Happy Easter holidays

Once again 2nd term has finished and I can hardly believe that I got this far. A year ago I was still getting my chemo (immunotherapy) sessions and was still waiting to be operated for the fifth time within a year.

Amazing as it sounds, I’m ready to start Easter holidays once more and I couldn’t be more grateful for having gotten up to this point. For the first time in two years I’m wishing my students the best Easter holidays possible ♥!

♥♥♥ Happy V-Day! ♥♥♥

A lovely present from a cutiepie little kid, Alex !

XTEC and AmericanGirl

This week I’ve checked again AmericanGirl games and I’ve gladly found out that finally XTEC has granted access from schools to that site. Whoever made it possible, thanks a lot!!!

Unleash your wild self at the NY Zoos and Aquariums

Unveil your wild thing within with this funny game offered by the New York Zoos and Aquariums!

 

Via ButlleTic.

Ferry Halim, American Girl and XTEC -Some statements and one conclusion

Some statements:

1. Yesterday I discovered that Ferry Halim, creator of Orisinal and one of my favourites, is behind the design of some of AmericanGirl‘s games -another favourite of mine-, such as Coconut’s Safari, game I posted here.
2. Since September 08, the XTEC policy has denied access to a number of websites including certain keywords. This includes AmericanGirl. I wrote to them: no exceptions. To a certain extent, I can understand. But not to this extent :0!
3. AmericanGirl is a USA dolls manufacturer.
4. My students used to love the games in AmericanGirl and others made by Ferry Halim. In June 08 we had a special session in class, with the beamer, to celebrate the end of the school year. They had a great time.
5. They can’t play AmericanGirl‘s games at school anymore -nor reading its magazine, solving its pastimes…
6. If you’re reading this and you’re connected to the internet through a XTEC server, the links above pointing to AmericanGirl will lead you to an ‘Access denied’ XTEC page. But it doesn’t read ‘Access denied’. You’ll be told that the page doesn’t exist.
7. Fortunately for you, you can enjoy AmericanGirl  and Ferry Halim‘s artistic games from other ISP’s. Most of my students can’t.

One conclusion:

1. Boo-hoo!

Another sweet idea by Ferry Halim. Don't miss the music on this send-a-flower page!

Some other music links

As I was still under the spell of Play Auditorium I began wandering hoping to come across another lovely website meeting the same high standards. Although I didn’t find anything comparable, I finally selected these:

• Jam Studio: A very reliable online application to create your own music. A bit complicated for little children, if you compare it with
• Notessimo: Actually a game. Kids can have lots of fun with this one.

 

Play Auditorium -thanks to Jordi!

Thanks to my colleague Jordi I’ve discovered this astonishly beautiful -in all senses- game, its impact being only comparable to the one Orisinal and Ferry Halim  made on me. It’s just a demo so far, but I’ve subscribed their mailing list since I’m really looking forward to its full version launching. I can’t stop listening to the musical fragment on Play Auditorium main page. I’ve also visited their blog and I’ve falled in love with the header -come on, move your mouse onto it!

Thank so much, Jordi!

For teachers

cajunvegan at I Read Banned Books shows us one sympthom of our civilization’s decadence in Yet Another Reason Civilization Is Doomed:

” An educator friend of mine forwarded me this gem via email.

How would you pronounce this student’s name: “Le-a”?

Leah? NO
Lee – A?  NOPE
Lay – a?  NO WAY
Lei?  Guess Again.

It’s pronounced “Ledasha.”  Oh, yes, you read it right.  This child attends a school in Livingston Parish, LA. Her mother is irate because everyone is getting her name wrong.  If you see something come across
your desk like this, please remember to pronounce it correctly.

When the mother was asked about the pronunciation of the name, she said, “The dash don’t be silent.” “

The good part is this made me laugh. The sad part is that I’m a teacher!

Thanks, cajunvegan,  for your post. I wanted to make a comment in your post, but I couldn’t find where.

Ultrastar Deluxe

For those of you who enjoy singing in English and also do it as a way to improve your English, I brought to you an idea for a free karaoke some time ago. Well, my suggestion today consists in bringing real karaoke to your PC. The name’s Ultrastar Deluxe and it is the PC equivalent to Sony’s Singstar. In short, it is a game that lets you connect a microphone to your computer and it scores your voice as you sing along to a song or video clip. Ultrastar Deluxe admits up to six microphones and it has a party mode.

Leaving aside technical information you can read at Wikipedia -origins, license and so- you can download this program with or without three songs and extras. Later you can do a Google search for new songs for Ultrastar Deluxe to download and add to the Ultrastar Deluxe Songs folder but please be legal and only download the .txt file of a .mp3 or .ogg that you legally own -more information here and here. You don’t want to be liable for a crime against intellectual property, do you? I’m serious, law is very clear at that, so don’t make me questions related to where you can get illegal songs for Ultrastar in the Internet. I’ll just have all of them deleted.

Now some screenshots:

Adele

One of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever listened to, Adele sings her best at Chasing pavements and here you’ve got the new karaoke I’ve just found, for your pleasure.

 Her new album, 19, is a masterpiece full of good taste and sensibility, her voice and the songs in her CD are the perfect match to a cloudy seaside afternoon stroll. So I’ve just subscribed to her Youtube channel to have all her songs ready to listen to. Now what are you waiting for?

http://es.youtube.com/user/adelelondon?ob=4