) on
the page I built for my students last year, fully updated!)
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/themes/earthandenvironment.html
Flight 93 (from The Scout Report -- April 7)
Read about how people were upset just watching the trailer for the upcoming
film "Flight 93", the first film about the 9/11 tragedy. Is it too
soon?
http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/Current/inthenews.php?AxisPHP=85f43f7709d07a9955fa30cf540abc4e
Songs from LearnEnglish Kids
On eTeachNet, Marie-Thérèse Jourde recommends this "LearnEnglish Kids" site
from the British council where you can find educational songs for kindergarten
and primary school, or even the first years of secondary school. Students can
listen to the song while watching an animation which shows what the song tells,
download the words, visit pages to learn more about the topic and do a quiz
(one or two players) to show that they remember what they have learned.
There are songs for all levels:
Little kids : http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-little-kids.htm (old
Mac Donald, alphabet, animals, colours)
Easy songs : http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-easy.htm (month,
planets, and remembering a chain song with Ving)
Not so easy : http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-difficult.htm (including
football, record breakers, and protecting the lemurs.)
The songs sound rather 'educational' and some students will not like it, but
the contents are useful and the images are helpfully redundant.)
On the same site, you can also find stories ( to hear and read) and many other
useful activities for the youngest.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories
Poetry ReadaThon
April is US National Poetry month
you can print these posters : http://www.poets.org/images/NPM_Poster_06_Large.jpg
http://www.poets.org/images/smpost00.jpg
http://www.poets.org/images/poster00.jpg
you can take part in the ReadaThon, officially or not (answers should come
back before April 28th, and I'm not sure overseas are accepted)
you can enroll your class and get books : http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/318
you can download a teacher's guide and material : http://www.poets.org/media/ReadaThon.pdf
you can use this list of poems : http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/341
poems to teach : http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/86
read and hear the poems : http://www.poets.org/audio.php
from the BBC, poets read their poems (mostly for literature students) : http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/#
Pages of links :
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/83
http://poetry.about.com/od/audiopoetry/
Listen to UK Radio online
Elisabeth Buffard on e-teach recommends this site where you can find "The
Internet's most up-to-date list of live links for UK radio stations simultaneously
broadcasting on the web". There you can tune in to your favorite UK radio.
Most radios are in streaming, but you can also get them in different formats,
including PDA's.
http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/
Moving Words ( from BBC Learning English Newsletter)
What are the world's greatest quotes and sayings? Find out what makes certain
phrases so powerful, vote for your favourite, and play word games.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/movingwords/
[ for one month, the BBC offers you to select the best quote among a selection.
There are also word games around those quotes. For upper intermediate students
and above.]
Words in the News ( from BBC Learning English Newsletter)
Here are three topics for which the BBC wrote articles and read them so that
we could use them in class. For each text, there is also a list of vocabulary
explained in English a
World Health Day
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2006/04/060407_health.shtml
Explorer stopped in Russia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2006/04/060405_explorer.shtml
Oxford winners of Boat Race
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2006/04/060403_boat_race.shtml
Migration
Elisabeth Buffard on e-teach recommends this site from BBC2 about immigration
rules and migration rates in Britain. The texts are short and easy to understand,
but require some knowledge of the historical background. If the students want
to learn more, several links are available for each topic, leading to the details
of the law or act passed, or news articles about the period.
Excellent for students from classes studying history in English from intermediate
level upwards.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/familyhistory/bloodlines/migration.shtml
CATrain
CATrain is a tool for designing, simulating and controlling digital Model
Railways.
- The "Design" mode allows for the drawing of very simplified schematics
of the railroad layout on the P.C. screen, including devices like turnouts,
signals and level crossing.
- The user can define the characteristics of every device and rail section,
using the "Edit" mode.
- The "Running" mode permits the simulation of the traffic by simultaneously
running several train models on the layout. The trains which have been installed
on the railway are animated on the screen and the User can observe the traffic
simultaneously with the turnout and signal operation. This is useful to define
a good layout topology and to optimize the signal positioning. When the PC
is connected to a dedicated Controller, CATrain can control a real model railway.
- The trains can either travel under the "manual"
control of the User or automatically, following user defined itineraries. In
Automatic mode, CATrain controls the journey, the schedule and the track contention
for every train. As far as the motion of the trains is concerned, CATrain simulates
gradual acceleration and deceleration for a more realistic effect. In Automatic
mode, The Digitally Controlled trains follow their itinerary while the computer
sets the turnouts and the signals as required. The feed-back information provided
by the train presence detectors ensures a good synchronization between the
model and the real life version. Both the devices (turnouts, signals, ...)
and the locomotives are under computer control, when they are fitted with a
digital remote control.
CATrain chooses the electrical power applied to the locomotive engine, according
to a "motion profile curve" specific to each locomotive. It also
takes into account the slope incidence in order to raise or lower the electrical
power.
review in Thot : http://thot.cursus.edu/en/rubrique.asp?no=23957
to learn more and download the freeware CATrain : http://membres.lycos.fr/catrain/
[ Excellent for technicians, and students who study engineering and English.
The site is in English and in French, so the students can switch from one language
to the other for a better understanding. It starts out like a game, but contains
lots of educational features.]
Google Creator
After Gmail, Google offers you free space for your web pages. For the moment
it is free...
Google is "testing a new product that makes creating your own web pages
as easy as creating a document in a word processor. Google Page Creator is
a free tool that lets you create web pages right in your browser and publish
them to the web with one click. There's no software to download and no web
designer to hire. The pages you create are hosted on Google servers and are
available at http://yourgmailusername.googlepages.com for
the world to see. "
from http://pages.google.com/-/about.html
review from Thot : http://thot.cursus.edu/en/rubrique.asp?no=23956
Techniques for active listening
http://www.mediaed.org/handouts/pdfs/ActiveListening.pdf
[ an interesting list of advices...]
Lu au B.O.
- Épreuve d’anglais, langue de complément au baccalauréat - sessions 2007
et 2008
B.O.<http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/14/default.htm>n°
14 du 6 avril 2006 - http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/14/MENE0600908N.htm
- Regroupements 2006 de BTS pour les épreuves de langues :
B.O.<http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/4/default.htm>n°
4 du 26 janvier 2006 - http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/4/MENS0600060N.htm
modification du groupe 16 :
B.O.<http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/14/default.htm>n°
14 du 6 avril 2006 - http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/14/MENS0600807N.htm
