Editorial
Pilgrims trainers travel all over the world to train teachers. This was the first time we held a video conference. If you want to see and hear snippets of this Mexican tele plenary you can go to the Pilgrims corner of Facebook.
Impressions on Mario’s Video Conference
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Mario to Hania
Raul
Rocio
Mario to Paloma
Dear Hanna,
I had a really strange and wonderful experience on Friday November 27th, 2009
At 5.30 pm I was in a studio in the University of Kent and I saw a large crowd of Mexican folk on my monitor screen. They were living their Friday morning across the Atlantic in a auditorium near Mexico City.
I could hear them perfectly and they could hear me and, I think, see me in horrific detail on big screen at the front of the hall.
I am a very primitive sort of paleolithic creature and the immediacy and "thereness" of 400 people who were actually 4000-5000 thousand miles away left me reeling internally.
As I became to talk to them and as I heard and saw their reactions on my screens I realised, incredulously, that we were in real, direct human communication despite their absence from me and mine from them.
If this letter is confusing, it is because I am confused and finding it difficult to digest and properly fathom the experience, one week on.
With a hug,
v
Mario
It was the first time I attended a symposium for English teachers. And guess what… The main feature was a live videoconference was held by a real master, Mario Rinvolucri.
The fact that he was giving his presentation from Kent University in England only made me wish I was in the same auditorium with him to feel the very strong magnetism he irradiates.
From the very beginning he showed off in the most humble way he is a wise teacher.
His speech was about “Mental frames”. It started with an introduction where we saw a “Supermarket shopping” short video that showed the similar and yet different way in which parents and children buy, -each one carrying its own cart; or the difference between the wife and husband (Rinvolucri himself) talking about the ritual way of shopping –the wife carrying a list of things to buy, and the husband going along all the aisles in the supermarket. Conclusion: everybody has a different mental frame.
It was now when the real presentation started.
Before each topic to be treated he asked a teacher to tell, in just a few words, what they think about it, and how they do it. He then immediately talked about preparation ”and made us understand that a lesson plan should be based on students needs. After each explanation he asked teachers -in pairs- to make two-minute comments about their experiences.
Professor Roberta King, who was with us at the auditorium in Pachuca started raising her arms and waving her hands to let us know Mario will continue his speech.
The next topic was rhythm ”that is, the pace at which teachers should talk and give their class, not too fast, not too slow according to the level of the students in class. At this point I realized he speaks at a very normal, clear, and understandable pace.
The following topic was sympathies and antipathies” which, basically means paying attention to students’ gestures to become aware if you have got (engaged) them with you.
Here Mario explained it was better to move hands instead of clapping to capture students’ attention since this could be aggressive.
Then he talked about obstacles ”to the plans teachers find while giving their class –the light-bulb of the OHP blew, the white-board is not made of porcelain, the masking tape runs out, etc., which together with the unexpected ”like: a student makes a personal question, or you realise they have not understood the different irregular verbs endings, or whatever you can imagine, and how to take the unexpected and turn it into a students centred class.
He gave an example to present the three different forms of the verb go. Putting his hands on his waist he said go, bending forward to touch his feet saying went, and finally raising his arms straight up saying gone.
After that he talked about structure hungers”. He explained how transactional analysis can help to understand the internal structure and the internal monologue and dialogue of each teacher and students; something we have to be aware of.
Finally he spoke about stimulation” both internal and external and the importance of recognition (acknowledgment) ” again, internal and external.
I really enjoyed the videoconference, but most, I appreciated the humble experience of how to transmit knowledge putting everybody at ease. Undoubtedly wisdom shows off so kindly.
Raul Mendoza
Mario’s workshops are always invitations to research more about any topic he talks about!
Last Friday, when observing and listening to him through the Virtual Conference was not an exception!!!! It was an exciting and enlightening experience!
Mario! Many thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us!!!!!
Rocio Soto
Dear Paloma,
Despite calling you Pamela ( for which I apologise) and despite saying nadie when I meant nada I have enjoyed what I have seen on Facebook and in your photos. The photos show that many people WERE engaged in the short tasks despite my lack of physical presence there in the flesh. There are always isolates and programme readers here and there and at the back of a plenary event.
The idea of using Grant and Mark for mini interviews came to me on Friday morning and I think it worked reasonably well. I loved the female applause when Mark came on screen..... "Sexuality in training" has to be an article I write soon!!!! How would Mark be on plinth brandishing a trident....after all he lives in Whitstable right next to the sea!
From our point of view this was a first and may be an efficient way of covering more European conferences in small countries where sending a trainer would be too expensive.
This adventure was a bit too Mario-centric. In future we might offer triple-speaker plenaries.
In the flesh I have already done plenty double plenaries with Herbert Puchta. At our best it is magic and at our worst it is lead....( it was lead once on Bari, S Italy, when we were in quite deep underlying conflict that we managed to transmit to the conscious minds of the participants.)
The idea of TRIPLE PLENARIES is to present Pilgrims for what it is, a team of talented folk, not some one-person place.
a hug ( a triple one!)
Mario
Please check the How to Use Technology in the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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