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Shambles Newsletter for International Schools in South East Asia   (but being read by many more worldwide)
Newsletter November 2006 www.shambles.net/newsletter         aims, purpose & mailing policy
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Index (click on the number to go down to the article)           

item one  Shamble "What's New"   item seven  Web 2.0
item two  Shambles Podcasts Series   item eight  Librarians and media staff
item three  International Baccalaureate   item nine  Mixed Bag
item four  Mandarin Teaching and Learning   item ten  SEAMC : Student Mathematics Competition
item five  Emergency Planning & Disaster Toolkits   item eleven  Google
item six  Teacher Professional Development   item twelve  TED Talks
star = regular feature in the newsletter
item one Shambles "What's New" www.shamblesnews.net

One of the new items is the spring clean of this newsletter webpage .... the layout has been changed and the code tidied up .... it should now load faster and be read more easily by screen readers for those who are visually impaired.

A further experiment is with machine translation of this page into other languages, see the links at the top of the page.

Have also updated most of the country pages that list schools ... please feel free to check your listing and let me know if the school is missing or has incorrect information:
| Brunei | Burma/Myanmar | Cambodia | China | Hong Kong | India | Indonesia | Japan | Laos | Macau | Malaysia |
| Philippines | Singapore | South Korea | Taiwan | Thailand | Vietnam |

 
   
item two Shambles Podcast Series www.shambles.net/podcasting

This is the BIG addition to Shambles recently
....four podcast series were launched in October 2006
each programme is between 20 and 30 minutes long.

"Shambles TECHcasts" : www.shamblesTECHcast.info         
Conversations with International Schools ICT Coordinators, Managers and Directors

"Shambles HEADcasts" : www.shamblesHEADcast.info         RSS feed to Shambles HEADcasts http://odeo.com/channel/124881/rss
Conversations with International Schools Headteachers and Principals

"Shambles ASIAcasts" : www.shamblesASIAcast.info         RSS feed to Shambles ASIAcasts http://shambles.podOmatic.com/rss2.xml
Conversations with educators in S.E.Asia in private and public sectors

"Shambles LIBcasts" : www.shamblesLIBcast.info         RSS feed to Shambles LIBcasts Podcast series http://odeo.com/channel/124901/rss
Conversations with librarians and media staff in International Schools in Asia

| Podcasting General Info | Podcast Directories | Podcast Hosting | Podcasting Tools (Hardware & Software) |
| ESL Podcasts | Podcasts by Students | Podcasting and Education |

Shambles Podcasts logos

 

opportunities to sponsor shambles podcasts

   
item three International Baccalaureate I.B. www.shambles.net/ib

I.B. Asia Pacific Teachers Convention 2007 click for more info pdf file
31 March to 2 April 2007, Singapore
Focus is "Information Literacy Across the IB Programmes"

2007 PYP and DP Workshops: Prem Center, Chiangmai,Thailand http://www.ibap-events.com
   - Jan 19-21 2007: Beginning to Make the PYP Happen, Collab Planning and Teaching & Learning
   - Jan 26-28 2007: DP TOK (L1), DP CAS (LM) and DP Economics (L1)
   - Feb 2-4 2007: DP Chemistry (L1), Physics (L3) and Visual Arts (L3)

I.B. Services for Schools click for pdf file (830KB)
The latest edition of this booklet is available at: www.ibo.org/programmes/services
This booklet applies to fees from September 2007 ... for specific about the new fee structure visit the IB website(s)         www.ibo.org/heads/headnet        http://ibnet.ibo.org       need password

Individual School IB Websites: www.shambles.net/pages/staff/ARandR/ibschools
There are 26 different school IB websites listed in this area on Shambles ... it would be appreciated if you also have a page on your school website dedicated to IB then could you add it to the list using the form at the bottom of the page.

 
   
item four Mandarin Teaching and Learning www.shambles.net/mfl

This section is intended to focus mainly on Mandarin but as this is a subsection of Modern Foreign Languages then there might be some slippage in wider mfl.

International Language Teachers Association (ILTA)
Supporting the language teaching community in Thailand also organise an Annual Modern Languages  Conference in Bangkok ... more info as Word doc

Counting www.shambles.net/pages/learning/primary/counting
Not only for languages teachers but also mathematics .... how about looking at some websites that support counting in different languages ... for a cross curriculum opportunity. Don't miss the links here for counting in Thai and Chinese, suitable for all ages.

International Language Teachers Association (ILTA) 2006 in Bangkok .. click for a larger image
   
item five Emergency Planning & Disaster Toolkits

It really is a sad world where security and disaster toolkits need to be on the agenda in schools .....
Help can be found at ......

Emergency Planning & Disaster Toolkits : www.shambles.net/pages/staff/emergency

Pandemics links : www.shambles.net/pages/learning/medical/pandemics

It would be appreciated if schools could also share their policies

It is notable that since smoke from the Indonesia fires and SARs closed schools in the region over the past years that many more now have more robust (VLE) virtual learning environments in place so that teaching and learning can continue at home if the school is closed ..... I wonder who is going to open the first totally Virtual Asia k-12 School? www.shambles.net/pages/school/vschools

 
   
item six Teacher Professional Development : Opportunities Online www.shambles.net/pages/staff/#pd

Chalk and Cheese .... opportunities for our own continuing professional development (CPD) ten years ago were mainly limited to expensive (in time and money) face to face sessions, meetings, courses and conferences both in and outside of the school.
Now we are inundated with online and collaborative opportunities ... in fact so many that the number of choices can be demotivational and daunting ... that's providing we have overcome technical difficulties or learnt new software.

Many of these opportunities have links scattered around the different areas on Shambles ..... but for your viewing today ... how about these two?

See Edward de Bono give a presentation on "Thinking"
www.shambles.net/pages/staff/thinking

Listen to presentations on "School Leadership" from Alan November
www.shambles.net/pages/staff/SchLead

... or use the Shambles search box above to find what can support your interest today

teachers talking and sharing experiences
   

'website', 'simple', 'free', collaborative, 'sharing', 'fun', 'functional', 'RSS', 'tags', ... all are terms that can be used to describe the new (actually not so new anymore) Web 2.0 environment .... and a page of Web 2.0 information related to teaching and learning can be seen on Shambles .

For one quick example have a look at a Web 2.0 spelling site at http://orangoo.com/spell

But following on the Web 2.0 experience are lots of other 2.0s ... e.g. Library 2.0 link to library 2.0

But how about Business 2.0
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/23/smbusiness/business2_nextnet_intro
In this CNN story they identify 25 companies, in five Next Net categories, whose approaches help illuminate where the Web is headed and where the opportunities lie. "Most are startups, a lot of them with less than 10 full-time employees. Few are currently making money, and it's a given that many will fail. But it's equally likely that somewhere within this group lurks the next Google or Microsoft or Yahoo -- or at least something that those giants will soon pay a pretty penny to have."

   
item eight Librarians and Media Staff www.shambles.net/librarian

World Cat search is now an option on the Shambles Librarians page.
"Find in a Library" links people broadly searching the Web from popular search, bookselling &
bibliography sites to the resources of local libraries.
This form is on the Shambles Librarians Page

Ask.com Releases ISBN Number Smart Answers
Ask.com has added support for ISBN number searches.

Amaztype http://amaztype.tha.jp
Create a Word using images of books ... but in fact an amazing visual search facility for books at Amazon .. brilliant and fun

IASL Annual Conference 16-20 July 2007 Taipei, Taiwan : www.iasl-slo.org/conference2007.html
International Association of School Librarians - Giving Libraries & Schools the Cutting Edge

Miss Dewey Search Engine www.msdewey.com
Brilliant concept for a search engine .. try it .. you'll smile!

Wiki : SLIC http://slic.wikispaces.com
School Librarians in China

YALSA : Teen Tech Week www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teentechweek/ttw.htm
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 4- 10 March 2007

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside a dog, it's too dark to read"
.



 

 

Ms Dewey Search Engine

   
 Mixed Bag

Asia-Pacific Ed Research Association Conference www.ied.edu.hk/apera2006
28-30 Nov. 2006, Hong Kong

International Conference on e-Learning www.ru.ac.th/elearning_conference
14–16 December 2006, Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok Thailand

'Give Geography its Place' Campaign www.passion4geography.co.uk

International Council of Associations for Science Education (ICASE) Conference
Singapore 28-30 November 2006
registration | program | www.synergyst.com/ICASEAsianSymposium2006.htm | Chris's Sessions |

SENIA Conference (Hong Kong) click for more info as Word doc
23- 26 November 2006 Special Education Network in Asia

10th APEID International Conference click for more info as pdf doc
Education for Sustainable Development 6-8 December. 2006, Bangkok

Second S.E.Asia International School's Conference click for more info as pdf doc
Assessment, self-evaluation and school improvement 5-6 March. 2007
venue: Harrow School, Bangkok
Organisers: CEM educational research group based at Durham University

Digital Learning Asia 2007 www.digitallearning.in/dlasia/
K.L., Malaysia 6-8 February 2007

BETT 2007, 10 to 13 January, Olympia, London www.bettshow.com/
If there are any companies who would like to sponsor my attendance at BETT then I'd be grateful to be supported csmith@csmith.info

ICASE Conference in Singapore
   
item ten SEAMC : S.E.Asia Mathematics Competition (for secondary students) www.seamc.info

The next SEAMC will be 1st to 4th February 2007 hosted in Singapore
details are on the website

This year there is also SISMC
Singapore American School (SAS) and United World College of South East Asia are also hosting The Singapore International School Mathematics Competition (SISMC).
"Last year was our first and we hope to continue each year. It will take place on 11 Nov. 2006 at SAS and be a 1-day event. Last year we had 8 Singapore schools compete.
The format is similar to SEAMC, but using a shortened schedule.


The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM)
www.ncetm.org.uk
Created to support the professional development of teachers of maths at every level, the site will allow teachers to share best practice, download free teaching resources, join discussion forums, access CPD opportunities and more.

SEAMC 2007 South East Asia Mathematics Competition in Singapore
http://hseagle.sas.edu.sg/seamc
   

I'm such a fan of Google that this is going to be a regular section in future newsletters .... and its not just because it's a brilliant search engine .... in fact it's not a search engine at all, it's really an advertising company anyway .... but it is because of all the other toys that come out of Google Labs and out of the minds of the founders ..... for free.

Google Teacher Newsletter : www.google.com/educators      first edition  
Google and teachers have a similar objective: to help people build knowledge by providing greater access to useful information. Google recognizes the central role teachers play in breaking down the barriers between people and information, and they support educators who work each day to empower their students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. The Google Teachers' Newsletter is one of the ways they are working to bolster that support and explore how Google and educators can work together.

Google Apps for Education : https://www.google.com/a/edu
Get your campus talking ... "Schools accepted by Google during the Google Apps for Your Domain beta period are eligible for free service for their approved beta users even beyond the end of the beta period, as described in the Terms of Service."

The ESP Game : | Play | Research and Development (video) |
Google label (tag) ALL the images in their database using a game .... very clever.

 
   

Occasionally I discover a website that really surprises me in a pleasant way ...
this is one such site which contains over twenty online video presentations
from TED Conferences .. a new one released each month.

Each is about 20-30 minutes long and are VERY professional .... excellent for continuing professional development .... or just to stimulate your mind.

Guaranteed to be engaging ! ... but they are addictive.

   
 Advertising on Shambles www.shambles.net/advertising

Surprisingly not many schools have taken up the advertising options on 'Shambles' : we get over 10,000 visitors and over 20,000 page impressions each day during term time.

'Shambles' is a free service because of sponsorship and advertising ... your support would be appreciated .. details at www.shambles.net/advertising


Support Shambles with a donation (through PayPal) if you feel suitable - many thanks if you do  .... Chris
   
   
 
Support Shambles with a donation (through PayPal) if you feel suitable - many thanks if you do  .... Chris
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Chris Smith
ICT Consultancy
available for
consultancy work
in schools
related to ICT
Computer / Technology
school reviews / audits
development planning
inservice training
parents sessions

mainly
Use of ICT across the curriculum and
use of the internet
I also speak
at conferences
and run workshops
 
 
 
 
 
 
you can listen to
an audio version
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read by Chris
.. click on this icon

listen to an audio of Chris talking about the newsletter
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  STOP PRESS (last minute items)
 

Online (free) Conferences for Teachers www.ssat-inet.net/Default.aspx?page=53 brydon@cybertext.net.au
   - Creating deep learning: What is deep learning and what conditions are required? : 6-14 November 2006
   - Supporting the learner: How do we provide support for the 'deep learner'? : 4-12 December 2006
   - Experiences for the deep learner: School is boring and disengaging. : 19-27 March 2007
   - The 21st century educator: How do we prepare educators for a new role in the 21st century? : 4-12 June 2007


Online (free) Conferences for Students
www.ssat-inet.net/Default.aspx?page=55 brydon@cybertext.net.au
   - Global citizens: Are you a global citizen? : 11-17 December 2006
   - Global equality: We are the first generation who can eradicate poverty. : 5-11 February 2007
   - Global resources: How can we protect our planet? : 12-18 March 2007
   - Global peace: How can we bring peace to our planet? 14-20 May 2007


I definitely want one of these
http://tinyurl.com/fx98d
 Don't ask ... just look at the 9 minute online video ... you can afford the time!


Microsoft To Release ‘Open Source’ VLE'
www.microsoft.com/education/slk.mspx
Microsoft are to discontinue their Class Server VLE product in January 2007 the replacement is the Sharepoint Learning Kit (SLK). Class server content will continue to run on SLK. SLK will be covered by the Microsoft Community License (Ms-CL) and available at no cost.


Free email account with address username@internationalteacher.info
Would you like a free email account with the domain name @internationalteacher.info
If yes then just send me an email with your first name / last name / and the username you would like and I shall create it for you. The actual email engine being used for this is Google's gmail .. so very reliable, confidential and trustworthy.
After I've created the account for you then just log in at http://mail.google.com/hosted/internationalteacher.info to send and read email .... this is open to the first 80 that ask .... ONLY for teachers in international schools.


ECIS International Teacher Certificate (ITC) www.ecis.org/gateway/itc.asp       FAQs (pdf doc 81KB)
ECIS and University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) have agreed to work together on the development of an ECIS International Teaching Certificate (ITC). ECIS will be responsible for the professional development program, CIE the external assessment of teacher portfolios.
The ITC itself will be jointly certificated by ECIS and CIE. .... Pilot Programme
click for more details ... Word Doc

.. and while here why not listen to some music,
use this mini-browser

   
Shambles Poster for Staffroom Noticeboards : Full of I.T.
www.shambles.net/about/fliers/fullofIT.doc
It would be appreciated if you could download and print out this A4 notice for your staffroom noticeboard.
download Shambles A4 size poster for staffroom noticeboards

 

That's IT
The next newsletter will be 6th February 2007

Feedback
www.shambles.net/feedback

Any feedback you can give about this newsletter is always appreciated
.... especially ideas or contributions for future editions ...

If you know of any new international schools opening in the region - Brunei Burma/Myanmar Cambodia China Hong Kong (HKSAR) India Indonesia Japan Laos Macau Malaysia Philippines Singapore South Korea Taiwan Thailand Vietnam - then please let me know csmith@csmith.info

FOBISSEA Music Festival ....
Best wishes to all at the FOBISSEA Music festival next week
(7 to 12 Nov. 2006) held at the Garden International School
in Thailand ... now in its tenth year.
..... hope you all have a great time.
(also .. what a brilliant logo!)

email Chris Smith

csmith@csmith.info
ePortfolio at www.shambles.net/csmith
"I'm so busy learning that
I don't have time for work"

If you know of any commercial companies or organisations that might be interested in sponsoring a future newsletter then please feel free to forward this newsletter to them .... many thanks.

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