SHARE

An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac ©

Year 4 Number 107 June 21^st 2003

5000 SHARERS are reading this issue of SHARE this week

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Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being SHARED

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Dear SHARERS,

These last two weeks have been really hectic. Is that a good excuse for having missed two issues of SHARE? We do not think so, but loving someone is never having to say: “I´m sorry”.

But what do you say when you feel you´ve got to apologize somehow? We missed you and you were always at the back of our minds.

What happened over these two long weeks? First and foremost, we had one of those events that you can count as glorious moments in your life. We had our “Primer Encuentro de Profesores de Inglés del Conurbano Bonaerense” in Adrogué.Three hundred and forty (yes! 340!) participants.

Can you believe it? And all 340 of them active practitioners and most of them teaching in our beleaguered provincial schools. We were very proud to be able offer these colleagues two evenings of professional development in the warm and inviting atmosphere of the Centro Cultural.

We want to express our gratitude to Dr.Viviana Cortes, Prof.Patricia Gomez,Prof.Maria Marta Suarez and the unmistakable Jamie Duncan and Pierre Stapley as well as “Macmillan”, “English and Fun” and “Net Learning” who made this event possible (and free for all! ). On the closing night of the Encuentro we had that indescribable feeling of something great being born: teachers feeling cared for, teachers finding their immediate interests catered for, teachers finding new ways to relate to each other and to organize themselves in more permanent ways. And most importantly, the way ahead: the mutual promise and the decision to hold a “Segundo Encuentro” in the spring and to integrate teachers from many more areas of Greater Buenos Aires into the organization. We were delighted!

On another front, the organization of the 9^th National Congress of Teachers and Students of English keeps rolling as it should with an impressive response from teachers from all over the country (just as an example Usuahia and Misiones) and from neighbouring countries (Brazil, Perú and Uruguay). The 9^th Congress is a beautiful dream but we are all working hard to make it come true and so it will, with the help of God.

Love

Omar and Marina

In SHARE 107

1.- Case Studies in Content-based Programmes in Argentina.

2.- Becoming a better Web surfer.

3.- You name it! A Short Glossary on Trees.

4.- 2003 ARTESOL Convention: Ready for Tandil.

5.- Who´s afraid of Story-Telling?

6- Looking at “Rebecca” with expert eyes.

7.- Why is the Personal Pronoun “I” capitalized?

8.- Speech Clinic with Clem Durán.

9.- APrIR´s Workshop on the Use of Chat.

10.- Electronic Village TESOL 2003: An Experience.

11.- BEWNETWORK calls all independent teachers.

12.- The Importance of being Earnest.

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1.- CASE STUDIES IN CONTENT-BASED PROGRAMMES IN ARGENTINA

Our very dear SHARER and friend Dr. Viviana Cortés Ph.D. from Iowa State University has sent us this article she wrote with Marguerite Ann Snow and Alejandra V. Pron.

Viviana is currently ob a short visit to our country from Iowa State University where she is Professor and researcher. She was one of the keynote speakers at the Primer Encuentro de Profesores de Inglés del Conurbano a few weeks ago.

EFL and Educational Reform

Content-based Interaction in Argentina

by Marguerite Ann Snow , Viviana Cortés and Alejandra V. Pron

Content-based instruction, or the use of subject matter for language teaching purposes, has been implemented in a variety of ESL and EFL teaching settings. The approach takes many different forms and often requires rethinking of current practices in areas such as syllabus design, materials selection, teacher training, and assessment.{ Footnote 1 ) It presents particular challenges in settings where teachers are accustomed to traditional approaches to language teaching. In this article, we describe some initial experiences with content-based instruction which were precipitated, in part, by reform of the educational system.

Brief background

Teachers in Argentina waited many years for a law which could outline a curriculum meant to fit the modern world. The new Federal Law of Education (Ley Federal de Educación) was finally established in March 1997…

The law establishes that foreign languages will be taught from the second cycle of EGB, English being one of the possibilities throughout the EGB, but mandatory the first year of Multi-track Education (Footnote 2). The focus of the new English curriculum is on communicative competence.

The content to be covered has been divided into three categories: Procedural, Attitudinal, and Cross-Curricular. The Procedural content refers to the "how to" of language: skills, processes, strategies, and methods. The Attitudinal content refers to the set of rules, values, virtues, and attitudes, both personal and social,that will underlie all the activities in the English classroom. Cross-Curricular content refers to topics or themes that do not belong to any special discipline but reflect the whole of the National Curriculum.

Taking into account all the provisions indicated in the new law, teachers in Argentina are facing a great challenge-turning theory into practice. We believe that a content-based approach provides an excellent means by which to cover such a wide spectrum of requirements deriving from the new education law. To implement the new Federal Law of Education will be a difficult task for most schools in Argentina. Lack of information, insufficient time to become acquainted with the new requirements and to train teachers, ongoing changes (the law has already been modified twice in a couple of months), and the shortage and lack of resources will no doubt hamper implementation.

An elementary school example: Escuela de los Padres

In one school, Escuela de los Padres, the prospects for change look very bright. The school is located in Venado Tuerto, a town in the south of the province of Santa Fe, about 380 km from Buenos Aires, the capital city. The school board is made up of students' parents who decide on administrative matters, whereas the academic and pedagogic issues are in the hands of the department heads. The English program was born to satisfy the demands of the community: English is viewed as the international language for communication and in most cases as the key for professional success. The program of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Escuela de los Padres has 202 students, their ages ranging from 3 to 12. Classes are usually made up of 20 students. Three- and four-year olds start with half an hour a day of EFL instruction. When they turn five, the number of hours is increased to six per week as a transition to elementary school where all grades have two hours and a half of EFL instruction from Monday to Thursday. (The fifth, sixth, and seventh grades have English classes on Friday: history, geography, and science.) Literature is integrated in all other syllabuses, especially in language. Students attend the mainstream in Spanish in the morning and their English classes in the afternoon.

Two years ago, when I started working in the school, content was already part of the school curriculum as of third grade.( Footnote 4 ) Having content as a component of the school curriculum was a good start, but it did not go far enough. Teachers believed that content instruction resulted in greater gains for students and thus, they made great efforts to use it. Yet sometimes this instruction was reduced to teachers' lectures and students' memorization of lessons from a textbook. The program lacked a coherent syllabus and there was some overlap in the topics covered in the different grades. In addition, communication between English and Spanish teachers was practically nonexistent. Last, but not least, the syllabus for lower grades (kindergarten, first, and second grades) needed to be revised towards a more integrated approach to language and content. Therefore, with the invaluable help of our advisor, Ms. de la Vega, we thought out a scheme to start working on these issues.

Last year was solely devoted to the implementation of an inservice teacher training program. Workshops were conducted on a monthly basis. These aimed at familiarizing teachers with the new thinking and developments in integrated language and content instruction and at providing teachers with a solid grounding in the language arts. By developing the language arts, students also develop the tools they need throughout the curriculum and their life-long learning. Informal feedback-after-class observations provided me with many useful opportunities to go over certain points teachers were not sure about and to become more sensitized to their concerns and needs. Teacher "buy-in" was immediate. All of them were very enthusiastic about the project and were responsive to comments and suggestions. Theory was put into practice, not only in the language classes, but in the content classes as well. The school board was also very supportive; in fact, a monthly allowance was granted to me to provide teachers with the necessary resources: tape- recorders, books, cassettes, videos, etc.

This year the focus is mainly on content. Our main objectives are to start introducing content-based instruction as of kindergarten and to develop a content-based curriculum that meets the requirements of the new law. The introduction of children's literature in kindergarten is our first step towards a more content-oriented syllabus with young learners. Simple but authentic stories have opened up endless possibilities to use English in contexts that are both meaningful and attractive to our children.

In regards to the new curriculum, we are trying to find a balance between the content syllabuses teachers have been using so far, the subject matter dealt with in Spanish, and the requirements of the new law. The approach for selecting and sequencing topics in the new law is spiral; that is, the main topics are the same, but the level of difficulty changes and the sub-topics become more detailed and suited to the students' linguistic, developmental, and intellectual levels. To make the topics even more relevant and appealing, we are trying to choose new, interesting information that complements what the students have studied in Spanish. Our objective, however, is not to focus only on what they already know, but also to explore other related topics. Hands-on experiments in natural sciences and surveys, interviews, and research in social studies provide students with excellent opportunities for meaningful content-based instruction in English.

Next year our goal is to start reducing the number of hours devoted to language teaching per se and to increase the number of hours devoted to content instruction in English.( Footnote 5 ) The project is ambitious. Yet we are convinced that the combination of language and content is a very powerful tool to make our EFL program a more challenging and profitable experience for students, teachers, and administrators. We are all fully committed to this goal.

A secondary school example: Colegio de Asis

As the new Federal Law of Education has just been put into practice in Argentina, there are many issues that teachers, especially those teaching in the last level of EGB or in the Multi-track cycle, still have to consider. Many teachers argue that the use of language for communication is still very limited and very limiting. There are many schools in the provinces or in different areas of the big cities, where changing the approach towards a more communicative one may be a formidable challenge as teachers have to deal with numerous problems both inside and outside the classroom (for example, more than 40 students in a class, lack of materials, poor student motivation, too many teaching hours, low salaries) to feel comfortable with implementing such a sudden change.

However, some public and private schools, in Buenos Aires and in other urban areas in Argentina have to face a different type of problem. This is the case of the Colegio de Asis, among many others. Here, classes have always been small and students with the same English proficiency have been grouped since the beginning of secondary school. We have been working with a communicative approach for many years. At first, the new curriculum seemed to bring nothing new to us, but we soon discovered that it mandated that English had to share certain themes with other subjects-natural sciences, social sciences, technology, arts, and ethics-as part of the movement towards a more integrated curriculum. We then decided that this could be the chance we needed to add more content to our classes. Up to now, content had been an excuse to teach language in a more contextualized, pseudo-realistic way. We decided that if we could find connections with other points in the curriculum, content could become more prominent in our classes. We hoped this would raise motivation as language would then become a means to learn content, which we thought would surely enhance our English classes.

The process towards content-based English instruction has not been simple. First we tried to look for topics which could have points of contact with other subjects in the curriculum within the syllabuses of the current English courses. The result was nonexistent: Most of the EFL materials used at the school dealt with a few topics in basic communicative language, but there was no really academic material at all. Finally we thought the best thing to do was to start exactly the other way around, by asking content teachers what things they would be interested in sharing, what themes, topics and/or materials they thought students could deal with or get information from in their English classes.

We did not think this task was going to be so hard. The first step we took consisted of asking our content colleagues in the teachers' room what content they would like us to cover in our classes. We explained to them that our idea was to make thematic units based on the topics they suggested and use materials they could provide or they thought would be interesting for our students to work with.

At the beginning, content teachers were not very enthusiastic about working with us. Maybe they did not want to share with us or they thought that this would add more work to the busy school schedules. It is also important to point out that teachers of English have traditionally been looked down on in Argentina, mainly because they are very innovative and generally up-to-date professionally. This reaction led us to get in touch with the school director and the academic board, who have always been in favor of integrating the different areas in the curriculum. The authorities of the school thought that the idea of including more content in the English classes was very interesting, so they decided to organize several meetings with the heads of the different departments, and the project finally started to grow. We then worked with some of the subjects suggested by the content teachers and developed thematic units accordingly. Those fortunate teachers who found a content teacher willing to share knowledge and resources with them started to work on the new task of creating thematic units that would exploit content and language. Some other teachers who were not so lucky are still waiting for their content teacher colleagues to make up their minds and join them in this new endeavor. Starting gradually, teachers plan to add more content to their English classes in order to help students develop study skills and more sophisticated strategies that could help them succeed in their future academic studies. The complex issue of assessment in this new content-based approach is also being discussed.

We know that the road towards content- based instruction will take us in many directions and it is, perhaps, too soon to speak about results. At the outset, however, we have seen a marked rise in students' as well as teachers' motivation. The road ahead may be long, but it is good to know that we have taken the first steps.

Conclusion

As we undergo these educational changes in Argentina, it is important to point out that the dramatic shift from a traditional grammar-oriented approach towards a communicative approach that also takes into consideration the acquisition of academic skills and the use of language as a tool for learning content may become overwhelming for most teachers. This is especially true in light of the fact that the majority of the teachers have not undergone the kind of training required to make a positive change out of these innovations. Even though these changes were meant to be gradual, implementation has already started and may find most teachers willing but unprepared. On the positive side, we believe that the current educational reform in Argentina will provide an impetus towards content-based instruction in settings where more traditional approaches have remained strong and greater support in schools where teachers are already committed to integrated instruction. All in all, Argentine schools face a remarkable opportunity to conform to the federal mandates and develop an EFL curriculum that is in keeping with one of the latest trends in English language teaching worldwide.

References

* Mohan, B. 1986. Language and content. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Snow, M., and D. Brinton. eds. 1997. The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

Footnotes

1. See Mohan (1986) for a discussion of the theoretical rationale and Snow and Brinton (1997) for a comprehensive treatment of issues in content-based instruction.

2. We decided to coin this word to reflect the fact that this cycle allows students to choose among several technical and professional tracks. The tracks are: Socio-humanistic, Administration, Art, Industry and Agronomy, Environment, and Health.

3. All through the article we use the word grade when we talk about primary school to avoid confusion, but, since the law has not been fully implemented, some are called years and some are called grades.

4. A way to achieve this is to start delivering English classes on Fridays to all grades. Since this change may bring about some resistance from parents and administrative problems as well, it will be carried out gradually, starting next year with 4th grade only.

© English Teaching Forum Vol 36 No 1, January - March 1998.

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2.- BECOMING A BETTER WEB SURFER

Our very dear friend and SHARER Bernieh Banega has sent us this set of tips to help us all with our Web searches. Dear old Bernieh will be in charge of the enrolment team at the 9^th National Congress of Teachers of English to be held in Buenos Aires next July. So if you want to register,check attendance or enroll for a workshop and something goes awry…you know who to blame! Bernieh writes:

Here's an easy-reading, complete and concise article from ProQuest
--a bigchalk Education Network e-mail newsletter-- about web-searching. You
can subscribe to ProQuest for free at:
http://www.bigchalk.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WOPortal.woa/db/newsletters/signup.html

Enjoy!
Bernieh

Ten Steps to Web-Searching Success

So, the 2002-2003 school year is nearly over [Bernieh's note: ...in the U.S.] and you're still getting 1,900,000+ results to your online searches for "lesson plans." If you're like most educators, you're too busy to read each search tool's help files to improve your queries, and perhaps you're a bit confused about things like wildcards, Boolean operators and (yes, it exists) search engine math.

Have no fear. This month's issue of Tech Tips takes the stress out of learning how to track down the information you need online!

As you prepare to embark on your next online search, follow along with these ten easy steps to Web-searching success. You'll quickly learn how to choose the proper search tool, create a focused query to maximize the relevancy of your search results and even fix the dead links you
encounter.

*** Step 1: Pick the Right Search Tool ***

here are three types of search tools, and each is best suited to specific kinds of searches.

* 1. Individual Search Engines

Individual search engines utilize special software to scour the Web on a regular basis to create their own unique searchable database. Keep in mind that when you use a search engine you are *not* searching the entire World Wide Web. Instead, you're searching a portion of the Web,
captured by the engine's software and stored in its database. When you use a search engine, you're asking the engine to match your keywords with its index of Web pages.

Pros: Search engines are currently the best way to locate specific keywords, phrases, quotes, and information found on a very large collection of Web pages of any length.

Cons: The enormity of each search engine's database virtually guarantees you'll find thousands of irrelevant Web pages when you conduct a simple search. The key is to use the tips below to clean up and supercharge your queries to produce the best results using two or more search engines.

Popular Examples: <http://www.google.com>Google,
<http://www.alltheweb.com>All the Web, <http://www.altavista.com>AltaVista,
<http://www.hotbot.com>Hotbot

* 2. Metasearch Engines

One way to cut down on the amount of irrelevant search results when using a search engine is to send your query to several engines at once. That's where metasearch engines come in. These engines don't store their own indexes to the Web; rather, you type in your query and it's
automatically sent to several search engines simultaneously.

Pros: Metasearch engines are quick. They're useful for grabbing a broad overview of a specific subject or search query.

Cons: Most do not query Google and tend to rely on subject directories for their results.

Popular Examples: <http://www.ixquick.com>ixquick,
<http://www.vivisimo.com>Vivisimo, <http://www.qbsearch.com>QBsearch.com

* 3. Subject Directories

Human beings power subject directory Web sites. Rather than relying on software to scour billions of Web pages and create a searchable index, subject directory staffers add links to specific Web sites to a topic tree of static Web pages. When you search a directory using keywords, the directory matches your keywords to the names and descriptions of the
listed Web sites.

Pros: Directories are excellent for finding general Web sites on a broad variety of topics. Their greatest strength is not their keyword-searching capability, but their topic tree. You can start with a broad topic like Science, then drill down to an ever-increasing number of subcategories until you find what you're looking for.

Cons: In comparison with search engines, directories contain links to a very small cross section of available Web pages. Plus, since humans and not software power directories, you're likely to find many more dead links in directories. (See below for tips on how to make many of these dead links function again.)

Popular Examples: <http://www.yahoo.com>Yahoo!, <http://www.dmoz.org>Open Directory Project (DMOZ)

*** Step 2: Check Your Spelling ***

Double-check the spelling of every word in your query before you submit it. In a recent survey of the most popular keyword searches submitted to Google over a 24-hour period, more than 20 percent contained spelling errors. As a result, Google now offers alternative spellings of your keywords if it thinks you've made a mistake. However, most other search tools aren't this intelligent.

*** Step 3: Be Concise ***

Keep your search query as short as possible. While a single keyword is rarely enough, avoid using a long string of keywords and phrases. Start with at least three keywords, and build your query from there based on the results. For instance, lesson plans is a start; lesson plans science is better.

*** Step 4: First Things First ***

Now that you have a small set of keywords, examine each word to be sure they are placed in the correct order. Place the most important word(s) first, followed by more general keywords. For example, Battle of Gettysburg U.S. Civil War is a better query than U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg if you're researching this specific engagement.

*** Step 5: Learn Search Engine Math ***

To be sure all of search words are included in your query, it's time to employ some search engine math. That is, using plus signs to add keywords and minus signs to exclude them.

For instance, +lesson +plan +phases +of +matter will force a search engine to find Web pages that contain all five of these words.
Adding plus signs to your query is helpful in drastically reducing the amount of results you'll receive to your query.

In the same way, minus signs will help you locate pages that contain specific words but not others. For instance, +president +bush -Iraq will return a list of Web pages that contain the words "president bush" and remove any of them that also contain Iraq.

Last, we can use quotation marks to multiply a search. Adding quotes around the words you'd like to appear immediately next to one another can greatly multiply the success rate of your search. For instance, "lesson plans" +"phases of matter" will return documents that contain both
of these phrases exactly as they're shown.

*** Step 6: Master Wildcards ***

Adding an asterisk (*) to the end of any keyword in your search will return all possible suffixes to that word. Wildcards work best on AltaVista and Google. For example, snow* will return snows, snowing, snowy, etc. Paint* returns paints, painting, paintings, painter, etc.

*** Step 7: Remove "Stop" Words ***

Search engines are programmed to ignore specific words in order to speed up your searches. These words include the, of, Web, a, to, in and is. If you include these in your query, they will most likely be excluded from your search. Even adding a plus sign before one of these words won't force most engines to include them in a search. However, Google and AltaVista will include these in your search if they're "inside of quotation marks."

*** Step 8: Swap Your Keywords ***

If you're receiving unsatisfactory results to your query, try swapping your keywords and placing them in different locations. For instance, New York Yankees World Series could also be presented as Yankees World Series New York or World Series Yankees New York. Think of your query in this context: Present your keywords in the exact order you'd expect to find them in your results.

*** Step 9: Fix Dead Links ***

On occasion, you'll click on one of your search results and get an error message that the page can't be found. Not to worry!
Here's a simple method for solving most dead links and finding the Web page you're looking for. Let's say this [faked] link doesn't function: http://www.site.com/info/data/2003/info1.html

First, remove info1.html from the end and press return: http://www.site.com/info/data/2003/

There's a good chance you'll receive a functional Web page that presents all of this site's 2003 data using this shortened address.

If you receive another error message, continue removing the last item from the link until you get a Web page or land at the root domain:
http://www.site.com/info/data/ http://www.site.com/info/ http://www.site.com

Hopefully, the site's home page found at the root domain will contain links to the content you're searching for. Many sites move Web pages around from time to time, and this method should help you track down their new location with relative ease.

*** Step 10: Try, Try Again! ***

If your search query results in lackluster returns, use the tips above to rework it until you're successful. Try at least three different search tools -- two search engines and one directory should suffice.

By the way have you paid a visit to Bernieh´s Website lately? Try it and as Bernieh says “Enjoy!”: English teaching resources http://www.bernieh.com.ar/

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3.- YOU NAME IT ! A SHORT GLOSSARY ON TREES

Our dear SHARER Rosario Estevez from La Pampa has sent us this short glossary of trees and plants which might be useful to both translators and teachers (just in case children ask… and they always ask!). This Glossary was put together by Mark Duff of the Texas Forest Service.

Nombre científico	Nombre común-inglés	Nombre común-español
Abies spp.	fir	abeto
Acacia greggii	catclaw acacia	uña de gato, acacia
Acacia tortuosa	twisted acacia	acacia, huisachillo
Acer negundo	boxelder	negundo, acezintle, arce
Acer spp.	maple	arce
Aesculus spp.	buckeye	castaño de Indias
Ailanthus spp.	tree of heaven	ailanto, árbol del cielo
Albizia julibrissin	mimosa, silk tree	mimosa
Alnus spp.	alder	aliso, aile
Araucaria spp.	monkey puzzle	araucaria
Arbutus spp.	madrone	madroño
Arceuthobium spp.	dwarf mistletoe	muérdago enano
Arecaceae fam.	palm	palmera, palma
Betula spp.	birch	abedul
Bumelia spp.	bumelia	coma
Carya illinoensis	pecan	pacana, nogal morado/pacanero, nuez
Carya spp.	hickory	nogal americano, pacana
Castanea spp.	chestnut	castaño
Catalpa spp.	catalpa	catalpa
Cedrus spp.	cedar	cedro
Celtis spp.	hackberry	palo blanco, almez
Cercis spp	redbud	ciclamor, árbol del amor
Chilopsis linearis	desert willow	flor de mimbre, sauce del desierto
Citrus sinensis	orange	naranjo, china
Cornus spp.	dogwood	cornejo
Corylus avellana	filbert nut tree	avellano
Cupressus spp.	cypress	ciprés, cedro
Dalbergia spp.	rosewood	palisandro, palo de rosa
Diospyros spp.	ebony, persimmon	ébano
Diospyros texana	Texas persimmon	chapote
Ehretia anacua	anaqua	manzanillo
Eriobotrya japonica	loquat	níspero, míspero
Eucalyptus spp.	eucalyptus	eucalipto
Fagus spp.	beech	haya
Ficus carica	common edible fig	higo, higuera
Fraxinus spp.	ash	fresno
Ginkgo biloba	ginkgo, maidenhair	ginkgo
Ilex spp.	holly	acebo
Juglans spp.	walnut	nogal
Juniperus spp.	juniper	enebro, junípero
Juniperus ashei	Ashe juniper	sabino
Juniperus deppeana	alligator juniper	tascate
Juniperus virginiana	eastern red cedar	cedro rojo, enebro, cedro de Virginia
Lagerstroemia spp.	crape myrtle	crespón, reina de las flores, astronómica
Larix spp.	larch	alerce
Leucaena spp.	leadtree	tepeguaje
Liquidambar styraciflua	sweetgum	liquidámbar, ocozol
Liriodendron tulipifera	yellow-poplar	tulipero, tulipanero, liriodendro
Maclura pomifera	osage orange	naranjo chino
Magnolia grandiflora	Southern magnolia	palo de cacique, magnolia(o)
Malus x domestica	common apple	manzano
Melia azedarach	Chinaberry	canelo, lila de China, paraíso, jaboncillo
Morus spp.	mulberry	morera, moral
Myrica cerifera	waxmyrtle	árbol de la cera
Nerium oleander	oleander	adelfa, alelí, laurel rosa, rosa laurel
Nyssa spp.	tupelo	túpelo
Olea europaea	common olive	olivo
Parkinsonia aculeata	retama/Jerusalem thorn	unco, retama, palo de rayo, palo verde
Phoradendron	true mistletoe	injerto, seca palo, muérdago verdadero
Picea spp.	spruce	pícea
Pinus cembroides	pinyon pine	pino piñón, pino piñonero
Pinus spp.	pine	ocote, pino
Pistacia texana	Texas pistache	alfóncigo, alfónsigo
Pittosporum spp.	pittosporum	clavo, lila
Platanus spp.	sycamore	sicómoro, plátano
Populus spp.	cottonwood/aspen	álamo, chopo
Prosopis spp.	mesquite	mesquite, mezquite, misquitl, algaroba
Prunus armeniaca	apricot	albaricoquero
Prunus dulcis	almond	almendro
Prunus persica	peach	melocotonero, durazno, duraznero
Prunus serotina	black cherry	cerezo negro
Ptelea trifoliata	wafer ash	pinacatillo
Punica granatum	pomegranate	granado
Pyrus spp.	pear	peral
Quercus alba	white oak	encino, encino verde, roble blanco
Quercus rubra	red oak	roble/encino rojo
Quercus virginiana	live oak	encino, roble perenne, tesmoli, texmol
Rhamnus spp.	buckthorn	rhamnus
Rhus spp.	sumac	zumaque
Rhus sempervirens	evergreen sumac	lantrisco, lentisco, zumaque
Robinia pseudoacacia	black locust	algarrobo, robinia, falsa acacia
Sabal mexicana	palmetto/sabal palm	palma de micharos, palma redonda
Salix spp.	willow	sauce, saucillo, sauz
Sapindus drummondii	western soapberry	amole, amolillo, palo blanco, jaboncillo
Sassafras albidum	sassafras	sasafrás
Sequoia sempervirens	redwood	secoya, secuoya
Sophora secundiflora	mountain laurel	frijollito
Swietenia spp.	mahogany	caoba
Tamarix spp.	tamarisk	taray, tamarisco
Taxodium mucronatum	Montezuma cypress	ahuehuete, sabino, tule, ciprés
Tectona grandis	teak	teca
Tilia spp.	basswood/linden	tilo
Tillandsia recurvata	ball moss	gallitos
Tillandsia usneoides	Spanish moss	pastle, paste, heno, pashtle, paxtle
Toxicodendron radicans	poison ivy	hiedra venenosa
Tsuga spp.	hemlock	tsuga, pinabete
Ulmus spp.	elm	olmo

© Mark Duff.

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4.- 2003 ARTESOL CONVENTION: READY FOR TANDIL

Our dear SHARER Vivien Morghen, President of Argentina TESOL, sends us this update about their XVII ARTESOL Convention to be held at Universidad del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires in Tandil, Argentina next Friday, June 27 and Saturday, June 28.

Friday, June 27

12.00 Registration

13.15 – 13.45 Opening

13.45 – 14.45 Concurrent Sessions. Demonstrations

14.45 – 16.00 Concurrent Sessions. Workshops

16.00 – 16.30 coffee break

16.30 – 17.15 Academic/ Commercial Presentations. Publishers

17.15 - 18.45 Opening Plenary:

Diane Larsen- Freeman - The Role of the Language Teacher

18.45 – 19.30 Plenary Presentation

Charles Amorosino. Mabel Gallo. TESOL Matters

Saturday, June 28

08.15 – 09.00 Registration

09.00 – 10.00 Plenary Workshop: Diane Larsen-Freeman

Teaching Grammaring

10.00 – 11.00 Academic/ Commercial Presentations. Poster Sessions.

11.00 – 11.30 coffee break

11.30 – 12.30 Concurrent Sessions. Demonstrations

12.30 – 13.30 Concurrent Sessions. Demonstrations

13.30 – 14.45 lunch

14.45 – 16.00 Concurrent Sessions. Workshops

16.00 – 16.15 coffee break

16.15 – 17.15 Sesión Plenaria:

Juan Carlos Pugliese - Calidad en la Enseñanza Universitaria en Argentina

17.15 – 18.15 Closing Plenary:

Diane Larsen-Freeman -Managing the Complexity of Language Learning

18.15 – 19.00 Conclusions / Closing

Registration fees

Convention + ARTESOL Membership $ 20

Venue: Universidad del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires

Campus Universitario - Paraje Arroyo Seco -Pabellón Aulas Comunes II

For further information, please contact: (011) 5382-1500

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5.- WHO´S AFRAID OF STORY-TELLING?

Our dear SHARER Charlie Lopez, of TV and lecturing fame,has sent us an invitation to this

Workshop at BigBen.

Story - Telling

Saturday, July 12 2003 - 9:30 to 12:30

The overall purpose of the workshop is to encourage teachers to discover how, as aural-oral storytellers, they can dramatically raise motivational and affective standards of students in different EFL settings.

Who's Afraid of Story-telling? will introduce participants to basic, essential aspects of the aural/oral story-telling technique. By means of creative tasks in pairs/groups, participants will have the opportunity to explore hands-on tools for story-telling and tell simple stories in a supportive environment.

Participants will be encouraged to take advantage of their own experiences as resource material for story-telling and to explore tasks they may find interesting to use, in turn, with their own students. Attention will be drawn to the effect of sounds in words and to the pitch movements story-tellers need to make use of.  Suggestions on resource material will also be offered.

Presenters:

Cristina Thomson de Grondona White, teacher educator at ENSLV J.F. Kennedy and performing story-teller, recently obtained the National Diploma in Children's Literature, CCE Christchurch, New Zealand.

Graciela Clelia Moyano, specialised lecturer in Phonetics , teaches at ISP "J.V. Gonzalez", ENSLV J.F. Kennedy, and UTN. She is also the author of Ingles@info, first guide on the English language in Argentina.

Coordinator: Charlie Lopez M.A. 

Limited vacancies.  Fee $ 15 (includes mid-morning breakfast)

For further information and registration. Please contact Instituto BigBen

Bdo. de Irigoyen 622 – Boulogne - Tel/Fax: 4737-5544

info@institutobigben.com.ar - www.institutobigben.com.ar

By the way, Did you know that Charlie Lopez is back on the screen with a renewed YeS,his famous TV programme for teachers and students of English ?

Watch YeS hosted by Charlie López On Magazine

Mondays 19.30 Hs. - Tuesdays 11 Hs. - Tuesdays 17.30 Hs.

-Wednesdays 7 Hs and Fridays 7 Hs.

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6- LOOKING AT “REBECCA” WITH EXPERT EYES

Our dear friend and SHARER Douglas Town will be conducting a workshop you cannot miss next weekend. Here´s the news:

'Reconstructing Rebecca: an in-depth look at Hitchcock's classic melodrama'.

Workshop led by psychologist, teacher and film critic, Douglas Town, BSc (Psych), MA (ELT).

The workshop will look at Hitcock's film as an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's "gothic" novel of the same name, its status as a 'film noir' and the role of reconstruction, power and transgression in shaping the narrator's - and Rebecca's - identity as women.

Further information: Open English , Mariano Moreno 6180 Wilde esq. Las Flores (alt. Av. Mitre 6400) Tel: 4217-4748 ; e-mail: openenglish@sion.com

Complete film: 6.00 pm to 7.30pm. Workshop: 8.00pm to 10.30pm. Friday, 27th June, 2003

Biographical note: Apart from being a well-known professional in the field of EFL / EAP, Douglas was PR officer and translator for the Medina del Campo Film Festival, Valladolid, Spain until 2001. He has also taken part in cinema courses for young people organised by the Film Department (Cátedra de Cine) of the University of Valladolid.

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7- WHY IS THE PERSONAL PRONOUN “I” CAPITALIZED?

Our dear SHARER Gabriel Valentini from Rio Cuarto, Córdoba wants to SHARE this article with all of us:

A Brief History of the PPI (Personal Pronoun I)

To understand the history of the PPI, and how it became capitalized in English, you have to know a little bit about the history of the English language.

The earliest written English that we have (from the Dark Ages, also known as the very early Middle Ages: Beowulf and all that) is so different from later English that it takes a specialist to read it:
It is, in fact, quite difficult (until you become familiar with it) to identify this early English as even being English.

In this early English, also known as Anglo-Saxon, the PPI (personal pronoun "I") was not I but was ic and was Not capitalized.

Somewhat later on in the Middle Ages --- as the language changed towards a form more recognizable as English to us today --- the final consonant of ic became lost in both speech and spelling, leaving i.
Note: j was originally an i at the end of the word.

At that time, though, the letter i was written without a dot (the dot on " i " and " j " would not come into being for another few centuries), which made it easy to entirely miss this one-letter word, consisting as it now did of nothing but a single tiny down-stroke, while reading.

This became especially problematic after the tenth century, when the handwriting-styles in use began to grow narrower and more compressed than they had previously been (the changes that made Carolingian and related early-medieval styles eventually become late-medieval Black-Letter) - so writers began (probably unconsciously) to do Two things to make it easier to read i's in text:

/1/

One thing that they began doing was to write a tiny, extra i immediately on top of every i, to alert the reader that Here is an i (and also to add this on top of every j, once that letter arose as a variant of i) - This gave us the present-day "dotting" of i (and j) in most languages that use these letters ... But ... the dotting did not prove enough of a change to avoid confusion and omissions, So ...

/2/

they also had to do Another thing:
something which started simply as a security precaution to prevent alterations of Roman numerals (keep in mind that Roman numerals, the usual numerical system in Europe at this period, were at the time typically written in what we would call lower-case letters)

What they did was to visibly lengthen the letter i whenever it ended a group of i's (which would typically happen in a Roman numeral).

For instance, normally a medieval writer would write the numeral for twelve as xij not xii!
in order to prevent a forger's adding an additional i to make it equal thirteen:

Since a PPi was of course the last i in a group consisting of one i, people began to want to treat it the same way (making it into a j just as they made a Roman-numeral i into a j) This could have worked - Except that (now that it was also becoming more and more common to write number-words as Roman numerals than simply to write the word: xij, rather than twelve) people felt that just writing PPi as j would tend to get it confused with the numeral for one - so (by the end of the middle ages) it was normal to write the PPj a little higher in relation to the line of writing than one would write the numeral-one j (thus the numeral- one j was written in the middle and lower zones, but the PPi j was moved a bit upwards to the upper and middle zones)

In this position, most PPj now looked almost identical to most schoolform capital I of the period, except that the PPj's had a dot which didn't look quite right (if it was even noticeable) as part of a capital, so people overwhelmingly just tended not to write the dot (which was not needed anyway, now that the PPI was bigger and longer than a lower-case i, thus not easy to miss) and they conceptualized the result - as we still do today - as a capital I.

Yours for better letters,

Kate Gladstone
Handwriting Repair

http://www.eskimo.com/~hwa/papers/ppi.html

© Kate Gladstone

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8.- SPEECH CLINIC WITH CLEM DURÁN

Our dear SHARES at Asociación de Ex Alumnos del Profesorado en Lenguas Vivas have gota n announcement to make:

Welcome to our Speech Clinic 2003

How to enhance the teaching of Phonology

Tutor: Clemencia Baraldi de Durán

This course is aimed at teachers and advanced learners who:

a. have had no previous exposure to phonology

b. feel this would be a useful tool for a more effective teaching and a better oral expression

c. have done a thorough course on phonology (e.g. a Teacher Training College) but feel they need some brushing up or that their knowledge of phonology is mailnly theoretical and they do not know how to take this knowledge to the classroom.

Objectives:

a. To raise awareness of the difficulties of English phonology for Spanish speakers.

b. To improve the teachers’ capacity for listening to and detecting their pupils’ problems.

c. To find ways of improving their students' accents.

a. To help teachers keep up or, when necessary, improve their own accents since, in most cases, the only input they receive is their pupils' faulty pronunciation.

Contents:

a. Common difficulties Spanish speakers have in achieving the English sounds, rhythm and intonation.

b. Conflicts of Grammar and Phonology for Spanish speakers.

c. Integration of Phonology to other levels of Language (Grammar, Lexis).

d. Methodology applied to Phonology.

Methodology

The course will be mainly practical and interactive. Theoretical knowledge and technical terminology will be reduced to a minimum. Participants will listen to recordings of native speakers and of faulty speakers (mainly Spanish) to detect their needs for improvement. They will be welcome to bring recordings of themselves or of their students to help find solutions to recurrent errors. Upon concluding the course, relevant bibliography will be suggested for further study.

Classes will be held from 10 am to 1 pm. (10 sessions)

Course schedule:

June 21 and 28

July 5 and 12

August 16 and 30

September 13 and 27

October 4 and 25

Venue: Paraguay 1935

Fees: $60 per month or a single payment of $250 (cash or debit /credit card)

For further information: 4814-0545 or alumnoslibres@sion.com

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9.- APrIR´S WORKSHOP ON THE USE OF CHAT

Our dear friend and SHARER Nora Séculi, President of Asociación Rosarina de Profesores de Inglés, has sent us this announcement:

APrIR, always breaking new ground,invites all teachers to:

“Vindicating Chat” - Integrating Chat into the EFL Classroom

A Powerpoint Presentation on the potential of this much-maligned and under-utilized online tool

for Language Learning

by Rita Zeinstejer

Area Manager for Kids and Advanced Courses and Self Access, Laboratory and

Multimedia Coordinator at Asociacion Rosarina de Cultura Inglesa. Cambridge Oral Examiner. CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning) Consultant. Coordinator of the APrIR CALL SIG.

Date and Time: Friday June 27 from 6 to 8 pm.

Venue: Asociación Empresaria - Auditorium (1st Floor) - España 848 - Rosario–

Registration: at Ameghino Bookshop, Corrientes 868 or at APrIR, Buenos Aires 1127 (P.B.”A”).

Fees: $7 APrIR members - $10 non-members.

Certificates of Attendance will be issued.

Organized by APrIR under the auspices of Asociación Rosarina de Cultura Inglesa.

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10.- ELECTRONIC VILLAGE TESOL 2003: AN EXPEREIENCE

----- Original Message -----

From: Marta Boggio

To: omarvillarreal@netizen.com.ar

Subject: Congratulations

Dear Omar and Marina,

This is to congratulate you on your electronic magazine SHARE. Whenever I get it, I devour the issue: I enjoy not only the articles but your introduction as well. You convey love. And love is the only thing that can save humanity today. I mean only by loving what you do, your neighbour, yourself (always relying on God) can we be happy. I consider those are the main reasons of your success. May God give you the strength to keep on sharing with such warmth and devotion!

On your 95th issue, you mentioned the free online sessions of  Electronic Village TESOL 03 and after signing up I, I began the basic workshop for using the Internet in class. It was really helpful! The last assignment was creating our own webpage. I want to share it with you. Thank again,

http://www.geocities.com/numaboggio/1.html?1047827740145

God Bless you!

Marta Di Francesco de Boggio

Dear Marta, Thank you for your heartwarming words. You cannot imagine how happy we are every time we learn our e-magazine has helped one of colleagues to further develop professionally or personally. God bless you too! Marina and Omar.

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11.- BEWNETWORK CALLS ALL INDEPENDENT TEACHERS

Our dear SHARER Betty Wolff has got a announcement to make:

BEWNETWORK announces the eleventh edition of "El negocio del Inglés o el Inglés como negocio:" Absolutely free for all independent teachers. Saturday July 5th from 2 through 8 pm. An intense workshop to discuss the business of English, its present situation and its future trends.

To enroll, send an email to bettybew@netscape.net
There will be a strict selection of participants. The workshop calls for the active participation of its members, who should be interested in discussing how to make a profit, extend the reach and increase the quality of the educational service they provide.

BEWNETWORK - Juncal 2530, 1425, Buenos Aires
Phone: 4 825 0303. Website: http://www.bewnetwork.com

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12.- THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Our dear SHARER and friend Susan Hillyard has sent us this invitation:

The Suburban Players is proud to present:

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Directed by Hugo Halbrich

" I have lost both my parents"
"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two, sounds like carelessness."

Cast

Fernando Armesto - Rita Carou - Ximena Faralla - Martin Grisar - Rosemary Morton -  Marcelo Pepe - Veronica Taylor - Victor Taylor 

9 performances only! Book now! Limited seats!

Friday, June 27th thru Sunday, July 13^th

Fridays & Saturdays 9 PM - Sundays 6 PM

Tickets $10-. - Members free! - Discounts for groups of 10 or more!

"The Playhouse" - Moreno 80 - San Isidro

The Suburban Players - - Tel: 4747.4470 - thesuburbanplayers@unete.com

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Today we want to say goodbye with one of those small great messages that our dear Bethina Viale has got all of us used to:

“What is the single best way to become a truly motivated person?
Motivate others.  That's right, if you keep lighting sparks of enthusiasm under friends, family and neighbors, you will notice an awe-inspiring transformation in your own attitude.  You, too, will be motivated.  It is virtually impossible to encourage people around you to shoot for their dreams without getting excited about your own.  Whom can you motivate today?”

(Positive People Nesletter)

With lots of love,

Bethina

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

Omar and Marina.

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SHARE is distributed free of charge. All announcements in this electronic magazine are also absolutely free of charge. We do not endorse any of the services announced or the views expressed by the contributors. For more information about the characteristics and readership of SHARE visit: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShareMagazine

VISIT OUR WEBSITE : http://www.ShareEducation.com.ar There you can read all past issues of SHARE in the section SHARE ARCHIVES.

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