Infonews n°349 from 24/01/2009

A la Une this week, you'll find everything about Obama's inauguration; in the News, information to talk about Gaza in class; in the Calendar, Burn's Night, Australia's Day, Chinese New Year, African American's Month and Groundhog Day, and in the resources for primary school, the newsletter from Primlangues. The resources for secondary school include several sites of poetry read by their authors, a site of everyday laws in California, and a teaching unit about immigration to the USA; then discover two sites for sciences in English and finally two articles in French about teaching practice, and two references : the list of books for "langue de complément" and the application form for "échanges de poste à poste".

Have 2 nice weeks! ;)

Christine Reymond

Sommaire

A la Une : Inauguration of Obama

Star Spangled Banner
The inaugural speech and the transcript
Inaugural poem by Elisabeth Alexander
The oath and Chief Justice slip up
Study of extracts from Inauguration speeches by the New York Times
ePals Presidential Minute
Obama's first 100 days
Lesson plans and documents
A front page and a worksheet

In the News

War on Gaza

In the Calendar

Burn's Night (January 25th)
Australia Day (January 26th)
Chinese New Year (January 26th)
A Crossover : Chinese New Year in Australia
Pages of links for events and celebrations in January
African American History Month (February)
Groundhog Day (February 2nd)

Resources for Primary School

Mutualisez sur Primlangues

Resources for Secondary School

Video Poetry
Poetry
Everyday laws in California
Les vagues d'immigration aux USA de 1789 au début du 20ème siècle

Science and Technology

Wind Energy in California
Year of Science 2009

Teaching Practice

Encourager l'expression orale en classe de langue avec des baladeurs MP3
"L’enseignement-apprentissage des langues : un agir ensemble qui s’affirme"
Oeuvres langue de complement L LV1
Echanges poste pour poste


A la Une : Inauguration of Obama

Star Spangled Banner

Looking for a MP3 version to download, the lyrics or the history of the song? Here is what you need : a special Star Spangled Banner site!
http://www.star-spangled-banner.info/
and the Jimi Hendrix's version is here, with the video and images from the sixties:
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=9yh_3SQd6Ak

The inaugural speech and the transcript

On e-teach, Florinda Fernandes recommends the video and transcript on CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/obama.politics/index.html#cnnSTCText
or the mp3 on VOA
http://www.usavotes2008.com/inauguration.php

Inaugural poem by Elisabeth Alexander

Here are the video and the transcript of the poem
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=fFEPeLyL8as
http://contemporarylit.about.com/b/2009/01/20/elizabeth-alexanders-inaugural-poem.htm

The oath and Chief Justice slip up

Here is what happened and why Obama had to take the oath again (with transcripts and videos)
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/01/the-inuagural-o.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2009/jan/22/barack-obama-retakes-oath-of-office
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/21/obama.oath/index.html?iref=24hours

Study of extracts from Inauguration speeches by the New York Times

Here is an interesting article level B2 from the New York Times, called "the all purpose inaugural address" suggesting an inaugural address made of extracts of the previous ones. Here is what you can read at the beginning: " The article below originally appeared on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times on January 20, 1989. Presidents' inaugural addresses from George Washington onward have dwelled on similar themes. Turn them upside-down, shake them out, and one can excerpt and assemble the parts into a single all-purpose speech, like the following. (The authors are footnoted below.) "
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20090112monday.html
And here is the lesson plan
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20090112monday.html
with an interesting activity consisting in assigning each student (or group of students) a specific address to analyse, and then offering a "who said it" quiz to the whole class
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/studentactivity/20090112a.pdf
and a worksheet to use before listening to the speech to anticipate the content, and then after listening, to analyse the content and discuss the reactions
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/studentactivity/20090112c.pdf
See also this analysis of the words used in the different inaugural addresses. Note in the top ten of the words Obama repeated : nation (15x), work (8x), world (7x), crisis, peace, endure, power (4x)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/17/washington/20090117_ADDRESSES.html

ePals Presidential Minute

Watch the entries for this contest organised by epals where students could send a one minute production of advice and suggestions to B.Obama about what to do in the near future.
http://www.epals.com/groups/elections/pages/presidential-minute-entries.aspx
And congratulations to Melissa, Robin and the other members of Mrs Catherine Dathuy´s class, from collège Denayrouze, in the académie of Toulouse for their selection in the "Most Global" section!!!!!

Obama's first 100 days

Invite your students level B1+ and above to read this in-depth report from the BBC to find out what may happen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/americas/2008/obama_presidency/default.stm
or to follow the events on CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/first.100.days/
And then compare with FDR's First Hundred Days:
The Librarian's Internet Index newsletter recommends these documents to compare Obama's first 100 days and FDR with this "Companion to an exhibit about Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first hundred days in office. The exhibit is designed to provide a "perspective on what we ourselves might see during the first months of President Obama's administration." Online materials include a newspaper front page about the 1930s banking crisis, photos of unemployed men and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers, and political cartoons. From the New York Historical Society."
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/27677

Lesson plans and documents

Based on an article analysing the actual inauguration address
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20090123friday.html
The New York Times offers a lesson plan about Obama's first 100 days from students level B2 : "In this lesson, students complete a "SWOT" (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis as they consider priorities for President Obama's first 100 days in office. Then, students look to history to see what this president might learn from past presidents' early days in office. Finally, students chart the progress of the first 100 days of the Obama presidency by updating events as they occur on a class timeline. "
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20090123friday.html
and the SWOT analysis handout
http://nytimes.com/learning/teachers/studentactivity/20090123.pdf
You can also use this other lesson plan, level A2+/B1
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/studentactivity/20090123ys.pdf
with several audio documents level A2 in which American people voice their hopes
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/15/us/politics/20090115_HOPE.html

A front page and a worksheet

Our colleague Annie Gwynn has prepared documents that you can use with your students : the front page of Metro magazine from the day after the inauguration and a worksheet. You can download them from the documents on eteachNet.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eTeachNet/files/Elections/metro_inauguration.pdf>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eTeachNet/files/Elections/metro_inauguration.pdf

In the News

War on Gaza

BBC learning English features an article entitled "a fragile peace returns in Gaza", with the audio file, the vocabulary and the script. Level B1, this text presents an interesting use of tenses, cause and consequence, plus the basic vocabulary to discuss the problems in the Gaza strip, a topical issue at the moment especially among young people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2009/01/090119_gaza.shtml
Since most youngsters are misinformed, here are some special reports to help them understand the conflict from all points of view : , the BBC, The Guardian, Aljazeera, The New York times, CNN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gaza
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/default.stm
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/gaza_strip/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=gaza&st=cse
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/news/gaza/
and here are some suggestions to end the conflict :
- an article from a Turkish newspaper : "Mission impossible: ending the conflict in a nutshell"
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/63594/mission-impossible-ending-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-in-a-nutshell.html
- an article from Qaddafi, the leader of Libya, suggesting the creation of Isratine
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22qaddafi.html?_r=1
- an article from Time magazine : Can Obama broker the Peace?"
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1873859,00.html
- a video and an article from CBS News saying that "a two state solution is no longer possible"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/23/60minutes/main4749723.shtml

In the Calendar

Burn's Night (January 25th)

On Rescol, Michelle Henry has put together a full page of links, including videos, poems, song and haggis...
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/burnsnight.htm
Burn's Love Poem
On e-teach, Laurence bernard recommends the interactive activities she has created about Burn's Poem "My love is like a red red rose..." , with the audio of the poem and a Hot Pot fill in the blanks:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/absolutenglish-972/notes/love/burns.htm
adapted from the work sheet suggested here:
http://www.link2english.com/teachers_resource_files/UpperInt%20C-FestivlsBritnP47(1).pdf
Burns.visitscotland
Read in the Librarian's Internet Index newsletter : "Website for Scotland's 2009 celebration of the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth in January 1759. Features biographical background about the poet and Scottish cultural icon, two of his poems ("A Red, Red Rose" and "Auld Lang Syne"), and information about Burns' sites in Scotland. Also includes material about hosting a "Burns Supper" (with haggis and whiskey) and tourist resources. From the national tourism agency for Scotland."
http://burns.visitscotland.com/

Australia Day (January 26th)

Tomorrow January 26th is Australia Day. Here are sites to find information and suggestions of activities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day
the logo of the day
http://www.australiaday.org.au/pages/images/logo_small.gif
A full timeline of Australian history, from 1788 until now
http://www.australiaday.com.au/studentresources/history.aspx
Trivia and quizzes
http://www.australiaday.org.au/pages/images/Australian%20Trivia%20-%20QandAs.pdf
Activities
Simple activities level A1 for the youngest : coloring pages, origamis, jigsaws, booklets about Australian animals and birds
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/australia_day.htm
http://www.australiaday.org.au/experience/page107.asp
Some more handicrafts, plus the national anthem and recipes, level A2
http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/australia/index.htm
A crossword (level B1 minimum) from BBC Learning English, with lots of useful links to explore to find the answers:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/crosswords/australia.shtml

Chinese New Year (January 26th)

Here is the British Council's page, packed with simple activities for young students
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics-chinese-new-year.htm
and, although the date has changed and we are now entering the year of the ox, most of the links form last year's Infonews n°296 are still valid.
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/archives/296.htm#feb18

A Crossover : Chinese New Year in Australia

A crossover in TV series is when a hero or character from a series appears in another one. Here is a crossover of Australian Day and Chinese New year, produced by the government of Australia that I discovered in the Librarian's Internet Index Newsletter : "Details about the celebration of Chinese New Year in Australia. Briefly describes and provides links to material on the Sydney festivities, which "stretch to three weeks and include a Grand Parade, Dragon Boat and Sedan Chair Races and night markets." Also includes material about Chinese in Australia (who first came in large numbers during the Gold Rush of the 1850s and 1860s), and the Chinese calendar. From the Government of Australia.
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/27296

Pages of links for events and celebrations in January

Here are two pages of links to find documents and activities for the events of the month : the inauguration, Burn's Night, Australia Day, Chinese new year
http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/fetes01.php
the same plus India Day
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/default.htm

African American History Month (February)

The Librarian's Internet Index Newsletter recommend this : "Collection of links to material in honor of African American History month in February. Includes links to collections, images, and audio and video sources for individuals such as Carter G. Woodson ("father" of African American History Month) and athlete Althea Gibson; and topics such as performing arts, civil rights, and slavery. From the Library of Congress (LOC)."
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/27342

Groundhog Day (February 2nd)

The Librarian's Internet Index newsletter recommends this in depth report from CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting channel :
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/27418
and you can also find resources in the page I did for my students:
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/themes/groundhogday.htm

Resources for Primary School

Mutualisez sur Primlangues

Dans la lettre d'info de l'APLV, Laure Peskine recommande cet appel à mutualisation trouvé dans la lettre d'information Primlangues n° 57 dejanvier 2009 : " À l'affiche : Vous êtes enseignants de primaire et vous avez mené un projet de pédagogie d'échange à distance. Vous êtes invités à échanger vos expériences, mutualiser vos pratiques, discuter des difficultés et des solutions trouvées à l'aide d'un des trois guides répertoriés dans la rubrique « Qui peut vous aider ? »
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article1502
[ et vous trouverez aussi dans la lettre d'autres suggestions utiles, telle que le concours d'histoires en langues étrangères ou cette nouvelle séquence mise en ligne "let's make scones" ]
http://www.primlangues.education.fr/php/sequence__detail.php?id_sequence=83

Resources for Secondary School

Video Poetry

Michael Rosen has won the British Council's poem contest. And on his website, you can watch several poems read by himself. They are easy poems, level A2
http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/hypnotiser.html
Watch some other poems in the poetry archive
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=443

Poetry

On eteachNet, Annie Gwynn suggests several sites to find poetry :
- on BBC poetry : Read and listen as poets perform their own works
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/index.shtml
Poetry archive
http://www.poetryarchive.org/
Poetry4kids : Lovely poems for children (I especially enjoyed the 40 gems by Kenn Nesbitt)
http://www.poetry4kids.com/

Everyday laws in California

Read in the Librarian's Internet Index newsletter : "This series of guides covers California law relevant to gift cards, returns and exchanges, online shopping, health clubs, swimming pools, rental security deposits, foreclosures, property taxes, choosing a tax preparer, voting, and other topics of interest to the general public. From the Sacramento County Public Law Library."
http://www.saclaw.lib.ca.us/pages/everyday-law.aspx
Read these laws that you can use to invite students to write the school laws of their school in English. Note that a student cannot be suspended fo being late or absent...
http://www.saclaw.lib.ca.us/pages/school-discipline.aspx
and discover some surprising facts like the fact that parents can be required to attend (with their child when he is allowed back) a class from which he has been suspended: read 48900.1.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=edc&group=48001-49000&file=48900-48927

Les vagues d'immigration aux USA de 1789 au début du 20ème siècle

Sur e-teach, notre collègue de Martinique Laurence Bernard nous propose cette séquence prête à l'emploi déposée sur OpenWeb English : "Adaptée d’une vidéo libre de droit de 1946 intitulée "Immigration" et disponible dans son intégralité [00:10:22] sur the Internet Archive, cette séance de niveau A2/B1 consiste à restituer la chronologie des grandes vagues d’immigration vers les Etats-Unis de 1789 au début du 20è siècle. Elle s’appuie sur le début de la vidéo de [00:00:00] à [00:02:48]. "
http://www.openenglishweb.org/spip.php?article125

Science and Technology

Wind Energy in California

This site could be useful for Physics taught in English or for personal students' presentations (TPE). It was discovered by the Librarian's Internet Index newsletter as a : "Collection of documents about wind as a source of electricity in California. "In 2007, turbines in wind farms generated 6,802 gigawatt-hours of electricity -- about 2.3 percent of the state's gross system power. Additionally, hundreds of homes and farms are using smaller wind turbines to produce electricity." Includes an overview of wind energy, map of California wind resources, guidelines for reducing impacts to birds and bats, and more. From the California Energy Commission."
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/26118

Year of Science 2009

Read in the Librarian's Internet Index newsletter : "This site welcomes you to the celebration of 2009 as the Year of Science, a national year-long celebration of science to engage the public in science and improve public understanding about how science works and why science matters. Includes monthly themes for planning activities, suggested activities, event listings, and links to related sites. From the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS), a grassroots network of universities, government agencies, and others."
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/25471
[ On this site you also find a calendar of themes for each month of this year : February is "evolution month".... ]

Teaching Practice

Encourager l'expression orale en classe de langue avec des baladeurs MP3

Lisez cet article de Stéphane Busuttil qui vous explique comment préparer vos élèves à l'expression orale en continu et à l'interaction. Vous y trouverez des exemples d'activités commentées, des conseils techniques et pratiques, bref, le nécessaire pour vous lancer vous aussi dans l'aventure! Et cette pratique est utilisable à tous niveaux, de A1 à C2.
http://another.teacher.free.fr/spip.php?article239

"L’enseignement-apprentissage des langues : un agir ensemble qui s’affirme"

Sur eteachNet, Rémi Thibert conseille cet article de Marie Alice Medioni qui vient de paraitre sur le site de l'APLV. Voici ce qu'il en dit : "Maria Alice Médioni est formatrice en didactique et [..] c'est une valeur sûre. Son article s'articule autour du concept d'"agir" en langues (concept cher à l'Education Nouvelle). 3 parties :
* Apprendre c'est agir (avec un historique des méthodologies)
* L'agir en langues (motivation, tâche, activité...)
* Agir ensemble (travail de groupe, co-construction...)
Bref, à l'heure où le CECRL est entré dans les moeurs, ou devrait l'être tout au moins, cet article tombe à point !"
Et voici ce qu'en dit Christian Puren : "L'objet de cet article est de présenter le travail du Secteur Langues du GFEN et ce qu'il peut apporter à la réflexion sur la question des langues, aujourd'hui, au moment où le monde de l'enseignement des langues se trouve confronté à un bouleversement de taille, avec l'irruption sur le plan institutionnel d'une entrée dans la langue par l'agir social. Il s'agit maintenant de concevoir l'apprentissage de la langue à travers des situations qui obligent à agir ensemble, mais de façon différente. Texte intégral de l'article au format pdf."
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article2168

Oeuvres langue de complement L LV1

Catherine Serreau nous rappelle la référence du B.O pour la liste des oeuvres à étudier pour l'anglais langue de complément en série littéraire pour 2009-2010.
http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2008/18/MENE0800338N.htm

Echanges poste pour poste

Lu dans la lettre d'information de l'APLV :
http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article2142
"Des échanges poste pour poste entre des professeurs d’anglais, titulaires des établissements publics français du second degré et des enseignants américains issus d’établissements publics ou privés sont organisés avec les États-Unis pour chaque année scolaire. Objectif, conditions et dossiers de candidatures à télécharger sur le site du CIEP
http://www.ciep.fr/echposte/poste.php
Date limite d’envoi du premier dossier, sans avis hiérarchique, directement au CIEP : le 5 février 2009
Date limite de retour des dossiers au CIEP par la voie hiérarchique le 11 février 2009.


Ceci est un message de la LISTE INFONEWS
réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
Les commentaires et réflexions entre [ ] ne
reflètent que mon opinion personnelle.
Sites Infonews:
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/une1.htm
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/une1.htm
Pour consulter les sources:
http://perso.numericable.fr/~dreymondch46/infonews/archives/sourcinfonw.htm
http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/pascal/infonews/archives/sourcinfonw.htm
Pour vous inscrire ou vous désinscrire:
http://listes.ac-rouen.fr/wws/info/liste-infonews


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