It's back. I received some goods comments on REACH-OUT and those who might have negative ones, haven't told me yet. Please feel free to send in any ESL related comments, ideas, etc. that you might like to share.

The secondary 3 June exam is in the preparation stage in conjunction with the CSRS. The grade 6 exam should follow in the new year. A team of teachers, one from each sector teaching in those levels will be invited to verify the exams later on.

Each school should have received an invitation to order copies of the RREALS CD-ROM - L'enseignment de l'anglais et Internet for ESL teachers. They are $15 and include the basics on using the Internet with your classes. They may be copied to a server and shared or used in individual computers.

Thursday, December 3, 1998 Bob Williams and I attended an ESL-LA Consortium meeting held at the CS De Montreal. It was their second this year. Topics included the Portfolio, project-based learning, the future Internet site, the place of ESL-LA in the forthcoming programme and Springboard, an English Language Arts colloquium on April 30,1999.

The Consortium is an association of school boards that offer ESL-LA in their schools and who accept to meet to share resources and information. Each school board contributes a module or other service to the group. Bob works on enhancing the modules with his desktop editing skills and thereby fulfils the contribution of our school board, giving us access to the other productions of the group.

The Portfolio document is a Document de Travail that is being experimented in the CS Ancienne Lorette (Québec). It discusses the use and application of the Portfolio approach. From the same CS, a project-based learning document was presented that could be the basis of a workshop: reflecting on the practices, phases of a project and planning a project.

The Consortium publishes a newsletter of students' work that can be used in the ESL-LA classroom - Expressions - Impressions that they plan to put on the Internet and solicit direct participation. Further information will follow as it becomes available.

News from a participant of the MEQ programme planning committee reported that the new programme includes enrichment programmes for the secondary second cycle but ESL-LA would probably remain a third option.

That's about it. If you would like more details, give me a call or send an email.

(Click on the asterix to go to that section)

CP News………………………………1

Guide ………………………………2

Meetings ………….…………………3

Ours ………………………………4

Links

Internet Resources …………………..6

Lesson resources……………………..8

Academy Curricular Exchange *

Royalty-Free Clip Art Collection for Foreign/Second Language Instruction *

How to Integrate Technology into the Curriculum *

L'APPRENTISSAGE DE L'ANGLAIS ASSISTÉ PAR ORDINATEUR *

Hopefully, on January 29, 1999 from 9 to 12, you are invited to a general meeting and discussion of all primary and secondary teachers.

January 4, 1999 from 1:15 until 4:00 there will be a mini- Colloquium offered at L'école Le Tournesol for all secondary teachers presented in conjunction with the CEMIS Des Sommets, the CEMIS CSRS and the teachers and administration of Le Tournesol.

Initiation à des activités d'apprentissage assistés par ordinateur pour le secondaire.

Objectif: Amorcer une réflexion sur les possibilités dans le domaine des APO en présentant brièvement quelques ressources disponibles ainsi que des expériences vécues par des enseignantes et des enseignants.

Deux séries de présentations seront offerte en parallèle dans le but de traiter les intérêts généraux et spécifiques en fonction des matières enseignées.

Haven't had a chance to get to SPEAQ lately? Would you like to sit in on presentations by well-known collegues?

The one-day conference (including lunch) is $15 pre-registered. Even your school can afford that if you can afford the time.

Highlighting OUR own teachers, their original ideas and activities.

Gaston Turcotte, a secondary 1 and 3 teacher at Le Tournesol, Windsor has built a library of video tapes of TV programmes with closed captioning that are lent to students at the school, to improve their English skills. "Cable in the Classrooms/La câble-éducation" magazine found in many schools, lists programs that may be used in schools. Also, you can visit their web site at www.cableducation.ca for listings and lessons plans. Sending requests to the managers of local TV stations such as CFCF-12 for permission to use the programmes they produce for educational purposes could widen your choice.

Bob Williams, a secondary 5 teacher from L'Escale, Asbestos is a Microsoft Publisher pro. He has been working with this computer program for some time now and has teamed up with other teachers to build a library of over 60 megs (about 50 disquettes) of material for secondary ESL classes, all impecably presented. He also does "beautification" of ESL-LA modules that others have submitted to the ESL-LA Consortium to make their presentation as interesting and attractive as possible.

http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/lang/inter.html

Academy Curricular Exchange

Language Arts Lessons

Intermediate

1. Creative writing activity using shopping mall personalities (7-9)

2. Basic Grammar; review with fun using "Jabberwocky" (7-12)

3. Writing poems with photographs (6-12)

4. Vocabulary - unfolding meaning (6-7)

5. Creative Writing; 'Becoming a Logophil (4-8)

6. Activities for descriptive character analysis (K-12)

7. Reading; learning propaganda techniques through advertisements (5-12)

8. Euphemisms (7-9)

9. Activity to stimulate thought and verbal participation of students (4-12)

10. Learning nursery rhymes through many activities (4-7)

11. Learning vocabulary words with core curriculum (5-7)

12. Writing, Poetry: Knowing Ourselves and Others Through Poetry (6-12)

13. Vocabulary, The Dictionary Game, "Balderdash" (4-12)

14. Expository Writing, "The Personal Touch" (6-12)

15. Story Starters, introduction to story telling (all grades)

16. 'What? You want me to read AND enjoy it?' activity to encourage reading (6-8)

17. 'Horrid Homonyms' - confusing word pairs/homonyms (6-8)

18. Mass Media - Magazine ads and You, the Teenager (6-12)

19. 'What You See Isn't Always What You Get!', reading comprehension activity (5-8)

20. 'Cooperation Blocks', practice in effective communications and cooperation (6-12)

21. 'Review Basketball', learning to use reading material to find information (6-12)

22. Password" vocabulary review activity (4-12)

23. 'Make A Statement!', using environmental bumper stickers (6-8)

24. "The 'Real' Fairy Tales", fun creative writing activity (5-8)

25. 'Paragraph Unity', writing activity (7-9)

26. 'Book Review', pre-writing activity (8-9)

27. 'Reading. . Try It, You Might Like It!', activity to enjoy reading (6-7)

28. 'Decimal Search', working with the Dewey Decimal System (4-8)

29. 'Novel Partners', independent reading activity toward a structured whole class reading activity (5-8)

30. 'Vocabulary Stumpers', activity to increase vocabulary (6-12)

31. 'Adjective? What's An Adjective?' (5-8)

32. Indexing and writing skills activity (5-12)

33. Create "Who Did It" mysteries with the computer (5-12)

Royalty-Free Clip Art Collection for Foreign/Second Language Instruction

http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/JapanProj/FLClipart/default.html

This page contains a growing collection of clip art (simple line-drawings) to be used by foreign language instructors. Drawings are designed to be culturally and linguistically neutral as much as possible.

Guideline for using the drawings:

You can freely use these drawings without any fee as long as they are used for not-for-profit educational purposes. (You can download them,

copy them, clip a part of it, modify them, combine them, shrink them, enlarge them, print them large or small, etc.) When you use these drawings,

we ask you to acknowledge the source. It protects you from unnecessary complication. Contact us for any commercial use of the drawings.

Project personnel:

The project director is Kazumi Hatasa (Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Purdue University).

This project is supported by Center for Technology Enhanced Language Learning (Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Purdue

University). A partial funding comes from the Dean of School of Liberal Arts, Purdue University.

Contributors:

Drawings are contributed by Travis Kain (University of Iowa), Sayuri Kubota (Purdue University), Yukiko Hatasa (University of Iowa), and

Shigeru Eguchi (Columbia University)

The Clip Art for Foreign/Second Language Instruction includes:

Verbs

Adjectives

Nouns

Buildings and places

• Food and drinks
• People and animals
• Sports
• Things and events
• Time
• Vehicle

http://Partenaires.CyberScol.qc.ca/SPEAQ/eileen/eileen.htm

How to Integrate Technology into the Curriculum *

I have been teaching an intensive class for the past 7 years. After 6 years of teaching that kind of class I needed to take a break. I spent half a year at home resting and slowly facing what I should change about my teaching and the way I see Education.

I started to surf on the net, visiting marvellous sites on integrated subject lesson plans, on learning theories, on integrating technology into the curriculum, on how to work with a one computer class, etc I read books, magazines and articles. I started to get attracted by different theories talking about Piaget, constructivism and constructionism, and students constructing their own knowledge. I understood how coop learning was helpful in a situation where students work on projects.

I was looking at all these new ideas and I really wanted to be part of that new dimension of education. I was not anymore in a situation where I had to transfer my knowledge to the students' heads, but I could be a guide, a helper, and an encourager, too.

I knew, at that point, that I had to make a lot of changes but the most difficult part is how do we make these modifications? Do we scrap everything and start from scratch? Do we use the old stuff and try to reorganise it into technology?

This is what I suggest to look at in this presentation:

How can one move from a more or less traditional plan to a technological one?

I will talk about

• software tools we can use to make this transition,
• how to work out the classroom management
• what to plan and how to plan with Internet
• how to plan with one computer in the class
• web pages making and E-mail,
• Some available tools:

Start with an activity that you have already tested and slightly change your way to use it.

VOCABULARY:

For instance I used to teach Phonics to the students with an Exercise book, with pictures, that suddenly stopped to be printed. So I decided to scan all the pictures I have got and I used them with Kid Pix Studio/Power point. There is a slide show incorporated in these softwares and it works well. The students now build their vocabulary ,by adding to their slide show, words they have learned.

Verbs:

I also teach verbs; I ask the kids to make a 3-D movie with the characters talking to each other and moving, using different tenses. Dialog, description, narration etc. (My Movie Maker)

Power Point:

You can use Power Point to create dialogs between two partners. Use different transition effects to slide from one to the other slide. It can also be a presentation of a research on a subject, like sports facts. You can even use it to present a lesson.

Hyperpage:

This is a very useful tool to get because you can create multimedia work that can support pictures, texts, sounds, video clips etc. It also interesting to use it to present a lesson on grammar or anything else that needs an explanation.

It can be of a great help to store the students work in an electronic portfolio.

Electronic Portfolios:

An electronic portfolio is a collection of representative student work samples gathered overtime that could be presented to the parents at the teacher-parents meeting. It shows where the student started, how he progressed and it illustrates what a student is capable of doing as well as the kind of assessments you give.

EX. :

My research about sports facts.

My slide show about vocabulary

Dialogs

Slide show about Halloween facts

Stories

The advantages are numerous:

it doesn't take much room to store the work, and it's easy to store and to manipulate.

It offers a variety of media for self-expression.

The softwares you can use are:

Scholastic's Electronic Portfolio, Hyperpage, Kid Pix and Hyperstudio.

Word and Wordpad:

These two tools are useful to store the students written work.

They can put their data in a file by using :

Ctrl c: To copy the paragraph, word or sentences you have enlighten

Ctrl v : To paste it to another place.

Ctrl x : To cut away the word, sentence or paragraph you want to take out.

Word and Wordpad are convenient for a written text illustrated with pictures, created in any other printing software or imported from the net. Stories, researches, poems, information etc.

Print Artist:

This is a software from Microsoft enhancing the creation of comic strips, buttons, funny pictures as well as animated pictures. You can print the results and /or export them in another tool to be used as a visual support.

2- Internet:

How do you use Internet with beginner ESL students?

Classroom Management

Do they know how to use Internet?

A- I suggest you start by using an acetate to illustrate your explanation about where are the different functions. Starting from the left-hand side to the right hand side, from the first bar to the last one.

B- you can also team up the students in pair of four. You ask a student from each team to become your student- expert. You schedule them for a special moment, recess or lunch time, and you teach them in advance (one or two days before) the skills they will need to get to perform the task. When you are with the whole class, these experts will support you by helping their mates and answering their questions. You will supervise the group and be available to fix the bigger problems.

C- another hint to avoid that the students yell and get hyper when they need help is to give them a Styrofoam or plastic glass to be put on the top of the screen. An up side down glass means I need help. A glass on the screen means I have got a great site to share with others.

The great thing about this hint is that the kids learn to wait, but not only that, but instead of focusing on you to get help, they somehow get their attention on their problem and they try to solve it. Most of the time a friend or themselves will have fixed it.

D-Which research engine should I use to search on Internet?

I suggest loading a great motor for your searches.

Go to this site and load it:

http://www.ferretsoft.com/netferret/index.html

The great thing about Webferret is that it searches on all the search engines. Furthermore, it gives you a summary of the sites you have got so you don't have to visit the site if it doesn't interest you.

INTERNET:

How to plan a lesson on Internet?

A.I suggest you use a plan you already have used in the class and you know will be successful. Research on a particular topic such as:

1-life in space, (Nasa, astronauts, Mir station)

2-Comparing and contrasting of information (news/facts)

3-Information gathering from human sources such as other students or

experts ( e-mail, news group and other specialists on web sites)

4-A multicultural or global aspect, such as

Foreign language (key-pals, exchanges, researches on traditions)

5-Critical thinking and analysis ( web site evaluation before they build theirs)

6-Researching and writing a report (science projects)

7-Use of graphics and art (illustrations, clip arts)

8-Collecting and analysing data and building a database

9-Conducting a survey via a questionnaire. (Via news groups and e-mail)

Of course, the only way to really know if a plan is Net-worthy is to get online and search for information on the subject. If you can find sites and resources related with the subject matter and goals of the lesson plan, then you're on your way to making it a truly valuable Internet experience for students.

3-What to Plan and How to Plan?

What to plan:

Internet is the right tool to introduce activities that enhance:

1- criticism ( sorting, choosing, verifying)

2- cooperation and collaboration

3- planning and project management

4- analysis

5- adaptation capacity

6- reflection about one’s own way of thinking and learning

(Metacognition)

How to Plan

- Start writing your new, improved plan. How difficult this step will be depends on how much work you did ahead searching on the net.

You can follow the same lesson plan once you have enough interesting Internet resources to improve your lesson plan, the next step is to actually structure as traditional plans, but you may get better results by starting from scratch. You will look at the plan in a new light and come up with fresh ideas. You can still use the same base but don't be afraid to rework and reorganise your new plan.

. You probably had some idea of how long the plan would take as you were putting it together, but with Internet you can never be sure. A particular site that presented no problems one day might be hard to get into the next, when you have students trying to access it.

Try to combine the skills of other teachers on your grade level, to help out and enlarged the span of your activities. You will be amazed to see how many ideas are getting out of three or four heads working together. It brings the work interesting and much easier. The magic word with Internet is sharing.

SHARING IDEAS, LESSON PLANS, SITES ETC.

You can also post you plan on the net in different sites such as Schoolnet or EDNET

EdNetEmail to: listserv@lists.umass.edu

Type subscribes EDNET in the message body.

http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?index&ring=quebeceslring

Esl Ring

Here are two interesting models: (Réjeane Bourque)

http://cscoaticook.qc.ca/profs/bourque/activite.html

http://cscoaticook.qc.ca/profs/bourque/consignes.htm

4- How to manage the one-computer classroom?

There is one thing you really have to look at is the way you are using the computer or the reason you are using it.

You may use it as a place to go when the work is finished or a place to play a game. But the truth is to really look at the real potential of computer in the class. I use to plan workshops once or twice a week so the students could work on the computer but most of the time it wasn't used and I felt bad about it. This year, the children really use it all day long and all week long because I have decided to change completely the way I plan and schedule the work.

I work with workshops and with a work plan for a week.

The students are paired up in coop teams and the work is done by group decisions and co-operation. I supervise, help, guide and often correct the written work with the student beside me and there I teach grammar on the spot when it is needed. I am not saying that I never teach, in fact I will for special activities or explanation, but roughly they do the job and I support and guide their activities.

WEB PAGES:

Their is a really easy way to produce a web page, and it is with COREL WORDPERFECT SUITE 7. They guide you all the way through and it is way easier than any Front Page or Web Expert I have tried and quit. They don't ask you to use Java and other basic language a little trickier for me. There is a second very useful and handy helper and it is Netscape Communicator.

You can download it free from the net:

http://home.netscape.com/download/download_1_3_101_6_4.06.html

E-Mail addresses:

Free e-mail accounts:

Juno: http://www.juno.com

Friendly E-mail: http://wwwthekeyboard.com

Geocities http://www.geocities.com

Geoplay http://www.geoplay.com

Hotmail http://www.hotmail.com

Eudoramail http://www.eudoramail.com

Places to Get Keypals:

Pen Pal Connection

http://www.epals.com/search.html

E-mail Key Pal Connection :

http://www.comenius.com/keypal/index.html

Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connection

http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/

Classroom Connect

http://www.classroom.net

Bibliography

1-Bryant, Mary Helen Integrating Technology into the Curriculum, Scholastic,1996,176 pages.

2-Gartman, Shirley A. Internet Activities for Social Studies Scholastic, 1998,144 pages.

1.http://www.classroom.com/resource/summercover.asp

SOFTWARE TOOLS

- Kid Pix 2 Broderbund around 60.00$

- 3-D Movie Maker Microsoft around 50.00$

- Print Artist Microsoft around 60.00$

- Word and Power Point Office 97 expensive!

- Encyclopaedia Microsoft 60.00$

- Hyperpage around 100.00$

Eileen Germain

eileen.germain@tr.cgocable.ca

FREE Edutainment Games

(all the original and *best* are only in the book, so buy it now, it's 110% guaranteed ! ) Ad from the site

http://www2.gol.com/users/language/games.html

Dollar Awards

The students always enjoy games where money is used. Set up a shop and have them make purchases.

In small groups I play "Dollar Awards." The teacher reads out a question. The student who answers it correctly is awarded play

money from all the other players. The amount awarded can vary dependent on difficulty.

For example:

Teacher: This is a ten dollar question. What colour is my shirt?

The student who answers correctly receives $10 from each of the other players.

Teacher: This is a twenty dollar question. What time do you eat lunch?

The students must give $20 each to the student who answers correctly.

If a student answers incorrectly they must pay a penalty of $5 to all the other players.

You can copy the play money supplied (pages 33 and 34 of the book) and have the students cut them out.

Fast Games

You might already know these games but this is the way I use them.

Last Letter

(vocabulary/spelling)

The last letter of the word must be the first letter of the next word.

You will need a ball, but a screwed up piece of paper is fine.

The teacher throws the ball to one student and says a word, such as "dog".

The student must reply with a word starting with "G," such as "girl".

When answered, the ball is thrown back to the teacher and it is then thrown to the next student, who continues.

The sequence may then be (for example):

girl, look, king, go, octopus, student ... and so on.

You can have the students throwing to each other.

i.e., student A = "Cat," throw to student B = "Today," throw to student C = "Yes," etc.

Please be warned, you may have some fastball pitchers in the class!

Chinese Whispers

Divide the class into even rows.

The last member of each row (at the back of the class) is taken out of the classroom. A "key" letter, word or sentence

(depending on level) is given.

The students run back inside, and whisper the "key" to the next student in their row. It is whispered down through the row until

the last member writes it on the board.

The first student to write it on the board correctly wins the point for their team/row.

Fast Words

The class is arranged into rows. The first person in each row is given a piece of chalk. The blackboard is divided into sections.

No more than six teams.

The teacher calls a letter and the students must write as many words as they can beginning with that letter, in the allocated time.

Their team-mates can call out hints, but be warned, this is very noisy.

Next, the second member gets the chalk and goes to the board and the teacher calls out a new letter.

The team with the most correct words is the winner.

Word Association

The teacher starts the game by saying a word, such as "Hotel".

For example:

Teacher: Hotel

Student A: Bed

Student B: Room

Student C: Service

Student D: Food

Student E: Restaurant

Student F: Chinese

As you can see, any association is ok.

If the student can't answer (5 second limit) he or she must stand up. The last student seated is the winner.

If the association is not obvious, the student is asked to explain the association.

Songs/Music Cloze

Songs are a good way to teach in an "Edutainment" way because they incorporate all the language skills:

(1) Listening (to the song)

(2) Reading (following the lyrics to determine the words)

(3) Writing (filling in the blanks)

(4) Speaking (singing the song)

Lower Level:

(1) The song sheet is handed out to the students.

(2) The teacher reads each word (at the bottom of the page) and the students repeat. This is done twice.

(3) The tape is played twice in a row, with the students trying to fill in the blanks.

(4) The students are invited to discuss it with their classmates for one minute.

(5) The song is played again and students complete the missing words.

(6) The teacher calls out the correct words. The students mark their papers themselves with a red pen, and record their scores.

(7) The students with a perfect score receive a round of applause.

(8) The song is played, one last time, with everybody singing.

Medium Level:

The same system is used.

However, for the first playing the words are folded under, as shown on the song sheets.

Only at the second listening, are the words revealed.

Note:

You can have a lot of fun seeing what the students come up with, before they are allowed to see the correct words.

Higher Level: :

Complete sentences are deleted (liquid paper?), so more words must be recognised.

The words are folded under for the entire listening while the tape is played.

Only after all the listenings are the correct words revealed.

With a little experience, the teacher will easily be able to adjust to the level of difficulty required.

The songs have been chosen for their pronunciation and because they are familiar to most students.

Variety in the types of songs, for instance, rock, ballad and so forth, is supplied.

The song sheets (lyrics) have been made for the lower levels, and need to be modified for higher levels.

Sample Song:

(Name:______________________)

"Bus Stop" (1)

(The Hollies) Bus Stop, wet day, she's there,

I say, please share my __________________(1)

Bus stop, bus goes, she stays,

Love grows, under my umbrella

All that summer we enjoyed ______________(2)

Wind and rain and shine

That umbrella, we employed it

By ___________________(3) she was mine

**

Every morning I would see her waiting at the ______________(4)

Sometimes she'd shop

And she would show me what she ________________________(5)

All the people stared

As if we were both quite insane

Someday my name and her's are going

To be the ________________(6)

That's the way the whole thing __________________(7)

Silly, but it's _____________________(8)

A thinking of a sweet romance

Begin and end with you.

Came the sun the ice was melting

No more sheltering ___________________(9)

_______________________(10) to think that that umbrella led me to a vow.

(** Chorus)

Your score__________/10

------- Fold here, for the first listening at higher levels -------

now, stop, nice, August, true, bought, it, same, umbrella, started

Let It Be (Lennon, McCartney)

When I ______ (1) myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary ________(2) to me

Speaking _________(3) of wisdom, let it be.

And in my _______(4) of darkness

She ____(5) _________(6) right in front of me

_____________(7) words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

___________(8) words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken hearted ___________(9)

_________(10) in the world agree,

There _______(11)be an answer, let it be.

For though they may be_________(12) there is

Still a chance that they will _______(13)

There will be an _________(14), let it be.

Let it be, let it be. Yeah

There will be an answer, let it be.

And when the night is ___________(15),

There is still a ________(16) that shines on me,

Shine on until ____________(17), let it be.

I wake up to the sound of __________(18)

Mother Mary comes to ________(19)

Speaking words of ___________(20), let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

There will be an answer, let it be.

Let it be, let it be,

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Your score_________/20

----------------------- fold line -------------------------

will, wisdom, see, Whisper, hour, light, me, parted, speaking words,

tomorrow, answer, living, standing, comes, music, cloudy, people, is, find

Edutainment- there's 100 pages of material

that you can use to lighten your teaching load and brighten your classroom,

and more importantly, make your English teaching more effective. No preparation required, all materials ready to photocopy !

Following are some games and ideas, I have found " out there ". I like them, hope you do too ! These will be updated

from time to time, so bookmark, *now*

Oral Charades

Write occupations and emotions on slips of paper: one each per student. Have students draw papers from a hat (or two) and have them describe the emotion and the job on the papers WITHOUT using those words.

The rest of the class must guess the emotion and the occupation,

e.g. "Happy Postman," "Frustrated Teacher."etc

"Mini-field trips".

I like to take my ESL "Newcomer" students (middle school) on "mini-field trips".

Yesterday we went on a tour of the school store. Before the trip we practiced saying,

"How much is ...?" and "How much are ...?" Then each student prepared a question for our tour guides, such as "Is the store school open during lunch?" and "How much are the Snickers?". In addition to asking questions, students did a sketch of something they saw during the mini-field trip. They will turn these sketches into postcards on large index cards. Eventually they will each create a photo album of their incredible mini-field trips.

Upcoming trips include, a local park, the cafeteria, the gym, the office, my car, a nearby store, a neighbor's garden, etc. Also, writing thank you letters to our tour guides is a good follow up activity.

Warm-up exercise

Here's a warm-up exercise to wake up a first or second class meeting. Have the students line up by alphabetically order.

DON'T help them. DON'T organize it.

Have the students ask each other their names and figure it out together (In English). Then you check it.

Write the names on the board. Round Two, line up by Last name, alphabetically. Then check.

Other variations. Line up by Birthday, Language, Distance from School, Size of family. Avoid obvious things like physical size, weight, hair color, etc...

Say it!

Divide the class up into teams. Have one student on one team come up to the front of the class and give him/her a piece of

paper with about 7 words on it centered around a theme.

For example, you could have 7 words that start with M, or several words that are parts of the body.

In two minutes (let the other teams watch the clock for you), the student with the paper must try to get one of the students on

his/her team to say as many of the words on the list without using the word itself.

One point is scored for each word guessed.

The challenge here with a class full of students who all speak the same language is keeping them from giving hints in their native tongue. Usually, the other teams are vigilant about policing this for you, but when they are lazy, you'll have to lay down the law

on your own.

I can't take credit for coming up with this idea, it came from a book called ESL Classroom Activities. They call it "Just a Minute".

Liar!

Hi everyone! This is a simple first-day icebreaker that I've found works really well, with both small and large classes:

The students think of three sentences, two are facts and one is a lie.

One by one, students introduce themselves and say their three sentences. The rest of the class has to guess which one is a lie.

It's best for the teacher to go first, not only to provide an example, but also to let the students know that the teacher is

interested in interacting with them.

Here is a variation on Hangman I have heard called WORD SHARK.

Instead of a man being hung, you can draw a man dangling from a cliff, with the ocean, complete with one ravenous shark, underneath him. When the first incorrect letter is guessed, the man begins his descent toward the shark, who, five or six wrong guesses later, will eat him.

Graphically, I find Word Shark to be more interesting than Hangman.

These days, I'm doing full sentences, not just single words. It is a good way for beginning classes to Preview grammatical models, one letter at a time, while still having fun. And, it gives the teacher an incentive to challenge the students, because it's fun to draw the stick figure being eaten by the shark.

Learning Log

I have started something new with my class. I have the students fill out a "Learning Log" at the end of each class to help themkeep track of what they've learned throughout the month.

I think this is important for both teachers and students. If the student says he never learned anything in class, a quick look

through the Learning Log might give different information.

Also, it's something concrete that the student can take home as " proof" to themselves that they have and are improving their English. This is always good encouragement for them.

Tic tac toe and Bingo

I read a couple of ideas about tic tac toe and Bingo! Remember, bingo can be used for just about everything: colors, numbers, vocabulary, letters, verbs, occupations, etc.

Wheel of Fortune

Also, I play Wheel of Fortune with my elementary school kids that can read. A great way to review vocabulary and verb tenses that you are studying.

Scrabble

Also, if you can, buy a game of Scrabble (you remember that game you hated as a kid!) It's great. We play it with our middle school kids and elem. 5 kids once a week. They love it and their vocabulary is always increasing. You can even make a list of all the words made and then either have the students write sentences with them, or look them up in a dictionary, what ever.

My advanced middle school kids are getting really good. They actually beat me last night! By the way, it's best if you have the kids play in teams of 3 or 4 so that they can work together. Have fun!

Do not correct

Whenever you have an activity that students write, Do not correct it.

Type the written assignments out WITH the errors. Photocopy. Place students into groups, and give them the papers. As a

group let them correct the errors themselves. They like the interaction, and seem more interested because it is their own actual work that is being corrected.

After this group activity is finished, as a class go over the possible correct answers together. This is a great activity to do once a week to get the students able to become their own editors.

Fun songs

An immense help to me as a language learner has been taking fun songs (whatever kind you like and is available: classics, drinking songs, pop songs, opera, show tunes, whatever) in the language I'm learning and transcribing the Lyrics so I know them.

Then I listen to those songs and sing along either aloud (assuming I'm not in a situation where there's anyone around to be disturbed by me crooning in Haitian; don't try this on the El) or silently following along and recalling the meaning of the lyrics.

This won't help much if you're trying to learn Innuit, but folks learning English are lucky, in that wherever they are on Earth, there's probably tons of English-language music of every kind for them to listen to.

Especially as lyric transcription is sometimes pretty hard, it's sometimes a worthwhile exercise to lead a class through the lyrics of a song.

Now, Madonna's CD's might not go over great with everyone, but I'm sure everyone in a class would at least put up with, say, Tony Bennett. "I've got music, I've got rhythm", anyone?

Want/Have/Need Tic-Tac-Toe

Time Required: About 30 minutes

Students' Level of English: Beginner Intermediate Advanced

Materials Needed: The attached handout

Objective(s):

Practice using the words "want," "have," and "need"

Procedure:

Read through activity with students and explain that they are to fill in the answers to numbers 1 papers with a partner.

Ask partner A to guess partner B's answers by using the sentence patterns on the bottom of the handout. If they guess

correctly, they get to mark "X" on the answer. If they guess incorrectly, they mark a "0" on the answer. The goal is to get a line

of three "X".

When they are finished, then partner B tries to guess partner A's answers using the same sentence patterns.

Want/Have/Need Tic-Tac-Toe

Write your answers in any order in the boxes below:

Make sure that you only write nouns.

1. Something you want (*).

2. Something you have (*).

3. Something you need (*).

4. Something that you had(*), but don't have anymore.

5. Something you have (*), but don't have anymore.

6. Something you don't have (*) and don't want.

7. Something you have (*), but don't need.

8. Something you have (*), but seldom use.

9. Something you have (*) and often use.

Now exchange papers with your partner. Look at his/her sheet and guess what the objects are. Use the following:

e.g. Something you have(*), but seldom use.

You say: "I'll bet you have *a bicycle*, but seldom use it."

e.g. Something you have (*), but don't want anymore.

You say: "I'll bet you have *a toy doll*, but don't want it anymore."

If you guess correctly, put a big X in the square. If you guess wrong, put a big O in the square.

Try to get a line of three X's.

Adjective-noun combinations

Objective : To get students to think about and practice adjective-noun combinations.

Level

This game works well with all levels. Lower level students can make up simple sentences and higher level students more complex ones.

The Game

The purpose of this game is to give students the chance to practice adjective-noun combinations. Begin by giving them a male or female first name. They must then invent a sentence similar to the following:

Albert likes awful apes.

Betty likes baby boys.

Linda likes little limes.

Richard likes roaring racecars.

Wendy likes wiggling worms.

The game should move fast, so you should be prepared with a list of names to fire at your students.

You should go through the list ahead of time to make sure that you can think of matching adjective-noun combinations within the vocabulary range of your students.

It is sometimes helpful to have a large list of alphabetized adjectives xeroxed off and ready to hand out, especially for lower level students.

Following are names for every letter of the alphabet to get you started:

Andy, Betty, Carmine, Daniel, Ed, Francis, Grover, Harry, Ingrid, John, Kris, Linda, Mark, Norman, Orville, Patty, Quentin,

Rachel, Sam, Tom, Ursula, Victor, William, Xavier, Yolanda, Zelda.

THE PICNIC

(For Intermediate to Advanced Level Students)

This is a simple game that requires students to generate vocabulary in English. The class is asked to imagine that they are going on a picnic. Their job is to suggest things to bring along. The teacher says yes or no to each suggestion. What the students do not know is that the teacher says yes when a student suggests something whose first letter is the same as the first letter of the

name of the student. The teacher says no if the first letter of the suggested object and the first letter of the name of the student do not match. For example:

Alicia: I want to bring apples.

Teacher: You can bring apples, Alicia. Alicia can bring apples. What do you want to bring, Marco?

Marco: I want to bring a radio.

Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring a radio.

If students need a hint after a while you can interject something like:

Maria: I want to bring bananas.

Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring bananas. Why not ask Barbara to bring bananas?

Usually someone figures out the game. Knowing the secret forces them to narrow their suggestions to words beginning with the

same letter as their name.

This activity is based on an activity by Annalisa Trapani.

Post-it note

Game Preparation: On several Post-It notes, write in large letters a single word of recently learned vocabulary.

The activity is easiest with simple nouns, though more advanced students can play it with any vocabulary.

Method: Students are put into groups of 3 or 4; 1 student is the 'subject' and sits facing the others.

Place a Post-It note on the forehead of the subject who then 'becomes' that item of vocabulary but, not being able to see the note, does not know what they are.

To find out they must ask the other students in the group who can answer with reasonably helpful replies.

The activity is best played with a class who know each other well.

The teacher should be responsible for distributing the items of vocabulary as sometimes discretion should be shown in assigning vocabulary to students.

It is a fun activity ideal for a few minutes at the end of a lesson.

Teaching Mr and Ms, He, etc.

This is for teaching Mr and Ms,He, She , likes, doesn't like and where do you live?...

It is best for early beginers usually 12 to 13 year old junior high school.

Students interview their classmates. Students have been taught to answer " I like .........." , " I don't like ........ " and "I live in

.............."

It sounds a bit unnatural, but it practises the vocab they should know,( and they like it! ) Feel free to print out this worksheet.

Interview Game ( Part One )

Interview your classmates and fill in the blanks. (You may need to ask their name first! )

* = sport, animal, food, music

(Q) Excuse me Mr/Ms............................, what * .....................do you like? (A)........................

OK, what *......................... don't you like? (A)..............................I see, where do you live? (A)........................

Thank you.

(Q) Excuse me Mr/Ms............................, what *...................... do you like? (A)......................

OK, what * .........................don't you like? (A)..............................I see, where do you live? (A)........................

Thank you

(Q) Excuse me Mr/Ms............................, what * .................... do you like? (A)........................

OK, what *......................... don't you like? (A)..............................I see, where do you live? (A)........................

Thank you.

SCORE

Boy/Boy 1 point, Girl/Girl 1 point, Boy/Girl 2 points, Girl/Boy2 points Student/ Teacher 3 points

Your Score........................./ 7

Part Two

Complete these sentences, then stand up and tell the class !

Mr/Ms............................likes..........................He/She doesn't like ................................and He/She lives in

......................................!

Mr/Ms............................likes..........................He/She doesn't like ................................and He/She lives in

......................................!

Clothing Race

Purpose: Practice the names of clothing items

Materials Needed: Two sets of clothing items, a judge for each team.

Students are divided into teams of 4 or 5 members. Two teams compete against each other at a time.

Each team lines up by a pile of clothes. When the teachers says "Go!" the first person in line, puts on a clothing item,

says what it is and then takes it off and hands it the next person. That person puts it on, says what it is and hands it the

team member behind him.

While this is going on, the first person grabs another item, puts it on, says what it is and takes it off, handing it to the

person behind her/him.

When the last person on the team has put on all the clothes, said what they are and put them back in a pile, that round is

over.

The team who is faster, advances to the semi-finals or final round to compete against another team in the class (if the

class has more than 2 teams).

The judges can be students who are on teams not currently participating or student helpers.

HomeWork Central:

http://www.homeworkcentral.com/1to6/

Themes and reseach for young kids

Réf1exions et suggestions

par Danielle Shaw Atout Micro

Avec la mondialisation des marchés, l'individu qui cherche un emploi intéressant a beaucoup plus de chances d'y parvenir s'il est bilingue et plus encore s'il maîtrise plusieurs langues. Ce sera particulièrement cette situation qui prévaudra dans les années 2000 pour nos enfants et petits-enfants et il faut y penser maintenant si l'on souhaite qu'ils dénichent un travail plaisant. Conscients de ce état de fait, des parents nous contactent régulièrement pour connaître nos suggestions de logiciels pour apprendre l'anglais. Certaines demandes concernent des besoins pour des adultes débutants, d'autres veulent s'améliorer et certains sont à la recherche de logiciels pour leurs enfants à la maison et à l'école.

En plus du potentiel offert par les émissions de radio et de télévision en anglais qu'il ne faut surtout pas négliger, on peut maintenant compter pour l'apprentissage de l'anglais sur les possibilités offertes par de nombreux logiciels multimédia d'apprentissage sur CD-ROM et par Internet. Comme l'apprentissage d'une langue comporte plusieurs facettes, nous avons regroupé par volet (vocabulaire, écriture, grammaire, langue parlée) un certain nombre d'idées et de suggestions de logiciels, Cette liste n'est toutefois pas exhaustive.

Note: comme nous faisons souvent référence à des analyses parus dans des numéros précédents du magazine Atout Micro, nous indiquerons simplement le mois et l'année. Par exemple, pour le numéro de février 98, vous pourrez lire 02/98. Nous ne mentionnons pas tous les logiciels dont nous avons déjà parlé. Cependant, nous vous invitons à consulter nos dossiers déjà publiés sur les langues: 02I96,

1D/94. 03/94. 03/93. 10/88.

Le vocabulaire de base

Quand on décide d'apprendre une langue, aussi bien l'anglais qu'une autre, on cherche à acquérir rapidement un minimum de vocabulaire faisant référence au langage quotidien. Certains logiciels répondent bien à cet objectif. On en trouve qui ont été conçus spécialement à l'intention des adultes alors que d'autres sont faits pour les enfants. Au moment de choisir un produit destiné aux enfants, il faut accorder encore plus d'attention au choix du logiciel parce qu'une interface terne et un mode d'intervention inadéquat peuvent influencer sa motivation à apprendre.

Parmi les meilleurs produits que nous ayons testés, deux restent des classiques: Triple Play En-glish Plus (03/94) de Syracuse Language Systems et Je parle anglais de Syracuse Language et Infogrames (02/96) qui sont en fait le même produit en versions anglaise et française. Ils existent en versions adultes (9 ans et plus) ou enfants (4 à 9 ans), avec ou sans module de reconnaissance vocale. La présentation des leçons est agréable et variée. ù est facile de repérer le vocabulaire relatif à un sujet donné. En plus d'apprendre des mots de vocabulaire, l'utilisateur peut s'initier à la conversation courante et s'habituer à prononcer correctement grâce à la fonction de reconnaissance vocale. Son ordinateur doit cependant être équipé d'un microphone.

All-in-One Language Fun! de Syracuse Language Systems (09/95) est un produit destiné aux enfants. Il vise l'apprentissage des premiers mots en plusieurs langues dont l'anglais. On y enseigne le vocabulaire en rapport avec les couleurs, les formes, les chiffres, les aliments, les animaux... et leur prononciation. Plusieurs jeux permettent à l'enfant de vérifier s'il a bien assimilé ces nouveaux mots et le logiciel comporte plusieurs niveaux de difficulté. La boîte à mots de Sanctuary Woods et Studio Ex-plomédia (06/96) est un autre exemple de logiciel destiné aux enfants de 3 ans. Il présente le vocabulaire anglais-français autour de thèmes tels qu'une partie de pêche, une visite à la ferme, une fête foraine et des activités hivernales.

Les abécédaires anglais permettent d'assimiler un certain nombre de mots en rapport avec chaque lettre de l'alphabet. The Interactive Alphabet de Corel (02/96) en est un exemple. On en trouve d'autres parmi les logiciels vendus comme partagiciels ou on peut s'amuser à en produire un avec ses enfants en utilisant des collections de dessins. On peut ensuite utiliser ce matériel sous forme imprimée.

Quant aux adultes, dès qu'ils possèdent un minimum de mots de vocabulaire de base, ils peuvent se perfectionner en recourant à des logiciels plus spécialisés portant sur le vocabulaire qu'on utilise en voyages, en affaires, au bureau. Win Business d'Édusoft (01/95), En route pour les affaires à Londres d'Infogrames (02/98), L'anglais des affaires de Studio Multimédia en sont de bons exemples.

Autres suggestions

Parlons anglais (05/97) ou Learn to speak English de The Learning Company (04/94) est un excellent logiciel pour un adulte ou un étudiant qui a envie de réviser en vue d'un voyage ou d'un emploi. On y trouve une combinaison de leçons de vocabulaire, de jeux, de séances d'écoute et d'enregistrement. L'ensemble de deux CD-ROM convient au niveau débutant ou intermédiaire

Talk now! d'Euro Talk (10/97) convient également à des adultes qui se préparent à partir en voyage. L'originalité de ce logiciel tient au fait de pouvoir choisir parmi une quarantaine de langues celle dans laquelle on veut recevoir les consignes.

L'Anglais au quotidien de Desk-top Systems Personal Soft (02/96) est un cours d'anglais axé sur la dimension pratique. On y visite les bâtiments d'une ville et on apprend le vocabulaire courant.

Click and Speak d'Infogrames - vocabulaire ayant trait au magasin, à l'école, aux loisirs, aux voyages. Il est vendu sur trois CD-ROM différents.

Mister Musik d'Infogrames (05/97) est amusant pour apprendre aux enfants des chansons en anglais.

Lecture et compréhension de texte

Comme certains logiciels ne sont disponibles encore qu'en anglais, on peut profiter de cet inconvénient pour se pratiquer à lire en anglais. Et c'est beaucoup plus facile de comprendre quand un sujet nous passionne. Mentionnons, à titre d'exemples, le cas du Peterson Multimedia Guides North American Birds de Houghton Mifflin Interactive (01/97), de l'encyclopédie du jardinage Complete Gardening (06/96) ou du guide de bricolage Do-It-Yourself de Microsoft (lû/96), tous de bons ouvrages de référence.

Les contes interactifs disponibles en versions bilingue ou multilingue constituent une ressource de choix auprès de la jeune clientèle. Comme les sujets sont variés, on peut facilement tenir compte des goûts d'un enfant. Certains présentent les derniers films de Disney, certains mettent en vedette les personnages des dessins animés de la télé et d'autres ont trait aux ceuvres classiques. C'est le cas de Gulliver`s voyage à Lilliput (02/97), Aladin et la lampe merveilleuse de Microfolie's, etc. Les romans interactifs tels Who killed Taylor French? et Who killed Brett dont l'utilisateur devient le héros sont un matériel de choix pour les adolescents.

Partant du principe qu'on risque de retenir davantage si l'on apprend en s'amusant, les jeux anglais offrent également un énorme potentiel d'exploitation. Comme les enfants et adolescents aiment généralement résoudre des énigmes, ils apprécieront des aventures comme celles de Car-men Sandiego de Broderbund (11/96) disponibles en version anglaise et française sur le même disque CD-ROM. Il ne faut pas hésiter non plus à utiliser les logiciels de jeux de société comme Monopoly, Risk et les jeux de mots tels le Scrabble anglais, les mots croisés, le jeu du pendu, etc.

Internet

Internet est une mine d'or si vous manquez de textes intéressants à lire en anglais. On peut même exploiter le fait que, depuis janvier, on offre sur outil de recherche Alta Vista un système de traduction automatique de la première page d'un document en anglais ou dans une autre langue. Même si la traduction n'est pas parfaite pour le moment, cela nous laisse entrevoir pour d'ici quelque temps l'éclatement de la barrière des langues dans le monde de l'information. En attendant mieux, vous pouvez vous amuser à comparer votre traduction d'un texte avec ceux proposée par le logiciel de traduction. Amusez-vous aussi à découvrir toutes sortes de sites anglais qui correspondent à vos intérêts et pratiquez votre compréhension en lecture.

Dans le cadre du cours d'anglais, les écoles branchées se doivent de profiter des sites anglophones conçus pour les enfants. Le site de l'éditeur américain Random House Children's Publishing à http;//www.kidsastrandom.com dont nous parlions en février, est une excellente ressource. Le site de Walt Disney à http://www2.disney.com/Kids/index/html et celui de la NASA ne sont que quelques autres bons exemples. Ce sont des choses de ce genre qui peuvent motiver encore plus les enfants à apprendre l'anglais.

L'échange de courrier avec des correspondants anglophones aux quatre coins du monde et la participation à des groupes d'intérêt s'ajoutent aux voies ouvertes par Internet.

L'anglais écrit

Même si votre logiciel de traitement de texte est en français, rien ne vous empêche d'utiliser un dictionnaire anglais quand cela a été prévu. C'est un excellent moyen d'apprendre parce qu'en plus le dictionnaire fournit le contexte d'utilisation de chaque mot. Nous en avons fait l'expérience avec notre fils de cinquième année qui devait rédiger un court texte de quelques lignes, Comme il réclamait notre aide pour rédiger, nous lui avons installé sur un appareil 486 l'ancienne version du dictionnaire Harrap's français/anglais pour qu'il l'utilise avec Word. Cela a très bien fonctionné même si le dictionnaire n'était pas interfacé sous Word. Dès qu'il cherchait un mot, il le tapait dans la fenêtre du dictionnaire qui affichait alors les différents sens du mot et des exemples pour chacun d'eux. Il a apprécié son expérience et a constaté que cette aide était fantastique, bien plus que celle que ses parents pouvaient lui fournir.

Les dictionnaires sous forme CD-ROM sont de plus en plus nombreux. Même s'ils changent parfois d'éditeur, le contenu reste à peu de chose près semblable. Ainsi, le Harrap's Shorter (01/97) français-anglais, anglais-français a d'abord été interfacé par Chambers Harrap Pulishers Ltd (i l/94), Bordas (62/96) et finalement Li-RiS Interactive. Cet éditeur a aussi publié le Harrap's Dictionnaire multilingue (il/96) qui compte la somme phénoménale de 7 millions de mots en douze langues et le Harrap's Chamber (01/97), un dictionnaire tout en anglais utile aux rédacteurs, journalistes... LiRiS Interactive s'est ensuite attaqué aux trois dictionnaires Larousse vendus d'abord séparément (01/93) pour en faire le Dictionnaire Larousse de la langue anglaise qui rassemble sur le même disque le dictionnaire bilingue général, le dictionnaire bilingue business et le dictionnaire bilingue informatique. Bibliorom Larousse de Microsoft et LiRiS Interactive (12/96) propose six dictionnaires dont le Larousse bilingue (français-anglais) sur un seul CD-ROM à un prix vraiment compétitif.

La grammaire et les exerciseurs

Si vous rédigez en anglais, vous savez l'importance de bien connaître les règles de grammaire anglaise et la forme des verbes irréguliers. Les exerciseurs ne manquent pas pour aider à les mémoriser. Prenez le temps de vérifier le type et la quantité d'exercices proposés sur la pochette. Comme beaucoup de produits proviennent de France, vérifiez également le niveau scolaire équivalent pour ici.

Suggestions:

Les verbes irréguliers de Génération 5 (02/98) constituent un atout indispensable pour ceux qui rencontrent des difficultés à choisir le bon temps de verbe en parlant ou en écrivant.

Anglais multimédia confirmé de TLC-Édusoft (02/98) propose beaucoup d'exercices aux étudiants qui ont des problèmes avec la grammaire anglaise.

Assimil multimédia d'Assi mil et Logic (03/97) est un programme de révision pour adultes débutants ou de niveau moyen d'apprentissage permettant de mettre en pratique la grammaire et de pratiquer sa compréhension de texte.

Les logiciels de traduction

Si vous avez un texte à faire traduire du français à l'anglais ou vice-versa, ne vous fiez surtout pas entièrement aux capacités des logiciels de traduction actuellement sur le marché sinon vous risquez d'avoir des surprises. Assurez-vous au contraire, de disposer des services d'un humain qui pourra vous aider à faire la correction finale de votre texte. Même si les logiciels de traduction automatique se sont beaucoup améliorés, ils ne sont pas encore parfaits. Au moment où nous avons testé French Assistant de Microtac Software (03/93) et Power Translator de Globa-link (03/94), il y avait encore beaucoup de place pour de l'amélioration. Systran Translation Software sur Alta Vista donne un aperçu de ce que peut faire ce type de logiciel.

L'anglais parlé

Si parler avec un accent convenable est votre principal souci, il faut absolument choisir des logiciels comportant un module de reconnaissance vocale. Cette option permet de comparer sa voix à celle du modèle. Le deuxième point important à vérifier est celui de l'accent utilisé par le logiciel On a habituellement le choix entre l'accent anglais britannique ou l'accent qu'américain. Certains dictionnaires comme Le Visuel de Québec/Amérique (09/96) et le dictionnaire Dictionary for Children de Macmiùan Multimedia (04/93) offrent cette possibilité. Les contes informatisés offrent aussi l'opportunité d'entendre prononcer les mots sur lesquels on clique. Beaucoup des logiciels mentionnés précédemment peuvent servir à l'apprentissage de l'anglais parlé à partir du moment où ils ont des fonctions multimédia.

Suggestions:

Kids Phonics de Davidson et Éditions Profil (11/97) convient pour l'apprentissage de l'ortho-graphe et de la prononciation d'environ 200 mots auprès d'enfants de 7 à 10 ans.

Prof d'Anglais de Micro Application (12/96) sert à l'apprentissage de l'anglais parlé avec un système de reconnaissance vocale mais il pratique avec l'accent britannique.

Talk to me Anglais Américain d'Auralog (09/96) pratique l'anglais parlé avec l'accent américain et possède un système de reconnaissance vocale.

Autres suggestions d'ordre général:

- profitez des foires ou des salons informatiques où l'on brade souvent à bon prix des versions antérieures de dictionnaires ou d'encyclopédies (comme à Micro Expo à Montréal fin mars). Ce sont des produits dont le contenu change peu d'une version à une autre et qui restent valables des années.

- ne mettez surtout pas une croix sur les partagiciels, au contraire, ce matériel peu coûteux, disponible sur disques CD-ROM, disquettes ou Internet, est à exploiter car il offre des ressources dans mille et une catégories (horticulture, généalogie, éducation, etc.) où l'on peut apprendre du vocabulaire tout en s'instruisant.

MULTIMÉDIA 3E

de Coktel

sur quatre CD-ROM pour PC Pentium 75 (90 recommandé), 8 Mo de mémoire vive (16 si possible), 40 Mo d'espace-disque, disponible aussi en version Macintosh. En français. Prix: 59,95$

Même si ce produit est destiné à des jeunes de 14-15 ans, l'interface d'ADI est mieux adaptée aux besoins des jeunes enfants qu'à ceux d'enfants de 12 ans et plus à cause de la présence du personnage animé ADI. Malgré tout, ceux qui sont capables de faire abstraction de cette situation y trouveront une foule d'occasions pour pratiquer leurs règles de grammaire en plus de s'entraîner à la compréhension de textes et se pratiquer à parler.

ADI Anglais 3e s'adresse aux élèves français de la classe de 3e secondaire mais on peut en profiter aussi au Canada. En plus de vidéos interactifs intitulés The Costume Party, Shirley in Love et New Wave Boyfriend qui permettent d'améliorer de façon amusante son écoute de l'anglais oral, il présente des exercices portant sur le groupe nominal (déterminants, quantificateurs, comparatifs et superlatifs, pronoms), le groupe verbal (présent, passé, avenir, modalisation avec can, may, must, would, la structure de phrases, la compréhension écrite à partir de coupures de presse, la phonétique avec l'accentuation, l'intonation et la compréhension orale.

Outre ce logiciel destiné à la classe de 3e, ADI Anglais est disponible en différentes versions donc deux correspondent aux acquisitions présentées dans les classes de niveau primaire et quatre à celles présentées au programme du secondaire. Avant d’acheter, vérifiez bien l'âge et le niveau scolaire suggéré pour chaque ensemble.

PROF D'ANGLAIS COMMERCIAL

de Micro Application

sur CD-ROM pour PC avec Windows 3.1 ou 95, 8 Mo de mémoire vive. En français. Prix; 24,955

INFO: Micro Application Canada, Internet:info@ microapplication.ca

Prof d'Anglais Commercial peut vous aider à vous préparer à vous exprimer en anglais pour obtenir un nouvel emploi ou partir en voyage d'affaires à l'étranger. Tenez compte cependant du fait que votre professeur s'exprime avec un accent anglais plutôt qu'américain sauf pour quelques leçons où l'on peut consulter les expressions utilisées dans les deux cas.

Le logiciel renferme la somme impressionnante de 10 000 expressions, formules et termes commerciaux classés par domaine. Les thèmes se rapportent à l'assurance, l'ingénierie, Internet, l'économie, la publicité, le transport, les finances, etc. On apprend les expressions utilisées au cours d'une conversation téléphonique, d'un entretien professionnel, lors d'un voyage, d'un repas, dans un bureau...

La sélection des leçons s'effectue facilement à partir de la barre de menus en cliquant sur le thème puis sur le sous-thème qui nous intéresse. On peut apprendre le vocabulaire anglais en faisant par exemple afficher ou non la correspondance du mot en français et on peut se pratiquer à prononcer correctement. On peut ajouter autant de termes qu'on désire aux leçons déjà programmées ; il n'y a pas de limite.

TRAN S-LIN C

d'Alsyd et Soft-Line

la sur CD-ROM pour PC et Macintosh. Prix: 46,99$ par Info: Quebecor DIL Multimedia, tél.1-800-463-1DIL.exemple

L'option Test offre un choix de huit possibilités qui permettent de varier énormément forme des exercices. Il faut trouver la traduction d'un mot français parmi une série Ce n'est pas un logiciel de traduction mais plutôt un de mots anglais ou l'inverse. Les dictionnaire multilingue et il est important de ne pas confondre les deux, Ce logiciel comprend les mots peuvent être affichés à dictionnaires de quatre langues: le français, l'anglais britannique, l'espagnol et l'allemand auxquels on peut en ajouter d autres en option dont celui pour l'anglais américain. Selon l'éditeur, on compte pour chaque langue environ 130 000 choix de traductions, 60 000 expressions, 40 000 mots, 8 à 10 000 verbes.

Son fonctionnement ressemble un peu à celui d'un dictionnaire. On sélectionne en premier la langue source et ensuite la langue cible. l'écran ou simplement lus ce qui augmente les possibilités d'exploitation de ce cours. Le contrôle offre aussi trois niveaux de difficulté: 15, 30 ou 45 termes à traduire en 15 minutes.

Lorsqu'on presse sur le bouton Traduction, le logiciel effectue une recherche et fournit un ou plusieurs mots pour le mot recherché. Le dictionnaire ne contient cependant pas tous les mots même des mots utilisés couramment.

Trans-Line contient un conjugueur qui, à partir de la forme infinitive des verbes, donne les formes conjuguées. Par exemple, pour un verbe écrit en français, on peut consulter les conjugaisons pour tous les temps et modes dans cette langue. Si l'on

désire consulter les temps et modes de ce verbe, il faut d'abord sélectionner la traduction du mot en anglais puis activer l'option conjugaison. Même si c'est une bonne idée d'avoir sur un même disque plusieurs langues, on souhaiterait qu'une prochaine version reconnaisse un plus grand nombre de mots pour les langues courantes comme le français et l'anglais.

Le CD-ROM Prof d’Anglais Commercial

est un bon outil de perfectionnement dans le domaine des affaires même s’il présente un contenu plus anglais d’Angleterre qu’américain., lorsqu’on donne une dictée à trous. Si plusieurs réponses sont acceptables comme traduction, une fonction met d’ajouter une nouvelle réponse à celles déjà acceptées. Les résultats des leçons sont compilés dans un dossier personnel et présentés sous forme de statistiques. 

Le magazine Atout Micro a été fondé par François Picard et Danielle Shaw en 1987 pour répondre à un besoin d'informations de la part des utilisateurs d'ordinateurs canadiens francophones.

Depuis 11 ans, Atout Micro est le magazine canadien par excellence des utilisateurs d'ordinateur francophones à la maison, à l'école et au bureau. Plus de 30 000 personnes le lisent chaque mois à travers le Canada.

Atout Micro est un magazine de vulgarisation destiné à tous les utilisateurs d'ordinateurs qui veulent en savoir plus sur leur appareil, sur la micro-informatique, sur les logiciels, sur les CD-ROM et le multimédia, sur la plupart des nouveautés ou des produits disponibles en français ou en anglais au Canada qui présentent un intérêt certain pour une majorité de lecteurs.

Chaque mois, sauf en juillet et août, Atout Micro propose

• des nouvelles intéressantes (nouveaux ordinateurs, nouvelles imprimantes, nouveaux périphériques, nouveaux services, nouveaux logiciels, statistiques...)
• des trucs pratiques pour éviter les problèmes et mieux profiter de son ordinateur,
• des articles de fond,
• des tests
• des analyses de logiciels (de 20 à 30 par mois),
• des conseils sans pareils.

En tant qu'abonné(e), vous pouvez recevoir des bulletins spéciaux d'information par courrier électronique via Internet. Ces bulletins fournissent des renseignements sur les évènements intéressants qui vont avoir lieu à trop court terme pour qu'on puisse en parler dans le magazine, des trucs ayant trait à Internet, des prix spéciaux de nos annonceurs... On en envoie un ou deux par mois aux abonnés qui font une demande pour s'inscrire sur la liste d'envoi.

En étant abonné(e), vous pourrez aussi profiter de l'offre spéciale d'acquisition des anciens articles d'Atout Micro sur disquettes qui est réservée exclusivement aux abonnés d'Atout Micro.

Here is a sample of many free lesson plans available at this site.

http://www.English-To-Go.com/mid.htm

Lift-off!

Pre-Reading Activities

A: Vocabulary

Check the meanings of these words.

B: Fill in the blanks

Check the meanings of these words, then use them to fill in the blanks in the paragraph below.

C: Discussion

You are the organizer of the next space shuttle launch. Seven places have already been taken by professional astronauts. You can choose one more person for the eighth place.

Which person from the list below would you choose?

a famous musician who wants to write music in space.

a famous photographer.

an elementary school student who will be the first child in space.

a former President of your country who is interested in world peace.

a gardener who wants to try growing different plant seedlings in space.

other: _______________________ (a person of your choice).

Talk about your choice with someone else.

Reading Activities

A: Scanning

Scan the first article and fill the gaps in the table below. Do this as quickly as you can and do not read every word. These are the first 4 paragraphs of a longer article.

Information about astronaut John Glenn

Information about the launch

B: Jigsaw Reading and Comprehension

Your teacher will divide you into two groups. Learners in Group A are going to read the second part of today's article. Learners in Group B will read a different article about the mission. As you are reading, answer the comprehension questions. The questions are designed to help you understand the article.

Here are the two worksheets for the Jigsaw Reading:

Learner A

Learner A: Read the rest of today's article and answer the questions that follow.

Comprehension Questions for Learner A:

How long did it take Glenn to persuade NASA to let him go on this mission?

Research on ageing is being done during the mission. How many elderly people are involved in this research?

Is NASA planning to send any other elderly people into space?

Will the complete medical results of the study be published?

(A junket is an enjoyable trip that a government person goes on, paid for by government money.) Why do some critics say that Glenn's mission is a junket?

Are people in Florida excited about the launch?

Learner B

Learner B: Read this article and answer the questions that follow.

Comprehension Questions for Learner B:

Why did NASA agree to let Glenn go on the mission?

What kind of research is being done on Glenn?

How long is the mission?

Which parts of Glenn's body are being studied?

What does NASA need before it can publish the results of Glenn's research?

Is Glenn ready to let his medical records be published? Why/Why not?

After you have finished the Jigsaw Reading and Comprehension, continue here:

C: Pairwork Discussion: Agree, Disagree or Not Sure

Talk with someone from the other group. Discuss whether you agree or disagree with the following statements (or you can say you are not sure).

Glenn wanted very much to go on this mission.

Glenn was chosen to go on the mission because of his age.

Glenn's body will be studied during the mission.

The medical records of astronauts are kept private.

Glenn is happy for his complete medical records from the mission to be published.

Everyone agrees that Glenn was a good choice for this mission.

The mission is good for tourism in Florida.

 D: Grammar

Here is a description given by a radio reporter at the launch of the space shuttle. Choose the best answer from the words in brackets.

Post-Reading Activities
You may do one or more of these.

A: Interview (Pairwork)

why he wants to go on the space shuttle.

the purpose of this mission.

about his family background.

how he is feeling about this mission.

if being the first American to orbit the Earth changed his life.

why you want to go on the space shuttle.

the purpose of this mission.

your family background.

how you are feeling about this mission.

whether being the first American to orbit the Earth changed your life.

B: Prepare an Ad

It is the year 2015. Commercial space flights are now available. You represent a company which offers space flights for elderly people. Prepare a short advertisement for your company.

C: Decision-making

Work in small groups. You work for a space research program which needs extra publicity. You decide to invite a famous person to be a passenger on one of your program's missions. Which famous person would you invite? Why is this person suitable?

D: Web Research

Here are a couple of Web sites about the shuttle:

Reading Activities

A: Scanning

B: Jigsaw Reading and Comprehension

Notes: Divide the students into 2 groups and give them the Learner A and Learner B worksheets. Students from the same group can work together, or read their article and then discuss the comprehension questions together. Some difficult vocabulary and concepts appear but the questions guide the students through the ideas of the articles. Make sure they have a clear understanding of the main points before they meet up with a student from the other group to do Section C.

Answers for Comprehension Questions for Learner A:

Years.

One.

No.

Possibly not, because of medical privacy rules.

Because they can not see valid scientific reasons for his selection or for the way the research is being done.

Yes, hotels are booked out, 300 000 people are expected to watch the launch from roadsides and President Clinton is attending the launch.

Answers for Comprehension Questions for Learner B:

Because there was a scientific reason for it.

Geriatric research/ research into the ageing process.

9 days.

His blood, heart and brain waves.

Glenn's permission.

No (as of last week). He would like the results to be kept private so that he is treated the same as other astronauts.

C: Pairwork Discussion: Agree, Disagree or Not Sure

Notes: Each learner A meets with a learner B. They read each question and decide the answer based on the different articles they read. The purpose of this section is not comprehension, but discussion. Students will disagree on some answers because of the different information given in the two articles. Encourage them to justify their answers using evidence from their article but remind them that they may choose a 'not sure' answer, if they cannot reach agreement. There are suggested answers below but you do not have to insist on these.

Suggested Answers:

Agree. (He "campaigned for years...." Article Oct 26 )

Not sure. (He is the right age for geriatric research. NASA says there is a good scientific reason (Article Oct 22). He already has experience in space travel. Critics disagree. Article Oct 26)

Agree. (Tests are being done : Article Oct 22)

Agree. ("NASA keeps the physical data private." Article Oct 22)

Disagree. (A week before the launch Glenn did not want this. Article Oct 22)

Disagree. (People like Mike Mullane have criticized his selection. Article Oct 26)

Agree. (Hotel rooms booked for months, President Clinton's arrival... Article Oct 26)

D: Grammar

 Page last revised: 04/21/99.

Contact: