Polyglot Press
Messages for the World Language Teacher
June 6, 2012
The final curtain is about to fall on this school year 2011-2012. Here’s wishing you a happy ending and a wonderful summer. As always, it is a pleasure to share resources with you. You can find this info at www.polyglotpress.blogspot.com Your comments on the blog or in email are very appreciated.
BRAVO
· Best wishes in your retirement! Dr. Ed Davis, our current Superintendent is retiring June 30. If you are interested in sending a retirement card or note, you can address your correspondence to Dr. Ed Davis and put your item in the blue courier bag at your school.
· Congratulations to Charlotte and Steve Hancock, both Sun Valley High grads and teachers, on the birth of their third child, RobeyAnne. Steve reports that Charlotte is enjoying some time at home and feeling good.
· Sarah Feldman is retiring from Central Academy of Technology and the Arts. Sarah has the unique distinction of being their German AND Spanish teacher. Best wishes in your retirement!
· Kenel Stephenson, French teacher at Monroe High, is moving out of state. Best wishes go out to him in the move.
· Hats off to Sun Valley High for promoting a World Languages Week: May 14 – 18. Special shout outs to Daniela Kolarska who took charge and has invited in special guest speakers and performers. The Spanish 4 class of SVHS Spanish teacher, Charlotte Hancock, is performing the song ‘No te metas en mi Facebook’ with some choreography. The YouTube version is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASU0oadRcxs . If you want to see the original version go to http://www.lyricsmania.com/no_te_metas_a_mi_facebook_lyrics_esteman.html You can peek at all the events on the blog Daniela created in Blogspot http://svhworldlanguageweek.blogspot.com/ Blogspot is free and easy to use. www.blogspot.com Sun Valley has posted photos of their 2012 May World Languages Week online in Picasa at https://picasaweb.google.com/115021013825080747889/SunValleyHighWorldLanguageWeek2012?feat=email#
· Xiaohong HuMueller’s Chinese 2 and 4 students at Marvin Ridge High recently performed ancient Chinese tales with shadow puppets to administrators and students at Marvin Ridge High. The performances are the “Cang jie zao zi” show and the “Turtle and rabbit” show .
· Katie Kane recommends the LearnNC class Crossing Cultures. She thinks it really expands what a world language teacher can do in cultural studies as well as expanding one’s own cultural framework.
Professional Development
· Travel This Summer and Earn CEUs – UCPS Independent Study / Independent Travel CEUs are explained at http://moodlepro.ucps.k12.nc.us/course/view.php?id=133
· ACTFL Conference First-time attendee scholarships available for ACTFL 2012
Are you planning to attend the 2012 ACTFL Annual Convention in Philadelphia this fall? If it will be your first convention, ACTFL is offering two scholarship programs to help with some of the costs. The application deadline for both scholarships is July 11.
Are you planning to attend the 2012 ACTFL Annual Convention in Philadelphia this fall? If it will be your first convention, ACTFL is offering two scholarship programs to help with some of the costs. The application deadline for both scholarships is July 11.
· August 15, 8:00 – 3:30 UCPS “Street SMART” retreat at Porter Ridge High. Sessions will be provided for beginners, intermediate, and advanced users. Participant will receive strategies on how to implement secondary curriculum through the use of Smart products, Smart Response Systems, Smart Slates and advanced tips and tricks on using the Smart Board. Registration will open at 8:00 a.m. and sessions will begin at 8:30 a.m. Lunch will be provided as well as the opportunity to win raffle items and door prizes. Register through the UCPS Staff Development Management System by June 30, 2012. Once logged in, search for “Street SMART” to register for this opportunity at https://sdm.ucps.k12.nc.us/ . Participants will be awarded one Literacy CEU for attending the event and sharing a SMART Notebook activity
· August 23, 2012 8:00 a.m. World Languages Curriculum Day 2012 Sun Valley High Media Center.
Technology and World Languages Teaching
· Do you have the list of the minimum age for using various online tech tools? You should. Visit https://techtools.ucps.k12.nc.us/
· Translators blocked in UCPS? You can use http://translate.reference.com/ The reason the other translators are block in UCPS is because they allow for you totranslate entire web pages. While this is obviously a nice feature, it does not work with our filter. If we allow, say Google Translate, you can go to the site and tell it to translate any site for you, and it will pull it up. This circumvents the filter we have, and is the reason those types of sites have been blocked.
· Cybrary Man - http://www.cybraryman.com/twitter.html (recommended by Kristen Mouritsen in the TWLwOR)
· Blogspot Access - As for the Blogspot, it is true that the UCPS Google Accounts are not enabled for Blogspot. However, personal accounts still are accessible from a UCPS computer. Simply log out of your UCPS Google account, then access the site with your personal account, and you should find that you are able to post again
· The Power of Video in Education- Communication has changed, and students and educators are increasingly using video technologies in all aspects of education. Knowing how to produce, edit, and distribute video gives high school and college graduates a valuable and much-in-demand skill. School systems also are increasingly using video on their web sites to keep parents informed about school events—and many educators are using video to bring lessons alive for their students. With the generous support of JDL Horizons, we’ve assembled this collection of stories from the eSchool News archives, as well as other resources from around the web, to help you understand the many ways that video can empower your teachers and students. (And don’t forget to check out all the resources available on our own video platform, eSN-TV, as well http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/08/26/empowering-education-with-video/
· Premier Flipped Class Social Networking If you’re interested in becoming a member of the Ning social networking site with over 3,500 other educators involved with flipping their classrooms for all grade level and subject areas click http://vodcasting.ning.com/ It’s free.
· Visit the Flipped Classroom EduVision Video Portal for more than 1,000 flipped classroom lessons created by teachers and students. It’s free. Click https://flippedlearning.eduvision.tv/Default.aspx?q=d0F7qPKKlcdruof595o49BBYU2N6jKUu
· 3rd Annual Flipped Learning Conference Join the nation’s leading and most experienced flipped learning teachers this summer. You are invited to register for the Flipped Conference in Chicago at the Tribeca Flashpoint Academy on June 18-20. For more information or to register http://flipped-learning.com/?page_id=5 You can’t attend in person? Register for live streaming sessions, https://flippedlearning.eduvision.tv/SchoolLiveSchedules.aspx
Global Connections
· UNESCO World Heritage List – includes internationally significant historic sites around the world such as : Jesuit Missions in Argentina and Bolivia: The Historic District of Old Quebec, Canada; The Summer Palace and The Gardens of Suzhou, China; etc. etc. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list The interactive world map of World Heritage sites is at http://whc.unesco.org/en/254/ Get the online pdf map of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites at http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/activities/documents/activity-554-26.pdf or buy a copy for $3.00 to cover shipping at
· North Carolina has been partnered with Cochabamba, Bolivia through the Partners of the Americas organization since the late 1960s. Many North Carolinians and Cochabambinos have travelled back and forth for citizen, professional and student exchanges. Please consider joining them this summer to learn more about this interesting part of the world. For more information contact Sallie Abbas: swabbas@nc.rr.com For more information on the North Carolina – Cochabamba partnership: http://ncboliviapartners.org/ The hands-on Service project would be coordinated by Amizade Service Projects in Bolivia through the Road Scholar program of volunteer service. We plan to work with CEOLI, an organization serving the handicapped, with whom Partners has worked for a long time. Its director, Eduardo Villarroel, is a long-time member of the Cochabamba Partners.
Amizade can arrange for lodging, meals, transportation, etc., all for an in-country cost of $1299.They can help us set up, for a group of at least 6, a program of physical work on a project (appropriate for whatever ages), cultural experience, and relational (interacting with the Bolivian people). Airline travel is approximately $1300 at this time.http://ncboliviapartners.org/
Amizade can arrange for lodging, meals, transportation, etc., all for an in-country cost of $1299.They can help us set up, for a group of at least 6, a program of physical work on a project (appropriate for whatever ages), cultural experience, and relational (interacting with the Bolivian people). Airline travel is approximately $1300 at this time.http://ncboliviapartners.org/
· Global Schools Net sponsors a Doors to Diplomacy webpage competition http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/ Rules and timeline for 2011-2012 are at http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/timeline.cfm to give you some ideas of what happened this year.
· CyberFair program is another project of the Global Schools Net that holds a yearly competition with an annual theme http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsncf/. Schools or classrooms can compete by The Doors to Diplomacy Award competition is a variation of Global SchoolNet's internationally recognized, in which students produce web projects to showcase their local communities. Winners from 2012 are showcased on http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/winners/index.cfm The shortcoming is that all these projects are in English. They could be bilingual but although the topics and webpage creations are fascinating showcasing student work around the world and global topics, they are not in the target language.
· African book awards - Stones for My Father by Trilby Kent (Tundra Books) Go online to read more about this year's winners http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/awards.html
Grants
· You can apply for grants through the Bright Ideas website address: ncbrightideas.com. This website features an on-line application, details about the Bright Ideas program, and grant criteria. The early-bird deadline is August 17. Teachers submitting their grant application by then will be put into a drawing to receive a $500 Visa gift card. Examples of past projects and grant-writing tips are available on the Bright Ideas Facebook at www.facebook.com/ncbrightideas has regularly updated information regarding the program.
Videos to Make You Think
· You Tube has begun YouTube EDU, a version of YouTube for education: Create, share, upload, etc. http://www.youtube.com/t/education They have a promotional video on You Tube for Education and creating a ‘global classroom’ http://www.youtube.com/schools?feature=inp-rs-schoo&utm_medium=Ad&utm_source=slashedu&utm_campaign=YT4s Example: French for Insomiacs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q507kSKD2Bo&feature=edu
· Born to Learn – 4:36 minutes on the need to let adolescents discover rather than making them follow in their parents’ footsteps. Thought-provoking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falHoOEUFz0&feature=edu_spotlight
· PBS Wide Angle ‘Time for School” Series, shared by Alice Shrader http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/
· COOOOL videos about using technology in the classroom, shared by Alice Shrader
Research
· Listen to what Dr. Scott Kissau, UNC-C Wl Methods Prof has to say about males in WL classes!- Boys & French as Second Language http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zt8v_scott-kissau-boys-and-fsl-what-why_news I will give you a hint that he says males like more control (choice in projects, deadlines, etc.) in classrooms and quit when the classes don’t permit student control. Likewise, ‘ research shows’ that W teachers give more attention to females.
Chinese Resources
· On the Way to School is a webpage created by a Chinese school to enter the competition. The photos of various families in this rural, undeveloped area of Qinghai province offer authentic views of family living and narrations about the families. http://qh40cy111.edu.17888.com/alltemp/tempdiy/index.php?isinner=0
· There is a project called Shadow Puppet Theatre in my Hometown (in China) http://qh34cy11.edu.17888.com/module/a0011/index.php?isFromTag=1&intModulePK=A0001_5&tag and order=0&isinner=0&mmenu=8430 and http://qh34cy11.edu.17888.com/module/a0011/more.php?pkey=67775&intModulePK=A0001_5&PageSize= and http://qh34cy11.edu.17888.com/module/a0011/more.php?pkey=67971&classID=12440&intModulePK=A0001_7
· Flashcards that you choose – for your PC or SmartPhone. Free. http://www.trainchinese.com/v1/a_user/indexRegister.php
· Audioclips of the main characters in the NC Virtual Public School online Mandarin courses. Click on the character you want to listen to http://www.marinegrafics.com/chinese/
French Resources
· Carefour OoShop French groceries online with prices, descriptions and photos. (Thanks to MRHS Kristen Mouritsen for the link) http://www.ooshop.com/?cid=portbout_12345
· The “gastronomic meal of the French” is honored by UNESCO as http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/17unesco.html
· Le repas gastronomique des Français http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/fr/RL/00437 video http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/fr/RL/00437 (Thanks to SVHS Daniela Kolarska for this info)
Spanish Resources
· BBC – Sueños series is based on clips from the 20-part TV series, Sueños, World Spanish. Look at the key language, watch and listen to the videoclips and read the transcripts when needed. Topics: Buying Things, Food Shopping, Daily Routine, Shows and Events, I Like It, Healthy Living, The Way We Were, Sightseeing, Study and Work, Unforgettable Moments, Thanks to SVHS Spanish teacher Patricia Medina for sharing this resources. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/suenos/
· My Plate Visuals replace the Food Pyramid http://www.choosemyplate.gov/print-materials-ordering/graphic-resources.html
o Archived My Pyramid materials http://www.choosemyplate.gov/print-materials-ordering/mypyramid-archive.html (Spanish and English versions)
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Signatures / Quotes
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” -Nelson Mandela
