SHARE

 

An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac ©

 

Year 4                    Number 96               January 26th 2003

 

           4400 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,

 

This issue of SHARE almost never got written. We were all so tired here. Our own private Demolition Woman, Marina,  decided this week was the best time to do some spring cleaning. Only, it´s summer!!! These two rainy days we had last week gave her the bright idea that cleaning, tidying up and sorting things out might keep us all entertained (Who wanted  to be entertained in the first place?) Anyway, we are now through with it now but it was tough, believe me.

I think Marina has got the secret illusion one of our boys (or both) are going to become some sort of celebrity and that in future people will want to know all about their lives. She´s started some sort of archives or museum. What goes into it? Their report cards (they are not that good),the best reader, best citizen, best whatever badges they got in Primary school, most of their school notebooks (Can you believe it? Marina corrects me : “Only first and second grade notebooks”), the first books they read in English (she corrects me, again “The first ones they read aloud!”),and the list goes on. I know what´s coming: there won´t be room for all this in the bookcases and I am seriously threatened now that my “Todo es Historia” magazine collection will have to go (Marina adds: “I only asked you to move them temporarily to your mum´s). Oh, God!

I only hope it doesn´t rain till classes start. We don´t Marina to think of other alternative forms of entertainment!

  

Keep on enjoying your holidays!

 

Omar and Marina

 

PS: Our next two issues of SHARE will be published around 9th and  23rd February 2003.

 

 

 

In SHARE 96

 

1.-    Learning Vocabulary, Strategies at Work.

2.-    After Harry Potter, What? (Second Round).    

3.-    An Introduction to Applied Drama.

4.-    Tests for Young Learners: How to make them less scary.

5.-    First Seminar on Professional Development in Paraná.

6.-    What are you laughing at? Taking jokes seriously.

7.-    A Holistic Dimension to Language Learning.   

8.-    Job Opening in Chubut.        

9.-    The “ise” and “ize” endings.    

10.-   Interpretación Simultánea: Velocidad y Resistencia.

11.-   Spanish as a Foreign Language.

 

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1.-       LEARNING VOCABULARY, STRATEGIES AT WORK

 

 

Our dear SHARER Claudia Estevez from San Juan, Argentina wants to SHARE this article with all of us:

 

 

Learning Vocabulary, Strategies at Work

 

By Ana Robles, Fraga (Spain)

 

Whenever we do something, we do it in a certain way and using a certain procedure and not others. If I want to pull down a brick wall I can hit it with my hands, or butt it with my head repeatedly, or can I get a hammer and hammer until the bricks break, or can ask for help, or go and get myself a drilling machine, or find any other way of doing it.

 

The strategy I choose will certainly affect the results. The time needed to pull down the brick wall will vary depending on whether I decide to use a drill or my own head. My own well being will also be affected.

 

The same applies to learning a language (or to any other learning). How quickly and how well the language is learnt will depend to a high degree on the set of strategies I use. The aim of this article is to examine some of the strategies that affect vocabulary learning. As teachers very often we plan our lessons only in terms of the language we want our students to learn (the content), and we don't plan in terms of the strategy the student needs to use to absorb that content.

 

In my experience when I don't teach strategies some students will be able to discover efficient strategies on their own, but some will get stuck and fail. Also I have often met students that were very good at some area of the language, for example, writing, and failed miserably in other areas, like pronunciation. In many of these cases the students were using the same strategies to do very different things.

 

One of the challenges learning a foreign language presents is that languages are by their own nature so complex and multi-faceted that using one procedure is not enough. To tackle the challenge of mastering a new language effectively a student needs an array of very different strategies for the different areas of the language. And then he needs to know when to use which.

 

As teachers we can help our students to develop efficient strategies that foster learning. To do so we need to:

 

1. Identify the strategy or range of strategies more efficient for each task.

2. Identify and make our students aware of the strategies they are using at the present.

3. Present alternative strategies and explain advantages and disadvantages.

4. Provide opportunities and activities for them to explore and practise alternative strategies.

 

Let's take vocabulary learning. Learning a language means learning words, lots of words. Learning vocabulary is usually considered the easiest task, much easier than, for example, learning to write a composition. Even so it is not equally easy for everybody.

 

But what is the difference that makes the difference? What do good vocabulary learners do that is different from what other students do? In other words, what strategies are there for learning words? And which ones are more efficient?

 

Learning a word implies doing several tasks and, in order to identify the most efficient strategies, we need to be clear about exactly what we want to learn.

 

* First, a word is a group of letters and learning a word entails learning how those letters are grouped together. We have to learn the spelling and mistakes are not appreciated. Water is not whatter.

 

When you are writing, if you have doubts about the spelling of a given word, what do you do? Do you say the word to yourself to hear it out? Do you write the word, either on a paper or your mind's blackboard and chose the one that feels right? Do you use any other strategy? Good spellers usually 'see' the words written in their minds whereas bad spellers 'hear' the words. The thing is hearing a word like 'necessary' is not going to give me any information about the number of 'C's' it includes. If a student makes spelling mistakes because he is using an auditory strategy to check spelling, just giving him the right spelling won't help him much. Next time he is writing he will resort to sounding the word again and will make the same mistakes.

 

On the other hand, teaching him to think about the letters will help. Something as simple as asking that student, whenever he is in doubt about a word's spelling, to stop and scribble down a list with all the spelling combinations he can think of and then read them and choose the most likely one, will help him to develop a 'seeing' strategy.

 

* A word is also a sequence of sounds and learning a word entails learning to recognise and produce these sounds. So when I learn a new word I need to learn its pronunciation, (unless I am aiming only to learn the written language).

 

Seeing the word written in your mind is a good strategy to avoid spelling mistakes but won't help you to understand an English speaker.

 

Learning how a word sounds implies using an auditory strategy: saying it both aloud and in your head, paying attention to how it sounds when said by a native and then when said by oneself. Recording oneself and then listening to the tape is the sort of activity that can help to develop auditory strategies in those students used to thinking of words only in terms of what they see.

 

* Then a word is a label for a shared meaning. The word 'water' is a label for a certain type of liquid, not to be confused with, let's say, wine. But a label is not the same thing as the concept it labels.

 

When I learn 'water' I can link this group of letters and sounds to the equivalent label in my mother tongue, and through it to the internal image I have for that concept, or I can link the label 'water' directly to that internal image.

 

Visual information like photographs and drawings help the students to link the new word to that internal image. And we can also explain to them the importance of linking the new words to the idea they represent, for instance by visualising the concepts the words represent as they learn the spelling or pronunciation.

 

When I link the word in the foreign language to the word in my language I gain quick access to the concept behind the word in the mother tongue, and that's good, but I am also adding a step between the concept and the word in the new language, which is not so good.

 

Linking words in the foreign language to the equivalent word in the mother tongue can also be confusing when the same word is linked to a set of concepts that are represented by different labels in the mother tongue.  A table has legs and a person has legs. I can walk the first leg of a journey or I can be on my last legs, and all those 'legs' have different labels in my mother tongue, which can be very confusing if you are used to equating the label to the meaning.

 

Sometimes I ask my students to imagine, for example, a table's leg and to attach to that mental image two imaginary adhesive pieces of paper, one with the word in the mother tongue and the other with the word in English. And then to do the same with a person's leg. The idea is for them to learn the strategy of focusing on the concept and also, to help them to make the distinction between label and concept.

 

Examples of more activities are asking them to write the new word and image the object behind. Or imagine a place they are familiar with and fill it with labels in English with the names of all the different objects and places.

 

* Last but not least, a word is a trigger for all the personal internal experiences I link to that word. When I say 'water' you and I are sharing the common idea of a liquid which is not wine, but behind that I have all my personal experiences of that is what comes to my mind when I hear that word. Water for me is blue, cool, refreshing, and smells of the sea.

 

I know I have really learnt a word when seeing it or hearing it triggers that inner world. And the same goes for my students. When they make the words their own, then they really know them.

 

Learning a word is then much more than just memorising the spelling, it becomes a process of adding learning on learning, going from the outer shell of the word (the letters and the sounds) towards its core to transform it and make it mine. And that process is done in stages. Learning is a spiral of construction. So the in-depth learning of a word is also a matter of time, of reprocessing it and using it in many ways.

 

Which means that vocabulary has to be recycled and used many times, but it also means that there is a time in my students' learning process when I will have to provide them with the space to make the words their own. So that the outer shell of letters and sounds becomes a trigger for their map of the terrain.

 

Humanistic language learning activities aim to provide the space in which that learning can happen, by providing the students with a frame to link the foreign language to their inner world.

 

An example of simple activity would be asking the students to choose a word they particularly like and create a gesture or shape with their hands to represent what they like about that word.

 

Learning a word entails learning different 'pieces' of content, meaning, spelling, pronunciation, and personal interpretation. Each of those 'pieces' has it's own requirements in terms of strategies. Using the same strategy for pronunciation and spelling is as effective as butting the brick wall with your head.

 

When I ask my students how they learn vocabulary, what I find most of the time is that they have a favoured strategy they apply for all the content areas. Some of them repeat the new words orally in their head, others create a visual image, others write them down and make lists of words in English with their translation into mother tongue and so on. The number of students using more than one strategy is very small.

 

Therefore, my main task as teacher is to expand their awareness both of the different techniques available, and of their effectiveness and weaknesses, so that they can choose those that they need for each particular situation.

 

That awareness is expanded just by talking in the class about how each of them learns and studies. The next step is to explore with them the different strategies. First, by presenting them with activities in which they can learn to use specific strategies and, then, by discussing with them the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy.

 

The knowledge that there are more ways than one of learning, and that how you learn affects what you learn is in itself a source of generative learning. Once a student realises that there are many ways of doing the same task he will often start his own search for those strategies that fits his needs better.

 

 

(c) Copyright 1999 Pilgrims Ltd. 

 

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2.-   AFTER HARRY POTTER, WHAT? (SECOND ROUND)

 

Our dear friend and SHARER Fiona MacKenzie from Oxford writes to us in connection to the article by E.Kennedy we published in our last issue: After Harry Potter, What?

 

 

Dear Omar and Marina

 

Hi and Happy New Year. I am enjoying very much your tales of relaxing, wearing shorts and barbecuing. Spare a thought for me shivering in the cold and dark of an English winter. We have had occasional wonderful winter days of sun and crisp cold and sparkling frost - last Sunday was one, but most of the time is has been grey and wet.

 

Just been reading Share over lunch. In connection to the article about what else is there after Harry Potter - have you come across a trilogy by Philip Pullman called 'His Dark Materials'. The books are Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass and they are wonderfully imaginative explorations of the workings of the world - the first book is set in an Oxford of a parallel universe.  (Philip Pullman was an English teacher in Oxford before he turned to writing full time.) Each person has a daemon, a kind of external manifestation of a soul to whom they can talk - and the children's daemons can change from animal form to animal form depending on how they are feeling. So ideas and feelings are made explicit in a way children can relate to. They are books for teenagers which are a great read for adults too - definitely classics of the future. I know that film rights have been bought but wonder how far the books have travelled outside the UK as yet.

 

So - think of me as you relax in the heat and continue to enjoy it.

Love and best wishes

Fiona

 

 

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3.-   AN INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED DRAMA

 

Our dear friend and SHARER Celia Zubiri sends us this article and message:

 

 

Dear Omar and Marina,

 

in spite of this terrible heat I was willing to share with all the SHARERS this introduction to Applied Drama that I am preparing for the First Annual Conference of Applied Drama. Doesn't it sound too redundant? Well, but Drama is Drama and I cannot find now, as a dramatist, another dramatic word to replace it.

My best wishes,

Celia Zubiri 

 

FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF APPLIED DRAMA

 

Drama is one of the most relevant disciplines in the teaching-learning process nowadays. Many things are being said about Drama and one can hear the most fantastic definitions, comments and suggestions of how to apply drama at school but they do not guarantee successful dramatic activities among students. These activities do not mean putting on plays in front of a passive audience or the stiff “dramatization” of dialogues and sketches. They are not sessions of self-liberation or a substitute for the “shrink”. Nor is the teacher training future actors. Successful dramatic activities are the ones that give students the opportunity to:

 

know more about their own abilities and limitations

develop verbal and non-verbal skills

colour language with mood and feeling

use their own personality, imagination and creativity when they are led to provide “material” for the class

find the appropriate expressive frames for the meaning they are exploring

apply and therefore develop their critical thinking

learn more about their inner pace and rhythm improve their concentration and enlarge their span of attention

develop self-control, self-confidence, co-operation and group work

be aware of the space management

 

The starting point to succeed in this “new trend” should be based on the accurate teacher-training development.

 

As I am totally aware of this need and in response to the uncountable number of telephone calls, e-mails, letters and  personal visits asking either for advice or training courses on Drama, we decided we should try to provide teachers with some of the tools they need through this Conference. Some excellent professionals in English and Spanish were willing to join us as lecturers as soon as they came to know about this big attempt that will be held at Teatro Santamaria, Montevideo 842, Ciudad de Bs. As on February 27 and 28 from 9 AM to 5 PM and March 1 from 9AM to 1PM. For further information teachers should visit our web site:   www.thebsasplayers.com

For registration teachers should contact us at our office: 011- 4812-5307 / 4814-5455 from 9 AM to 5PM.

Believe it or not:  now we are on holidays, are we?

 

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4.-   TESTS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS: HOW TO MAKE THEM LESS SCARY

 

Our dear SHARER Paulina D´Amico from Buenos Aires has sent us this article she found in

The Education Guardian. She also sent us a beautiful New Year message. Thank you for both of them,Pau.      

 

Make testing less scary and more positive for young learners

 

By Nancy Wallace

 

Thursday August 29, 2002 - Guardian Unlimited - Education Guardian

 

The questions as to how, or indeed whether, young learners - children aged between seven and 15 - should be tested remains a grey area. The reality is that regardless of how teachers feel about testing, they are usually involved in some way in assessing their students' performance. So how can teachers make testing a more positive and less frightening experience for young learners?

Some of the same principles for teaching general English apply to exam preparation because they suit young students' learning styles. For example, the lessons should have elements that are either physical, visual or fun to add variety and pace, especially in longer courses.

Learning by doing also engages young learners and can be a good way to channel their energy. This might involve making a poster to revise a topic or writing exam or study tips to display on the classroom walls to remind students of their goals. The end-product is satisfying, but also the process of working physically and collaboratively on such a project can be motivating.

Language practice should be maximised early on in the course, followed by exam practice later on. This ensures that students are actually learning and not just being tested throughout the course. It is also a way of preventing exam burnout.

The emphasis in class time is on remedial work. Lots of homework should be set, such as language exercises and, if there is a written component to the test, a lot of writing practice. An ideal activity is for the teacher to collect errors from written homework, type them up and use them as a basis for the language focus during the following lesson for students to correct.

A topic-based approach is an ideal way to revise vocabulary. Brainstorming topics such as the environment or school life can be an invaluable way to activate vocabulary for discursive essay-writing or talking about themselves.

If students need spoken fluency practice they can give a short talk in small groups on a familiar topic, such as their hobbies. If grammatical accuracy is the focus, encourage students to record themselves or make mini-presentations to the rest of the class. As they are performing "in public", students will wish to be as organised and error-free as possible and they will get used to spoken tests.

Shorter courses may not have the time to dedicate to non-exam specific tasks, in which case teachers will have to plan their course around the different areas to be covered for the exam. Regardless of the syllabus, it is important that students are familiar with the format of the exam and the marking scheme. Students can mark their own work occasionally to develop this familiarity.

Children need to be reminded of the learning outcomes and the purpose for doing activities. This is particularly useful where reluctant or weaker students are concerned, as more motivated learners may not need the connection to be explicitly made, whilst for some students not seeing the point in doing an activity reduces motivation further. Equally, students need to know their target grades and how close they are to achieving them. Giving individual tutorials helps towards this, and offers students some time to talk about their performance.

To foster learner independence they need to be encouraged to take responsibility for their learning and to develop good study habits. One way of doing this is to get them to write a "contract" at the beginning of the course, which has targets to be reviewed regularly. For example, "I will do one practice test per week" or "I will keep a vocabulary book of new words".

CD-roms and internet websites, such as Cambridge First Certificate exam also allow the students to work independently and at their own pace. They can work on practice tests, which have the added benefit of instant computerised marking while also providing some variety to coursework.

Another idea is to involve students in evaluating their own work or progress. Older ones could write their own progress report or younger ones could make a wall chart and tick-list of areas covered.

A more holistic way of assessing a learner's performance is to keep portfolios of their work. These are simply samples of individual pieces of writing or tests. If portfolios cannot replace traditional exams they can still be a useful tool on exam courses. For example, students can choose some pieces of work to meet criteria given by the teacher. The students then justify their choices. Such portfolios are also useful starting points for tutorials, as well as for giving parents feedback on their children's performance.

Finally, no matter how well you prepare young learners for an exam, there will always be those who underachieve whether through sheer panic, illness, apathy or adrenalin rush, so make sure students are given more than one opportunity to be assessed and to shine.

 

 

Nancy Wallace specialises in young-learner teacher training at International House, London

 

© Guardian Unlimited - Education Guardian

 

 

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5.-   FIRST SEMINAR ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN PARANÁ.

 

 

Our dear SHARER Luz Sain from Paraná, Entre Rios, Argentina sends us this invitation to :

 

 

First Seminar on Professional Development For Teachers, Translators and Advanced Students of English.

 

Venue: Salón de Convenciones Hotel Círculo (air-conditioning)

Belgrano 157 - Paraná - Entre Ríos

Date: Wednesday, February 12th and Thursday, February 13th, 2003

 

PROGRAM

Wednesday, February 12

 

8:00 - 8:30 Registration

8:30-12:00  Module 1: Exploring Learner Language - Ana María Russo - Liliana Silber

 

An invitation to examine some of the latest theories that shed light on L2 acquisition: the difference between errors and mistakes, the notion of interlanguage, the concepts of normative-   non-normative forms of language, accuracy vs. appropriacy and strategies of L2 communication.

All topics will be profusely exemplified with authentic data from L2 learners.

 

14:30-16:30  Module 2: Teaching Spanish as a Second / Foreign Language - Alicia Cipria

 

The phenomenon of globalization has brought the need to learn Spanish to the foreground of foreign language teaching both in native countries like Argentina and in foreign countries like U.S. Different kinds of learners, contexts, materials, dialectal and cultural considerations are reviewed. These different factors make the teaching of Spanish hard to be restricted to one single approach.

 

17:00-19:00  Module 3: Some Spanish / English Contrasts - Alicia Cipria

 

Research on language contrasts is as diverse as the number of linguistic theories. More formal linguistic approaches have usually neglected application to language contrast. The workshop focuses on tense and aspect distinctions in Spanish and English, specially the use of past and progressive forms. Other problematic issues are reviewed based on the language of origin of the learner.

 

Thursday, February 13

 

 

8:30-12:00  Module 4: Learning Strategies: From Theory to Practice –

               Ana María Russo - Liliana Silber

 

As a rule, students do not realise the power of consciously using language learning strategies in order to make L2 learning easier and more effective.

The aim of this lecture is to analyse some classroom activities in the light of the strategies students use in order to acquire knowledge.

 

14:30-16:30   Module 5: The Earlier the Better: English for Babies and Pre-schoolers

                  María Marta Suárez

 

Find out how babies and pre-schoolers are learning English through a holistic methodology that makes the most of the huge learning potential of the first years of life.

Through stories, play, singing and dancing you will be introduced to the methodology that is being used at the moment with groups of pre-schoolers and babies as from 4 months of age.

 

17:00-19:00  Module 6: Alternative Language Learning: A Holistic Dimension in ELT

        María Marta Suárez

 

Find out how you can give your students what they want: learn how to speak English in a short time while having fun.

During this workshop you will learn how Alternative Language Learning has successfully synthesized holistic techniques such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Suggestopedia, Accelerative Learning and Whole Language to accelerate the foreign language learning process.

 

Ana María Russo Teacher of Methodology, Civilisation and English Grammar at ISP Nº 8 "Alte. G. Brown". Has lectured intensively and conducted several workshops at Conferences and Seminars. Worked as Consultant with Comisión de Diseño Curricular (Ministerio de Educación - Pcia. de Santa Fe).

 

Liliana M. Silber Teacher of English Grammar, Psycholiguistics, General Linguistics and Literary Translation at ISP Nº 8 "Alte. G. Brown". At present Head of the Teacher Education Programme (ISP Nº 8). Has lectured intensively and conducted several workshops at Conferences and Seminars, and has published in "El Lenguaraz", academic magazine of Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

 

Dra. Alicia Cipria Assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics, University of Alabama. Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics, The Ohio State University, 1996. M.A. in Linguistics, Michigan State University, 1990. Traductora Literaria y Técnico-Científica  Instituto Superior en Lenguas Vivas, Buenos Aires, 1987.

 

María Marta Suárez Has co-founded IACA, Holistic English Institute. She has a wide academic as well as experiential background in ELT as teacher, teacher trainer, curriculum designer, and school manager. Her research on humanistic language learning has led her to work and study in Great Britain and Germany. She has run holistic immersion courses and teacher training courses in the Mercosur area and at the Findhorn Foundation in Great Britain.

 

 

Fee: Up to Feb. 8th: $ 30 / F 45 (for the whole Seminar) From 8th onwards: $ 35 / F 52

If you choose to attend separate modules: $10 / F. 15 (each)

Enrolment : Advice Paraná - 25 de Junio 214 - Tel/Fax: 0343 - 4316100

 

 

The Seminar bears "Reconocimiento Ministerial"

 

 

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6-    WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT? TAKING JOKES SERIOUSLY.

 

Our dear SHARER Frank Thorndike from Sidney has sent us this article to SHARE :  

So, Here's One...It's Official: The World's Funniest Joke

By Corey Ullman

 

London, Oct. 3 - After a year of painstaking scientific research, the world's funniest joke was revealed today.

 

In a project described as the largest-ever scientific study into humor, the British Association for the Advancement of Science asked Internet users around the world to submit their favorite jokes and rate the funniness of other people's offerings.

More than 40,000 jokes from 70 countries and 2 million critiques later, this is it:

"Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services.

He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator in a calm, soothing voice replies: "Take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."

There is a silence, then a shot is heard.

Back on the phone, the hunter says, "OK, now what?"

 

National Tastes, or Lack Thereof

Researchers found significant differences between nations in the types of jokes they found funny.

 

People from the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand preferred gags involving word play, such as:

PATIENT: "Doctor, I've got a strawberry stuck up my bum."

DOCTOR: "I've got some cream for that."

Americans and Canadians favored jokes where people were made to look stupid.

TEXAN: "Where are you from?"

HARVARD GRAD: "I come from a place where we do not end our sentences with prepositions."

TEXAN: "OK - where are you from, jackass?"

 

Europeans Dig Surreal Gags

Meanwhile, many Europeans liked gags that were surreal or made light of serious subjects such as illness, death and marriage:

A patient says, "Doctor, last night I made a Freudian slip, I was having dinner with my mother-in-law and wanted to say: 'Could you please pass the butter?'

"But instead I said: 'You silly cow, you have completely ruined my life."'

Marriage-mocking also featured in the top American joke:

"A man and a friend are playing golf one day. One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course.

"He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer. His friend says: 'Wow that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You are truly a kind man.'

"The man then replies: 'Yeah, well, we were married 35 years."'

 

In Scotland, Death Earns Laughs

Death earned big laughs in Scotland:

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like his passengers."

And animals figured prominently. Take the No. 1 joke in England:

"Two weasels are sitting on a bar stool. One starts to insult the other one. He screams, 'I slept with your mother!'

"The bar gets quiet as everyone listens to see what the other weasel will do.

"The first again yells, 'I SLEPT WITH YOUR MOTHER!'

"The other says: 'Go home dad, you're drunk."'

 

Germans Laugh Most

The survey revealed other fun facts:

Of the countries rating the highest number of jokes, Germans, perhaps surprisingly, laughed the most. Canadians laughed least.

If you want to tell a funny animal joke, make it a duck.

The most frequently submitted joke, at 300 times, was: "What's brown and sticky? A stick." Researchers said no one ever found it funny.

 

The findings can be read at www.laughlab.co.uk  

 

© 2002 Reuters.
 

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7.-   A HOLISTIC DIMENSION TO LANGUAGE LEARNING

 

Our dear SHARER Maria Marta Suarez from Buenos Aires sent us this announcement:

 

ALL Alternative Language Learning - A Holistic Dimension in Language Learning

 

If you would like to be trained to apply the holistic methodology, ALL (Alternative Language Learning) to teach students of all ages, even babies, María Marta Suárez and the ALL team of teachers and trainers announce the following trainings and workshops in Buenos Aires, Paraná, Ushuaia and Trelew:

 

Trainings In Buenos Aires:

ALL English for pre-school - February 10 and 11

ALL English for kids - February 12 and 13

ALL English for juniors and seniors - February 14 and 15

ALL English for babies - February 21 and 22

 

Workshop in Paraná:

ALL Alternative Language Learning: A Holistic Dimension in Language Learning - February 13

The Earlier the Better: English for Babies and Pre-schoolers

Find out how babies and pre-schoolers are learning English through a holistic methodology that makes the most of the huge learning potential of the first years of life.

 

Trainings in Patagonia:

In Ushuaia:

ALL- Español como Lengua Extranjera - entrenamiento y pasantía - Febrero 17 a Febrero 27

In Trelew:

ALL English for babies: February 28 and March 1

 

For further information contact Verónica Güemes at IACA, Holistic English Institute, Billinghurst 1741 (1425) Buenos Aires (Alto Palermo area) all@iacainternational.com.

Phone: (011) 4821-0280

 

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8.-   JOB OPENING IN CHUBUT

 

Our dear SHARER  Adriana Eugui from Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Nro 1906 in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut wants to post this announcement.

 

ISFD Nb 1806, a private Teacher Training School within the Ministry of Education in Chubut seeks GRAMMAR and WRITTEN EXPRESSION Teacher of English (Graduate from 

"Profesorados" only)

 

Excellent salary, OSDE H.M.O., initial housing provided.

 

Contact us at 0297-4480907 or send your C.V.  to celi@satlink.com

 

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9.-   THE “ISE” AND “IZE” ENDINGS

 

The following is a reproduction from a question and answer published in World Wide Words that we thought might be of interest to all our word-loving SHARERS

 

Q. In words including the ending "-ize" or "-ise", such as "organize" and "categorize", does British English spell them with an "s" or a "z"?  I would also appreciate a comment on derivation.
[Sid Murphy]

Q. The broad rule is that the "-ize" forms are standard in the US,but that the "-ise" ones are now usual in Britain and the Commonwealth in all but formal writing. For example, all British
newspapers use the "-ise" forms; so do most magazines and most non-academic books published in the UK. However, some British publishers insist on the "-ize" forms (Oxford University Press
especially), as do many academic journals and a few other publications (the SF magazine "Interzone" comes to mind). Most British dictionaries quote both forms, but - despite common usage - put the "-ize" form first.

The original form, taken from Greek via Latin, is "-ize". That's the justification for continuing to spell words that way (it helps that we say the ending with a "z" sound). American English
standardised on the "-ize" ending when it was universal. However, French verbs from the same Latin and Greek sources all settled on the "s" form and this has been a powerful influence on British English. The change by publishers in the UK has happened comparatively recently, only beginning about a century ago (much too recently to influence American spelling), though you can find occasional examples of the "-ise" form in texts going back to the seventeenth century.

I like the "-ise" forms myself, in part because being British I was brought up to spell them that way, but also because then I don't have to remember the exceptions. There are some verbs that must be spelled with "-ise" because the ending is a compound one, part of a larger word, and isn't an example of the suffix. An example is "compromise", where the ending is "-mise", from Latin "missum", something sent or placed. Some other examples spelled "-ise" are verbs formed from nouns that have the "s" in the stem, such as "advertise" or "televise".

At the risk of sounding like a style guide, but in the hope you may find them useful for reference, these are the words always spelled in "-ise", whatever your local rule about the rest: "advertise", "advise", "apprise", "chastise", "circumcise", "comprise", "compromise", "demise", "despise", "devise", "disfranchise", "enfranchise", "enterprise", "excise", "exercise", "improvise",
"incise", "premise", "revise", "supervise", "surmise", "surprise","televise".

World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2003. All rights reserved. The Words Web site is at <http://www.worldwidewords.org>.

 

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10.-       INTERPRETACIÓN SIMULTÁNEA: VELOCIDAD Y RESISTENCIA

 

 

Our dear SHARERS from McDonough have sent us this announcement about a course to be held in the City of Buenos Aires:

 

Curso de Verano 2003

VELOCIDAD y RESISTENCIA en Interpretación Simultánea

 

El curso del verano de 2003 apunta a alumnos avanzados de la carrera de interpretación

simultánea que quieran mantener su velocidad y adquirir resistencia en cabina.

Práctica de interpretación simultánea de las últimas conferencias del mercado

Los temas más actuales: Telecomunicaciones, networking, electricidad, management, ingeniería, delitos cibernéticos, entre muchos otros.

Seguimiento individualizado del alumno - Carga horaria de 4,5 horas semanales

Práctica de relay - Grabación autónoma y centralizada

 

Días de clase: Lunes, miércoles y jueves de 18:30 a 20.00 hs. - Duración: Mes de febrero.

Requisitos: Haber cursado interpetación simultánea

Para mayor información comunicarse al 4325-3101 (líneas rotativas). www.mcdonoughsrl.com

 

 

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11.-       SPANISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

 

Our dear SHARER María José Gassó from Alpha centro de comunicación y cultura,sends us this invitation :

 

CURSO CAI-ELE 

 

Curso Alpha de Iniciación a la Enseñanza de Español como Lengua Extranjera

Verano 2003 (febrero)

Este curso está destinado a todos aquellos que quieran incursionar en la enseñanza del español para extranjeros.

Cronograma: Días: martes 11 y 18, miércoles 12,19 y 26  y jueves 13, 20 y 27

Horario: de 18:30 a 21:00

Fecha: desde el martes 11 de febrero hasta el jueves 27 de febrero.

Charla gratuita informativa: Se realizará el Lunes 10 de febrero de 18:30 a 19:30 hs. Los interesados deben confirmar su asistencia por TE o por e-mail.

La inscripción al curso cierra el día lunes 10 de febrero

 

Informes e inscripción: 4393-1972 E-mail: informes@centroalpha.com.ar

Página web: www.centroalpha.com.ar

 

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Time to say goodbye again. This time we will leave you in very good company. Here is a message that our dear SHARER Maria Minghetti sent us and that we hope will help us all to learn to count our many blessings. Thank you from the  Ingalls (Grrrrr), Maria!

 

 

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

From: María Minghetti

To: omarvillarreal@netizen.com.ar

Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 8:10 PM

Subject: Hello Ingalls Family!!!!

 

God's Boxes

 

I have in my hands two boxes which God gave me to hold. He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black box, And all your joys in the gold."

I heeded His words, and in the two boxes both my joys and sorrows I stored.

But though the gold became heavier each day, the black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black, I wanted to find out why,

And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God, and mused, "I wonder where my sorrows could be."

He smiled a gentle smile and said, "My child, they're all here with me."

I asked God, why He gave me the boxes, Why the gold, and the black with the hole?

"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, The black is for you to let go."

 

 

GO ON ENJOYING YOUR HOLIDAYS!

 

Omar and Marina.

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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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