Week 2 of the Challenge

Chilton Library - Chilton's Auto Repair Manual

My vehicle.  2011 Suzuki Grand Vitara with four wheel drive and automatic transmission.
1.  Three things that need to be done at 30,000 miles are:  Inspect the Auto transmission fluid, replace the air cleaner, and inspect and service as needed the front and rear bearings.
2.  The most recent technical service bulletin (TSB) was posted on 6/5/2013.  It was TBS # XL-7 11 03133.  It made corrections to the service manual regarding the transfer case oil seal installation.  It was for all 2010 - 2013 Grand Vitaras.  In addition to tw0 pages of directions, there were four pages of illustrations.  I felt they were clear enough that even I could follow them and remove and install the new part.  But, I won't.
3.  Brake Repair.  The manual broke down the information very thoroughly for the Vitara.  There were 77 subcategories under brakes.  I just kept clicking on them and more subcategories would appear.  I think anybody looking for information on their vehicle would find that nothing has been left out.  Subcategories ranged from the anti-lock brake system to specifications.  Illustrations were very clear.

Mango Languages.
This was a little bit more difficult to access.  I may have been following a link at first that wasn't through the State Library.  It said that Thai language would need to be purchased for $79.  Anyway, I was able to access it and did two lessons, one in Spanish and one in Dutch.  I am choosing Dutch for this blog.
Dutch is the language spoken in the Netherlands.  The Netherlands is also called Holland, but Holland generally refers to the western part of the country.  The people of the Netherlands call themselves Nederlanders and are also known as the Dutch.  Nearly half of the country has been reclaimed from the sea using dikes and canals.  Nearly all of the cities in the country were established before the 1500s.  They were actually a world power in the 1600s with ships sailing to all parts of the world.
I found Mango language easy to use.  The lesson had 46 parts to it and repetition was used through out.  I was able to allow more time to think when responding and go back and repeat individual pages.  I like the lessons being short because you could do one in a short time and that would allow me or the students to complete several lessons  without losing attention span.  I liked the narrator's enthusiastic voice and here positive like reinforcement.  My only dislike or frustration (and it's not that big of a deal) was the initial gaining access and that was more than likely me.

Week 1 Continued

World Book Kids.  I chose the mountain lion.  They are becoming more common out here and the hunting season for them is going on at this time.
I found the picture of the lion and learned that it lives in North America, Central America and South America.  It is common in Mexico , Central America and South America, but its numbers have decreased in North America because of hunting.  It only listed two food sources as its primary food, deer and elk.
There are are also activities availabe that can be linked to the national content standards.

World Book Student.There is a lot more information in the Student edition and the print is smaller.  There is greater detail on habitat listing deserts, grasslands, swamps, tropical rain forests and mountains.  There is more information about the physical features of the lion.  It icludes information about how mainy kittens they can have and that it doesn't roar, but can purr and hiss.
You can access special reports, magazine articles and you can tie the information to the SD content standards.

World Book Advanced.  Thailand.  Chosen because several students want to return and teach and I'm sure they all want to keep informed about their refugee country.
It covers things such as government, people , the land, climate, economy and history.  An advanced search can be done if there is something particular they would be looking for.  There is a link to magazine articles that may give them information about particlular happenings in Thailand.
On the start up page there was also a link to World Newspapers.  There were three papers listed, The Daily News, Bankgkok Post, and Thairath.  Two appear to be in their language and one in English.  These would be very helpful on keeping up on day to day news.

Week 1

Greetings,  I chose Lesson 1a -- World Book School Edition, World Book Discover
A little background information about the students that I work with.  The majority of my students are non-english speaking students.  They are English Language Learners (ELL).  They come from a variety of refugee camps from many parts of the world.  I have had students from several countries in Africa, Nepal and Myanmar.  Most are Karen from Myanmar who have spent a large portion of their lives in refugee camps in Thailand.

All of these students are working towards a high school diploma.  They must take the same courses as all students working on a diploma in high school in SD are.  One of these courses is US Government.  That is where this week's assignment comes in.

I follwed the the browse function on History and Governments.  Using the Search option on the World Book page in the upper right hand corner is the best option.  If you follow a related ling that is not part of World Book the read-aloud option does not work and sometimes it was difficult to get back to World Book.

The most helpful thing for my students will be the read-aloud option.  They are all working very hard and making good progress on learning our language.  I first went to The Executive Branch and then followed the other two branches.  I explored articles such as The Electoral College, Declaration of Independence, Viet Nam War, Immigration, the CIA, The Democratic Party and Republican Party.  For my own benefit I explored Myanmar and Burma.  All articles had the read-aloud options and several had videos that will also be most helpful.  Mike

2nd blog

Practicing posting

Rookie blogger

Testing testing 123