Why must we avoid using Internet Explorer?
Here are some tips on available navigators…
The French Government and the CERTA (Centre d’Expertise Gouvernemental de Réponse et de Traitement des Attaques Informatiques – Computer Emergency Response Team) just finished a study about internet browsers. They deducted that we must avoid using Internet Explorer because it is not reliable and has numerous vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities could be used to carry out cyberattacks. The last 3 versions of Internet Explorer are concerned: IE6, IE7, and IE8. So, we should favour using Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera or even Safari.
“We also remind that it is strongly advised to browse the Internet with a user account with limited rights and the disabling of interpretation of dynamic code (JavaScript, ActiveX…)”, CERTA explained in the alert note.
Moreover, according to an analysis from OCU magazine (equivalent of the UK’s Ethical Consumer magazine), on the 8 available browsers today, the 3 last versions of Internet Explorer are at the bottom of list. Firefox is considered the most reliable browser before Opera and Safari. Security and use are the most reliable with this browser.
The Educaingles team recommends you to use another browser other than Internet Explorer to download our resources in the best conditions.
Blogs: a complementary activity for english teaching
A practical example: the Blog contest of the “Francophonie”, 2009 edition.
In April 2009, the network of the French Alliance of Spain, in partnership with Educafrances and the educational cooperation department of the French Embassy in Spain, launched a blog contest. The contest was addressed to bilingual classes, to French foreign language classes and to individuals who are learning French.
Conclusions of the Blog contest
The blogs created within the framework of the contest had high quality presentations as well as contents. The students and professors’ motivation was reflected through the excellence of their completed work.
What is important to understand about the blogs?
The blog allows people who are not specialists in data processing to publish their work on the Internet. A blog is a web site in which one can add text, images, sound, videos, presentations and many other things. Comments on the articles published can be sent by netsurfers (comments are moderated by an administrator who decides whether or not to publish them).
Several free software downloads are available for creating a blog, such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Online help guides explain how to create a blog. Be careful though as some are used for publishing advertisements in blogs. Check if your supplier provides the option of a free blog without any kind of advertisement!
You will be able to easily personalize your blog with existing “topics” i.e. you can choose to a certain extent the appearance that you wish to give your blog. In the same way, you can also create ways of access for other people - in addition to your access administrator keys - who would like to add their own contributions. This will help you to have a living blog.
Lastly, one can create several kinds of blogs:
The teacher’s blog. The teacher indicates on the blog the course syllabus, lesson texts/resources and academic year objectives and shows students the activities he/she wants to launch:
- blog
- treasure hunt (webquest)
- role-playing game
- routes of discovery
- workshops
- exercises…
In this case, the teacher is the only one contributing to his/her blog.
The class blog. The teacher creates a blog and gives his/her students the possibility of getting a password to it for them to be able to add articles in the blog. In this way, the class blog will represent a “showcase” of what is made in class and gives credit to its authors.
Be careful! If you want to publish photos of the students on the blog, the teacher must ask the parents of minors for a “parental authorization for publication” in order to respect image copyright law.
The blog might have a teaching interest. For that, it is clearly necessary to have defined what one wants to do: a living blog is a frequently fed blog. Without a concerted project, the blog will not be used.
The blog can belong to the academic program of the year. Then, all of the finished works posted on the blog may be counted towards the final mark.
It encourages:
- written expression in English
- oral expression (through videos)
- use of new technologies in English teaching
- communication between authors: sharing information, developing a critical eye, commenting on inserted documents, proofreading drafts before publication, constant feedback between students and teacher
- continuing or completing work done in class thanks to availability of blogs outside of class time.
- students to develop their imagination and creativity (for example, the creation of « voki » personalized by the students for introducing themselves (www.voki.com)).
- students of one class or several classes to work individually or in groups. The instructions as well as the work obtained are published in the blog.
- following ongoing blog activities if the blog falls under the objectives of the academic year.
The English teacher may ask for assistance from the data-processing/technology teacher while preparing his/her students for the varied tasks they will have to carry out.
For example:
- how to do word and image processing
- how to design and carry out a presentation using Power Point
- making a video
- voice recording
- the drafting of descriptive texts (a biography, etc.)
Technical note
To download this document, click here.
Launching of a new portal : Educaingles for Kids!
What is Educaingles Kids?
This new portal provides simplified access to very diverse resources with the objective of adapting them to primary school levels and children’s needs. Thus they can learn English while enjoying themselves.
In addition, teachers can take advantage of this new portal thanks to numerous mini-themes focused on light and playful topics such as chocolate, volcanoes, Harry Potter, animals and many more.
To get more information, click here.
Discover our new Mini Themes section
New mini-themes are now available on Educaingles. They are made up of a selection of 4 distinct resources (video, article, still graphic and/or animated graphic). With these very useful mini-themes, teachers and learners can enjoy a wide range of themes presented in a practical and lively way. Indeed, each one does not exceed 4 resources and focused on a specific theme such as cinema, the G20 summit, polar bears, and many more! Click here to discover these mini-themes.
El portal de referencia para el aprendizaje del Inglés
NOTA DE PRENSA Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tras la buena acogida en España de Educafrancés, ahora Educainglés se lanza al mercado con ánimo de ser el portal de referencia para el aprendizaje del idioma Inglés.
Vídeos, animaciones, infografías y artículos de actualidad destinados a apoyar el aprendizaje del idioma inglés ya están accesibles a través de Educainglés.
Educaingles.com es el portal destinado a educadores y estudiantes mediante documentos multimedia actualizados en tiempo real de la Agencia France Presse (AFP).
En el actual contexto de crisis española e internacional en el que a España se le exige un incremento de la competitividad, más que nunca la formación y aprendizaje de idiomas como el inglés desde edades tempranas es una tarea no solamente importante sino ineludible. En este contexto las Comunidades están haciendo desde hace varios años un importante esfuerzo para adaptarse a las nuevas exigencias de formación en idiomas y fomentando el plurilingüismo.
Algunas de las Comunidades españolas ya confían en Educainglés; cientos de colegios de diversas Comunidades, entre las recién adheridas, la Xunta de Galicia y la Consejería de Castilla y León, tienen a Educainglés como una importante herramienta para el aprendizaje del idioma inglés, siendo ya varias decenas de miles los estudiantes que practican el idioma con nuevas animaciones, infografías, videos, artículos y documentos de todo tipo. Más de 10.000 recursos didácticos fiables, actuales y de calidad ya están accesibles para sus educadores.
No obstante, su concepción 100% multimedia hace que sean los propios estudiantes de cualquier edad los primeros entusiastas de su uso, por una parte facilitando por tanto la labor de los educadores, y por otro lado abriendo prometedoras expectativas para la apertura de su uso a cualquier usuario sea cual sea su edad que desee aumentar sus conocimientos de inglés o francés.
Los portales educaingles.com y educafrances.com son fruto de la colaboración entre la empresa de recursos multimedia Bluedeep y la agencia internacional de información AFP, y dan acceso a una plataforma con miles de textos, imágenes, animaciones y vídeos actualizados diariamente, clasificados por categorías, asignaturas y además por nivel de competencia definido en el “Marco común europeo de referencia para las lenguas” adaptándose así a las metodologías de enseñanza AICLE/CLIL.
La Agencia France Presse (AFP) es una de las tres grandes agencias de prensa mundiales, que produce diariamente más de dos millones de palabras en siete idiomas (francés, inglés, español, alemán, árabe, portugués y chino), 1.500 fotografías, 50 gráficos animados y fijos y 150 videos mensuales.