Dear HLT Readers,
Traditionally the November issue of HLT is hosted by a region, a country, a school or a group of teachers. This year it is Mexico so I would like to let Paloma Varela the guest editor, introduce you to the Latin American issue supported by contributors from this multicultural region of diverse ancestries and ethnic groups that varies from country to country. Here comes the message from Paloma:
I wish to thank HLT Mag for this opportunity to dedicate a special issue to teaching in Latin America.
The contributions cover an interesting range of topical current issues in the profession, and share perspectives and experiences, mostly from Mexico. In tune with this journal's spirit of helping classroom teachers to become more professional, we can proudly state that for most of these contributors, this is the first time they have published.
Two of these, the long articles on the Common European Framework (The Common European Framework and Language Teaching Policy in Mexican Public Higher Education by Francisco Brambila) and on teaching pronunciation (Stressed Out: Intonation for Beginners in TV Tutoring Sessions by Nevin Siders), Mexico, are the outcomes of MA - master thesis research at Mexico's National University. Also the report offered on establishing a Self-access Center at the University in Baja California is a result of rigorous and highly academic research (A Tutoring System Implemented in the Self-Access Center in the Language School at UABC, Tijuana, México, by María del Rocío Domínguez Gaona). To be helpful to others in their attempts to do likewise, Ms. Domínguez has generously included as appendices the numerous surveys that were carried out over a long period if time and entailed a lot of effort.
An exemplary classroom activity within the Humanistic approach is presented in If I Were a Tree…An Experience of Working with Humanistic Activities and Teenagers by Cristina Ferreira Villamar.
Imagination is of central importance to learning in general, but is particularly crucial to learning language, and the contribution Music-Imagination: A Fantastic Match for the Construction of Knowledge in the Classroom by Mónica García Pelayo, makes a cogent, heartfelt statement on this issue. Reading is likewise a basic skill, and an urgent plea is made in The Joy of Reading by Roberta King.
How one school turned its environment around to transform it into a warm learning community is the topic of a contribution from Montevideo, Uruguay (Setting New Year Resolutions… in November by Carla Boggio) , which could serve as at least part of the solution to the issues brought in the articles Teen Angst: Establishing and Maintaining Discipline in the Classroom by Jesús Emmanuel Somilleda Figuero and My Experiences In and Beyond the Classroom: Public School Students and English Learning in Mexico by Juan Olmeda, which are certainly not unique to Mexico.
Two articles are directed toward teacher education in the preparation for this arduous yet lifelong rewarding vocation. One relates how pre-service teachers became better armed for the task of teaching pronunciation (The Importance of Pronunciation - The Mexican Persective by Graciela Hernández), and another discusses the advantages to breaking down misguided myths (Practice Makes Perfect: The 11th Myth: A Reflection on Paradigm Shifts in Teacher Training Programs by Carlos Lizárraga).
We also include a book review on a textbook series for elementary school by a Mexican author who took children's movies to make a refreshingly well thought out coursebook - unlike so many others that sport Disney characters (Can Mickey Really Teach English?! Review of English Adventures, a Series for Elementary Schools, by José Luis Morales, reviewed by Nevin Siders)
Finally, recognition is due to Nevin Siders for doing much of the work in selecting and pre-editing.
It's teachers like you who make a difference,
Paloma Varela
Guest Editor Latin America
Humanising Language Teaching
hltmag@prodigy.net.mx
Putting together an issue is a complex process which requires good timing, and so some Mexican and South American contributions arrived when the present issue was already out of Paloma's hands. Let me introduce these authors to you.
In Reading Comprehension at the National University: Time to Reflect, Shélick G. Galván shares with us his experiences of teaching at a tertiary level while Kym Acuña in What We Learn from our Teaching: Teacher Collaboration as a Strategy for Professionalism shares some tricks of the trade.In Constructive Communication Through Contrasts: Infinitival Pairs for Educating Towards Communicative Peace, Francisco Gomes de Matos, our regular contributor, spells out the essence of Humanism. It is a potent message in a few words. Francisco also shares a poem with us: PoemsLove Unlimited - a Poem-Plea (Through Paired Rhymes).
The next two articles E-learning and Multiple Intelligences: Catering for Different Needs and Learning Styles, by Claudio de Paiva Franco and Careers and Education: Sharing an Abroad Experience. Is your English Good Enough to Study and Work in an English-speaking Country?, by Rafael Cravioto Torres embrace the subject of various learning styles and needs of our learners. In "I Know English" - An Exercise to be Put into Practice the Very First Day, Graciela Adriana Lamas-Orán, Salta, offers a lovely unthreatening exercise for the first lesson of English.
Last but not least, Paloma Varela has contributed two pieces to the issue, a book review: Dinah Zike's Teaching Science with Foldables, and A Thank You Note, to her Pilgrims friends she has met over the years. The last piece by Paloma is in tune with Reflections on Easter Courses at Pilgrims, Canterbury, by Elena Kashina from Russia who presents her memories of various encounters at Pilgrims and with Pilgrims trainers and teachers in teacher training courses.
Now let's welcome the contributors from other parts of the world.
Elena's contribution ( see above) takes us to other parts of the globe and starts a sequence of contributors form other countries and continents: China, Poland, the UK, Hong Kong, the US and Italy.
In his major article Teaching Oral English and English Writing in China Graham Paterson introduces us to the world of teaching English in China, a scene which is developing dynamically and about which I hope to have some more articles in the nearest future. In their major article An Individual in a Group: Reflections on TYL Project at the University of Gdańsk Teacher Training College, Mariola Bogucka and Magdalena Wawrzyniak-Śliwska share with us the results of their project on critical thinking and unlimited creativity through materials development with young learners. In his article Observing Classes with SEN Students, Maciej Sienkiewicz introduces us to a different kind of class and a unique exercise in Humanism.
In Humanistic Language Teaching in the 21st Century, Paul Bress joins the ranks of recent contributors who look at the present condition of humanism. In Quantum Learning, Hall Houston introduces us to another feeder field to language teaching. Hall's previous contribution on Emotional Intelligence (issue 5, 2007) has sparked off some reactions.( For more on that subject please take a look in the Letters section.)
As for the publishing world Gigliola Pagano shares with us a book she hopes to write soon: NLP and Teenage Boredom - Dreaming of a Class, while Tessa Woodward, the editor of our sister magazine the TTTJ, shares with HLT readers her ideas on the book she has looked at recently.
Then there are the regular contributors: Lou Spaventa with Observing Other Teachers Teach, Ken Wilson with some more jokes in Happy Winterval, Everyone!, Tom Booth with Some Creative Writing Lessons, Monika Hoogstad with Grammar Is Dead! Long Live Grammar!, and finally Mario Rinvolucri who has made two contributions "Four Voice Dictation" after Herbert Puchta and A Coursebook Writer's Limerick. Also Anna Maria Aiazzi (The Pedagogical Implications of a Lexical Approach in Learning and Teaching English) and Carol Griffiths have published in HLT before. It is so good to welcome the good old trusty authors as well as the new contributors.
I would like to thank Paloma Varela and Nevin Siders for their hard work they have done on this issue: the recruitment of authors, the selection process, the editing and the close contact with me. I hope they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I hope that next year another school or country will host the November issue of HLT: issue 6 year 10. This will be an important year for HLT, the tenth anniversary year. Please give it a thought, perhaps it is your opportunity. I am sure it is a fantastic way to make a presence and to inject new energy into a teachers' community. I am waiting for your suggestions.
I hope you will enjoy the issue and all the Best of Seasonal Greetings
Hania Kryszewska
Editor
hania.kryszewska@pilgrims.co.uk
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