An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina
Kirac ©
Year
4
Number 113 September
23rd 2003
5800 SHARERS are reading this issue of SHARE this
week
__________________________________________________________
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
__________________________________________________________
Dear SHARERS,
This
issue of SHARE might come as a surprise to you. This is the second time in the
four years of SHARE that we have a mid-of-the-week issue. Blame it to the
flue.
Both
Marina and I have been down with flue for a couple of days now. I got it first
so the worst part of it has passed and I will be resuming my teaching activities on
Wednesday but poor Marina (who got the flue from me, as you can easily imagine)
is still in the very worst of the stages (that is the flue being as strong as a
bull!). Anyway, the flue was after all a blessing in disguise. As you see, it
afforded us the opportunity to finish off this issue and to get in contact
again.
I´m
back from Chile with an enormous debt of gratitude to my many old and new
friends: Gladys, Cecilia, Anita, Juanita, Jaime, Mayra, Joe and Caroline,
Emilio, Marito and my “new” old chum René who pampered me and spoilt me all
through that unforgettable week. As a spring-off of my visit, now SHARE is going
to be delivered weekly to the Chilean Teacher´s Network by my very good friend
Ana Heredia Herrera from Universidad de Tarapacá who runs that List as well as a
number of other electronic and non-electronic devices to get teachers together.
There´s no need to say how happy it makes arina and me to know that many more Chilean teachers
will now be SHARING our magazine with us every week for free. So, it´s “Welcome”
to our new Chilean SHARERS and a big hug to all our dear old and new
SHARERS.
Love
Omar and
Marina
______________________________________________________________________
In SHARE
113
1.- Teaching
English to a Blind Child – Part 2 .
2.-
Estrategias de Lectura en Lengua Materna y
Extranjera.
3.- Salinger: A Catcher in the
Rye?
4.- Seminar on Drama Techniques in
ELT.
5.- A
Personal and Professional Development Workshop.
6.-
ICANA Annual Seminar
7.- “Talk, chalk and walk”
and “Poetry in the Classroom”
8.- Threatened
Languages.
9.- The Living Lab of Drama and
Communication.
10.- The Buenos Aires Players hit the road
again.
11.- Distance Learning
Courses.
12.- Professional Development SIG In
Pilar
13.- Stop Press: New
Deadline.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.- TEACHING ENGLISH TO A BLIND CHILD – PART
2
Today we are publishing the second
of the paper that our dear SHARER and friend Cristina
Araujo excerpted from
her presentation at the Ninth National Congress of
Teachers and Students of English last July.
If
you missed part one or two , you can always find it in issue 112 in the SHARE
Archives of our Website: www.ShareEducation.com.ar
Meeting
the Needs of Special Learners in the L2 Class: Towards Two-Way
Integration
Theoretical
Background
The
use of visual materials in the second-language classroom is recognized as an
important component in second-language learning/acquisition since they foster
interest and motivation, a sense of context of the language, and a specific
reference point of stimulus. There is at least one study that has shown that
visuals facilitate reading comprehension (Omaggio, 1979: 107) and that, as Finke
affirms, visual images are essential to recollection. He states that mental
imagery is “the mental invention or recreation of an experience that in at least
some respects resembles the experience of actually perceiving an object or an
event, in conjunction with, or in the absence of, direct sensory stimulation”
(Finke, 1989,ch 2).
This
notion that we derive our knowledge from direct experience, in particular visual
interaction with our surroundings, suggests that our body is, metaphorically
speaking, in the mind.
Methodologically
speaking only a few methods like the ‘natural’ or the ‘direct method’ enhance
the primacy of auditory stimulation, sustaining that listening abilities during
the initial stages of second-language acquisition through the use of
comprehensible input are a necessary prerequisite for production (Cantiello and
Fabricant, 1987: 15-72).
In
the 1970s renewed emphasis was placed on aural comprehension and oral
production; it was the age of Humanistic methods: Curran’s Community Language
Teaching, Gattegno’s Silent Way, Lozanov’s Suggestopedia and Asher’s Total
Physical Response. All of them consider language not only a system for
communication but a structure that involves the whole person, blending what the
student feels, thinks and knows with what is learned in the target language,
which is acquired through experience and emotional involvement (Richards &
Rodgers, 1986).
In
the following section I will deal specifically with Suggestopedia and Total
Physical Response (TPR); I will also briefly introduce Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligence Theory (MI), since I believe both can provide interesting ideas to
develop classroom activities.
Suggestopedia
The
term ‘Suggestopedia’ derives from a combination of ‘suggestion’ and ‘pedagogy’
and is based to a large extent on the work of the Bulgarian physician and
psychologist Georgi Lozanov. It was first developed in Bulgaria and then in the
Soviet Union, East Germany and Hungary.
Lozanov, who strongly believed in the power of suggestion in learning,
grounded his method in the Soviet approach to psychology, which derived from
Marxism-Leninism and the Russian tradition of physiology (Bancroft, 1983:
101-102). His view was that by
enhancing the state of relaxation under the right conditions, the human brain
was able to process a large amount of information. Suggestopedia is an example
of a learning system which has sought to involve both sides of the brain in
order to achieve a significant increase in learning performance. It is known
that the two hemispheres of the brain serve differentiated functions (Figure 1)
Left Brain Features | Right brain features |
Understanding of the formal relations (phonological, morphological, etc.) among the parts of a sentence | Determination of the sentence as declarative, interrogative, imperative, or conditional. |
Linking of the syntactic and semantic elements in a sentence | Determination of figurative meaning |
Determination of sentence implication and identification of formal errors | Understanding of humor |
Control of motor functions of speech | Processing of most prosodic phenomena |
Figure
1 – differentiated functions of the two hemispheres of the brain (Danesi,
1988:19).
The ideal
second-language learning situation would involve stimulation of both hemispheres
of the brain since all of these differentiated functions are essential to the
achievement of proficiency in the acquisition of another language. The left side
would provide the text while the right one the context (Danesi, 1988: 26-28).
Students who have been exposed to a predominantly left-brain
academically-oriented education can feel enormously liberated and stimulated
when encouraged to explore their right-brain thinking. This can be done through
an activity such as mind-mapping, or by making increased use of colour and music in their methods of study (Earl, 2002:1).
And here I dare insert some personal recollection from one of my trips to
England in 1996, where I came across with the work of Paul Robertson, leader of
the Medici String Quartet, who had been carrying out research into the neurology
of music and reported on his fascinating work concerning its use as therapy. He
claimed that, in the future, this was likely to make a profound impact on two
main issues: learning and medical therapies. He said that music’s profound
effect on the brain had been known since ancient times and across civilizations.
Its effect on mood had been self-evident, and he claimed to having regularly
used the music of Vivaldi to establish a good feeling by simultaneously calming
and stimulating his audience at workshops (Robertson, 1996:
1-6).
In
Suggestopedic classes besides the music, such disciplines as yoga relaxation and
concentration, extrasensory perception and authogenic therapy - auto-induced
relaxation therapy - are also used to develop “super memories” and to learn
without conscious effort or physical fatigue in a very short time. Students are
encouraged to relax to the sound of classical music while attempting to memorize
linguistic material. Beethoven and Mozart are used mainly for “concert reading”
while Baroque music is used for a second, less formal reading period (Richards
& Rodgers, 1986: 142-153).
Unlike other methods and approaches, Suggestopedia
is not based on a definite theory of language - for example there is no obvious
order in which language items are presented- but there is a concise theory of
language learning supporting the whole approach based on three
assumptions:
1.
That learning involves the unconscious, as well as
the conscious functions of the learner
2. That
people can learn faster than they usually do,
but
3. That
learning is held back by the limitations which society has taught us, by lack of
a harmonious, relaxed working together of all parts of the learner, and by
consequent failure to make use of powers which lie idle in most people most of
the time (Stevick, 1983:
115-117).
Total
Physical Response
Over
a long period of time, many teachers have recognized the value of associating
language with physical activity.
After a detailed observation of how children learn to speak, Dr. Asher,
an American professor of psychology, developed this method that is based on the
premise that the human brain has a biological program for acquiring any natural
language when memory is enhanced through association with physical movement. It
is closely associated with theories of first language acquisition in very young
children where they respond physically to parental commands. Asher places the
origin of language learning in the first conversation between a parent and the
baby, when the child’s face turns in the direction of the voice. He calls this
“a language-body conversation, because parents speak and the baby
answers with a physical response” (Asher, 1983:
329-336).
In
TPR classrooms, students do a considerable amount of listening and acting,
making heavy use of imperative commands such as “Pick it up”, “Put it down”,
Walk to the door”, “Sit down”, etc. “Language is not translated or explained.
Students see, understand and act” (Cain, 2001:38). Given a supportive classroom
environment, these activities can be both motivating and fun. This method
appeals to the dramatic and theatrical nature of language learning. TPR has been
generally thought to be most effective at lower levels of proficiency, though it
has revealed a perfect tool to introduce any kind of concepts even when using
the most traditional book at any level (Glisan, 1993:
30-32).
Apart from considering that Language is
“composed of abstractions and non-abstractions”, Asher does not discuss the
nature of language or the way it is organized (Richards & Rodgers,
1986:87-98). While analyzing his theory of language learning, we can see that it
is close to the views supported by behaviourist psychology, where the
stimulus-response effect is widely used. The learner’s role is that of a
listener and performer, s/he is encouraged to speak only when s/he feels ready.
The teacher has an active role by being the commander and the action monitor of
the group (Rodgers, 2001, pp.
2-3).
Multiple Intelligences
Multiple
Intelligences (MI) is a theory developed by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner.
It reveals a multiple way of understanding the intellect. Recent advances in
cognitive science, developmental psychology and neuroscience suggest that each
person's level of intelligence, as it has been traditionally considered, is
actually made up of autonomous faculties that can work individually or in
concert with other faculties. Gardner says, “There is something wrong when a
person is able to do some things really very well, but is not considered smart
if those things happen not to be connected to school success” (Gardner, 1983).
For the understanding of this theory, it is
important to define intelligence in Gardner’s terms. According to him,
intelligence is the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are
valued in one or more cultural settings. To his mind, "a human
intellectual competence must entail a set of skills of problem solving, enabling
the individual to resolve genuine problems or difficulties that he or she
encounters and, when appropriate, to create an effective product, thereby laying
the groundwork for the acquisition of new knowledge" (ibid: 60-61).
Conceptually, Multiple Intelligences (MI) draws on Psychology, Neurology,
Biology, Sociology, Anthropology, the Arts and Humanities, and Gardner
originally identified seven intelligences (See Figure 2). Lately Gardner has
discovered an eighth intelligence, which he has called Naturalist. This
intelligence is directly related to our recognition, appreciation, and
understanding of the natural world around us. It involves such capacities as
species discernment and discrimination, the ability to recognise and classify
various flora and fauna, and our knowledge of and communion with the natural
world. (Campbell 1989: 16; Gardner, 1999).
Everyone is born possessing the eight
intelligences. Nevertheless, all students will come into the classroom with
different sets of developed intelligences. This means that each child will have
its own unique sets of intellectual strengths and weaknesses. These sets
determine how easy (or difficult) it is for a student to learn information when
it is presented in a particular manner. Figure 2 shows a list of the
intelligences and the core operations, learning centres involved and appropriate
educational activities (Campbell,
1989:10; Rodgers,
2001: 4-5).
INTELLIGENCE | CORE OPERATIONS | CENTRE | ACTIVITIES |
Linguistic | Syntax, phonology, semantics, pragmatics | Reading centre | Lectures, work-sheets, word games, journals, debates |
Musical | Pitch, rhythm, timbre | Music centre | Singing, poetry, chanting, mood music |
Logical-mathematical | Number, categorisation, relations | Math centre | Puzzles, estimations, problem solving. |
Visual - Spatial | Accurate mental visualisation, mental transformation of images | Art Centre | Charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, drawing, films |
Bodily-kinaesthetic | Control of one’s own body, control in handling objects | Building centre | Hands-on, mime, craft, demonstrations |
Interpersonal | Awareness of others’ feelings, emotions, goals, motivations | Working together centre | Group work, peer tutoring, class projects. |
Intrapersonal | Awareness of one’s own feelings, emotions, goals, motivations | Personal work centre | Reflection, interest centers, personal values tasks |
Naturalist | Recognition and classification of objects in the environment | Environmental centre | Field trips, show and tell, plant and animal projects. |
Figure 2 – MI, core
operations and learning centres
Our educational system
tends to stress the importance of developing mathematical and linguistic
intelligences, basing students’ success on the measured skills in only those two
intelligences. I believe that this emphasis is not fair when working mainly with
children and specifically if they are children with different needs. All children do not learn in the same
way. Therefore, it is important for the teaching process that the teacher might
have an "intelligence profile" for each student. This individualized evaluation
practice will allow a teacher to make more informed decisions on what to teach
and how to present information. I believe that a better approach is to allow
students to tackle the material in their own ways by using the different
intelligences.
This theory acknowledges that while not all students may be
verbally or mathematically gifted, they may have expertise in other areas, such
as music or spatial relations. Schools should then seek to help students develop
a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence by recognizing each individual’s
particular abilities and talents, trying to ensure that everyone receive an
education that maximizes his or her own intellectual potential (Campbell,
1989:17-19)
©
2003 by Lic. Cristina Araujo
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.- ESTRATEGIAS
DE LECTURA EN LENGUA MATERNA Y EXTRANJERA.
Our dear SHARER Carmen Pazos from Neuquén, Argentina has sent us this
article reading strategies. It was written by Ana Robles, an HLT Secondary
Consultant in Vigo, Spain. We thought our dear SHARERS might want to try the
questionnaires with the their students and draw their own
conclusions:
La Lectura en Lengua Materna
Lee este texto
El viejo monje estaba sentado junto al camino, con su escudilla al lado.
El viejo monje de la cara arrugada meditaba con los ojos cerrados. De pronto, la
voz áspera e imperiosa de un guerrero samurai interrumpió su serena meditación.
"Viejo, enséñame ahora mismo qué es el cielo y qué es el
infierno".
En un primer momento pareció que el viejo monje no había oído la orden
del guerrero, pero poco a poco, abrió los ojos, con la sombra de una sonrisa
irónica en las comisuras de los labios.
"¿Quieres saber que es el cielo y que es el infierno? ¿Tú? Tan sucio, tan
descuidado, despeinado, con mal aliento ¿Tú? Vestido con ropa manchada y con una
espada oxidada y vieja ¿Tu? ¿Te atreves a preguntarme a mi qué es el cielo y qué
es el infierno?"
El samurai enfurecido lanzó una maldición y, con la cara roja de furia y
rabia, levantó su espada para matar al viejo.
"Eso es el infierno", le dijo el viejo monje suavemente al tiempo que la
espada empezaba a descender hacia él.
El samurai bajó la espada y le miró lleno de admiración y agradecimiento
por aquel viejo monje que había arriesgado su vida para contestar su
pregunta.
"Y eso es el cielo", terminó el
monje.
Contesta ahora estas preguntas. Si no sabes como contestar, vuélvelo a
leer fijándote en cómo lo haces para poder contestarlas.
1.¿Lees palabra por palabra o lees frases enteras?
2.Cuándo lees ¿cómo haces para entender lo que lees?
* te oyes a ti mismo repetir las palabras
* vas "viendo" imágenes
* formas impresiones del texto
* varias de esas cosas a la vez (dime cuales y en que
orden):
3. Cuándo te encuentras palabras que no entiendes ¿qué
haces?
* te las saltas y sigues leyendo sin prestarles más
atención
* te paras y no sigues leyendo porque no te enteras bien si no entiendes
todas las palabras, preguntas, buscas en un diccionario, etc.
* te paras a pensar y deduces más o menos el significado utilizando lo
que entendiste del texto
* cualquier otra cosa ¿cual?
4. ¿Te vas imaginando lo que estás leyendo a la vez que lees o paras de
vez en cuando y entonces piensas en lo que has leído?
5. Cuándo te pones a
imaginar lo que estás leyendo, ¿cómo te lo imaginas? (subraya la
respuesta)
* ¿en colores o en blanco y negro?
* ¿imágenes quietas o con movimiento?
* ¿con sonido o como cine mudo?
* ¿te lo imaginas de forma vaga y general o con muchos
detalles?
* ¿te imaginas cosas que no están escritas, como por ejemplo, la cara de
Edison, el fuego, el ruido de las llamas, etc.
* no ves imagines sino que oyes a los personajes hablar y contarse la
historia unos a otros, o una única voz que la cuenta.
* ¿te emocionas con lo que lees y sientes lo que sienten los
personajes?
6. Subraya lo que prefieres: libros con mucho dialogo, libros de acción,
cualquier cosa, te encanta leer.
Estrategias de Lectura en Lengua Extranjera
Ahora vamos a repetir el experimento con un texto en Inglés. Léelo las
veces que te haga falta, prestándole atención a tu manera de pensar para
entender el texto.
My name is Peter, and I am 15 years old. I'm a Scorpio and my birthday is
in November. I have got brown, long, curly hair, and green eyes. I am very tall
for my age and I've also got huge feet. My mother says I'll have to walk
barefooted soon if I don't stop growing.
My parents are divorced and I live in a small cottage with my mother and
sisters. The garden is quite small, but I like it because it is full of flowers
and I like the colours and their smell.
Mum works in a bank, she likes her job, but sometimes she gets home very
late and then, I have to prepare dinner for my sisters. I don't particularly
like cooking, it is boring.
I love sport and I am in the school basket team, because I am so tall.
When we play for the school we always wear a blue and orange t-shirt with blue
shorts.
Contesta ahora estas preguntas. Si no sabes como contestar, vuélvelo a
leer fijándote en cómo lo haces para poder contestarlas.
1.¿lees palabra por palabra o lees frases enteras?
2. Cuándo lees ¿cómo haces para entender lo que lees?
* te oyes a ti mismo repetir las palabras en inglés y después en
castellano o gallego
* repites las palabras oralmente y vas "viendo" imágenes
* ves imagines directamente, sin repetir las palabras
* formas impresiones del texto, pero sin ver ni oír nada.
* arias de esas cosas a la vez (dime cuales y en que
orden)
3. Cuándo te encuentras palabras que no entiendes, ¿qué haces?
:
* te las saltas y sigues leyendo sin prestarles más
atención
* te paras y no sigues leyendo porque no te enteras bien si no entiendes
todas las palabras, preguntas, buscas en un diccionario, etc.
* te paras a pensar y deduces más o menos el significado utilizando lo
que entendiste del texto
* cualquier otra cosa ¿cual?
4. ¿te vas imaginando lo que estás leyendo a la vez que lees? ¿O paras de
vez en cuando y entonces piensas en lo que has leído?
5. Cuándo te pones a imaginar lo que estás leyendo, ¿cómo te lo imaginas?
(subraya la respuesta)
* ¿en colores o en blanco y negro?
* ¿imágenes quietas o con movimiento?
* ¿con sonido o como cine mudo?
* ¿te lo imaginas de forma vaga y general o con muchos
detalles?
* ¿te imaginas cosas que no están escritas, como por ejemplo, la cara de
Brad Pitt?.
* no ves imágenes, sino que oyes a los personajes hablar y contarse la
historia unos a otros, o una única voz que la cuenta.
* ¿te emocionas con lo que lees y sientes lo que sienten los
personajes?
Respuestas al Cuestionario sobre Estrategias de Lectura
La primera pregunta
o palabra por palabra es una estrategia típica de lectores
auditivos
o frases enteras es una estrategia típica de lectores
visuales
La pregunta dos
o Auditivo + Auditivo + significado
o Auditivo + Visual (significado)
o Visual (significado)
o Kinestésico (significado)
o
La pregunta tres
o Visual (va formando una idea general del texto que le permite 'rellenar
huecos)
o Auditivo (trabaja el texto secuencialmente y se pierde si le falta un
paso)
o Preferentemente auditivo con capacidad de visualizar en caso
necesario
La pregunta cuatro
o Imaginarse el texto directamente indica visualización directa, irse
parando normalmente indica lectura auditiva
La pregunta cinco nos da información sobre la riqueza de la
representación mental del texto y, una vez más, sobre el sistema de
representación preferido. Cuantos más sistemas se utilicen más rica es la
representación interna del texto.
La pregunta seis: los alumnos más kinestésicos prefieren libros de
acción, los auditivos libros con mucho diálogo y a los visuales les gusta leer
cualquier cosa.
Un alumno con estrategias de lectura visuales en los dos idiomas no
tendrá problemas al leer en lengua extranjera. Los alumnos con estrategias
visuales en lengua materna que tengan estrategias auditivo-kinestésicas en
lengua extranjera desarrollarán sin problemas las estrategias visuales. Los
alumnos con estrategias de lectura auditivas o kinestésicas en lengua materna
necesitarán más tiempo y atención.
© 2000 by Ana Robles
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.- SALINGER : A CATCHER IN THE
RYE?
Our dear SHARER Mariano Delfino from Asunción, Paraguay has this article
to SHARE with all of you ( in passing,“The Catcher in the Rye” is probably one
of my best-loved novels and Marina just happens to sweetly “despise” it!
)
Salinger and the Holden Life
J. D. Salinger (1919 -
)
by Steve King
On July 16, 1951 J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was published.
Reviews were mixed, but having been pre-selected by the Book of the Month Club,
the novel was immediately popular. Rare book dealers regard a good, signed copy
of the first edition-this is the one with the dust-jacket picture of a quixotic,
carousel horse-as "one of the most elusive of 20th century books." The only rare
book dealer currently offering one for sale (somewhat damaged, $35,000) says
that the last signed edition for sale, about fifteen years ago, was inscribed by
Salinger to Harold Ross of The New Yorker. The first of many Salinger stories to
appear in the magazine was "Slight Rebellion Off Madison"; this was published in
1946, but it had been purchased by Ross in 1941, when Salinger, at twenty-two,
was not much older than its young hero, Holden Caulfield. It was the first
appearance of Holden in print, and the basis of the Sally Hayes sections of
Catcher in the Rye.
The same rare books' dealer, Ken Lopez, recently had another scarce item
for sale: a "suppressed uncorrected proof copy" of Ian Hamilton's biography of
Salinger. This has the excerpts from the Salinger letters, the material which
eventually led to the original version of the book being squashed; ominously, it
also has Hamilton's name misspelled on the cover, spine and title page. Hamilton
subsequently took the long view of all this. His 1992 book, Keepers of the
Flame: Literary Estates and the Rise of Biography from Shakespeare to Plath,
tells some two dozen tales of scholarly and biographical misadventure. Richard
Altick's The Scholar Adventurers (1950) enjoyably covers the same sort of
ground. Both books should be required reading for any biographer waiting for
whatever joke or treasure may lie in Salinger's New Hampshire
bunker.
So few were interested in Margaret Salinger's letters from her father
that they were withdrawn from auction several years ago. Joyce Maynard's letters
from Salinger, purchased at auction in 1999 by Peter Norton, were returned to
him. In the recent Letters to J. D. Salinger, the novelists Tom Robbins and Jim
Harrison take the Norton side on the Salinger chase; Robbins refers to Maynard
as "that hack who won your confidence and then betrayed you," one whose "karma
reeks of weak ink, sour grape and spilled bean"; Harrison calls her a "whining
vixenette." W. P. Kinsella also contributed a letter; here we learn that his Ray
Kinsella character in Shoeless Joe was inspired by two Salinger Kinsellas-Ray in
the short story " A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist At All," and Richard in
Catcher in the Rye. But in his letter the real Kinsella has another bone to
pick:
I made you a character in my 1982 novel Shoeless Joe because over the
years you made yourself conspicuous by hiding, claiming not to want publicity
but raising hell every time someone mentions your name in the media....
Hollywood didn't have the balls to use you as a character in the movie Field of
Dreams, opting instead for a generic black reclusive author that you couldn't
claim was a thinly disguised you. My publisher's lawyers said to me, "Look, all
he can sue us for is about the sixth definition of libel called 'false light' in
which case he would have to go to court and say, 'I've been portrayed in this
book as a kindly, loving, humorous individual, while in reality I as a surly,
so-and-so who occasionally shoots at tourists when they drive by my house,
therefore I've been portrayed in a false light.'"
© 2003 by Steve King.
----------------------------------------------------------
4.- SEMINAR ON DRAMA TECHNIQUES IN
ELT
Our dear SHARER Pierre Stapley from Rosario has sent us this invitation
to a seminar to be delivered by our great friend Fernando
Armesto.
A New England School of English and Stapley Educational Services
event.
Supported by: English & Fun and Thomson
Learning
"Having Fun In Your Class: The Use of Drama Techniques in Language
Teaching"
Saturday 27th September 2003 - Capital
Federal
with Fernando Armesto
Come and learn how to use drama techniques in your class and have fun
experiencing how different and similar they are. Discover how their educational
value can be exploited with students of all
ages.
Also work with and enjoy improvisations while learning all about them.
Share the magic of theatre-going and its incredible effect on students of
different levels.
Play different roles and laugh at the same
time!!
Objectives of this seminar:
* Explain what Drama Techniques are, and give concrete examples of
them
* Engage participants in a hands-on experience where drama techniques are
used
* Learn and follow the different steps in a class where different
springboards are used to trigger off
improvisations.
* Discuss the possibility of adapting the activities and ideas to
different levels/ age groups.
* Emphasize the importance of
theatre- going and its magic effect on classroom
work
* Explore the use of
improvisations to foster language
work.
* Learn about roleplay and simulations and their potential use in
Language classrooms
Place: New England School of English, Santa Fe 5130, Capital
Federal
Times: 09:30 to 12:30
Fee: $20,00 (Pesos) if you pay before 24th
September
$24,00 (Pesos) if you pay after the 24th
September
Registration & More Information: New England School of
English
Santa Fe 5130 - Capital Federal - Tel: 011-4778-3566 after
14:00hrs
About Fernando
Armesto
Current lecturer at Instituto Nacional Superior del Profesorado Técnico
UTN in the Chair of Didactics for EGB 1 and
2.
Current Head of English at Colegio Belgrano Uno at both Primary and
Secondary levels.
Former Lecturer in English Language at Universidad Austral and
Universidad del Museo Social Argentino (UMSA).
Former Head of English Department at Instituto de Educación Integral de
Munro.
He was a member of the Academic Committee of the Seventh and Ninth
National Congress of Teachers and Students of
English.
Since 1996, he has specialized in E.S.P., working in the fields of Hotel
Catering and Management and Journalism. Co- author of the resource book
"Tourism" Polimodal English. Macmillan
Heinemann.
He
has been engaged in several Drama Clubs and Societies and as a teacher he has
worked with Drama with children, adolescents and adults. He has also
participated as an actor and assistant director in various plays with the Buenos
Aires Players and The Suburban Players.
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5.- A PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOMENT WORKSHOP.
Our dear friend and SHARER Jamie Duncan has sent us this
announcement:
We Teach who we are
How our beliefs shape our behaviour in the
classroom
a one day workshop with Jamie Duncan, Laura Szmuch,
Maria Marta Suárez and Oriel
Villagarcía
based on the ideas by JUDY LLOYD
YERO
researcher in the neurosciences and cognitive psychology at the
University of Illinois, Trainer in NLP, writer of award winning science lessons,
co-author of science books for secondary school students and author of TEACHING
IN MIND: How Teachers Thinking Shapes Education
as presented in a video and in recorded material specially prepared for
this workshop so that participants can explore the beliefs, values, assumptions,
metaphors and other unconscious thinking processes that define who they are and
how they have shaped their perceptions and behaviour
Note: JUDY LLOYD YERO was originally meant to visit Buenos Aires, but an
unfortunate accident-a badly broken arm-has prevented her from leaving the
United States, her homeland.
Further details of the session:
This session is for the teacher who is looking to grow and
develop.
Suitable for teachers of any subject. (The workshop will be given in
English)
Individual, small, and large group activities will initiate the
self-reflection process.
We will have a chance to explore what really happens when we enter the
classroom and how our thoughts and beliefs affect the
interaction.
Ideas for empowering teachers to better
results.
Participants will receive handouts and suggestions for ongoing
reflection.
Saturday, September 27, 9:30 to
18:00
Consudec, Bme Mitre 1869, Capital
Federal
Fee: $ 40 -
Registration closes on September 25
How
to enrol? Deposit the money in the following account: Banco
de la Nación Argentina Branch: 00520 (Federico Lacroze) - Account
Nº: 48019310/2 Titular: James Duncan
CUIT number: 20-60168389-0 –
CBU Nº (for bank tranfers):
01100488-30004801931029
For further information contact:
RT Resourceful Teaching - (011)
4641-9068
ALL Alternative Language Learning(r) - (011)
4821-0280
Organized by : RT Resourceful Teaching, ALL Alternative Language
Learning(r) and Tools for Teachers.
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6.- ICANA ANNUAL
SEMINAR
Our
dear SHARER Rosana Carlino from ICANA Cultural Department has sent us this
invitation:
ICANA Annual Seminar for Teachers of
English
September 25 - 27 at ICANA, Maipú 672,
Capital
Plenary Speaker: Spencer
Salas
Presidential Graduate Fellow, University of Georgia - College of
Education
Specialist´s interests include the use of Writing to Learn in ESL teacher
education, critical educational theory, and the educational cultures of origin
of ESL teachers and learners.
Curriculum/materials development workshops characterized by three primary
objectives:
To raise teacher awareness of their roles as civic educators. through
exposure to critical educational theory,
To provide teachers with practical models and methods for English
Language Teaching in a Democratic society,
and
To engage teachers in their roles as agents of individual and social
change within their respective
communities.
Workshops will emphasize pedagogical method as curriculum
development: the integration of
best practice across the curriculum.
Proposed workshops explore models of participatory classrooms and
curricula-ones that offer students a critical education of high quality, an
experience of democratic learning, and positive feelings towards intellectual
life.
Registration fee: $ 15 -fifteen pesos. Fee payable on
site.
On site registration opens Thursday, September 25 at 1.00
pm.
This Program is sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America,
Cultural Section.
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7.- “TALK,
CHALK AND WALK” AND “POETRY IN THE CLASSROOM”
Our dear friend and SHARER Cecilia Yulita from Bahía Blanca, Pcia de
Buenos Aires announces the forthcoming activities at her ELS.
The Helen Keller Institute cordially invites you to two consecutive
workshops on
Saturday 27 September
TALK, CHALK AND WALK by Jeremy Goodchild, PG Cert TEFL (11.30 - 13.30
hrs)
and POETRY IN THE CLASSROOM
by Griselda Beacon, MA Lit (14.00 -
16.00 hrs)
Venue: Necochea 354, Bahía Blanca, tel. 0291 482
1468
Fee: $22 if you attend both or $13 if you attend only one for APIBB/SEA
members, Profesorado/HK students and state school teachers. $26 & $15 for
all others.
Coffee and biscuits will be
provided.
Talk, Chalk and Walk
Designed for both experienced and novice teachers, this workshop aims to
foster confidence and to revitalise classroom language. A process of
deroutinisation will be suggested as a way of escaping repetitiveness in class
to provide a wider range of usable language. Paralinguistic features will be
reviewed and the language of written feedback
developed.
Jeremy Goodchild holds a PG Cert. in TEFL from Leeds Metropolitan
University. Formerly of London and Norwich, he is Co-Director of Helen Keller. A
guest speaker for FAAPI and IX Congress of Argentinian teachers and students of
English, he is experienced in producing and presenting language and culture
development and teacher training
workshops.
Poetry in the Classroom
The workshop will consider the role of poetry in the EFL class and the
underlying fundamental objective: reading for pleasure. The presenter will
demonstrate how to use poems with students at all levels - from elementary to
advanced in EGB/Polimodal, language institutes and bilingual schools. Special
emphasis will be placed on women poets as an undervalued
voice.
Prof. Griselda Beacon holds an MA in English and American Literature from
Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany. A graduate EFL teacher and a
Fulbright scholar, she has recently finished professional development studies in
her field in New York University. Griselda has lectured extensively in Argentina
and published several publications on Literature. She is also experienced as a
teacher of Literature in Profesorados and a teacher of Anglo-American Literature
for IGCSE students at bilingual schools in
BA.
Certificates of attendance will be
issued.
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8- THREATENED LANGUAGES
Our dear SHARER Carla De Vincenzi from Córdoba has sent us this book
review published
in World Wide Words.
Book Review: Spoken Here
Does it matter that languages are dying out? Should we worry about them
as much as we do about losing the giant panda or the Siberian tiger? Some people
would say not, rguing that a species that has become extinct cannot be brought
back, whilst a language that has been recorded can be taught and so returned to
life. That attitude is surely horribly mistaken, making too much of the special
case of Hebrew, and it's one that Mark Abley's new book
refutes.
When a language dies - and one is vanishing about every fortnight on
average at the moment - you also lose much of the environment and the culture in
which it existed and thrived. Though linguists now dismiss the old Sapir-Whorf
theory that the form of a language determines what you can think and say in it,
there's no doubt that subtleties of observation, feelings and ideas are often
easier to say using one tongue than another, especially when they refer to the
environment in which a language community has grown up and operates. You don't
have to evoke the supposed 100 words for snow in Inuit languages (actually a
misunderstanding of the way those languages work) to know this. Mr Abley
mentions the Berinmo, a hunter-gatherer people in Papua New Guinea, whose
language doesn't have separate words for blue and green, but which does have
words
for two shades of yellow that outsiders can hardly distinguish, a
discrimination that's important to them in that environment.
The author is a journalist who has conservation in his blood and knows
the value of stories about human beings in bringing a topic to life. So this is
a very readable book, although its conclusions are often sad. He points out that
most nearly extinct languages are poorly recorded (so revitalising them would be
impossible, even leaving aside any other factors), with the survival of many
hanging on the memories of a few very elderly men and women, often with nobody
to converse with (he recounts the frustration of linguists who know of only two
surviving speakers of one Aboriginal language who, because one is male and one
female, are forbidden by tribal taboos to talk to one
another).
There are some positive stories, too. There are active attempts to revive
a few languages, especially in the Celtic borders of the United Kingdom. Welsh
has clawed its way back into mainstream use with some 25% of Welsh people
claiming knowledge of it, a very few people are fluent in Cornish for the first
time in 200 years, and Manx, the old language of the Isle of Man, is once again
being spoken by a few locals. It's too early to say whether these last two
represent a brief reappearance through efforts of enthusiasts or a genuine
grass-roots resurgence (I suspect the former and that Mark Abley is being too
optimistic in his reports; the influence of English among minority language
communities is all too great and is likely to be even greater in those that lack
a continuous oral tradition to provide a
foundation).
He travels from the Arctic Circle to Australia, covering on the way
Yiddish, the Native North American languages Mohawk, Yuchi and Inuktitut,
several Aboriginal languages, plus others such as Boro (a tongue of
north-eastern India). His chapter on the
political
divisions among the speakers of Occitan in southern France – of which
some argue that a related language, Provençal, is merely a dialect, while others
equally fervently claim it's a language in its own right - illustrates how
language survival or revival often
has a political or parochial
dimension.
Recommended.
[Mark Abley, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages, was
published in hardback by Houghton Mifflin on 6 August 2003; pp322; ISBN
0-618-23649-X; publisher's price
US$25.00]
World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2003.
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9.- THE LIVING LAB OF DRAMA AND
COMMUNICATION
Our dear friend and SHARER Alfred Hopkins has sent
this note for all SHARERS:
Dear
SHARERS,
It's
Spring....at last! So why not let your hair down, find the real
creative you!
The
Living Lab of Drama and Communication invites Share readers to attend a free storytelling and acting class
any Saturday afternoon (2 to 5 p.m.) at a quaint
cultural hang-out in the heart of San Telmo: "La farmacia," Bolívar 898, upstairs. Buses 152,
22,28,19,17,126...
Bring a story on your lips or be prepared to invent one as you warm up
body, voice and spirit!
Oh, if you're the kind that likes to stay in bed until tea time, you
might investigate "The Talking Forum" at http://www.a-hopkins.com , where you
can say whatever you want about lots of things and have a mate while you wait
for someone to refute your theories on the origen of the
universe!
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10.- THE BUENOS AIRES PLAYERS HIT THE
ROAD AGAIN
Our dear friend and SHARER Celia Zubiri has sent us this information
about her next tour:
LUNES 6/10 - SANTA ROSA -La Pampa
MARTES 7/10 - NEUQUEN
0299-4427945 / 15-580-8777
MIERCOLES 8/10 - SAN MARTIN DE LOS
ANDES
02972-427962
JUEVES 9/10 - BARILOCHE
02944-461434
Les confirmaremos los teatros y las funciones que
presentaremos en el sur del pais
en los proximos dias.
MARTES 21/10 - LA PLATA- Teatro Coliseo
Podesta – Horarios a confirmar.
0221-4831662 / 15-506-8920
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11.- DISTANCE LEARNING COURSES
Our
dear friend and SHARER Susana Trabaldo wants to invite all SHARERS to
Net-Learning forthcoming courses. She has promised special discounts for the
whole new bunch of SHARERS subscribing from Perú, Chile and Uruguay.
Net-Learning, Virtual Learning Environments,
presents: On-line Professional Development
You can do these courses from your computer at
home, school or office and at any time. Enjoy the advantages of
distance education !!!
Here are the courses (all prices in Argentinian
pesos):
"E-portfolios:
Design and Development"
Tutor: Norma Scagnoli (from Illinois,
US)
Duration:
4 weeks – In Argentina: $160
"Prepositions:
their meaning and use. And phrasal
verbs."
Tutor:
Aldo Omar Blanco (from Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Duration:
6 weeks – In Argentina: $160
"Innovative
strategies and resources for motivating your
students"
Tutor:
Graciela Castelli (from Rosario, Argentina)
Duration:
4 weeks – In Argentina: $110
"From bilingualism in the family to
bilingualism at school"
Tutor:
Laura Renart (from Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Duration:
6 weeks – In Argentina: $130
Starting
date: October
13
"Literature
in the EFL class"
Tutor: Claudia Ferradas Moi (from Buenos Aires,
Argentina)
Duration:
6 weeks – In Argentina: $130
Starting
date: October 20
"Information
and Communication Technologies: e-learning and
ELT"
Tutor: Susana Trabaldo (from Buenos Aires,
Argentina)
Duration:
4 weeks – In Argentina: $110
Starting
date: November 12
"Moving
the organization to Web-enhanced learning"
Tutor: Norma Scagnoli (from Illinois,
US)
Duration:
2/3 weeks – In Argentina: $140
For further information and to consult about these
courses:
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12-
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SIG IN PILAR
Our dear SHARER Alejandra Jorge has sent us the September update of which
the following is a part:
Professional Development SIG* (Pilar, Prov. of BA)
Coordinators: Silvia Caporale - Gabriela
Domínguez
Date:
Thursday, September 25th --
Time: 12.00
– 13.30
Venue: Wellspring School – Km 42.5. Las Camelias 3883- Del Viso,
Prov. of
B.A.
Agenda: Current affairs in education: Reading and
discussion of articles on ELT.
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13- STOP PRESS: NEW
DEADLINE
Our
dear friend and SHARER Ana Maria Rozzi de Bergel has sent us some last
minute-news:
Universidad CAECE -
The Buenos Aires Herald Contest for Teachers of
English
Universidad CAECE and The Buenos Aires Herald
announce that the deadline for submitting entries to their contest "Using the
Media for Language Teaching" has been re-scheduled to November 15.
Contestants have to submit a materials design project for the exploitation of
authentic materials taken from the media: newspapers, radio, television,
magazines, the internet. The prize is a scholarship for Universidad CAECE's
Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés. For further information, enter
www.caece.edu.ar or e-mail arozzi@caece.edu.ar
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We
thought it would be nice to finish this issue of SHARE with part of a longer
“definition” of success somebody sent us. We hope you feel about it the same way
we do.
“...Ha tenido éxito aquel a quien nunca le faltó el
sentido de la belleza del mundo y que ha sabido dar una expresión armoniosa a lo
que sintió en su alma, aquel que ha sabido buscar sin cesar lo que había de
mejor en los demás y que ha dado a la humanidad lo mejor que tenía, aquel cuya
vida ha sido una sana inspiración para otros, y cuya memoria es una
bendición."
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!
Omar and
Marina.
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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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