The Mixxer | Language Exchange for Everyone Stories of Love, Faith, and Courage Welcome fellow earth-traveler. In our fast-paced, hectic world we all need a daily dose of faith, hope and love. Many of the stories below offer us inspiration and encouragement for living, while others cause us to pause and think. Some of the stories are true, some are probably not but nonetheless they are thought provoking and inspiring. May you find refreshment and joy in your journey. A Christmas Story - John never forgot the sharing, love and personal sacrifice his friends had shown him that Christmas day. . . his growth to manhood was rewarded by wealth and success. A Cry For Help - Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, and all of the others, including Love. A Good Lesson - The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. A Great Life - I've heard the saying, "The best gift parents can ever give to their children is to love each other." A Legacy of Love - A Lesson in Love - A Miracle - "It's like a miracle. Pappy -
50 Free Collaboration Tools That Are Awesome for Education April 7th, 2010 Whether you are looking for tools that can bring a distance education class together or tools to help students and teachers in traditional classrooms working on group projects, the following collaboration tools will help with any need. From group papers to file sharing to group communication, the following tools will help bring any educational group together seamlessly to produce awesome results. Group Projects and Papers When working on group projects or research papers, these tools make collaboration a breeze. Nicenet. Discussion Groups and Communication Don’t let a little thing like distance stop your group or class from communicating. MemberHub. Research, Note Taking, and File Sharing Share your research, notetaking, and files with these great tools. CiteULike. Social Networking Social networking provides an opportunity for students and teachers to connect beyond the classroom walls in new and innovative ways. ePals. Wikis and Blogs Wikispaces. Task Management
Hispanic Culture Lesson Plans and Worksheets, Spanish4Teachers.org "Spanish Speaking Family Lesson Plan" (elementary) activity for identifying Spanish speaking countries, their similarities and differences.Cultural Holidays (elementary/middle school) fun creative lesson plan to contrast and compare different cultural holidays."Baila" (middle/high school) research, learn and share knowledge of Hispanic Culture through Latin dances.Spanish Language & Culture With Baleros (middle school). Kids learn about the Spanish culture and language while they play and have fun with baleros."A Tribute To Miró" (middle/high school) students learn about an Spanish painter, his style, culture and surroundings by creating their own painting." This Hispanic Culture Page is divided into 3 sections, Lesson Plans, PowerPoints & Worksheets, all containing specific resources for teaching Hispanic Culture. Teachers please feel free to use these Spanish teaching resources, but we ask that you respect the copyright and footer information of all of them. Hispanic Dances:
My Immigration Story - Home 10 Awesome New Web Tools for Teachers As is usual here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, every two weeks, I share with you here a list of the most recently released web tools that might probably have some educational potential for your teaching and learning contexts. It's been 7 months ago since I added this section featuring lists of educational web tools to my blog. You can check it to view the lists I shared there so far.These lists are particularly created to help those of you who are busy and have no time left to go online and hunt for the new releases in the world of educational technology. What you see in these lists are web tools other edubloggers have reviewed in their websites and blogs. Check out what I have curated for you during the last couple of weeks and let me know what you think of them. 1- Widbook An easy online platform to write books, share stories and add photos and video. Search by topic or exam. Silk is a place to publish your collections. 4- Tagboard 5- Shareor 6- Memofon 7- Wonderville
Keys to Teaching Success: Difference between Rules and Procedures Rules are for undesirable behaviors that have set consequences while procedures are expected classroom behaviors with no set consequences for a violation. Anytime a student violates a rule in your classroom, you must act and a consequence must occur (See handout on Possible Consequences). Consequences should be realistic for both teacher and students and should progress if the rule is broken repeatedly. In other words if a student talks in class you would not write a referral on the 1st offense but you probably would if it continued to be a problem and you have tried other ways to control this behavior in your classroom. Examples of Procedures 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Click on picture below for full view. For more Classroom Management Tips go to the Classroom Management Tips Page. To get files related to this article please email me at smmcnamee@comcast.net If your computer does not have a program that allows you to click and send email then cut and paste my address into your own email program.
SpanishTown - Articles and Stories on Learning Spanish and Raising Bilingual Children Below you will find a selection of articles about learning Spanish as a second language. Some of them are hosted here at SpanishTown and some will take you to another site. Education Nation: The real benefits of being bilingual "From a very young age, children who are bilingual are using their executive control system and in a way that advances its development," says Dr. Ellen Bialystok ,a cognitive neuroscientist and Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at York University in Toronto. The executive control system is, "the basis for every hard thing we do. Voices en Español, a bilingual blog and Spanish podcast Voices en Español is a place to evangelize the Spanish language. Why, How, and When Should My Child Learn a Second Language? Raising Bilingual Children Marsha Rosenberg Two or More Languages in Early Childhood: Some General Points and Practical Recommendations Annick De Houwer, University of Antwerp and Science Foundation of Flanders, Belgium
Does learning a new language give you a new personality? “Learn a new language and get a new soul.” — Czech proverb WHEN JACQUES was 12 years old, his mother began speaking to him only in French, his father addressed him only in Greek, and he was sent to an English-speaking day school in Paris. Of course, Jacques — whose name is changed — was the same person whether he was discussing physics with his mother in Greek, economics with his father in French, or chatting about James Bond and the latest Die Hard with his friends at the American School of Paris. And yet, his personality seemed to ebb and flow. “I felt probably ruder and more aggressive in Greek, clear and concise in French, and creative and longwinded in English,” he said. “You don’t really feel the difference while you’re doing it, but you do after.” Although the debate rages on whether or not we gain new personalities as we acquire new languages, for those who are bilingual or multilingual, it often feels that speaking a different language turns you into a different person.