Letter 1
Hi Hania,
(…) I would like to 'talk' to you about a campaign that I have been taking part in for over a year called the Disabled Access Friendly campaign. The campaign has really taken off in recent months. Amongst others we have the support of The British Council, the Hellenic American Union, City & Guilds, TESOL Greece, TESOL Macedonia-Thrace and PALSO (The Association of Private Language Schools, Greece). and the local ELT press. I've attached a full description of our aims to give you a clearer picture.
In a nutshell, we are making available online EFL teaching material that can be used in teaching English as a second or foreign language, but that will at the same time raise awareness about issues affecting people with physical disabilities, and we are focussing on people with mobility problems i.e. difficulties in walking or in a wheelchair. As you can imagine, this material won't fall from heaven, and this is why we are asking experienced teachers to do more than just say "Bravo" but to actively support us by kindly contributing something to our bank of teaching material.
You most certainly do not have to be a materials writer to contribute. We can all make use of our teaching or life experience to suggest ideas for a lesson or a particular text that could be used. Anyone can send in an idea, an outline, or material which they think would make a good lesson at any level and for any age group. Existing teaching material can even be adapted so as to be relevant to the aims of the campaign. You may know of some suitable text in literature around which a lesson could be based. What I want to say is that every little bit helps. On the campaign, I am working with an ELT colleague who uses a wheelchair, Paul Shaw, and others, and together we have produced some writers' guidelines, which I have attached, together with a couple of example lessons for you to look at.
Our website will also have a section entitled "Tell Your Story", where we will upload personal accounts from people's experiences either with or as a person with mobility problems. Maybe at some time in your life readers of HLT were touched by an issue to do with disability that they would like to give voice to, to help raise awareness.
I would also really appreciate it if you could spread the word amongst your friends and acquaintances involved in EFL, and I am sure you know quite a few. The more worksheets and material we collect, the greater the chance of changing even just one language learner’s attitude to people with disabilities. We hope it will snowball from there.
I hope very much that you will be able to do something, however small, to support this campaign. It would mean a lot to us. And me.
Take care.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Luke Prodromou
Letter 2
Dear Editor,
Humanizing Language Teaching has been recommended for inclusion in Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities.
Many editors and publishers of academic journals have found that listing their journal in Cabell's Directories enhances their image and increases their exposure to researchers throughout the world. Many universities use our Directory as an indicator of the types of journals to which faculty members should submit manuscripts for publication. Also, accreditation agencies, promotion and tenure committees, and academic administrators use the Directory as a source of information to evaluate the publication records of faculty members.
Founded in 1978, Cabell Publishing, Inc. produces eleven Directories of Publishing Opportunities designed to assist professors and researchers in finding journals which are compatible with the style and content of their manuscripts. We currently index over 4,500 journals covering eleven disciplines in our Directories.
If you would like your journal included, please complete and return the attached questionnaire by June 15, 2011. Pending approval from our Review Board, your journal will be listed free of charge. For more information regarding our Directories, visit our website: www.cabells.com. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Regards,
JaimiLynn
Cabell Publishing, Inc.
P O Box 5428
Beaumont, Texas 77726
Phone 409-898-0575 Fax: 409-866-9554
Letter 3
Dear Hania
I have attached a classroom photo but, if you ignore the teacher ( me) and look closely at the desk, you will see the much loved book 'Challenge to Think'. I use it occasionally and refer to old exercises by Christine Frank in the HLTmag archive. Both have done me good - especially the book. It certainly challenges my thinking because haven't got the teacher version with the answers!
Best wishes,
Peter
Letter 4
Dear Hania,
Thank you very much for your email letter and the new issue of HLT magazine. I am sorry I did not respond immediately. It is only today that I familiarised myself with this Issue. This magazine has something interesting in its every issue probably because of its humanising subject.
I was pleasantly surprised how many opportunities Pilgrims alone offer to
teachers to improve. (…)
With very best regards, till I hear from you again,
Marija
Letter 5
Four new 10 minute teaching/learning videos are now visible on webTV
& best of all, they are completely free!!
If you are a student of English, you'll find these interactive lessons very useful
for your learning.
If you are an English teacher, you can use the videos in the same format as they are,
or adapt them to your own situation.
The series is called, A short taste of English & the videos are as follows:
- Emotions in Learning (soundtrack Piangi Roma - Baustelle feat Valeria Golino)
- Physical Pronunciation (soundtrack Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap)
- LaughnLearn t-shirt lessons (soundtrack Where we Belong - Lost Prophets)
- Listening (soundtrack You get what you give - New Radicals)
Video n.5 Learning through Senses which includes Mandarin v Clementine & your approach to learning
will be visible before Easter, while several other videos will be available by June.
To access these videos, the procedure is as follows:
www.inmagicartwebtv.eu then look for video library under the TV screen, find the arrow on the right
& scroll along until you see, Danny Singh, A short taste of English, click on this, then the boxes open up &
you can click on & watch whichever video you wish.
www.laughnlearn.net Helping people to help themselves
Letter 6
Dear Teacher
With the Easter break almost upon us it seems the prefect time to publish Roy Boardman’s wonderful worksheet for Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen’s most oft-covered song (many of you will be familiar with the Jeff Buckley version). Roy describes this as “a think in English”, and it is an opportunity for students and teachers alike to reflect the meaning of the lyrics of this very beautiful song.
The second addition to the Downloadable Worksheets section of the Teachers’ Area of www.tuneintoenglish.com is a direct reaction to last month’s tragic disaster in Japan. Although not directly related to a natural calamity, the title of U2’s The Unforgettable Fire quotes an art exhibition by victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. This worksheet was submitted by Mena Bianco.
New Team Up in English, the ideal course for the Scuola Secondaria di I° Grado, with songs by Tune Into English and published by ELI, is now available, and this month’s third worksheet is taken from this. Spider-Man (recorded by Michael Bublé) looks at present simple question forms. Further details on this title can be found here, along with details Up To You! , the holiday book. Those of you in Perugia (and beyond!) are welcome to attend the Teacher Training session Using Music to Enhance Language Learning on 28th April – full details can be found here.
The Tune Into English Roadshow is continuing its tour, thank you to all those who have hosted the show, and to those who have sent in comments. You can see a large selection of videos and photographs from over four years of the Roadshow on facebook – there is a link on the home page of the Tune Into English website.
The Karaoke page of Tune Into English features over 7,300 songs, including several versions of Hallelujah. Don’t forget that you can sing along with the UK Top 10 Charts on the Speak Up site - updated weekly; there is a link on the Tune Home page too. There is also a special Easter Karaoke page, so why not have a sing along with your students before the break?
There will be no newsletter in May, due to touring commitments (including a return to Spain), but we will return in June. In the meantime, have a wonderful Easter, and indeed final few weeks of school term.
Best wishes,
Fergal Kavanagh
Tune Into English
www.tuneintoenglish.com
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