SHARE
An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina
Kirac (c)
Year
2
Number 41
November 18th
2000
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,
We had a special week at home this week. Marina had to undergo an
operation and with the help of God she is now recovering .
This coming week, we will sincerely appreciate a special prayer for
our family (whatever your conception of God is and whatever "praying" might
mean to you).
We had, as you can imagine, many other things
to worry about but we were eager to resume our contact with all of you. Why?
In this letter from a dear friend from General Pico, La Pampa: Stela
Torales you may find an answer. In it, we found exactly what we needed renewed strength, warmth and love:
Dear Omar
and Marina,
I have been planning to write this letter
since the very first time I read SHARE.
With every new number I
renewed my intentions.But I never wrote.
Although I am a common, ordinary teacher in
a small town I can not help feeling proud to belong to that
gifted race; being a teacher.
And putting my shyness aside, I simply
stepped forward and am sending this birthday message.
I always felt that teachers who do not live
in B.A. or Córdoba or any other big city in Argentina
were isolated from the rest of the world.
Your SHARE always moved, amused,
entertained and enligted me, it still does.
I have been in a class for quite a long
time now but I recently discovered there is a friend popping
out of the screen who comes to cherish and encourage me every week.
Your SHARE does share with all of us,
teachers, with that beautiful "stuff" you are made of.
MANY,MANY thanks for your
SHARE.
Here is a poem ( or rather
this piece which wants to be a poem).
It is full of love and
gratitude.
Maria Stela.
For Omar and
Marina
Dear God we ask you from below
to hear this prayer and
even though
you are too busy for one more
please leave your phone at
Heavens´door
open the line for all to hear
in happiness or tragedy so
near
for all of us, for Marina and
Omar
so bless all those who come to
Thee
and give them peace and
quietness
and bless SHARE with
tenderness
be with us all in ease and
grief
for we are floundering on the
reef
of hope and fear in our inside
God be with us all at
eventime.
In SHARE 41
1.- The Winning
Words.
2.- "From Babel to Internet".
3.- A
Sense of Humour.
4.- 4th Southern
Cone TESOL Convention.
5.- Bernieh´s
Corner.
6.- News from APIBA.
7.- Ruckauf amplió el receso escolar.
8.- A Very Special
"Invitation".
9.- Talking
Business.
10.-2nd Convention on the Teaching of English in Higher
Education.
11- Worth to Remember.
12- TESOL Video Newsletter.
13.-To Whom It May Concern.
14.-1er Seminario Regional en Jujuy.
15- Parataxis.
16.-Models for Classroom Interaction.
17-
Scholarships.
18.-Last APIBA SIG
Meeting of 2000.
(1) THE WINNING WORDS
A dear
SHARER from Resistencia, Chaco, Chabela Rodriguez sends us this most interesting
report about favourite words. Says Chabela:
Y2K, Web, Jazz, and She Are Winning Words
The
American Dialect Society words of the year, decade, century, and millennium
chosen in January 2000 need no introduction. But they could use an explanation.
Word
of the Year 1999 was Y2K.
Word of the 1990s Decade was
Web.
Word
of the Twentieth Century was Jazz.
Word
of the Past Millennium was She.
Yes,
"She", the feminine pronoun. Before the year 1000, there was no "She" in
English; just heo, which singular females had to share with plurals of all
genders because it meant "they" as well. In the twelfth century, however, "She"
appeared, and "She" has been with us ever since. "She" may derive from the Old
English feminine demonstrative pronoun "seo" or "sio", or from Viking invasions.
The
Oxford English Dictionary explains:
"The
phonetic development of various dialects had in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries rendered the pronouns "he" (masc.) and "heo" (fem.) almost or wholly
indistinguishable in pronunciation. There was therefore, where these dialects
were spoken, a strong motive for using the unambiguous feminine demonstrative
instead of the feminine personal pronoun. Further, the districts in which "she"
or "sho" first appears in the place of "heo" are marked by the abundance of
Scandinavian elements in the dialect and place-names; and in Old Norse the
demonstrative pronoun (of all genders) is often used as a personal
pronoun."
By a
runoff vote of 35 to 27, "She" edged out "Science" as Word of the Millennium.
The
words were chosen at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago on January 7, 2000,
during the annual meeting of the American Dialect Society. About 70 members and
friends of the Society were present to discuss and vote on nominees selected
earlier in the day.
Voting
began with Words of the Year 1999. These words were chosen in particular
categories, with approximate votes for each:
Most
Useful: dot-com, a company operating on the Web.
Other nominees: "Y2K" (28), "fatigue" (0) as in "millennium fatigue", "Clinton
fatigue".
Most
Unnecessary: milly (28), dance for the millennium
commissioned by the city of Chicago. Others: "compassionate conservative" (28),
political label of Presidential candidate George W. Bush; "birdosaur" (22), a
flying dinosaur; "millennium fatigue" (4).
Most
Likely to Succeed: "dot-com" (31) company doing business on the World-Wide
Web. Others: "portal" (9) entry site to the Web, "e-tail" (7) retail business
conducted on the Web, "baby Bills" (2) companies that Bill Gates' Microsoft
might be broken up into as a result of the government's antitrust lawsuit.
Most
Outrageous: "humanitarian intervention", (29)
military force used for humanitarian purposes. Others: "denim defense" (16)
victim's wearing of tight jeans, which require victim's cooperation in removing,
as defense against a rape charge; "compassionate conservative" (12); "Acela"
(1), Amtrak trademark for new service.
Most
Original: cybersquat, (32) to register a Web
address intending to sell it at a profit. Others: "HMO+" (21) covered by a bad
health maintenance organization, analogous to HIV positive; "coffee-zilla" (3)
very strong coffee; "logobeef" (3), student slang for something thrown over a
high balcony.
Most
Euphemistic: compassionate conservative(28).
Others: "Your call is very important to us" (22) answering machine message,
"humanitarian intervention"· (13), "possum-rider" (3) student slang for person
indiscriminate with sexual partners, "m'kay" (2) South Park movie substitute for
F-word.
Brand New (not attested in
previous years): Pokémania, (33) obsession with
Pokémon. Others: "mousetrapping" (19) blocking exit from a Website, "trench coat
mafia" (0) purported clique of students at Columbine High School, Colorado.
It took
only one vote to choose Y2K as Word of the Year. Of
the final nominees, "Y2K" got 55 votes, "dot-com" (5), "cybersquat" (2), and
"Pokémania" (0).
For
Word of the Decade, web received 45 votes, the prefix
"e-" 10, "way" meaning "yes" (4), the prefix "Franken" meaning genetically
modified as in "Frankenfood" (2), "ethnic cleansing" (0) and "senior moment"
(0).
For
Word of the Century, jazz got 50 votes to about 12
for runner-up "DNA". Also in the running were the slang "cool" (10), "media"
(9), "T-shirt" (7),
"teenager" (6), "acronym" (4),
"teddy bear" (3), "World War" (2) and "melting pot" (0).
For
Word of the Millennium, other candidates were the article "the" (16), "OK" (13),
"freedom" (7), "book" (4), "human" (3), "justice" (1), "truth" (1), "language"
(1), "government" (1), "news" (0), "nature" (0), "history" (0) and "go" (0).
Thank you Chabela for your contribution and keep on
sharing!
(2)
"FROM BABEL TO THE INTERNET"
Our
dear SHARER, Silvia Falchuck from the Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos
Aires, sends us this press release concerining their III Latin American Congress:
"The
deadline for the submission of abstracts for the III Latin American Congress of
Translators and Interpreters "From Babel to the Internet" is November 30,
2000.
Papers
may be in Spanish, English, French, German, Italian and
Portuguese.
Abstracts
should be submitted to the Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de
Buenos Aires (CTCPBA), Av. Callao
289, 4°P. (C1022AAC) Capital. Tel./fax: 4371-8616/4372-2961. E.-mail: info@traductores.org.ar or institucionales@traductores.org.ar.
The congress shall be three days long and will
focus on the following themes: Tools for translators, Extra-linguistic aspects
of translation and Building new cross-cultural spaces. It shall be held on April
23 - 25 de abril, 2001 at the Centro de Convenciones "Palais Rouge", J. Salguero
1441, Buenos Aires, and a commercial exhibition shall be run in
parallel.
Secretariat:
Ana Juan Congresos, Sarmiento 1562, 4º "F" (C1042ABD) Capital. Tel.:
4381-1777 / 4384-6411 - Fax: 4382-6703 - E-mail: anajuan@anajuan.com.
Coordination
and commercialization: Neira - Di Leone & Asociados, Bmé. Mitre 3955, Of. 1
(C1201AAW) Capital. Tel.: 4981-3656 / 4982-5598. E-mail: expomeeting@ciudad.com.ar
For
further information please refer to: www.traductores.org.ar
"
(3) A
SENSE OF HUMOUR
Pablo
Waisman, a dear SHARER from Canelones, Uruguay, sends us these
two "most unbelievable" stories. Thank you Pablo for your sense of
humour.
"Blonde
Joke"
A
blonde with two red ears went to her doctor. The doctor asked her what had
happened to her ears and she answered, "I was ironing a shirt and the phone
rang-but instead of picking up the phone I accidentally picked up the iron
and stuck it to my ear."
"Oh Dear!" the doctor exclaimed in disbelief.
"But what happened to your other
ear?"
"The idiot called
back!"
"Student Joke"
On the first day of college,
the Dean addressed the students, pointing out some of the rules.
"The female
dormitory will be out-of-bounds for all male students, and the male dormitory to
the female students. Anybody caught breaking this rule will be fined $25 the
first time."
He continued, "Anybody caught breaking this rule the second time
will be fined $50. Being caught a third time will incur a hefty fine of $100.
Are there any questions?"
At this point, a male student in the crowd
inquired: "How much for a season pass?"
(4) 4th SOUTHERN CONE TESOL
CONVENTION
The Chair of
ESP ARTESOL Interest Section, Mercedes Rossetti.
mrossetti@krypton-tech.com.ar
sends us this "Call for Papers" for the next TESOL Southern Cone Convention to
be held in Curitiba, Brazil, from July
12-15 2001 in Curitiba, Brazil :
4th Southern Cone Tesol
Convention
Integrating for
the Growth of ELT - hosted by BRAZ-TESOL
The convention will provide an
open forum
for professionals in the field of ELT
The Academic Committee invites
proposals for presentations from teachers, teacher-trainers,
researchers, program administrators and materials writers.
All presenters must pay the
Convention registration fee. The closing date for entering a
proposal is February 6th 2001- receipt of proposal
forms will be
acknowledged and decisions will be sent to
proposers by the end of March 2001.
The members of the Convention
Academic Committee are:
Brazil Sara
Walker (Chair) former President of BRAZ-TESOL
Camilla Dixo
Lieff PUC-SP
Maria
Cristina Nogueira Leite Cultura Inglesa Rio de
Janeiro
Piri
Szabó CEL-LEP Curitiba
Argentina
Mercedes Rossetti
Paraguay Mary
Meyer
Uruguay Gabriel
Diaz-Maggioli
Types of
Presentation:
a) Talk (45
minutes)
b) Workshop (90
minutes)
c) Demonstration (45
minutes)
d) Panel Discussion (90
minutes)
(5) BERNIEH´S CORNER
Our dear friend and Internet guru, Bernardo Banega strikes back.
Let´s read him:
Hello, fine people!
I presume all of you already know what a
"search engine" like Altavista or
Yahoo! is: a
website having a little window where you write a word, set of
words or a
phrase that depicts some subject you're interested into, then
press return to
get a usually long list of related Internet sites as a
result. Afterwards you
visit some of those sites and (hopefully) find there
the right answer(s) to
your original query.
Now this concept has been extended, or refined, to
that of a
"referenceengine". A reference engine works like a search engine, but
instead of
searching your keywords throughout the whole Internet, it does it
by
examining a selected bank of reference works that are stored in
some
unknown computer or computers somewhere in this world (who cares?).
A
recent example of a reference engine (I should better say
"cross-reference
engine") is
xrefer, at:
http://www.xrefer.com/This engine exhibits an impressive list of sources from which it
caters for knowledge (see P.S. below). As a test, I searched the meaning
of
"serendipity" and got fifteen different instances as a result, ranging
from
the very definition of the word to its use as the name a Nigerian fruit
or
as a rhyme for "bitty". Speaking about serendipity, in the course of
the
said test I found a very funny quotation which I think you can mention as
a
good example of the right use of some English words:
"No, my dear,
it is I who am surprised; you are merely astonished."
(Noah Webster, replying
to his wife who said she was surprised to see him
embracing their maid.
)
Cheers!
Bernieh.mailto:buck@mail.pccp.com.ar
Havent you visitedhttp://bernieh.com.ar ?
P.S: Here's
the current list of works used by xrefer...
Art &
Music: Bloomsbury Guide to Art; Grove Concise Dictionary of
Music;
Market House Books Encyclopedia of the Renaissance; Oxford Dictionary
of
Art; Oxford Dictionary of Music; Penguin Dictionary of Music.
Biography: Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography;
Penguin
Biographical Dictionary of Women; Who's Who in the Twentieth
Century,
Oxford University Press.
Business,
Finance & Law: A Dictionary of Business, Oxford University
Press;
A Dictionary of Law, Oxford University Press; Dictionary of
Accounting,
Oxford University Press; Penguin Business Dictionary; Penguin
Dictionary of
Economics; Penguin International Dictionary of Finance.
Encyclopedias: Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia; Penguin
Encyclopedia of
Places; The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001.
Health: A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition, Oxford
University Press;
Concise Medical Dictionary, Oxford University Press;
Dictionary of
Medicines, Oxford University Press.
History: Market House Books Dictionary of British
History.
Language: Bloomsbury Dictionary of
Contemporary Slang; Bloomsbury Good
Word Guide; Bloomsbury Thesaurus; Oxford
Companion to English Language;
Oxford English Reference Dictionary; Penguin
Rhyming Dictionary; Pocket
Oxford Dictionary of Current English.
Literature: Bloomsbury Dictionary of English Literature;
Oxford
Companion to English Literature.
Philosophy: Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought.
Quotations: Bloomsbury Biographical Dictionary of
Quotations; Bloomsbury
Thematic Dictionary of Quotations; Oxford Dictionary
of Quotations.
Science: A Dictionary of Science,
Oxford University Press; A Dictionary
of Scientists, Oxford University Press;
Dictionary of Biology, Oxford
University Press; The Penguin Dictionary of
Psychology; The Penguin
Dictionary of Sociology.
(6) NEWS FROM APIBA
A new APIBA Executive Committee for the period 2000
- 2001 has been elected. The new authorities of the Buenos Aires Association are
:
Presidente: Cristina Banfi
Vice-Presidente: Stella Schulte de Ugarte
Secretaria: Silvia Iummato
Tesorera: Silvia Rettaroli
Pro-Tesorera: Sandra Revale
Vocal 1era: Analía Kandel
Vocal 2do: Pablo Toledo
Vocal Suplente 1ra: María Valeria Artigue
Vocal Suplente 2da: Laura Renart
The new APIBA Committe announces a Call
for Proposals for a one day seminar to take place in 2001 in honour our
recently departed colleague and former APIBA and FAAPI President
George Lewis.
The theme of this "George Lewis Seminar" will be
"Phonetics in the 21st Century" and all suggestions for panels are
welcome. Please contact APIBA at apiba99@yahoo.com
We congratulate the members of the new Committe on
their recent election and their initiative to pay pay tribute to Mr Lewis´s
memory. We wish them the best of luck in their endeavours at the helm of APIBA.
(7) RUCKAUF AMPLIO EL RECESO
ESCOLAR
The following is an excerpt of the news of special
interest to teachers in Provincia de Buenos Aires published in "Clarín" :
El gobernador bonaerense dispuso que el próximo ciclo
lectivo comenzará una
semana más tarde para favorecer el turismo en la costa
atlántica.
En el 2001 los alumnos de la Educación General Básica (EGB)
regresarán a
las aulas el 12 de marzo y los
estudiantes del Polimodal, una semana
después.
El director General de Cultura y Educación, José
Bordón, aclaró que
esos días no se perderán. Habrá modificaciones en el
calendario escolar
para recuperar las horas cátedras en diciembre de 2001 o
se reducirá el
número de jornadas sin actividad por actos.
Ayer, en tanto,
se anunció que los maestros de Buenos Aires cobrarán esta
semana la segunda
parte del Fondo de Incentivo, cuyo pago estaba demorado.
Según informó la
Federación de Educadores Bonaerenses (FEB), se pagarán
casi 190 pesos por
cargo.
(8) A VERY SPECIAL "INVITATION"
Dear Omar and
Marina,
Congratulations on this first year
and I hope you will go on for many years more.
I'm one of the SHARERS from
Bahia Blanca who enjoys reding the magazine so I have decided to send you a
present to warm your souls.When I read this piece of writing it touched
me at my deepest level and it reminded me of what is important about being
human.
Regards.
Erika De Leo
THE
INVITATION
It doesn't interest me what you do
for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old
you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,for your
dream, for the adventure of being alive.
it doesn't interest me what planets
are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your
own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled
and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain,
mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with
joy, mine or your own,if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill
you to the tip of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to
be realistic, to remember the limitations of being
human.
It doesn't interest me if the story
you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint
another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and
not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and
trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see
beauty, even when it is not pretty, every day , and if you can source your own
life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with
failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where
you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up,
after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and
do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me who you
know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center
of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where
or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you ,
from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty
moments.
From The invitation
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
Thank you Erika for this gift and the pleasure of your
company. We will try to remember your "invitation" always.
(10) 2nd. CONVENTION ON THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH
Primer Seminario Regional para Profesores y Estudiantes de Inglés to be
held in
San Salvador de Jujuy on 24th and 25th of November organized by the
Asociación Jujeña de Profesores de Inglés:
Prof. Susana Sibila - Universidad Católica de Salta
Prof. Omar Villarreal - Universidad Tecnológica Nacional
parataxis (par-uh-TAK-sis) noun
The
juxtaposition of clauses or phrases without the use of
coordinating or
subordinating conjunctions, as in "It was cold; the snows
came".
[Greek,
a placing side by side, from paratassein, to arrange side by side
:
para-,
beside + tassein, to arrange.]
"Confessional
writing is very much the currency of this collection: experience,
not form or genre, comes across as the motivating impulse, despite
occasional odd paragraphing and typeface shifts and a fondness
for
parataxis and collage"
Chris Feik, Pulp fiction, Meanjin, Issue 1,
1997.
(16) MODELS FOR CLASSROOM INTERACTION
Next Saturday 25th of November Omar
Villarreal will conduct a three-hour workshop at Bridge English in Ramos Mejía from 10:00 to 13:00 hours.
The topic of the workshop will be of
special relevance for the teacher of English working in harsh
circumstances especially with teenagers in EGB3 and Educación Polimodal.
Models of Classroom Interaction
Discipline? Motivation? Respect?
Cooperation?
Some very special hints for the very real
classroom
This is a ticketed event with very limited
vacancies.
(17) SCHOLARSHIPS
El gobierno de Holanda ofrece becas para
argentinos, egresados universitarios, interesados en estudios de posgrado en
ingles. Las solicitudes deben ser presentadas y avaladas por el empleador y los
postulantes deben demostrar garantia de ser reincorporados a sus
funciones/tareas a su regreso al pais. Los formularios pueden obtenerse en:
Embajada del Reino de los Paises Bajos. Av. De Mayo 701, piso 19. Sra Elly
Repetto. Tel: 4334-4000 int 228. - E-mail:
lgovbue@infomatic.com.ar
(18) LAST APIBA SIG OF
2000
Our dear SHARER Ms. Analia Kandel has written to us to announce the last
meeting of a SIG during 2000:
Methodology SIG
Co-ordinators: Silvia Luppi - Roxana Viñes
Date: Friday, November 24 -- Time: 18.30 - 21:00
hours
Venue: Language Two School of English, Av. Gaona 1846, Buenos
Aires
Agenda:
Group discussion
of two articles contributed by Mónica Gandolfo:
Gasser, M. (1990)
Connectionism and Universals of L2 Acquisition. SSLA 12:
179-199
Ellis.N. and R. Schmidt.
(1997) Morphology and Longer Distance Dependencies. SSLA 19:
145-171
Copies of these
articles are available from Language Two School of English.
________________________________________________