Announcements

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/esl_study.htm

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4. FYI - we have posted a complete list of ABE Programs and Program Managers for the State of Minnesota on our website. Click on the Directory link and scroll to the bottom to locate the directory list.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/abe_programs.htm

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GENERAL

5. There is a Somali Language & Literacy Conference in St Cloud September 16.
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/somali_conference.htm

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6. From Barry Shaffer - An interesting debate is occurring in Congress over the concept of establishing English as the “official” language of the US. See the report below from Jim Parker of the USDOE-Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/english_debate.htm

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7. There is an interesting article that appeared in the Sun Newspapers in July on thye immigrants of Eden Prairie, Read it here.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/immigrants.htm

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8. Here is a study on the role of prison education by the US Office of Correctional Education and the Correctional Education
Association titled "OCE/CEA Three State Recidivism Study" in 2001, and it includes Minnesota as one of the three states studied. It can be found online at http://www.nicic.org/Library/017446

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9. There is a new report by ETS on the status and importance of providing education to inmates in our nation's prisons. Locked Up and Locked Out: An Educational Perspective on the U.S. Prison Population is a Policy Information Report describes the rising prison population and its characteristics, examines the status of prison education programs and their impact, and describes programs that try to help ex-prisoners reenter society. While supplies last, print copies can be
ordered from the Policy Information Center for $15.00. There is no charge for downloading or copying this report. You may download the Acrobar Reader file here:

http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PIC-LOCKEDUP.pdf

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10. Who's linking to us? Here are a couple more sites that link to the Marshall ABE web site. Check them out!

English4 has several links to Marshall ABE's Student Lessons.

http://english4.us/

Minneota Public School has a link to Marshall ABE on their homepage.

http://minneotaschools.org/

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11. From the Trivia Department: Have you heard of Google Earth. If you've been watching the news, you have probably seen Google Earth in action on stations like CNN zooming or "flying" into the cities in the Middle East. You can use Google Earth on your computer much the same way. You need to go to the Google Earth website and download the software and install it on your computer. Then fly to the city you live in - or fly anywhere in the world!. Be sure to read the specifications needed to run the software (speed of processor, size of hard drive, etc...) And you do need a high speed connection (cable or DSL). This is awesome software - and it's FREE. Install it on your computer and fly somewhere.

http://earth.google.com/

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12. Thought for the week: Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will Rogers

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13. Tech Tip: Windows 98

One month ago, Microsoft quietly announced that it was no longer supporting Windows 98, Windows 98SE, or Windows ME. No more updates – no more technical support - no more nuthin! If you are still using one of these OS’s, you’re on your own. I wonder why Microsoft abandoned those venerable operating systems.

Well, here are some statistics.

Marshall ABE had 1706 visitors to the marshalladulteducation.org website in July. Here’s the breakdown of who was using what.

1162 of those used Windows XP
412 used Windows 2000
44 of those used Windows 98
3 used Windows NT
2 used Windows 95
2 used Server 2003

Hey – that doesn’t add up to 1706!

Oh yes…

78 used Macintosh (of those 78, 1 used the new Intel processor)

1 used Linux

2 were unknown

If you one of the 2.71% that still uses 98 or ME, you won’t be able to get any more security patches. So there are some things you need to do.

Be careful how you surf the web. Without updated security patches you will be vulnerable to all kinds of malware. Don’t go to sites you don’t know about.
Consider using an alternate browser than Internet Explorer. Mozilla Firefox is one of the best. It is more secure - less likely to get infected.
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Software/Internet/World_Wide_Web/Browsers/
Be sure you backup your data. If possible, make an image of your computer so you can restore it when you have trouble.
See http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/techtips/techtip43.htm
Be sure you have up-to-date virus protection software. An excellent FREE one is Grisoft AVG.
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5
If you do decide to upgrade to Windows XP, make sure your computer meets the minimum requirements.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865/

One last thing - you are actually not left totally out in the cold. Microsoft still has a website dedicated to Windows 98 folks. You can read about your 98 problems here – just don’t call Microsoft and ask them any questions!

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/

Read more about the end of support for Windows 98 and ME here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

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Marshall ABE Links

Southwest ABE - home page for Granite Falls, Jackson, Marshall, and Worthington consortiums.

http://southwestabe.org/

Marshall ABE Bookmarks - tons of cool bookmarks - educational and non-educational
http://ikeepbookmarks.com/marshallabe

Tech Tips - Read new and old Tech Tips here.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/techtips.htm

Reading Skills for Today's Adults - new stories posted regularly

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/reading_skills_home.htm

Announcements - Weekly announcements are posted here each week on Friday.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/announcements.htm