Infonews n°300 from 25/03/2007

Happy anniversary, Infonews! It started 10 years and 300 newsletters ago....
Every Sunday morning, I work for you, my 1500 readers, and I've been doing it for 10 years because you keep telling me it is interesting and useful. I still do it on my free time and without any official recognition, but your thanks are my reward. Here is a card for you...and let's go on for another 300.....;)
http://www.kisseo.co.uk/card/0325/142943WKch83615111h69r50j85.shtml

Infonews n°300 starts with a head turning structure : too much champagne? No, it really is a glass skywalk 1.2 km (4,000 feet) above ground level....then let's go back to some more normal stuff, like songs for primary school children, a comic creator, a game with words to build sentences and a site to find lots of other ideas of activities. In the resources for secondary school, find two sites about sniffer dogs in danger for lower intermediates, an interactive site and a game about Lewis and Clark, articles about Europe (today is the 50th anniversary of the treaty of Rome), information about the problems of the big towns in the world, and about the working world (redundancy and trying to reduce the stress). At the end of the letter, resources for teachers who teach other subjects in English (physics, maths, biology, statistics, technology, accounting) and to conclude a site to design and print your own cover and booklets for your CDs and DVDs.


Have a nice week!
Christine Reymond

Sommaire

A la Une : Grand Canyon Skywalk

Look at it : do you feel dizzy? Would you dare step on it and look down?

Resources for Primary School

Comic strip creator (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)
Teaching with music (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)
Songs for the class
Sentence sequencing (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)
Everyday Teaching Newsletter

Resources for Secondary School

Lewis and Clark interactive
City Mayors (from The Scout Report -- March 23)
Redundancy
Slow London
Europe
Police Dogs' lives in danger

Resources for other subjects in English

Physics : All about waves (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)
Physics : Physlets (from The Scout Report -- March 23)
Mathematics : Geometry (from The Scout Report -- March 23)
Statistics : PollingReport.com (from The Scout Report -- March 23)
Biology : How The Heart Works (from The Scout Report -- March 23)
Basic Accounting Lesson Plans (from The Scout Report -- March 23)
Technology, engineering : Nanotechnology and Nanoscience

Internet Tools

Create cover and booklets for your CD and DVD (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)


A la Une : Grand Canyon Skywalk

Look at it : do you feel dizzy? Would you dare step on it and look down?

http://www.latimes.com/media/graphic/2007-02/27840563.gif
http://mrjarchitects.com/skywalk.jpg
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/images/040826_grandcanyon.jpg
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/US/03/20/grand.canyon.skywalk.ap/story.canyon.ap.jpg
Indian leaders and former astronauts stepped gingerly beyond the Grand Canyon's rim last Tuesday, and Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who was invited to join the tribe along with former astronaut John Herrington, declared it a "magnificent first walk" , but not enough for him : "It felt wonderful; but not exactly like floating on air," Aldrin said after stepping off the deck. Watch this video from the BBC showing him and giving other information about the skywalk.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6460000/newsid_6469300/6469323.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm
March the 28th will be the official opening day of this skywalk above the Grand Canyon, the first-ever cantilever shaped glass walkway to suspend more that 4,000 feet above the canyon's floor and extend seventy feet from the canyon's rim. Read the Scout Report special report about it:
http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/2007/scout-070323-inthenews.php#1
On the official website, on which you can compare it to other structures:
http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/compare.html

And here are some articles and videos to learn more about it:
an easy site for beginners and lower intermediates, or students who don't like reading (pictures and a short sentence, with figures)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6470000/newsid_6470400/6470453.stm
a nice drawing (to be compared with the real thing) and a short text from the National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0826_050826_grandcanyon.html
Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_Skywalk
The Times : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1544231.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1546142.ece (with facts and figures)
the BBC (with the above mentioned video) : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6469941.stm
CNN (plus video) : http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/03/20/grand.canyon.skywalk.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Urban legend (plus photos) : http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/skywalk.asp
photos and a You Tube video : http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/first-video-of-grand-canyons-glass-skywalk-245862.php
the official website : http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com
from the economic point of view (short article with lots of figures)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Entertainment&article=UPI-1-20070308-17514700-bc-us-grandcanyon.xml
from the technical point of view (contractors)
http://www.contractortoolsandsupplies.com/slideshow/skywalk_intro.htm
L.A.Times, with photos and a picture to compare it to other structures
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-skywalk11feb11,0,6802248.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Resources for Primary School

Comic strip creator (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)

"We had a lot of fun playing with this interactive Comic Strip Creator. You can choose your background scene, add people, put in the text bubbles, add props... and when you're finished you just print it out. Students can use this Comic Strip Creator to animate a character or scene from the novel they're reading - a very creative way to incorporate creative reading responses. Consider also taking a character out of the novel and giving him or her a whole new setting and scene. After printing out their comic strips, students can add to the scenes by drawing more props or characters and adding color. They might even enjoy a weekly caption contest, putting unlikely props and characters together in a setting of their choice, and seeing, by a class vote, which student comes up with the winning caption. That student could then create the next caption contest. (6-12)"
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/index.html
[ a very efficient cartoon creator, simple to use, but of course with a limited number of people, backgrounds and props. But I think children in primary school or the early years of secondary school will enjoy creating cartoons and using the vocabulary they know. Have fun! ]

Teaching with music (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)

"From using catchy tunes to help transitions go smoothly, to learning about colors, chanting the alphabet, or using music in participation stories, this site will provide you with lots of key strategies for incorporating music into everyday classroom activities. Also find lesson plans for older grades - teaching grammar with verse, learning alliteration, writing with music, listening for initial letter sounds, and ESL options. (PreK-4)"
http://www.songsforteaching.com/teachertips.htm
[ This site goes beyond resources for primary school : you will find there links to articles about how to use music, songs and even karaoke in class, and several sites of useful resources like alphabet songs. Note that altough several links lead to books or tapes that you have to buy, there are also resources to download and the lyrics of the songs. For the full catalogue, go to :
http://www.songsforteaching.com/store/home.php?cat=882 ]

Songs for the class

On eteachnet, our colleague from Martinique, Miriam Mascaras, recommends those songs for young children that can be used in primary school or the lower classes of secondary school. the third one, the hello song, can be adapted in many ways.
http://www.bushfirepress.com/promotions/songs_to_grow/big_and_little.mp3
http://www.bushfirepress.com/promotions/singing/start_singing_dancing/Dinosaur_Stomp.mp3
http://www.bushfirepress.com/promotions/songs_to_grow/Hello_Song.mp3
http://www.bushfirepress.com/promotions/singing/action_mcdonald.html

Sentence sequencing (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)

"There are numerous suggestions included with these printable sequencing cards to make good use of them, reinforcing sentence skills and identifying parts of a sentence. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the printable noun, verb, adjectives, and helper cards. (K-3)"
http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/sequence/sentence.htm
After reading the familiar and well-loved story of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", primary students will use these colorful printable cards to sequence the story. (PreK-2)
http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/hungrycaterpillar/sequencing.htm
[ Sequencing is an activity/game that allows children to practice combining nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc to make a sentence. You can use the cards for free play, or as a memory game. I think this activity can be quite interesting for our students if you take up the method and make your own cards about a topic they know, or use the sequencing about the caterpillar if they are familiar with the book.]

Everyday Teaching Newsletter

The above addresses come from this newsletter. It is the new name of the newsletter called "Classroom Flyer" edited by Riverdeep which is now edited by Realmworks Communications, but it is the same author, Brenda Barron. It is aimed at kindergarten and primary school teachers in the US, but offers each week useful resources that can also be used in ESL classes with young students. On the home page, you find a calendar with suggestions of activities for each day of the month.
http://www.everydayteaching.com/

Resources for Secondary School

Lewis and Clark interactive

March 23rd, 1806 was the day when the Lewis and Clark Expedition began their journey westward. On the National geographic website, you can find an interactive presentation of their journals with what they found along the way, along with photos, maps, and drawings.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_intro.html
After learning about the basic facts and the historical context, your students will be able to play this interactive history game in which they have to take the right decisions : "Decision-making was an essential part of the Corps of Discovery, and your students get to travel along with Lewis and Clark in this interactive journey to make their own decisions. Be careful though, since how you choose affects the outcome of the expedition." (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)
http://www.usaweekend.com/97_issues/971102/lewis_and_clark/971102trail_intro.html

City Mayors (from The Scout Report -- March 23)

Drawing on the expertise of a team of editors who reside in Britain, Germany, Spain, Mexico, France, and a number of other countries, the City Mayors organization is an “international network of professionals working to promote strong cities and good local government.” Their website takes on all of the important urban issues of the day, including governance, affordable housing, sustainable development, transportation, and a number of other pressing issues. On their homepage, visitors will find links to recent news stories from cities around the world and direct links to thematic sections such as business, finance, environment, and development. One section that should not be missed is the “City Rankings” area, which
includes helpful lists of the largest cities in the world by land area, population and density, along with a list of the most expensive cities in the world. [KMG]
http://www.citymayors.com/
[ a very interesting site presenting the pressing (and common) issues for the cities in the world. Organised by continent, very comprehensive. For teachers and advanced students. ]

Redundancy

The BBC programme Weekender offers this week "Handy tips for redundancy" : "Being made redundant - or losing your job - isn't usually a happy experience, but as we find out this week, that doesn't always have to be the case.". As usual in this programme, you hear an interview with the comments of the presenter in-between, to repeat or explain some words. You can download the MP3 file and the transcript, and find some vocabulary on the webpage.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1549_weekender_extra/
[ The programme is long, but interesting. I think you can use parts of it in class, or encourage intermediate students who will soon be in the working world to use this programme to get the basic vocabulary about jobs.]

Slow London

in the same field, here is another document (audio file, vocabulary and full transcript) about how some people who work in London try to reduce their stress.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1557_london_extra/

Europe

Our colleague Jean Sabiron from the university in Poitiers offers precious resources on his blog called Vigilangues. See Top Down 30, which deal with Europe and points at some interesting resources.
http://sabironlangues.typepad.fr/vigilangues/topdown/index.html
I especially enjoyed the text from the BBC called "Guide to the best Euromyths" which is humorous and surprising.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6481969.stm
[ for advanced students.]

Police Dogs' lives in danger

A second short audio comprehension document ( audio file, transcript and vocabulary) has been released this week by BBC learning English. You already knew the story of this Columbian dog who was threatened, now here is another one in Malaysia. The first text is more factual, I love the end of the second one : "sniffer dogs can't tell the difference between good films and real stinkers!". Both are for intermediate students or above.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2007/01/070129_agata.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2007/03/070323_sniffers.shtml

Resources for other subjects in English

Physics : All about waves (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)

"Middle school students can use this interactive exhibit to explore the various electromagnetic waves, from radio waves, to microwaves, radiant heat, visible light, UV radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays. They will learn how the wave lengths vary, with different results, and then experiment with different quantities of energy to make and measure frequency and wavelength in an interactive learning game. They will also experiment with Peak Wavelength and variations in temperature; reviews and quizzes follow each activity. A Teaching Guide is available at the 2nd link above. (6-9) "
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/light/

Physics : Physlets (from The Scout Report -- March 23)

Understanding how various concepts and processes in physics can be an exasperating experience for students beginning to study the field, so finding sites like this one can be quite a delight. These Java-based applets were developed at Davidson University by Wolfgang Christian, and they are a real delight. First-time visitors may wish to read through the introduction
on using these physlets, and then move on to look through the different sections on the site. In total, there are over 100 physlets here, and they include those that illustrate (or animate) such processes as linear momentum, elastic linear collisions, and the movement of sound waves. [KMG]
http://qbx6.ltu.edu/s_schneider/physlets/main/index.shtml

Mathematics : Geometry (from The Scout Report -- March 23)

Along with their substantial instructional resources, the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) has worked to place valuable mathematical materials online to aid both teachers and students.
This particular site contains links discovered and vetted by George Alexander, who works on behalf of the AMATYC. Here visitors will find links to materials that can be used to teach students about the fundamentals of geometry, including plane motion, polyhedras, symmetry, and tessellations. In total, there are links to 33 resources here, and suggestions for new
materials are always welcome. [KMG]
http://or.amatyc.org/geometry.htm

Statistics : PollingReport.com (from The Scout Report -- March 23)

Everyone likes polls, even if they don’t always like the results. There are a number of ways to keep tabs on recent and informative polls, and PollingReport.com is definitely one of the most comprehensive ways to do so online. From the homepage, users can look over the site’s primary thematic areas, which include “Elections”, “National Security”, and “In the News”. Within each thematic area, visitors can look over the results of recent polls, read the questions asked of participants, and learn about each poll’s methodology and sample size. The site doesn’t have a search engine, but it doesn’t take much time to look through the contents of this useful site. The site has a number of subscription services as well, though it should be noted that these are not offered for free. [KMG]
http://www.pollingreport.com/

Biology : How The Heart Works (from The Scout Report -- March 23)

Figuring out how the heart functions in a metaphorical sense can be an unending and highly metaphysical process (just ask John Donne), so it’s nice to find a place online where visitors can learn how the heart functions in a literal sense. This website was created by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and begins by answering the basic question: “What is the Heart?” After reading this short and informative piece of writing, visitors can meander through sections titled “Anatomy”, “Contraction”, “Circulation”, “Electrical System”, and “Heart Disease”. Each section provides a brief summary of each topic, complete with graphic illustrations and several digital animations. It’s a well-constructed and user-friendly introduction to this important topic, and one that will be of use to those entering one of the health care professions, or those who are intrigued with various body systems. [KMG]
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw_whatis.html

Basic Accounting Lesson Plans (from The Scout Report -- March 23)

Are balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements keeping you up at night? Well, beginning accounting students (or others with an interest in such matters) will appreciate these basic accounting lesson plans, provided courtesy of the MoneyInstructors.com website. The first section contains a number of lesson plans and worksheets that include topics such as the fundamental concepts of accounting, transaction analysis, accrual accounting and adjusting entries. Moving on, the site also contains a number of useful articles on various topics within the field, such as bookkeeping, ledgers, and profit and loss reports. The site is rounded out by a selection of helpful accounting textbooks that students may wish to look for as they continue their journey through the world of accounting. [KMG]
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/accounting.asp

Technology, engineering : Nanotechnology and Nanoscience

The world of nanotechnology and its related applications is growing quickly, and there are a number of websites that are dedicated to keeping up with the developments in the field. This site falls into that very category, as it contains links to recent news stories about the field, coupled with a database containing nanotechnology-related links to universities, research labs and institutes, and associations. Those who might be new to the world of nanotechnology will want to browse on over to the “Nanomaterials Introduction” section. Here they will find short pieces on the significance of the nanoscale, nanomaterial science, and its current (and future) applications. The site also contains a career center, where interested
persons can look over job opportunities in the industry. [KMG]
http://www.nanowerk.com/

Internet Tools

Create cover and booklets for your CD and DVD (from Everyday Teaching Newsletter, Mar.23rd)

"Here is a handy online tool you can use again and again in your classroom. Whether you create a music CD, a photo CD of your class projects or students, or a DVD with your class, you can create your own cover and/or booklet here. Another idea: allow your middle and high school students to use this CD/DVD Cover Creator/Generator as a tool for reading responses. They can plan a movie poster and then create it, decide what kind of music their character would listen to, or determine what kind of music should accompany the screenplay of their novel, and then create the CD and CD cover. Drawing and design tools are included, with various formats and templates also available. (All)"
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/cd-dvd/
[ This is a free tool, which allow you to write or draw your covers and booklets. It is useful, but you have to work online.]


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