L-istudenti tas-Sitt Sena mill-Kulleġġ Santa Tereża Primarja Lija-Balzan-Iklin tellgħu numru ta’ rappreżentazzjonijiet ta’ l-aħħar ikla tal-Mulej.
Continue reading ‘Esperjenza ta’ Ċenaklu Ħaj fil-Kulleġġ Santa Tereża’
Monthly Archive for April, 2009
‘Open Books…Open Doors’ - this slogan propagated by the Global Action Week 2009 guided St Benedict College Safi Primary through its celebration of World Book Week held between 20th and 26th April on the school premises. The Primary school joined the worldwide advocacy campaign organized by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), an international coalition of non-governmental organizations and teacher unions in supporting children, youth and adult literacy and lifelong learning.
Exchange Visit with the Istituto Comprensivo Valle dei Laghi
Radiant smiling, yet tired faces appeared coming out from the arrival lounge at around 2:30 p.m. last Saturday. Our Second Formers together with their teachers were returning from a memorable etwinning experience in Vezzano, Italy. With a stunning packed programme, full of engaging activities and a welcoming hosting school that surpassed all our expectations, our students had a wonderful week full of excursions, sports, lessons and sharing of friendship. If we were to summarize the experience in a few words we would say that the experience was simply superb!
Microsoft PowerPoint
The PowerPoint course being held at the eLearning Centre with Ms Tania Gatt has been concluded on the 20 April 2009 and 10 participants successfully completed the course.
21 ta’ Marzu, 2009
STQARRIJA
FL-OKKAZJONI TAT-TĦAWWIL TA’ SITTIN SIĠRA B’KOMMEMORAZZJONI TAS-SITTIN ANNIVERSARJU MIT-TWAQQIF TAL-KULLEĠĠ SAN ALBERT IL-KBIR
“Il-ħidma tal-Kulleġġ San Albert il-Kbir fil-qasam edukattiv fl-dawn l-aħħar sittin sena huwa simbolu ħaj ta’ l-impenn u d-dedikazzjoni ta’ ħafna favur soċjeta iktar inklussiva u ġusta.”
Dan qalu is-Sur Mario Mallia, Kap tal-Kulleġġ San Albert il-Kbir meta tħawwlu 60 siġra fil-masġar ta’ Santa Luċija fil-preżenza tas-Segretarju Parlamentari l-Onor Jason Azzopardi u membri tal-komunita` edukattiva tal-Kulleġġ f’egħluq is-sittin sena mit-twaqqif tal-Kulleġġ San Albert il-Kbir.
The city of James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, in the Land of the Leprechauns, was the recent venue of the Comenius meeting for St Albert the Great College, Valletta, and schools in Dublin (Ireland), Lithuania, France and Wales.
The objectives of this meeting were to evaluate the project so far, and to plan in detail the activities for this last term of the project. The project, entitled ‘European Eko Kids,’ EEK for short, has been very effective in creating an awareness of our environment and in the various ways that we can all contribute towards its improvement.
One of the very first posts of this Blog described how we could download YouTube Videos from the Internet and embed them in our everyday lessons in the classroom. I explained in detail how this could be done by using the popular video-downloading site, Keepvid.com (Using YouTube Videos as a Resource in the Classroom). Sometimes though, we might come across a video with a really good soundtrack or commentary, and we would like to use just that, the audio; perhaps to add special effects to an Audacity Project or for quizzing our students in class. Today I am going to focus on how we can extract Audio Files from these downloaded videos (and from other AVI - MP4 files in general).
Extracting Audio Files from Downloaded Videos
To extract audio from a video which is already on your PC, all you require is a simple audio extraction program. There are various freeware and shareware audio extraction applications available for downloading off the Internet, and they are relatively simple to use (just open the video file and the program does the rest). One of my favourites is AoA Audio Extractor, which is available for free download from AoA Media. This little application will effectively convert popular video formats - such as MP4s, AVIs, FLVs, WMVs and MOVs into MP3s, WAVs or AC3s. To start extracting audio files, simply click on Add Files on the top right hand corner of the screen. You will be prompted to choose the video file to convert. Click on Open and then choose the file format for conversion (MP3, WAV or AC3). Finally, click on the large round Start button on the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and the application will do the rest. You can download AoA Audio Extractor from the AoA Media site, which can be found at http://www.aoamedia.com/audioextractor.htm.
Extracting Audio Files from Online Videos
If you wish to use a YouTube Video primarily for its audio component, there is no need to download the video using KeepVid. Instead of using KeepVid, use another site called (wait for it…) ListenToYouTube. What this site does (in a similar way to KeepVid actually) is download the video for you, but instead of giving you the video file (FLV or MP4 format), it just presents you with the extracted audio file in MP3 format.
First, log onto YouTube and locate the video you wish to use, and start playing it. On the right hand side of the screen, you will see the video’s URL. Copy the URL (by right clicking and selecting copy). Then, open a new window and type in http://listentoyoutube.com/. In the centre of the screen, you will see an empty address bar in which you can enter your video’s URL directly from YouTube. Simply paste the URL you had previously copied (right click > Paste) and click on Go. You will see some basic information about the video you are trying to convert - such as Title, File Size, etc - and in a minute or two, the application will start processing the video for you. Depending on the speed of your connection, the online video will be processed and converted into an MP3 file.
Up to this stage, your MP3 is still not down laded, but is it simply residing on ListenToYouTube’s servers. To actually save a copy of this file, click on Download MP3 and you will be taken to another page where once again you will be prompted to download your file. Click once again on Download MP3 and a dialog box will open, prompting you to insert a username and select a save location for your file. Click on Save and your MP3 will be saved onto your PC.
Which is the best system to extract audio from video files? The answer is up to you. It rather depends on your preferences and what you wish to use your newly-extracted audio file for. If for example, you wish to use the file as a lesson starter, you might want the audio clip plus the original video file to show to the students later on. Or you might just need some special sound effects to embed into an Audacity Project. Whatever system you use, please remember the usual pros and cons of using material straight off the Internet, especially with regards to copyrighted materials and suitability of content - refer to my previous entry about YouTube videos at:
Sites to remember:
Note: A special thanks goes to my colleague Kevin Grima for pointing out ListenToYouTube.com to me. Thanks Kevin 
Exchanging Teaching Ideas Between Countries
Project by:
Michelle Cauchi
Year 1
St. Clare College
Gzira Primary School
In March 2008 our school St Clare College, Gzira Primary, Malta, together with Zespol Szkono- Przedszkolny- Wilzca, Poland decided to start a project called “Exchanging Teaching Ideas Between Countries”. The teachers involved in this project are Michelle Cauchi (Malta) and Iwona Pietrucha (Poland) both teaching children aged 4-6 years.
Continue reading ‘Exchanging Teaching Ideas Between Countries Project’
by Stefania Briffa, St. Benedict College, Girls Junior Lyceum, St. Lucia
A group of form five students from St. Benedict College Girls Junior Lyceum, St. Lucia has participated in the eTwinning Carnival Animation Competition. Given that this competition focused more on innovation, we tried to be as innovative as possible. Hence the students were asked to do their animations on the school’s Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Our school is promoting the concept of mobile learning through the use of a number of PDAs that the school acquired through a European project in collaboration with the University of Malta. These innovative devices are being used in various subjects such as Italian, Spanish, Physics, German, Home Economics, Mathematics, Biology and History.
Report by Marvic Refalo
This international workshop took place on the 26th to the 28th March in Roskilde, Denmark, as part of the Creativity and Innovation European Year. 110 teachers and NSSs from 35 countries attended to share experiences and organise new projects all related to Global Warming and Climate Change. All participants were greeted with a tag marked with a coloured dot showing the amount of CO2 damage done in order to travel to this PDW.
Continue reading ‘PDW Report in Roskilde, Denmark - Climate Change’
