Infonews n°319 from 09/12/2007
Earthquake in Martinique
Earthquakes and Safety
Time and Spelling
Product placement in advertisements (from the BBC)
How to complaint
Human Rights Today
Environment : How to reduce wastes
Rewriting folks tales (from everydayteaching.com)
December holidays (from everydayteaching.com)
Christmas Readers' Theater program (from everydayteaching.com)
BBC Learning English advent calendar
A Finnish Christmas (from everydayteaching.com)
Handicraft : Santa's House (from everydayteaching.com)
A Christmas Carol (from everydayteaching.com)
Beowulf's epic poem
Organise a debate in class
Hear numbers...and deduce
Appel à communication pour le Colloque Cyber-Langues 2008
Tâches finales
Earthquake in Martinique
Several members of our list of ESL teachers live
in Martinique where there was an earthquake last
week. Laurence Bernard found this article with a video on BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7120018.stm
There are many links to explore on the page, but
you can also study the phenomenon with those two
sites recommended by Sylvie Brod
- 3 flash animations about earthquakes on
Frédéric Chotard's page (scroll down to earthquake)
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/prof.danglais/animations/index.htm
- this virtual online course about earthquake
http://www.sciencecourseware.org/eec/Earthquake/
Earthquakes and Safety
- *** an excellent animation presenting the
safety measures in a funny way that studnets will remember
http://itsartmag.com/news/archives/1083-How-to-survive-an-Earthquake.html
- a page made by students to explain earthquake :
simple vocabulary and clear diagrams (fro beginners and lower intermediates)
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/earthquake1.htm
- the video and pages about how earthquakes work
on How Stuff Works (for intermediates and above)
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/earthquake-video.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/earthquake.htm
- lots of animations presenting earthquakes and
their consequences on a Californian website
http://www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/ssc/3d/
- for technicians : online safety videos
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/training/video/online/index.html
Time and Spelling
On eTeachNet, Françoise Peyrissat recommends this
site to hear real natives telling the time. You
can use it with beginners who just learnt how to
tell the time, or with more advanced students who have forgotten it.
What time is it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crU_xe12N4Q
You may also want to teach or revise the alphabet
: here is a site where you can hear the alphabet
recited in two different ways, then some names
are spelled, and in the end you hear the
spelling, and you have to tell the mane yourself.
older students will also love it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dU3Pa9_fIc
Product placement in advertisements (from the BBC)
BBC "Word in the News" features an audio and
written report (with vocabulary) about the EU
position and regulation about product placement on TV.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2007/11/071130_eu_tv_ads.shtml
See also other articles about Ofcom (the media
watchdog) and products placed in films
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4800904.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4578563.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4372842.stm
How to complaint
BBC Learning English features this video about
"how to complaint", with the full program to
download, vocabulary and special expressions and
an activity to print. Remember that this program
is meant for adult autonomous learners of
intermediate level minimum. You can also edit the
program and use only parts of it and to organise
a role play with your students, focusing first on
the words and expressions used, then on how it is
pronounced. Excellent also for professionals who
will have to work in a complaint service or answer to complaints on the phone.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1331_howto_feedback/page6.shtml
Human Rights Today
the Australian site of Amnesty International
presents Human Rights today : a new curriculum
resource which has been developed by Curriculum
Corporation for Amnesty International Australia
for use by teachers and students in years 9 and
10. You can download a chapter of the book for
free, and also the teacher's guide (with lots of links)
http://action.amnesty.org.au/images/uploads/hre/HumanrightsOnlineteacherguide.pdf
Environment : How to reduce wastes
The Scout Report recommends this Interactive site
about how to deal with your wastes.
http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/2007/scout-071207-re.php#3
http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/intro.html
My students liked doing the interactive quiz :
Test your knowledge about hazardous wastes in
your home. And the part advising to through your
medicine down the drain has been corrected :
medicine are now hazardous wastes! ;)
http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/hazardous/
A ban on plastic bags
On eTeachNet our colleague Béatrice Manigat from
Togo recommand this video from CNN, with a full
transcript, about the ban of plastic bags in San Francisco.
Video (you can download it with DownloadHelper):
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/education/2007/11/26/sn.1127.cnn?iref=videosearch
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/studentnews/11/26/transcript.tue/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
Transcript:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/studentnews/11/26/transcript.tue/index.html#three
read also the article : "Plastic bags fly into environmental storm"
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/14/fsummit.climate.plasticbags/index.html?iref=newssearch
Rewriting folks tales (from everydayteaching.com)
"Take any folktale, fable, or fairytale, and have
your students rewrite and perform their plays
according to the directions in this language arts
and drama lesson plan. Try and choose a story
that students are familiar with, and have fun updating it. (3-9)"
http://www.learnnc.org/lessons/DaylePayne7242002572
from : http://everydayteaching.com/lists/subscribe.php
[ note that the example of play attached and the
group worksheet are no longer accessible, but the
process is still interesting.]
December holidays (from everydayteaching.com)
"Have your students research a holiday
celebration different from their own, working in
groups and interviewing members of their
communities. They can ask a neighbor or friend
about Los Posadas, Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah, for
instance, or perhaps visit a senior's residence
to inquire about traditions celebrated earlier
last century. They can write up a presentation,
invite a guest, prepare a special recipe from a
different culture, include illustrations or
drawings, bring in items related to the
celebration, create how-to posters, etc. Pull it
all together for a December Holidays Presentation
Day, where they can dress in costume if desired
and invite guests to help celebrate the diversity
of all of our amazing celebrations and
backgrounds. Use the different links above for
inspiration and/or guidance. (5-12)"
http://www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/MCC/
http://www.kidsturncentral.com/holidays/glossary/holidaysgloss.htm
from : http://everydayteaching.com/lists/subscribe.php
Christmas Readers' Theater program (from everydayteaching.com)
"Goldilocks visits the North Pole and has some
adventures with the elves from Santa's Workshop
in this Christmas Readers' Theater program.
Sleeping Beauty also has a dramatic performance,
and all of these tales and characters get
lovingly mixed up into a hilarious and charming
Christmas tale with 15 parts; a perfect holiday
Readers' Theater script for grades 3-5. (3-6)"
http://www.everydayteaching.com/Holiday/Christmas/GoldilockstheChristmasElves.pdf
from : http://everydayteaching.com/lists/subscribe.php
[ designed for young native speakers, this play
is funny and full of useful current expressions
and references to characters from the traditional
fairy tales. Could be an original Christmas play for intermediate students.]
BBC Learning English advent calendar
Discover a question each day, with a link to a
text from the site where you can find a hint for
the answer. Encourage your students to go there
every day and share the questions with the class the next morning!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1144_xmas07/page3.shtml
A Finnish Christmas (from everydayteaching.com)
'This site is beautifully rendered with images,
music, and text, and tells much of Finnish
Christmas traditions. Christmas Eve is the major
celebration, though festivities continue through
until Twelfth Night. It's always wonderful to
learn of traditions in other lands, which, while
similar to our own, have their own special
customs. In Finland, for example, the Christmas
dinner is laden with pickled herring, roe, and
salmon, and Christmas Peace is proclaimed as a
long-standing event, dating back to the 13th
century and now broadcast live on television
every Christmas Eve day at noon. Learn more about
present day customs and also take a look at
Christmas traditions long ago in Finland. While
you're there, visit Santa Claus, listen to some
Finnish Christmas carols or try some great
cultural recipes, send a Christmas card, or try
the Advent Calendar beginning December 1st. (2-6)"
http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/index.asp
from : http://everydayteaching.com/lists/subscribe.php
[ I especially liked the recipes (with cookies)
http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/index.asp?p=4&sub=13
and the 51 questions about Santa, with short answers:
http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/index.asp?p=3&sub=1 ]
Handicraft : Santa's House (from everydayteaching.com)
Everything is ready for intermediate students who
want to build this papercraft : just print the
color patterns for the house and the decorations
(37 pages) and then assemble following the
instructions in the guide (second address). A
stunning result but it is a lot of work and it
reuires a lot of attention to details.
http://cp.c-ij.com/english/3D-papercraft/event/download/santaclaus_house_e_ltr.pdf
http://cp.c-ij.com/english/3D-papercraft/event/download/santaclaus_house_i_e_ltr.pdf
from : http://everydayteaching.com/lists/subscribe.php
A Christmas Carol (from everydayteaching.com)
What were the values and traditions of Victorian
England during the time Charles Dickens wrote
this most famous of all Christmas tales, A
Christmas Carol? Students will take on roles and
characters to present their findings to the
class, while looking at the elements of
characterization and drama as well. Use the 2nd
link above for the webquest portion of the lesson
plan, which includes detailed role card
assignments and planning worksheets. Rubrics are also included. (6-9)
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=238
http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson238/dickens_WebQuest.html
from : http://everydayteaching.com/lists/subscribe.php
[ interesting webquest on a novel for upper
intermediate students in literature.]
Beowulf's epic poem
The Scout Report announces this New Translation
for Oral Delivery of Beowulf's epic poem.
Interesting for advanced students in English literature.
http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/2007/scout-071207-re.php#1
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Literature/subcollections/RinglBeowulfAbout.shtml
Organize a debate in class
On e-teach, Sophie Bonfils, a colleague from
Lyon, shares her work with us. She organized a
debate with a class of business oriented students
about a Starbuck café in the Forbidden city in
Beijing. She first studies a text with the
students, and then worked on the vocabulary, the
pronunciation and the possible arguments. You can
see online the videos, the worksheet for the
debate and the videos of her students debating.
Thanks for sharing this interesting work with us!
http://mmebonfils.free.fr/comm_intern/comm_intern.html
http://mmebonfils.free.fr/comm_intern/china/starbucks_in_China.html
http://mmebonfils.free.fr/comm_intern/china/worksheet.pdf
http://mmebonfils.free.fr/comm_intern/china/debates/debating.html
Hear numbers...and deduce
I think this page made by Michel Barbot for his
students can be very useful to train students to
spot elements in something they hear, and them
work around them to learn more. Michel works from
an audio extract from Erin Brockovich, when she
give "numbers", and those few numbers describe
her life and how she feels. Hear the extract,
answer the questions, and deduce...
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/michel.barbot/hotpot/fig_numbers/erin.htm
Appel à communication pour le Colloque Cyber-Langues 2008
Sur Eteachnet, Yvan Baptiste nous informe que le
prochain colloque Cyber-Langues, aura lieu du
mardi 26 au jeudi 28 août 2008, à Dijon.
Le thème choisi pour cette nouvelle manifestation
est : 'TICE et langues : de l'expérimentation à la généralisation.'
- Une plaquette d'information sur l'événement est en ligne à
http://www.cyber-langues.asso.fr/IMG/pdf/Appel_a_comm_2008-1.pdf
- si vous souhaitez venir faire partager votre
expérience, si vous voulez présenter ce que vous
faites, vous pouvez faire une proposition d'intervention
http://www.cyber-langues.asso.fr/spip.php?article38
Tâches finales
Our colleague Hervé Hubert has put together the
ideas of several members of e-teach for the task
at the end of a teaching unit, done according to
the new approach of the European Framework
(CECRL). Here is the list so far : you can read
them, test them, and if you have some more ideas,
just send them to him and add your brick to our wall....
http://rv.humbert.chez-alice.fr/tachesfinales.pdf
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