world language laboratory

quote of the week

Filed Under Quotes

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
—Alfred Lord Tennyson

Comments (0)

New to iPhoto?

Filed Under Best Bytes

Check out tutorials on iPhoto ‘08 by Apple and Atomic Learning. One of my favorite features in iPhoto ‘08 is the ability to compare different shots easily in full screen mode. And we can finally customize the stinkin’ Ken Burns effect, so that it stops and starts where you want it to!

Comments (0)

New to iMovie?

Filed Under Best Bytes

iMovie is easy and fun. Now that iMovie ‘08 is installed in the Project Area, students will be working more with movies to apply their language skills.

Tutorials about iMovie ‘08 (the newest version):

iMovie ‘08 (Apple)
iMovie ‘08 (Atomic Learning)

Tutorials about older versions of iMovie:

iMovie 2
iMovie 3 and 4
iMovie HD
iMovie HD 6 **

You’ll also want to master the basics of iDVD:

iDVD 1
iDVD 3 and 4
iDVD 5
iDVD 6 **

** Start with the tutorials on the latest versions of iMovie HD and iDVD.

Comments (0)

New to Photoshop?

Filed Under Best Bytes

We have Photoshop installed on two computers here in the lab. Students are welcome to use these stations for language-related projects. Photoshop is especially useful for cropping, re-sizing, rotating, and special-effecting photos. If you are new to Adobe products, I suggest watching the excellent tutorials at the Adobe Design Center. Then, check out these tutorials in Atomic Learning:

Photoshop - Tricks Revealed
Photoshop 6
Photoshop CS
Photoshop CS2 - Intro
Photoshop CS2 - Advanced
Photoshop CS3 Extended - Intro

Comments (0)

New to podcasting?

Filed Under Best Bytes

Take a few minutes to click through these links and you’ll have a good start.

1. What is a Podcast?
2. How to subscribe to a Podcast [Courtesy District 62]
3. How to get music from iTunes to your iPod (Video)
4. How to get music from iTunes to your iPod (Written)
5. An Introduction to Audio Podcasting on Atomic Learning (First 9 Clips)
6. Podcasting and Vodcasting on Atomic Learning (iLife ‘06)
7. How to create a Podcast in GarageBand [Courtesy District 62]
8. Podcasting for the classroom [Courtesy District 62]
9. Podcasting 101 [Courtesy District 62]
10. Why Podcasts for Language?

Comments (0)

quote of the week

Filed Under Quotes

All of us, in the glow of feeling we
have pleased, want to do more to please.
—William James

Comments (0)

Diigo.com

Filed Under Best Bytes

Have you ever created a bookmark in your Safari or Firefox browser? What do you do when you find a cool page?

Do you regularly organize your hundreds of bookmarks into folder after folder? I don’t. Not anymore…

Discover the beauty of Diigo.com [NEW AND IMPROVED Version 3 released last week], which allows you to quickly bookmark, tag, and ANNOTATE web pages for future use. Leave a legacy of sticky notes, highlights, and comments for others to read. Share them with your colleagues, in private or public groups. Access your bookmarks, notes to self, and annotations anywhere on the web.

Over time, this has become a wonderful *time-saving* tool. I never wonder, “where did I see that information again?”. I simply search my Diigo bookmarks by the tags I have assigned and it comes up right away. It’s also nice to save information for later. I don’t always have time to read cool-looking sites, so I bookmark them and when I have time to surf the web, I surf sites that I have bookmarked instead of wondering aimlessly around cyberspace.

Bookmarking is an important way to negotiate the onslaught of information in our cyber- and meatspaces. And Diigo.com gets at least 4 stars for their new user interface. Check it out.

Comments (0)

More on Copyleft…

Filed Under Best Bytes

As opportunities arise, I encourage students and teachers to use images from flickr.com that are already in the Creative Commons. Creative Commons has a wonderful search page for finding media on the internet with Creative Common licenses. Use this the next time you need an image or sound file for a personal or class project.

Comments (0)

what kinds of technologies are available to ucls students?

Filed Under Questions

Keynote: Keynote is a presentation software application developed as a part of the iWork productivity suite (which also includes Pages and Numbers) by Apple Inc.. Released in August 2007, the latest version, Keynote 4, runs on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard only. Lawrence Lessig and Aaron Swartz frequently use Keynote for pitching using a technique referred to as “slides as chorus” or the Lessig Method. The presenter speaks fluently and never refers to the slides or reads from them. Each slide contains either a simple graphic or a very short string of text, sometime a single word. While speaking, the slides are advanced in sync with what is being said, so there can be several slides displayed per sentence. The fast paced presentation style enables a skilled pitcher to create excitement and inject humor into their presentation. Here is a good example of Lessig following his own recommendations.
^w

Comments (0)

‘Tis the season for testing!

Filed Under German, Chinese, French, Spanish

AP Tests are coming up. They will be administered in the World Language Lab (UH207) at these times:

French Language: May 5, 12 PM - 4 PM
Spanish Language: May 6, 8 AM - 12 NOON
Chinese Language: May 7, 12 PM - 4 PM (Off-site)
Italian Language: May 14, 8 AM - 12 NOON

=================

German Literature: May 8, 8 AM - 12 PM
French Literature: May 8, 12 PM - 4 PM
Spanish Literature: May 16, 8 AM - 12 PM

=================

The National Spanish Exam and The National French Contest have also been in the works here in the Lab…

Comments (0)