Dear HLT Readers,
Welcome to the new issue of HLT. In an e-mail from an avid reader of HLT ( see Readers Letters) the previous issue of HLT got criticised for not having enough articles relevant to teachers of young learners and few practical ideas for the classroom. This June issue certainly takes these issues on board.
2009 is a special year for Pilgrims as we celebrate our 35th anniversary as leaders in Humanistic Teaching and Teacher Training and the 10th anniversary of HLT.
To celebrate these achievements we are holding a major one-week conference here in the UK this August:
HUMANISTIC TEACHING IN THE 21st CENTURY
16-22 AUGUST 2009
UNIVERSITY OF KENT, CANTERBURY, UK
This one week event includes:
Five One-hour plenary sessions from some of the world's leading ELT experts - Michael McCarthy, Alan Maley, Jane Arnold, Tessa Woodward and Mario Rinvolucri.
Three Four and a half-hour Workshop Cycles from experts such as Luke Prodromou, Adrian Underhill, Adrian Tennant, Bonnie Tsai, Hanna Kryszewska, Sheelagh Deller, Paul Davis, Chaz Pugliese, Tim Bowen, Gill Johnson, Mark Almond, Marie Delaney, Eleanor Watts and Christine Frank.
Two 'Open' Seminars for networking and debating, three Evening Events and an end of Conference dinner.
This conference not only gives you the opportunity to meet and work with the world's leading ELT experts, you will also be living with and networking with like-minded colleagues for a whole week. You really cannot afford to miss this opportunity!
As expected, places are filling already so you need to book your place now!
Visit www.pilgrims.co.uk/conference or contact: lizzie@pilgrims.co.uk
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For teachers of young learners we have major article 1: Things That Infants Can Teach Us by Sarn Rich, Teaching the Little Ones … and How We Understand Each Other by Michael Hevesi, and some words of wisdom from the young ones in More Things That Infants Can Teach Us on the Subject of Love in the jokes section.
As for practical ideas there is a plethora of ideas in The Alternative Way: Green Line 3 by Mario Rinvolucri, more in House and Furniture: A Speaking Activity by Anila R. Scott-Monkhouse and José Luis Sañudo Hernandez, The Holiday Detector by Peter Clements, in Off the Beaten Path: Synectics by Hall Houston, How Real is the Language in Grammar Tests? by Ilana Salem, and in This is an Exercise I learnt from Caleb Gattegno… by Paul Davis.
In this issue there is a number of articles on teaching culture in the language class which you should not miss: What Have We Learned about Teaching Culture in ELT?: Barry Tomalin Reflects on His Month as a Guest Blogger on the British Council BBC TeachingEnglish Website, from the British Council TeachingEnglish Team, The Analysis of “Critical Incidents” as a Way to Enhance Intercultural Competence by Grazyna Kilianska-Przybylo, Cultural Differences: England vs. Italy by Danny Singh, and a personal experience described in Teacher Training in a Tiny Nepalese Village by Sezgi Yalin.
Another area that stands out in this issue is literature. There are two major articles on the subject: Book Boxes: An Introduction to Literature – with a Small “L” by Neil McBeath and Graphic Novels in the ESL Classroom by Bill Templer. In his article Bill mentions the graphic novel version of Macbeth which is also reviewed by a language learner in Macbeth as a Comics ( by Aleksandra Rydz and by Hanna Kryszewska) in Short Book Reviews. In fact publishers have been very generous at IATEFL in Cardiff offering books to be reviewed in HLT. I came back home with a bagfull of books so look forward to reviews of the newest books in the next issues of HLT. One of them is a review of “Writing Stories” by Andrew Wright and David. A. Hill in Short Book Reviews; which in fact is about creating literature with the small “L”.
The S E E T A Community invites you to its on-line events
SEETA MOODLE PLATFORM
REGISTRATION PROCEDURE for the SEETA OPEN FORUMa
- Go to website: http://www.seeta.eu
- Click on Login at the bottom of the page.
If you have already registered with SEETA, login and follow the link to the current fielded discussion.
Make sure you enrol to the course.
If this is your first time here, follow the instructions below.
- Go to column Is this your first time here?, read the instructions and create a new account.
- Select a username and password that will be easy for you to remember (and write them down somewhere), type your personal details and click on ‘create my new account’.
- You will automatically receive a confirmation e-mail from the system at the e-mail address you gave. This usually takes only a few minutes. The title of the e-mail will be SEETA – South Eastern Europe Teachers Association: account confirmation. Please check your spam/junk mail because it may end up there.
- Open the e-mail and follow the instructions in order to confirm your account – you will click on the link in
the e-mail.
- This page shows that your registration has been confirmed. Click on home.
- On the SEETA home page, you will find information and a link to the current fielded discussion. Click on the link and enrol yourself as a member of this course, i.e. click ‘Yes’.
See you on line !
The SEETA Community
South Eastern Europe Teachers’ Associations on-line community
Participant TAs :
ELTA Albania _ BETA Bulgaria _ ELTAM FYROM _
TESOL M.TH.Northern Greece _ ETAI Israel _ ELTAM Montenegro _
IATEFL Poland _ RATE Romania _ ELTA Serbia _
IATEFL Slovenia _ INGED Turkey_
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As for blended learning which is one of the buzz words in EFL these days, in this issue of HLT you will find: Elearning 2.0 Applied to the Language Learning Market by Patricia Sierra, A Guide to Distance English Language Teaching Programmes by Brian Winn-Smith, A Case Study Demonstrating Usage of Data-Driven Language Learning by Mark Brooke, and Software Review of WebSwami by Ilhan Incay.
Finally, a number of articles raises various issues regarding the teaching profession: Ethics in Teaching: Should We Do More? by Kristina Mullamaa, Forget About the ‘Istic’ – Are You a Human Language Teacher? by Paul Bress, To Prepare – or not to Prepare by Karl Frank, Heart of the Matter: On the Shoulders of Giants by Lou Spaventa.
Finally there are some poems by new and old contributors: What if...? by Pembegul Soyer, New Poems by Annamaria Mandoliti, and Comfort Zone by Michael Berman.
Enjoy the issue and I hope you have made your summer plans and that we will meet at Pilgrims either on one of the courses or at the Pilgrims Conference, see Come to the Pilgrims Conference and meet EFL World Leaders in the course outline section.
Greetings and hope to see you in the summer in Pilgrims, if you cannot make it write to me and keep in touch.
Hania Kryszewska
HLT Editor
hania.kryszewska@pilgrims.co.uk
2010
February
25-27 Germany
Children’s Literature in Language Education –
from Picture Books to Young Adult Fiction.
Hildesheim University and YLT SIG, Hildesheim
Proposal deadline: 31 July 2009. Visit www.childrenslit.de
YLT SIG and Hildesheim University are organising an exciting and innovative international TEFL conference: Children’s Literature in Language Education – from Picture Books to Young Adult Fiction. The conference will cover a wide area in English language teaching, from the youngest learners to advanced language students, taking place 25th – 27th February 2010. We are delighted to have secured plenary speakers of international renown:
- STEPHEN KRASHEN, University of Southern California, on Pleasure Reading
- EVA BURWITZ-MELZER, University of Giessen, on Children’s Literature
- ALAN MALEY & ANDREW WRIGHT on The Power of Story and Poetry
Children's Literature in Language Education – from Picture Books to Young Adult Fiction intends to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences on the power of literature for the young; approaches to children’s literature as a bridge to reading beyond school; and the debate on extensive reading with original young adult fiction and with graded readers. Children’s literature and young adult English-language literature across the world displays a stunning diversity, yet often remains entirely undiscovered by English language teachers, and consequently also English learners. This conference will interest teacher educators, trainers and teachers. For more details please visit www.childrenslit.de |
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