New Standpoints N°45

ARTICLES

LATEST IN LEARNING Variations autour des groupes de compétences

Les groupes de compétences se prêtent à de nombreuses variations, et c'est ainsi qu'ils ont été conçus. Nous présentons ici l'exemple du Lycée L'Oiselet, dans l'Isère. 

IN THE FIELD 2010: International Year of Biodiversity

Everywhere we look, biodiversity is on the wane. While the causes are partially known, the remedies are yet to be applied.

INTERACTION Faire autorité

Claudine Martina apporte ici un réconfort raisonné aux jeunes professeurs, qui, perdus dans leur nouveau collège, expriment leur désarroi.

YOUNG LEARNERS Mettez le ton

Michel Freiss dégage quelques priorités pour le primaire, dans l'enseignement délicat de l'intonation anglaise.

WORDWISE The Sun Never Sets on the English Language

In honour of the Commonwealth Games in India in October, Regan Kramer presents an A to Z of English words gleaned from languages spoken in the Commonwealth.

SEASONAL Here Comes the Guy Again

Guy Fawkes is an iconic British festivity celebrating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot — a 1605 attempt to blow up Parliament.

PANORAMA Growing up in Rural Britain

Sarah Pickard and Sylvie Nail look at rural Britain: why some young people leave and others stay, as well tree-planting, the National Trust and more. 

GOING PLACES The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew

Diversity has always characterised Kew Gardens: diversity of purpose and interests, and today — biodiversity.

TO THE POINT The Countryside as a Contested Playground

The English countryside was once a playground for the rich and a place of work for the masses. We look at what is left of that division today.

LITERARY HORIZONS Cry Not, the Beloved Countryside

The Enigma of Arrival is a fine, subtle novel evoking the destiny of a country estate and its inhabitants. Marc Porée finds evidence of of V.S. Naipaul's unpredictable but genuine artistry in this "post-pastoral" novel.

E-MAIL FROM AMERICA Suburbia Never Was What It Used to Be

Describing the development of the American suburbs in the 20th century, Robert Frye shows how the "pursuit of happiness" has come full circle.

KING ARTHUR

Arthur & Lancelot (Beginners/A1)

A series of listening and role-play activities introduces pupils to the legend of King Arthur as well as practising directions and personal descriptions. (NS Live Tracks 1-2)

BIODIVERSITY

Cheeky Monkey (Lower Intermediate / A1-A2)

A listening activity about a zoo-born baby monkey introduces work with adjectives, and more. (NS Live Tracks 3-5)

Wolverine (Intermediate A1+A2+)

A step-by-step activity for training pupils' listening skills, based on a recording about a little-known animal called a wolverine, sighted in a national park in California, USA. (NS Live Tracks 6-10)

Ancient Trees (Intermediate A2-B1)

An audio report about how to spot ancient trees leads to cross-curricular work pairing English with biology, history and art. (NS Live Track 11). See: wild-about-woods.org.uk and treeregister.org

Fôrets Tropicales (Intermediate A2+-B1)

Cross-curricular work based on a public-service announcement for the environmental organisation Conservation International. (NS Live Tracks 12 -15) Based on a video on youtube.com.

Extra resources on this theme:

- Why Is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares? From: globalissues.org

- Conservation.org - Harrison Ford puts Spotlight on Protecting Species - Script and comments on the audio.

- Biodiversity - script and downloadable subtitles for the video clip.
- Rainforests on animalcorner.co.uk - simple, clear information about rainforests and their inhabitants.
-  Island Invasion -  Cheryl talks about how some foreign animal and plant species have caused serious problems to her island. 

B.U.G.S. & Bees (Intermediate B1-B2)

A biology-based worksheet on insects' importance to our food supply. (NS Live Tracks 16-20) Uses the following videos, about fruit formation and bees pollinizing hyacinth.

SUBURBIA

"A Supermarket in California" (Upper Intermediate B1-C1)

A recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his own poem forms the basis of a worksheet about a deceptively simple text in which pupils will find literary ties to both Dante and Walt Whitman. (NS Live Track 21) Several readings of the poem are available on line. Our selection: a British actor and a Hispanic-American student participating in a recitation competition. Additionally, these versions have images that can be analyzed and commented upon. This one is more static, this one more literal.  

BRITISH POLITICS

Young People and Education Reforms (Upper Intermediate A2-B2)

This worksheet will introduce the British political system and encourage debate on a subject pupils are sure to have an opinion about: the best type of school system.

NEW: INTERACTIVE WORKSHEET

Guy Fawkes (SEGPA/A1)

Films, books, art exhibits, websites and more on the themes of the issue or simply of interest to ESL teachers. All of the books reviewed in a given issue can usually be ordered (in English) from Amazon.fr. 

- This issue, we have an interview with Jennifer Bullock, Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, and Steve Hargadon, the creator of Classroom 2.0. about the Embassy's Franco-American Educational Exchange.For more info, see francoamericanedex.ning.com

- The Dinard British Film Festival holds a special pre-festival event for young people (middle school and high school pupils). Last time we looked, registration was still open, but hurry, screenings fill up quickly! You'll find the registration form on the Festival site's festival des scolaires page.

- Alfred Hitchcock's silhouette is the emblem of the Dinard Festival, and he is currentlly the subject of two appeals from the British Film Institute: one for money to restore his early silent films, one in search of a copy of his lost second film, The Mountain Eagle. Find out more on the BFI site. 

- Haitian-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is soon to be the subject of both a show at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (15 October 2010 - 30 January 2011) and a documentary film, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, which premiered at the Deauville American Film Festival and is coming to cinemas in October.