Infonews n°359 from 18/03/2011



                   Here is a special report from Infonews about Japan. First, some information about how nuclear plants work and what a melt down is, then some links to articles, a diagram, a video and a timeline that  you can use in class and a link to all the special reports and live coverages from the radio and TV channels all over the world, and my short selection, and finally a controversial cartoon to tell children about the possible nuclear disaster, worksheets from Time For Kids, documents to start a debate and lesson plans from the New York Times.
         Another thing....this month is the 10th anniversary of "Le café Pédagogique" : if you like (and/or use in class) what you read there (and in Infonews), send me a short message in French or English, before Saturday! ;)

       amicalement,
            Christine Reymond


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                                                   Sommaire
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Technology
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How nuclear power works
From How Stuff Works
What is a meltdown
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Reports and analysis
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An article and a diagram
Wikipedia report
Interactive timeline
A video from Russia Today
Special reports and coverage from the newpapers and televisions
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For kids
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A controversial Japanese cartoon to defuse the nuclear fear
Time for Kids
Debate
Teaching ideas from the New York Times

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Technology
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How nuclear power works
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B2 From the Nuclear Power Association : no videos but clear information about the fuel cycle, mining, enrichment, electricity generation, waste management and decommission of a plant.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/how/how.html
B2 From the Union of Concerned Scientists : a different view of the same thing : how nuclear power works, and links to articles about safety, possible accidents (including terrorism)
http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_technology/how-nuclear-power-works.html
B2 From Popular Sciences (Popsi) : “how nuclear reactors work and how they fail”
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-03/whats-happening-japans-nuclear-power-plants
A2+ From a group of Physicists from the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne in Australia : “how nuclear reactors work”
http://nuclearinfo.net/Nuclearpower/WebHomeHowNuclearReactorsWork
A2 video : on eHow, a teacher explains on the board how nuclear energy works. It is short and clear, with just a mistake on the word by product misspelled biproduct.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3IHWvIGVjg
B1 video : an interesting advertisement from the United Arab Emirates (UEA) presenting howanuclear plant work with good diagrams. I found it interesting to make HND (French BTS) students discover that the document was biased…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJfIbBDR3e8
B2+ : from Ontario Power Genaration company : How a nuclear plant works, including heavy water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXvc5jQVkVI

From How Stuff Works
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Diagrams and explanation on,
http://www.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm
a more precise explanation of how nuclear fusion reactors work
http://science.howstuffworks.com/fusion-reactor.htm
a special site about Japan’s nuclear crisis
http://science.howstuffworks.com/japan-nuclear-crisis.htm

What is a meltdown
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A2+ / B1 An interesting news report from Good Morning America, on ABC News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_H3-Sy-Mzk

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Reports and analysis
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An article and a diagram
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Our CLIL colleague Jean Marc Brauer recommends this B2+ article from Nature magazine, that presents the chain of events and its possible consequences. There is also a good diagram of the core of the reactor.
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110315/full/471273a.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110317
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110315/full/471273a/box/1.html

Wikipedia report
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  Our CLIL colleague Jean Marc Brauer recommends this page on Wikipedia explaining in details the accident, the present state of the plant and the consequences, with clear diagrams and tables. The page is regularly updated with the latest information. Level B2+
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents

Interactive timeline
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NPR show an interactive timeline, with videos and photos, day by day, and regularly updated.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/11/134451374/earthquake-rattles-japans-eastern-coast

A video from Russia Today
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With an interview of an American professor from the Peace institute in Hiroshima; level B1+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_H3-Sy-Mzk

Special reports and coverage from the newpapers and televisions
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All the special reports and coverage are listed there:
http://tvnewsradio.com/blog/internet-tv/japan-tsunami-watch-and-follow-live-streaming-and-real-time-updates/
Those sites are regularly updated with the latest news. I selected especially:
HHK World (Japan) in English
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/
BBC (UK)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
Euronews (France)
http://www.euronews.net/2011/03/11/earthquake-in-japan-follow-the-live-coverage-tokyo-pacific-tsunami/
The Guardian (UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami 
CNN (USA)
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html
Al Jazeera (Middle East)
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2011/03/20113124353222667.html
CBC (Canada)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/03/11/f-japan-earthquake-topix.html
The Australian (Australia)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/japan-tsunami
3 News TV(New Zealand)
http://www.3news.co.nz/How-the-Japanese-earthquake-happened/tabid/313/articleID/202086/Default.aspx

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For kids
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A controversial Japanese cartoon to defuse the nuclear fear
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   The Huffington Post, a US online newspaper, features an article about a video explaining to Japanese children what happens and why they shouldn’t be afraid. This video could start a discussion : is it appropriate? Because it is scatological : Nuclear boy is sick and his poo could be dangerous… Once you overcome this, I think the document is interesting to analyse. It is in Japanese, with subtitles in English, level A2.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/17/japan-nuclear-crisis-cartoon_n_837190.html

Time for Kids
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   TFK features a news article “Japan’s nuclear fear” and two mini-lessons for grades 3-4 and 5-6. The lessons are centred on earthquakes, when and where they happen, and accompanied with worksheets level A2 : “earth on the move”, interesting, “magnitude scale” factual and “earthquake fact book”, less convincing.
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/minilessons/wr/0,28171,2058818,00.html
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/pdfs/2005F/051021_ns1.pdf
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/pdfs/2005F/051021_ns2.pdf

Debate
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On eTeachNet, our colleague Estelle Sanchez recommends this video from May 2nd that presents people giving their arguments for and against nuclear energy. Level B1
http://rt.com/news/resident-harfenist-nuclear-power/
And she adds that students who want to find more arguments can visit this page on idebate for basic ideas. Level B1+
http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=15
You can find other pros and cons on this site from How Stuff Works
http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/energy-conservation/10-pros-cons-nuclear-power.htm

Teaching ideas from the New York Times
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About the nuclear disaster : level B1+ to C1
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/crisis-in-japan-understanding-nuclear-energy-and-reactors/
about the earthquake and the tsunami : level B1+ to C1
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/teaching-ideas-the-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-japan/?nl=learning&emc=learninga1


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Ceci est un message de la LISTE INFONEWS
réalisé par Christine Reymond
lycée Blaise Pascal, Rouen, France
E-Mail: Christine.Reymond@ac-rouen.fr
Les commentaires et réflexions entre [ ] ne reflètent que mon opinion personnelle.
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