«Moi j'apprends in english»

Hey! Do you have 5 minutes?
Check the article « Une éducation en anglais au bout du fil »

http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/03/26/182183.html

I actually do not see the point of criticizing the campaign. Actually, I found its slogan «Moi j'apprends in english» funny. It is true that it is using both languages but... come on! Don't we have something better to do? I mean, we know that Mme Malavoy looks for the respect of French and I do too! I believe French is a beautiful language that must be respected and loved but I really do not believe that the commission is being disrespectful in any way by using the slogan.
But well, none of these languages are my mother tongue. Maybe you have another point of view…
What do you think?
By the way, the only problem with the slogan is that English must be written with capital letter. That's disrespectful I'd say! ;)

Bullying at school

Watch the next video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wcx2qM5C4g&feature=related

This happens everyday!
What is going on in schools? I really feel so bad for all those kids who are abused at school.
I am getting prepare to become a teacher but I am so afraid of not knowing how to react if I know my students are being abused. I know the first reaction would be to go to the principal’s office but it is not always the correct answer… Sometimes the result can be even worse…

English English and more English...

Be careful Quebec!

I was in a class last Thursday and someone came up with the fact of teaching English since first grade elementary. To my surprise, there were a lot (when I say a lot I mean at least 20 students out of 60, but 20 of us did not give any vote, so it was about a third of the class) who were against it! There were some people who even said that English should not be taught but after third grade... WOW!
It looks like I won't have a job teaching English in Quebec... lol
Seriously, I believe this is a very delicate topic, I could not believe the reasons why people is against the "enseignement de l'anglais" they say that children will get confuse having English and French classes, that they are not mature enough to learn a second language...
As a teacher, I know that we do not start teaching a language with grammar structures or complex language features so I personally do not believe that students would get confused with the two languages but I heard that it is what the new studies show... (mmm... What studies? Who said that?)
What do you think? Are you in pro or against? I really find it very interesting!

Exploring the Web

Well...
I am discovering all this world of computers, internet, blogs and stuff...
I know I know! I am late! But I'm there now, ok?
If you feel lost (like me) in this new web world you may want to check out the next page...
http://www.freevlog.org/

Software Industry vs. Software Society

The wonderful world of Internet is open to all of us. How come? Where does it come from? Well, check the article and you'll see! http://www.computerlanguage.com/2020.pdf

The question now is another... Will open software and free programs continue being accessible to all of us or will a big monopole come and take control of them? Personally, I believe open software will win the battle against those big companies who want to be in control of every single program and invention. As a community we are much more powerful than those few rich businessmen who want to lead us.
That's what I believe (and hope) but I still have one question in my head that makes me hesitate: Can money buy everything?
What do you think?

Education and technology

«Tools do not define pedagogy, but pedagogy can leverage tools. The first step is understanding what the technology is about, when and where it is useful, and how it can and will be manipulated by users for their own desires.»

This quote comes from Mark’s blog: http://www.proticblog.net/profs//index.php?blogId=29
Who took it from Mario tout de go’s blog (if you want more info go look for the blogs)

What a quote! What grabbed my attention were the steps specially the second one “when and where it is useful”. You know, I come from Mexico and education is not like in Quebec. In Mexico, private schools are very popular due to the population growth: we have not enough space in public schools for all the students and not enough money to build new schools (or actually we don’t know how to manage it but that’s another story) In private schools we can find computers in the “computer room” but not in all classroom as we do here. But in public schools, it is very difficult to get computers and all sort of technology. This is the reason why I was against implementing technology in my teaching. Now my perspective had changed. As the quote says, we must know “when and where” technology is useful. You may say I am going way back but I remember when I was little (and living in Mexico) the government started implementing teaching by T.V. They put televisions in rural places so students could have some education. It is true that the quality was not the same as having the teacher in front of the class but at least education arrived to those rural places. If a T.V. could do that, imagine how much education in rural places has improved since the arrival of the internet. Technology may not be exploited in Mexico as much as in Quebec (yet) but it will, it is just a matter of time…

Daniela