Ingrid's New Tricks

Information on the Karen People.

2006-10-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

The Karen People

http://www.karenpeople.org/

Who are the Karen?The Karen are the largest of the ethnic minority groups living in the mountain ranges of eastern Burma and northwestern Thailand. There are over six million Karen in Burma, and over 400,000 in Thailand, most of whom are divided into two subgroups - the Skaw (or Pgaganyaw) and the Pwo (or Plong). Karen-speaking people are spread over a large area, mainly on the Burma frontier with Thailand. Everywhere the Karen live interspersed among various other ethnic categories, so that we find pockets of exclusive Karen villages among for instance Mon, Shan and Lawa. Only within the Union of Burma we find large areas where the majority of the population are Karen, i.e. in the Kawthuley and Kay ah states. >> history

Who are the Karen?The Karen are the ................ of the ethnic minority groups living in the mountain ranges of eastern ................ and northwestern ................. There are over ................ ................ Karen in Burma, and over ................,................ in Thailand, most of whom are divided into two subgroups - the ................ (or Pgaganyaw) and the ................ (or Plong). Karen-speaking people are spread over a large area, mainly on the Burma ................ with ................. Everywhere the Karen live interspersed among various other ethnic categories, so that we find pockets of exclusive Karen villages among for instance Mon, Shan and Lawa. Only within the ................ of ................ we find large areas where the ................ of the population are Karen, i.e. in the Kawthuley and Kay ah states. >> history

URLs for ESL Materials

2006-10-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

Exercise on Gerunds
http://www.englishforjapanese.com/exercises/verb%20forms/01%20present%20simple.html

Listening materials published by AMES NSW
http://www.ames.edu.au/store/asp/productlist.asp?PID=92&MID=3&SID=55&CatID=9

AMES Victoria - Recent Publications
http://www.ames.net.au/category.asp

Our last session - Exercises

2006-10-19T01:58:00.000-07:00

Two images posted with success.
No this isn't me - but similar as we are both coming out of the wilderness.
On the left with much trepidation.
On the right a little bit more puffed with SOME achievement.

20.September 2006. Week 9 More Webpage.

2006-09-21T03:28:00.000-07:00

Introduction to Podcasting and Webpage creation continued.
Philip took the time to introduce the group to podcasting - downloading programs to one's own computer.
As usual Philip carefully explained step-by step how to access the ABC and with the use of "Juice" download interesting programs that one may not have the time to hear when they're actually on air.
Following this we launched again into our Webpage creations. Using a template supplied by Philip we identified (in writing) all our pages and the links to them. This helped to clarify the relationships between them and our understanding of how they were created.
We then had time to refine and "beautify" our pages using colour, graphics etc.
We have ended up with a greater understanding of how to create a Webpage.

Week 8. Session cancelled due to illness.

2006-09-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

Poor Philip, I think we must have worn him out! Following the evening of Frontpage and our demands for further assistance in the days following, Philip retired to his bed with an (ab)noxious flu for a well-earned rest! How much patience can a man sustain????
Get well soon Philip! We await! - That should make him feel better!!

Week 7 FrontPage

2006-09-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

Looked so forward to tackling FrontPage, but found it more confronting than I thought.
Happily I don't think I was the only confused old dog that night. With Philip's ever-generous assistance managed a start with some links. Having to go to a different computer than my own and access my achievement via the Z: drive has proven to be a deterrant to further tinkering and this has made it more daunting as time progresses. However, have got a page with potential and 'colour' what's more!
Hope to learn more next time.

Week 6 - Singing with AUDACITY

2006-09-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

Devastated to have missed the opportunity to do a rendition of "how much is that doggie in the window?" - a prize winner for sure, as my woof!woof! or Yip!Yip! between verses would have wow'd everyone! However, the excellent notes provided by Philip may yet enable me the opportunity to star at a later time.

Smartboard, wine and hot potatoes

2006-09-12T00:38:00.000-07:00

A fun evening!
Introduction to the smartboard was amazing. We already had some idea but the extent of the possibilities to demonstrate, clarify and enchant was astounding. In addition the demonstrated possibilities for student interraction and quality of presentation through the facility to introduce and connect to a range of media is truly exciting. Of course time for practice and knowledge of the range of features is a pre-requisite but one worth tackling!
An unexpected wine-tasting break for one of our participant's child's school fund-raising, made for high spirited group cohesion and introduction to Hot Potatoes was received with even greater than usual enthusiasm to round off the evening. Hot Potatoes will definitely be tried and applied by some.

Homework Week 4

2006-08-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

Maori Queen's Funeral

Homework for Week 4.

CLOZE EXERCISE

Listen to the article and fill in the gaps below.

Maori Queen laid to rest
By New Zealand correspondent Peter Lewis and wires
The woman known as the Maori Queen has been laid to rest in ancestral burial grounds in New Zealand's north island.
An estimated 100,000 mourners converged on the small community near Hamilton on New Zealand's north island to pay their respects to the sixth and longest-serving leader of the King Movement.
The ceremony began at dawn at her home where tribal chiefs selected her son Tuheitia Paki, to succeed her.

Maori Queen laid to rest
By New Zealand correspondent Peter Lewis and wires
The woman known as the ..................... ..................... has been laid to rest in ..................... burial grounds in ..................... ..................... north island.
An estimated 100,000 ..................... converged on the small community near ..................... on New Zealand's north island to pay their ..................... to the ..................... and longest-serving leader of the ..................... Movement.
The ceremony began at ..................... at her ..................... where tribal chiefs selected her ............. Tuheitia Paki, to succeed her.

Week 4: Revision and New Tricks

2006-08-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

This evening we had a visit from Ann Odgers (Manager Learnscope) who came to see how we were engaging with the program and speak about some of the fantastic technological teaching tricks things being done elsewhere.
Ann introduced us to the blogs of other practitioners in the field. In addition, Ann demonstrated how a teacher of automotive engineering had created a filmed learning segment and placed it on a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) for students to view at will during a practical session, so the teacher did not have to physically repeat the procedure many times for individual students who had not quite grasped it. So impressive and so successful a learning tool. BUT - Can't see it working quite in the same way for the verb to be etc.
Later, Philip reviewed the use of Picasa and gave us time for additional practice .
To get back to Word, Philip introduced further formatting of pictures, Cwick clozes and other tricks for short cuts that make creation of common learning tasks so much quicker and easier. In particular how to bulk add spaces for cloze exercises and lock in spaces for form-filling. A very practical and useful segment.
Teachers later commented how pleased they were with these practical tips as they had been creating similar tasks the difficult slow way.

Cwik Clozes - Exercise

2006-08-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

Coles Myer shares soar on takeover talks
Shares in retailer Coles Myer ........................... 12 per cent after confirmation the ........................... has been approached about its ...........................
The share market has been ........................... today by speculation that a US-based investment ........................... is planning to ........................... a $15 billion takeover ...........................for Coles Myer as early as ...........................week.
In a short statement to the Australian Stock ..........................., Coles Myer confirmed an ........................... has been made and that the ........................... will consider any bona fide ...........................

CLASSROOM EXERCISE 2

2006-08-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

CLASSROOM TASK EXERCISE

2006-08-17T02:42:00.000-07:00

Look at this picture
and answer the questions.

Answer these questions:

What colour is the hair?...............................

What colour are the eyes?...........................

Is it a boy or a girl?.......................................

Is the skin dark or fair?................................

What colour are the clothes?........................

Do you have any children?............................

How many children do you have?................

Are they boys or girls?...................................

More Picasa Play

2006-08-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

A nice face!

Picasa Play

2006-08-15T00:31:00.000-07:00

Sophie with students? No way to retrieve the top of gentleman's head !

Philip? Early morning effects? What a lovely spot!

2006-08-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

Wish I was there

Notes on week 3.

2006-08-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

Not a good session for me this week. Made difficult by forgetting to read our illustrious leader's Blog and his instructions/directions for this session. So was not prepared - and tired to boot.
The session on using Picassa was difficult for me as I do not own or use a digital camera. Something I have been MEANING to do for some time. So playing with Picassa left me behind many of my colleagues who although may have not used this program before, were certainly familiar with using the camera, storing , manipulating, retrieving and using "the stick" to accumulate loverly photos.
Ah well, this experience will now force my hand. I will bite the bullet and invest in a digital camera which I've wanted for months.
HOWEVER! Google Earth was fantastically interesting - mind-blowing actually. Didn't know such an interesting program existed and from the reaction in the room, not many other people did either. Great fun for a rainy afternoon and a very useful tool for locating places, relationship to other places and directions etc. for those lucky people who manage to traipse aabout the world - frequently.
Looking forward to week 4.

Week three

2006-08-10T02:04:00.000-07:00

Web search leader Google, which stores vast amounts of data on the web-surfing habits of its users, sees government intrusions rather than accidental public disclosures of data as the greatest threat to online privacy, its chief executive has said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1711286.htm

CEO Eric Schmidt.

A plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from Britain to the US has been disrupted, UK police have said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok

Helpful eResources

2006-08-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow Bloggers!
I have sought and received access for all our staff to the catalogues and databases of the Learning Resource Centre of West Coast TAFE in Joondalup.
This allows you access to the West Coast Tafe catalogue as well as the catalogues of all TAFE libraries and the DET library in WA.
In addition, you can search the Infotrac journal database which includes access to the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. This database covers about 10 000 magazine/journals and most articles are available to download in full text.
This is what you do:

Click on: http://voyager.westcoast.wa.edu.au
Or go to the West Coast College Screen at: http://joon_notes
Find Library Resource Centre to right of screen and click on TAFEWA Online Library Catalogue

The Library Catalogue screen appears. You have the choices of searching the West Coast TAFE catalogue only (Search Local Catalogue) or all TAFE libraries (Search Global Catalogue) as well as other information.

To access the Journal Databases (Infotrac)

click on: http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/westcoast
Enter the password. Cinnamon. The password changes every term - I will notify next term.

This will take you to the basic search screen and other choices. For more information on how to search these databases, come and see me.

Here are some other useful Internet sites provided by the LRC at Joondalup.

Australian Bureau of Statistics:

http://www.abs.gov.au

Directory of Australian Associations

http://www.cserver.com.au/daalive/

Username: 426447 Password: daawct447

Western Australian Government Departments

http://www.wa.gov.au/agencies.html

Week 2.

2006-08-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

I found this session very interesting and helpful!
Philip introduced us to using Skype - the setup, cost benefits and disadvantages. From my point of view the disadvantage is that there has to be a time pre-arranged with the recipient to receive the call, as both sites need to be logged on via Skype simultaneously. This would not always suit and would not be helpful for surprise calls or crisis calls.
In addition to this, Philip worked through a 12 page booklet revising basic and not so basic Internet/Word techniques and search methods.
Although, I had already worked out some of the techniques (e.g. selecting and pasting/posting pictures) while learning to develop my Blog, the information was very helpful to simplify, reinforce, clarify and enhance confidence.
The greatest benefit of this program is the group. My colleagues are great - very open, happy to share, to admit ignorance, ask and laugh and as a result to learn.
In addition, Philip happily explains the simplest questions and resolves all concerns.

My achievements in Sports

2006-08-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Skydiving - I'm the one in front of course.

Some of my admirers

I'm also a swimming champion - oops forgot to be shaved

White water rafting champ - I'm the one in the white helmet!

And a marathon champ - you can see me bottom left about to win!

And of course being in the privileged position I occupy I do charitable works - A well-known portrait of moi!

At the end of my fabulous day, I deserve a bit of R & R!!!

JEALOUS HA?

About moi continued!

2006-08-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my home!

You probably didn't know that I come from royalty!
Here is a picture of my family - I'm the one in the middle.

Some guests at my home - I'm speaking with President Bush - unfortunately I'm hidden by some***!!! fame-grabber in yellow!

Remarks are always made about my excellent cuisine!

I know you are dying to know more about my life and achievements so why should I deprive!

My Achievement in the Arts

Here ( in pink left) I gain fame in "Boy from Oz"

Here I head a brass band (Me in the interesting hat)

About moi!

2006-08-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

You may think I'm an old dog, but as you can see I'm a happy one!

and I do not intend to pull the plug on blooging just yet.

This says it all!

So let me introduce myself -

I've been told that I'm a pretty good looking bird!

Here I am in profile

Possible uses for Ingrid's Blog..

2006-07-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

Sending out information - keeping you all informed!

Being the Librarian of the Staff Library, I envisage the Blog being a good method of providing information to users of the library.

Information that could be included on the Blog:

. Administrative matters such as library opening times and conditions of usage
. Changes to the above - permanent or temporary
. Information about resources held or added to the library collection
. Information about new materials created in the library to assist users in their work e.g.
compilation of specific teaching materials
. Invitation to users to comment or make suggestions about addition of new materials of interest
. Listings of and direction to web sites of relevance and interest in the ESL field
. Information to support professional development

It would be hoped that teachers would find the time to access the blog on a regular basis???

Philip, perhaps when something new is added, a brief message could be sent to all staff via the group email???

Ingrid

About moi!

2006-07-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

27 July 2006.
This is our first session at blogging. So far so good - have arrived at this point after 1.5 hours.
I think it will be very interesting and am pleased to be learning something new.
With Philip's patient guidance not as difficult as I had imagined.
There are 16 participants in this professional development group and the room is happily buzzing.
It will be very interesting to see how everyone uses their blogs during the next ten weeks and into the future.