SHARE

 

An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac ©

 

Year 4                    Number 106            June 1st 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,

 

Saturday and almost the end of a long week. By now you must have read the message that Marina sent you on Wednesday evening about the Ninth National Congress of Teachers and Students of English I am so proud to preside this year. All this excitement around, the confirmation of speakers and their topics, frantic telephoning, consulting with the Academic Committee, the writing of the message, the final touches to design… and I was in bed with the flu! Can you believe it? I missed the launching of one of our dearest projects for this year and had to put up with Marina teasing me with the refrain of an 80´s song: “Just when I needed you most”. But she did admirably well judging by the immediate response we got. Scarcely three days after the publicty was launched we have around 50 teachers enrolling!!! Incredible!

We were always sure that the Congress was going to be a great event and we are proud that we have been able to put together an academic programme with five top-notch plenarists and more than 25 workshops (the final figure will be 40 workshops) led by some of the biggest names in the ELT scene in our country PLUS an amazing social programme, and in this sense we believe that this Congress will be unique: 2 plays, one cocktail, an empanada party, and what promises to be an unforgettable Congress disco to the music of the 70´s and the 80´s with dear old Pierre Stapley as a most exclusive disc jockey. Something we are also very happy about is that we have managed to keep the price very low (only 40 pesos which include the academic and the social programme) so that everybody can join us in this celebration of knowledge and comradeship. And last but not least, the fact that all the activities are going to be held in

only one place: Universidad CAECE – Tte Gral Perón 2933 in Buenos Aires conveniently near train, subway and buses. I am so excited about all this I could go on and on but it´s time for our Saturday pizzas and Marina will soon be summoning me to the dinning room so I´d better get going.

 

 

Love

Omar and Marina

 

 

 

 

In SHARE 106

 

1.-    Minimal Pairs: Some funny stories and an invitation to further research.

2.-    Harper Lee or the art of keeping quiet after “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

3.-    E-mail and the acquisition of English (Part Two).

4.-    The British Council: Translating from Latin America.     

5.-    Lecture on Introduction to Corpus Linguistics at UTN.

6-     Talleres de Narración Oral: Stories that sound.

7.-    Position Vacant in Bahía Blanca.

8.-    The Thinking Approach.     

9.-    News from “On the Road”.   

10.-   Diseño Didáctico para la Web.

11.-   New English Website.

12.-   Workshops at the Buenos Aires Players.

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1.-   MINIMAL PAIRS: SOME FUNNY STORIES AND AN INVITATION TO FURTHER RESEARCH.

 

Our dear SHARER Ignacio Quiñones from Entre Rios, Argentina sends us this article that we are sure the specialist as well as the general practitioner will enjoy:

 

 

Minimal pairs for English RP

by John Higgins

 

 

Minimal pairs are pairs of words whose pronunciation differs at only one segment, such as sheep and ship or lice and rice. They are often used in listening tests and pronunciation exercises. Theoretically it is the existence of minimal pairs which enables linguists to build up the phoneme inventory for a language or dialect, though the process is not without difficulty.

 

Although the normal definition of a minimal pair specifies that the words differ in one segment, it allows that segment to be widely different in terms of articulation. Another tighter definition of a minimal pair might be words which differ by only one feature. In that case the ideal minimal pair might be cheer versus jeer which differ only in voicing. These two words also belong to the same part of speech and so have the same inflections. Moreover they belong in the same domain of discourse, and are therefore highly confusable. If you were to overhear a fragment of conversation which included:

 

You should have heard them ??eering at the end of the game.

 

You would have to perceive the voicing in order to know exactly what was meant. Most minimal pairs are considerably more distinct than that one, and in many cases would cause no difficulty to any speaker. However there is a kind of delight in recognising some of the pairs, which I feel may be related to the enjoyment we feel when we come across an outrageous rhyme in a song or piece of verse.

They can also be the source of genuine confusions and disputes. A story which appeared in newspapers in April 1998 suggested that the urn known as The Ashes and presented to the winning team in the England versus Australia cricket series contains not the remains of a bail, as the traditional account stated, but of a veil. Another story, involving not strictly a minimal pair but a highly confusable pair of words, appeared in January 1997. It told how a Japanese tourist with a ticket for Turkey had gone to Paddington station in London and asked for directions. She was put on the train to Torquay (a seaside town in South West England).

 

There are all sorts of confusable sentences which can easily lead to 'slips of the ear' among English speakers, such as "the Dutch are suspicious" being misheard as "the Duchess is vicious". The only siginificant difference in the sound of those two sentences is /p/ versus /v/ and this is one which is notoriously difficult for foreign learners and can lead to unexpected problems. On a recent trip to Spain I heard a Spanish guide leading a party of British tourists asking them to rendezvous at what they thought was "St Martin's Village" when he meant to say "St Martin's Bridge". The /b/ versus /v/ contrast is not made in Spanish, and his strong articulation of the /r/ made it easily confused with an /l/. Another slip of the ear I encountered recently was postcard for coastguard; although the initial /p versus /k/ distinction is a fairly strong one, the /k/ versus /g/ distinction in the middle of the word is neutralised by the presence of the /s/. (A contributory factor is that coastguards are often located in picturesque seaside towns, from which it would be reasonable to send a postcard.) A similar misunderstanding arose in a recent conversation between raingear and reindeer.

Homophones engender many spelling mistakes; probably the commonest of all is to write there instead of their or vice versa. Sometimes a set of near homophones leads to a spelling error, as in a notice seen recently: RUGBY, STIRLING VERSES LIVERPOOL. In the same way minimal pairs engender many spelling errors in the writing of foreign learners. Among those I have seen recently are "a reach man" (rich man) and "a brought road" (broad road). An Arabic-speaking student once wrote an essay for me about a visit to London during which he had seen "the Pig Pen Watch" (Big Ben). Even national newspapers are not immune. The Times of Tuesday, September 5th, 2000, printed the following:

 

Apology

Readers will have been surprised yesterday to see the famous Cold War phrase "mutually assured destruction" (MAD) rendered as "neutrally assured destruction" (NAD). What began as a copytaking error somehow survived into this column. To anyone who was confused as well as to those who were not, we offer our apologies.

 

When this project (collecting and editing minimal pair lists for all the 510 theoretically possible contrasts) is complete, I hope to be in a position to measure the functional load of a pronunciation error, ie how much potential for confusion is created by a particular vowel or consonant error and therefore how important it is. Naturally this is not just a matter of counting the number of pairs, but also depends on the part of speech of the words and therefore their potential for appearing in the same contexts. For this reason the edited lists draw a distinction between the number of pairs and number of semantic contrasts realised by the pairs, and calculate a "semantic loading" figure. As a rough rule of thumb, the lower this is, the more confusable pairs exist for that contrast, since a large number of inflected forms signals a large number of words in the open classes: noun, verb or adjective.

There are a number of problems waiting to be resolved:

 

* Can there be a minimal pair contrast between a vowel and a consonant? Theory would suggest not, since vowels and consonants have different functions in syllable structure. However, one can find pairs such as screen/serene which appear to contrast /k/ and /?/, but then the syllable count and stress pattern seem to make such pairs differ by more than one sound. The dictionary has now been searched for such pairs, and the results are included in the "cons" column in the vowel tables and the "vowel" column in the consonant tables below.

 

* Related to the previous question is the problem of syllabic versus non-syllabic consonants. Is the contrast beween name and same of the same type as the contrast between button and butts?

 

* Can we admit minimal pairs where a sound is paired with a null? For example, could back and bank be a minimal pair? If so, the inventory of pairs would become much larger. I have begun to list these pairs, and they are shown in the "null" column below.

 

One extension of the project is to see how the distribution of minimal pairs relates to the overall phoneme frequencies in the same dictionary. For each contrast I am in the process of calculating a figure to indicate the density of minimal pairs in the vocabulary as a whole, i.e. what the proportion of actual minimal pairs is to the number there might have been if every possible word in the dictionary was matched. This figure is normally no greater than 5%, and is often less than 2%.

My personal interest in this topic may be due partly to the fact that I once lived in a flat in the village of Etiler near Istanbul. From the living room one had a view across green meadows down towards the Bosphorus, where one constantly saw passing freighters, small liners and even submarines. It was one of the few places in the world where one might have said "Look, there's a sheep!" and expect to be misunderstood.

 

© 2002 by John Higgins

 

 

 

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2.-   HARPER LEE OR THE ART OF KEEPING QUIET AFTER “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

 

Harper Lee at home

 

Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama on April 28th 1926. After the immediate and overwhelming success of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), Lee is known to have published only three short magazine articles, all in the early 60s; nor has she broken the silence and anonymity into which she quickly retreated. Legions of readers, fans and homework-driven students continue to make the real or internet trip to Monroeville to see the old courthouse (now a museum), or to see the house where Lee grew up (gone, now a burger stand), or to espy the author, who still spends her summers there. From such research we learn that she apparently likes to shop at the Piggly Wiggly, and have coffee at Hardee's.

In interviews conducted in the mid-60s Lee certainly talked as if she planned to continue writing, and to take such ordinariness as her theme:

 

I want to chronicle something that seems to be very quickly going down the drain. This is small-town middle-class life, as opposed to the Gothic, as opposed to Tobacco Road, as opposed to plantation life.... There is something universal in this little world, something decent to be said for it, and something to lament in its passing. In other words, all I want to be is the Jane Austen of south Alabama.

 

Lee did work on another big book, but it was as researcher for In Cold Blood, by childhood friend (and model for Dill), Truman Capote. Perhaps such a very different book took away Lee's ambition to chronicle the decent life; perhaps she thought that, in comparison, few would care to read about it. Perhaps there is a clue to her silence in "When Children Discover America," one of those three magazine articles. Here she concedes the importance of children touring the national historic sites, and then makes a case for not only living quietly in small-town America but for keeping quiet:

 

I would like to show children my own town, my own street, my own neighbors. I live on the corner. My next-door neighbor is a barber, and his wife owns a dress shop. My down-the-street neighbor has a grocery store, and my neighbor down the hill is a teacher. My neighbor to the rear is a doctor; behind him is a druggist. If children were visiting--from abroad or from other parts of the country--they would have cookies and ice cream for them, and take them to the park with the lake and the swimming pool, and my cook, Mary, would make them an enormous cake covered with caramel frosting, and for dinner give them fresh vegetables from the garden and Southern chicken cooked right.
And then we would let them alone….

The same sort of idea – that children most need a home, and the confidence to make their way to and from it -- is expressed in the last pages of To Kill a Mockingbird when Scout returns from walking Boo Radley to his porch:

 

The street lights were fuzzy from the fine rain that was falling. As I made my way home, I felt very old, but when I looked at the tip of my nose I could see fine misty beads, but looking cross-eyed made me dizzy so I quit. As I made my way home, I thought what a thing to tell Jem tomorrow. He'd be so mad he missed it he wouldn't speak to me for days. As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra.
I ran up the steps and into the house….

 

© Today in Literature 2003

 

 

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3.-   E-MAIL AND THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH (PART TWO)

 

Today we publish the second and last part of the paper on the use of e-mail in the English Classroom that our dear SHARER Vera Lúcia Menezes de Oliveira e Paiva from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais sent us.

 

Netiquette

 

Before implementing an e-mail project, teachers should make the students aware of some guidelines and netiquette. A large number of students still have little experience with the e-mail management and sometimes disregard some simple rules that can disturb communication.

Rinaldi (1998) claims that "the content and maintenance of a user's electronic mailbox is the user's responsibility". She presents the following guidelines which, I believe, can prevent unwanted interaction problems:

 

Check E-mail daily and remain within your limited disk quota.

Delete unwanted messages immediately since they take up disk storage.

Keep messages remaining in your electronic mailbox to a minimum.

Mail messages can be downloaded or extracted to files then to disks for future reference.

Never assume that your E-mail can be read by no one except yourself; others may be able to read or access your mail. Never send or keep anything that you would mind seeing on the evening news.

Keep files to a minimum. Files should be downloaded to your personal computer's hard drive or to diskettes.

Routinely and frequently virus-scan your system, especially when receiving or downloading files from other systems to prevent the spread of a virus.

Your files may be accessible by persons with system privileges, so do not maintain anything private in your disk storage area.

 

I have been observing that the main problems faced by my students are related to viruses and the unnecessary storage of a large number of messages in their mailboxes. Having an updated anti-virus installed is not a common habit among some of them and that causes the spread of viruses among the virtual communities to which they belong. Besides that, students usually complain that they are not receiving messages and it is usually a consequence of overloaded mailboxes.

As far as netiquette is concerned, Rinaldi suggests the following rules:

 

Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point.

When quoting another person, edit out whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. Don't let your mailing or Usenet software automatically quote the entire body of messages you are replying to when it's not necessary. Take the time to edit any quotations down to the minimum necessary to provide context for your reply. Nobody likes reading a long message in quotes for the third or fourth time, only to be followed by a one line response: "Yeah, me too."

Focus on one subject per message and always include a pertinent subject title for the message, that way the user can locate the message quickly.

Don't use the academic networks for commercial or proprietary work.

Include your signature at the bottom of E-mail messages when communicating with people who may not know you personally or broadcasting to a dynamic group of subscribers. Your signature footer should include your name, position, affiliation and Internet and/or BITNET addresses and should not exceed more than 4 lines. Optional information could include your address and phone number.

Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading. Capitalizing whole words that are not titles is generally termed as SHOUTING!

*Asterisks* surrounding a word can be used to make a stronger point.

Use the underscore symbol before and after the title of a book, i.e. _The Wizard of Oz_

Limit line length to approximately 65-70 characters and avoid control characters.

Never send chain letters through the Internet. Sending them can cause the loss of your Internet Access.

Because of the International nature of the Internet and the fact that most of the world uses the following format for listing dates, i.e. MM DD YY, please be considerate and avoid misinterpretation of dates by listing dates including the spelled out month: Example: 24 JUN 96 or JUN 24 96

Follow chain of command procedures for corresponding with superiors. For example, don't send a complaint via E-mail directly to the "top" just because you can.

Be professional and careful about what you say about others. E-mail is easily forwarded.

Cite all quotes, references and sources and respect copyright and license agreements.

It is considered extremely rude to forward personal e-mail to mailing lists or Usenet without the original author's permission.

Attaching return receipts to a message may be considered an invasion of privacy. Be careful when using sarcasm and humor. Without face-to-face communication your joke may be viewed as criticism. When being humorous, use emoticons to express humor. (tilt your head to the left to see the emoticon smile) :-) = happy face for humor

Acronyms can be used to abbreviate when possible, however messages that are filled with acronyms can be confusing and annoying to the reader.
Examples: IMHO= in my humble/honest opinion
FYI = for your information
BTW = by the way

 

The Internet "Twelve Commandments" [http://www.isocnz.org.nz/help/12-commandments.html] summarizes the netiquette in six points: be aware of your audience; be courteous; be concise; do not defame; be aware of cultural differences and sensitivities; and do not spam.

 

The three main problems I have been observing in my students’ e-mailing interactions are related to the context. Some students answer the messages without any quotation or reference to the previous one, making it difficult for the receivers to understand what the sender is talking about. Sometimes they reproduce the whole message without editing the previous message that is automatically quoted in totum by the software when the reply button is pressed. The last problem is using the reply mode without editing the subject line when a new topic is introduced.

Another common problem is the lack of signature, but that is a minor difficulty because looking at the address line one can usually identify the sender. Even though, I think we should always remind students of the importance of signing their e-mail messages.

Emoticons and acronyms are hardly used by my students. In fact, e-mail users in general use just a few emoticons and acronyms because their natural habitat seems to be the chat environment due to its main characteristics: brevity and speed.

 

Discussion lists

 

Discussion lists are composed of e-mail users who get together in order to exchange ideas on specific topics. When e-mail is sent to a discussion list, it is automatically distributed to all the other subscribers. One can either join a discussion list or create a personal one. The lists may be moderated or unmoderated and the rates of message traffic in the former is usually lower because all the messages are read by the moderator who decides if a message is adequate or not to that group. The subscribers have at least two choices when they join a group: receiving individual e-mails or a daily digest, that is, all the messages saved in just one e-mail. A third option, reading the messages on the web, is provided by software such as http://groups.yahoo.com, where you can create your own group free of charge.

Some discussion lists have members from many different countries, and interacting with members from those virtual communities is a unique intercultural experience for our students. Students can actively engage in a group or just lurk, that is, "just read other people’s contributions without e-mailing, or posting, a message to the list themselves" (Windeatt et al., 2000, p. 112).

Discussion lists are useful tools for classroom communication as the teacher can interact with many students at the same time. Anyone can create an e-mail discussion list at web sites such as Yahoogroups (http://www.yahoogroups.com) or the Brazilian Grupos (http://grupos.com.br) without paying for it.

Netiquette in discussion lists requires that when you post a question to a discussion group, you should request that responses be directed only to you personally. You are expected to send a summary of the answers to the group afterwards. On doing that students will be practicing reading and writing in a very meaningful way.

 

Forum

 

Forums, also called, Web boards, Web Discussion Boards, or Web Bulletin Boards, store all the messages on a Web page where the user can read and post messages. According to Warschauer et al. (2000), "Web boards can be a good alternative when students do not have individual e-mail addresses or when student’s opportunities to download, save, and read e-mail are limited" (p. 36). Sperling (1998) lists some Web Boards for language students and teachers. They are ESL Chat Line http://www.ritslab.ubc.ca/cgi/esl/esl.html; ESL Discussion Center http://eslcafe.com.discussion; WebChat CALICO http://fln.vcu.edu/SLAT/WebChat.html and Yuki’s EFL/ESL Bulletin Board (p.36).

Anyone can easily create a forum free of charge. Some free services are Ezboard http://www.ezboard.com, "an online community service on the Net, consisting of over 800,000 communities and over 6 MILLION registered users; Beseen Bulletin Boards" (http://www.beseen.com/board/itw_beseen.html); and the Brazilian Inforum (http://inforum.insite.com.br).

 

E-mail projects

Students can participate in countless projects by using e-mail. A classroom can meet other classrooms on the other side of the world; students can be involved in collaborative writing; languages can be learned in tandem; and intercultural projects can be developed. A list of interesting collaborative projects can be found at The Global Schoolhouse http://www.gsh.org. Global Schoolhouse claims to be the leader in collaborative learning. They "provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate, communicate, and celebrate shared learning experiences".

E-mail Projects Homepage is another outstanding example. If you go to http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/e-mail.htm, you will find the following explanation:

 

This site was developed by Susan Gaer in 1994 as a means for people to collaborate worldwide. Based on the premise that non-native speakers have as much to offer as native speakers of English, Susan created the site to help both interact with each other. Projects are either initiated by classes or individual teachers. The word "E-mail Projects" was developed in 1994 before the popularity of the World Wide Web. At that time (1994) most of the projects were conducted via e-mail. With the advent to the World Wide Web, most of the projects are now "web projects".

 

 

Ruth Vilmi, at Helsinki University of Technology, is responsible for one of the most important and popular e-mail projects in the world International Writing Exchange (IWE) – http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/Project. Her goal is to motivate her students to communicate with students abroad. Vilmi says, in her homepage, that

[T]he main aims were to increase the global awareness of my students and to improve their writing skills. In the Autumn 93 Project, they corresponded with students at eight universities abroad. They regularly exchanged informal letters and eventually a research paper, thus gaining knowledge and intercultural sensitivity, as well as acquiring writing skills. (http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/autumn93/global.html)

The project has 5 main phases and a full description of the phases can be read at Ruth Vilmi’s site.

 

Conclusion

 

When learning a language in a foreign context, one is always faced with the paradox of being in a class where students share the same mother tongue, but are supposed to communicate with classmates in a language they do not know well. In such a context, no matter how strong motivation is, no matter what the learners needs are, all of a sudden students find themselves using their native language. The struggle to negotiate meaning turns out to be artificial when the speakers share the same language.

 

Electronic interaction seems to provide more natural contexts and students do not feel they are using the language to learn it, but that they are equipped with linguistic skills that enable them to communicate with people all over the world. The more they interact, the more they learn the language and more confident they become.

To sum up, I believe that the arguments and examples presented in this article are enough to show that electronic interaction is an efficient tool to promote language acquisition. I think activities developed via computers can be more effective than some traditional classroom activities in foreign language contexts because computers can bring "individuals together so that they may communicate across cultural and linguistic boundaries", which is our major objective in second language education as claimed by Kelm (1996, p. 19).

 

References

 

Bosswood, T. (Ed.). (1997). New ways of using computers in language teaching. Alexandria: TESOL.

Chapelle, C. A. (2001). Computer applications in second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Debski, R. & Levy, M. (Eds.). (1999). WorldCALL: global perspectives on computer-assisted language learning. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.

Egbert, J. & Hanson-Smith, E. (Eds.). (1999). Call environments: research, practice and critical issue. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hatch, E. (1978). Discourse analysis and second language acquisition. In: Hatch, E. M. (Ed.). Second language acquisition. (pp.401-435). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Kitao, K. & Kitao, S. K. (1996). "Keypal Opportunities for Students" on WWW. Available: http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/staff/visitors/kenji/kitao/int-keyp.htm

Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: issues and implications. London: Longman.

Larsen-Freeman, D. & Long, M. L. (1990) An introduction to second language acquisition research. London and New Yourk: Longman, 1990.

McLaughlin, B. Theories of second-language learning. London: Arnold, 1987.

Paiva, V. L. M. O.(Org.) Interação e aprendizagem em ambiente virtual. Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras, UFMG, 2001 (Estudos Lingüísticos, 1)

Rinaldi, A. (1998). The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette. Available at http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/user.html

Souza, R. A. The English-Portuguese Tandem Learning Project. (2001) Retrieved February, 4th, 2002 from the World Wide Web at http://www.glen.hlc.unimelb.edu.au/glen/tandem/engframeset.htm

Sperling, D. (1998). Dave Sperling’s Internet Guide. 2nd edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Warschauer, M. (1995). E-mail for English teaching. Alexandria: TESOL.

_________________ (Ed.).(1996). Telecollaboration in foreign language learning.Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curricuum Center, University of Hawai’i.

_________________. (1999). Electronic literacies. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

_________________ et al. (2000). Internet for English teaching. Alexandria: TESOL.

_________________. & KERN, R. (Eds.). (2000). Network-based language teaching: concepts and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University press.

WINDEATT et all. (2000). The internet. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

 

 

© 2003 by Vera Lúcia Menezes de Oliveira e Paiva.

 

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4.-   THE BRITISH COUNCIL: TRANSLATING FROM LATIN AMERICA

 

 

Mary Godward, Manager Knowledge and Learning of The British Council, has an announcement to  make:

 

 

Translating from Latin America by Amanda Hopkinson and Daniela de Groote

Wednesday 4 June 2003, 7:00 pm
Universidad del Museo Social Argentino, Corrientes 1723, Buenos Aires

 

Amanda Hopkinson works across the field of popular culture. As a literary translator, AH has published poetry and prose anthologies, novels and short stories from many Latin American and Caribbean writers. She is currently translating the Plata quemada  by Ricardo Piglia  and the historical thriller Appearances by Mexican authoer Margo Glantz. She is also writing a book on literary translation in Britain, and has edited and introduced Between Ourselves, a forthcoming publication with the  photographer Mari Mahr (second in a series with Serpent's Tail  to follow Grace Lau's Adults in Wonderland, published this year).

As a photo-curator she has worked on exhibitions from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Africa, Portugal and Israel, as well as numerous British-based shows and catalogues. Under the Tropic: 25 Years  of  Photojournalism in South Africa is on show at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, until 25 January. She is also currently curating an exhibition of the Bauhaus work of Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach, two photographers who fled Berlin in the 1930s, and are (in their nineties) still alive and active, one in Buenos Aires and the other in New York. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wales, Cardiff and lectures widely on (Latin American) culture, media and photography.         

 

Daniela de Groote is Arcadia's publishing Director and originally from Santiago, Chile.  She came to London in 1994 to pursue post-graduate studies at the University of Reading (MA in English Literature and the Visual Arts).  The following year she moved to London to do a Ph.D. with
the
London Consortium:  a Doctoral programme in Humanities and Cultural Studies, run by the University of London in conjunction with the Architectural Association, the British Film Institute and the Tate  Gallery.  Her thesis - which she is still completing - is entitled: 'The
Fantastic in the Short Fiction of Julio Cortázar:  A Reassessment'.  She has contributed to El Mercurio (
Chile's leading newspaper), the Guardian, Publishing News, and several other national magazines. Arcadia Books specializes in publishing the best translated fiction from around the world We very much hope you can attend!

 

 

Further Information: Marcelo T de Alvear 590 - 4to -  Buenos Aires
T +54 (0)11 43119814/7519 / F +54 (0)11 4311 7747
mary.godward@britishcouncil.org.ar  

 

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5.-   LECTURE ON INTRODUCTION TO CORPUS LINGUISTICS AT UTN

 

Instituto Nacional Superior del Profesorado Técnico de la Universidad Tecnológica Nacional announces a special presentation by Dr. Viviana Cortes Ph.D. from the Iowa State University   currently on a short visit to our country.

 

Dr Cortes will lecture on:

An Introduction to Corpus Linguistics: Lexical Bundles in Academic Writing in History and Biology.

 

Dr Viviana Cortes PhD.

Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, English Department, Northern Arizona University.

M.A. TESL, California State University, Los Angeles.

B.A., Universidad Tecnologica Nacional, Intituto Nacional Superior del Profesorado Técnico.

ProfessorTESOL/Applied Linguistic Program, English Department, Iowa State University. Grammatical Analysis and Introduction to Linguistics.

 

Date and Tme: Monday 9th of June from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Place: Auditorium of INSPT- UTN Avda Triunvirato 3174 – second floor.

Admission free – Limited vacancies – Certificates of Attendance will be issued.

 

Enrolment by e-mail to: Chair of Methods III omarvillarreal@netizen.com.ar  

 

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6-    TALLERES DE NARRACIÓN ORAL: STORIES THAT SOUND

 

Stories that Sound

 

Ma. Cristina Thomson  & Graciela Clelia Moyano ofrecen talleres de narración oral en inglés destinados a profesores, maestros y estudiantes de inglés, para:

 

* desarrollar técnicas básicas de narración de inmediata aplicación en el aula

* seleccionar material acorde con las necesidades individuales

* perfeccionar la dicción y entonación del "decir" en la lengua extranjera.   

 

Los talleres se dictan en  Capital Federal, barrio de Palermo.  También nos trasladamos al interior de acuerdo con las necesidades de colegios o grupos de interesados.

Próximos talleres:

Taller 1
Junio 21 / Agosto 23 / Septiembre 13 / Octubre 18
Taller 2 (para quienes hayan realizado el Taller 1)

Junio 7 / Agosto 9 / Septiembre 6 / Octubre 4

 

Informes e inscripción:   

gmoyano@netizen.com.ar - Tel. 4541-8323

mcthom@satlink.com - Tel. 4784-8791

 

Vacantes limitadas.

 


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7-    POSITION VACANT IN BAHIA BLANCA

 

Our dear SHARER Leticia Edel Yulita from Bahía Blanca writes to us:

 

Dear TEFL Professional,

 

This Sunday Helen Keller Institute will be advertising a newly created post in La Nueva Provincia for the position of Assistant Director / Senior Teacher at its Bahía Blanca site. This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced TEFL professional who seeks a managerial role.

A webpage has been created to provide additional information for those interested in applying. The webpage summarises employment conditions, job responsibilities, how to apply and so on. As Jem and I want to attract the best candidates possible, we are sending you advanced notification.

 

If you are interested or know of any suitable colleagues who might be interested, may we ask that you apply or pass on the details of the webpage. The closing date is Friday 27 June 2003. The successful applicant will be selected through interviews to be arranged at the earliest opportunity.

The webpage address is www.geocities.com/hkingles/jobvacancy

 

Kindest regards,

 

Prof. Leticia Yulita                                         

MA (Ed), University of East Anglia, UK.        

Owner-Director           

 

Jeremy Goodchild

PG Cert TEFL, Leeds Metropolitan Univ., UK

Co-Director


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8.-   THE THINKING APPROACH

 


I am writing to inform you about a new ELT website

www.thinking-approach.org

This is a website of the Thinking Approach Project supported by the British Council
Latvia. It contains various teaching materials which can be freely downloaded and used in the classroom.

One of the aims of the project is preparation of language teaching materials which allow for a simultaneous development of language and thinking skills. We currently have a team of teachers working for the project in
Latvia. However, we would like to bring the project to an international scale, and we are ready to collaborate with anyone interested in bringing thinking skills into the classroom.

If you think you are the one, please take a look at the website and let us know about yourself by email or on the forum.

Looking forward to further collaboration,

Alexander Sokol
The Thinking Approach Project
sokol@triz.riga.lv
http://www.thinking-approach.org 


 

 

The organiser and leader of the project, Alexander Sokol, produces an electronic newsletter updating on the new materials available from their website, among other things.

The following is an extract of that newsletter where you will find the addresses to download the indicated materials for free. This extract was produced by Cesar Klauer for his own ELT list.

 

 

New Materials on the Website

 

Creative Grammar Technology

Passive - Sorting Out Practice - http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=cgt&which=tasks&show=16

Present Perfect and Past Simple by Inga Ieraga - http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=cgt&which=tasks&show=17

Discussion of Inga Ieraga's exercise on the forum - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=42

Analysis of an exercise on Present Simple and Present Progressive - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=40

Discussion of some functions behind the tasks in the Sorting Out Practice on Passive - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=41

Consideration of some typical drawbacks in the concept question exercises - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=28

 

Text Technology

Text The Letter by Richard Bach - http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=tt&which=texts&show=22

Notes to J D Salinger's Seeing a Friend - http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=tt&which=notes&show=2

The Point of View Form (POV) - http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=illustrations&category=handouts&show=5

Discussion on the application of the POV form - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=47

New texts and tasks to them - an exchange of ideas - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewforum.php?f=4

Students' works uploaded by the TA seminar participants - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewforum.php?f=14

How to provide a meaningful feedback on students' works - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=58

 

Other

A handout set for the fourth session of the TA course at the University of Latvia - http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=illustrations&category=handouts&show=4

A poll on your understanding of creativity - http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=48

 

Creative Grammar Technology

Passive - Concept Question Exercises

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=cgt&which=tasks&show=18

Passive - Student Handout

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=cgt&which=tasks&show=19

Discussion of concept question exercises on the forum

http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=40

http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=42

 

Text Technology

A New Boyfriend by Jacqueline Wilson

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=tt&which=texts&show=23

The Smarmiest Little Swot by Jacqueline Wilson

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=tt&which=texts&show=24

You'd Better Not Mess With Me by Jacqueline Wilson

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=tt&which=texts&show=25

A New Boyfriend - Tasks to the Text

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=tt&which=tasks&show=6

Discussion of tasks to the text Train from ENJOY books

http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=31

The point of view task and the Humpty story

http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=85

Discussion of tasks to Being Free at Fourteen by Anne Frank

http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewtopic.php?t=29

More than 20 students' works on various TA materials

http://forum.thinking-approach.org/viewforum.php?f=14

 

Film Technology

Tasks to the film Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=ft&which=tasks&show=2

 

Self-Study Technology

An updated version of a handout on portfolio

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=sst&which=tasks&show=5

 

Other

26 new yes-no games

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=technologies&category=yn&which=tasks&from=1&to=10

A Handout Set for the fifth session of the TA Course at the University of Latvia

http://www.thinking-approach.org/index.php?menu=illustrations&category=handouts&show=6

 

 

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9.-   NEWS FROM “ON THE ROAD”

 

Our dear SHARER Ximena Faralla has sent us this invitation:

 

On the Road Theatre Company presents

 

The one and only performance at a theatre of:

Beauty and the Beast -the play-

 

at "Teatro de la Capilla" - Ladislao Martinez 539 – Martínez on Thursday, June 12th - 2:30 PM

Ticket : $5- Book your seats now! - info@ontheroadonline.com  4568-7125           

 

If you book your seats for the performance, we will send you the CD with the songs and activities to work on the play. www.ontheroadonline.com

 

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10.-  DISEÑO DIDÁCTICO PARA LA WEB

 

Our dear friend and SHARER Susana Trabaldo has gota n announcement to make:

 

Net-Learning tiene el agrado de anunciar su próximo curso en línea a cargo de la Lic.Norma Scagnoli M. Ed. en Capacitación de Recursos Humanos - Universidad de Illinois. Este curso se tutorizará desde Illionis en español.

 

 

Diseño Didáctico para la Web

 

El curso propone:

Analizar el enfoque usado en el diseño de cursos en la web.

Establecer guías para diseño pedagógico de las clases en línea
Duración: (6 semanas) 40 horas              Fecha de inicio: 18 de junio 
Costo: $200 (en Argentina) U$S 130 (en otros países)   Consulte precios en Uruguay
Descuento por inscripción anticipada 10% (hasta el 11 de junio inclusive) - Descuentos grupales 

 

Más datos en: www.net-learning.com.ar
Consultas: info@net-learning.com.ar o TE: (011) 791-6009 / (011) 4654-8945 desde el exterior: +(54 11) 4791-6009-


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11.-  NEW ENGLISH WEBSITE

 

Our dear SHARER Vivian Leo writes to us with very good news. Vivian together Maximiliano Saiz

have launched a new Website: : www.inglesenargentina.com.ar . I have visited the site and was very nicely surprised to find a comprehensive guide to the teaching of English in Argentina. It includes useful addresses and contact phones and e-mails for publishing houses, examination boards, language schools, booksellers and many other services connected with “our world” of ELT. My sincere congratulations to these dynamic young professionals!

Vivian Leo is the Head of St. Alice English Teaching Service stalice@topmail.com.ar in the Southern area of Greater Buenos Aires.



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12.-  WORKSHOPS AT THE BUENOS AIRES PLAYERS

 

 

Our dear SHARER and friend Celia Zubiri announces two workshops to be held  on Saturday 21st June at Teatro Santamaría, Montevideo 842. It comprises two parts:   

 

 

Dirección Coreográfica

9:30 a 13 hs

dictado por Josse Muñoz - Profesor de danzas - Coreógrafo – Director

Director Coreográfico de The Bs. As. Players.

 

Objetivos:

 

Como reconocer la habilidad en un alumno y ayudarlo a desarrollar su confianza para la correcta aplicación del movimiento.

Aplicación de pasos básicos que puedan utilizarse en disferentes estilos coreográficos.

La composición coreográfica según el argumento teatral.

 

estilos coreográficos: se trabajarán dos coreografías de distintas comedias musicales para su representación acompañadas por sus respectivas puestas de luz y sonido.

Este workshop será dictado e castellano.

 

Aranceles :  como participante activo en el escenario: $30 - como oyente: $15

 

 

Body language in the classroom and onstage - Amateur productions with your students

14 hs a 17 hs

dictado por Celia Zubiri - Managing Director of The Bs. As. Players - Author and theatre director

Este workshop será dictado en inglés – Arancel $ 30

 

Vacantes limitadas- -certificado de asistencia- -se recomienda traer ropa cómoda -

Para quienes se inscriban en ambos workshops: $50

 

Depósito en cualquier sucursal del Banco Río: Cuenta Única en Pesos N°: 003047/8. - Sucursal 187- Titular: Celia Zubiri. - Enviar la boleta de depósito al tel/fax: (011) 4812-5307

para mayor información comunicarse al (011) 4812-5307 / 4814-5455 -

thebap@arnet.com.ar

 

 

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Today we want to leave you with some words of wisdom from a child. This is part of a mail that our dear SHARER, the very active Maria del Carmen Anzulovich sent us in Spanish. The translation is ours (we thought we had better told you so you knew who to blame for the mistakes!)

1) No matter how hard you try... you cannot baptize a cat.
2) When your mommy is angry with your pop … do not let her comb your hair.
3) If your brother or sister hits you… do not hit him or her back. The second person always gets caught.
4) Never ask your three year old brother or sister to hola a tomato for you.
5) Do not sneeze… when you are having your hair cut.
6) Never hold your cat and a vacuum cleaner at the same time.
7) When you are sad there´s no better place to go than your ganny´s arms.

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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