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June 2020 - Year 22 - Issue 3

ISSN 1755-9715

To the Editor

Letter 1

 

 

Letter 2

Dear Friends,

We’re starting a collective, constructive, and hopefully uplifting exchange. It's a one-time thing and we hope you will participate. We have picked those we think would be willing and would make it fun.

Please send a poem to the person whose name is in position 1 below (even if you don't know them), with the email subject Poem Exchange. It should be a favourite text/verse/meditation that has affected you in difficult times. Or not. Don't agonize over it. If you'd like to send a poem in your own language and provide a translation, please do so!

1.    smount@transformelt.com 
2.    ola.zaparucha@gmail.com
After you've sent the short poem/verse/quote/etc. to the person in position 1, and only that person, copy this letter into a new email. Move my name to position 1, and put your name in position 2. Only my name and your name should show in the new email. Send it to 20ish friends BCC (blind copy).

Seldom does anyone drop out because we all need new pleasures. The turnaround is fast, as there are only two names on the list, and you only have to do it once.

Stay safe and well

Best wishes

Alan

 

Letter 3

Dear Hania

Today we’re starting a new free advice channel for ELT teachers to provide simple practical tips and strategies for improving their online lessons. Teachers have been telling us that they need to bring more interactivity into their remote classes and the first webinar addresses this. We are focusing our advice on low-tech workarounds that any teacher can get going with straight away using their phone or free and universal online tools like Zoom, Google or Facebook. Read the full press release here and please share with your networks.

 

Kind regards

Stephen Haggard

Director, Digital Learning Associates

stephen@digitallearningassociates.com

www.digitallearningassociates.com

Officially the World's Best ELT Resources        Winner ELTons 2019 for Innovation

 

Letter 4

http://www.hellokids.com/r_1743/free-online-games/kids-puzzles-games?fbclid=IwAR2GsMcWo9ksrPFZut9HtN-yzeU-rUYC7MUjnFDqMaLN8G4SMX6Qtvp7w7Q

Great site. Wish I was a kid again

Marta Rosińska

 

Letter 5

Dear Sir or Madam,
My name is Gonzalo Díaz, I am an English as a Foreign Language professor.
I currently work in Public Schools one is a primary school and the other is a secondary level institutions. Both schools are located in Villa Carmela in Tucuman. Tucuman is the smallest state in the north of Argentina. And I work in the outskirts of the city, it is not a rural area but it lacks many advantages that urban areas provide. Sometimes we don´t have water at schools, we hope that problem will be solved shortly. I also work at a teacher training college in the south of my province.
I would like to make a special request. I would like to request any material, slightly damaged books, posters, brochures, pictures, dvd’s, CDRoms that you may kindly send us. topics may vary, their level is beginners, pre intermediate level. My students and co-workers will deeply appreciate your help.

These are the schools where I work and the ages and level of my students
1. Escuela Cooperativismo Argentino - Public Primary School
ESc. Secundaria de Villa Carmela - Public Secondary School
IES Aguilares - Public Tertiary level institution
2 - kids from 8 to 12 years old
Students from 13 to 18 years old
Young adults and adults
3 beginner
pre intermediate
intermediate
We mainly need: picture books - children books - brochures - posters - fiction and nonfiction books - poetry for kids - picture dictionaries

GONZALO DIAZ

BARRIO 103 VIVIENDAS
MANZANA K CASA 18
VILLA CARMELA
COD POSTAL 4105
CEVIL REDONDo

TUCUMAN
ARGENTINA

Phone: 54 381 154020632

ID 25844784

Cuil 20-25844784-1

 

Letter 6

Dear Hania

In the late 20th Century I started storytelling with schoolchildren and TEFL teachers at UKC for Pilgrims Language School. I produced hard copy of the tales they had heard me tell as double-sided A4 sheets each with eight stories. Because the tales were compressed they became ‘Talebones’; stripped down versions of old tales. These were ideal for use as the roots for new stories created by the listeners.

“Where can we buy these?” I was always asked. So I wrote thirty of them them down and added a few hints on how to tell them and how to encourage others to change and retell them.  People kept asking when the whole book would be published. Well, now it is available from Amazon as a paperback (£8.50) or as a Kindle (£3.79)

(…)

Best wishes

Tony Cooper

Storyteller * Author * Editor * Percussionist

tonytaleweaver@outlook.com

 

Letter 7

There are so many reasons why I love watching animated clips while working with my social kids: they are short (so you can stop-start to discuss and still get through it all in 30 minutes), they are engaging (so attention is typically not an issue) and they usually don’t have much language (which means lots of opportunities to interpret facial expressions and body language).

For more go to…

http://adventuresinspeechpathology.com/10-youtube-videos-you-need-for-social-skills-therapy/?fbclid=IwAR3rraKFelHnS4q6f7Gn_uxq0WLczmL1p2wu0yxn7LT3Wr44ChsgYzcP240

Greetings from

Marta Rosińska

 

Letter 8

Hi Hania!

It's been a while since we last spoke and I hope all is well with you.  Just wanted to share with you a new concept I learned from a Finnish teacher a few weeks ago that has really been making its rounds in classrooms in Sweden, Finland and most recently, the Netherlands.  The founder of this concept, Micael Hermansson is originally from Sweden and he decided to create mini-lessons to teach students basically about anything you can imagine through clues + mini-lessons.

Although this concept is based primarily for native speakers of a language, I really feel that it could create so many different avenues within teaching English as a Foreign language from pre-intermediate levels and above.  Please have a look at the video that I recently made and share with any teachers who may be interested:    
Grej of the Day - English
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world...

Lisa

PS In the description below of the video, there are links to the founders official youtube page (most videos are in Swedish), FB pages, and many more.  I've attached my teaching guide below in case you are keen to try it in your classes. 

 

Letter 9

(…)

Though not directly involved in HLT field, the magazine reminded me of a couple of other similar initiatives that have impacted me. One is Sathya Sai model on Education in Human Values (SSEHV) that seeks to integrate secular with spiritual education through the lens of five universal human values of Truth, Right Action, Love, Peace and Nonviolence. My knowledge of Humanizing Education however comes from an organization that I presently volunteer for - the Center for Global Nonkilling (www.nonkilling.org). A recent CGNK book, "The Nonkilling Education" may be of relevant interest. It can be downloaded/browsed on line at:
https://nonkilling.org/center/book-review/nonkilling-education/

BillBill (Balwant) Bhaneja

 

Letter 10

Hello,

Hope all is well. I'd like to share an interview with me about the post-pandemic world scenarios. 

http://conspiracyunlimitedpodcast.com/384-the-post-pandemic-world 

Cheers,

Adam Borowski 

 

Letter 11

What stories do creative learners tell?

By Francisco Gomes de Matos

A variety of learning strategies explore

Advice on what to avoid? Ignore!

Have fun building sentences your way

Prioritize what you want to say

Play with words that rhyme

Becoming a poet is not a waste

of time

Learn many words that express dimensions of PEACE

Deeper meanings will never cease!

 What else do creative learners do?

The list is long.What say YOU?

Tagged  To The Editor