Sidewalk Cell Phone Lane

China Creates Sidewalk for People who Walk and Text

By Didi Tang | Associated Press, - Posted on September 19, 2014

The Chinese city of Chongqing has created a smart phone sidewalk lane. It's a path for those who are messaging and tweeting to watch where they're going.

The property manager says it's intended to remind people that it's dangerous to tweet while walking the street.

"There are lots of elderly people and children in our street and walking with your cell phone may cause unnecessary collisions here," said Nong Cheng of Meixin Group, which manages the area in the city's entertainment zone.

Meixin has marked a 165-foot stretch of pavement with two lanes. One that prohibits cell phone use is next to one that allows pedestrians to use them at their "own risk."

Nong said the idea came from a similar stretch of pavement in Washington, which National Geographic Television created as part of a behavior experiment.

She said that pedestrians were not taking the new lanes seriously. Many were snapping pictures of the signs and sidewalk.

"Those using their cell phones of course have not heeded the markings on the pavement," she said. "They don't notice them."

Talk to someone sitting next you and answer the following question together: Why did the Chinese create a separate lane for people who text while walking, rather than banning cell phones for safety reasons?

Then, start a new blog post. Answer the question: Do you think the US should make a special lane of the sidewalk for people using cell phones? Why yes, or why no? Give three reasons in three paragraphs.

Google Spreadsheet

Now that you have had time to work with Google Docs, it's time to try a different app offered in Google Drive called Google Spreadsheet. 

The Google Spreadsheet app is useful for organizing information and understanding data. The Microsoft Office program Excel is what many businesses use to keep track of all of their information, and this app is a simple form of Excel.

1. Watch this video introduction to Google Spreadsheet
(If you have trouble playing the video, open youtube from your Google Apps, then copy and paste this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwyM2np54oU )

2. Look up words you don't know below in the first blog post for vocabulary. 

3. Create a new spreadsheet from Google Drive

4. Across the top, leave one cell empty, then write the days of the week in each cell going to the right

5. Write the names of 10 students down the first column

6. In each cell under the days of the week, write how much time each student spends reading on each day

7. Center ALL the data in the spreadsheet

8. Make the titles BOLD

9. Name the spreadsheet Reading Times

10. Compare your sheet with mine, make sure it matches

11. Share the sheet with me

Gratitude

On Thursday we will celebrate Thanksgiving. One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the moment when, before we begin eating, all my family is sitting around the table and each person says what they are thankful for in their life. 

I am so thankful for teaching here, at Furness High School, because it means that I am able to be your teacher. If you think about how much time we spend together every day, we spend more time here at school than at home (if we do not count the sleeping hours.) Listening to your stories, and watching your English get better every week is what I am the most thankful for.

What are you thankful for? Write a new blog post about the three things you are the most grateful for. Three paragraphs, give details for each one.

This blog is due on Wednesday. If you finish early, go to http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/ and watch the video clips about the history of Thanksgiving.

3 Surprises

When I moved to the United States I was 10 years old. I had spent a lot of timing thinking about what life would be like before I came. It was very different in reality than it was in my imagination.

Think about what you thought BEFORE you came to America. What were the three biggest surprises to you when you arrived?

Is Learning History Important?

November 9th was the 25th Anniversary of the day the wall fell that separated East and West Germany. It was a powerful moment in history that lead to many people gaining freedoms from communism in Eastern Europe.

- Please visit this website about the wall. Read the article about the history of the wall.

- Then, watch this video.

- Then, please write a blog post. The post needs to have 3 indented paragraphs with correct punctuation and spelling.

Do you think it's important to learn about these types of moments in history, even if they happened far away and to people you don't know? Why or why not? 

You can begin with, "It is important to learn about history, even if the moments happened far away and to people I don't know," or "It is not important..." Give as many details as possible about why you feel the way you do.

Technology Vocabulary

Alignment - It is a line that you cannot see, which is where words begin and end on the page.

Alt – a key that changes (alternates) the use of other keys, used with other keys, not by itself.

Apps - The list of applications associated with your gmail account

Ascending - going up, from lower to higher (in Google Spreadsheet A-Z, for example, or 1-10)

Attachment - The files you add to any e-mail you send, the picture, song, video, or document that you attach to an e-mail.

Autocorrect – when Microsoft Word automatically fixes your spelling and capitalization mistakes on common words

Example: you type teh and the computer fixes it to the without you having to change anything.

Backspace - moves to the left, erasing letters on the way

Bold – a way to make the text darker, blacker – used for information that is extra important

Example: This is in bold print.

Blog - Online diary, organized by date, it can be about any topic.

Example:

Bullet Points - small dots, circles, which help to organize information for presenting.

• Be Prompt
• Be Prepared
• Be Proactive

Button - icons/the pictures and words that you can click in Microsoft Word to start and stop different things that the program can do

Cell - one, single box of information in Google Spreadsheet

Column - The vertical (up and down) information in Google Spreadsheet

Copy - makes a copy of whatever you select, you can now use it somewhere else (Ctrl - C)

CPU - Central Processing Unit, the brains of the computer

Cut - when you want to take away text you selected. It can be gone forever or you can paste it somewhere else. (Ctrl - X)

Data - information, numbers

Descending - going down, from higher to lower (in Google Spreadsheet A-Z, for example, or 1-10)

Desktop - the starting point when you turn on your computer

Drive - Google's Cloud application for creating, saving, and sharing your files (you can get these files from any computer with Internet access because it's saved in your gmail account)

Double Click - When you click two times fast on the mouse, a word is highlighted.

Edit - to change, fix, or make your document better

E-mail - e-mail is an electronic letter, which you send with your e-mail address.

Example: mrsbhavnani@gmail.com

Enter - moves to the next line, or enters information into a field

Escape - exits out of a window (like when you are watching youtube full screen, or giving a presentation

Find - it will find a word or words that you are looking for in the document.

Flyer - A one-page advertisement, to inform or try to get new customers. It gives the address, website, and phone number of a business or organization and important information about what they do.

Font -The style of the letters on the page, how they look

Grammatical Errors - A mistake, something that does not work in English (NOT spelling). MSW uses a green squiggly line to show you that there is a problem. 

Hardware - all the parts of a computer that you can physically touch

Example: CPU, mouse, keyboard, monitor

Header - The top of the page, any information that is written here repeats on every page. To get there double-click at the top of the page.

Icon - it's a picture that you click and it does something (like open a program, or change font, etc.)

Indent - The space before the words start in your paragraph, you can increase (make bigger) or decrease (make less)

Internet - a way for all computers to connect to each other, and to share information (can be programs, pictures, music, documents)

Keyboard

Margin - the white space around the document

Maximize - Makes your window get bigger, to cover the screen. (The middle box.)

Microsoft Word - 

A program used for creating documents and writing text. 

Minimize - 

Makes your window get smaller and go down in your ribbon at the bottom of the page. (The left box.)

Monitor - screen

Paste - you can insert cut or copied text and pictures from other places (after you used the cut or copy function.) (Ctrl - V)

Program - Software on your computer that does a special job for you.

Replace - It puts one thing in the place of another. It changes the words.

Row - the horizontal (left to right) information in Google Spreadsheet

Save - If you click this button it will save your document wherever it is right now. BE CAREFUL when you open an attachment from the Internet that you choose the right file location (Desktop/folder with your name) so that you can find it again.

Save As - When you want to make a copy and make new changes WITHOUT changing your first document, you can Save As and give it a new name. This is especially useful when you're saving from the Internet

Scroll - to move up or down the page of a website or computer screen

Select Text - When you select words or sentences, and they become blue. Now you can do something with them.

Share - The link you click to allow others to see your Google Drive documents

Software - Programs, data, and instructions for the computer that helps you do different jobs. You can see it, but not touch it. It is on your computer or a CD.

Example: Crossfire, Temple Run, Microsoft Word

Sort - to choose the order of information in Google Spreadsheet and decide which information is most important

Spell Check - Checks your work for spelling mistakes and tells you how to fix it.

Spelling Error - A mistake, something you did not spell correctly. MSW uses a red squiggly line to show you that there is a problem. 

Example: homeworks 

Spreadsheet - information that is organized into rows and columns

Tab - The menus at the top of Microsoft Word that shows you your different options. (Home, Insert, Page Layout, etc.)

Tab Key - The key on the keyboard that moves your cursor to the place where the tab alignment is set

Technology - New machines, equipment, and ways of doing things that are based on modern knowledge about science and computers

Examples: Cell Phones, Tablets, ipods, computers, machines

Text - the words on a page

Text Wrapping - Tells Microsoft Word how close to the picture you want the text (words). To get to text wrapping RIGHT-click on the photo.

Track Changes - The button in the Review tab that starts and stops the document from showing you all the changes that you or someone else make to your document.

Underline - to draw a line under the words to make them seem more important

Example: This is underlined.

Watermark - puts words or images in the background of the page lightly, so you don't see it very strong. 

It's on the page layout

Webquest -  a webquest is an online project that students need to use the internet to find, think about and use information to complete.

Example: Call Me Maria Pre-reading Webquest

Website - A place on the Internet, an address (like a house)

Example: mrsbhavnani.webs.com, khybertv.web.com, cctv.com

Web Page - pages of your website, like a room in your house

Example: on website mrsbhavnani.webs.com one page is for ESOL II only, so there is a link from the home page and you will find information there for ESOL II.

Wiki - A web page that can be edited by a limited number of people, or everyone.
Example: esolicdl.wikispaces.com