La Marsaillaise in Phonetics

For an assignment in a grad level phonetics at Eastern Michigan University I was tasked with doing a presentation of the French National Anthem in phonetics. Like every smart student I googled it to see if someone had already translated the anthem into the phonetic alphabet. I found nothing. So to the world I present La Marsaillaise in phonetics.  The first three stanzas only; however, typically the first one is the only one sung.

Allons enfants de la Patrie,

a lɔ̃ zɑ̃ fɑ̃ də la pa tʀi ə,

Le jour de gloire est arrivé !

lə ʒuʀ də glwa ʀe ta ʀi ve !

Contre nous de la tyrannie,

kɔ̃ tʀə nu də la ti ʀa ni ə,

L'étendard sanglant est levé, 

le tɑ̃ daʀ sɑ̃ glɑ̃ te lə ve,

L’étendard sanglant est levé

le tɑ̃ daʀ sɑ̃ glɑ̃ te lə ve,

Entendez-vous dans les campagnes

ɑ̃ tɑ̃ de vu dɑ̃ le kɑ̃ paɳ

Mugir ces féroces soldats ?

my ʒiʀ se feʀ ɔs sɔl da ?

Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras

il vjεn ʒys kə dɑ̃ vo bʀa

Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !

e gɔʀ ʒe vo fis, vo kɔ̃ paɳ

Aux armes, citoyens

o zaʀm, si twa jε̃

Formez vos bataillons

fɔʀ me vo ba ta jɔ̃

Marchons, marchons!

maʀ ʃɔ̃, maʀ ʃɔ̃!

Qu’un sang impur

kœ̃ sɑ̃ ε̃ pyʀ

Abreuve nos sillons!

a bʀœ və no si jɔ̃!

Que veut cette horde d’esclaves,

kə vø sε tə ɔʀ də de zε sklav,

De traîtres, de rois conjurés?

də tʀε tʀə, də ʀwɑ kɔ̃ ʒy ʀe?

Pour qui ces ignobles entraves,

puʀ ki se zi ɳɔ blə zɑ̃ tʀav,

Ces fers dès longtemps préparés?

se fεʀ dε lɔ̃ tɑ̃ pʀe pa ʀe?

Ces fers dès longtemps préparés?

se fεʀ dε lɔ̃ tɑ̃ pʀe pa ʀe?

Français, pour nous, ah! quel outrage!

fʀɑ̃ se, puʀ nu, ɑ! kε lu tʀaʒ!

Quels transports il doit exciter!

kεl tʀɑ̃ spɔʀ zil dwa εk si te!

C’est nous qu’on ose méditer

se nu kɔ̃ noz me di te

De rendre à l’antique esclavage!

də ʀɑ̃ dʀa lɑ̃ ti kεs kla vaʒ!

Aux armes, citoyens

o zaʀm, sit wa jε̃

Formez vos bataillons

fɔʀ me vo bat ijɔ̃

Marchons, marchons!

maʀ ʃɔ̃, maʀ ʃɔ̃!

Qu’un sang impur

kœ̃ sɑ̃ ε̃ pyʀ

Abreuve nos sillons!

abʀœ və no sijɔ̃!

Quoi ! des cohortes étrangères

kwa ! de kɔ ɔʀ tə ze tʀɑ̃ ʒεʀ

Feraient la loi dans nos foyers !

fə ʀe la lwa dɑ̃ no fwa je !

Quoi ! ces phalanges mercenaires

kwa ! se fa lɑ̃ʒ mεʀ sə nεʀ

Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers !

tε ʀa sə ʀe no fjεr gε ʀje !

Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers ! 

tε ʀa sə ʀe no fjεr gε ʀje !

Grand Dieu ! par des mains enchaînées

gʀɑ̃ djø ! paʀ de mε̃ ɑ̃ ʃε ne

Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient

no fʀɔ̃ su lə ʒu sə plwa ʀε

De vils despotes deviendraient

də vil dεs pɔ tə də vjε̃ dʀe

Les maîtres de nos destinées !

le mε tʀə də no dε still ne !

Hypocritical Oath

This is a response to the blog titled Connected Educators: Digital Citizenship Survival Kit On the blog site called Techchef4u. Apparently, WordPress does not like me and would not email me my password to actually respond on the blog itself.

Moving on.

Blog Subject: How to live with technology and how to organize your life online. Pretend that your digital existence is another country- this blog post tells you how to be a citizen of that country. Something which I think everyone should learn how to do. Especially those young'uns.

Response: BEST. IDEA. EVER. This should be read by more people. The presentation she gives and the link that are included are the majority of what the blog is made of but within those things is some valuable information.

This brings up the question: When is there too much technology? If students have to learn how to act using technology like they are citizens of another country does that mean we as a society have taken it a step too far? I realize how hypocritical I must sound as I type on my Macbook, text on my iphone and watch tv on my flatpanel HDtv.

My name is DestineyGrace and I am addicted to technology.

          *Not as much as some people, I would like to note*
Nonetheless, I am curious to see if anyone agrees/disagrees or what thoughts are. Hopefully since this blogging assignment is due tomorrow- I'll get some responses.

à beintôt mes amis,

Tech Tools in my placement

Without giving away the name of the school at which I am placed I will tell you these things about the technology in the school:

• All the teachers have a Macbook of some sort
• There are 4 Mac laptop cars for each floor of the school that can be reserved.
• All the computers in the library are Mac
• Every classroom has a smartboard
• Every classroom has a projector
• Every classroom has whiteboards
• Every classroom has surround sound
• Every classroom comes with microphones for the teachers to use.
• The school has wifi- kinda of slow- a lot of sites are not allowed.

Now I think you have a better idea of the type of environment in which I am placed.

We haven't discussed this Tech in my placement survey in class but this situation with this amount of technology is not common. It may be in Washtenaw County or the it could be the average property tax of the district itself and how much of that goes to the schools. I know from what I have seen that the entire district is a Mac district so it is not just the high school. Teachers need technology in order to properly plan and execute their lessons and with that I whole heartedly agree; however, I don't think that there is this much technology needed. I don't know how many of the teachers use smartboards but I know they were installed because of a grant and that many of the teachers don't use them-1 reason I know makes sense. Having computer carts is nice because there aren't very many iMacs in the library- certainly not enough for an entire class- saves time with transitions. I mainly have witnessed students using google.translate to basically write their assignments for them or looking up videos on youtube when they should have been working.

I think comparing this school to other "less fortunate" schools in the area (like the high school I attended) is a good idea because not every school has carts and carts of Macbooks to let their teachers use. Granted- this high school has about 1,200 students in it so obviously they get more money from the state itself. But that is not the only method the school pays for stuff.
Almost all the students (except for a small population) have internet at home. Some have their own Macbooks that they bring to school with them (idk why). 

My placement has a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy in place so students have their cell phones out during class and it doesn't seem to cause a problem. Most of them just check it real quick between activities or if they finish early- less strict than my grad classes- i'll say that. I have only noticed it become distracting a couple times but its never been bad. I think its a good gradual introduction to college life- since most of these students are tracked to go to a 4-year institution.

CONCLUSION: I do not know if this technology is a good thing or a bad thing. Somedays I miss the use of encyclopedias and typewriters that only typed. What about dictionaries? OMG THEY EXIST?

Edudemic.com

So as part of an assignment we had to look at an edublog [Blog about education]. I chose Edudemic. The only thing I can say is MIND BLOWN! This blog has everything a teacher could possibly need for their classroom. There are blogs that are reviews of the best laptops for teachers, tablets for students, etc. In addition to tips and posts about using technology for the sake of learning and not just games in the classroom. This blog is made of posts by several different people- so its not the blog of one single educator. This factor, I think, is important because I think it means that you're getting quality information that more than one person thought was relavent to the field of education technology, you can actually submit a blog and have it reviewed and perhaps posted. This blog mainly focuses on the connection of education and technology so I think I'll be bookmarking this blog for later use for sure.

Some of the really interesting articles that I have read on the page so far:

A kindergarten teacher in China used an immersion iPad project with her students so they could draw themselves as superheros in this blog titled "Incredibly Immersive iPad Project Makes Students Into Superheroes."

This blog titled How To Use Scaffolding For Deeper Understanding is quite interesting as well considered the stuff we've discussed in our program thus far.

One thing I also liked about this blog is that there are tabs for students and teachers. A little something for everyone! Which is why I couldn't pick one blog post to talk about because they're all so awesome. I hope you all check the site out-its quite fabulous.

Flippin' the script on Education

Creative title right!?

Today we were privy to the inter workings of the mind of Jonathan Thomas-Palmer, a fellow Wolverine and the founder of FlippingPhysics. "Flipping" a classroom is something that I had never heard of until one of my students (I am currently student teaching at a 1,200 student high school outside of Ann Arbor) mentioned that their Calculus class (I think) is a flipped classroom. I had to stop the student and ask them, "Hey! What does that mean?" And I was then that old person in the room who didn't know why something was funny or how to use the surround sound in the room (Yes, that happened like three weeks ago when my mentor was absent. Darned hardware had too many knobs!)

Let's. Move. On.

The concept of flipping a classroom is one that I think is really interesting that I would like to learn more about specifically how it can be used in a French classroom. Vanderbilt University provides a fantastic definition and concept summary of classroom flipping if you are not familiar with the idea. Essentially, students get the traditional "lecture" type information at home by watching a video and then spend class time doing the homework, labs, etc.

After I got home from my 13 hour day I googled "Flipped Classroom, French" and got quite a few results. Many teachers that are flipping their classrooms are writing blogs about it in addition to the hours and hours they probably spend making videos and other nifty stuff for their students. Mme Burton's blog can be found here.  She even has a video on the home page to parents so they can learn a little bit about their child's classroom.

Flippin' French 

I think the main way to flip a French classroom would be to use the videos to teach grammar, vocabulary, and culture and use class time for interpersonal dialogues and group discussions about topics in addition to students asking questions of course. My only questions are: Will students actually watch the videos? Will they complete notes and be prepared for class? At what point in a student's education does the student take responsibility for their learning?

Flipping a classroom is handing the responsibility of learning to the student-which is why I sort of think flipping a classroom is best for juniors and seniors or lower grade students that are on the fast track to an early diploma or something. I also think that sometimes students just don't care and you will have those students who will not do the homework regardless of what it is.

However, that being said- I love the idea. <3

Technology^50

Part 1
So thus far in the semester we have learned from about a million technology related things that we could use in our classrooms but I can't help but ask myself, "Why is this technology SO much better than an ole' fashioned paper and pencil?"


Whelp. I am not quite sure. I am very interested in using technology in the classroom but I don't want to use it just for the sake of using it.

Moving on,
Last Thursday Liz Kolb came and talked to us about many tools that she uses and how technology got her interested in school and in actually doing her assignments. That reason right there is reason enough for me to incorporate technology into my classroom in some fashion or another. Depending on the resources available to my students at home I love the idea of them having a blog or at least some sort of online presence in the class on a regular basis. After hearing about Fakebook and the educational uses of Facebook (which I hadn't really thought about since I am so familiar- unfortunately- with the interface) I would definitely like to incorporate those into the class as well. I would like my students to feel my presence outside the classroom and not just for the 55 minute period daily. I think that if technology use in my class can get students interested in the assignment then it might just get them interested in the class itself.  Especially in a World Language class I think the many different technologies we have talked about so far could be incredibly useful. In a program where little is WL focused- technology is not included in that category. If anything I think it could be the most WL applicable because we can use it for audio and for our students to hear native/near-native speakers as we are doing now to prepare for the OPI.

I think a lot of the stuff that Liz Kolb shared with us was awesome and her story of how technology got her interested and bringing it to a personal level is something that technology could do for that ONE student, in the same boat she was in. However, at the same time technology can also be incredibly alienating if a student does not have internet access or even a computer at home because his/her family cannot afford internet or a computer. How will that student feel? What about the students that are less familiar with the technology? How will they learn how to use it if we don't present a tutorial during class? What if they're the only student that doesn't have that knowledge?

As the end of the last paragraph illustrates, there are a lot of unanswered questions regarding technologies use in the classroom. I think that with time there will be fewer but for now look out.

Part 2

So Fakebook vs. Facebook: Wow. Fakebook is confusing and I was really caught off guard by how customizable but not-customizable it is. You pick a name for your Fakebook page and since its supposed to be a real person, their picture pops up. Or the other way around, if you pick a picture of a famous dead person- their name pops up. I like the idea that you can edit comments and responses but you are creating them and no one else can comment on them at all. That seems like a weird quality to have on a website that people are going to want to show others. I don't quite get that yet. Hopefully it will come to me soon :/

I do like the idea of creating a page for a historical figure (I did Alice Paul- wikipedia her, she's important). I think it will force students to really dig into the persona of a historical figure but everything that student would include on Fakebook about a historical figure can easily be found on their wikipedia page so once again...I like the concept of Fakebook but in real-world application I don't know how useful it would be. Many students would not know how to use it and would most likely be as confused as I was. That is not a reflection on those presenting...I think it was just that Fakebook is weird.

bientôt,

To badge or not to badge. That is the question!

So.... I walk up to my neighbor's door- "Knock. Knock." And this semi-cranky old man comes to the door demanding to know "What are you selling now?" As I open my bag I pull out the order form and several brochures or pamphlets of some kind that have pictures on them and hand them over, "Cookies!" I say, "Cookies!" By this time, his cranky frown that I'm sure was used as the model for Jeff Dunham's puppet Walter turns into a happy smile like he just saw the Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich sun. "Well then, I guess I'll take 3 boxes of each. How about that?" I begin to do everything short of giving him a hug (hugging strangers is not ok) because knows that I am 100 boxes away from winning the grand prize in my troop. I wanted that cookie badge.

Badges....Badges…..oh wait! 

Badges in education are somewhat different than badges for selling Girl Scout Cookies (btw, I sold 465 boxes that yearJ). I think badges could make having prerequisites and graduation requirements not be as boring as they sound. If you have badges for certain skills then you also can incorporate the art department of the school to create the badges your school will use and the students can contribute to the look of the badges and how they’re displayed. In addition to a good grade, having the badge to show that a student completed something could be a big deal to some students who aren’t high achievers in every subject.  I relate badges to the academic letter that I got in high school after having three semesters of at least a 3.5 gpa, but I didn’t have a letterman’s jacket so right now I have no idea where my letter is.  At the same time, Badges could possibly motivate students who don’t normally participate in a lot of activities to get more involved with school whether its sports or volunteer things. Badges could be used for those types of things too! I think there are a lot of things that badges could be used for but at the same time- I don’t think I know enough about them to want to incorporate them into my classroom but they’re definitely a good idea and worth future investigation on my part and on the part of school administrators.

PuzzleTime!

So in class yesterday we did an activity where we had 4 people (two at each table) and each table had specific parts of a puzzle that made an image. We had to put the puzzle together with the group behind us without looking at them and only using verbal cues. We could not turn around or anything and no one in the class could help us. 

I wish this was something we could have had the middle school students do because they are having a hard time learning how to communicate effectively and respectfully in the classroom. Not so much now that it’s the last week of the session but in previous weeks it has been difficult. I think this is a good way to get your class to communicate in different ways. You could even make it harder by doing it silently and showing only each piece at once.

We talked about how we would incorporate this into a foreign language classroom and this is what we came up with.

Liberty Leading The People- Eugène Delacroix

-These photo puzzles are a good way for students to learn the directions along with situational descriptions.

-Use the picture of something culturally relevant, so for French I would use “Liberty Leading the People” or possibly a photo of a special landmark or like Sacre Coeur.  I don’t think I would use the La Tour Eiffel because it would be too easy.

Use a picture of a set table for table vocabulary (plate, fork, knife, napkin, spoon, etc.) and food vocabulary in addition to explaining where things are on the table.

     If you did a picture of people for part of body vocabulary.  You can basically use it for anything as long as there is vocabulary to be learned.

Thoughts.....and some confusion..

The assignment for this blog was to write a response to an Edu(cation) Blog. I chose one written on the NY Times website called Beyond the Tree Line. It’s about a alternative high school in Tennessee and specifically focuses on several girls that attended the school. It brings up several interesting and important points (among so many) in education today.

First, the topic of teen pregnancy is brought to the forefront of the blog because that’s the first picture we see. Of an 18 year-old, Miranda, who is pregnant getting her nursery ready. She discusses the problems she has encountered in the town she lives in because the father of her baby is African American and how in the 2010 census indicated that there weren’t any African American’s in the down she lives in. You get the feeling that the town is quite racist but at the same time the girl says that she doesn’t have a problem with black people but that they just don’t live there.  In terms of pregnancy- Miranda seems to have many resources available to her unlike most teen mothers you see on TV. She has mentors from her high school that help her and give her advice. I am not sure about her mother. I don’t want to assume anything but her mother is not discussed a lot in the blog. It is more of a passing remark.

Second, the main point of the blog is to discuss what happens when you’re not in school anymore. Or as a person in the story describes it as  “Behind the Tree Line.” Many of the girls in the this article were given people to rely on and a structured school setting at the Carroll Academy and after they left the school they were out of resources and people to go to. Many of them slipped back into the not-so-good actions they were partaking in before they started going to the Carroll Academy.

So my question is: why do the resources to the students who need them the most stop when they graduate high school? A time when they probably need those resources the most. 

I have a Quest-ion,

So in class two days ago we talked about how we could incorporate video games into our classrooms. Whelp, here is my idea.

My subject is French so I would have a map of ancient France, probably pre-Crusades era on the wall. Plus all of its territories at the time. A huge one. Probably the whole wall would be taken up by it. Maybe a mural- that would be awesome!

Each student would be able to pick what camp they wanted to be in, the Gauls or what have you.

Each assignment would be a quest and when you get to a test you would be in the castle. After the test is conquered the castle is yours and your territory increases.  Each assignment would be worth so many furs, arrows, horses, chain mail, or gold coins and with those coins students would be able to go to market to buy food, land, animals, an army, etc.

For special assignments or biographies on people of the time or something the people could visit their castle and they would have to “host” famous people. Learn about them in order to know what they would like or something. Kind of like drawing a card in Monopoly.

When we got to Modern Europe we could use plans of attack from WWI and WWII and more modern things to trade and make money. I think it would make the class a little more fun and hopefully more interesting for the students. I know it would make it more interesting for me, but thats not the point.   

Class, Today's Lesson will be Taught by Mr. Masterchief

            Hopefully some of the people that read this know about the Halo franchise, if not please visit the Wikipieda Link or the Official Page for details. For the purposes of this post I will only be discussing Halo: Reach.
           Before even getting to the gameplay itself, I think its worth noting that when in the Matchmaking menu (for playing on Xbox Live) the game has what they call a "Veto System." Meaning that there are three maps to choose from and the players in the game vote on which one they want to play. They can choose any of the three maps and also the option "None of the above" and the option that has the most votes is that which will be played.  This can teach kids about democracy and the action of voting possibly before they know the importance of it.
Another option when getting into the Matchmaking menu is that you can choose what type of game you play. You can have the traditional Slayer option but also there are games such as Capture the Flag and other slayer options that have objectives assigned as well. These team objectives allow players to sometimes strategize verbally (with a headset, but only young'ns use those) or have to use their intuition and strategize without talking to their teammates. For example, for the successful capture of the other team's flag one person needs to get the flag while being guarded, heavily. Another person needs to be outside the door (there is typically a door or arch or rock of sorts), another person needs to be in a vehicle if possible (mostly for the larger maps require a vehicle) and one person needs to be guarding your flag. There are many different ways to play Capture the Flag but they all require teamwork. In the traditional Slayer option, there can be one person that carries the team (not it!) and everyone can do minimal work or practically none at all. But not in the games with objectives.
        Kids can also learn about consequences from playing Halo: Reach on Xbox Live because if you betray a team member (even if it was an accident), that person gets a message on their screen asking them if they want to "Boot" or kick you out of the game because you betrayed them. This is great way for kids to learn cause and effect.
        So I think there are a lot of things that kids can learn from Halo: Reach, but I don't think any of them could be readily applied to a classroom environment, mainly because the game is incredibly violent (lots of assassinations! Yes!). Maybe its because I play it so much and never have this thought in my mind while I am doing so. I will definitely be posting another blog about this after I have more time to play the game with the teacher mindset.



Also, Here is a video of a King of the Hill game. For a taste

Super Deep Reflection

After going to class on Monday I realized that my previous post was sort of lacking. OK It was REALLY lacking but I was exhausted when I wrote it. So here I am all awake....prepare to be mind blown.

BAMN!

After listening to my fellow group members explain their programs (gooru and diigo) I realized I lucked out sort of because I had been assigned Evernote. Like I mentioned, I had only used the iPhone version of Evernote and was not aware of the other possibilities it contained. Most of the awesome possibilities are only available to those that pay for it, such as pdf annotation and the program that goes with Evernote or is compatible with Evernote is Skitch. This program sounds way cooler than Evernote itself. I am hoping that before the fall semester starts I will have time to really dive into Evernote and maybe pay for it. I think its about $50 a year but if it really helps then it might be worth it. There is a business version that I think would be even better to use because it has more collaborative tools and in a class setting that might be super helpful.

The things that I learned in class are more about my classmates and the class dynamics than anything else. Mainly because I felt it was very hard for us as a class of 20-23 to decide on a simple question to ask during 20 questions. It got pretty heated I think but it could be my easy going/joking attitude that makes me believe that. I think it was a good learning experience for us because we're going to be together for the next year.


Toodles!

Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse

It is now Monday. My least favorite day of the week and yet here I am still awake after waking up at 8am. Rough stuff. However..........

Since our last meeting of Ed 504, we were tasked with investigating and reporting on an online organization tool. I was assigned with Evernote. I have previously used the Evernote for iPhone app and had quite a bit of success with it. Until about three hours ago I had no idea the awesome capabilities that Evernote was capable of. I was kind of blown away actually. There is an Evernote premium but I clicked on quite a few things in the regular free edition of Evernote and did not get blocked by a subscription or purchase notice.  

I think organization tools like Evernote are important because it is one program where you can compile so many things. Notes, audio, documents, and you can even share them with other people. I was quite surprised that you could do all that on the computer version mainly because I had only ever used the mobile version to write grocery lists and what level of the parking structure my car was on. I had no idea Evernote had such possibility!  

To infinity and beyond!