SHARE

 

An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac ©

 

Year 4                    Number 101               April 6th 2003

 

           4900 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 two words “Thank you” for the innumerable mails we have received congratulating us on our issue number 100. With the celebration (there was really no such thing) over, we are back to grind working hard towards our issue 200.

And thank you also on the very many messages we get every day repudiating the war on Iraq.

This fills us with pride because this shows where the true concerns of our SHARERS lie.

It is of course, impossible to publish them all or a few of them for that matter. For this issue we have chosen an article by Noam Chomsky. Basically because Chomsky is a very well known and respected figure in the field of Linguistics and we have all, in a way or another, had some contact with his work as a Professor or a social critic. And secondly because the article we are reproducing is not one of the most widely circulated so far.

What can we, Marina and Omar, say about the atrocities of this war? Nothing that you have not heard before. We only want to beg you to pray in your churches, in your mosques, in your temples or any other place of worship to God (because, after all there is only one true God and He is common to all religions) that this useless and pointless slaughter ends soon. We have been doing this and will go on doing this with all our faith and all our hearts.

 

Love

Omar and Marina

 

 

 

In SHARE 101

 

1.-    Internet Reading-based Material in the Classroom (part 2).      

2.-    Noam Chomsky: “Rebel without a pause”.

3.-    A Most Expected Comeback.

4.-    Echoes from the First Annual Conference of Applied Drama.

5.-    Tips for your first business classes.

6.-    The Passing of Common Sense.     

7.-    Previews of On The Road Theatre Company.   

8.-    E-Teaching online in April.

9-     Krashen link.

10.-   Talk on the Language of Advertising.

11.-   Course on Translation into English.

 

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1.-   INTERNET-BASED READING MATERIALS IN THE CLASSROOM (PART 2)

 

 

Today we publish part 2 of the article that our dear SHARER from Canada, Professor Rosalyn Mundani sent us. The third and last part will be published in our next issue.

 

Integrating Internet-based reading materials into the foreign language curriculum:

From teacher –to student-centered approaches.

By Klaus Brandl - University of Washington

 

 

APPROACH 1: TEACHER-DETERMINED LESSONS

Pedagogical Perspectives

 

The reading lesson in Appendix A demonstrates an example of a teacher-centered approach to providing reading instruction online. The reading activities and materials of this approach are comparable to the computer as an online electronic workbook. The teacher prescreens and selects reading materials or cultural readings from Internet-based or other resources, designs comprehension activities, and makes them available through his/her Web page. The pedagogical strength of this approach lies in the text-specific approach to exploring authentic cultural (textual or images) resources. By pre-selecting and preparing the readings, the instructor tailors the contents and tasks to the students' proficiency level. He/she scaffolds the reading tasks by guiding the learners through the texts. The tasks are designed to support the reader's comprehension process focusing on textual, linguistic and cultural features.

Depending on the text, the reader's background and proficiency level, guided reading instruction, in particular in form of management strategies and comprehension checks, has its pedagogical strength at all levels of instruction. As Cobb and Stevens (1996) point out, "Second language readers may not have automated one or more of the component processes of reading in the second language, such as word decoding and recognition, resulting in working memory overload and diversion of attention away from the construction of a text model. Or, at a higher processing level, readers may not be familiar with semantic or discourse schemata specific to the culture of the second langue, so that they have no preactivated scaffolding to help them summarize and organize the details of the incoming text, and quickly face overload" (p.122). Furthermore, in particular at beginning levels, the text-specific approach to reading allows the instructor to support the second language readers in decoding and recognition of vocabulary, for example, by providing specific word glosses and word recognition training. As some scholars argue, glosses, rather than distraction readers, ensure more fluent reading of the selection and enhance comprehension of a text (Davis, 1989; Martínez-Lage, 1997).

The approach to reading instruction in the example above is nothing new, and one might ask the question, what are the actual advantages of the Internet-based reading activities over the reading activities based on authentic printed resources. There are benefits that are unquestionable to both instructors and students, which make such application worthwhile. Reading is a silent process that is best done individually. The learners get to explore authentic reading materials outside of class at their own pace. This frees up classroom time that can be spent more effectively getting students involved in communicative language learning activities. Furthermore, depending on the instructional program design, students' answers may be automatically tallied and forwarded to the instructor. The strongest argument, however, for providing online reading might be that the online environment allows one to take advantage of a vast amount of images and the hypermedia functions to attach text and images to a particular text.

A great deal of research exists that supports the use of images in a variety of ways. For example, visual aids have been found effective as advance organizers, because they help to build background knowledge pertinent to the target text and facilitate the contextualization of what is being read (Omaggio, 1979). Pictorial cues can also increase comprehension of a reading passage, in particular with low proficiency readers (Hudson, 1982). Cultural images can function to enrich a text. They can be used by instructors to "catch students' attention, capitalize on natural curiosity and encourage student prediction by asking how the illustrations might relate to the text" (Barnett, 1989, p. 117). Furthermore, the use of visual imagery aids allows for providing concrete images of unfamiliar words. Such instructional practices not only support the learning process of new vocabulary (Kellogg & Howe, 1971), but also enhance incidental learning of vocabulary (Chun & Plass, 1996).

In conclusion, depending on text type and reading tasks, this approach lends itself for all levels of instruction. Students' responses to reading tasks are limited by the capacity of authoring packages, which at its best allow for automatic tailoring of true/false, matching, or multi-choice answers. Any open-ended student response that goes beyond one-word answers requires the intervention of an instructor to assess the students' work.

 

Technological Considerations

 

The development of reading lessons as demonstrated in this approach may be time consuming and cumbersome. To create such activities, skills and expertise in language pedagogy, instructional design, and some programming are required. The latter may include experience with HTML editors, HTML or Internet-based authoring packages such as Half-Baked Software,2 or WebCT. Other technological skills such as the use of scanners and graphic programs are recommended. The use of Internet-based resources may also require copyright clearance in many instances.

 

APPROACH 2: TEACHER-FACILITATED LESSONS

Pedagogical Perspectives

 

Internet-based reading activities that have gained most wide-spread attention and popularity among language teachers and students are those in which the instructor provides a set of learning tasks that engage the learners in exploring reading materials in their authentic environments. Based on the example presented in Appendix B, the approach to this type of Internet-reading lessons can be simply described in the following way. The instructor determines a particular topic and set of goals for his lesson, such exploring German cities, or Mexican restaurants. The teacher prescreens and selects a set of sites to ensure its contents are appropriate for their pedagogical goals. Through a particular task design, the instructor facilitates the students' reading process and guides the learners to explore a variety of pre-selected resources, thus providing a clear goal to be accomplished by the students. Furthermore, the tasks are designed so "they are not so broad that students wander aimlessly through the material yet open enough to provide multiple paths, outcomes, and interpretations, which can form the basis for subsequent classroom interaction" (Furstenberg, 1997, p. 24). In this way, the teacher controls the navigational scope and the number and kind of Internet sites that the students access. Despite the restriction, the learner has some autonomy as the tasks provide the learner a choice in the sites he or she accesses and explores. Task types usually include comparisons, gathering factual information, descriptions, and short summaries. The outcome of the student assignments is clearly defined, but open-ended. The teacher's role can best be described as a guide and facilitator. The students follow the teacher's lead but get to explore the contents themselves.

The approach to integrating Internet-based resources in a foreign language curriculum as outlined above can be supported by many arguments. One major difference between lesson type 1 and 2 above has to do with the degree of control of the reading process, in other words, how the learners are to approach the reading text. Although plenty of arguments speak in favor of a structured and guided approach to decoding a text, ultimately students need to learn this by themselves. There is some evidence that students who rely excessively on instructional help are not learning as much as those who try to solve problems themselves. Pederson (1986), for example, demonstrated differences in cognitive processing between students who had access to help on their reading comprehension to those you did not. "The results indicate that passage-unavailable treatment always resulted in comparatively higher comprehension rate than occurred in counterpart passage-available treatment regardless of the level of question or level of verbal ability" (p. 39). In other words, "greater benefit was derived from the subjects' being aware that they were required to do all their processing of the text prior to viewing the question" (p. 38; cited in Cobb & Stevens, 1996, p. 133).

The approach to exploring information in a nonlinear (hypermedia) structure on the Web may have additional potential to enhance students' reading skills. Spiro and Jehng (1990), for instance, suggest that the design of hypertexts should be based on a "cognitive flexibility theory," allowing the reader to access information in various sequences and to return to the same place on different occasions, coming from different directions. A central claim of the theory is that revisiting the same material, in rearranged contexts and from different conceptual perspectives, aids in advanced knowledge acquisition" (cited in Chun & Plass, 2000, p. 163). For example, many learners have the tendency to approach and read a text linearly rather than holistically. In this way, they often fail to draw inferences from outside the context as one might be expected to do when reading a text (Cobb & Stevens, 1996). The hypertext organization of information on the Internet that asks them to jump around between texts, may thus help them with the development of more holistic strategies. This structure and the access to immediate information presented by difference sources (e.g., news topics, or newspaper ads) also allows for comparisons of texts, which can teach students to become critical readers (Walz, 2001). As also suggested by the recent National Standards (1999), the objective of foreign language learning should be to teach students how to read critically on their own, especially with the Internet, which often involves independent reading (Walz, 2001).

Above, I have pointed out several arguments in favor of integrating authentic materials from the Web, in particular with regard to the availability of and access to non-linear resources. Yet, the abundance of information and the hypertext and hypermedia environment can be detrimental if not controlled or if little guidance is provided.

Common problems that students may encounter in hypermedia environments as the Web include difficulties in navigation and cognitive overload. The literature provides numerous accounts of students' complaints about Web-based learning activities, including taking too long to accomplish, getting lost, and feeling overwhelmed (M. Bansleben [personal communication], January 30, 2002; Lee, 1998; Osuna & Meskill, 1998). The potential source of cognitive overload and navigational problems is the structure of the hypermedia environment of the Internet itself. Each time students navigate from one hyper-linked site to the next, they encounter new information within an unfamiliar environment. In addition, there is the burden of the language that requires learner to decode not only the different structure of the information, but the basic vocabulary and syntax of the text itself (Chun & Plass, 2000). When pre-screening and selecting sites and designing exploration tasks, instructors need to pay special attention to the linguistic complexity and cognitive processes involved in processing the instructional materials. As pointed out above, through a clearly focused task design and carefully chosen sites, the instructor can control the navigational scope that helps the learners from getting lost or overwhelmed.

A teacher-facilitated approach has the highest potential, especially with learners at the beginning and intermediate level, or when the exploration of the selected materials no longer requires a close intervention by the instructor to ensure the comprehension process. Furthermore, as the open-ended structure of this type of lesson design makes the students' answers less predictable than in a text-specific approach, the instructor must be prepared for a wide variety of student answers. Therefore, it is recommended that some assessment criteria be in place to indicate how students are evaluated. Being able to estimate and control students' time on task makes this approach well suited for short-term assignments to be integrated in any curriculum at the intermediate level and above.

 

Technological Considerations

 

The development and preparation of teacher-facilitated, Internet-based lessons as described in this approach is fairly minimal. The pre-screening and selection process of the Internet sites may constitute the most time-consuming part, which makes knowledge about search engines and how to use them imperative. Usually the Web sites run by the individual American Associations of Language Teachers3 (e.g., the American Association of Teachers of French) list the most popular search engines and a list of resources particular to their languages. As far as technological skills are concerned, however, this makes the approach integrating Internet-based materials the most attractive approach for the intermediate foreign language classroom. Some experience with an HTML editing program is required if instructions and activities are to be provided online, although most word processors allow for the translation of a text file into an HTML document. An alternative strategy to provide instructions and learning tasks online is to make this information available by means of a worksheet.

One of the drawbacks of using authentic sites is that the instructor needs to keep track of the functionality of the links. URL addresses constantly change and sites do disappear. Therefore, it is recommended that alternative sites be provided, in case some sites are no longer accessible.

 

APPROACH 3: LEARNER-DETERMINED LESSONS

Pedagogical Perspectives

 

Learner-determined lessons follow an approach to integrating Internet-based resources that is entirely learner-centered. As seen from the examples in Appendix C, the learners determine the topics, reading materials, and the way they go about exploring the readings themselves. They decide on the process and the product, formulate the goals, identify Internet-based resources, and make a decision on how the outcomes should be evaluated. In this way, the students take on the roles of self-directed and autonomous learners, and take full charge and responsibility for their outcomes. The teacher only gets involved in the role of a facilitator offering support and guidance throughout the process as much as necessary. Types of assessment may include teacher-, self-, or group-assessment. Assessment of learner outcomes may be teacher-directed or student-determined. Examples are short writing assignments, essays, or mini-projects or presentations that show the students' analytical and interpretative skills of cultural readings and texts. Students may also document the process and stages of their projects through diaries or maintaining a portfolio.

 

Internet-based projects can be carried out intensively over a short period of time or extended over a few weeks. Generally speaking, this approach of integrating Internet-based materials lends itself to long-term assignments with intermediate and advanced language learners in the target language. For integration at the beginner's level, the exploration of cultural readings may have to take place in the students' L1.

 

This approach is based on the theory of project-based learning. Its benefits have been described at various places. For example, Stoller (1997) summarizes some of the pedagogical advantages in the following way:

1)    Project work focuses on content learning rather than on specific language targets. Real-world subject matter and topics of interest to students can become central to projects.

2)    Project work is student-centered, though the teacher plays a major role in offering support and guidance throughout the process.

3)    Project work is cooperative rather than competitive. Students can work on their own, in small groups, or as a class to complete a project, sharing resources, ideas, and expertise along the way.

4)    Project work leads to the authentic integration of skills and processing of information from varied sources, mirroring real-life tasks.

5)    Project work culminates in an end product (e.g., an oral presentation, a poster session, a bulletin board display, a report, or a stage performance) that can be shared with others, giving the project a real purpose. The value of the project, however, lies not just in the final product but also in the process of working towards the end point. Thus, project work has both a process and product orientation, and provides students with opportunities to focus on fluency and accuracy at different project-work stages.

6)    Project work is potentially motivating, stimulating, empowering, and challenging. It usually results in building student confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy as well as improving students' language skills, content learning, and cognitive abilities.

Project-oriented work embraces principles of learning that are promoted by various theories, approaches, and philosophies of learning. For example, project learning is in accordance with the principles of communicative language learning (Omaggio-Hadley, 2001). Students apply their knowledge in real-life situations by exploring authentic materials. The learning activities resemble real-world tasks. The students strive for an end product, whose goal they accomplish by collaborating with their peers in order to ultimately share what they have achieved with others.

 

Project-oriented work also lies at the heart of autonomy in language learning. As Holec (1981) claims, autonomy is the "ability to take charge of one's learning" which is a skill" to be acquired by 'natural' means or in a systematic, deliberate way." According to Holec, learners alone are responsible for deciding what is to be learned, when, how, in what order, and by what means. It is also their responsibility to set their own goals and measure the degree to which they have been effective in attaining them. In other words, a project-oriented approach provides the passage towards these goals. The students learn about the decision-making process about topics and content, about learning and the management of it (Legutke & Thomas, 1991).

The major strength of this approach lies in its constructivist approach to learning. According to Chun & Plass (2000), "Constructivist approaches to learning advocate allowing learners not only to interact directly with information to be learned, but also to add their own information and construct their own relationships" (p. 160). Learning is seen as a process in which the learner is cognitively involved in seeking answers, making generalizations, and testing the hypotheses they have generated. By taking a major role in planning and negotiating course content, the students become active contributors to their language learning rather than being passive recipients of knowledge.

 

An Internet-based approach to project learning also lends itself well to the teaching of specific skills required to conduct research. For example, Gaspar (1998) used McKenzie's (1995) "Iterative Research Cycle" consisting of the different stages of the research process with her advanced language students. These stages are

* Questioning -- Decide what information is lacking or what problem needs solving.

* Planning -- Develop a strategy to efficiently locate valid information.

* Gathering -- Locate the best sources, Internet and other, and collect needed information.

* Sifting -- Select from what was found that information most pertinent to the research question.

* Synthesizing -- Sort the information into a meaningful pattern.

* Evaluating -- Assess progress in answering the research question, and if needed, return to the first step in this cycle (cited in Gaspar, 1998, p. 72).

Such an instructional practice underscores and supports the development of higher-order thinking skills like "synthesizing" and "evaluating" which students need when conducting research. As Gaspar (1998) notes, students must be able to sort through the myriad of information available seeking out only that, which is pertinent to the project at hand.

The use of the Internet for research purposes requires a variety of searching skills. It asks for knowledge of different search engines and how they work, such as whether they are case sensitive or not. Furthermore, it assumes the user has some information-seeking skills. Fidel et al. (1999) showed that being somewhat knowledgeable of the topic being searched is necessary for learning how to search the Web, and that being somewhat knowledgeable about Web searching is necessary for exploring new topics. It is often assumed that, because most adolescent learners are familiar with searching the Internet, they know how to do so effectively. Several studies which have investigated students' searching behavior have found that students are often lacking searching skills (Fidel, et al.1999; Nahl & Harada, 1996; Neuman, 1993). In conclusion of their findings, most of these researchers agree and recommend the need for formal training in Web searching, for teachers and students alike. Fidel et al. points to "the need for training beyond the technical competencies required for Web searching, and thus emphasize the importance of integrating information-seeking skills into the curriculum" (p. 34).

 

The open-ended approach to exploring Internet-based resources requires language learners to have a solid foundation in their language proficiency skills. This makes the project-based approach most appropriate for intermediate and advanced language learners. The exploration of such Internet-based materials or readings is best assigned in stages on a long-term basis. Similar to a teacher-facilitated approach, the open-ended structure of a student's product makes the assessment process subjective and time consuming. Therefore, assessment rubrics are recommended to indicate how a student's product is evaluated.

 

Technological Considerations

 

The technological skills required to implement this approach are minimal. If the teacher is to provide guidance to his/her students on searching the Internet, then knowledge about Web browsers, search engines and their effective use are indispensable.

 

(c) Copyright Klaus Brandl

Language Learning & Technology
Vol. 6, No.3, September 2002, pp. 87-107

 

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2.-   NOAM CHOMSKY:  “REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSE”

 

Our dear SHARER Fernanda Iturralde from Córdoba, Argentina has sent us this article by Noam Chomsky together with this introduction which she wanted to SHARE with all of you:

 

Whether Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguist and political philosopher, is " arguably the most important intellectual alive," as the New York Times famously called him, is perhaps for each individual to decide. But without a doubt, Chomsky is one of the most straight-talking, committed, and hard-working dissidents of our time. U2's Bono has called him "the rebel without a pause." A quiet but steadfast critic of United States foreign policy for decades, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, his profile took a quantum leap as he provided much-demanded analysis and historical perspective to concerned citizens throughout the world.

 

 

What Americans have learnt - and not learnt - since 9/11

By Noam Chomsky

 

September 11 shocked many Americans into an awareness that they had better pay much closer attention to what the United States Government does in the world and how it is perceived.

Many issues have been opened for discussion that were not on the agenda before. That is all to the good.

It is also the merest sanity, if we hope to reduce the likelihood of future atrocities. It may be comforting for Americans to pretend that their enemies "hate our freedoms", as President Bush stated, but it is hardly wise to ignore the real world, which conveys different lessons.

The President is not the first to ask: "Why do they hate us?"

In a staff discussion 44 years ago, president Dwight Eisenhower described "the campaign of hatred against us (in the Arab world), not by the governments but by the people". His National Security Council outlined the basic argument: the US supports corrupt and oppressive governments and is "opposing political or economic progress" because of its interest in controlling the oil resources of the region.

Post-September 11 surveys in the Arab world reveal that the same reasons hold today, compounded with resentment over specific policies. Strikingly, that is even true of privileged, Western-oriented sectors in the region.

To cite just one recent example, in the August 1 issue of Far Eastern Economic Review, internationally recognised regional specialist Ahmed Rashid writes that, in Pakistan, "there is growing anger that US support is allowing (Musharraf's) military regime to delay the promise of democracy".

Today, Americans do themselves few favours by choosing to believe that "they hate us" and "hate our freedoms". On the contrary, these are people who like Americans and admire much about the US, including its freedoms. What they hate is official policies that deny them the freedoms to which they, too, aspire.

For such reasons, the post-September 11 rantings of Osama bin Laden - for example, about US support for corrupt and brutal regimes, or about the US "invasion" of Saudi Arabia - have a certain resonance, even among those who despise and fear him. From resentment, anger and frustration, terrorist bands hope to draw support and recruits.

We should also be aware that much of the world regards Washington as a terrorist regime. In recent years, the US has taken or backed actions in Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama, Sudan and Turkey, to name a few, that meet official US definitions of "terrorism" - that is, when Americans apply the term to enemies.

In the most sober establishment journal, Foreign Affairs, Samuel Huntington wrote in 1999: "While the US regularly denounces various countries as 'rogue states', in the eyes of many countries it is becoming the rogue superpower . . . the single greatest external threat to their societies."

Such perceptions are not changed by the fact that on September 11, for the first time, a Western country was subjected on home soil to a horrendous terrorist attack of a kind all too familiar to victims of Western power. The attack goes far beyond what is sometimes called the "retail terror" of the IRA or Red Brigade.

The September 11 terrorism elicited harsh condemnation throughout the world and an outpouring of sympathy for the innocent victims. But with qualifications.

An international Gallup Poll in late September found little support for "a military attack" by the US in Afghanistan. In Latin America, the region with the most experience of US intervention, support ranged from 2 per cent in Mexico to 16 per cent in Panama.

The present "campaign of hatred" in the Arab world is, of course, also fuelled by US policies towards Israel-Palestine and Iraq. The US has provided the crucial support for Israel's harsh military occupation, now in its 35th year.

One way for the US to lessen Israeli-Palestinian tension would be to stop refusing to join the long-standing international consensus that calls for recognition of the right of all states in the region to live in peace and security, including a Palestinian state in the currently occupied territories (perhaps with minor and mutual border adjustments).

In Iraq, a decade of harsh sanctions under US pressure has strengthened Saddam while leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis - perhaps more people "than have been slain by all so-called weapons of mass destruction throughout history", military analysts John and Karl Mueller wrote in Foreign Affairs in 1999.

Washington's present justifications to attack Iraq have far less credibility than when President Bush No. 1 was welcoming Saddam as an ally and a trading partner after the Iraqi leader had committed his worst brutalities - as in Halabja, where Iraq attacked Kurds with poison gas in 1988. At the time, the murderer Saddam was more dangerous than he is today.

As for a US attack against Iraq, no one, including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, can realistically guess the possible costs and consequences.

Radical Islamist extremists surely hope that an attack on Iraq will kill many people and destroy much of the country, providing recruits for terrorist actions.

They presumably also welcome the "Bush doctrine" that proclaims the right of attack against potential threats, which are virtually limitless. The President has announced that: "There's no telling how many wars it will take to secure freedom in the homeland". That's true.

Threats are everywhere, even at home. The prescription for endless war poses a far greater danger to Americans than perceived enemies do, for reasons the terrorist organisations understand very well.

Twenty years ago, the former head of Israeli military intelligence, Yehoshaphat Harkabi, also a leading Arabist, made a point that still holds true. "To offer an honourable solution to the Palestinians, respecting their right to self-determination - that is the solution of the problem of terrorism," he said. "When the swamp disappears, there will be no more mosquitoes."

At the time, Israel enjoyed the virtual immunity from retaliation within the occupied territories that lasted until very recently. But Harkabi's warning was apt, and the lesson applies more generally.

Well before September 11, it was understood that, with modern technology, the rich and powerful would lose their near-monopoly of the means of violence and could expect to suffer atrocities on home soil.

If America insists on creating more swamps, there will be more mosquitoes, with awesome capacity for destruction.

If America devotes its resources to draining the swamps, addressing the roots of the "campaigns of hatred", it can not only reduce the threats it faces but also live up to ideals that it professes and that are not beyond reach if Americans choose to take them seriously.

 

 

© Noam Chomsky. September 7 2002.

http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/9-11/0907Chomsky.htm

 

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3.-   A MOST EXPECTED COMEBACK 

 

I am sure this is going to be great news to the ELT profession in our country: our dear old friend Oriel Villagarcía is back in the ELT arena! The most expected comeback of an academic personality who (as I always insisted) should have never left us and had, in fact, never really left us. Oriel who has toured our country and neighbouring countries delivering countless talks, teaching courses, conducting seminars, organizing and co-organizing conferences, congresses, conventions and teachers´meetings and helping teachers to get organized for the advancement of our profession has also taught to the many, like myself, who pride themselves on being his friend invaluable lessons of life. Welcome back home, Oriel!

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE : Creating Special Moments in Teaching

 

May 16 and 17, 2003 co-organized by SBS and CONSUDEC

Four workshops to find new possibilities in the teaching of English:

Jamie Duncan and Laura Szmuch, “They’re playing our song”

Claudia Ferradas Moi, “Reading as a process of discovery: Literature in the Language Classroom” Oriel Villagarcía, “Word Wonder: Exploring Idiomaticity, Phrasals and Metaphors in the English Language”

Susan Hillyard, “If Music be the Food of Love - Play On!”

 

Fee: $ 20

For further details, contact: susanab@sbs.com.ar  (011) 4926 0194 or the corresponding SBS branch in Rosario, Córdoba or Salta. Registration: Casa de la Educación – CONSUDEC Bme. Mitre 1869, Cap. Fed. (011) 4371 3077 / 4374 2943 / 4373 2625 / 9991 / 4700 fax: 4375 4682 info@consudec.com.ar    

 

Oriel graduated “Magna Cum Laude” as a teacher of English from Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. As a British Council scholar he got his Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from the University of Lancaster and went on to pursue post-graduate studies at University of Texas as a Fullbright scholar. Oriel is a Co-founder of FAAPI, the Argentine Federation of Teachers of English and has specialized in NLP and alternative teaching methodologies.

 

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4-    ECHOES FROM THE FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF APPLIED DRAMA

 

Our dear SHARER Alicia Lopez from the Website e-teachingonline has sent us her review of the First Annual Conference of Applied Drama organized by The Bs As Players which we are very pleased to publish:

“In the pouring rain teachers from all over the country arrived at the Santa Maria Theatre at 8 o'clock to register for what would be a most enlightening event. People from Rosario, Bariloche, Cordoba, Mendoza, Misiones, and from different cities in the province of Buenos Aires attended this impeccably organized conference.
The conference lasted three days and kept the audience glued to their seats for the quality of the speakers generated not only interest but also a participating spirit.
The lecturer to open the sessions was renowned Nora Kreimer, a Shakespeare specialist, who explored the role of student-actors and teacher-directors that extends the border of the traditional classroom. She aroused the enthusiasm of the audience with her fervour.
Celia Zubiri, the organizer of the event, came next and among other things explained the difference between the use of drama focused on drama activities and the use of drama on stage. The following day she explored the use of the body as a tool to communicate,and showed non verbal actions to communicate feelings, intentions and moods.
Patricia Gómez showed the dramatic possibilities of story telling, an actress herself she was able to transmit this accurately.
Marvellous Beatriz K. De Pena
Lima helped the audience discover the hidden dramatic nature of most poems and how this can be exploited in the English classroom.
Carlos Martínez was great with puppets and their pedagogic potential and young choreographer Jose Munoz conducted a recreative activity based on three famous musicals that delighted the participants.
Ana M Bergel showed the importance of music to express drama and it was fantastic to re discover how by listening to music you can produce dialogues, stories and scripts in the EFL classroom. Eugenia Tyroler emphasized the importance of make-up for characterization; there were some wonderful kids on stage to prove her words.
Roberto Vega dealt with the theatre and education, he pointed out the power of autonomous productions to strengthen self esteem and mutual respect among students.
The meeting was a complete success, and Celia Zubiri deservedly radiant. This hard-working, creative and talented teacher- playwright deserved the earned applause that closed the conference on Saturday afternoon.

© Alicia López. www.e-teachingonline.com.ar

In related news and following the huge success of his presentation at the Conference, The Bs.As. Players announce a Workshop on Movimientos y Estilos Coreográficos by Josse Muñoz to be held at Teatro Santamaría, Montevideo 842, Ciudad de Buenos Aires next Saturday 12th April from 9:30 to12:00 hours. Vacancies are strictly limited and will be allotted on a first come first served basis. For additional information, please contact: The Bs Players at Teatro Santamaría weekdays from 10:00 to 17:00 hours or phone  tel/fax: (011) 4812-5307 / 4814-5455 or e-mail : thebap@arnet.com.ar  

 

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5.-   TIPS FOR YOUR FIRST BUSINESS CLASSES

 

Our dear friend and SHARER Martha Ortigueira from Centro de Graduados en Lenguas Vivas de la Universidad Católica Argentina has an announcement to make:

 

25 de abril – 14:00 a 16:00 hs

Charla Gratuita en Inglés: “Tips for your first business classes"

Dirigido a profesores y traductores recién graduados y estudiantes de inglés que deseen adquirir pautas generales para desempeñarse exitosamente en sus primeras clases para adultos en empresas.

Disertante: Prof.Patricia Tanke Paz

Profesora  y Traductora de Inglés graduada de la UCA. Actualmente trabaja como profesora en empresas, con una experiencia de más de 20 años. Estuvo a  cargo  de  Lengua  II  en  la carrera de Traductorado y Profesorado de Inglés de la UCA. Fue profesora de Idioma I e Idioma II en la Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Belgrano. Realizó cursos de Metodología en la University of California, Riverside.

Cupos limitados. Se debe realizar la inscripción previamente en Centro de Graduados en Lenguas Vivas de la UCA. Alicia M. de Justo 1500. Edificio San Alberto Magno. P.B. Puerta Graduados
Tel.: 4338-0775     e-mail:
gralen@uca.edu.ar

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6.-   THE PASSING OF COMMON SENSE

 

Our dear SHARER and great collaborator Bethina Viale has sent us this piece which, as she says, is worth reading:

 

Obituary

 

Today we mourn the passing of an old friend, by the name of Common Sense.

Common Sense lived a long life but died in the United States from heart failure on the brink of the new millennium. No one really knows how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, factories helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness.

For decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it's okay to come in second. A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including body piercing, whole language, and "new math."

But his health declined when he became infected with the "If-it-only-helps-one-person-it's-worth-it" virus. In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of well intentioned, but overbearing, regulations. He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero-tolerance policies.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parent when a female student was pregnant or wanted an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became Contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from the Boy Scouts to professional sports. Finally, when a woman, too stupid to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, was awarded a huge settlement, Common Sense threw in the towel.

As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding questionable regulations such as those for low flow toilets, rocking chairs, and stepladders.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights, and Ima Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

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7.-   PREVIEWS OF ON THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY.

Our dear SHARER Ximena Faralla, Director of On the Road Theatre Company announces:

Next April 12th, Teachers and Heads are invited to two more of our plays  

 

10:00 AM

Snow White 2003

 

Fairy tale characters are brought back to life in this modern cocktail of stories where the classic Witch in Snow White resorts to a witty plan for getting money out of Lazy Dwarf. By kidnapping Snow White and collecting the ransom, she intends to fulfil her secret wish of affording a lifting and thus become the Fairest of them all... Classic fairy tale characters such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are ushered in this hilarious new tale, trying to help Prince Charming in his quest for the last Princess on the list that needs to be kissed...

 

11:30 AM

Beauty and the Beast

-the play- A new version of the classic, based on the original folk tale.

Beauty meets her Beast and a myriad of questions about values and the humanity hidden within arise.

 

Both plays written and directed by Ximena Faralla

Cast: Veronica Taylor - Lucas R. Tsolakian - Inés Vrlijack - Nicolás Pueta - Matías Roberto

 

Preview: April 12th, 10 and 11:30 AM.

"The Playhouse", Moreno 80, San Isidro.

Limited seats - Prior booking is required - info@ontheroadonline.com

4568-7125 -  www.ontheroadonline.com                  

 

-After the shows, don´t miss our four Storytelling Sessions! -

 

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8.-   E-TEACHING ONLINE IN APRIL

 

Our dear SHARERS Patricia Salvador and Alicia Lopez Oyhenart write to us:

 

Dear Omar and Marina:

 

We're contacting you with news of our April issue # 5 .These are hard times for the world at large and teachers must keep spirits up and help students understand.

Therefore, we have devoted a great part of the April issue of E-teachingonline to  Easter activities as a reminder of the rebirth of life and hope. Also we include Earth Day Craft material to remind our classes of the need to recycle, reuse and reduce waste. We will have a PEACE update with intensely felt ideas to be transmitted in class in the form of activities, crafts, debates, projects, songs.

Teachers will find the usual variety of classroom solutions and tips to increase their potential. Beatriz K. de Pena Lima has written about current trends in Literature teaching and the editorial group explores the difference between teacher training and teacher development.

This issue offers a good number of useful addresses and cool links for English teachers.

E-teachingonline.com.ar   

 

Thank you Omar and Marina.

Alicia Lopez Oyhenart -  Patricia Salvador

 

 

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9.-   KRASHEN LINK

 

Our dear SHARER Mónica Sanín has sent us this message:

 

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

From: "Monica Sanin" <msanin@sinectis.com.ar>

To: "Omar Villarreal" <omarvillarreal@netizen.com.ar>

Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 2:57 AM

Subject: Pequeño error en Share 99

 

Hola Marina/Omar:
Les cuento que en la edicion 99 de Share, hay un error. El sitio de Stephen Krashen es
www.sdkrashen.com y no skrashen como apareció en Share.
Gracias por la información, anyway!! Está el libro completo, muy útil para los que estamos trabajando en tesinas.
Cariños,
Mónica Sanin

  

Thank you, Mónica for your contribution. We are, needless to say, very sorry and regret the inconvenience this might have caused. But let it be said also that from some servers? Systems? Machines? You can access Krashen´s site both through www.sdkrashen.com and www.skrashen.com. How come? Mystery of mysteries, but we cross our hearts and promise: we are telling you the truth. Perhaps we should ask Bernieh, our dear technology expert.

 

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10.-  TALK ON THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

 

Our dear SHARER Pierre Stapley writes to us:  

 

Stapley Educational Services together with  Instituto Superior Particular Incorporado N° 9123 San Bartolomé and APrIR take pleasure in inviting you to a business language talk by Pierre Stapley, which will be given on: Friday 11th April 2003 - 18:30 - 21:00 at Colegio San Bartolomé, Tucumán 1257, Rosario

"Language & Tactics Used in Advertising"

 

This talk is the first of a series aimed to look into the language and theory used in Business. In this talk, we will look at the clever language used by companies in advertising and also the clever tactics they use. We will look at examples of advertisements from the following media:

television, radio, newspaper, magazine, leaflet.

 

Registration:  Librería Ameghino, Corrientes 868, Rosario -Phone: 0341 449-5637
                Librería SBS,
Santa Fe 1341, Rosario       -Phone: 0341 424-1822 / 424-9796
Fee:           $6,00

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11.-  COURSE OF TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH

 

Our dear SHARER Silvana García Calabria from Comisión de Prensa del CTPZN wants to invite all SHARERS to this course:

"TRADUCCIÓN AL INGLÉS: UNA NUEVA REALIDAD DE NUESTRA PROFESIÓN”

by Alejandra Rogante

Traductora Técnico Científica y Literaria de Inglés (ENSLV). Profesora de Traducción II (IESLV), Profesora de Traducción Inversa y Traducción Técnico Científica II (ENSLV)

Temario: Calidad del original, dificultades semánticas, léxicas y sintácticas, registro, colocaciones, frecuencia de uso.

Se trabajarán básicamente dos formatos de texto: informes especializados y textos discursivos (artículos, ensayos, ponencias). Habrá tarea de traducción de aproximadamente 600 palabras entre una clase y la otra, cuya dificultad irá aumentando gradualmente.

Fecha: miércoles 2, 9, 16, 23 y 30 de abril, de 9 a 12.

Arancel:$140. Consultar descuentos para miembros de la AATI y del CTPZN. Pagos en dos veces

Ejercicio de traducción

El siguiente párrafo es un fragmento del artículo titulado “El insight como clave para el aprendizaje individual y organizacional”, que fue escrito por la Lic. S. Haskler y que se publicó en la revista especializada en recursos humanos C&D.

A. Identificar las dificultades que presentará el párrafo en el momento de su traducción en los siguientes tres planos:

1. Plano semántico (¿Hay algún concepto difícil de comprender? ¿Necesito más contexto para entender de qué se trata?)

2. Plano sintáctico (¿Qué estructuras me van a resultar difíciles? ¿Por qué?)

3. Plano léxico (¿Hay terminología específica? ¿Cómo o dónde hallar los equivalentes? ¿Por qué hay términos del inglés?)

B. Una vez realizado este análisis, producir una primera versión del texto

Durante los últimos años, los gerentes han debido aprender –y sin duda lo hicieron muy bien- a manejarse con un nuevo conjunto de reglas resultantes de la cambiante estructura del mercado globalizado. La búsqueda de productividad, calidad y velocidad produjo un enorme número de herramientas y técnicas como TQM, reingeniería, manejo del cambio o benchmarking, que si bien condujeron a mejoras operativas significativas, por lo general no lograron garantizar la rentabilidad, ‘el objetivo más claro de la existencia de las organizaciones’. La raíz de esta dificultad, según Michael Porter, es la imposibilidad de distinguir entre eficiencia operativa (EO) y estrategia. La eficiencia operativa es, sin lugar a dudas, un factor indiscutible en las organizaciones exitosas de hoy, pero no suficiente para que una empresa logre un posicionamiento estratégico que la diferencie claramente de sus competidores. Para lograr este posicionamiento estratégico hace falta un insight organizacional.

Further information: T.P. Silvana García Calabria - info@traductoreszonanorte.org - www.traductoreszonanorte.org

 

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Time to say goodbye again. This week with a message from the ELT team of Oxford University Press:

“We join SHARE MAGAZINE in their 100th Issue Celebration. We would like to congratulate you on your ongoing effort and support in teacher development. We are certain that SHARE will be able to light many more 'thousand candles'..."

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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