Learning Through Art

Hi everyone!

Back here! Finally! The hiatus was worth it, though, now I have a PhD under my arm, and a desire to make this blog active again with lots of comprehension challenges!

This first video has been watched by most of you through the mailing list, so I'm including it here for you to check your answers and to have a permanent link to it. Even if you've replied to it by email, you can still make comments, you know I love to see the comment section alive!

This is an introduction to the learning programme of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. I'm fascinated by the way in which cultural institutions develop or adapt curricula to encourage hands-on learning processes.  These are the comprehension questions I propose:

Watch the first minute of the video and reply to these questions:

1. What is the main question they want to investigate with the Learning Through Art Programme?

2. What does a student have to do to succeed in today's global society?

3. What skills need to be developed for this purpose?


Now watch the rest of the video and complete these sentences:

1. Habits of mind are the _____________ between the classroom and the museum.

2. Students are motivated by _____________  and learn best by _____________ .

3. The abilities strengthened by learning through original works of art are the application of knowledge in a real-world setting, a deeper understanding of content, and the ability to _____________ complex ideas.

4. To implement these ideas in your classroom, all you need is a _____________  rather than a background in Art History.


Key here, as usual, and please share your answers or any ideas in the comment section. What do you think of these educational programmes in museums?

Learning Through Art: Introduction from Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on Vimeo.

Topic Video: Social Networks

Hi everyone!

I hope that you will find some useful vocabulary in this video to talk about social networks and their risks, but also about entertainment and age-appropriate leisure activities for children. A very complete one!

So check out this top ten and answer the questions. Then watch it again and try to complete the sentences with up to three words:


a) What are the most desirable features of social networks for kids? Tick the ones you hear:

- parental control
- signing in is only possible with parental approval
- online games
- limits of time spent online
- certain features can be enabled or disabled by parents
- age-appropriate content
- appealing photo-sharing facilities
- adult moderators
- Disney characters
- parents can access chatrooms
- review of photos before upload

b) What other features not mentioned in a) do you think can also be beneficial to a children networking site?


1. Togetherville works ______________ Facebook.
2. At whatswhat, a kids-only network,  it is required to log in with biometric facial recognition ______________ account security.
3. Without ______________, friends are limited to one grade level.
4. In Scuttlepad, content in ______________, ______________ and comments is kept age-appropriate, and photos are reviewed by their staff before posting.
5. At gianthello, friends are made from ______________ email addresses, and not from random online invitations.
6. It's a safe place for your kids to play online if they ______________ games.
7. Skid-e-kids has special features that let parents ______________ and monitor friends.
8. On imbee, parents have ______________ to everything. Age-appropriate parameters can be set, and features can be ______________ or ______________ by parents.
9. At four is kidswirl, which comes ______________ games, photo albums, videos, quizzes, music,...
10. On everloop, children can create ______________ pages, play online games, buy virtual goods and chat through various media.
11. The children's private loop is ______________ anonymous intruders.
12. On Club Penguin, children use penguin avatars to ______________, and they can use emoticons, chats and games to interact.
13. Signing up for children ______________ is forbidden unless they have parental consent. That will also grant parents access to a parent portal where they can ______________ their children post.

Key here... Tell us what you think about these children-friendly networks and their safety features in the comments!

Topic Video: life stages / history

Hi everyone!

We begin our round of topic videos for this end of the academic year. The first one is on the topic of life stages, with a little bit of history.

The video is an account of a teenager's life in Ancient Rome. Do you want to know about Lucius's day? He's seventeen and he lives in Rome. Come in for a glimpse of his life...



And questions, of course!

What's the liberalia?
What poses risks in the building?
At what age did Romans come of age? Why was it such an important milestone?
What things has Lucius learnt in the classroom? And out of it?
How can Lucius make business?
Who is he bound to marry?
Describe the appearance of the streets during the liberalia.
What does the expression "wars were a fact of life" mean?
What expressions of time can you find (particularly at the end of the video)?


Here's the key! And don't forget that these TED-Ed videos come with transcripts if you watch them on their website or on Youtube.

Enjoy!

Music and creativity

Hi everyone!

Just how prominent is music in your lives? Do you use it to dance, to accompany daily activities, to entertain yourselves while you shower? Or maybe you play music yourselves, or compose it? Do you ever think about how musical a language (such as English) can be ?

This video explains the pervasiveness of music in Ancient Greece. Would Plato be shocked at the kind of music you listen to?

The video is narrated at a very good rhythm to do structure hunts. Can you find:

1. any reduced relative clauses (omitting the pronoun and the verb "to be")?
2. any passive constructions?

Notice the very strong collocation with the verb accompany (and its word family). How many collocations with it can you find?


Remove the captions for the hunt, and then check. Let me know in the comments if you'd rather have a key, or if you want to compare your answers or correct them.

Enjoy!

Topic Video: Education

Hello everyone,

The video for today is on the topic of education.

I bring you one of my favourite TED talks: Ken Robinson speaks about education and creativity. For a more condensed, visual explanation, you have this animation video that I sent you once in the email video (I don't know if you'll remember of if you were in the list already).

The questions today require a bit of development, and quite a lot of attention. On the plus side, he's very entertaining. If you're having difficulties (British accent at tremendious speed sometimes... great), there are subtitles in English available.


1. He says we all have "a vested interest" in education - What does this common collocation mean, and why is it so?
2. What's his main point (as stated at the beginning)?
3. How is the education of children similar to running a company?
4. What's the universal hierarchy of subjects in education systems?
5. How would you rephrase the expression "to be predicated on the idea that..."?
6. What's the explanation of the "process of academic inflation"?
7. How does he compare the mind to the Earth in his "ecology" comparison?

Enjoy! Please leave a comment! Key coming soon!