Saturday, April 27, 2013

Online Conversation Practice Tool - Center for Language Education and Research

Mars, The Roman God of War


Polyglot Press
Staying Connected to World Language Teaching Resources

March 22, 2013

Happy Holidays!

The month of March is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. The ancient Romans extended that name to the planet nearest to Earth, because its red coloring seemed associated with blood — and it is: what makes the surface of Mars appear red is iron oxide, exactly what gives blood its color. Just a few weeks ago, NASA's Curiosity rover drilled a hole into the surface of Mars to collect some powdery samples for analysis.

The Polyglot Press is archived at www.polyglotpress.blogspot.com

BRAVO
·         YUBELY ZOLKE IS ONE OF TEN FINALISTS FOR THE UCPS TEACHER OF THE YEARYubely (aka Francy) teaches Spanish in grades 6 – 8 at East Union Middle. Yubely brought the Spanish for Native Speakers courses to East Union. She also brought the Spanish 1 for high school credit to EUMS. She incorporates technology and learning stations in her classroom. Students are highly engaged and active learners. Her preparation is strong as she moves seamlessly through many and varied activities each class. She stays in the target language about 90 percent of the time.
·         The QR Craze! Sarah Wade makes audio practice fun, meaningful and something that students would listen to over and over. Sarah recorded messages in Vocaroo and printed and posted the QR codes around her classroom or the Marvin Ridge High interior campus. Students used their cell phones to scan the QR Code that links directly to the recorded information. In the latest case, students listened to an audio file that would state a day, time and order that they would present their speaking presentations. Students had to then accept the number of that code that linked them to a given date, time and order. Some opted to be first. Others looked for QR Codes with audio files that had later dates and times. Try your own hand at Vocaroo www.vocaroo.com
·         Babies? Babies? Who is having a baby? East Union Spanish teacher, Yubely Zolke, and her husband are expecting their first child, a daughter in early May. Weddington Middle Spanish teacher, Kathryn Snearly and her husband are expecting their first child, a son at the end of May. Best wishes!


Professional Development
·         National Endowment for the Humanities – great summer workshop deadlines have passed this March. Browse this site and plan to apply next year http://www.neh.gov/divisions/education/summer-programs
·         Monday, April 22 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. The next webinar in the World Language series is scheduled with the virtual space opening 30 minutes prior to the start for those who want to login and check audio set-up.   This is a DPI Update webinar and all are welcome to participate.  To register for this webinar, please go to https://www4.gotowebinar.com/register/739271351  and complete the registration form. Connection information and reminders will be sent directly to the email address that you provide.
·         June 20-22, TPRS Workshop with Blaine Ray, 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Quality Inn, 440 Griffith Road, 704 525-0747; Enroll toll-free at 888-373-1920 or online at BlaineRayTPRS.com Registration includes 2 books and daily lunch.
·         June 24 – 28, 2013 AP French Language and Culture Training UNC-Charlotte $590 per person Monday – Thursday,  8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Pageflows/InstitutesAndWorkshops/VwDetailEvent.do?eventid=6082
·         July 15 – 19 AP Spanish Language and Culture Training UNC-Charlotte $590 per person Monday – Thursday,  8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Pageflows/InstitutesAndWorkshops/VwDetailEvent.do?eventid=6280
·         Friday, November 22 - Sunday, November 24, 2013, ACTFL National Convention with Pre-Convention Workshops on Thursday, November 21. This year's ACTFL Convention will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

DIP Updates
·         There are 7 immersion languages in immersion education in North Carolina (Helga Fasciano).
·         The HomeBase “Technical” can be viewed at  http://vimeo.com/60250783 

Educational Updates – NC and UCPS
·         Gov. Pat McCrory signed two education bills last week, and he chose Union County Public Schools at which to make the bills, relating to digital technology and education, into law.
·         One measure in the bills say the General Assembly plans to shift funding to digital textbooks and other instructional materials across the state by 2017. Another bill tells the State Board of Education to put digital training into teacher licensure standards and to require similar competency for school administrators. 
·         One measure in the bills says the General Assembly plans to shift funding to digital textbooks and other instructional materials across the state by 2017. The governor added that in the future, students would not need to carry book bags filled with books, as all the material they would need would be on a technical instrument that could fit in a student’s pocket. At the bill signing that took place at Cuthbertson High School, Dr. Mary Ellis, remarked, “We’ll have about 27,000 machines out next year in grades six through 12.”
·         Former UCPS Board of Education Chairman Dean Arp Jr., who now fills the NC House District 69 seat, remarked, “We’ve tried to work on some of the digital education initiatives and we have such a great head start in Union County in what we’re doing. I think these are exactly in line with the governor’s initiatives. I think he wanted to highlight that.”http://www.ucps.k12.nc.us/news/jump.php?news_id=373362


Events
·         through April 28, 2013 “Al Norte al Norte: Latino life in North Carolina,” is currently showing at the NC Museum of History in Raleigh http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/latino/exhibit.html  José Galvez is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer from the barrios of Tucson, Arizona.  For over 40 years, Galvez has used black and white film to create a powerful and unparalleled historical record of the Latino experience in America.  He served as senior photo editor for Americanos, a multi-media exhibition led by Edward James Olmos. In 2000, he published his first solo book, Vatos, a collaboration with esteemed poet Luis Alberto Urrea. Then, in Beloved Land, he and oral historian Patricia Martin explored the lives of Mexican pioneer ranchers in the American Southwest.  In 2004, Galvez and his family moved to North Carolina to photograph Hispanic immigration in the South.  The growth of the Latino community in North Carolina has been unprecedented. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 8.4 percent of the state’s population is Latino. Just 20 years earlier, this community made up only 1.2 percent of the state’s population. Admission is free.

Global Themes
o    The German NGO /e-politik.de/ e.V. and edeos- digital education (www.edeos.org/en) just finished their project „Focus Human Rights“. Within the project, a series of animated Videoclips was produced, published and distributed throughout the World Wide Web. The series consists of an overview clip which gives a sound introduction to the subject and three more specific clips. Each of them deals with one of the three dimensions of the Human Rights system and various other topics such as Women’s Rights, NGOs or the history of Human Rights. The clips are licensed as Creative Commons and can be used and shared for free. Many NGOs, schools and other institutions use them as educational material. The whole series is available in five languages. Jan Künzl - Project Manager WissensWerte - Gaudystr. 2 - 10437 Berlin/ Germany - Tel: 004930/23130075 - Mob: 0049176/20790628 -www.wissenswerte.e-politik.de
o    Playlist for the German Versions:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2F56AF98DB50E0A3
o    Playlist for the Arabic Versions:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6B102A77EB72CEDC

Technology
·         UCPS lists some great tech tools for teachers at https://techtools.ucps.k12.nc.us/ Included are the minimum age requirements, etc.

Pedagogy
Shared by Alice Shrader
·         The Leitner System for Studying Vocabulary http://wlteacher.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/studying-and-retaining-vocabulary-the-leitner-system/

French Resources
·         TUFS Language Modules(Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) – with four dialects sampled: French, Quebecois, Suisse, Midi Watch a short video clip, one minute or so, listening options include: with French subtitles, with English subtitles, with Vocabulary explanations, with notes. Materials are targeted at elementary and junior high school students. The "Dialogue Module" was released in all 17 languages in December 2003. In April 2006, the "Grammar Module" was released in 10 languages and the "Vocabulary Module" in 2 languages. http://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/modules/fr/index_en.html   

Spanish Resources
·         Chilenismos – Chilean slang http://cachandochile.wordpress.com/glossary-glosario-chilenismos/
·         Reflections on Chilean Culture http://cachandochile.wordpress.com/
·         Runners World magazine en español http://www.runners.es/
·         Menu – Chilean Restaurant La pescadería de Walker  http://www.youblisher.com/p/348350-Carta-La-Pescaderia/
·         La presidenta argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner le pidió al papa Francisco que interceda en la disputa sobre la soberanía de las Islas Malvinas   http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2013/03/18/el-papa-francisco-se-reune-con-la-presidenta-argentina-cristina-fernandez
·         Spanish 2 Project – La rutina diaria http://www.scribd.com/doc/40041433/Rutina-Diaria-Project shared by Alice Shrader.