SHARE

 

An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac ©

 

Year 7                Number 168             June 28th 2006

         
10,602 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,

 

Just a few lines to say the two old but never worn out words: “thank you”. Thank you to the beautiful people that crowded the main hall of Hotel Jardín for the NOA Congress in Tucumán (not to see me but for the whole length of the Congress, that is). Thank you to the early –risers that attended my plenary at URUTESOL in Montevideo on Sunday at 8:00 a.m! ( I had to take the plane back to B.A. at 12:00 because after all it was Father´s Day!). Thank you to the many well wishers who wrote get-well mails while I was in bed with flu for almost a week. Thank you all for your loving support and care.

Back home, both Marina and I are getting ready for the big family occasion of the year: It will be Sebas´s (our youngest son) 18th birthday party next July 8th and for our pet professional event of the year the 12th National Congress of Teachers of English where we will both speak. Plenty of work but with lots of gaiety and pleasure!

 

Love

Omar and Marina

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In SHARE 168

 

1.-    John Updike on Authorship.

2.-    The effects of teachers' characteristics on teaching EFL.

3.-    The Basics of MI – Multiple Intelligences Theory.

4.-    On Brain Based Consultants.

5.-    Primeras Jornadas Internacionales de Fonética y Fonología.
6.-    APIZALS´6th Annual Conference in Bariloche.

7.-    Humanistic Language Teaching Conference.

8.-    Second National Meeting of Teacher Training Colleges

9.-    20th ARTESOL Convention.

10.-   Shakespeare at the British Arts Centre.

11.-   XI Seminar on English Phonetics in Chile.

12.-   Teaching English to Kids in times of the World Cup.

 

 

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1.- JOHN UPDIKE ON AUTHORSHIP

 

The End of Authorship

By John Updike

Published: June 25, 2006 - Sunday Book Review – The New York Times

 

Booksellers, you are the salt of the book world. You are on the front line where, while the author cowers in his opium den, you encounter - or "interface with," as we say now - the rare and mysterious Americans who are willing to plunk down $25 for a book. Bookstores are lonely forts, spilling light onto the sidewalk. They civilize their neighborhoods. At my mother's side I used to visit the two stores in downtown Reading, Pa., a city then of 100,000, and I still recall their names and locations - the Book Mart, at Sixth Street and Court, and the Berkshire News, on Fifth Street, in front of the trolley stop that would take us home to Shillington.

When I went away to college, I marveled at the wealth of bookstores around Harvard Square. In addition to the Coop and various outlets where impecunious students like myself could buy tattered volumes polluted by someone else's underlinings and marginalia, there were bookstores that catered to the Cambridge bourgeoisie, the professoriate, and those elite students with money and reading time to spare. The Grolier, specializing in modern poetry, occupied a choice niche on Plympton Street, and over on Boylston there was the Mandrake, a more spacious sanctum for books of rare, pellucid and modernist water. In the Mandrake - presided over by a soft-voiced short man, with brushed-back graying hair - there were English books, Faber & Faber and Victor Gollancz, books with purely typographical jackets and cloth-covered boards warping from the damp of their trans-Atlantic passage, and art books, too glossy and expensive even to glance into, and of course New Directions books, modest in format and delicious in their unread content.

After Harvard, I went to Oxford for a year, and browsed for dazed hours in the rambling treasury, on the street called the Broad, of Blackwell's - shelves of Everyman's and Oxford Classics, and the complete works, jacketed in baby-blue paper, of Thomas Aquinas, in Latin and English! Then I came to New York, when Fifth Avenue still seemed lined with bookstores - the baronial Scribner's, with the central staircase and the scrolled ironwork of its balconies, and the Doubleday's a few blocks on, with an ascending spiral staircase visible through plate glass.

Now I live in a village-like corner of a small New England city that holds, mirabile dictu, an independent bookstore, one of the few surviving in the long coastal stretch between Marblehead and Newburyport. But I live, it seems, in a fool's paradise. Last month, The New York Times Magazine published a lengthy article that gleefully envisioned the end of the bookseller, and indeed of the writer. Written by Kevin Kelly, identified as the "senior maverick" at Wired magazine, the article describes a glorious digitalizing of all written knowledge. Google's plan, announced in December 2004, to scan the contents of five major research libraries and make them searchable, according to Kelly, has resurrected the dream of the universal library. "The explosive rise of the Web, going from nothing to everything in one decade," he writes, "has encouraged us to believe in the impossible again. Might the long-heralded great library of all knowledge really be within our grasp?"

Unlike the libraries of old, Kelly continues, "this library would be truly democratic, offering every book to every person." The anarchic nature of the true democracy emerges bit by bit. "Once digitized, books can be unraveled into single pages or be reduced further, into snippets of a page," Kelly writes. "These snippets will be remixed into reordered books and virtual bookshelves. Just as the music audience now juggles and reorders songs into new albums (or 'playlists,' as they are called in iTunes), the universal library will encourage the creation of virtual 'bookshelves' - a collection of texts, some as short as a paragraph, others as long as entire books, that form a library shelf's worth of specialized information. And as with music playlists, once created, these 'bookshelves' will be published and swapped in the public commons. Indeed, some authors will begin to write books to be read as snippets or to be remixed as pages."

The economic repercussions of this paradise of freely flowing snippets are touched on with a beguiling offhandedness, as a matter of course, a matter of an inexorable Marxist unfolding. As the current economic model disappears, Kelly writes, the "basis of wealth" shifts to "relationships, links, connection and sharing." Instead of selling copies of their work, writers and artists can make a living selling "performances, access to the creator, personalization, add-on information, the scarcity of attention (via ads), sponsorship, periodic subscriptions - in short, all the many values that cannot be copied. The cheap copy becomes the 'discovery tool' that markets these other intangible valuables."

This is, as I read it, a pretty grisly scenario. "Performances, access to the creator, personalization," whatever that is - does this not throw us back to the pre-literate societies, where only the present, live person can make an impression and offer, as it were, value? Have not writers, since the onset of the Gutenberg revolution, imagined that they already were, in their written and printed texts, giving an "access to the creator" more pointed, more shapely, more loaded with aesthetic and informational value than an unmediated, unpolished personal conversation? Has the electronic revolution pushed us so far down the path of celebrity as a summum bonum that an author's works, be they one volume or 50, serve primarily as his or her ticket to the lecture platform, or, since even that is somewhat hierarchical and aloof, a series of one-on-one orgies of personal access?

In my first 15 or 20 years of authorship, I was almost never asked to give a speech or an interview. The written work was supposed to speak for itself, and to sell itself, sometimes even without the author's photograph on the back flap. As the author is gradually retired from his old responsibilities of vicarious confrontation and provocation, he has grown in importance as a kind of walking, talking advertisement for the book - a much more pleasant and flattering duty, it may be, than composing the book in solitude. Authors, if I understand present trends, will soon be like surrogate birth mothers, rented wombs in which a seed implanted by high-powered consultants is allowed to ripen and, after nine months, be dropped squalling into the marketplace.

In imagining a huge, virtually infinite wordstream accessed by search engines and populated by teeming, promiscuous word snippets stripped of credited authorship, are we not depriving the written word of its old-fashioned function of, through such inventions as the written alphabet and the printing press, communication from one person to another - of, in short, accountability and intimacy? Yes, there is a ton of information on the Web, but much of it is egregiously inaccurate, unedited, unattributed and juvenile. The electronic marvels that abound around us serve, surprisingly, to inflame what is most informally and noncritically human about us - our computer screens stare back at us with a kind of giant, instant "Aw, shucks," disarming in its modesty, disquieting in its diffidence.

The printed, bound and paid-for book was - still is, for the moment - more exacting, more demanding, of its producer and consumer both. It is the site of an encounter, in silence, of two minds, one following in the other's steps but invited to imagine, to argue, to concur on a level of reflection beyond that of personal encounter, with all its merely social conventions, its merciful padding of blather and mutual forgiveness. Book readers and writers are approaching the condition of holdouts, surly hermits who refuse to come out and play in the electronic sunshine of the post-Gutenberg village. "When books are digitized," Kelly ominously promises, "reading becomes a community activity. . . . The universal library becomes one very, very, very large single text: the world's only book."

Books traditionally have edges: some are rough-cut, some are smooth-cut, and a few, at least at my extravagant publishing house, are even top-stained. In the electronic anthill, where are the edges? The book revolution, which, from the Renaissance on, taught men and women to cherish and cultivate their individuality, threatens to end in a sparkling cloud of snippets.

So, booksellers, defend your lonely forts. Keep your edges dry. Your edges are our edges. For some of us, books are intrinsic to our sense of personal identity.

John Updike's most recent novel is "Terrorist." This essay is adapted from his address to booksellers at the Book Expo convention held last month in Washington.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/books/review/25updike.html?_r=1&8bu=&emc=bu&pagewanted=all

 

© 2006 by The New York Times

 

 

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2.- THE EFFECTS OF TEACHERS' CHARACTERISTICS ON TEACHING  EFL

 

 

Our dear SHARER Bahman Gorjian from the Islamic Azad University of Abadan, Iran,

has sent us this paper of his authorship for publication.

 

The effects of teachers' characteristics on teaching  EFL among Iranian first year university students

 

Abstract

 

 

        Teaching English as a foreign language in Iran needs to be theorized thoroughly concerning new leaning and teaching trends in terms of individual differences(IDs)and cultural values.The purpose of the present investigation was to shed a brief light on EFL teachers' beliefs and characteristics to evaluate the present status of TEFL.The participants were male(n=9)and female(n=8)L2 teachers obtained through stratified random sampling in Mahshahr University, Iran.

        The subjects filled in 5-point Likert rating scale questionnaire including assessing L2 teachers' motivation,attitude,aptitude/teaching knowledge,traditional teaching ideas(TTI),sex and age.Data were collected and analyzed through descriptive(i.e.,mean,variance,SD,range)and inferentially (i.e.,one sample t test and Chi-square.The results showed that EFL teachers revealed their needs for a new and adaptable L2 teaching theory based on Iranian situation and culture.The survey results showed the emergence of changing TEFL theory in Iran.Finally some implications of the findings for designing and adaptable TEFL theory in Iran were descussed along with suggestions for further researches.

 

 

 

 

1.Introduction

 

        The emergence on new trends in teaching and learning L2 around the world affect TEFL in Iran in terms of the influence of internet websites,sattelite TVs,and computer-based teaching in Iranian institutes and universities.These new teaching and learning instruments have made the university teachers think of the role of English as an International Language(EIL) in science and technology.The effect of ESP and EAP in Iranian industries cannot be neglected.EGP as a prerequisite course of ESP/EAP in Iranian universities is relatively taught in a traditional way and mostly in a weak version of GTM.Primary and secondary high school students were exposed to two or three hours a week reading English textbooks relying on reading comprehension and grammatical points.Listening and speaking skills are not almost involved in such situations.The lack of English language exposure outside the classrooms make the students participated in private language institutes in which listening and speaking skills are dealt with. The university students entered the colleges with a poor background of English.The classrooms are elective and formal instructions are used in teaching EGP as well as ESP.

        The main factor is the role of teachers as active students passive.In most of the university classrooms,the students and teachers cooperation cannot be fulfilled easily.There are required texts matched with university syllabuses and should be finished at the end of each semester.The role of Persian translation in such classrooms is dominant.The teachers who deal with EGP may teach ESP in different field of study(e.g.,physics,chemistry,computer,etc).The selection of teachers in teaching a specific ESP course is based on his/her experiences in teaching such courses.TEFL at university level either in EGP or ESP courses is dealt with traditional ideas and teaching theories which should be renewed and adapted to new trends in L2 teaching and learning around the world.

The investigations of university teachers can help us to arrive at this situation.The major purposes of the study are:(1)to identify the range,type and frequency of language teaching status used by Iranian TEFL teachers at the university level as the ultimate goal of L2 teaching,and (2)to investigate the relationship of motivation,attitudes, aptitude,teaching concerns,traditional teaching ideas,sex and age to TEFL.For the purpose of this study,the following assumptions were made:

 

        (1)there will be significant and meaningful relationships between TEFL status

      and teachers' IDs,

        (2)between TEFL status and university teachers' sex role,

        (3)between TEFL status and teaching concerns and traditional teaching ideas.

 

The problem behind the present study is that the researchers mostly have emphasized the students' IDs affecting L2 learning.There are few researches which are dealing with L2 teachers' IDs affecting L2 achievement (Scrivener, 1994; Arends, 1998). Thus the present study investigated the effects of teachers' characteristics(i.e.,or IDs) affecting on adaptable TEFL theory in Iran.The subjects were 17,male(n=9)and female (n=8),teachers majoring TEFL with a consideration of variables such as motivation, attitudes,aptitude(i.e.,linguistic knowledge and teaching effectiveness),teaching concerns, traditional teaching ideas,sex and age.The subjects were EFL teachers at the university level.They taught EGP or ESP to undergraduate students in Mahshahr, Khozestan province of Iran.They filled in 5-point Likert rating scales questionnaires (Arends,1998 and Gorsuch,2003).The results showed there are no correlation between sex,age and traditional teaching ideas concerning TEFL IN Iranian universities.It was revealed that the teachers' motivation,attitudes,aptitudes and teaching concerns had a significant relationship of their teaching strategies.Some implications of the findings are discussed along with suggestions for further research.

 

2.Review of literature

 

2.1.L2 teachers' IDs

 

        L2 teachers' characteristics such as motivations,attitudes,aptitudes,beliefs and concerns, traditional teaching ideas(TTI),sex and age can affect TEFL learning processes.We may divide motivations,attitudes,beliefs and concern to affective domain,aptitude and (TTI) to cognitive domain and sex and age to biological domain.These three domains would interwoven in EFL learning and teaching (Coleman,1997).Figure1.shows the interplay of teachers' IDs in TEFL.

 

 

Figure 1 The Interplay of Teachers' IDs in TEFL

 

 

 

 

        According to Figure 2.1.1.seven L2 teachers' IDs affecting TEFL/TESL achievement directly.It should be noted that the three domains of affective,cognitive and biological domains are reciprocally interwoven.The study of individualizing instruction came into focus in the early 1970s.According to Dunkin and Biddle(1975); Krashen (1981);Sternhouse(1987)and Madrid (1995)the learner and the teacher are two main protagonists in the teaching and learning processes in the classroom.In other words,the role of competent teacher in EFL situation should not be ignored. Madrid(1995)argues the importance of teachers' knowledge of IDs considerations to design specific classroom research plans:controlling variables,drawing conclusions and apply them to their classroom teaching situations to improve them (Brown, 1980;Gardner,1985;Ellis,1994).

 

        Motivation in L2 teaching processes plays a great role in teaching strategies and exploring new techniques and using experiences in TEFL.(Gardner et al.,.(1997)defined motivation as the individual's attitude,desire and effort(345).Teachers' motivation can transfer to L2 students in many way to activate their learning motivations.Here the teacher plays as the motivator of L2 classroom.Most of researches have dealt with L2 learners' motivations and L2 teachers' motivations are overlooked by L2 researchers especially in non-Western countries including Iran.Teachers need to discover their motivations as well as their students to bridge the gap of motivational elements between him/herself and the L2 students.These considerations allow L2 teachers to develop natural strengths and may suggest areas for growth and help motivation.

 

        Cohen(1998)focuses on EFL teachers to activate learners' strategies in learning EFL.He says "if teachers are willing,in fact to act as change agents in the classroom shifting the responsibility for learning more onto the shoulders of the students themselves-they will actually be taking on series of roles(98")".Thus L2 teachers and learners are reciprocally motivated by one another and their appropriate interaction can affect their level of motivation (Gorjian,1998; Nunan,2005;Ellis,2005).       

Teachers' attitude(i.e.,positive or negative)toward L2 and teaching career affect successful L2 teaching.Morgan(1993)argues the L2 teacher can change L2 learners' attitude toward L2 and its culture.Finch(2002)states that the L2 teachers should provide the learners with positive atmosphere of the class enhancing positive attitudes in FL/SL learners.Cook(2003)noted that the students should believe their L2 teachers as well as the L2 and its native speakers.

 

        Aptitude in teachers' case regarded as linguistic knowledge and class management. Aptitude refers to teacher's capability in class management and teaching competency.The implications of aptitude for teaching,according to Cook(2001) "returns us to the discussion of the roles of language teaching in society.Thus,aptitude is a socio-educational phenomenon which is shaped in L2 learners as well as in EFL/ESL teachers' effectiveness.

 

        Teaching concerns refer to Arends'(1998:31)idea that "learning to teach is a developmental process-people progress through stages-and awareness of the stage can facilitate this process."Being concerned means L2 teachers think of something(i.e.,which is important in L2 classrooms) personally.

 

Thus the teacher can be concerned about problems and opportunities,current or anticipated issues,and so on.These concerns help L2 teachers to account for L2 situations,learners' IDs and EFL teaching and learning strategies.Traditional Teaching Ideas (TTI)refer to the state in which university teachers concerning with old methods and theories in terms of class management and L2 learning. Traditional viewpoints,passive L2 learners,lack of enthusiasm,severe disciplines,dictatorship, teacher-centered and confucian ideas in teaching processes may hinder L2 processes(Gorjian,2006).

 

        New trends in L2 learning reject all these old-fashion ideas in EFLO/ESL teaching and learning. Fong Chung(2005)proposes that "in language teaching,present programs such as student-centered learning,self-instruction learning(Dickinson,1987)and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)are among the approaches that support students' need analysis and personalization(1-2)."Sex as a biological factor may affect L2 teaching theories and strategies.There is a scarcity of data concerned with sex and its role in teaching methods.

 

There is a belief that sex affects L2 learning strategies (Tercanlioglu, 2004;Ok,2003).But there is little evidence that sex affect L2 teaching strategies.Glombok and Fivush(1994)believe in social role of sex rather than its pedagogical role.In fact,more research in needed in this area(i.e.,in both males and females)to establish how effective strategy use may be facilitated by L2 teachers(Gorjian,2006).

 

        Age and EFL teaching relationship can be considered as an argument between linguists,teachers and biologists.Most of the researches have focused on age in FLA rather than SLL and rarely TEFL/TESL.Cook(1986)believes that much of the research is still open to their interpretations.Age as a significant variable can affect the rate of learning and the cognitive variables(e.g.,aptitude)as well.Thus,L2 teacher should be aware of age as a biological factor correlated to social and cognitive issues in L2 development.L2 teachers age should be studied in terms of their aptitude and TEFL/TESL experiences.It seems to us age and sex might be influential in L1and L2 learning but there is no evidence that they might affect L2 teaching(Gorjian 2006;1998).

 

        In short,investigations(Oxford,1993,Oxford et al.,1988)showed that IDs affect L2 learning strategies;however,there is a need to investigate the effectiveness of L2 teachers' IDs in TEFL/TESL.

 

3.Methodology

3.1.Subjects

 

        The subjects were 17 Iranian university instructors who were teaching EGP and ESP in Mahshahr,Khozestan province.The subjects were male teachers(n=9),age ranging from 23 to 32 years old,mean(28),SD(3.20)and the age range of(9).The female teachers(n=8),age ranging from 22 to 45 years old,mean(31.13),SD(8.97),and the age rangeof(23).The subjects were obtained based on stratified random sampling out of 40 male and female universi teachers.Their teaching experiences in males(ranging from 1 to 10)and in females(ranging from 2 to 22).Although they had no obligation to fill out and hand in the teachers' questionnaire,almost all of them completed the survey forms and submitted them.

 

3.2.Instrumentation

 

        The instruments used in the data collection were a collection of the Arends'(1998)and Gorsuch's (2003)Teaching Concerns/Motivations and Good Teacher Inventories(Appendix A and B).These questionnaires are self-reporting questionnaires for L2 teachers by requiring them to answer 43-items or questions on their beliefs and viewpoints concerning TEFL in Iran on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Agree Strongly)5)to Disagree Strongly(1).

 

        Arends(1998)developed Teaching Concerns/Motivations Inventories which contain two categories(1):Teaching Concerns(Appendix A),and (2)Teaching Motivation(Appendix B).Gorsuch (2003) designed Good Teacher Inventory V.1(Appendix C)which contains three categories(1)Attitudes(5 items), (2)Aptitudes/Teaching Management(9 items),and(3)Traditional Teaching Ideas(TTI,10 items).

 

        It should be noted that their reliability and validity coefficients were reported highly in other works(Arends,1998 and Gorsuch,2003).However,we piloted these questionnaires in a small samples of L2 teachers for the sake of validation processes.The total reliability and validity coefficients of the above categories which formed the L2 teachers' belief questionnaire are(Cronbach's Alpha,r=.95,and .65 respectively).It was indicated that only one choice should be filled out.Two questions were added to the above questionnaire which asked the teacher to give their ideas on the role of sex and age in TEFL/TESL.Their responses ranged from 5 to 1 a 5-point Likert rating scales such as the other responses. They were also wanted to write their age and sex and teaching experiences in the spaces provided on the questionnaires.

 

3.3.Procedures

 

        The data was collected by the researcher during the end of Fall semester 2005.The procedures of questionnaire administration and ethical considerations were followed.Subjects were told that the questionnaire are to be distributed contained questions about their beliefs on the present situation of TEFL/TESL.Directions were given and the subjects were told that they should ask for any clarification they might need and any other extra time as they filled out the questionnaire.

They were assured that neither the researcher nor any other person would have access to their responses and their names would not be used in reporting the results.

 

        The questionnaire administration took approximately 20 minutes.The data was analyzed through Minitab statistical package for the L2 teachers' IDs questionnaire results in two separate phases(i.e.,males and females).Descriptive statistics such as means,SDs,variances,maximum,minimum,and range were obtained to show the results of variables data analysis.One sample t tests were used to test the research hypotheses concerning L2 teachers beliefs on the proposed questionnaire items.The exact mean of one sample t test would be 2.5 but for the sake of approaching to the significant level,we adopt three greater than µ which used in testing of five hypotheses(i.e.,teaching concerns,motivation,attitude,aptitude and TTI.Chi-squarewas used to test the effects of sex and age on L2 teaching.Most results were considered statistically significant at p<.05,or<.01 level.

 

4.Results

 

        The descriptive results concerning five categories are shown in Table 1 and 2 concerning male and female L2 teachers respectively.

 

Table 1.Descriptive Statistics of Teachers' Questionnaire

Male(n=9)

 

Descriptive Statistics:V1,V2,V3,V4,V5.V6,V7

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note:

V1=Teaching Concerns/Effectiveness

        V2=Motivation

        V3=Aptitude/Linguistic Knowledge/Class Management

        V4=Attitude

        V5=Experience

        V6=Age

        V7=Traditional Teaching Ideas

 

Table 2.Descriptive Statistics of Teachers' Questionnaire

Female(n=8)

 

Descriptive Statistics:V1,V2,V3,V4,V5.V6,V7

 

 

 

Note:

V1=Teaching Concerns/Effectiveness

        V2=Motivation

        V3=Aptitude/Linguistic Knowledge/Class Management

        V4=Attitude

        V5=Experience

        V6=Age

        V7=Traditional Teaching Ideas

 

 

 

 

        Variables 1 to 7 show the results of data descriptive statistics on:(C1)teaching concerns, (C2) motivation,(C3) aptitude,(C4) attitude/linguistic knowledge/class management, and (C5) TTI.Age and sex variables were dealt with separately.The mean scores of the 5 categories of EFL teachers' questionnaire are reported in Tables 1and 2,where it can be seen that means 1 to 4 are above 3 on the scale of 1 to 5 out a possible 5,a range which Oxford(1990)defined as moderately high.The last category is below 3 and it shows that L2 teachers believe that TTI  as a low use.Female and males L2 teachers show the same position.Therefore,the subjects rejected the TTI and followed affective and cognitive strategies in a new fashion of teaching concerns and attitudes.Their preference of four teaching beliefs on new thoughts in TEFL/TESL in Iran show that they need to cope with various communicative,interactional and international situations in their English class and suggested that the Iranian L2 teacher employed modern teaching thoughts to make up for missing knowledge.

 

The summary of inferential analysis is shown in Table 5.

 

Table 5.Hypotheses testing of 7 variables concerning L2 teachers' beliefs on TEFL/TESL status in Iran.

 

Table 5.The Results of L2 Teachers' Characteristics Affecting TEFL

(Male(n=9),Female(n=8))

 

 

 

 

 

**The null hypotheses accepted at the level of significance(p<.01)

*The null hypotheses accepted at the level of significance(p<.05)

 

 

5.Conclusion

       

Table 5 revealed that the subjects of this study either male or female university teachers emphasized new trends in terms of positive attitudes toward L2 high teaching efforts and aptitude, appropriate teaching concerns and relatively high motivation toward teaching EFL/ESL in Iranian universities.Both groups(male and female instructors)showed their intents toward new trends in L2 theories and democratic class management(p<.05).They showed that TTI cannot be valuable and workable in EGP and ESP classrooms(p<.05).The variables of sex and age showed no effect on L2 teachers' beliefs as determinant variables.They believe that L2 teaching aptitude could be enhanced in terms of teaching experiences.Age and sex null hypotheses were accepted at(p<.05)to show the lack of meaningful and significant relationship between age and sex(biological variables)and L2 teachers' capabilities.

 

        Generally speaking,the survey findings agreed with Scrivner's(1994)and Arends'(1998)ideas on the role of IDs and especially attitudes and motivation in L2 teaching.The means of affective and cognitive survey results in L2 teaching is both male and female L2 teachers were reliability high and showed that L2 teachers were benefited from an interplay between motivation,attitude and aptitude and teaching concerns reciprocally(Coleman,1997).

 

        The survey results matched with Gardner(1985)and Ellis(1994)on L2 teachers' awareness on their IDs enhance classroom effectiveness and their level of motivation and aptitudes in TEFL/TESL.The relationships between these teachers' characteristics were very close in Tables 3 and 4.This showed that L2 teachers' affective and cognitive factors reciprocally support each other.These findings were agreed with Gorjian(1998;2006), Nunan(2005),Ellis(2005);and Morgan(1993).

 

        The role of aptitude as a socio-educational phenomenon was clarified in the present study and matched with Cook(2001).Data analysis of TTI survey showed that male and female L2 teachers think of new trends and theories in L2 teaching and learning.This agreed with Fong Chung(2005)and Dickinson (1987).The survey results showed that there was not significant and meaningful relationships between age and sex and TEFL/TESL which agreed with Cook(2001)and Gorjian(2006).

 

        The present study was to investigate the L2 teachers' beliefs and ideas through a descriptive research design based on a cross-sectional survey method.In this survey,we dealt with seven aspects of L2 teaching EFL/ESL Affecting the formation of an adaptable TEFL/TESL theory in Iran.Male and female L2 teachers participated in filling out seven categories of Arends'(1998)and Gorsuch's(2003)L2 teachers' IDs questionnaires eliciting their beliefs on L2 teaching status in Iran through focusing on their actual needs and desires.The results show that they seek new trends and democratic ways of teaching EFL/ESL in class management.They believe in student-centered approaches and self-confidence level in teaching and learning processes.They rejected old-fashioned and out of date teaching theories and strategies which make the students passive and frustrated.The biological variable such as sex and age showed no significant relationship to TEFL/TESL status of L2 teachers.The other L2 teaching variables such as motivation,attitude,aptitude/class management and teaching concerns showed significant and meaningful relationship to TEFL/TESL in Iran.   

The results revealed that the policy makers,stakeholders,syllabus and textbook designer and L2 teachers should pay much attention to the transitional aspects of L2 teaching movement in Iran.The modern technology on communicational devices,satellite TVs,internet websites and English as an International Language(EIL)make the L2 teachers close to each other.Iranian L2 teachers revealed this movement through completing self-rating questionnaire on the above variables.Thus,we need to design a new and adaptable TEFL theory in Iran which focuses on urgent and critical needs of EFL/ESL teachers and practioners.This theory should be founded upon the L2 teachers' IDs and wants which are mentioned briefly in the present survey and might be explored in further researches.This adaptable TEFL theory could be workable in Iran as well as in other non-Western countries.

 

Appendices:

Appendix A:

Arends' (1998) Teaching Effectiveness Questionnaires

 

ASSESSING MY EFFORTS FOR LEARNING TO TEACH

PURPOSE:One of the most important goals of this text is to inspire your continuing efforts at professional development and to reflect on and plan for the next steps in your own professional growth.

DIRECTIONS:Circle the response that best corresponds to your level of agreement with the statement.

 

 

1.I am actively engaged in developing my command of the knowledge

     base for teaching.(Circle one.)

        1.Agree strongly      2.Agree       3.Neither agree nor disagree       

4.Disagree             5.Disagree strongly

 

2.I am actively engaged in reflecting on myself as a teacher and in

     problem solving around educational issues.(Circle one.)

        1.Agree strongly      2.Agree       3.Neither agree nor disagree       

4.Disagree             5.Disagree strongly

 

3.I am actively engaged in expanding my repertoire of teaching

      practices.(Circle one.)

        1.Agree strongly      2.Agree       3.Neither agree nor disagree       

4.Disagree             5.Disagree strongly

 

4.I am actively engaged in the lifelong process of learning to teach.

        (Circle one.)

        1.Agree strongly      2.Agree       3.Neither agree nor disagree       

4.Disagree             5.Disagree strongly

 

       

SOURCE:After R.Fox,M.B.Luszki,and R.Schmuck,Diagnosing classroom learning environment,

Chicago:Science Research Associates.1966 .pp.11-13.(Cited in Arends' "Learning to Teach".

 (4th ed.).New York:Mc Graw-Hill.pp.2

 

 

 

Appendix B:

Arends' (1998) Teachers' Concerns/Motivation Questionnaire

 

ASSESSING MY TEACHING CONCERNS/MOTIVATION

PURPOSE:Learning to teach is a developmental process-people progress through stages-and awareness of the stage you're in can facilitate this process.This aid will help you develop awareness of your level of concern about teaching.

DIRECTIONS:Read each statement,then ask yourself:When I think about my teaching,how much am I concerned about this?Being concerned about something is not the same as thinking it is important.Being concerned means you think about it frequently and would like to do something about it personally.Thus you can be concerned about problems or opportunities,current or anticipated issues,and so on.For each statement mark the number that best corresponds to your level of concern.

 

1.Not concerned     2.A little concerned       3.Moderately concerned             4.Very concerned          5.Extremely concerned

 

1.Lack instruction materials

                1       2       3       4       5

2.Feel under pressure too much of the time

                1       2       3       4       5

3.Do well when a supervisor is present

                1       2       3       4       5

4.Meet the needs of different kinds of students

                1       2       3       4       5

5.Have too many noninstructional duties

                1       2       3       4       5

6.Diagnose student learning problems

                1       2       3       4       5

7.Feel more adequate as a teacher

                1       2       3       4       5

8.Challenge unmotivated students

                1       2       3       4       5

9.Am accepted and respected by professional persons

                1       2       3       4       5

10.Work with too many students each day

                1       2       3       4       5

11.Guide students toward intellectual and emotional growth

                1       2       3       4       5

12.Give each student what he or she needs

                1       2       3       4       5

13.Get a favorable evaluation of my teaching

                1       2       3       4       5

14.Accept the routine and inflexibility of the teaching situation

                1       2       3       4       5

15.Maintain the appropriate degree of class control

                1       2       3       4       5

 

Analysis and Reflection:One way to reflect is to arrange your concerns in order of importance and compare them with those of others.You may think of other ways to help you reflect on your teaching concerns.

 

SOURCE:Based on Fuller,1969.

 

 

 

Appendix C:

Gorsuch (2003)

 

University Teaching Beliefs Questionnaire V.1

Please read the following statements carefully,and then write the number that best indicates the level of your agreement to the statement. "Teacher" means a teacher at the university level.

 

Note:Please circle any statements or words you do not understand.Also please feel free to write comments anywhere you like.

 

 

 

-----1.A good teacher has students learn by having them listen to lectures and

taking notes.

-----2.A good teacher has students learn by having them sit quietly in class,and

listening carefully.

-----3.A good teacher has students stand up before answering a question in

class.

-----4.A good teacher has late students ask permission to enter the classroom.

-----5.A good teacher has a higher position and students should obey.

-----6.A good teacher will use verbal warnings to make students change their

behavior.

-----7.A good teacher should demonstrate good knowledge of the subject being

taught.

-----8.A good teacher has students learn in class by asking them to answer other

students' questions.

-----9.A good teacher has students learn in class by using their points of view to

generate discussion.

-----10.A good teacher keeps the difficulty level of the teaching the same for

 students of different ability levels.

-----11.A good teacher has students learn in class by asking them to do role

plays.

-----12.A good teacher is easy for students to talk to.

-----13.A good teacher communicates learning expectations to students clearly.

-----14.A good teacher shows enthusiasm for the subject being taught.

-----15.A good teacher gives students clear definitions for the concepts being

learning in a lecture.

-----16.A good teacher looks at students during lectures.

-----17.A good teacher speaks at a moderate speed during lectures.

-----18.A good teacher jumps from one topic to another topic during lectures.

-----19.A good teacher uses graphs,diagrams,or photographs to help explain

concepts.

-----20.A good teacher gives explanations for graphs,diagrams or photographs

used in lectures.

-----21.A good teacher uses examples that are related to students' experiences.

-----22.A good teacher chooses textbooks and research papers that are related to

the concepts being taught.

-----23.A good teacher uses a logical progression of ideas during lectures.

-----24.A good teacher writes out assignment expectations for students.

-----25.A good teacher makes assignments that are related to the concepts being

taught.

-----26.A good teacher will discuss a change for the due date of an assignment

with a student if the student is having a family emergency.

-----27.A good teacher gives many small assignments,instead of a few big tests.

-----28.A good teacher treats students' grades as confidential.

-----29.A good teacher treats all students the same.

-----30.A good teacher will scold students if needed.

-----31.A good teacher communicates to students the grading system for a

course.

-----32.A good teacher will discuss delaying a test with a student if the student

is having a family emergency.

-----33.A good teacher tells students in class how they ranked in a test

compared to the other students.

-----34.A good teacher has students learn by having them memorize what the

teacher says.

-----35.A good teacher test students only on the concepts and material learned

in the course.

-----36.A good teacher expects students to do their own work without help from

others or by copying from other materials.

-----37.A good teacher gives students a syllabus with details on assignment due

dates and policies for late work.

 

Please answer these remaining questions:

38.What is your nationality?-----------------------------

39.What is your gender?     Female Male

40.What is your age? -----------------------------

41.How long have been in the United States? -----------------------------

42.Have you been a teacher in the U.S.?    Yes        No

If "Yes",for how long? -----------------------------

43.Have you been a student in the U.S.?     Yes        No

If "Yes",for how long? -----------------------------

44.Have you been a teacher in your home country?   Yes        No

If "Yes",for how long? -----------------------------

45.What was your typical class size? -----------------------------

46.What is your academic major? -----------------------------

 

Many thanks to you!

 

 

 

References

 

Arends,R.I.(1998).Learning to Teach.(4th ed.).New York:Mc Graw-Hill.

        24-28,100-176.

Brown,H.D.(1990).M and Ms for Language Classrooms? Another Look at

Motivation.In J.E.Alatis(ed.),Georgetown University round table

on language and linguistics.Washington,DC:Georgetown University

Press.383-393.

Cohen,A.D.(1998).Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language.

London:Longman.

Coleman,J.A.(1997).Residence abroad within Language Study.

University of Portsmouth.1-41.

Cook,V.J.(1986).Experimental approaches applied to two areas of second

language learning research:age and listening-based teaching methods.

In Cook,V.J.(ed.).Experimental Approaches to Second Language

Learning.Oxford:Pergamon,23-37.

Cook,V.J.(2001).Second Language Learning and LT(3rd ed.).London:

 Arnold.115-194.

Cook,G.(2003).Applied Linguistics.Oxford:OUP.22.

Dickinson,L.(1987).Self-Instruction in Language Learning.Cambridge,

CUP.35.

Ellis,R.(1994).The Study of Second Language Acquisition.Oxford:OUP.499.

Ellis,R.(2005).Principles of Instructed Language Learning.Asian EFL

Journal,18/3.1-7.

Finch,A.(2002).Learning to Trust:Trusting to Learn.Based on Ph.D

Thesis.Manchester:Manchester University:UK.

Fong Chung,S.(2005).Putting Students' Differences in Perspectives:An

Introduction to the Individual Developing Model.Asian TEFL Journal,

7/2.1-12,37.

Gardner,R.C.et al.,.(1985).Social Psychology and Second Language

Learning:The Role of Attitudes and Motivation.London:Edward Arnold.

Golombok,S.,and Fivush,R.(1994).Gender Development.Cambridge.CUP.

 

Gorjian,B.(2006).The Effects of Learners' and Teachers' Characteristics on

Learning and Teaching EFL among Iranian First Year University Students.

Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation.Tehran.

Gorsuch,G.J.(2003).The Educational Cultures of International Teaching

Assistants and U.S. Universities.TEES-EJ.7/3.1-22.

Krashen,S.D.(1981).Second Language Acquisition and Second Language

Learning.Oxford:Pergamon.

Madrid,D.(1995).The Foreign Language Classroom.In Mclaren,N.,and

Madrid,D.(eds.).A Handbook for TEFL.Alicante:Marfil.1-20.

Morgan,C.(1993).Attitude Change and Foreign Language Culture Learning.

Language Teaching,26.63-75.

Nunan,D.(2005).Important Tasks of English Education:Asia-wide and beyond.

Asian EFL journal,7/3.1-5.

Ok,L.K.(2003).The Relationship of School Year,Sex and Proficiency on the

Use of Learning Strategies in Learning English of Korean Junior High

School Students.Asian TEFL Journal,1-29.

Oxford,R.L et al.,.(1988).Use of Language Learning Strategies:A synthesis of

Studies with Implications for Strategy Training.System 17/2.235-247.

Oxford,R.L.et al.,.(1993).Learning a Language by Satellite:What Influences

Achievement?System,21.31-48.

Oxford,R.L.et al.,.(1993).Research on Second Language Learning Strategies.

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,13.175-187.

Scrivener,J.(1994).Learning Teaching.London:Mac Millan Publishers Ltd.

Stenhouse,L.(1987).Research as a Basis for Teaching.London:Heineman

Educational Books Ltd.

Tercan Lioglu,L.(2004).Exploring Gender Effect on Adult Foreign Language

Learning Strategies.Issues in Educational Research,14.1-9.

 

 

 

About the Author:

 

Bahman Gorjian :Faculty member of Islamic Azad University of Abadan, Iran.

He graduated from Ahwaz Chamran University with B.A in TEFL and from Tabriz University with M.A in TEFL.He has published several articles and books concerning TEFL and English Translation.He is currently a Ph.D. student in TEFL and he is working on his Ph.D. dissertation in Islamic Azad University of Research and Science campus,Tehran,Iran.

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

3.- THE BASICS OF MI – MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES THEORY

 

During May and June, our dear SHARER, Kenton Sutherland presented several workshops (Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and Universidad Nacional de Honduras and FUENTE Convention, Puerta Vallarta, Mexico) on understanding how Howard Gardener's Theory of Multiple Intelligences applies to second language acquisition and instruction. He has sent us a summary of his presentation to SHARE with all of you.

 

 

The  Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Language Teaching Applications

 

By Kenton Sutherland

English Language Specialist - United States Department of State

 

What Is intelligence? 

 

Intelligence was for over a century viewed as the ability to perform linguistic and logical-mathematical problems as measured by timed-discrete-point  "IQ tests."  Measurable by paper-and-pencil testing,  the so-called "Intelligence Quotient" was thought to be relatively stable throughout one's life. In recent years,  developmental  psychologists Howard Gardener (1983) and Daniel Goleman (1995) have proposed  a greatly expanded view of intelligence that encompass additional "frames of mind."

 

In 1993, Gardener provided a working definition for intelligence:   ".....the ability to solve problems or fashion products that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting or community."  According to Gardener, intelligence is not just a single construct applied in the same way to each task or problem.  Rather, it is made up of component pieces which are continually developing and which account for the different ways in which humans can use a particular intelligence more (or less) effectively.   In effect, these differing intelligences explain why an excellent football player may be terrible at drawing, why a wonderful violinist may be awkward at parties, why a  rocket scientist may not be able to get his tomatoes to grow., why a marvelous dance teacher has one disastrous personal relationship after another.

 

Gardener's Eight Intelligences

 

Linguistic

Logical/Mathematical

Visual/Spatial

Body/Kinesthetic

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Musical

Naturalist

           ?

                ?

            ?

              ?

                  

The question marks indicate that more intelligences are possible.  For example, Gardener is currently studying the possibility that humans might also possess additional intelligences such as existential, moral, and spiritual intelligences as well as an intelligence for creativity.

 

Differences between a Learning Style and an Intelligence

 

        Learning styles and multiple intelligences are not the same thing.  We L2 educators are familiar with perceptual learning styles such as visual and kinesthetic.  We use similar terms to talk about visual/spatial and bodily/kinesthetic intelligence, and this may be the cause of the confusion.  To clarify the difference, let's look at two persons who want to use their musical intelligence to learn to sing a new song.  The first person buys a copy of the recording and listens to it over and over again and sings along with the recorded singer; the second person buys a copy of the sheet music for the song and  plays it on the piano and learns to sing it that way.  Both persons are developing their musical intelligence, but they are doing so by applying different learning styles (auditory vs. visual).  There are many other kinds of  learning styles that describe how people process and perceive information:  impulsive and reflective learners, field independent and field dependent learners, etc.

 

Emotional Intelligence

 

In 1995, Goleman provided us with the concept of "Emotional Intelligence," emphasizing the importance of the emotions in our cognitive processing.  In brief, Goleman theorizes that persons who manage their emotions tend to be more capable of fully intelligent processing.  As such, anger, grief, resentment, self-doubt, and other feelings tend to impair peak performance in everyday tasks as well as in higher-order problem solving.

 

What MI Theory Means for Educators

 

What this means for  teachers is that our previous notions of productivity and objectivity in language acquisition have been given a new perspective.  MI Theory has prodded us to tap into whole language skills, learning processes and strategies.  We no longer need to rely on impersonal, discrete-point, analytical tests in measuring language skills.  Our new focus appreciates and recognizes the diversity in our students as we emphasize  interpersonal, creative, communicative, and interactive skills.  In so doing, we must  place considerable trust in our subjective and intuitive abilities to recognize  the various intelligences that our students possess.   In essence, we need to ask ourselves how we can best go about making these differences central to teaching and learning.

 

        Armstrong (1994) synthesized four key points about multiple intelligences that are important  for teachers  to keep in mind:

 

* Each person possesses all eight intelligences.

* Intelligences can be developed.

* Intelligences work together in complex ways.

* There are many different ways to be intelligent.

 

Theoretical Bases 

 

Gardner identified eight basic criteria that must be considered for an official intelligence and made a clear distinction between intelligence with biological origin and a talent or a skill.

 

1) Brain damage studies:  Persons with brain damage in the left frontal lobe have impaired linguistic processing, but they can still do math, dance, play the piano, etc.

 

2) Exceptional individuals:  Some people can master a new task immediately although others may have difficulty learning it at all.

 

3) Developmental history;  Each intelligence has its own developmental history, i.e., its time of peaking during one's lifetime and its time of gradual decline.  For example, musical intelligence peaks very early but linguistic intelligence very late.

4) Evolutionary history:  Each intelligence has roots in the evolutionary history of human beings.  For example, archaeological evidence reveals the presence of musical instruments and cave drawings.

 

5) Psychometric findings:   Existing standardized tests focus on several of the different intelligences.

 

6)  6) Psychological tasks:   Psychological studies and observations show how intelligences work separately.  For example, subjects may master an arithmetic problem, but still may not be able to read well.  Other individuals may have a superior memory for words but not for faces, indicating that different intelligences work independently.

 

7) Core operations: Each intelligence has its own set of operations.  For example, for musical intelligence, a person needs to be able to discriminate between rhythm and pitch.  For bodily/kinesthetic intelligence, a person would be able to imitate movements by others.

 

  8) Symbol system:  Intelligences are susceptible to being encoded.  For example, there  

are spoken languages, written languages, graphic languages, computer languages, musical notation systems, ideographic languages, and dance notation systems.

 

Gardener (1983) admitted that "the selection (or rejection) of  a candidate's intelligence is reminiscent more of an artistic judgment that of a scientific assessment."  Nevertheless, he felt that only those intelligences that have satisfied all or most of the eight criteria above could be selected as bonafide intelligences.

 

MI Theory in Second Language Teaching

 

Christison (2005), in applying MI Theory to language teaching, provides several important steps to follow in applying the theory to our classrooms:

 

1. Introduce yourself to the basic theory.

2. Take an MI Inventory.

3. Learn to categorize familiar language activities.

4. Conduct a personal audit of your own teaching

5. Develop assessment techniques that address all eight

             intelligences.

 

MI Theory is not a method but rather an entry point into lesson content.  It is unlikely that we will be able to engage all eight intelligences in every unit that we teach.  It is important to remember that Gardener was not designing a curriculum or preparing a model to be used in schools.  After visiting MI classrooms, Gardener (1999) became leery of implementations such as attempting to teach all concepts of subjects using all of the intelligences.  He observed that going through certain motions does not activate or exercise specific intelligences nor does using intelligences as mnemonic devices.  He is also emphatic about not matching intelligences with other outcomes, i.e.,  cooperative learning with interpersonal intelligence or intrapersonal intelligence with self-esteem.  He is particularly adamant that we should not label people in terms of intelligences.  For these reasons, Gardener (1999) states that he is loath to issue any educational imperatives:

 

Instead, I regard MI theory as a ringing endorsement of three key propositions:  we are not all the same; we do not all have the same kinds of minds; and education works most effectively if these differences are taken into account rather than denied or ignored.  .... This means that all individuals cannot be profitably arrayed on a single intellectual dimension.  At the practical level, it suggests that any uniform educational approach is likely to serve only a small percentage of children optimally.

 

 

References

 

Armstrong, T.  (    )  Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, 2nd Edition. 

Berman, M. (1998)  a Multiple Intelligences Road to an ELT Classroom. 

Wales (U.K.):  Crown House Publishing Ltd.

 

Christison, M.  (2005)  Multiple Intelligences and Language Learning:  A Guidebook of Theory,    Activities, Inventories, and Resources.  San Francisco:  Alta Book Center Publishers. 

Gardner, H.  (1983)   Frames of Mind:  The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.     New York:  Basic Books.

Gardner, H.  (1993)  Multiple Intelligences:  The Theory in Practice.  New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1999)  Intelligence Reframed:  Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century.  New York:  Basic Books.

Goleman, D.  (1995) Emotional Intelligence.  New York:  Bantam Books.

 

© 2006 by Kenton Sutherland

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

4.- ON BRAIN BASED CONSULTANTS

 

We have received a large number of messages regarding our editorial for SHARE 167

(please find it by following this link: http://www.shareeducation.com.ar/past%20issues2/SHARE%20167.htm )

Today, we are just publishing three of them:

 

FROM : Maria Almeida

 

Dear Omar Villarreal,

The other day I received issue n° 167 of your Share magazine where you
deliberately offended all the people who keep an open mind and think
differently. I did not want to confront you and called myself to silence
because I believed it was not worth investing my time in useless and
unnecessary arguments with you just because I believe in something that you
do not.  However, what I am not definitely going to accept are (your) or
your readers' false accusations of something I have not done. I am a brain
friendly advocate and consultant because the University of San Diego has
awarded me that privilege and I feel proud about that, but I am not a
CRIMINAL who sends infected e-mails to destroy computers! You may agree or
disagree with me about brain-friendly stuff, but that does not give you the
right to offend and disqualify the job that others do with effort publicly,
in the rude way you did, taking advantage of a massive means of
communication. I think that your hatred has gone too far this time. The only
thing I wonder is what have I done to deserve it? To talk about something I
believe in!

Maria Almeida
TWC International

FROM Roxana Caamaño <dickensargentina@yahoo.com.ar>

 

Dear Omar and Marina,

 

My name is Roxana Caamaño and I got such message and attachment. Fortunately, I did the scanning before opening the file and, as you would guess, a virus was detected so yes, it's a virus.

 

I would also like to comment on these "brain consultants". I want to say that I was so pleased to read your last issue and find out that it wasn't just me who felt this way as regards these people so I really want to thank you for warning truly professional teachers, who responsibly try and do development courses to keep updated and provide quality teaching and effective learning, about who they will be dealing with when going for one of these "so-called" NLP courses. I, myself, decided to do one of those course just to find my time and money wasted by these so-called specialists who just want you to believe that all those things we already know and have been using successfully within the classroom for years are now the outcome of doing the course with them. What is more, when I openly told them how I felt and justified everything I said, they came out with "too informed teachers don't use the brain muscle"  and also said that  "when we read, do loads of training and  research, we become just "knowledge information" teachers and become "info junkies"  and "bad teachers" and that we should reach what they call an embodied sort of knowledge...that, of course, you can only "reach" when doing a course with them. Or is it that when we have done lots of  research, attended hundreds of development courses and lots of reading, they can't "cheat" you "in rapport"? Again, I am happy that respected professionals like you both had something to say about these "personajes". As you have probably realised I am really angry as regard this thing because these people are everywhere and we should try to raise the quality of our teaching- not lower it. Just that- though I could talk for hours on this thing.

 

Thank you for producing such quality magazine and for constantly supporting quality teacher development.

 

All the very best,

Roxana V. Caamaño

 

FROM: Betina Miretti

 

Dear Omar and Marina ,

Me encanto el comentario acerca de la apertura del Instituto de neurociencias y que verdad es que cada día nos encontramos con gente que vende o promete cosas que no lo son .

También pasa en las aulas necesitamos de personas capaces , pero no solamente capaces en el sentido de adquisición de títulos y posgrados , personas que caminen las aulas , que preparen sus clases e incentiven a sus alumnos  a pensar , a analizar , a estudiar  , a amar el trabajo y el estudio  o por lo menos tratar de transmitir  al menos una posibilidad de futuro y confianza en sí mismo .

Por eso me encanta leer su magazine porque hace que uno tome fuerzas para seguir y no rendirse o caer en el ¨no te metás¨ 

Cómo estoy haciendo un curso de desarrollo profesional porque me interesa seguir estudiando pero para aplicar, no para acumular, inicié mi portfolio con un viejo pero actual comentario tuyo ( Omar ) que nos diste en un curso cuando recién se implementaba la dichosa Ley federal y vos comenzabas tu handout  con un verso de autor anónimo ¨Don´t Quit¨  y me pareció tan acertado para el momento en que los profesores vivimos que lo incluí en la portada para motivarme y darme aliento que pese a todo: ¨So stick to the fight when you´re hardest hit- It´s when things go wrong that you mustn´t QUIT .

Thanks for your support!!!

Con mucho Amor ,

Betina Miretti ( from Saint Paul Goya )

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

5.- PRIMERAS JORNADAS INTERNACIONALES DE FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA

Segunda Circular

La Facultad de Lenguas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba convoca a las
Primeras Jornadas Internacionales de Fonética y Fonología
a realizarse en la ciudad de Córdoba los días 18 y 19 de agosto de 2006.

1. Objetivos:
a) Crear un espacio institucional de discusión y de intercambio de
experiencias y enfoques sobre la fonética y la fonología en lengua materna y
lenguas extranjeras.
b) Ampliar la reflexión acerca de la fonética y la fonología.
c) Promover la investigación en el campo de la fonética y la fonología.
d) Implementar acciones conducentes a mejorar la producción y difusión del
conocimiento en el área de la fonética y la fonología.

2. Destinatarios:
Docentes, investigadores y alumnos del nivel superior universitario y no
universitario, nacionales y extranjeros cuya área de interés o
especialización sea la fonética y la fonología tanto en lengua materna como
en lenguas extranjeras.

3. Actividades:
Conferencias plenarias, ponencias, talleres y posters.

4. Áreas temáticas:
Fonética contrastiva
Fonética y multimedia
Fonética y evaluación
Fonología de la interlengua
Fonética general
Fonética y otras disciplinas
Didáctica de la fonética
Otras

5. Tipos de presentaciones:

§ Conferencias plenarias: Estarán a cargo de especialistas invitados.
§ Ponencias: Duración de la exposición: 20 minutos. Preguntas: 10 minutos.
§ Talleres: Duración: 90 minutos.
§ Posters: Presentación visual de temas de la especialidad.

Aranceles:
hasta el 30 de junio a partir del 1º de julio
Expositores $80 $100
Asistentes $40 $60
Estudiantes $20 $20

Inscripciones:
link  Inscripción
http://www.lenguas.unc.edu.ar/jornadasindex.html   

Alojamiento:
http://www.lenguas.unc.edu.ar/jornadasindex.html   link  Alojamiento
Agencia de viajes: Curundú Viajes  e-mail
curundu@arnet.com.ar
 
Comisión Organizadora:
Griselda Bombelli, Richard Brunell Matías, Mirian Carballo, María Antonia de la Torre
Silvana
Marchiaro, Brigitte Merzig, Lidia Soler y María Teresa Toniolo
mailto:
jornadasdefonetica2006@gmail.com
Resolución HCD nº  201/05
 

------------------------------------------------------------

6.- APIZALS´6th ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN BARILOCHE

APIZALS' 6TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de la Zona Andina y Línea Sur

20 & 21 October 2006 - Bariloche, Argentina

 

APIZALS' Annual Conference is an event organized by Patagonian teachers. It takes place in Bariloche and is offered to teachers and students of English in the region and beyond as an instance of reflection, updating, professional growth, joint work and sharing with colleagues. Our main objectives are:

* To promote contact with renowned teachers from different Argentine institutions and provinces in order to profit from their knowledge and expertise, as well as contact with material related to the teaching of English.

* To promote discussion of different topics related to the teaching of English, thus catering for a wide range of needs and interests.

* To raise awareness of the scope and value of the work done by teachers of English of our region.

* To create professional and friendship links among teachers and institutions from different parts of the country.

The Conference has been attended by growing numbers of people in the last years - nearly 100 in 2005 - and has been granted official recognition by Bariloche municipal authorities, the province of Río Negro and neighbouring provinces, as well as by Universidad Nacional del Comahue. The scope of the themes to be dealt with in the Conference is wide. Given the little access that ELT people in our region have to events of this type, we think it is important to offer a variety of topics covering different areas of English teaching. We have also conceived this conference as an opportunity for Argentine, and particularly Patagonian, teachers to share their own work, research, experience with the rest of us.

Guidelines for submitting proposals:

As a general guideline for prospective presenters, then, we would like to suggest topics directly related to methodological issues of practical use for the participants, having to do with literature, story-telling, drama techniques, classroom management, techniques to work with videos/DVDs/ computers, pronunciation teaching. If a presentation is more academic or mainly theoretical, we strongly suggest there should be a consideration of practical issues related to the topic at the end.

We invite teachers, teacher trainers, researchers, materials designers - in short, everyone connected to the field of ELT - to submit proposals for presentations. Submissions must follow one of these types:

* 90-minute plenary presentation on one of the topics and modalities suggested above.

* 90-minute workshop with active audience participation via the experiencing and discussing of tasks provided by the presenters.

* 60 to 90-minute panel: This instance will be offered if there are between three and five people interested in delivering a 15-minute talk each on different aspects of English teaching in public high schools. This should be related to our provincial/Patagonian context. After the talks there should be a 30-minute slot for questions and/or comments.

Presenters should submit:

?  A summary narrative of 800 words in English that provides a clear understanding of the presentation's content. The summary should outline exactly what presenters are going to talk about in the session and how the session will be structured. The summary will not appear in the conference programme.

The summary should include the title, bibliography, author/s, academic institution, audio-visual equipment (OHP, beamer, etc.) needed for the session, e-mail address (all of this not included in the word limit). It should be sent by e-mail to one of the following addresses: monicalm@infovia.com.ar , tabsilvia@infovia.com.ar  or ciminieri@bariloche.com.ar 

 

Their CVs in Spanish, since, if their proposal is accepted, the CV has to be sent to the provincial authorities for the request of official recognition for the event.

Submission deadline: June 30th, 2006

Evaluation results will be sent by July 31st, 2006.

Important:

 

Upon acceptance of the proposal, presenters will be asked to send further requirements (abstract of presentation, speaker's biodata), of which they will be clearly notified in due time.

Presenters should keep a copy of all the materials sent for their own records, since they will not be returned.

Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged. If presenters do not receive acknowledgement within 15 days of having sent their proposals, they should re-send all materials. To avoid duplication of materials, presenters are encouraged to wait 15 days before resubmitting the materials.

Presenters will not be requested to pay the conference fee, but they will pay for all other expenses (trip, accommodation, etc.).

 

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7.- HUMANISTIC LANGUAGE TEACHING CONFERENCE

 

Our dear SHARER Fabián Wallace announces his HLT Conference:

 

July, 7th & 8th

Humanistic Language Teaching Conference

The conference on alternative pedagogies applied to ELT!

A scientific approach to look into these disciplines as discussed by their most representative referents: Brain-friendly learning, NLP, Coaching,  Holistic Learning, Multiple Intelligences, Accelerated Learning , Applied to language learning. Publication of conclusions issued after the conference.  

 

We are proud to introduce the speakers at our HTL Conference at UAI – Universidad Abierta Interamericana – San Juan 951 - Capital.

Keynoter: Willy Wood (USA)

Guest speakers:

Clara Braghiroli, Mady Casco Graciela Marchetti, Maria Marta Suarez, Gustavo Paz, Gabriela Lombardo, María Teresa Manteo, Gonzalo Camp, Pablo Scopponi, Marián Bacigalupe and Dr. José Luis Dillon among others.

Opening and Closing remarks: Jaime Duncan and Laura Smuch.

 

 

 

Willy Wood began his career in education as a high school and university level English teacher in the United States. After teaching for 14 years, Willy served for five years as the Language Arts Consultant for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in the state of Missouri. During his time at the Department of Education, Willy oversaw the development of the state's curriculum and assessment programs for language arts. He also started the state's first reading initiative, the Missouri Reading Initiative, an intensive, comprehensive professional development model in literacy. In 2000, Willy left the Department of Education to become a full-time educational consultant and presenter. He now serves as president of Open Mind Technologies, Inc., an educational consulting firm. For the past five years, Willy has been deeply involved in the brain-compatible teaching field.

He has trained with top figures in the field such as Eric Jensen, Rich Allen, and Pat Wolfe, and has presented numerous workshops in school districts and at conferences. He has presented multiple times at Eric Jensen's Brain Expo conferences and at the Learning and the Brain conferences at M.I.T. Willy presents on a variety of topics in the brain-compatible teaching field, including teaching for long-term memory, helping students make meaning (constructivism), giving effective directions, reducing threat, and using music in the classroom. No matter what the topic is, "Willy "practices what he preaches," using music, movement, and frequent processing activities to model brain-compatible teaching in his workshops.

 

For further information and registration, visit: http://www.eltevents.com.ar

Or write to:  info@eltevents.com.ar

 

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8.- SECOND NATIONAL MEETING OF TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGES

 

Our dear SHARER Prof. Celina Sánchez Maciel has got an announcement to make:

 

 

Second National Meeting of Teacher Training Colleges

"The Teaching Learning Puzzle"

A problem-solving approach to teaching

August 25-26, 2006. Córdoba

 

The aim of the meeting is to share experiences related to some of the problems teachers of English face and to work on possible solutions informed by practice and research.

 

Renowned specialists in ELT will be giving plenary talks and the meeting will also be a unique opportunity for teachers, teacher trainers, researchers and materials writers to get together, present their work and reflect on their practice.

 

Lectures, papers and experiential accounts can focus on topics such as:

Designing Syllabuses

Tackling the What and the How of Teaching

Selecting Materials with a Critical Eye

Bridging the Theory-Practice Gap

Teaching in the Postmodern World

The teachers' corner: Tried and tested (practical ideas and classroom recipes)

 

Registration Fee: Until June 30th. Teachers: $ 60 Students: $ 30 After July 3rd. Teachers: $ 80 Students: $ 40

 

For further information, please contact

Prof. Celina Sánchez Maciel

TE: 0351 - 4813228 / 4814169

Office hours: 19.00 to 22.30 from Monday to Friday

e-mail: enproin@gmail.com  

 

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9.-    20th ARTESOL CONVENTION

       

Our dear SHARER Elida Messina has sent us this announcement:

 

20th Argentina Tesol Convention
"English for More Effective Participation in Our Global Society"

Friday, August 11 - Saturday, August 12, 2006

Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto - Facultad de Ciencias Humanas –

Departamento de Lenguas - Campus Universitario - Ruta Nacional Nro. 36 Km 601

Río Cuarto, Provincia de Córdoba

 

Keynote Speaker: Kathy Koop

M.A. in TESOL  Instructor of English at the English Language Studies Department of The New School University in New York

 

ARTESOL Convention welcomes ARTESOL Members and Non-Members

Registration: www.artesol.8k.com  or artesol@bcl.edu.ar

 

ARGENTINA TESOL is an Argentine organization with broad interests. The convention is planned for professional development and provides opportunities for social interaction among colleagues who share common interests. The program committee invites presentations dealing with classroom practices, research in language learning and
teaching, or the connection between the two. We welcome proposals from teachers, teachers in preparation, graduate students, researchers, program administrators and materials and curriculum developers, including colleagues in related disciplines such as
communication, education, linguistics, foreign languages, anthropology, sociology and psychology.

For further Information, visit: 
www.artesol.8k.com

 

 

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10.-   SHAKESPEARE AT THE BRITISH ARTS CENTRE.

 

 

CINEBAC

Shakespeare, de Laurence Olivier a Akira Kurosawa

 

          Según el ensayista polaco Jan Kott, "Shakespeare es como el mundo o como la vida, cada época encuentra en él lo que busca y lo que quiere ver".  Shakespeare ha sido siempre una constante en la vida cultural de Buenos Aires, y esta temporada el British Arts Centre (BAC) ha decidido dedicarle un ciclo que abarcará algunas de las películas más importantes que se han hecho sobre la obra de Shakespeare.

 

Al decir de Jan Kott "el espectador contemporáneo, descubriendo en las tragedias shakespearianas su propia contemporaneidad, frecuentemente se siente cerca, de manera inesperada, de la contemporaneidad de Shakespeare".

 

          La cita es en la sala de cine del BAC,Suipacha 1333, Capital,  los martes a las 17 y 20 horas. La entrada libre y gratuita

 

 

Programación

 

Martes 4 de julio a las 17 y 20 horas

Macbeth (The Tragedy of Macbeth, 1971)

Direccion:  Roman Polanski.  Guión:  Roman Polanski y Kenneth Tynan basado en la obra de William Shakespeare.  Producción: Andrew Braunsberg para Caliban Films, Playboy Productions Inc. Origen:  Gran Bretaña, Estados Unidos. Duración: 140 minutos.

Intérpretes: Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Matin Shaw, Nicholas Selby, John Stride, Stephen Chase, Paul Shelley.

Según Polanski, "...yo no me sentía ligado a las convenciones teatrales isabelinas.  En la película, Macbeth y su mujer son jóvenes y bellos..., no como en casi todas las producciones teatrales, maduros y agobiados por el peso de la fatalidad. Lo hicimos con un propósito deliberado.  Como decía Kenneth Tynan (crítico teatral y colaborador en el guión): 'Ellos no saben que están metidos en una tragedia; creen que están a punto de alcanzar el triunfo vaticinado por las brujas'..."

Versión original en inglés con subtítulos en castellano

 

Martes 11 de julio a las 17 y 20 horas

Ran (Ran, 1985)

Dirección:  Akira Kurosawa.  Guión: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni y Masato Ide  sobre Rey Lear de William Shakespeare.  Producción: Masato Hara y Serge Silberman para Greenwich Film Productions, Herald Ace Inc, Nippon Herald Films.  Origen: Japón, Francia.  Duración: 160 minutos.

Intérpretes: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada, Peter, Hisashi Igawa, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Masayuki Yui.

A los 75 años, en su más plena madurez creativa, Akira Kurosawa (que casi tres décadas antes había filmado Trono de sangre sobre Macbeth) sintió que estaba en condiciones de llevar al cine Rey Lear, esa desesperanzada tragedia sobre un mundo condenado a la destrucción. Ambientada en el Japón del siglo XVI, Ran narra la historia de Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai), un poderoso señor feudal que al llegar a la vejez decide legar sus dominios a sus tres hijos: Taro, Jiro y Saburo. Su herencia más perdurable será, sin embargo, el crimen, la locura y la muerte. Porque ese hombre ha sido un guerrero feroz, que ha conseguido todas sus tierras con la lanza y con la espada, sometiendo y aniquilando a sus vecinos y enemigos.

Versión original en japonés  con subtítulos en castellano.

 

Martes 18 de julio a las 17 y 20horas

Enrique V (Henry V, 1989)

Dirección:  Kenneth Branagh. Guión:  Kenneth Branagh sobre la obra homónima de William Shakespeare.  Producción:  Bruce Sharman para la Samuel Goldwyn Company, Renaissance Films y la BBC. Origen:  Gran Bretaña.  Duración:  137 minutos.

Intérpretes:  Kenneth Branagh, Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi, Ian Holm, Emma Thompson, Alec McCowen, Judi Dench, Christian Bale, Brian Blessed, Richard Briers, Robert Stephens, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench.

Enrique V, la opera prima de Branagh (cuando la filmó tenía 27 años, la misma edad que el monarca al subir al trono), es una contundente versión de la obra de Shakespeare.

Presenta al joven rey de Inglaterra, Enrique V, como un monarca guerrero, audaz y pasional, que al ser agraviado por el rey de Francia, decide dirigir sus tropas a combatir contra los franceses.  A lo largo del camino, el rey Enrique debe esforzarse por sacar a sus hombres del abatimiento moral en que se encuentran, y a sí mismo de sus propias dudas. La guerra culmina con la sangrienta batalla de Agincourt, después de la cual el rey de Francia se ve obligado a entregar a su hija al triunfante Enrique, como una ofrenda de paz.

Versión original en inglés con subtítulos en castellano.

 

Martes 25 de julio a las 17 y 20 horas

Ricardo III (Richard III, 1985)

Dirección:  Richard Loncraine.  Guión: Ian McKellen y Richard Loncraine sobre la obra de William Shakespeare.  Producción: Stephen Bayly, Lisa Katselas Paré para Bayly/Paré Productions, First Look Pictures Releasing, United Artists y British Screen Productions.  Origen: Gran Bretaña, Estados Unidos.  Duración:  104 minutos.

Intérpretes: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey (Jr), Nigel Hawthorne, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, John Wood, Jim Carter, Adrian Dunbar, Edward Hardwicke, Tim McInnerny, Bill Paterson.

Una original relectura del drama clásico de Shakespeare, trasladado a la  Inglaterra de 1930, durante un hipotético golpe fascista.  Ian McKellen (Ricardo III) domina la escena como la encarnación del demonio, en una versión  visualmente compleja, a menudo estremecedora, que muestra la vigencia de la obra de Shakespeare.

Versión Original en inglés con subtítulos en castellano

 

 

 

Para ampliar la información consulte siempre nuestra página web www.britishartscentre.org.ar

 

Suipacha 1333  /  Tel 4393-6941 /  www.britishartscentre.org.ar /bac@aaci.org.ar

Martes a Viernes de 15 a 21 horas.

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11.-   XI SEMINAR ON ENGLISH PHONETICS IN CHILE

 

Our dear SHARER Roxana Basso has sent us this announcement:

 

Dear all,

 

Héctor Ortiz Lira and the PG Group invite you to the 11th. Seminar on English Phonetics in Santiago, Chile on 25th, 26th, 27th October 2006.

Guest Speaker: Profesor Peter Roach

 

Deadline for receipt of registration form: 29 September.

 

Call for Papers Open.

Deadline for receipt of abstracts: 31 July.

Notification of acceptance of abstracts: 15 August.

 

 

The XI Seminar on English Phonetics is organized as follows:

1. Registration: Tuesday, 24 October, 16:00 - 18:00.Welcome and Opening Ceremony: Tuesday, 24 October, 18:00.

 

2. Course: Wed 25, Thurs 26, Fri 27, 9:30 - 13:00.

Given by Professor Peter Roach, this 10-hour course has been especially designed to meet the needs of Phonetics lecturers, Phonetics assistants and teacher trainees. This will also include two panels under the chairmanship of Professor Roach which will answer questions on the teaching of segments and prosodies.

 

3. Conference sessions: Wed 25, Thurs 26, Fri 27, 14:30 - 17:45.

This year the central theme of the conference will be the role of Phonetics in teacher training syllabuses. Therefore, ONLY papers connected with this theme will be accepted, e.g. teaching contents, materials, methods and techniques; standards of achievement; assessment of students' performance; discussions on areas of pronunciation training, etc. Each paper will be assigned a 30-minute slot which is intended to allow for a 20-minute presentation and for 10 minutes of questions.

 

4. Workshops: Wed 25, Thurs 26, Fri 27, 18:00 - 19:00.

There will be two simultaneous 4-hour workshops aimed at school teachers and teacher trainees; one will focus on segments and the other on prosodies.

You can now visit the official website of our seminar, where you can find, among other things, the online registration form www.umce.cl/phoneticsseminar

 

Organizing committee: Héctor Ortiz Lira, PhD and Marcela Fuentes Delgado, MA (c) .

E-mail address: phoneticsgroup@vtr.net

 

 Fees:

Teachers And Presenters

Postgraduate Students

Undergraduate Students

Course

US$ 50

US$ 30

US$ 10

Conference

US$ 30

US$ 20

US$ 10

Workshop

US$ 40

US$ 20

US$ 10

Course + Conference

US$ 60

US$ 30

US$ 15

Conference + Workshop

US$ 50

US$ 30

US$ 15

Course + Conference + Workshop

US$ 80

US$ 40

US$ 20

 

 

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12.-   TEACHING ENGLISH TO KIDS IN TIMES OF THE WORLD CUP

 

SUBJECT: FOOTBALL ON LEARNENGLISH KIDS

LearnEnglish Kids is the British Council's website for young learners and their parents and teachers. The site is updated with new resources every month. This
month you'll find football activities on LearnEnglish Kids. You can find them all on this page:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics-football.htm

Activities include:

- Shot Stopper - how many goals can you save? (an online game)
- Online activities to practise football words, learn about the history of football, and test knowledge of the World Cup
- Worksheets to print to practise football words,learn about football rules, learn about some famous footballers, and also a coluring-in activity, and a worksheet for writing about a profile about a footballer
- a song about a football match - We're Going to Win
- two stories - Football Crazy, Football Mad and an animated story - My Secret Team
 

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We would like to finish this issue of SHARE with this note from a dear Uruguayan SHARER with reference to Omar´s visit to Montevideo. The sheer spontaneity of it says a lot about the spirit of SHARE  :

 

Greetings from Rivera, Uruguay!

Hi, my name is Sandra Núñez. I´m from the North of Uruguay. I have been
receiving and reading and enjoying all the issues of Share Magazine for
I don´t know how long. Neither do I know how or when or where I got in
contact with you but I´m glad I´m a Sharer and I´m happier to know that
I´m going to meet you at URUTESOL in Montevideo.
Best wishes.
Sandra.

 

 

 

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK

Omar and Marina.

 

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SHARE is distributed free of charge. All announcements in this electronic magazine are also absolutely free of charge. We do not endorse any of the services announced or the views expressed by the contributors.  For more information about the characteristics and readership of SHARE visit: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShareMagazine
VISIT OUR WEBSITE : http://www.ShareEducation.com.ar There you can read all past  issues of SHARE in the section SHARE ARCHIVES.

 

 

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