Infonews n°278 from 03/09/2006
Video News and transcripts on Euronews
Dossiers rentrée du Café Pédagogique
August 28th 2005 Hurricane Katrina
September 4th 2006 Labor Day
September 11th 2000 : 9/11
September 26th 2006 : The European Day of Languages
Near meltdown of a nuclear reactor in Sweden
Terrorist attack on transatlantic fight prevented on August 10th
Pluto Downgraded To 'Dwarf Planet' Status
Dress code and school uniforms
Pros and Cons
Debate about school uniform (for advanced students)
Group rules and expectations
I love pets printable accordion book (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Tuesday,
August 8th)
Describing People
Hello, how are you?
Pictures and Sounds
Grade level writing topics (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Tuesday, August
8th)
100 ideas for writing (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, August
30th)
Battleship Spelling (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Tuesday, August 8th)
New Teacher Survival Kit ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, August
31st)
101 things you can do the first three weeks ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer,
Thursday, August 31st)
11 techniques for better classroom discipline (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer,
Wednesday, August 30th)
Video News and transcripts on Euronews
the European TV channel offers now short videos about the main news of the
day, with the full transcript next to the pictures. And you can have the news
in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian. The piece
of news are not simple translation from one language to another : the report
adopts a nation-centered point of view and even if the news is basically the
same, spotting the small differences is interesting, and getting the global
idea in your own language before discovering it in a language you understand
less is very useful.
http://euronews.net/create_html.php?lng=1&page=home
Dossiers rentrée du Café Pédagogique
you will find everything you need (I hope!) on this page:
- for all ESL teachers addresses to find posters or ideas to decorate the class
and suggestions for first day of school activities (scroll down the page),
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/dossiers/r2006/angl.php
- for English teachers in France, links to the new programmes for languages
(including the
"socle commun" and the new "bac STG")
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/dossiers/r2006/lang.php
find more about programmes for English, and the concours
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/dossiers/r2006/angl.php
and don't miss the last infos about the CECRL, including the new addresse*******
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_FR.pdf
August 28th 2005 Hurricane Katrina
one year later : http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/29/katrina.anniversary/index.html
Timelines : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Hurricane_Katrina
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/katrina/katrina_timeline.html
Picture and audio comment : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5292764.stm
pictures and a short commentary : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/americas_the_story_of_hurricane_katrina/html/1.stm
how the crisis unfolded : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4211404.stm
short audio interviews with scripts (from Sylviane Vialaneix on e-teach)
http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00034
special reports and addresses from le Café
Pédagogique : http://www.cafepedagogique.net/dossiers/kat/#a3
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/disci/anglais/65.php
Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later (from [LII New This Week] August 31)
This August 2006 collection from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
contains reports and data on Gulf Coast recovery efforts one year after Hurricane
Katrina. Includes a slide show and photo galleries, frequently requested statistics
(such as total assistance provided to individuals and households), news releases,
and material specific to Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/2005katrina/anniversary.shtm
see also :
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/special_packages/hurricane_katrina/katrina_first_anniversary/
http://www.nola.com/katrina/
[ including two interesting "before/after" slide show.
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/2005katrina/slideshow/slideshow.shtm
http://www.nola.com/katrina/graphics/wide.ssf?/katrina/graphics/then_and_now.swf ]
Documentary : "When the levees broke, a requiem in four acts" by
Spike Lee
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/arts/television/21leve.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14322933/ (Long
article from Newsweek magazine)
September 4th 2006 Labor Day
Each year, the 1st Monday of September is Labor Day in the USA. Read the story
of this national holiday, which is not so much a celebration of the working
class as a bank holiday marking the end of summer.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day_(United_States)
http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/Holidays/celebrate/labor.html
http://wilstar.com/holidays/laborday.htm
September 11th 2000 : 9/11
Watch the original World Trade Center news report on youtube. And you can
find lots of other videos there about 9/11, memories, tributes, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uCfXp6yE4&NR
read the front page of the newspapers on that day, in the Cyber-newseum
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/archive.asp?fpArchive=091201
a poll two years later shows how children in the US felt. This short and easy
article from Time For Kids can be a good starting point.
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/story/0,6260,346015,00.html (Sept
11th two years later, see also one year later)
Heroes of ground zero : a CBS film with a special site including extracts from
the film, testimonies and lots of information about firefighters.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heroes/index.html
and read about the film United 93 in Café n°72 (sortir)
http://www.cafepedagogique.net/disci/anglais/72.php
official site of the film : http://www.united93movie.com (the
trailer there is uninteresting, but I like the flash animation)
What If 9/11 Never Happened? (from [LII New This Week] August 31)
Collection of essays on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the September
11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Features essays by novelist Tom Wolfe, the Reverend
Al Sharpton, a U.S. Supreme Court correspondent, and others. Also includes
a slideshow of items remaining from the ashes of the attacks, a feature about
eight survivors, and links to related articles and photos from past 9/11 anniversaries.
From New York Magazine.
http://newyorkmetro.com/news/features/19147/
with some photos that you can use to invite the students to talk:
http://newyorkmetro.com/news/articles/wtc/
The War of Ideas: September 11 -- Five Years On (from [LII New This Week] August
31)
2006 news and analysis from an Australian perspective about the aftermath in
the Middle East of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Includes articles,
narrated slideshows, and sound clips relating to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon,
and Palestinian territories. From the Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/pmg/start.html
[ for advanced students, a comprehensive flash site from Australia, examining
how the USA managed to bring the Islamic countries they targeted onto the road
of democracy.]
September 26th 2006 : The European Day of Languages
The European Day of Languages is a day for celebrating linguistic diversity.
The general objectives of the European Day of Languages are to:
- Alert the public to the importance of language learning and diversifying
the range of languages learnt in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural
understanding;
- Promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe;
- Encourage lifelong language learning in and out of school.
http://www.ecml.at/edl/Default.asp?l=E
Near meltdown of a nuclear reactor in Sweden
On July the 27th, a nuclear plant in Sweden was seconds away from melt down.
We were on holidays and didn't realise how close we were from a new Chernobyl...
BBC : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5241780.stm (plus
video and links)
Greenpeace : http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/sweden-nuclear-closure-040806
Swedish article : http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=4487&date=20060801
German article : http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,430164,00.html
and the governments didn't hurry to tell us about it. Read the story on the
subversive goverup site (about what is covered up by the US government)
http://www.goverup.com/?p=335
Terrorist attack on transatlantic fight prevented on August 10th
Maybe you didn't hear about this event either...and were lucky enough not
to have to take a plane on that day and the following. There, the info wasn't
withheld from the public. M.Blair had the information (so they say) on wednesday,
he woke up M.Bush who was on holidays in the Caribbean and at 8 in the morning
of Thursday 10th the planes stopped all over Europe and in many parts of the
world for several hours, and tremendous security measures were taken to check
what people took with them aboard planes. Here is what happened:
Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2006_alleged_transatlantic_aircraft_plot
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Police_in_Britain_claim_to_have_disrupted_a_terrorist_attack
CNN : http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/10/us.security.1642/index.html
New York Times : http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/world/europe/11terrorcnd.html?ex=1171771200&en=ff642b16a4f80bc9&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at3
The Times online (with video) :
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2306721,00.html
BBC (with video and timeline) : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778575.stm
Pluto Downgraded To 'Dwarf Planet' Status
a hot debate is raging among scientists since Pluto has lost its status as
a planet. This leaves only 8 planets in the solar system, and the Americans
are very upset since it was the only planet discovered by an American.
from the UK : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5282440.stm
[ article, diagrams, video of the news and lots of links.]
from the US : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060825003742.htm
blog from Zdnet to save the planet (including petition)
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Burnette/index.php?p=166
Françoise Pistre recommended on eteach this site about school uniforms
and dress code:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_3820000/newsid_3825700/3825767.stm
[ you find there lots of short articles, some of them with a sound file so
that you can use them as audio comprehension material. There are lots of examples
of students who were sent home because they didn't have the right haircut,
clothes or jewellery.
How to use it in class : the teacher can select the articles and encourage
the students to understand and react, but if you have access to a computer
room, you can invite your students to build groups and choose different sections
of the site : then they can share their findings, react to them, debate and
offer their own solutions.]
Alyne Piazza on eTeachNet suggested these addresses as a complement. Those
documents are audio, with or without transcript, and can be used as global
comprehension material to help students spot key ideas in a document:
he was bullied because of the way he dresses : (video, no script)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/articles/s/suffolk_bullying.shtml
a student in a choir school describe his life : (video, no script)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/articles/t/tyne_choirschool.shtml
a girl explains that she expresses herself through what she wears : (video,
no script)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/articles/s/suffolk_dresstoexpress.shtml
and those two texts linking uniform and social dress code or success at school
http://www.youthradio.org/education/wabe060218_dresscodes.shtml
http://www.youthradio.org/education/wabe2003_uniformpolicy.shtml
see also this article from CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/12/style.rules/
Dress code and school uniforms
pages of description of the required items for the uniform, from school websites
taken at random from google
UK : http://www.sloughgrammar.berks.sch.uk/about-us/rules-uniforms.htm
US : http://schools.fwps.org/wildwood/dresscode.html
South Africa : http://www.bellvillesouthsss.wcape.school.za/uniform.htm
Australia : http://narangbass.eq.edu.au/wcmss/dress_code.html
New Zealand : http://www.orewa.school.nz/Main/index.php?mid=5&rid=163
a page from the parents' zone on the official Scottish education site
http://www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk/Attendingschool/DressCodes.asp
dress code in the US, state by state
http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/policy_reports/dress_codes/statebystate.html
an site about dress code in the US, from the National Association of Elementary
School Principals.
http://www.naesp.org/ContentLoad.do?contentId=1318
everything about school uniforms everywhere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_uniform
Pros and Cons
http://www.youdebate.com/DEBATES/school_uniforms.HTM (easy)
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/ca/361/back_to_school
http://www.psparents.net/Dress%20Codes.htm
http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/digests/digest117.html
http://712educators.about.com/cs/schoolviolence/a/uniforms.htm/
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/pros-and-cons-of-school-uniforms-182.html
http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/dresscode/ (page
of links, including South Africa)
Debate about school uniform (for advanced students)
opinions of readers, from the canadian site of the Reader's Digest
http://www.readersdigest.ca/debate.html?a=v&di=56
pros and cons from idebate, the database of ideas for debates
http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=59
a case study, questions and an article to discuss, with arguments like : "A
child out of uniform when all other students are dressed alike may feel stigmatized
which, in turn, could affect their success in school."
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/homeless/pdf/school_uniforms.pdf#search=%22school%20uniform%20dress%20code%22
A Manual on school uniforms from an official US site, with a Users' Guide to
Adopting a School Uniform Policy. An example : "A uniform policy may not
prohibit students from wearing or displaying expressive items"
http://www.ed.gov/updates/uniforms.html
a paper from law school students in the US about
"Students dress code : Constitutional Requirements and Policy Suggestions" starting
with this quotation : ""If it means that teenagers will stop killing
each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be allowed
to require the students to wear school uniforms." President William Jefferson
Clinton
http://www.modrall.com/articles/article_13.html
the position of the First Amendment Center (US)
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/studentexpression/topic.aspx?topic=clothing_dress_codes_uniforms
a comprehensive site, including court cases and appeals, research papers and
legal arguments
http://www.geocities.com/school_uniforms/
Group rules and expectations
Laurence Bernard on eTeachNet recommends this site as a follow up to your
lessons about school rules : it encourages the students to reflect on the unwritten
rules and why we need them at school, in their family, among peers.
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=7&DocID=342
Note: students have to be mature enough to find relevant rules and good reasons.
I love pets printable accordion book (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Tuesday, August 8th)
After a discussion of which kinds of pets your students all keep at home (or
which kind they would like to have), print out these two student worksheets.
Early elementary students will cut and paste the correct pets to their outlines,
and then proceed to create a pet accordion
book according to the directions here.
http://kizclub.com/craft/pets1.pdf
http://kizclub.com/craft/pets.pdf
[ for our ESL pupils, you can add the words written under the pictures to help
them remember or learn this vocabulary, or even take up the idea and turn those
accordion booklets into a poster to decorate the class, presenting all their
favorite pets.]
Describing People
To start the year, Aline Degenne on eteach recommends this vocabulary lesson
plan on 'describing people' .
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=147084&catid=58091
[ A ready to use lesson plan with printable handouts from One Stop English
which can also be used in secondary school.]
Hello, how are you?
Sylvie Brod on e-teach recommends this page from Japan, with a very easy song
for beginners, the MP3 file, the words and photos of Japanese students in uniform
performing the song. An excellent idea to start the year in primary school,
and also in lower secondary school (segpa would love it!)
http://www.genkienglish.net/howRU.htm?source=google&gclid=CNaAua25jocCFUsSQgodahvFzQ
Pictures and Sounds
Alyne Piazza recommends on eteachNet this site presenting pictures, organised
by themes like: number, weather, pets. What's interesting is that when you
roll the mouse over the picture, you can hear the word pronounced. Very useful
to encourage beginners to learn new words by themselves.
http://www.languageguide.org/english/fr/
Grade level writing topics (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Tuesday, August 8th)
From first grade through to grade eight, find numerous writing topics to help
prompt your students for journal and/or creative writing assignments. Use the
2nd link for a Student Writing Models page.
http://www.thewritesource.com/topics.htm
http://www.thewritesource.com/models.htm
[ A very useful site full of (short) ideas to encourage the students to write,
which can also be used to encourage them to talk or to debate. The topics are
ordered by levels, from grade 2 to grade 12, and are very varied, from "a
visit to the dentist" to "is pollution a necessary evil?"
and from " a pizza is... or "if I were a super hero I would be..." to "self
esteem". But the site offers just a list of titles, no more.
The second address features texts offered as example to the students, and those
texts can be used in class either to show the students how to build a text,
or just as a story or a debate starter.]
100 ideas for writing (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, August 30th)
Take your pick: choose from short story, essay, personal narratives, or poetry
ideas here. There's plenty to keep your students occupied with writing themes
and topics throughout most of the school year.
http://www.timesaversforteachers.com/index_page0010.htm
[ very short ideas, but can be useful.]
Battleship Spelling (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Tuesday, August 8th)
Based on the popular strategy game Battleship, students use weekly spelling
words on a grid and work with partners to locate the hidden words and correctly
spell them for points.
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LASpellBattleship3JH.htm
[ You can use this game at any level, and fill in the squares with anything
you need : numbers to trains the students to read them; phonetic symbols and
words to help students focus on sounds; matching pictures and descriptions,
words and their translation, a question and an answer.....Students will enjoy
playing and learn without realizing it. See also this extract from an ESOL
teaching book, providing a grid and describing how to use it:
http://www.nala.ie/download/pdf/esol_paving_fulldoc.pdf (
p58 and 59)
New Teacher Survival Kit ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, August 31st)
Several useful forms have been included with this New Teacher's Survival Guide,
including late sign-in sheets, sample contracts with parent briefing guides,
progress reports, homework checklists and grade sheets, and classroom set-up
templates, along with guides for organization, student conduct, planning your
first day, and more.
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/downloads/pdf/NewTeacherSurvivalGuide.pdf
[ some tips are typically American, but some can also be used in our classes.]
101 things you can do the first three weeks ( from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Thursday, August 31st)
Do you want to be exceptionally prepared for the first weeks back at school
this fall? Then consider each of these 101 ideas to help you become organized
and ready.
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/101thing.htm
11 techniques for better classroom discipline (from Riverdeep's Classroom Flyer, Wednesday, August 30th)
From non-verbal cues, to environmental controls, or low-profile interventions,
find eleven techniques here to help you out with your own classroom management
plan.
http://www.honorlevel.com/x47.xml
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