DEVELOPING TEACHERS.COM Newsletter

Welcome to the August Newsletter

This month we have the usual excellent selection of articles. Richard Cauldwell, an expert in all things connected to speaking, listening & phonology, joins us with an article that reassesses the procedures we use when dealing with listening texts in the classroom.

Edna Aphek returns with news of her projects; children teaching senior citizens & children teaching other children. The lecture-based article is printed in full below & the other is on the site. And Michael Berman continues 'The Burden Basket' with parts 2 & 3.

There is also a lesson plan based around inventions & an exhibition currently underway in Birmingham, UK.

Hope you enjoy the Newsletter.

Happy teaching!

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INDEX

1. THEME - A meeting of cultures

2. THE SITE - lesson plans & articles

3. BOOKS

4. READERS' SITES

5. E-MAIL COURSES

6. TEACHING LINKS

7. JOBS

8. WEEKLY TEACHING TIPS

9. TRAINING COURSES

10. PS - Internet/computer-related links

11. THE BIT AT THE END

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1. THEME

This week we are featuring a couple of articles by Enda Aphek. Edna is based in Israel & is interested in creating teaching & learning links between children & between children & senior citizens.

In the first article - reprinted below - she outlines her feelings about the technological revolution we are going through & the Intergeneration Programme she has set up.

A meeting between cultures: An Intergeneration Program-Preserving Culture in a Technological Environment by Edna Aphek (a lecture, given at the Eshnav [Citizens for Responsible Use of the Internet] conference, June 2002)

To read the article

The second article from Edna begins:

While a fierce scholarly debate is going on in Israel between the followers of The Whole Language method and the great believers in the phonetic system as the panacea for all the illnesses connected with reading acquisition, a group of fourth graders tutored another group of first graders, in reading, in an intuitive manner and not using or being aware of any specific method in particular. They did it, though, with a lot of love, individual attention and using the computer. Though the tutors worked with relatively top students, some of whom were already readers, one could draw conclusions from the described case study, which could be applied to the advancing of the reading acquisition process in general, and to other learning areas as well.

To read the article

Interested in starting up one of these projects in your own country? Edna can be contacted at: edna@telhi.co.il

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2. THE SITE

Match the following dates with the 'inventions' below:

1952, 1954, 1955, 1961, 1964, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1981

Bar codes on supermarket products
Compact discs on sale
Home kidney dialysis
The Pill goes on the market in the UK
Pocket calculator
Moon landing
First fare paying passenger in a jet airliner
TV dinner
Non-stick saucepan
Cars with airbags

The lesson plan on the site this month is about inventions. The main text used in the plan is from a Guardian article titled, 'TV dinner served up as key invention'. It's about an exhibition in Birmingham on the last 50 years' inventions. And then there's the list of 50 inventions, one for each year.

To see the plan

And to see the two texts used, & the answers to the matching above

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'Grasping the nettle: The importance of perception work in listening comprehension' is the title of an excellent article by Richard Cauldwell. Here's what he says:

A common complaint from learners on first visiting an English- speaking country is that their listening skills cannot cope with fast spontaneous speech. Four inadequacies in the teaching of listening lead to this complaint: we rely too much on first language research findings; we neglect perception; we give learners easy and enjoyable, rather than challenging tasks; we use listening activities to serve other language-learning goals. I propose four things: that teachers themselves engage in classroom research in second language listening; that teachers should be provided with the skills of observing and explaining the features of fast speech; that teachers should be prepared for students to be challenged (even frustrated) in the early parts of a listening lesson; that the post-listening phase should be expanded to include aural and oral 'handling' of crucial fast extracts from recordings to improve students' perception skills

To read the article

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Michael Berman continues the article, 'Storytelling for the Classroom', the second & third of four parts.

The Burden Basket
In the Native American tradition, the Burden Basket was hung outside the Tipi as a reminder to guests to leave their personal complaints or problems outside before entering. The custom was honoured or the visitor was permanently barred from returning again because entering another person's home with a black cloud of worry or neediness was considered to be very bad manners. Being in the present moment and being willing to be a welcome guest requires strength of character. If everyone considered the Sacred Space of others before speaking or acting, balance would more easily be maintained in all communal living conditions.

To read the second part of the article

And if you missed the first part

Thanks to Edna, Richard & Michael.

If you've given a course or seminar or have a lesson plan & would like to give it a public airing then do send it to:

articles@developingteachers.com

ADVERTISING - We reach a few thousand teachers every week with the Weekly Teaching Tip & the same each month with the Newsletter, not to mention the site. If you've got a book, course, job...anything that you'd like to advertise, then do get in touch at:

advertising@developingteachers.com

Back to the index
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3. BOOKS

We have a review of Yvonne Cameron's 'Teaching Languages to Young Learners' (CUP).

If you would like to review a book for us, do get in touch.

bookreviews@developingteachers.com

Please don't forget to go through the books page when you want to buy from Amazon - we get a little bit & you pay the same. Every little helps to keep the newsletters free. Thanks.

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4. E-MAIL COURSES

Relax this summer & maximise your time by getting started on a quality personalised teacher development course. There are a couple of sample pages to view.

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5. READERS' SITES

Please check out www.123english.com. This is a new site we have just put together to promote Business English lessons with email feedback from remotely located teachers.

We consider that we have a proof of concept right now, which can be improved upon. We are only just beginning, and an opportunity exists for people to become involved if they can contribute to the further development and growth of this business. Once you have seen the site I would welcome the chance to discuss 123english with you.

Mike Oxley.

Back to the index
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6. LINKS FOR TEACHING

http://www.rtc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

This Richard Cauldwell's site - the author of the article 'Grasping the nettle' above. Here's what he says:

'Evidence from spontaneous speech challenges beliefs such as 'Languages are either stress-timed or syllable-timed' and 'We can find links between vocal patterns and emotions'. Such beliefs result from asking 'How would this sentence sound, and be interpreted, if it were to come out of the blue?' I prefer to ask 'Why did she say that, in that way, at that moment, to them in that context?'. [Context, in all senses, is all important.] Studying spontaneous speech brings new insights on how speech works, and for Teaching English as a Foreign Language.' Lots of interesting reading.

http://www.bized.ac.uk/

'Biz/ed is a unique business and economics service for students, teachers and lecturers.' Lovely material for your business- related classes.

http://bookcrossing.com/

Now here's a nice idea - it's not specifically for teaching or teachers but for all who enjoy reading.

'You've come to a friendly place, and we welcome you to our book- lovers' community. What is BookCrossing, you ask? It's a global book club that crosses time and space. It's a reading group that knows no geographical boundaries. Do you like free books? How about free book clubs?. Well, the books our members leave in the wild are free... but it's the act of freeing books that points to the heart of BookCrossing. Book trading has never been more exciting, more serendipitous, than with BookCrossing. Our goal, simply, is to make the whole world a library. BookCrossing is a book exchange of infinite proportion, the first and only of its kind........It's also a fascinating exercise in fate, karma, or whatever you want to call the chain of events that can occur between two or more lives and one piece of literature. Oh, and we should mention, it's absolutely free and absolutely private, too.'

Have you got any favourite teaching links? Send them in.

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7. JOBS

Disclaimer - as with any job check it out carefully. We don't endorse the schools that advertise below.

The ads are sent in & we mention them here & put them up on the site. A note for advertisers - please post your advert in the Forum - see the link from the Front Page - then we'll put it on the recruitment page & mention it in this newsletter.

Frank Hodgkins is looking for a teaching post in Madrid. He's just finished a Cambridge DELTA course, has lots of teaching & DOS experience. See his CV & snap him up!

http://www.developingteachers.com/jobs/cvfrankh.htm

And then there's also Stacey Ezzitouni from Florida:

http://www.developingteachers.com/jobs/cvstaceye.htm

Just a couple of recent CVs on the site - a page is waiting for your CV.

Teachers can post CVs on the site & employers can post job adverts - both are free services at the moment.

Back to the index
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8. WEEKLY TEACHING TIPS

Free weekly practical teaching tips by e-mail.

Recent Tips include:

- Imaginative links - memory principles & technique

- More dictations - well...more dictations really

- Speaking homework - ideas on getting this going with your students

- Ordered themes - an approach to timetabling

To see the Past Tips

To sign up to receive them

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ADVERTISEMENT

9. COURSES

Train in Spain - Courses running in the near future at the British Language Centre in Madrid:

CAMBRIDGE CERTIFICATE IN ELT - CELTA

Full-time four-week courses September, October & November '02

CAMBRIDGE DIPLOMA IN ELT - DELTA

Six month part-time course: October '02 - March '03

Reasonably priced accommodation can be arranged for the duration
of all courses.

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10. PS - Internet/computer-related links

http://www.archive.org/
See what your favourite site looked like way back then - 'The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artefacts in digital form.....The Internet Archive, working with Alexa Internet, has created the Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine makes it possible to surf pages stored in the Internet Archive's web archive.'

http://labs.google.com/glossary
More from you know who .. Find definitions for words, phrases and acronyms.

http://www.drivershq.com/dd/driverdetective.html
Drivers HeadQuarters has written Driver Detective to make updating your drivers, dlls' and vxds' simple and easy. You can view all the current information from one screen and determine file, name, and version, etc. which when updating is the key to finding new and up to date information to download to your system. After determining the driver, dll, or vxd you wish to update click on "Update Driver" and the program will take you to Drivers HeadQuarters so you can find the most current up to date driver information for your system.

http://www.reflexgame.com/
I made it down to .22 seconds. You may be wondering why I haven't got better things to do. Me too.

http://www.theavocadopapers.com/
'What is The Avocado Papers? Hmmm. What isn't it? Just kidding. The important thing is that you're here -- Woohoo!!! (I used to work at a place where people actually wrote that -- "Woohoo" -- in e-mails. A lot. I'm not joking; I wouldn't joke about something like that. Please.) What is The Avocado Papers -- I don't know, OK???... But I hope you like it. Let me know'

Just worth checking out. 'Nuff said.

http://www.electriconland.com
'Welcome to Electric Icon Land town. This is a little and humble, but promising town for those who love the pixel art. There are some shops with an everyday-increasing collection for free icon distribution. Have fun walking around here, using any Operating System you want. We have icons for Win, Mac and Linux.'

http://www.watchingmicrosoftlikeahawk.com/
And these guys really do what they say - constant updates when the big M breathes.

http://www.netlingo.com/
'NetLingo is a dictionary of Internet terms, it contains thousands of words and definitions that describe the online world of business, technology and communication.'

http://typera.solutions.fi/
Want to know how many words you can type per minute? Take the test & find out.

Back to the index
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11. THE BIT AT THE END

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