SHARE

 

An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac ©

 

Year 4                    Number 109           July 12th 2003

         

   5100 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,

 

Brr… Super cold weather! The day before last was the coldest day of the year with the chill factor several degrees below zero. Luckily, Thursday´s the only day I don´t have to get up early. Unluckily Marina has and she leaves home together with the boys at 7:15 which last Thursday was a real shame: it was freezing! Well, I just imagined this as I looked out of the window, cozy in my bed correcting and marking around 60 compositions I had the great idea of asking my students to write in class the week before. I got up at 10:30 after finishing with the corrections and dashed to the computer to answer the mails that had piled up over the last two days. There´s incredible e-mail traffic these days with hundreds (I´m not exaggerating here) of questions about the Congress from prospective participants, workshop leaders and sponsors.

Did I tell you that we´re having one teacher from Brazil, two from Uruguay and three from Perú coming to the Congress? Unbelievable! Apart from the huge success of the Congress in the number of people that already registered, it makes us very happy to know that our work (ours and that of all the organizers) is reckoned by our colleagues in other countries.

 

It was precisely this week that we had another powerful reason to feel happy about making SHARE. We want to express our public gratitude to Cesar Klauer ,editor of ELTeCS PERU, an e-publication with the sponsorship of the British Council which now reproduces the entire issues of SHARE for our Peruvian colleagues. Thank you, Cesar for giving us this unique opportunity to reach out to our colleagues in Peru and to all of them a really big bear hug from the heart.  

 

Love

Omar and Marina

 

 

In SHARE 109

 

1.-    An Introduction to NLP: Presuppositions.

2.-    Reasons for using songs in the EFL Classroom.

3.-    One Intelligence or Many?

4.-    2003 TESOL Southern Cone Regional Convention.  

5.-    Yes: The TV Programme for Teachers and Students of English.

6.-    New Spoken English Test for Business.

7-     John Osborne: An Angry Young Man.

8.-    Politically Correct Statements for Young People.

9.-    APrIR SIGS and Monthly Activities.

10.-   The FAAPI Convention this year.  

11.-   Serenity and Tranquility.

12.-   Courses for Translators.

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1.-   AN INTRODUCTION TO NLP : PRESUPPOSITIONS

 

Our dear SHARER Juan Pablo Rovira from Resistencia, Chaco has sent us an article on NLP ( Neuro-Linguistic Programming) for us to share with all of you. Today we are publishing part one on “presuppositions”.

Introduction to NLP

Just imagine what you would do if your bread machine arrived without instructions.

That of course, pales in comparison to the immense complexity of our brains (unimaginably more bake cycles). Each of us happen to possess in our skulls, the most sophisticated computers ever conceived of and no one thought to provide instructions. No wonder changing how we do the simplest task, often meets with failure.

If you climbed behind the wheel of a car for the very first time and had no instructions to guide you, how far do you think you'd get before driving into a ditch or up a telephone pole.

So, how do NLPer's create the knowledge necessary to learn how to operate our own minds?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) studies the structure of how humans think and experience the world. Obviously, the structure of something so subjective does not lend itself to precise, statistical formulae but instead leads to models of how these things work. From these models, techniques for quickly and effectively changing thoughts, behaviors and beliefs that limit you have been developed.

Warning! The following paragraph contains big, ugly, hard-to-understand words developed by a linguist. This is the only downside to NLP I know of and we're staying up nights trying to fix it. Parental guidance is suggested.

Many of the models in NLP were created by studying people who did things exquisitely well. Models such as meta-model, metaprogram, sensory acuity, Milton-model, representational systems and submodalities among others, provide a diverse set of tools for creating change in yourself and others.

Someone who wanted to create a model for learning to drive a car really well, might approach a expert in the field something like this - Instead of asking an expert driver, " How do you drive?" ("Very well, thank you."), they would be concentrating not on the content of what they did but on the underlying structure such as how they represent driving in their mind, the beliefs and attitudes they had about driving, the strategies they used in making decisions, how often they change their oil, (skip that last one) among other factors.

Let's use something called submodalities as an example of how a model works. By understanding how we perceive the world through our five senses, we can then understand how some people can respond very resourcefully in a situation and others do not. Once you learn how those who remain resourceful set up their representations, then it's a simple matter to teach others to do the same thing.

The Example: Imagine seeing an enormous spider dangling directly in front of your face. Now clear your mind (sorry, didn't want to leave that image hanging around). A common way for people to have a phobic reaction to spiders or anything related to them, is to picture a spider completely oversized and far too close in their minds.

Spiders are tiny, well-mannered creatures that are far more frightened of you than you should be of them but try telling that to someone with that particular phobia.

So, why don't these phobic people notice the images they're creating? The popular belief is that we don't pay much attention to what's going on in our unconscious. If you considered the enormous amount of information your brain has to process each day, it's probably best that we don't spend much time dwelling on it (otherwise, we would probably sit around babbling and drooling and eventually starve to death).

Well, what do we do about our friend with the phobia, Extra-strength cans of Raid for a house warming gift?

NLPers ask the question, "If another person can have fun playing with their pet spider, what can we learn about them that we could teach the phobic person so they can play with spiders, too?" (Or something like that). The spider-lover would most likely have an image representing spiders that was proportionally correct and at a reasonable distance and possibly other factors not worth getting into right now. Knowing the difference, the NLPer can use one of many techniques to help the phobic person relearn their reaction to spiders so that it is similar in nature to the spider-lover's (hopefully less of the lover part).

The above example may sound complicated but phobia treatments often take less than half an hour. An powerful change with a minimal investment of time and effort.

NLP is based on many useful presuppositions that support the attitude that change is imminent. One of the most important is, NLP is about what works, not what should work. In other words, if what you're doing isn't working, try something else, anything else, regardless of whether what you had been doing should have worked. Flexibility is the key element in a given system, the one who is most likely to do well responds to changing (or unchanging) circumstances. That's one reason NLP has made so much progress in an area where such is not the norm. Innovators try out things with little regard as to its "truth" or "reality", NLP is much more interested in results and giving people what they want from life (sappy yes, but "true" nonetheless).

This is the end of the Introduction to NLP. What you have just read is very incomplete but hopefully gives you a taste of what NLP is about.

I highly recommend you continue your investigation of how NLP can enhance all aspects of your life from improving your relationships with loved ones, learning to teach effectively, gaining a stronger sense of self esteem, greater motivation, better understanding of communication, enhancing your business or career, bending steel bars in a single bound and an enormous amount of other things that involve the use of your brain.

We do have an online bookstore with books, audio-cassettes and videotapes available and also a special introductory package for those new to NLP. We maintain a list of many training centers and information on events and conferences throughout the world if you're interested in a first hand experience. For some hands-on experimentation with NLP, we have our Exercises and Experiences section which give you a set of guidelines to follow to experience an NLP change.

Presuppositions

Presuppositions are beliefs that someone practicing NLP will find useful for creating changes in themselves and the world, more easily and effectively. The emphasis here should be on "useful" not whether each one could be proven to be "true". Practitioners of NLP often include different presuppositions in their list but what follows are the most common.

 

Communication is more than what you're saying.

The body communicates constantly in ways that go far beyond words.

 

People already have all the resources they need to effect a change.

The resources just weren't lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

 

Choice is better than no choice.

Need I say more?

 

Every behavior serves a positive intention and a context in which it has value.

The behavior may never lead to that positive intention but that part of you can learn new behaviors that do. As to a context that has value, imagine overeating at an expensive brunch (got your moneys worth didn't you?). Go with me on this one, it really helps.

 

There is no such thing as failure, only feedback.

Every response is useful, you may hate the response but the knowledge you gain from it is valuable.

 

If someone can do something, then it can be modeled and taught to anyone else.

That even includes me.

 

The map is not the territory.

We cannot contain every bit of information that comes to us in the world, so we have to create a "map of the territory" and then refer to the map for our information (see representational systems). By changing a person's map, we change their reality.

 

The meaning of your communication is the response you get.

If you get slapped, try anything else.

 

If you aren't getting the response you want, try something different.

See above.

 

People work perfectly.

No one is "broken". They are functioning perfectly in what they are doing now (even if it is ruining their life), it's a matter of finding how they function now, so that we can help them change into doing something they consider more desirable.

 

Excerpted from Persuasion Engineering™, by Richard Bandler and John La Valle

© Meta Publications

 

 

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2.-   REASONS FOR USING SONGS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

 

Our dear SHARER Ana Infante from San Antonio de Padua, Provincia de Buenos Aires wants to share this article with all of us:

 

 

Reasons for Using Songs in the ESL/EFL Classroom

By Kevin Schoepp
schoepp@sabanciuniv.edu
Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey

 

Introduction

Songs have been part of the human experience for as long as we can remember. As Gugliemino (1986) stated, adults sing at religious services, bars, in the shower, and listening to the car radio. Songs have become an integral part of our language experience, and if used in coordination with a language lesson they can be of great value. Fortunately, with the expanding prevalence of the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web into both the classrooms and lives of students, access to music and lyrics has been made easier. This paper will focus on the reasons for using songs by demonstrating their effectiveness as a learning tool.

 

Theoretical Rationale

 

A large amount of literature which discusses the value of using songs in ESL/EFL classrooms is not empirically based. However, based upon teacher experience, the first hand knowledge of what actually occurs in a language classroom is, in fact, very valuable. The first step in developing a theoretical rationale for using songs in the classroom is to label the types of listening processes and then identify the reasons teachers and researchers provide. From here, we can see that the teachers' motives are actually grounded in theory. Patterns emerge from the literature as to why teachers and researchers find using songs valuable. These patterns include affective reasons, cognitive reasons, and linguistic reasons.

There are two processes involved in listening, and both can be utilized when songs are used in the classroom. The activity which is selected for a particular song will determine which of these processes is active. Cullen (1999) states that

The first is bottom-up processing where the listener builds up the sounds into words, sentences and meaning. The second is top-down processing where the listener uses background knowledge to understand the meaning of a message. Practicing both of these processes is essential for developing listening comprehension.

The affective, cognitive, and linguistic reasons for using songs which follow, are all grounded in learning theory, and provide insights into the benefits of songs in the classroom.

Affective Reasons

The Affective Filter Hypothesis is one of five proposed hypotheses developed by Steven Krashen. Basically, it is an explanation of how the affective factors relate to language learning. It is particularly appealing to teachers because it provides an explanation to why some learners learn and others do not.

Teachers have long recognized the need for students to have a positive attitude in regard to learning. Krashen (1982) explains that for optimal learning to occur the affective filter must be weak. A weak affective filter means that a positive attitude towards learning is present. If the affective filter is strong the learner will not seek language input, and in turn, not be open for language acquisition. The practical application of the Affective Filter Hypothesis is that teachers must provide a positive atmosphere conducive to language learning. Songs are one method for achieving a weak affective filter and promoting language learning.

With the affective filter weak, Saricoban and Metin (2000) have found that songs can develop the four skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Eken (1996, p.46) states that songs can be used:

Lo and Li (1998) offer similar suggestions, writing that songs provide a break from classroom routine, and that learning English through songs develops a non-threatening classroom atmosphere in which the four language skills can be enhanced. The belief that songs provide enjoyment and develop language skills is also noted by several other authors (Adamowski, 1997; Bechtold, 1983; Domoney & Harris, 1993; Griffee, 1992; Guglielmino, 1986; Lems, 1984; Little, 1983; Monreal, 1982). The enjoyment aspect of learning language through song is directly related to affective factors.

 

Cognitive Reasons

 

Songs also present opportunities for developing automaticity which is the main cognitive reason for using songs in the classroom. Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1988, p.473) define automaticity as "a component of language fluency which involves both knowing what to say and producing language rapidly without pauses." Using songs can help automatize the language development process. Traditionally, it was believed that automatization would occur through repetitive exercises in a non-communicative environment. However, the major shift towards the communicative teaching methodology requires that automatization occur in a different manner. Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1988, p.476) state that we must "place students in an environment in which it is appropriate to use target utterances in a genuinely communicative fashion." The nature of songs is fairly repetitive and consistent. For example, a song such as "Sailing" by Rod Stewart provides ample opportunities for students to focus on the present progressive tense. The repetitive style of the song lends itself to an activity in which students create their own present progressive sentences based upon their own interest. After listening to the song, students create their own lyrics following the same tune as the song. Lyrics such as: I am writing, I am writing, in my notebook with my friends, are common examples of the type of language that students produce.

Linguistic Reasons

Besides automatization, there is also a linguistic reason for using songs in the classroom. Some songs are excellent examples of colloquial English, that is, the language of informal conversation. A song such as "My Best Was Never Good Enough" by Bruce Springsteen is a prime example of a song that demonstrates colloquial language use. This song is full of phrases like "Every cloud has a silver lining." and "Every dog has his day. " Of course, the majority of language most ESL students will encounter is in fact informal. Using songs can prepare students for the genuine language they will be faced with.

Finally, two studies, Domoney and Harris (1993) and Little (1983) investigated the prevalence of pop music in the lives of EFL students. Both studies found that music is often the major source of English outside of the classroom. The exposure to authentic English is an important factor in promoting language learning. It relates directly to both the affective filter and automaticity. If students are exposed to songs which they enjoy, more learning is likely to occur since they may seek out the music outside of the classroom. The repetitive style of songs then helps to promote automatization of colloquial language.

 

Conclusion

 

As demonstrated, the three theoretical reasons are all intertwined and help to demonstrate the value of using songs in the classroom. The next step in the procedure is to successfully integrate the songs into a language lesson. Because of the Internet, access to music, lyrics, and activities has been simplified which makes it easy for the teacher to effectively use songs in the classroom.

 

References

Adamowski, E. (1997). The ESL songbook. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Bechtold, J. (1983). Musical ESL. TESL Talk, 14, 180-184.
Cullen, B. (November 1999). Song Dictation. The Internet TESL Journal.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Cullen-SongDictation.html
Domoney, L. & Harris, S. (1993). Justified and ancient: Pop music in EFL classrooms. ELT Journal, 47, 234-241.
Eken, D. K. (1996). Ideas for using pop songs in the English language classroom. English Teaching Forum, 34, 46-47.
Gatbonton, E. & Segalowitz, N. (1988). Creative automatization: Principles for promoting fluency within a communicative framework. TESOL Quarterly, 22, 473-492.
Gugliemino, L. M. (1986). The affective edge: Using songs and music in ESL instruction. Adult Literacy and Basic Education, 10, 19-26.
Griffee, D.T. (1992). Songs in action. Herfordshire, England: Phoenix ELT.
Krashen, S. D. (1983). Principles and practices in second language acquisition. Oxford, England: Pergamon Press.
Lems, K. (1996, March). Music across the ESL curriculum. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the TESOL, San Francisco, CA.
Little, J. (1983). Pop and rock music in the ESL classroom.
TESL Talk, 14, 40-44.
Lo, R. & Li, H.C. (1998).
Songs enhance learner involvement. English Teaching Forum, 36, 8-11, 21.
Monreal, M. E. (1982). How I use songs. English Teaching Forum, 20, 44-45.
Saricoban, A. & Metin, E. (October 2000). Songs, Verse and Games for Teaching Grammar. The Internet TESL Journal. http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs.html

 

© The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VII, No. 2, February 2001
http://iteslj.org/

 

 

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3.-   ONE INTELLIGENCE OR MANY?

 

Our dear SHARER Pamela San Donato from Mar del Plata has sent us this article that will surely move you to reflection:         

Brain Scans Reflect Problem-Solving Skill
By Erica Goode
 
Scientists have spent decades arguing over whether intelligence is best conceived as a generalized ability or as the capacity to excel  in particular areas of mental, social or emotional functioning. The debate encompasses a variety of incendiary issues, including whether I.Q. tests have any value, and it is likely to continue. 

Meanwhile, a new brain imaging study offers the first glimpse of how differences in the ability to reason and solve problems might translate into differences in the firing of neurons in the brain.
People who scored high on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, an intelligence test, also showed more neural activity in specific brain regions while performing an exacting memory task, the researchers found. The matrices tap what experts call "general fluid intelligence," which studies suggest is strongly influenced by heredity. Raven's test scores correlate highly with scores on I.Q. tests and other standardized measures of intelligence.

"To our knowledge, this is the first large-sample imaging study to probe individual differences in general fluid intelligence, an important cognitive ability and major dimension of human individual
difference," wrote the researchers, led by Dr. Jeremy R. Gray, a research scientist in the department of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. The paper, in the March issue of the journal Nature Neurosciences, will be published tomorrow on the journal's Web site. The other researchers were Christopher F. Chabris of Harvard and Todd S. Braver of Washington University.
Dr. Gray said the findings indicated that the variations in test  performances were mirrored by differences in brain activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in working memory, planning and goal-directed activity. The subjects who did well on the intelligence tests also showed greater activity in several other brain areas, including the anterior cingulate cortex and the cerebellum. The brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Dr. John Duncan, the deputy director of the Medical Research Council's Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, England, and the author of a commentary with the journal article, called the study "a significant step" toward understanding the specific brain mechanisms that were recruited into action by the kinds of problems found on intelligence tests.
 
"The fact remains," Dr. Duncan wrote, "that standard intelligence tests do measure something important." But he added that it might take "50 years of research or more" for scientists to really  understand what was happening and how different brain systems worked together.

In a study published in 2000, Dr. Duncan demonstrated that on positron emission tomography scans, the lateral prefrontal cortex lights up, indicating increased activity, when people solve problems like those on I.Q. tests. But he noted that some other studies, using other types of mental tasks, had found reduced brain activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex in people who did well on the tasks.
 
"This, too, is plausible if you think that people who are having trouble are spinning their wheels to solve the problem and don't achieve as much," he said.

The new study, however, supports Dr. Duncan's findings of increased activity and extends that work. 
The findings, Dr. Gray said, suggest that fluid intelligence involves the ability to stay focused and keep new information in mind in the face of distraction.
In the memory task, the subjects were presented with a series of words or pictures of faces on a computer screen and asked to quickly identify whether each was the same as that presented three screens before. In some cases, the subjects were shown words or faces that had appeared two, four or five screens before, complicating the assignment.
 
It was in these more difficult cases that the subjects with high scores on the intelligence test performed more accurately and showed greater brain activity than those with lower scores.
Dr. Gray likened the task to trying to remember a 10-digit phone number while listening to an interesting conversation. "Presumably, people of higher intelligence should be able to resist that
distraction and to retain the phone number in what psychologists call working memory."
 
But the increased brain activity in people who performed well could also represent other mental activities, like inhibiting incorrect responses and reducing or monitoring conflicting perceptions.
Dr. Gray said he and his colleagues were still debating whether intelligence was best thought of as an innate general ability or as the ability to succeed in different domains. "You could spin it both ways."
Several researchers, including Dr. Robert Sternberg at Yale and Dr. Howard Gardner at Harvard, have argued that the notion of general intelligence has little value and that it makes more sense to measure  people's strength or "intelligence" in different types of activities.
 
But Dr. Earl Miller, a professor of neuroscience at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said, "The idea that performance on a task that's supposed to tap into general intelligence can predict real  differences in activity in the brain lends support for the idea that there is a general intelligence."
 
© 2003 by The
New York Times

 

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4.-    2003 TESOL SOUTHERN CONE REGIONAL CONVENTION

 

Our dear SHARER Alicia Diaz from URUTESOL has an announcement to make:

 

Dear Colleagues,

Our URUTESOL website has gone live! Get all details there! www.urutesol.tk  .

Happy surfing... and hope to see you all next August in Montevideo!

Alicia Diaz

 

And here some more news about the Convention:

 

FIFTH SOUTHERN CONE REGIONAL TESOL CONVENTION

The Spirit of Language

 

Montevideo,August 23-25 2003

 

Preliminary List of Presenters by country of Origin

 

Argentina : Prof.Daniel Fernández M.A.,Universidad Nacional del Litoral

Lic. Omar Villarreal, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional – Universidad Católica de La Plata.

Susan Hillyard B.A.

Ms.Betty Wolf,

Ms. Laura Lewin. 

Brasil : Ken Dean University of Cambridge, Profesores Julio Morandi, Silvana Berry, Sara Walker, Nancy Lake, Helvia Bastos, Adriana Riess Karnal,  Iole Vitti

Paraguay : Prof. Mary Meyer

Chile: Prof. Cecilia Gómez

Uruguay: Profesores Nancy Cusmanich, Ana Bru, Gabriel Díaz, María Elena Perera, Laura Flores, Fernando Fleurquin, Jorge Suárez, María Ema Mira, Claudia Brovetto, Orlando Rodríguez, Rosemarie Vicenzo, Adriana Real, Teresita Curbelo, Rita Alvarez, Sergio Angeloro, Helena Modzelewski, Juan Carlos Boyadji, Julie Pelto, Lillian Julber,Verónica Dauría, Eduardo Fassano, Gabriel Lanzaro.

Canada: Prof.Laurie Brizero

United States: Dr. Joan Morley and Prof. Maureen Priestley

México: Prof. Mercedes Rosetti

New Zealand: Prof Lynn Doole

 

Other Main Features:

School visits on August 22nd. Ticketed event – contact csanjurjo@crandon.edu.uy

Movida cultural de la Ciudad Vieja – August 23, noon

Noche de la Nostalgia – August 24, evening – (details to be disclosed shortly)

 

Fees and Enrolment : Convention on site U$S 25.-

Extra Enrolment Period: only at publishers’ premises:

Macmillan-Heinemann – Rodó 1674

Oxford University Press – Bvar. Artigas 1147 apt 401

Pearson Education – Av. 8 de Octubre 3061

 

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5.-    YES:  THE TV PROGRAMME FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

 

YeS is the first and only educational T.V. programme in Argentina for students and teachers of English.

YeS is composed of different short pedagogical sections such as: Video Dictionary, The Movies, British and American English, Slang, Idioms, Sing a Song, etc. It also includes a 10-minute Teacher's Corner Section where the latest books are shown, information about workshops and seminars is given and remarkable local and international ELT personalities are interviewed.

 

An important number of international linguists and authors such as Henry Widdowson, Penny Ur, Herber Puchta, Will Fowler, Richard Acklam, Sue Mohamed, Adrian Underhill, Philip Prowse, Judy Garton Sprenger, Sagrario Salaberri and many others have visited YeS.

 

YeS is broadcast by satellite across Argentina and Latin America five times a week by MAGAZINE (MULTICANAL AND DIRECT TV)

Mondays 19:30 - Tuesdays 11:00 and 17:30 - Wednesdays 7.00 and Fridays 7.00

YeS is hosted by Prof. Charlie López

M.A. in Teaching English as a foreign language – University of Reading U.K.

 

Omar ha participado de la última emission de Yes. El programa será emitido por la señal MAGAZINE (Multicanal y Direct TV) el lunes 14 de Julio a las 19.30 Hs. con repeticiones el martes 15 a las 11 y a las 17.30 Hs, el miércoles 16 a las 07.00 Hs y el viernes 18 a las 07.00 hs (Care for a horror movie? Watch him!)

 

 

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6.-   NEW SPOKEN ENGLISH TEST FOR BUSINESS

 

Our dear SHARER Silvina Requejo, Local Examinations Secretary of Pitman Qualifications-City & Guilds,UK has sent us this announcement:

Dear Colleagues

We are glad to announce the launch of the new Pitman Qualifications-City & Guilds award Business SET (Spoken English Test for Business).

The Business SET is a stand-alone test of spoken English in a business context.

The Business SET is conducted as a one-to-one structured conversation between the candidate and an interlocutor appointed by Pitman Qualifications-City & Guilds. The interlocutor manages the conversation and acts as a conversation partner for the candidate during the various parts of the test, but does not play any part in assessing the candidate's performance. The conversation is recorded onto a cassette and then sent to Pitman Qualifications-City & Guilds in the UK for assessment by examiners appointed, trained and monitored by Pitman Qualifications-City & Guilds.
The Business SET contains 4 parts which, together, enable the candidate to show their ability across a range of realistic communicative needs and situation.
The cost of the Business SET is u$s 45, the same as all other Spoken ESOL Examinations.
Please see attached document for further information and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further queries.
Best regards,

 

Silvina Requejo - Local Examinations Secretary
37 Warren Road School of English
Sole Representative of Pitman Qualifications-City & Guilds,UK
Rosario 531 - Buenos Aires (C1424CCK)
Tel/Fax: (011)4901-0967/3381 - E-mail:
37warrenroad@ciudad.com.ar

 

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7-    JOHN OSBORNE: AN ANGRY YOUNG MAN

 

Our dear SHARER Andrea Coloccini from Corrientes sent us this article about the John Osborne´s  first and, perhaps, most famous play.

 

 

John Osborne's Look Back in Anger

by Steve King

 

On 8 May 1956 John Osborne's first play, Look Back in Anger, opened at London's Royal Court Theatre. The press release for the play called the twenty-six-year-old Osborne "an angry young man"; when the play became a hit, the phrase stuck as a label for an under-thirty, post-war generation which felt disillusioned and disenfranchised. The Daily Express said that the play was "intense, angry, feverish, undisciplined. It is even crazy. But it is young, young, young." Critic Clive Barnes later called Osborne "the veritable beginning of the beginning," and cited the opening night of Look Back in Anger as the "actual birthday...of modern British theatre."

 

Some reviewers found more than anger in the hero, Jimmy Porter, calling him "a tiresome, boorish oaf," and an "exhibitionist wallowing in self-pity." Jimmy has a university education, but he has dropped out so far that he runs a sweet-shop, the better to observe and rage -- against the class-system still hanging on, against the empty promises of the welfare state, against the Cold War world that hardened into place, against his wife and friends for putting up with it. "I've an idea," says Jimmy at one point. "Why don't we have a little game? Let's pretend that we're human beings and that we're actually alive. Just for a while. What do you say?" Such remarks, said Kenneth Tynan's review, make Jimmy "the completest young pup in our literature since Hamlet," and make the play "a minor miracle" for having expressed it:

All the qualities are there, qualities one had despaired of ever seeing on the stage - the drift towards anarchy, the instinctive leftishness, the automatic rejection of 'official' attitudes, the surrealist sense of humour (Jimmy describes a pansy friend as 'a female Emily Bronte'), the casual promiscuity, the sense of lacking a crusade worth fighting for and, underlying all these, the determination that no one who does shall go unmourned…. I agree that Look Back in Anger is likely to remain a minority taste. What matters, however, is the size of the minority. I estimate it as roughly 6,733,000, which is the number of people in this country between the ages of 20 and 30. And this figure will doubtless be swelled by refugees from other age-groups who are curious to know precisely what the contemporary young pup is thinking and feeling. I doubt if I could love anyone who did not wish to see Look Back in Anger. It is the best young play of its decade.

There would be other hits for Osborne – Luther, Inadmissible Evidence, an Oscar for his Tom Jones screenplay – and at times he would be angry mostly at how he had been forgotten, but he too came to regard the premiere of his first play as a defining moment. Here is the first paragraph of his two-volume autobiography:

“May 8th is the one unforgettable feast in my calendar. My father, Thomas Godfrey Osborne, was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, on May 8th [he died when John was eleven]…. The Second World War ended on 8 May 1945, a date which now passes as unremembered as 4 August 1914. On 8 May 1956, my first play to be produced in London, Look Back in Anger, had its opening at the Royal Court Theatre” . This last particular date seems to have become fixed in the memories of theatrical historians.

 

John Osborne   Born:  December 12, 1929 London, England

  Died:  December 24, 1994 Shropshire, England

 

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8-    POLITICALLY CORRECT STATEMENTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

 

Today is our dear old friend and most generous collaborator Bernardo Banega´s birthday. One way of wishing him the very best and very many happy returns of the day is to honour him by

reprinting an article he published in his TTCXchange List (or perhaps you might want to visit his incredible Website and drop him a line!) . To somebody who knows what to be a true friend means, an enormous hug from all the SHARE community.

 

“Just for Grins: Reader Mike Dawkins sends along these items, which he (correctly!) labels as "groaners" <g>:

Politically correct statements for the 21st century

- Your bedroom isn't cluttered, it's just "passage restrictive."
- Kids don't get grounded anymore. They merely hit "social speed bumps."
- You're not late, you just have a "rescheduled arrival time."
- You're not having a bad hair day, you're suffering from "rebellious follicle syndrome."
- No one's tall anymore. He's "vertically enhanced."
- You're not shy. You're "conversationally selective."
- You don't talk a lot. You're just "abundantly verbal."
- It's not called gossip anymore. It's "the speedy transmission of near-factual information."

And for students...

- The food at the school cafeteria isn't awful.
It's "digestively challenging."
- No one fails a class anymore, he's merely "passing impaired."
- You don't have detention, you're just one of the "exit delayed."
- These days, a student isn't lazy. He's "energetically disinclined."
- Your locker isn't overflowing with junk, it's just "closure prohibitive."
- Your homework isn't missing, its just having an "out-of-notebook experience."
- You're not sleeping in class, you're "rationing consciousness."
- You don't have smelly gym socks, you have "odor-retentive athletic footwear."
- You weren't passing notes in class. You were "participating in the discreet exchange of penned meditations."
- You're not being sent to the principal's office. You're "going on a mandatory field trip to the administrative building." “

(excerpted from Fred Langa's LangaList - http://www.langa.com )

Bernardo Humberto Banega (h)  mailto:bernieh@fibertel.com.ar 
English teaching resources, see http://www.bernieh.com.ar/
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9.-   APrIR SIGS AND MONTHLY ACTIVITIES

 

 

Our dear friend and SHARER, Nora Séculi, has sent us this information about the Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Rosario monthly activities. Congratulations on the very hard work!

 

APrIR  SIGs  2003

 

Cambridge ESOL Exams SIG :  Coordinator:  Magdalena P. de Botto 

Meetings:  on the first Tuesday of the month - 

 

CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) SIG :

Coordinator: Rita Zeinstejer  - Meetings:  on the first Wednesday of the month - 

                  

Teacher Development SIG :  Coordinators: Graciela Castelli & Giselle Carné 

Meetings:  on the second Saturday of the month –

 

Error Treatment SIG : Coordinator:  Beatriz Lilia Solina  -

Meetings:  on the last Saturday of the month –

                      

Business English  SIG :  Coordinator:  Elina Tobler  -

Meetings:  on the last Tuesday of the month - 

 

APrIR SIGs Liaison Officer: Beatriz Pesado Castro de Garófalo

APrIR SIGs Assistant Liaison Officer:  Noemí  M. Cavalaro

 

Fees:  Participation in the APrIR SIGs  is FREE for paid-up APrIR members.

Fee for non-members is  $4  (four pesos) per session.

Expense fund: Everybody attending a session will be expected to contribute $ 2.-

 

Drama Workshop :  Coordinator:  Patricia Zorio  – Meetings:  Tuesdays  (6,15 to 8,15 pm) –

 

Literature Workshop : “ Reading for Pleasure”  Coordinator:    Nora Lilián Séculi 

Meetings:  first Wednesday of the month  (10 a.m. to 12 noon) –

 

Workshop on “Books and Films” –  Coordinator:    Nora Lilián Séculi –

Meetings:  last Friday of the month  ( 5 to 7 p.m.) –

 

“Chatting Teas”: informal tea and conversation sessions Coordinator:  Martha Puiggari de Gaspar  – Meetings:  third Thursday of the month  at  4 p.m. – Fee: $ 4 (four pesos) per session. 

 

Enrol by phone, fax or e-mail  at APrIR: Buenos Aires  1127  P.B. "A" - 

Office Timetable:  Mondays & Wednesdays  from 5 to 7 pm - Fridays from 3 to 5 pm

Tel/Fax: (0341) 447-5636  - E-mail: aprir@hotmail.com

 

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10.-  THE FAAPI CONVENTION THIS YEAR

 

Our dear SHARER Ana E. Triboli from Asociación Salteña de Profesores de Inglés, the organizers of this year´s FAAPI Congress, has sent us this update of the biggest event in our academic year: the Federation´s annual Congress to be be held in the city of Salta next September.

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

ASPI is pleased to inform all associations that full information on the FAAPI 2003 Conference (to be held in Salta from September 18 to 20) is now available from the web site www.aspisalta.8k.com . We invite all members to visit it.

The topic for this conference is HUMANIZING OUR TEACHING PRACTICE: Minding the whole person and the plenary speakers so far are Judith Lloyd Yero (USA), Adrian Underhill (UK), Peter Stockwell (UK), Clarice Lamb (Brazil), and Claudia Ferradás Moi (Argentina).

 

Best wishes,

 

 M. Fernanda Irrazabal                              Ana E. Triboli

 Secretary                                            President

 

(This is a partial list of semiplenaries so far: Laura Renart, Viviana Valenti and Oriel Villagarcia from Argentina)

Pre-Conference Events:

 

 

JUDITH LLOYD YERO

Judith Lloyd Yero is Director of Teacher's Mind Resources, an independent educational analyst and consultant, and contributing textbook and journal author. She has recently co-authored texts in sociology, psychology, and civics, and contributed numerous stories in a middle school/junior high history series. She has spent the last several years researching and writing Teaching In Mind: How Teacher Thinking Shapes Education.

Her present interests are in helping teachers mindfully transform education. She makes her home in Hamilton, Montana and can be reached at eagle@teachersmind.com.

 

FOCUS ON TEACHERS: Teacher Beliefs

 

'It is what teachers think, what teachers believe and what teachers do at the level of the classroom that ultimately shapes the kind of learning that young people get.'

Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan

 

Wednesday 17th September 2003 - 8:30 to 12:30 - 15:00 to 18:30

FAAPI Members/ Trainees: $15 - Non-Members: $25 - Venue to be confirmed

 

Pre-conference events:

VIII LATIN AMERICAN ESP COLLOQUIUM

16 and 17 September 2003 - San Lorenzo - Salta - Argentina

 

The Latin American ESP Colloquium is a forum for sharing research results or experiences of research projects that are being carried out in the fields of ESP and EAP at university level. Its main characteristic is that all participants must present papers related to on going or recently finished research projects

This year the Federación Argentina de Asociaciones de Profesores de Inglés, (FAAPI) and the Asociación Salteña de Profesores de Inglés (ASPI) committees, responsible for the organization of the 2003 Annual FAAPI Conference, considered that the VIII LATIN AMERICAN ESP COLLOQUIUM could take place as one of the pre-conference academic events and therefore invited the ESP/EAP teachers of the National University of Salta (UNSa) to organize it.

 

Organizing Committee VIII Latin American ESP Colloquium

 

Prof. Graciela Saravia,  Prof. Martha Botto, Esp. María Silvia Sastre Prof. Elena Carlsen, Prof. Susana Briones,  Prof. Susana Fernández, Prof. Graciela Miller, Trad. Pca. Liliana Fortuny,

Lic. Inés Amaduro and Prof. Laura Moreno

 

Guest Speaker: Dr. Peter Stockwell

Head of Modern English Language - Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts - Nottingham University

 

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11.-  SERENITY AND TRANQUILITY

 

Our dear SHARER Maria Paula Pessino has sent us this beautiful poem. We thought it was simply great to read and enjoy alone or to SHARE it with friends and students.

 

 

May you find serenity and tranquility in a world
you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation
with optimism and courage.

Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding
will always be there
even when you feel most alone

May you discover enough goodness in others
to believe in a world of peace.

May a kind word, a reassuring touch,
a warm smile, be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts as well as receive them.

Remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending.

Teach love to those who know hate,
and let that love embrace you as you go into the world.

May the teaching of those you admire
become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

Remember, those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less
than you would have wished.

May you not become too concerned
with material matters, but instead place
immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart.

Find time in each day to see the beauty
and love in the world around you.

Realize that each person has limitless abilities,
but each of us is different in our own way.
 
What you may feel you lack in one regard
may be more than compensated for in another.

What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.

May you see your future
as one filled with promise and possibility.

Learn to view everything
as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent on another's judgements
of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.

 

© 1987 Sandra Sturtz Hauss

 

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12.-  COURSES FOR TRANSLATORS

 

 

Our dear SHARER T.P. Silvana García Calabria from the Comisión Prensa CTPZN has sent us this information about their new courses for the second semester:

 

El Círculo de Traductores Públicos de la Zona Norte anuncia sus cursos de capacitación para el 2003

 

Gramática Inglesa aplicada y análisis de errors para traductores de textos jurídicos

Dr. Ricardo Chiesa, abogado y Traductor Público.

Fecha: sábados 20 y 27 de septiembre y 4 de octubre, de 10 a 13:30.  Arancel: $ 90.

 

Traducción Inversa, segundo módulo

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)

Ejercicios prácticos de traducción al inglés con material de apoyo. Grupos reducidos.

Fecha: octubre (días y horario a confirmar)

Arancel: a confirmar. Descuento para miembros de AATI y para quienes hayan asistido al primer módulo. No es necesario haber asistido al primer módulo para participar en este taller.

 

Lugar: Círculo de Traductores Públicos de la Zona Norte, Colegio de Abogados de San Isidro, Martín y Omar 339, San Isidro.

 

Informes e Inscripción: martes y viernes de 9 a 12 en San Isidro - 4732-0303 int. 22. Inscripción en Capital: Santa Fe 882 6to E. - Te.: 4314-4964 (9 a 17).

Descuentos para asociados. Inscripción obligatoria con anterioridad a la fecha de inicio de  cada curso. Pago mediante transferencia electrónica, depósito, giro, etc. En todos los cursos confirmar fechas. Consultas: info@traductoreszonanorte.org

Más detalles sobre los cursos en: www.traductoreszonanorte.org

 

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Just four lines to close this issue of SHARE. Our dear SHARER Roxanna Falero" from Uruguay who sent them to us acknowledges Harry K. Wong and Rosemary Tripi Wong as the authors of these lines (in “First days of school”). We´ve got the feeling we´ve read them somewhere else too. But what does that matter? Just read on…

 

The Mediocre Teacher tells,

The Good one explains,

The Superior one shows,

The Great one inspires"

 

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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