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Just a quick word for the latest news on activities : With higher Spanish, I have tried to get going on Flashmeeting and chats but unfortunately, they have their class once a week and over our lunchtime which doesn’t help for pupils- they prefer their lunch break….Younger pupils have been writing letters and e-mails with schools in Germany and Austria, thanks to e-twinning which are doing a great job in linking all European schools.

Over the past few weeks, I have been busy working/enjoying l;ife on another planet, i.e. Second Life where things are getting quite hectic. So many people are joining up and a lot of French/spanish speakers were in contact with me. I found it quite interesting to meet up with so many nationalities just after a few clicks. Now, the problem remains to adapt the experiment for school business, which would be quite difficult following all restrictions and firewalls….

But you never know and in a few years time we might be able to communicate virtually with others students from different countries, being real or fiction

Come on have a go athttp://www.secondlife.com

I have discovered a great new game on Nintendo DS,http://www.hoteldusk.comwhich if your languages settings are correct, can be played in French or Spanish or any other language you fancy. This game is very different from the usual mario games as you follow and read a story in the same way as a book, but you also have puzzle and questions to choose from and decisions to take over different issues. I feel this can become very motivational for pupils, especially those studying at a Higher level as they can work by themselves on understanding the sentences and carrying the investigation.

I have been quite busy setting up the Modern Languages blog for Morgan Academy and I have also started the podcast/videocast from podomatic. Here are the links : http://morganml.podomatic.com and for the blog : http://dc2blog.ea.dundeecity.sch.uk

Any comments about how to improve them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Well obviously the podacst was not published and I will have to seek advice on how to put a podcast on the blog, if possible. Something eslse I have tried to look into has been toondoo : from http://www.toondoo.com where you can create your own cartoon. This is a great idea for Modern Languages as you can stick them on Powerpoint presentations and pupils can also create their own.

I have also started another blog with learnerblogs for pupils in my Spanish class : http://morganspanish.learnerblogs.com where I am posting all the latest tips for the coming exam

le foot en ecosse. En preparation avec la classe……

Things have quite slow in the relation with e-twinning and I tried to start something again but many pupils were not interested…On Saturday, i am going to Stirling for Communicate 07 to check on the latest innovation in Modern Languages. Let’s hope that a few people can demonstrate that technology can prove a definite good solution in class…

I took a group of pupils on the Unicorn Ship in Dundee for an exhibition offered from the Goethe Institute on Germany and all things German. All pupils seem  to enjoy it.

Someone gave me the link to stick a clock on the blog. I tried but obviously, it’s a bit too difficult for me to achieve.