GREAT SCIENTIFIC SITE

http://www.imaginascience.com/
Enjoy yourselves.. and it's French!!!!!

A question!

An answer:

Oral d'anglais possible au baccalauréat

• en série ES avec LV Renforcée

• en série L.

We, the "agrégation interne" candidates had to write about
Fragmentation in Flannery O'Connor's Complete Stories.
I thought it was a difficult subject but not devoid of interest!
Well, good bye. I've got some translation work tomorrow. ..
See you all on Monday and thanks again for the question!

Some Bike!

I remember clearly how amazed i was to see on the Los Angeles wide freeways and avenues the most impressive vehicles, either trucks, quads or two or three-wheel bikes. That was 1979.
It seems it hasn't changed much when i look at that recent picture.

Au pair: going abroad!

Un témoignage sympathique à découvrir:
Un blog à visiter pour trouver l'envie de faire le grand saut: partir seul à l'étranger!
http://americangirl7.skyblog.com/index.html

BONNES VACANCES!

Un peu de français ce soir...
De très bonnes fêtes de fin d'année à tous de la part de votre prof d'anglais:
Qu'elles soient frugales et délicieuses,
Vitales et partageuses.
Que vos souhaits soient motivés
Que votre temps soit raisonné.
Chaque instant une expérience,
Chaque action une décision,
Avec paix et amour.
Soyez jeunes, soyez fiers, soyez libres,
Apprenez de la vie et la respectez.

PS: Je ferai de mon mieux pour être plus à l'écoute, plus précise,
moins véhémente et plus pondérée dans mes propos;
Bref, plus efficace dans mon travail. Bien à vous.
Elisabeth Diot-Bilien

Who cares anymay?

The title of that blog was intended to be written with phonetic symbols
thanks to the free and easily-loaded software to be found at the following address
but it seems that it isn't recognized by blogspot!

Anymay, Word does use it easily :-)

http://phonmap.com/

New Videos & Games

Play videos and do some English !
Thanks to Stephanie Cialone, a former classmate, for doing the research.

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/games/smoking_flash.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/static/games/you_make_me_sick/index.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/hq/trenchwarfare.shtml

Pas de panique

Le dernier message a suscité un commentaire inquiet d'un élève de terminale.
Comment? Un oral?
Pour le bac qui vient, sûrement pas. Nos ministres successifs y vont tous de leur petite réforme mais elles sont rarement mises en oeuvre rapidement.
Ici, il s'agit d'une loi qui est passée mais comme toutes les lois, elle nécessite des décrets d'application et ceux-ci sont souvent longs à venir.
Elle s'appliquera probablement aux secondes de cette année. Et alors, les certifications seront indépendantes de l'anglais au baccalauréat qui contiendra lui même d'autres épreuves orales en plus.

VISITE DE L'INSPECTRICE

Certains d'entre vous ont peut-être croisé Mlle Thierry, l'inspectrice pédagogique régionale.
Elle a inspecté deux collègues et nous a réunies pour discuter des dernières évolutions des directives pédagogiques pour les langues. Nous en reparlerons ensemble mais pour l'instant, il est bon que vous sachiez que le bac reste inchangé.
Désormais, la loi dit que les élèves passeront aussi des certifications dans les 4 compétences:
compréhension orale.
expression orale
compréhension écrite
expression écrite
L'ensemble des modalités de passation des certifications susdites restent à déterminer mais les objectifs sont, eux, clairement exprimés sous forme de savoir-faire. On verra ça ensemble après les conseils. (le pluriel de savoir-faire est invariable.. je viens de vérifier et j'ai trouvé la réponse sur ORTHONET bien sûr!
http://www.sdv.fr/orthonet/
à mettre immédiatement dans vos favoris...)

AWAD

AWAD is the acronym for "A Word A Day", a free newsletter with a new word everyday.
If you want to subscribe, just go to wordsmith.org.
Here is today's word: very well known by all of you but you may still learn something!
..........un bel emprunt à la langue française et un bel exemple de construction de mot et de dérivation à la française:
This week's theme: French terms for food.
vinaigrette (vin-uh-GRET) noun
A sour, savory sauce of which there are a hundred variations. Its base ingredients are almost always oil and vinegar. The primary use is for salad dressings, but vinaigrrettes can also be served on numerous fish, seafood, and even meat dishes.
[A nice double fillip here. The French word vinaigre (vinegar) literallymeans "sour wine": vin (wine) + aigre (sour). Take this double word and add the diminutive -ette and you get "little vinegar".]
"Salads dazzle, whether colourful, flavour-packed combos such as roasted beet and chickpea with balsamic vinaigrette, or coleslaw teased with a sesame oil dressing." Tim Pawsey; Healthy, But Tasty, Cuisine at Cafe; Vancouver Courier (Canada); Oct 24, 2005.

FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA

If you don't know Wikipedia yet, well, go and have a look.

http://www.wikipedia.org/

It's free information about a wide range of subjects. Enjoy it!

HAROLD PINTER

Pinter was born 10 October 1930 in East London.
This great contemporary playwright was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature.

He has written 29 plays including The Birthday Party, The Caretaker... as well as screenplays like The Servant, The Go-Between or The French Lieutenant's woman.
Pinter's interest in politics is a very public one. He 's fought against wars and the abuse of state power around the world.

ROSA PARKS, A CIVIL RIGHTS ICON

"There are very few people who can say their actions and conduct changed the face of the nation," said J.Conyers. "And Rosa Parks is one of those individuals."

If you want to know more about Rosa Parks,
You may want to watch these videos :

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1025_051025_rosa_parks_video.html

http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/video_20051025.htm

and if you feel like reading,.. read this:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/news/archive.asp?archive=102605

VIDEOS ABOUT 9/11 AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE TWIN TOWERS

I believe and i know that freedom of expression is an inalieanable right.

I also admit that these documents are not politically correct.

Because of the first assertion, though, i consider that these documents should be in my blog because they are interesting for Arago's students, including the pupils of Terminales Génie Civil and BTS du bâtiment. ( several vocational training in construction building and civil engineering. ) BTS stands for Brevet de Technicien Supérieur which are 2 years post-baccalaureat diplomas).

http://www.reopen911.org/pictures_and_videos.htm


http://at.moh.online.fr/ReOpen911/

... This one comes with the subtitling... but don't forget to listen carefully. This is NOT something ALWAYS easy to do but you should try.
And as i've already said elsewhere, you should ALWAYS watch dvds in the original version!

EXCELLENT SITE DE COMPREHENSION ORALE!

http://www.elllo.org

Pour tous ceux, grands et petits, qui veulent comprendre l'anglais parlé!
La compréhension orale est la clé de l'apprentissage: je mets en oreille puis je mets en bouche!

Et d'autres sites ici sur ce même blog:
oral-comprehension-sites.html

Travaillez bien... Work well and understand English. It will get easier to communicate if you listen to lots and lots of English!

PEACE NOW

You can go and visit this website: http://www.afsc.org/eyes/
Watch the WAGE PEACE CAMPAIGN video. Simple but efficient.Watch it again and write down a few notes on your notepad.
Prepare yourself for a quick (1mn or 2) oral description of the film, its makers and their intentions. Give your opinion too.

"The Stars and Stripes" and the U.S. national anthem

The Star-Spangled Banner


—On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. The release was secured, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.

Here's the U.S. national anthem but these days, people only sing its first paragraph.

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.O say, does that star-spangled banner yet waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,A home and a country should leave us no more?Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when free-men shall standBetween their lov'd home and the war's desolation;Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued landPraise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! Francis Scott Key, 1814

The Union Jack

This is the British flag as you all know.The Union Flag, or Union Jack, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. It is so called because it combines the emblems of the three countries united under one Sovereign - the kingdoms of England and Wales, of Scotland and of Ireland (although since 1921 only Northern Ireland has been part of the United Kingdom).The flag consists of three heraldic crosses.The cross of St George, patron saint of England since the 1270's, is a red cross on a white ground. After James I succeeded to the throne, it was combined with the cross of St. Andrew in 1606. The cross saltire of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland, is a diagonal white cross on a blue ground.The cross saltire of St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, is a diagonal red cross on a white ground. This was combined with the previous Union Flag of St George and St Andrew, after the Act of Union of Ireland with England (and Wales) and Scotland on 1 January 1801, to create the Union Flag that has been flown ever since.

CONTACT MAIL

If you want to reach me privately, you can send a mail to the following address:
arago2311ATgmailDOTcom (AT=@ et DOT=.)

So easy to blog

Try and create an English blog of yours. Post its address in the comments.You might get a good grade for it!