Archive for the ‘Best Bytes’ Category
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CTBYL is an online game in Spanish and English to figure out what kind of job you would need and where you would need to live to make a comfortable living. It also tries to help you pick a job you are good at. The game is simple and would make for a great conversation piece for an Intermediate to Advanced Spanish class.
Invite students to play the game in English before they come to class. At the beginning of class, tell students to take notes on their choices as they play this game of life. After 15 minutes of playing the game, begin to ask questions about what kind of family life and career they ended up with.
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I wonder how long before the computerized voices that are now on Mac and PC (and the new iPod shuffle) become a standard of all mobile devices and are regularly used to interpret speakers of other languages. In some ways, it’s already here. But when this capability is standard like FM radio is standard, then wow. Wow, wow, wow. It’ll open a lot of doors for a lot of people.
You’ll still need to learn languages though, to really communicate fluently, so don’t think you’re off the hook!
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The National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center features some theme-based units in Spanish and French that look interesting. Sadly, their New Visions in Action project has been discontinued, but via the old site I found a link to the Annenberg Media’s learner.org with some video training for Foreign Language teachers. Will have to check that out.
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Just a reminder to students that the World Language Lab has 2 seats of Final Cut Pro and the complete suite of Adobe CS3 products installed on all of the computers in the lab. These are great tools worth learning. Students are encouraged to stop by and work with this software during their free time.
Online training for Adobe CS3 here.
Online training for Final Cut Pro here (on campus only).
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The University of Oregon has some great lesson plan ideas linking interesting content with new vocabulary. What I like about these topics is that teachers can easily come up with provocative and timely questions that will make students want to stretch their output skills so they can say what they think or believe.
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Today, I’m at the McCormick Convention Center in downtown Chicago presenting at the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference. Diane Jackson and I are talking about how to save paper by using DiLL, or the Digital Language Learning Lab. Here’s the little blurb:
Most of our presentation materials are here on our Wiki. We are focusing on how DiLL enhances good language pedagogy.
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After months of preparation, the ArtsFest student committee presents over 90 interesting workshops to the High School community. See a complete list of workshop descriptions here.
In lieu of their normal classes, High Schoolers will be wandering from room to room (in a scheduled fashion, of course) learning, supporting, and applauding their peers in a variety of different activities. Check out the schedule here.
ArtsFest has a rich tradition at Lab. Read more about ArtsFest history and view photos of the traditional ArtsFest murals at our website.
Filed Under Best Bytes, Photos
If you are a 6th, 7th, or 8th grader, or have the distinct pleasure of knowing a 6th, 7th, or 8th grader, let them know about this new After School class I’ll be offering April 2 - June 4 on Thursday afternoons in the Lab. Download the flyer or visit the class site.
Online registration began Monday, February 23rd and will end Friday, March 6th.
Filed Under Best Bytes, German
Frau Zemil found a nice German radio station, called Lilipuz. Click on hören to open the stream in iTunes.
And if you ever needed a good reason for studying german, here is a fun article and two top 10 lists compiled from the Goethe Institut: List 1 & List 2.
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The Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-2009 has a nice page on translation and interpreting careers. The latest wage data is here, though this represents translators who are employed full-time and not the majority who are self-employed. “Employment of interpreters and translators is projected to increase 24 percent over the 2006-16 decade, much faster than the average for all occupations.”
And while you’re at it, take a look at “Tomorrow’s Jobs“. The 20 jobs in this chart will account for 1/3 of all new jobs between 2006-2016:
Chart 8. These two lists are also illuminating: 1, 2. The OES wage survey does not collect annual earnings data higher than ~ $145,600 (go figure), but high schoolers might find The Fall 2008 OOQ Job Outlook By Education an interesting read.
What we’re missing, obviously, is a pie chart plastered on every bathroom wall that shows total earnings in this country (traditional and self-employed), divided by occupation and then correlated with the number of active people in those careers today as well as the projected growth rate of openings. That’s the kind of information students need to make better-informed and more intentional decisions about the eight different career paths that await them after college.
My vote for translation as one of those eight is that it’s a relatively self-contained profession that, although competative, is possible to enter if you invest the time and money to get the special skills that set you apart from the bilingual pack. Of course, you also have to really love words and be something of a perfectionist. I’ll be hosting a workshop on translation before the end of the year for students who are interested.
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Chris Durban has made a name for herself writing the Onionskin, a column of translation mishaps around the world. I thought this one was interesting–a legal mistake that got one shop owner off the hook. See this page for more examples.
Language loophole gets Hong Kong fishmonger off the hook
“The legal dilemma facing many bi- and multilingual communities was underscored in October 1996, when Mrs Tam Yuk-ha, a Hong Kong fishmonger, was found guilty in English but innocent in Chinese.
According to the Financial Times (2 November 1996), Mrs Tam was initially fined HK$3,000 (US$390) for breaching municipal laws by setting up tables outside her shop, only to be acquitted on appeal, with a high court judge citing differences in the English and Chinese versions of the law.
The case illustrates the pitfalls—and loopholes—that can appear when large volumes of text are translated for very tight deadlines.
In Hong Kong, some 20,000 pages of legislation had to be translated before July’s transfer to Chinese sovereignty; the Legislative Council, the territory’s legislature, has passed laws in Chinese and English since 1989. As described in the Financial Times, translations are first prepared by the government’s legal department, then vetted by the Bilingual Laws Advisory Committee, “a body of lawyers, linguists, legal academics and members of the Legislative Council.” Only then are texts approved by the government. In Mrs Tam’s case, the discrepancy concerned a passage in one version stating that “no alteration or addition which would result in a material deviation” could be undertaken concerning the shop, while the other appeared to refer to “physical alterations to the premises.” Result: outside tables were possible in Chinese, but not in English.
For Mrs. Margaret Ng, chairman of Legco’s justice and legal services panel, it all boiled down to tight deadlines: “The basis of the problem is the ambition to translate all the legislation within a very few years. It is being done too quickly, so you can’t expect to meet the right standards.”
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If you haven’t spent time on the exploritorium site lately, DO IT. It’s like a Dorling Kindersley book on steroids. I could spend hours there. Their sites almost always begin with an engaging experience that creates a context for new information.
Check out their online magazine on the Evolution of Language.
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So I’ve had my iPhone just long enough to start appreciating how it could change my life and potentially my everyday learning behavior. I’d sum it up in one–no wait–two words: CONNECTED and MORE EFFICIENT. When I have an idea now and no paper, I just tap it into my phone. When I’m with a person who I need to email later, I email them now. When someone responds to a status on Facebook, I get it now. When I need to get a small detail off of the WLL reservation calendar or equipment list, I pull it up right then and there. I think that’s the best part.
The second best thing for me are the apps that take advantage of the iPhone’s form factor, WiFi connectivity, and GPS capabilities. The Remote for Keynote ‘09 works great and could totally free up a teacher when using a presentation-based lecture or activity. Using terminal on my iPhone makes me feel like more of a geek than I am. The Printer and Air Sharing apps are great for snagging documents off your computer. HearPlanet is a nice idea: no matter where I am, I open the app and it tells me about all of the interesting landmarks in my vicinity, along with little snippets about their significance, a little tour guide in my pocket. WorldView shows me nearly real-time web cam footage from around the world. Google Earth is great for getting a lay of our globeland. iTalk and Voicenotes, among other recording apps, let me capture important discussion for later (like our Faculty Development meeting yesterday, for example).
And I’ve only just started looking at apps for language.
I love the Collins Spanish to English Dictionary. It’s a general dictionary, pricey, but well-designed for the iPhone. I’m not as interested in the phrase books; none of them seem rich enough. But I haven’t really looked too hard. I do like the ICOON global picture dictionary, though I haven’t purchased it, for international travel to places you don’t speak the language. I am sure we will be seeing more and more real-time translation apps like this one for Japanese.
So those are a few of the upsides. Downsides? 3G service isn’t everywhere (though Chicago is not a bad place to be for pretty good coverage) and most of the apps work much better when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network (I use WifiTrak to spot open networks). I still haven’t figured out a way to keep this phone on me when I wear a skirt and/or have no pockets. I need to sew a satchel or something. The thing is, now I want* to have this phone with me wherever I go. And that’s saying something.
Filed Under Best Bytes, Filmmaking Club
The latest and the greatest from the filmmaking club: stop motion in 20 frames or less using web cams. Example 1. Example 2. Example 3.
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If you ever doubted the vitality of the English language, doubt no more. We have another Kleenex, folks. Another Xerox. Another Coke. It’s called Twitter and we tweeple will never be the same.
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Are you having the over-quota blues? Here is some great advice from our system admins to keep your email light and fluffy.
To lower quota usage, try:
(1) removing attachments from messages (i.e. save photos to your computer),
(2) deleting messages that have attachments,
(3) emptying the trash if it is stored on the server and not emptied,
(4) deleting sent messages,
(5) deleting sent messages that have attachments, and
(6) some combination of any or all of the previous procedures.
Filed Under Best Bytes, Spanish
I’ve just downloaded two classes from buenoentonces.com for my iPhone and I’m very impressed. Each class session starts with a story (TPRS-style) that creates a believable context for introducing new vocabulary concepts, grammar concepts, and pronunciation tips. The interface makes it easy for the learner to pause the dialogue and reference a special “Key” that the creators use to describe the most frequently used language structures. The natural, full-speed dialogue helps listeners to decode quickly and make quick connections as to the meaning of words. The entertaining banter will make these episodes fun to listen to on more than just one occasion. All of this simulates in a very real and supportive way the language immersion experience. Two thumbs up! Five stars! I wish this series all the success in the world!
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GigOM has a nice summary of streaming links. Let’s hope that the Internet can hold up under the pressure!
We’ll miss the Obama girls…
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calendarsthatwork.com is a great site for creating custom calendars on the fly. Make a few modifications online and then export as a Word document. Doctor it up in word, and voilà you’ve got yourself a nice-looking calendar to share with friends, students, parents, committees, etc. Click here to see the free collection.
