SHARE
 
An Ideas Page by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac (c)
 
Year 2          Number 13       March 11th   2000
 
 
Dear SHARERS ,
 
Well, we survived our first week of classes. There are still a number of weeks to come. Letīs fill each of them with renewed illussions and the sincere wish to do ur job well, to teach the children well. As Graham Nash said in the 60īs :

Teach your children well

Their father's hell will slowly go by

and feed them on your dreams, the one they pick

the one you'll know by.

 
(1)  IS IT BETTER TO BE A WOMAN ??
 
Last Wednesday was  Womenīs International Day. There are many reasons to
celebrate and, as Marina always says, many others to keep on fighting for.  
Congratulations to all our women fellow SHARERS on their day !
 
Lorena Lara  <lorenalara@arnet.com.ar>, one of .a founding SHARERS suggests
celebrating with a smile. Our dear Lore explains to us  why it is better to be a woman :

"We got off the Titanic first.

We can scare male bosses with mysterious gynecological disorder excuses.

We get to flirt with systems support men who always return our calls and are nice to us when we blow up our computers.

Our boyfriend's clothes make us look elfin and gorgeous - guys look like complete idiots in ours.

We can cry and get out of speeding fines.

We've never lusted after a cartoon character or the central figure in a computer game.

Taxis stop for us.

Men die earlier, so we get to cash in on the life insurance.

We don't look like a frog in a blender when we dance.

Free drinks. Free dinners. Free movies (you get the point).

We can hug our friends without wondering if she thinks we're gay.

New lipstick gives us a whole new lease on life.

It's possible to live our whole lives without ever taking a group shower.

If we forget to shave, no one has to know.

We know which glass was ours by the lipstick mark.

If we're dumb, some people will find it cute.

We have the ability to dress ourselves.

We can talk to people of the opposite sex without having to picture them naked.

If we marry someone 20 years younger, we're aware that we look like an idiot.

There are times when chocolate really can solve all your problems.

Gay waiters don't make us uncomfortable.

We'll never regret piercing our ears.

We can fully assess a person just by looking at their shoes.

We're NOT men."

(2) MASCULINE OR FEMININE ?

An dear old friend from  the red-soiled province of Misiones, Cristina Mayol <cmayol@arnet.com.ar> writes :

I have just arrived and checked  E- mail; I found your two last issues of SHARE , and I love them, and only now, back home with batteries recharged and a contented soul, can I avail myself of taking a couple of minutes to forward SHARE to some colleagues in Misiones. I'm sure they'll love them! Thanks for sharing with us!

Cristina also sends her congratulations on Womenīs Day to all the women teachers on our List and this linguistic contribution to the "war" between the sexes :

"A language instructor was explaining to her class that French nouns, unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine. Things like 'chalk' or 'pencil,' she described, would have a gender association although in English these words were neutral.

Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a computer?"The teacher wasn't certain which it was, and so she divided the class into two groups and asked them to decide if a computer should be masculine or feminine.

One group was composed of the women in the class, and the other of men. Both groups were asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.

The group of women concluded that computers should be referred to in the masculine gender because:

1.    In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.

2.    They have a lot of data but are still clueless.

3.    They are supposed to help you solve your problems, but half the time they ARE the problem.

The men, on the other hand, decided that computers should definitely be referred to in the feminine gender because:

1.    No one but their Creator understands their internal logic.

2.    The native language they use to communicate with one another  is incomprehensible to everyone else.

3.    Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.

4.    As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it."

3.- WELL DONE, APIBA !! 
 
Our young, talented and energetic colleague, Analia Kandel, now APIBA SIGs Liaison Officer, apibasigs@hotmail.com writes to us with very good news to all APIBA members and to the profession in general :

"APIBA (Asociacion de Profesores de Ingles de Buenos Aires) has recently
launched the APIBA SIGs (Special Interest Groups) in order to enable
teachers with similar interests to share ideas and make contacts through
regular meetings, newsletters and conference events. Like APIBA as a whole,
the SIGs are committed to encouraging professional development and
networking.
A SIG is not a course -- a SIG is a study group in which all members
participate and exchange ideas and opinions. Those who wish to participate
don't have to be experts in a particular area - they just need to be keen to
learn new things, share ideas, deb