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Links for English Teachers

eTeachNet

Café Pédagogique

Les sites d'anglais académiques

Correspondence
or
Virtual School Exchanges

• eTwinning http://www.etwinning.net coordination par le réseau European Schoolnet (EUN), pour faciliter la recherche de partenaires et jumelages..
• My Europe http://myeurope.eun.org. "Bring Europe into your classroom" and "Find Partners"
• Epals http://www.epals.com Des milliers de classes, du monde entier, avec la possibilité de créer des comptes supervisés pour les élèves (on a un regard sur ce qui entre et sort, et cela permet aussi de noter la production écrite).
• Keypals http://www.teaching.com/keypals
• Window on the World http://www.wotw.org.uk/partner/index.html
• Tandem http://www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
• My Language Exchange http://www.mylanguageexchange.com "Find a partner at the online community and practice your second language (any language) with a native speaker who is learning your language. We host your online practice with lesson plans, text chat rooms and more."
• At Blogger http://www.blogger.com you can set up a Blog (web log) for an exchange on Internet. This year I set up a Euroblog involving Terminale pupils from NDA Blois and my old school, Tunbridge Wells Girls Grammar School in England.

Free
E-lessons

From Macmillan Publishers Ltd:
Resource sites http://www.macmillaneducation.com/resource.htm.
Especially recommended:
OneStopEnglish www.onestopenglish.com and
InsideOut http://www.insideout.net

EFL4U http://www.efl4u.com
English-4U http://www.english-4u.com

Breaking News English Daily http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com
Daily lessons about the news, by Sean Banville, a British EFL teacher living in Japan. Most of them are for intermediate level. For each topic you will find a text, a gap filler, and suggestions for pair work, brainstorming or class discussion.

Tests (pdf format):
Reward Placement Test (Pre-intermediate = level 4e) pdf format
Remard Diagnostic and Progress Tests
First Certificate in English Test (level Terminale +)

Quality Resources

Blogs & Teaching

How to start a blog: a step by step guide to how to start a blog, from Tech Learning.
Dossier : le blog, un nouvel outil pour apprendre et enseigner ? I tried it in Terminale this year with a class of English girls, but it soon fizzled out unfortunately - "no time" say the students...

Sites de Profs

A Word a Day

Online Research

Bulletins Officiels et Outils

Anglais DNB

B.O. n° 3 du 17 janvier 2008 Modalités d’attribution du brevet pour la session 2008.
La Pétition sur le site de l'APLV

Circulaire rectorale du 8 janvier 2008 (académie de Rouen) concernant la rénovation du diplôme national du brevet – dès la session 2008. Volet "langues vivantes étrangères" - tout chaud !

Langue de complément

Plan de rénovation LV

Bac Oral

Programme LV Terminale

European Portfolio/Language Passport

Loi d'Orientation

En Pratique

Apprendre, Enseigner, évaluer

Langues Vivantes : Keep up-to-date!

Ca bouge dans les académies! Quelques rencontres auxquels vous n'avez pas pu assister ont porté leurs fruits ici :

• L'oral : stratégies d’apprentissage et enjeux (Académie de Bordeaux)
  à voir notamment MELIA, Modèle d’Évaluation Linguistique Informatisé Adaptable
• Le Portfolio Européen des Langues (Académie d'Orléans-Tours)

Evaluation

A tout moment, les enseignants des classes de maternelle aux lycées (LEGT et LP) peuvent s'appuyer sur des outils de cette banque pour évaluer la maîtrise de diverses compétences dans de nombreuses disciplines.
http://pedagogie.ac-montpellier.fr/disciplines/anglais/ressources/banqoutils.html
(par compétence/niveau)
http://www.banqoutils.education.gouv.fr (Conseil : Choisir Recherce multi-critères).

Evaluation de l'Oral

Evaluations de Seconde

Evaluation à l'entrée en 6°

BBC / Éd Nat agreement

Not really new, but important to remember: a renewable two year contract allowing teachers to copy and use certain BBC resources in the classroom. More details here. And a useful guide to using the BBC in the classroom here

Phonetics

Sujets de Bac

2003  

Textes Officiels
plus anciens

• B.O. n° 33 du 3 septembre 1992 : Mise en place des sections européennes dans les établissements du second degré. A télécharger sur le site du CIEP.
• Rectificatif à la circulaire n° 92-234 publiée au B.O. n° 36 du 24 septembre 1992 - arrêté du 22 juin 1994 publié au B.O. n° 29 du 21 juillet 1994 portant sur l'attribution de l'indication «section européenne» ou «section de langue orientale»sur les diplômes du baccalauréat général et du baccalauréat technologique.
• Note de service n° 94-260 publiée au B.O. n° 41 du 10 novembre 1994 sur «Evaluation spécifique organisée pour les candidats aux baccalauréats général et technologique dans les sections européennes ou de langue orientale».

Tests & Exams

• TOEIC
• TOEIC Bridge
• TOEFL
• CAE Certificate in Advanced English
• FCE First Certificate in English

Fun

Funny
tongue
twister

"Trois sorcières regardent trois montres Swatch. Quelle sorcière regarde quelle montre Swatch?"

Et maintenant en anglais:

"Three witches watch three Swatch watches. Which witch watches which Swatch watch?"

Maintenant pour les spécialistes:

"Trois sorcières suédoises et transsexuelles regardent les boutons de trois montres Swatch suisses. Quelle sorcière suédoise transsexuelle regarde quel bouton de quelle montre Swatch suisse ?"

En anglais (accrochez-vous) :

"Three Swedish switched witches watch three Swiss Swatch watch switches. Which Swedish switched witch watches which Swiss Swatch watch switch?"

Peuvent aller se rhabiller vos saucisses sèches de l'archiduchesse !!!

For
Monty
Python
fans...

Declaration of Revocation by John Cleese
"To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy". The rest is here. Enjoy!!

The
honest
wife

A police officer pulls over a speeding car. The officer says "I clocked you at 80 miles per hour, sir." The driver says, "Gee, officer I had it on cruise control at 60, perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating."

Not looking up from her knitting the wife says: "Now don't be silly dear, you know that this car doesn't have cruise control."

As the officer writes out the ticket, the driver looks over at his wife and growls, "Can't you please keep your mouth shut for once?"

The wife smiles demurely and says, "You should be thankful your radar detector went off when it did."

As the officer makes out the second ticket for the illegal radar, the driver looks over at his wife and growls at his wife and says through clenched teeth, "Darn it, woman, can't you keep your mouth shut?"

The officer frowns and says, "And I notice that you're not wearing your seatbelt, sir. That's an automatic $75 fine." The driver says, "Yeah, well, you see officer, I had it on, but took it off when you pulled me over so that I could get my license out of my back pocket."

The wife says, "Now, dear, you know very well that you didn't have your seatbelt on. You never wear your seatbelt when you're driving."

And as the police officer is writing out the third ticket the driver turns to his wife and barks, "WHY DON'T YOU PLEASE SHUT UP??"

The officer looks over at the woman and asks, "Does your husband always talk to you this way, Ma'am?"

( I love this part.... )

"Only when he's been drinking."

A
Canadian
Joke

40° Fahrenheit (4.4° C)
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Canadians sunbathe.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)
Italian Cars won't start
Canadians drive with the windows down

32° Fahrenheit (0 ° C)
Distilled water freezes
Canadian water get thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)
New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-40° Fahrenheit (-40° C)
Hollywood disintegrates.
Canadians rent some videos.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)
Mt. St. Helens freezes.
Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-100° Fahrenheit (-73° C)
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Canadians pull down their ear flaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)
Ethyl alcohol Freezes.
Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.

-460° Fahrenheit (-273° C)
Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)
Hell freezes over.
The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup. (an ice hockey trophy)                  

(Thanks to Julia Thompson)

Translation
fun

Ready for a good laugh? http://toize.moi.free.fr/site_content.php In the top right-hand corner, click on the black arrow just underneath "La Traduction", and settle back for 3 minutes of laughter!

English Test...
for teachers?

From the BBC News site: How smart are you? Hardly a week passes without headlines about academic standards. Are exams getting easier? Are people getting smarter? Well, here's a chance for you to test yourselves just for fun - first on English - then on maths. (Thanks to Darren for this contribution).

Interesting
Facts

I don't know whether you'll find this useful, but it's certainly fun to read!

1) Butterflies taste with their feet.
2) A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
3 ) In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.
4) On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
5) On average people fear spiders more than they do death.
6) Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.
7) Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
8) Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
9) Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
10) It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.
11) Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
12) It's physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.
13) The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year, because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
14) A snail can sleep for three years.
15) No word in the English language rhymes with "MONTH".
16) Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
17) Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. - SCARY!!!
18) The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
19) All polar bears are left handed.
20) In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
21) An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
22) TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
23) "Go," is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
24) If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall.
25) A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
26) The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
27) Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
28) Almost everyone who reads this Email will try to kiss their elbow. You will not succeed.

Graffiti

Writing graffiti on walls causes damage to property, but sometimes the graffiti is so clever or funny that you just have to admire the writers:

I used to be arrogant, but now I'm perfect
Hypochondriacs make me sick
Autopsy is a dying art
The meek shall inherit the earth - if that's all right with you?
Legalise telepathy - I knew you were going to say that
Wet Paint - this is not an instruction
Apathy rules - so what?
There's no future in time travel
Notice If you notice this notice you will notice its not worth noticing
Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your children
If music be the food of love, I need re-tuning
Please make sure that your brain is engaged before you put your mouth into gear
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, after a lousy summer
I wouldn't be paranoid if people didn't pick on me
If you think life's a joke, tell me the punch line
Termites are boring
Save trees - eat a beaver
Keep death off the roads - drive on the sidewalk
Is there intelligent life on earth? Yes but I'm only visiting
I used to be apathetic ... but now I don't care
Hypochondria is the only disease I haven't got
Cowards rule - If that’s OK with you
Dracula loves in vein
What’s the punishment for bigamy? Two mothers-in law
Sibling rivalry is for kids
Save water - dilute it
Predestination was doomed to failure from the start
And the angel of the Lord came down and said to the shepherds "beat it, this is cattle country"
I was wrong once - I thought I had made a mistake
Nostalgia is a thing of the past
Reincarnation is making a come-back
Where there's a will there's a relative
Give me patience and I want it now!
I can't remember if I used to be forgetful or not
B is the hottest letter in the alphabet ... it makes oil boil
Wake up to insomnia
I'd give my right ear to paint like Van Gogh
Is Hertz Van Rental a Dutch painter?
Be a guillotine and get ahead
We are the people our parents warned us against
Some people are like blisters - they appear when the work is done
Don't complain about the tea - you'll be old and weak yourself one day
I used to be indecisive - but now I'm not so sure
You're never alone with schizophrenia
When I get old will the calves on my legs be cows?
Clumsiness is catching - no, dropping

English is a Crazy Language

Check out"Crazy English: the Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language" (Pocket Books, 1989) by Richard Lederer. A look at some of the oddities of the English language.

The F*** Word

The Most Powerful English Word. An amusing study of what is perhaps one of the most versatile, interesting and colorful words in the English language today (thanks to Bee, English teacher in São Paulo, Brazil)
And this audio file Parody of the Word F*** (origin unknown... if anyone knows where this comes from, please let me know, so I can acknowledge it)

Fun with Words

Phonics rules, OK!

See this page for Rules on Pronunciation.
Unfortunately, there are many exceptions, as the following sentences illustrate (origin unknown, sorry). You can even hear them (thanks Darren!) at http://www.bad-english.info

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture
5) He could lead if he could get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down in a sewer line.
16) To help with the planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing a tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22) I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt evening
23) The accountant at the music store records records of the records.

So the moral of the lesson is that English, for many fascinating historical and cultural reasons, is a very difficult language to understand and master. Its rules are idiosyncratic at best and nonexistent at worst.

HINTS ON PRONUNCIATION
FOR FOREIGNERS

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough.
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps. Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead-it's said like bed, not bead.
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt. A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for pear and bear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose
Just look them up--and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward.
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come I've hardly made a start. A dreadful language? Man alive,
I'd mastered it when I was five!

(Author unknown, link given by Carol Haring)  

TRANSLATION HOWLERS

More... TRANSLATION HOWLERS

found in pupils' homework!! Try to guess what they really meant! "The Queen Mary 2 is the first deck chair built for thirty years." (transatlantic => transat = deckchair)

"hanging two hours"

"the round is cheeked" "Every weekend, I enjoy going to dream-parties"

"We all love going on a spade-screw" (I found this one too difficult to figure out. The answer is... a picnic!!)

"I was classified screw champion of Europe"
(I suspect his French spelling isn't that good either... ;-))

Tonic Stress Practice

(From Singin’ in the rain)