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| Webwise |
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| Thursday, 17 April 2008 | |
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www.imagiers.net If you were not able to participate in the Semaine de la Langue Française at the end of March, but are looking for ways to improve your French – help is at hand. This great collection of sites founded and managed by French expatriate in Finland, Vincent Lefrançois, is designed to help learners of all levels increase their knowledge and fluency in the French language. Imagiers aims to help you learn French and enhance your vocabulary in a simple and relaxed manner, through online games, flash cards and audio to listen to. There are also more than 1,000 short video clips on the YouTube page of Imagiers – www.youtube.com/user/imagiers that will help you with vocabulary and pronunciation of many words. Some include funny characters such as a frog to teach you body parts, as well as a talking giraffe that will help you with your alphabet. There are other clips with a more cultural leaning, such as an introduction to former French presidents, a guide to the different départements of France and even explanations of road signs. An excellent guide to 135 French gestures with video examples is also online. Imagiers started as a suite of multimedia applications and modules for PC and the software is available and free to download. In addition, it is possible to print out the Imagiers and work on the printed versions of the exercises. There is a podcast that can be downloaded onto an mp3 player and listened to on the move, and a link to another site by the same webmaster: www.french4fun.net for yet more exercises and practise – again, all for free.  www.noteanyone.com This is not a real address, but a new concept on the web 2.0. Many sites are springing up that are designed to allow consumers to give a grade to, and comment on the service of, their doctors, lawyers, plumbers or teachers. Many readers will have heard of the judicial proceedings that banned the activities of Note2be.com. This site asked pupils to rate their teachers according to six categories: how interesting, clear, fair, available, respectful and motivated they were. It also set up a rankings system to promote France’s top 10 teachers. The teaching unions took them to court where the judges agreed and said the Web site could no longer identify any teachers by name and told the site’s owners they faced a e1,000 fine for every infraction. This was possible as the site was based in France but it seems only a matter of time before an equivalent springs up in a foreign jurisdiction. A Mauritius-based company has set up a similar site to give feedback about doctors - www.demedica.com which is in competition with another established site on the same theme – www.note2bib.com (toubib – doctor: geddit?) The same Mauritian company De Medica SA is in the process of setting up two sister sites. The first, www.dejuridica.com, will rate legal professionals such as lawyers and notaries, and the second, www.dedomestica.com will rank tradesmen such as builders, plumbers and electricians. The ranking and evaluation of professionals on the Web is regarded as a fundamental principle and a primary motor of the Internet around the world by supporters, and the international aspect of the web seems to ensure that it is here to stay  www.sharpbrains.com The need for brain exercise is becoming evident. Brain Fitness may grow one day to become as widespread as physical fitness, and Brain Fitness Centres or “brain gyms” are beginning to complement today’s gyms. This commercial site presents a collection of material devoted to keeping the brain in top form, which many readers may find an interesting and useful reference to help keep up-to-date on the latest research on cognitive function. The site provides current articles on a range of topics such as mental exercise, stress management and nutrition as they relate to brain fitness and health. Among the featured titles are “Strengthen Your Synapses” and “Are Crosswords and Sudoku Enough?”, along with the intriguing “Yoga, Meditation, and Brain Health”. There are also resources on cognitive research and education available. For those who want an immediate brain workout, a collection of challenging puzzles and teasers has been included. According to the site, SharpBrains is the first online brain fitness centre dedicated to providing personalised brain fitness programs designed to help people of all ages improve memory, concentration, decision-making and planning skills, reaction time, stress management, and other core capacities, as well as help delay the onset of age-related dementias. So for a mental work out and an enlightening selection of neuroscience resources check out Sharpbrains.  |
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