NoveN Març 2019 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Grup de treball ICE-UB:From English Acquisition to English Learning and Teaching ROSAMARIA FÀBREGA, ANA MARÍA FUENTES, LOURDES MONTORO (COORD.) Professors convidats: CONSUELO BELDA, MAR CANO, MADELEINE HARMS, ETHAN WAUGH Volum 12: 11 articles English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 2 col·lecció / colección DOCÈNCIA I METODOLOGIA DOCENT, 32 edició / edición Primera edició: Novembre 2019 Edició: Institut de Desenvolupament Professional(IDP-ICE). Universitat de Barcelona Pg. Vall d’Hebron, 171 (Campus de Mundet) - 08035 Barcelona Tel. (+34) 934 035 175; idp.ice@ub.edu Consell Editorial: Xavier Triadó, Carme Panchón, Max Turull, Mercè Gracenea amb el suport de / con el apoyo de: Aquesta obra està subjecta a la llicència CreativeCommons 3.0 de Reconeixement-No Comercial-Sense Obres Derivades. Consulta de la llicència completa a: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.ca Esta obra está sujeta a la licencia CreativeCommons 3.0 de Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada. Consulta de la licencia completa en: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.ca Consuelo Belda, Mar Cano, Rosamaria Fàbrega, Ana María Fuentes, Madeleine Harms, Lourdes Montoro (coord.), Ethan Waugh. English Is It! (ELT Training Series). Vol. 12: 11 articles. Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona (Institut de Desenvolupament Professional, IDP-ICE), 2019. Document electrònic. Disponible a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/145051 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/145051 ISBN: 978-84-09-17460-7 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 3 Table of Contents Introduction LOURDES MONTORO________________________________________________________ 5 Abstracts__________________________________________________________________ 7 Professional Bios____________________________________________________________ 11 Once in a Blue Moon: STEM, Women, Men, and EFL classes ROSAMARIA FÀBREGA ______________________________________________________ 13 Competence-based Work for 7th Graders: the Giant’s Causeway and “Nature Rocks!” ANA MARÍA FUENTES_______________________________________________________ 23 Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 1: Theory and References LOURDES MONTORO________________________________________________________ 35 Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 2: Intralinguistic Mediation. Role Bank, 4 Email Proposals and Samples LOURDES MONTORO________________________________________________________ 47 Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 3: Interlinguistic Mediation. 3 Email Proposals, Samples, and Conclusions LOURDES MONTORO________________________________________________________ 59 A D D E N D A EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 3: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza (Introductory Literary and Historical Context, and Assessment) CONSUELO BELDA_____________________________________________________ 73 EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 4: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Characters) CONSUELO BELDA_____________________________________________________ 85 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 4 A Thinking Culture in EFL Secondary School: Thinking Skills, Routines, and a Dialogic Strategy MAR CANO___________________________________________________________ 97 Teaching Assistants from Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) in Junior High School, High School and Vocational School ROSAMARIA FÀBREGA ________________________________________________ 109 Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) Language Exchanges and Workshops at a State Language School and in College LOURDES MONTORO__________________________________________________ 121 Intermediate EFL Literature Field Trip, Questionnaries and Tea Time at Miss Perkins´ Tea Room LOURDES MONTORO__________________________________________________ 132 “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” (Benjamin Franklin) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 5 Introduction Lourdes Montoro mmontoro@xtec.cat The Research group From English Acquisition to English Learning and Teaching is registered at the Institute of Professional Development Teaching (ICE), at the University of Barcelona. It started in 2013, and, at present, it is composed of Rosamaria Fàbrega, Ana María Fuentes, and Lourdes Montoro (coordinator). All members are teachers of English: Ana María Fuentes and RosamariaFàbrega (secondary education and vocational training) and Lourdes Montoro (adult English teaching). R. Fàbrega and L. Montoro are also teacher trainers. R. Fàbrega is teaching Foreign Language Learning at the Teacher Training School at the International University of Catalonia (UIC Barcelona); L. Montoro has taught at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and at the Teacher Training School at the University of Barcelona. The group shares work ethics, vocation, and senior professional careers. Their human and academic background enhances the team with specialties such as art, films, group dynamics, computer science, interpretation, literature, mass media, music, philosophy, sports, theatre and translation. The group analyses the work of those teachers who we all know, and who, day after day, do admirable teaching works of art, making a difference in their students´ lives and in theirs, and from which schools and educational system very much benefit. We have all met excellent teachers who are so submerged in their daily lessons, administrative chores and the constant updating of professional life, that they are not given the chance to consider research or publications. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) was created with a view to providing opportunities which can make up, somehow, for this gap. The aforementioned members are the permanent teaching staff in the group; they investigate their different areas of expertise in their classes, expose them to the group and make proposals, which are later turned into articles. To do that, all members have extensively trained to spend the most time in the writing process in order to give the least work to the reader. They have both been succinct and explicit, and tried to say what they meant while meaning what they said. They bear in mind that, unlike training sessions, there is no audience in front, who can ask for clarification; therefore, all the planning, the sequencing, the explanations and details have been considered under this premise. With articles meant for immediate implementation, all members have aimed at clear, yet thorough texts, which include images, charts, lists, questionnaires, tables, photos… to facilitate the reading. They also include references. In general, the articles summarize what regular classes stand for each member and all: they show the picture of a human teaching forest, where we can observe distinct areas in its vegetation, with individual human plant life and a didactic ground which is covered by them all. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 6 Long-time quantitative and qualitative work has taken their classes to the documents in writing into which they have turned, like flowing creeks in the above-referred forest. And this has all been part of the learning processes which all members have undergone, and a consequence of them too. From original theses, which were presented individually and welcomed by all members, they proceeded to the defense of their general didactic framework, basically the inclusiveness of the basic pillars in teaching English as a foreign language, and also the sequencing of the contents, with cohesiveness lighting all the way through. Without leaving aside the authors´ teaching style, this group has pretended to blend everybody´s work in and ensure that balancing the articles out in the group teaching environment was possible: that their work could leave their classrooms for a while, and reach out for other colleagues in the field. As pointed out earlier, all articles in this volume have stemmed from the basics in lesson planning, whether, depending on their nature, they are fully or partially pointed out and/or described: topics, levels, organization, timing, objectives, contents - procedures and concepts (communicative structures, vocabulary, pronunciation, culture) and attitudes-. Materials are also referred, as well the general development of activities along with references, evaluation and comments. This publication counts on an ADDENDA section, which welcomes other teaching professionals, as well as allows the permanent staff members of the research group to present other academic works. It is also open to alumni among the members of the group, so that further pedagogical interventions from them can be considered in the future. In the Addenda section included in this volume, the group presents the work of two guest EFL teachers: Consuelo Belda and Mar Cano. Additionally, Madeleine Harms and Ethan Waugh, former Brethren Colleges Abroad students at the University of Barcelona and teaching assistants at Severo Ochoa High School, supervised by Rosamaria Fàbrega, present a coauthored article with her on the BCA teaching contributions in her High School. Lourdes Montoro rounds up their homage to the American organization with another article, which describes her work with BCA at a Language State School and the Teacher Training School at the University of Barcelona. Their abstracts and their bios, as well as the group permanent members´ are presented next None of these articles would have been possible without the group supervisors at ICE: Francesc Amorós, Continuing Primary and Secondary Teacher Training Coordinator; Mercè Martínez, Director of Continuing Teacher Education, and Mercè Gracenea, Director of Publications, who supported the group research work from the start, and turned it into what it is: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 7 Abstracts ROSAMARIA FÀBREGA Once in a Blue Moon: STEM, Women, Men, and EFL classes This teacher presents a 5-hour content-based lesson plan, which is implemented in three sessions, and aimed at vocational school students in pharmacy, chemistry, business and administration. It revolves around the celebration of the 1969 first men to land and walk on the moon, and the 2016 movie Hidden Figures, which centers on the key role of three African- American female mathematicians who were the brains behind. It pays homage to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), promoting the scientific curriculum from the EFL class. The project covers three main areas: history and society, science, and humanities. Students learn, for instance, about the Cold War, American society in the 60s, the origin of computers, and language as a vehicle of communication. This project is divided into 5 main stages: the historical event, the historical female scientists behind, a guide for group work, powerpoint presentations, and the acknowledgment of human advances and scientific innovation. ANA MARÍA FUENTES Competence-based Work for 7th Graders: the Giant’s Causeway and “Nature Rocks!” “Nature Rocks!” is a lesson plan which presents the Giant´s Causeway legend and promotes the 7th graders´ cultural awareness and their linguistic, artistic, technological and communicative competences. Students have the chance to discover the Irish countryside and the magic of the Celtic otherworld. Inspired by Project-Based Learning (PBL), this teacher presents an entire methodological system of hers based on 4Rs (research, reflect, report and reveal), which this lesson exemplifies: an initial launching question takes students to a process of research, analysis and communication, while close guidance and support to group and individual work is provided. All students look into different types of resources to carry out their scientific or cultural collaborative group research, which is rounded off with the creation, exhibition and public presentation of their own Celtic design. Students complete the discovery of Irish culture and landscape in 8th grade. The students´ further immersion will be presented in the next volume. LOURDES MONTORO Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 1: Theory and References This article is part of a collection of three on mediation. A guided theoretical introduction is presented in the first article, as well as an extended list of references, which were used by this teacher when she was studying the subject. Her research led her to understand that in mediation there must be somebody who needs help, and also, a desire to reach out for others. Students are asked in their practices to lend a hand and they do so after being informed of a given situation. There may also be a third party who knows that somebody needs assistance and who plays the role of informing the students of the need. For some reasons the person or persons in need are not able to directly ask for assistance. After her research and further conclusions, this teacher created what she called The Voluntary 7- Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project which included 7 ready-to- use mediating emails of 2 different kinds. The project together with the class work English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 8 compositions, the readers´compositions, and the course work led students to excellence in interaction and written expression. The project is presented in the following 2 articles. LOURDES MONTORO Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 2: Intralinguistic Mediation. Role Bank, 4 Email Proposals and Samples This article presents the first part of The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project. The project consists of making intermediate EFL students familiar with intralinguistic and interlinguistic mediation and its practice through 7 emails. This first part is centered around intralinguistic mediation, that is, the one taking place within the English Language. This article includes a role resource bank, which this teacher created to prompt mediating practices after it. There is also a chart presenting the 4 email proposals: 2 around the role of friends who, logically, know the area where they live, and the most popular food there, and, therefore, when necessary, can inform others about it; For the other two emails, students, besides being friends, they enact the role of a dietist, and a wedding planner, respectively. The 4 models can be immediately implemented, and are accompanied by samples of written expression and interaction from multi-level students, which are also commented. LOURDES MONTORO Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 3: Interlinguistic Mediation. 3 Email Proposals, Samples, and Conclusions This article presents the first part of a voluntary interaction project and written expression aimed at intermediate students. The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project consists in the familiarization and practice of students in the intralingual and interlinguistic mediation from 7 emails. This second part focuses on interlinguistic mediation, that is, it includes work related to other languages, such as Spanish and Catalan. There are 3 proposals around the role of a friend who needs to intervene to help people living in another country: a person would like to have to be oriented to work as an au-pair in England; another person needs to understand well-known Spanish proverbs since he has some school assignment for his class; and finally, the latter would like to know what studies are like at Institut del Teatre, and if the school is conveniently located. The students play the role of experts in the 3 areas and lend a hand through their mediation emails. ADDENDA CONSUELO BELDA EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 3: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza (Introductory Literary and Historical Context, and Assessment) This is the third part of a collection of 5 articles on a crosscurricular EFL and Spanish literature project, whose final aim is to have students enjoy literary masterpieces in either language, and be able to relate each aspect in each literary work, to finally crosscurricularly compare them, and reach their own conclusions. Part 1 and 2, published in the previous volume, were on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Part 3 and Part 4 are on Emilia Pardo Bazan’s Los pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza. Part 5, in the next volume, will present the students´ comparative study. This article presents the second part of the project and focuses on the biographical approach to Emilia Pardo Bazán within her literary and historical context. Students are guided by means of introductory questions, research work, sharing, and knowledge addition. Assessment takes place through students´ secret color cards. The English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 9 teacher also values how they all learn from one another, and agreement on the final score is reached. Keys are provided at the end. CONSUELO BELDA EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 4: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Characters) Part 4 includes three specific lesson plans which take students on a pedagogical journey to a biographical approach to Emilia Pardo Bazán (through introductory videos, a biographical table, a preface reading, her writings, creative compositions, and content sharing); structural elements (pointing to settings, locations analysis, the series (part I), the ´ link scenes´, and the plot); and, finally, to the narrators and characters (studying the film - part II -, looking at the summary, getting familiar with the narrative frame, and the main characters (Julián-Nucha and Nucha-Perucho, and a character list). The four skills are involved as well as varied student groupings. The assessment method which was applied in Part 3 is also used in the fourth part of the project. Yet, since Part 4 covers more details than Part 3, the teacher particularly values accuracy on the numerous contents, the students´ comprehension, their attention, and their ability to reach conclusions. Keys are provided at the end. MAR CANO A Thinking Culture in EFL Secondary School: Thinking Skills, Routines, and a Dialogic Strategy From a humanistic and competence-based approach, this teacher presents how to implement a thinking culture in the obligatory and post-obligatory secondary education EFL Classroom through thinking-based learning (TBL), visible thinking, habits of mind and Socratic debates or circles. Being applied to all levels, she develops skills which boost the learning to learn and learning to think competences as she enhances the linguistic and communicative skills in learning English as a foreign language. Three pedagogical practices are thoroughly described to exemplify this approach: the ´Compare and contrast’ thinking skill (7th and 11th grade), the ‘Think-pair-share’ thinking routine (multilevel), and the Socratic debate or circles (11th grade). Continuous and formative feedback is tackled as well. ROSAMARIA FÀBREGA, MADELEINE HARMS, ETHAN WAUGH Teaching Assistants from Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) in Junior High School, High School and Vocational School This article is co-authored by Rosamaria Fàbrega and two BCA EFL teaching assistants, Madeleine Harms (2017-18) and Ethan Waugh (2018-19). Rosamaria Fàbrega has been supervising teaching BCA teaching assistants for over two decades in junior high school, high school and vocational school in Barcelona. This article enhances the importance of transmitting passion for knowledge and wisdom, the relevance of having a language assistant in the English class, and their involvement in the English learning process. It also details the experience from three points of views: the teachers', the teaching assistants' and the students´. The BCA work which is presented describes a methodology that can be easily implemented in all EFL levels and teaching scenarios. As long as the teachers (who are the organizers), and the school supervisors are ready to welcome English-speaking teaching assistant programs, every teaching and learning detail gets into place, and the work for all involved becomes a school educational highlight and success. LOURDES MONTORO Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) Language Exchanges and Workshops at a State Language School and in College For over two decades, this teacher has enjoyed the work of Brethren Colleges Abroad at the University of Barcelona. Directed by Dr. Carmen Barbosa, it has reached out for local institutions and professors, whose background and teaching views propelled cultural immersion of its American students.This teacher´s language and cultural exchanges work with BCA must have benefitted over 1400 local students. This article presents the numerous English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 10 BCA American and Spanish linguistic and cultural contributions which this teacher has been successfully involved in at an Official Language school and at the University of Barcelona: a Thanksgiving dinner for 225 guests, English and Spanish language semester exchanges, workshops on American culture, workshops on Spanish culture, and teaching assistants on 35-hour American culture teacher training courses. LOURDES MONTORO Intermediate EFL Literature Field Trip, Questionnaries and Tea Time at Miss Perkins´Tea Room In “A Second Term Project for Elementary EFL Students: “Tea Time at Miss Perkins Tea Room” (2017), this teacher described a first level field trip to an authentic tea room in Barcelona. In this article, she presents an intermediate English level literature-based field trip which took place on the same premises. EFL work was based on three questionnaires which went from general to specific; the first general one was courtesy of Mari Angeles Perkins, avid literature reader and caterer; the specific ones were created by the teacher to honor the creative work and contribution of two classic English authors: Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton. Through them, students were taken on treasure hunts as they located books, found quotes, came across novels excerpts, deduced meaning, compared titles… to finally enjoy a Tea Time experience. Keys to each questionnaire are provided at the end. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 11 Professional bios RESEARCH GROUP Rosamaria Fàbrega has been a secondary school English teacher since 1985. She comes from a family devoted to teaching, and has exchanged teaching experiences in England, Ireland, Uganda, and the US. She is currently teaching “Aprenentatge de les Llengües Estrangeres” at UIC Barcelona in the Faculty of Education and English in a Secondary Public School. She loves New Technologies and has a blog (https://rosafabrega.wordpress.com/) to help her students work in an autonomous way. Ana María Fuentes holds a B.A. in English Philology and a postgraduate course in Textual Translation Analysis from the University of Barcelona. She has also specialized in Text management for professionals at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. She has taught English in Catalonia for fourteen years. She enjoys exploiting drama and audiovisual projects in class as well as new technologies to support students’ learning process and group dynamics. Lourdes Montoro is a professor of English at Escola Oficial d´Idiomes in Barcelona. She initially taught all levels, from elementary school to high school and vocational school. She has also taught at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), the University of Barcelona (UB), and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UW-L), in the United Sates. She is also a teacher trainer, a translator and a critic reader. She has specialized in American culture, English-speaking countries, paremiology and project work. GUEST TEACHERS Consuelo Belda holds a Spanish Philology Bachelor´s Degree from Universitat de València, a Comparative Literature Master´s Degree, and a Ph.D. from Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She has had her critical edition on Miguel de Unamuno´s Teresa published by Cátedra. Being a CEFRL English C1 user has facilitated her research and professional comparative language and literature work. Teaching her specialty in secondary school, has led her to several teaching projects, some around the topic of women in literature. Mar Cano holds a B.A. in Teaching EFL in Early and Primary Education, a B.A. in English Philology, an M.A in Construction and Representation of Cultural Identities, and an M.A. in Research and Change in Education. She has been devoted to teaching EFL for over fifteen years, from Preschool to Upper Secondary School, mostly in a semi-private school in Badalona. She has also been engaged in tasks of innovation, pedagogic coordination and teacher training. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 12 GUEST BRETHREN COLLEGES ABROAD TEACHING ASSISTANTS Madeleine Harms was a Brethren College Abroad student (BCA) at the University of Barcelona during the second semester of 2017-2018. She also was an EFL teaching assistant at Severo Ochoa high school. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in the United States. She has always been interested in languages, humanities, teaching, mathematics, and medicine. She has volunteered in language arts, and taught mathematics from elementary to middle summer school, and will be pursuing a medical career next. Ethan Waugh was a Brethren College Abroad student (BCA) at the University of Barcelona in 2018-2019. He was also an EFL teaching assistant at Severo Ochoa Public high school. In 2019-2020, he will finish his degree in Political science and Spanish at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the United States. He has tutored fellow students and participated in his college's Children's Spanish Program, where he taught elementary school Spanish. He constantly integrates new classroom activities and strategies to make students focus on oral expression and interaction. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 13 Once in a Blue Moon: STEM, Women, Men, and EFL classes Rosamaria Fàbrega rfabreg9@xtec.cat Not very often we are witness to extraordinary events, like the expression "Once in a blue moon" reminds us of. 2019 is bringing us the memory of the 1969 first men to land and walk on the moon. Everybody is aware of that mankind milestone. But behind every milestone there is always detailed work that sometimes goes unnoticed, despite being fundamental for the big picture to pop. Hence the title of this article, which while paying homage to all the participants that made it possible, reflects all the elements which are considered in the EFL learning and teaching itinerary which I am about to present. This article presents a five-hour EFL work unit which is divided into three sessions. The main objective of the lesson plans is turning what might be unknown or even considered coincidental into an explicit part of the truly extraordinary core of this human triumph. At present, we hear the term STEM when referring to the promotion of curriculum choices which can help in the development of science and technology. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stem In 2016 the movie Hidden Figures was released. This is the true story of three brilliant African- American women: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Working at NASA, they served as the brains behind the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Since then, and therefore, for the past two years and on the occasion of International Women's Day (March 8th) I have implemented the EFL unit which I will describe next. In general terms, it revolves around three main components: History and society, science and humanities, which were subdivided 8 more: THE THREE MAIN COMPONENTS HISTORY AND SOCIETY The 1969 historical milestone The female scientists behind English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 14 The Cold War Society in The US in the 60s SCIENCE The origin of computers The role of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics HUMANITIES Language as a vehicle of communication English as a foreign language The components themselves perfectly added up and turned the unit into a compound of full content-based EFL sessions. They were addressed to vocational school students in the following specialties: Pharmacy, Chemistry, Business and Administration. The main areas that cover the above-mentioned components were specifically divided into lesson plans which were implemented in five steps: THE 5-STEP PROGRAM 1 THE HISTORICAL EVENT: FIRST LANDING AND WALKING ON THE MOON (1st session) 2 THE HISTORICAL FEMALE SCIENTISTS BEHIND: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson (2nd session) 3 A GUIDE FOR GROUP WORK (3rd session) 4 POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS (3rd session) 5 ACKNOWLEDGING HUMAN ADVANCES AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (3rd session) The 5-step itinerary will be described in detail next: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 15 1 THE HISTORICAL EVENT: FIRST LANDING AND WALKING ON THE MOON (1st session) The teacher asks the students what they know about the 60's. She explains that what comes out from their brainstorming will need to be shared through an app which allows screen projections: Menti (https://www.mentimeter.com/). The teacher tells students that they basically need to go to www.menti.com, and follow a code. The teacher projects the technical instruction: Students are told that they have 10-15minutes to talk about the 60s in groups. Once they get organized, brainstorming takes place, and the result takes shape through the above-mentioned app, and are projected on the classroom screen. A sample work follows next: Finally, when the brainstorming is fully shown on the screen, the teacher highlights the words referring to the space landing and walk and points to the name of the astronauts. The students are ready to watch the 2'47'' video “A History Of Spacewalks: First Walk On The Moon”(July 21, 1969, Time). https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=gayth1yvG0g English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 16 After this projection, the teacher poses the following question: WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT BE BEHIND THIS MAJOR HUMAN STEP? Students provide their answers which often lead to discussion and the conclusion that after a major human step there is a lot of effort, study, trial and error and team work behind.The answers are written through backchannel chat (live chat for classrooms), a discussion panel: http://backchannelchat.com/. The whole class can see all the opinions on the screen, which allows the teacher to point to mistakes, and prevent their carrying them on their writing opinions afterwards. Next, the teacher explains that in the next session they are going to watch a movie. It is right then when she clarifies that this is all part of a science and English project called: "Once in a Blue Moon: STEM, Women, Men, and EFL classes". The teacher explains the "Once in a blue moon" idiom, and the STEM acronym, and refers to the relevance of men and women in science. She adds that the next sessions will consist on watching the movie "Hidden Figures" and cooperatively working on the main aspects the film covers. 2 THE HISTORICAL FEMALE SCIENTISTS BEHIND: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson (2nd session) The teacher uses a warm-up to introduce the movie Hidden Figures and particularly the word "Figures" and the pun which it contains: FIGURE (Cambridge dictionary) (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/figure) B1the symbol for a number or an amountexpressed in numbers Can you read this figure? Is it a three or an eight? Write the amount in both words and figures. I lookedquickly down the column of figures. He earns a six-figure salary (= an amount of money with six figures). B2the shape of the humanbody, or a person: I could see two tall figures in the distance. A strange bearded figure (= person) entered the room. Figurative.- She was a central/key/leading figure in (= was an importantperson in) the movement for constitutionalreform. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 17 After students understand the full meaning of "Figures" they are invited to watch the movie (2h 7´) https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=RK8xHq6dfAo At the end of the movie, students usually comment that the film definitely makes a difference and connects with all the aspects covered in the project. They are very much involved in it, and look forward to the last session: their hands-on workshop. 3 A GUIDE FOR GROUP WORK (3rd session) Journeys in Film, Educating for Global understanding (https://journeysinfilm.org/) is a web page which teachers can sign for, and which I very much recommend. The page itself describes to a tee what they do: "Journeys in Film harnesses the storytelling power of film to educate the most visually literate generation in history". It has also "been a leading force in global education and teaching with film for over a decade" They "combine the power of moving", and their "Program Development Team is responsible for the creation of Journeys in Film curriculum guides, educator professional development workshops, partnerships with schools and universities". They certainly offer a curriculum guide with lesson plans based on films. I usually take into account what they publish since their material is quite adaptable. The Hidden Figures Curriculum Guide presents eight ready-to-use lessons on social studies, science, language arts, mathematics, physics and programming, film literacy, history and career readiness. In this case of Hidden Figures, I project the different lessons at once, present them, and have the students choose the topics that they like best: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 18 Journeys in Film, Educating for Global understanding (https://journeysinfilm.org/) Once the lessons have been assigned, the teacher explains the task and the procedure. It is very important to be very clear and to ensure that students are always free to work at their own pace and in their own learning style. The main points are summarized next: - Every group is responsible for their lesson - They have an hour to get acquainted with each lesson - Lessons have an average of 20 pages - Students need to monitor the usage of their time - The teacher rotates among the different groups - The teacher answers any possible doubts - The students summarize the main ideas in their lessons through PowerPoint slides - The last 30-45 minutes are devoted to all the groups' presentations English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 19 4 POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS (4th session) Students decide on the order of presentations and let the teacher know. The work around Lesson 4, Lesson 5, and Lesson 8 are exemplified next through students´ work: LESSON 4 The Women of ‘West Computing’: A Viewer-Response Approach (Language Arts) (by Noelia Haro, Judith Rustarazo, and Sandra Torres) https://rosafabrega.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/who-said-that.pptx LESSON 5 The Math of Space Travel: Orbits and Conic Sections (Mathematics) (by Guillem Vilà and Julià Urbina) https://rosafabrega.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/orbits-an-conic-sections.pptx English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 20 LESSON 8 The Women of Science (Science, History, Career Readiness) (by Melanie Soriano and Rosana Gerardo) https://rosafabrega.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-women-of-science.pptx 5 ACKNOWLEDGING HUMAN ADVANCES AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (3rd session) Appreciating inventions and discoveries that have helped the human species advance cannot be ignored. Sometimes advertisements enhance them. This is the case of this six-second ad by STABILO that Alexandra Jardine comments under the heading: THESE ADS FOR STABILO BOSS HIGHLIGHTERS CLEVERLY EMPHASIZE HISTORY’S FORGOTTEN WOMEN https://adage.com/creativity/work/highlight-remarkable/54959? English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 21 There is a trailer for the new Robert Stone's movie Chasing the Moon which pays homage to the 1969 big step for humanity and gets it closer to the present generation and the ones to come. The film is presented in the following terms: “In 1969, we made one small step. In 2019, join American Experience and PBS to relive the journey that defined a generation in “Chasing the Moon.” “Chasing the Moon,” a film by Robert Stone, "reimagines the race to the moon for a new generation, upending much of the conventional mythology surrounding the effort. The series recasts the Space Age as a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama. Utilizing a visual feast of previously overlooked and lost archival material — much of which has never before been seen by the public — the film features a diverse cast of characters who played key roles in these historic events”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVdDUooZhPM To finish, I must say that students can follow the "Once in a Blue Moon: STEM, Women, Men, and EFL classes" project in the teacher's blog: The Gadget Method (https://rosafabrega.wordpress.com). This is also important because this is a project that remains open after STEP FIVE takes place, which I usually do with all my projects. In this case, students are welcome to post any piece of news which calls their attention, or any comment which may be related to STEM, human endeavours and projection, and the EFL class. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 22 References Backchannel Chat http://backchannelchat.com/ Chasing the moon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVdDUooZhPM Fàbrega i Mestres, R. TheGadget Method https://rosafabrega.wordpress.com/?s=hidden Hidden Figures Curriculum Guide. Subscribe to download https://journeysinfilm.org/download/hidden-figures-curriculum-guide/ Hidden Figures Curriculum Guide https://rosafabrega.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/hidden-figures-curriculum.pdf Hidden Figures Curriculum Brings Film’s Lessons To The Classroom https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hidden-figures-lesson- plan_n_58f62379e4b0da2ff8635203?guccounter=1 Hidden Figures.Tease Trailer (HD). 20th Century FOX https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=RK8xHq6dfAo Honoring NASA’s Hidden Figures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6NGgs8S4qs Jardine, Alexandra. DDB Germany print campaign pays tribute to the likes of Edith Wilson and Lise Meitner (Jul 06, 2018) http://creativity-online.com/work/stabilo-boss-highlight-the-remarkable/54959 Journeys in Film, Educating for Global understanding https://journeysinfilm.org/ Mentimeter https://www.mentimeter.com/ Once in a blue moon http://lang-8.com/276843/journals/1167173 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 23 Competence-based Work for 7th Graders: the Giant’s Causeway and “Nature Rocks!” Ana María Fuentes afuent22@xtec.cat Irish myths and legends are one of my favourite topics in the English-speaking world. Driven by my deep love and passion for anything related to Ireland, I take any excuse to share my interest in the Emerald Island with my students. Over the years I have deepened into the Irish geography, culture and mythological past, and students have become very fond of them. The topic of the Giant’s Causeway became the perfect excuse to deal with one of my preferred legends of Celtic heritage. Accompanying my students to immerse in the world of Irish geography, geology and folklore, I devised a lesson plan including a set of activities which match the key competences of junior high students. You will find next a ready-to-use competence-based work designed for 7th graders entitled “Nature Rocks!”, a lesson plan blending PBL (Project-Based Learning) and the curricular key competences of students. This lesson explores the Giant’s Causeway, the mythical site of an Irish legendary story. This delightful countryside in the Irish County of Antrim can reveal itself to students through images, data, and legends, which need to be guided by their English teacher. This lesson can be complemented with the reading of “The Legend of the Giant’s Causeway” in 8th grade, which will be suitably described in the next volume. The content, methodological considerations behind each and every step of the unit and their suitable development are detailed as follows: 1. INTRODUCTION 2. THE FOUR R’S AND THE KEY COMPETENCES 3. IMPLEMENTATION. LESSON PLANNING: “NATURE ROCKS!” FOR 7TH GRADE: STAGE 1: RESEARCH 1. Presenting the launch question about the Giant’s Causeway 2. Oral production and comprehension 3. Following their guesses 4. Lines of research STAGE 2: REFLECT 1. Browsing information 2. Selecting the information 3. Preparing the presentations STAGE 3: REPORT 1. Presenting their researches 2. Evaluating presentations STAGE 3: REVEAL 1. Learning about Celtic art 2. Revealing the Celtic inside 1. INTRODUCTION Twenty-first century learners need to learn what is necessary for them to know, but also other skills are becoming a must for their education. Mar Romera, president of the Pedagogical English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 24 Association Francesco Tonucci, a teacher and expert in emotional intelligence, claims that today’s learners need to know how to choose autonomously and responsibly, using critical as well as creative thinking. She adds that working in groups promoting collaborative thinking and knowing how to select information to get to that knowledge will eventually be wisdom (La escuela que quiero: En busca del sentido común: pedagogía de altura contada desde el suelo, 2019).With the inspiration of today’s currents of pedagogical thought and, especially PBL, I have included some of the essential design elements and adapted them to this unit: starting from a question, students are provided with opportunities to search for their answers expressing their own voice, taking their own choices and after a process of reflection and critique, they generate a final product, in a framework of problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration and project and self-management. “Seven Essential Project Design Elements” and “Project Design Overview” (PBL Works) The competence-based curriculum and PBL merge in this unit in the form of scientific research, narration and artistic and creative production to deal with geography and geology cultural heritage, literature and art. However, a suitable sequencing of the unit is fundamental to provide the elementary order and coherence that can enhance the contents. Also, to guarantee a good working and balanced class dynamics, paying attention to all types of students, I have devised my personal methodology of the 4Rs, ensuring the same importance to research, analysis, reporting and enjoyment. 2. THE FOUR R’S AND THE KEY COMPETENCES My personal view of PBL with a practical adaption of the key competences in the junior high curriculum led me to a very precise working methodology to deal with “Nature Rocks!” in class. Firstly, it is important to note that this methodology revolves around the current curricular framework, listed as follows, next to their acronyms: KEY COMPETENCES B a s I c c o m p e t e n c e s T r a n s v e r s a l c o m p e t e n c e s Competence in linguistic communication CLC) Competence in mathematics, science and technology (CMST) Digital competence (DC) Learning to learn (L2L) Social and civic competences (SCC) Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship (SIE) Cultural awareness and expression (CAE) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 25 Secondly, it is essential to manage lesson plans rightly to acquire them with the right amount of dynamism, content assimilation and integration of skills. That is why, to be able to integrate all these elements efficiently, I devised my own methodology of the 4Rs. They stand for the 4 stages in the present lesson implementation, and they constitute a mixture of key competences, which I describe in detail: S T A G E 1 : R E S E A R C H This phase is the launch, entry event and driving question, which involves reading, watching videos, listening and searching for information to establish a basis on the necessary knowledge that this lesson entails. This launch question is proposed to trigger data collection and an appealing research so that students engage in the content with a suitable degree of curiosity. S T A G E 2 : R E F L E C T This is a phase of analysis building knowledge and skills as well as analysis of them to pin down the concepts from the materials provided as their sources. A phase of analysis of the information that they have compiled and tasks of reflection is essential to enable the students to develop their reporting skills. S T A G E 3 : R E P O R T This is a phase in which students develop products and answers to the driving question. They explain what they have found out and apply presentation skills exposing content in English and practice speaking in public confidently. S T A G E 4 : R E V E A L In this phase students present products of their research and analysis and their answers to the initial driving question adding a scientific, artistic and technical perspective. Students create a final product that is meaningful and original for the sake of enjoyment. 2. IMPLEMENTATION. LESSON PLANNING: “NATURE ROCKS!” FOR 7TH GRADE Here is a thorough methodological implementation of my work through the lesson “Nature Rocks!”. It is accompanied by precise lesson objectives in the context of competence-based curriculum. Special attention is also paid to the steps of the tasks and activities, the methodological approach of the 4Rs and their timing, with a full amount of support activities, resources, videos and evaluation tools. “NATURE ROCKS!” (7TH GRADE) LEVEL: 7th grade TIMING: 10 sessions + 1h or 2 h at home GROUPINGS: 4-5 students per group LESSON OBJECTIVES AND KEY COMPETENCES In this unit students learn: - to understand and correctly use vocabulary to describe landscapes and characters in a folklore story (CLC, CMST, SCC) - to understand and correctly use “be”, “have got” and question words, draw parallels to L1 and produce them in a short speaking activity (CLC, L2L) - about the folklore stories from other countries (Ireland) and compare with the stories in their Country (CLC, CMST, CAE) - about the Giant’s Causeway legend by reading articles, watching videos (CLC, CMST, CAE) - about some symbols in Celtic art (CAE) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 26 They specifically learn how to: - identify specific information in web articles, video or other resources about the Giant’s Causeway (Thulean Plateau) and the legend of the Giant’s Causeway (CLC, DC, CAE) - look online for information about the Giant’s Causeway and collect information to create a short presentation (CLC, DC, CAE, SIE) - identify specific information in a description of a geographical phenomenon and a specific Legend (CLC, CAE) - collaborate and negotiate to produce a final work (SIE) - read and watch a video about the Legend of the Giant’s Causeway (CLC, SCC, CAE) - write a description of a legendary hero (CLC, L2L) - deliver presentations with their findings (CLC, L2L, SIE) - create their own Celtic symbol (CAE) STAGE 1: RESEARCH (Session 1 and 2) 1. Presenting the launch question about the Giant’s Causeway. On the class screen, the teacher shows a poster of the Giant’s Causeway where students are posed the first questions: After the launching questions, students start thinking about the answers. The teacher also shows some useful language structures and vocabulary to express their guesses. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 27 2. Oral production and comprehension In groups students guess what the answers to these questions are and they write them down on a piece of paper. The teacher encourages description and the suitable expression of thoughts and guesses at the reach of 7th graders. They agree on who is going to explain what specific idea that they talked about. When they finish their group discussion, they have a class debate. In turns, they put their ideas in common. Taking turns, each member of the group explains what they talked about, what their guesses were and what general ideas are common. In the meantime, the teacher writes them down on the whiteboard. 3. Following their guesses When the teacher writes the groups’ guesses on the whiteboard, as ideas are classified, students are encouraged to extract two basic lines of research. Being each group of students unique, students go to a scientific and a non-scientific explanation. The former leads some students to geography and geology of the Giant’s Causeway (Thulean Plaetau) and the latter takes the rest of the class to the legend of Fionn McCool (the Celtic hero in Irish mythical stories). 4. Lines of research Each group of students decides what line of research they want to investigate. The teacher makes sure that at least the two above-mentioned lines are included. The number of groups working on the lines of research is balanced, so that the final overview of expositions is as even as possible. Also, the teacher provides some guidelines in their research to grant that the students can cover the suitable content. To ensure that every student contributes equally to the research, among the groups, each member is assigned a specific task from the following guidelines. 1. Geographical location 2. Rock characteristics Materials / Shapes / Colour 3. Geological phenomenon 4. Sites 5. Wildlife 6. Flora 1. Legend of the Giant’s Causeway 2. The Celtic hero Fionn McCool 3. The Scottish Giant Bennandonner 4. The Giant’s Wife Una 5. Celtic mythology 6. Celtic symbols STAGE 2: REFLECT Sessions 3, 4 and 5 (+1 or 2 at home) 1. Browsing information Students read, look up and consult the information from reliable resources and then collect the useful one and try to organize it meaningfully in their notebooks, computers or notepads. They consult reliable resources which come from websites, videos, books, dictionaries, magazines, atlas … The teacher can provide the resources to help students get started and/or narrow down useful information that students should focus on, and classify according to the two basic lines of research: the geological/scientific one and the legend. They are all in English, and a small support of their L1 may be considered. These quality resources include an extensive number of varied sources such as web articles, books, tourist brochures and videos. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 28 Since the main emphasis is always to be on understanding and reading comprehension, several detailed class sessions as well as oriented home assignment sessions are necessary. The resources for the research on geography, geology and culture about the Giant’s Causeway are as presented next: G E O G R A P H Y A N D G E O L O G Y KIDS´ SCIENCE WEBPAGES “Fun Facts About Giant’s Causeway for Kids” and “The Mythical Place of Fionn McCumhaill” http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-giants-causeway/ VIDEOS “360º Degree virtual tour on the Giant’s Causeway” “Giant’s Causeway Time Lapse” http://panoramas.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway/1/ https://vimeo.com/226286979 “Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast” ”Giant´s Causeway by Pekka Honkakoski” https://vimeo.com/116564127 https://vimeo.com/45569144 MAGAZINE ARTICLES “Giant’s Causeway” “Giant’s Causeway” “13 Geologic Wonders Of the Natural (National Trust) (Encyclopedia Britannica) World” (Forbes Magazine) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 29 C U L T U R E INTERNET RESOURCES “Giant’s Causeway- the Myths Busted” https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway/news/giants-causeway---the-myths-busted “Celtic Mandalas Coloring Pages” “The Celtic Mandala” http://www.supercoloring.com https://www.mandalasforthesoul.com/celtic-mandala/ VIDEOS “The Legend from the Giant’s Causeway” “Myths and Legends” https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway https://giantscausewaytickets.com/finn-mccool English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 30 2. Selecting the information Given that students are focused on a particular aspect of the topic the whole project makes the search totally individual but at the same time cooperative, because they help each other to find the information that they need but they also share the information that can be useful to the other members of the group. 3. Preparing the presentations Students in each group build the contents of the slides in their presentations and include all the necessary data to give a full account of their research, including photos, maps, illustrations, and videos making that all that data will answer the launch question. So that all presentations are structured and balanced, each group is given the handout which I devised for this project. It contains the instructions which they need to follow: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 31 STAGE 3: REPORT SESSION 6, 7 AND 8 1. Presenting their researches In groups students present their findings to their classmates. They start by introducing the members of the group, the research, and the points they are going to follow. They show images such as maps, graphics, illustrations or to complement their explanation and a final reflection on what they have learnt, and what their impressions have been. They apply their digital skills using the information in a digital interface. Besides, they apply presentation skills and get used to speaking in front of the class, paying attention to suitable linguistic structures and oral skills: pronunciation, intonation and word and sentence stress. 2. Evaluating presentations Evaluation is dealt with from two different perspectives: teacher’s and self-evaluation. After the expositions, the teacher evaluates the students’ performance. At the same time, students fill in the group and individual assessment grids evaluating how well they achieved the goals of their research expositions as a group and individually. To be able to assess their oral presentations, which are the product of their research and analysis, they fill in a grid to rate their presentations in terms of collaboration, oral production, language and content. Given the practical and collaborative nature of the project, the following grids have adapted perfectly to the methodology of this work. The teacher and group assessment grids are included below: (From “Pulse 1” -Macmillan Publishers Limited Online Teacher’s Material-) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 32 STAGE 4: REVEAL SESSION 9 AND 10 1. Learning about Celtic art In this stage students discover traditional Celtic art. They search for the typical Celtic designs and patterns: knots, spirals, triskelions… on the internet or by looking at books. Then they choose one specific design that they would like to draw or create with their own preferences of colour or style. They also learn about their symbolism and any connections to the Celtic mythology. 2. Revealing the Celtic inside Students design Celtic mandalas or invent their own Celtic knots or Celtic mandalas for fun. They can do it on paper or using design software. With the help of the arts department, the teachers of English provide easy steps and patterns to make the process available to skilled and less- skilled students. They can show their own design and explain it step by step. Depending on the students’ artistic abilities, the teacher can provide easy or more complex patterns to imitate, and help students to draw. Also, more autonomous students use other resources which can be found on how to draw a specific pattern, such as tutorials on YouTube on how to draw a Celtic knot. So, students can follow the steps to draw the Celtic symbol that they have chosen by playing and pausing the videos using their own mobile phones, tablets or school’s laptops. Some students who are more familiar with IT can create their design by using drawing software. However, other students with low artistic skills can use a template, from webpages such as “New Vitruvian”(https://newvitruvian.com/), with free cliparts, to copy and make their own slight changes. The following are two resources to help students produce their Celtic designs. “Free Cliparts: Knot, Simple” “How to Draw a Celtic Knot Real Easy” https://newvitruvian.com/explore/knot-clipart-simple/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsxRBCh5FK8 Last but not least, when students have finished their design, they can decorate the classroom walls with them. To highlight their creations, students present their drawings to their classmates and students from other classes as if it was an actual art exhibition. Every drawing is presented as a piece of art, with a label underneath stating its title and the name of the author. In turns, students present their drawings, by standing beside them, explaining their symbolic meaning to their audience and why they have chosen those particular colours and shapes. Underneath there are some samples of students’ drawings. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 33 Students’ designs “Nature Rocks!” is a unit which easily enhances the relevance of student-centred learning for 7th graders, and the important meaning which both the learning process and the results have for them. From my experience, this challenging unit always widens up the students’ expectations of what class work can be. They are also surprised to see that no matter how complex their tasks may look like or be, they can always carry them out. With the Celtic art as background, this unit involving research, information analysis, content exposition, evaluation and creativity is more than an appealing, comprehensive and motivating work for students: it is also a proof that despite working on a project which is far from their research work awaiting them in 12th grade, the 4 R’s keep them enthusiastic and encouraged to discover the answers to their launch question on their own. Being also involved in a very comprehensive project as far as competence work is concerned, the unit leads students to cover all the basic and also the transversal competences which they need to master in the curriculum of junior high school. References Carroll, Y. (2005) Great Irish Legends for Children. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. “Myths and Legends.Causeway Story”. National Trust https://giantscausewaytickets.com/finn-mccool “Celtic Mandalas”. Coloring Pages http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/arts-culture/mandala/celtic-mandalas “Design a Celtic Cross: Celtic Knots Made Super Simple”. Skillshare https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Design-a-Celtic-Cross-Celtic-Knots-Made-Super-Simple- 4/2087479024 Easy Science for Kids https://easyscienceforkids.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Earth-Science_Giants- Causeway_FreeScienceKidsWordGameToPrint.pdf Ferguson, D., Hall, S. (1997) The Giant's Causeway. Whitehead: Earth Native Art. “Giant’s Causeway” (2019) Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/place/Giants-Causeway English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 34 “Giant’s Causeway”. National Trust https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway “Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast”. UNESCO World Heritage Site https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/369 “Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site (Spanish)” https://vimeo.com/116564127 “Giant´s Causeway - Basalt - Lava - PekkaHonkakoski” https://vimeo.com/45569144 “Giants Causeway Visitors Centre - The Myth of Finn McCool” https://vimeo.com/282899501 Knot Free Cliparts https://newvitruvian.com/explore/knot-clipart-simple/ Mcbeth, C. (2014) Pulse 1. Key Competences Worksheets.Teacher’s Resource File. London: Macmillan Childrens Books. “Myths of the Giant’s Causeway, Myths Busted”. National Trust https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway/news/giants-causeway---the-myths-busted Nace, T. (2019). “13 Geologic Wonders of The Natural World”. Forbes Media https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2015/11/16/13-geologic-wonders-of-the-natural- world/#6f810abe6f9a PBL Rubrics https://my.pblworks.org/system/files/documents/PBLworks-Rubric-for-Rubrics.pdf PBL Works https://www.pblworks.org/ Romera, M. (2019) La escuela que quiero: En busca del sentido común: pedagogía de altura contada desde el suelo. Madrid: GrupoPlaneta. “Seven Essential Project Design Elements”, PBL Works https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl/gold-standard-project-design “Time Lapse”.Vimeo https://vimeo.com/226286979 “The Celtic Mandala”, Mandalas for the Soul https://www.mandalasforthesoul.com/celtic-mandala/ Tobin, D. (2019). Giant’s Causeway Facts For Kids. Easy Science for Kids.http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-giants-causeway/ “360º Virtual Tour on the Giant’s Causeway” http://panoramas.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway/1/ English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 35 Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 1: Theory and References Lourdes Montoro mmontoro@xtec.cat A month and a half before final exams the school board of teachers was introduced to a 2-hour mediation training session. It included: the State language schools framework, the CEFR Companion Volume, types of mediation, mediation in the LOMCE curriculum, mediations tasks, and mediation in official exams. Upon observing that mediation was an absolute first, and that our B1 students' email written task in the final exam was going to be based on it, I decided to do immediate research work to see what had been said about it, and done here. What I studied and the conclusions which I drew led me to immediately start what I called The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project, and create my own email mediation tasks, which, by the way, given the novelty, the challenge, and the pressure of the final exam, all students eagerly signed for. I considered this a teacher´s mediation beginners' practice, but results in final exams, especially in written expression and interaction, excelled, confirming that the project had definitely been a good start in email mediation practice. This collection of three articles is divided as follows: this first article contains my approach to writing, some of my findings and references which can help other teachers get started. The second article presents the first part of the project. It includes 4 proposals of intramediating linguistic emails, that is, emails, in which students need to help out in situations where everything happens around the English language. Commented samples as well as a resource role bank are provided. The third article introduces 3 proposals of intermediating emails in which students need to lend a hand because other languages besides English intervene. In the project Spanish and Catalan were used. Sample compositions are also provided and commented. Assessment on the effect of the writing practices on the final scores in my B1 EFL classes is included at the end of the article. I will start now by referring to my view on interaction and written expression in EFL teaching and learning, which is where the project stems from. Oral and written expression are fundamental in learning a language, whether it is in our mother tongue acquisition or in learning a foreign one. Speaking is the first step in language learning, and writing is the last one, as it comes in to consolidate what has already been said in a written form. In English Is It! (ELT training Series), November 2015, I addressed written expression and interaction through 2 articles: “The Writing Skill. Part 1: Nine Requirements from the Start. Theory and Samples” (pp. 31-41), and “The Writing Skill. Part 2: Worksheets and Tasks from Elementary to Advanced English” (pp. 42-52) (http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/96336/7/Vol_5_English_Is_IT.pdf) In the first article I wrote that: “There is no denial that in the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language, the more we guide our students towards formal and informal practices, the more prepared they are to apply patterns to their production, be it oral or written”. I added that when training students and teachers for successful writing in classes, I always pointed to English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 36 nine requirements, which, from my experience, if learners fulfilled, led to that. They were based on: 1. Focusing on communication for all involved 2. Previous teaching of the skills in the language acquisition order: listening, speaking and reading, with writing as the final practice 3. Recycling the language which they have been learning 4. Making students aware of their own interference through their mother tongue 5. Supporting the three pillars on which a composition stands: text organization, linguistic diversity in grammar and vocabulary, and linguistic accuracy 6. Having time to plan: using a small rough copy for that (not for writing the composition) and an erasable pen 7. Having time at the end of the writing practice to review 8. Adapting compositions to the students ́ interest 9. Making students feel free to hand in both required and voluntary compositions at any time, as long as the previous steps have been fulfilled (Quality of process and product is it) Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are highlighted in bold since, from my view, they are fundamental in the usage of English as a means of communication in everyday situations, in learning and teaching situations and as a means of personal expression. They also encourage the extension of the communicative and learning strategies which have been previously learnt. This is addressed in the very introduction of general objectives in Decret 4/2009, de 13 de gener DECRET 4/2009, de 13 de gener, pel qual s'estableix l'ordenació i el currículum dels ensenyaments d'idiomes de règim especial (https://portaljuridic.gencat.cat/eli/es-ct/d/2009/01/13/4), that is, with reagrds to Official Schools of Languages. On p. 36 in the above-mentioned first article, I also referred to the benefits of using an IN tray and an OUT tray in a classroom writing corner to encourage the 9th requirement, also highlighted in bold here. From my experience, the trays help students hand in their work at their own pace, and they can also be combined with class special projects, like The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project , which will be presented in this collection of three articles. In the forementioned decree, in the section on competences (attitudes), the relevance of psychological and affective factors in the language and culture learning process which it stands for is emphasized. These factors exert maximum influence in success and failure in language learning and in the participating intercultural relations. To help visualize the trays which I use, pictures were included in the article. That article had also two parts: A description of the nine requirements, and composition samples fulfilling them Whether students are involved in general course writing or in writing projects, they are always expected to acknowledge the fact that they are the main characters in their learning, and are to accept their management and responsibility. Different learning styles can also be tackled through the welcoming trays, and the teacher can also orient students through tutoring sessions on what they might need and want to do. The second article was the continuation of the first one, therefore standing on the same pedagogical basis, which could be applied from elementary English to advanced English. It also provided practical worksheets. The article was divided into two sections which included: A/ TWO SETS OF WRITING TASKS BASED ON CULTURE (FROM ELEMENTARY TO ADVANCED LEVEL): Worksheet 1: Linguistic terms and functions in a US context; Worksheet 2: British and American culture English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 37 B/ THREE SETS OF WRITING TASKS BASED ON LINGUISTIC PROMPTS (ADVANCED LEVEL) Worksheet 1: Written Expression: Formal Letter and Article; Worksheet 2: Written Expression: Leaflet/ Brochure/Proposal, and Report; Worksheet 3: Written Expression: Argumentative /Opinion Type In the above-mentioned decree in the section on attitudes which favor a language learning process we read that one of them is conscience on the relevance of the usage of new technologies as a means of learning and cultural and linguistic exchange. Another one is conscience of the relevance of contributing with one´s own linguistic knowledge, as a mediating person, in situations in which people from different language backgrounds need to communicate and do not have a common language. This collection of 3 articles is intended to mediate for mediation, for a closer understanding of what mediation may be, and may stand for, particularly in the EFL class. As I see it, we, as human beings, who communicate, are all mediators. And if I could play on the final words of George Orwell´s Animal Farm (1945), I would also dare say that maybe “All human beings are ‘mediators’, but some are more ‘mediators’ than others”. These articles intend to throw some light on the subject of mediation when teaching and learning English as a foreign language, to help teachers get started, while also sharing some initial practices around the interaction and written expression in B1, which is a recent addition in the CEFR (2018). This has led to changes in English teaching methods and new versions of textbooks which are reaching language specialists and institutions now. If we happen to be the kind of teacher who is used to devising group projects and tasks for students, we may think that we may have used mediation partly or fully, depending on the intended communication beyond, and the elements which we have put into play, but this is only an initial thought, which teachers need to properly assess. One of the main goals of this 3-article collection is providing food for the EFL teacher´s thought on the subject through theory in this article, and through the practical written mediation project next. The other main goal is certainly encouraging reaction and consequent logical action and implementation. From my experience, we, as teachers, constantly readjust, as if we were global position systems. Planning tasks for mediation purposes definitely goes beyond the skill of learning and teaching foreign languages, English, in this case. Mediation tasks reposition students too, as we will see further on. From my view, this is so because we, as human beings, base everything on experience, being experience is prior to language. Language is metaphorical, and in this article several metaphors will be used, in the transferring of information, while they are being highlighted in bold. I still recall when I was first introduced to learning English as a foreign language in 5th grade. The teacher used Look, Listen and Learn by L. G. Alexander, the classic Longman 1968 new method of the time. I have no doubt that I was fortunate to have an excellent teacher, who transported us to an English world beyond exciting sounding words. They were as real to me as the “book”, the “rubber” or the “pencil” that we were using, and we were leaning to say them in English too. I had had them in front of me since my earlier school years, but I had never seen that they had a life of their own in another language. When the first Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997) came out, and I read it to know what was happening with the phenomenon, the very beginning took me to that first English class of mine, and the magic and real world beyond the words which I was pointed to look at back in elementary school. I am referring to platform 9 ¾ in King´s Cross, where all students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry needed to believe in to access it by walking English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 38 straight through the apparent bricked wall in between 9 and 10. Without having had somebody tell them what to do, and their belief in what they were seeing, they would not have ever reached the school; and neither would I have continued living in English. Fortunately, my primary school teacher mediated for my classmates and me to help us enter the English speaking world as children. As I have been using English, learning about it, studying it, and teaching it, I have deduced that similes, idioms, and proverbs, in particular, are clearly a product of experience and metaphors. Expressions such as “as deaf as a post”, in Spanish “sordo como una tapia”, or “The early bird catches the worm”, in Spanish “A quien madruga Dios le ayuda”, place each culture and the corresponding national users of the language back in history and into different figurative conceptions: a post and a worm for the English world, and a wall and religion for the Spanish one. They both convey the same, yet this is expressed through the sieve of the different languages and cultures behind, becoming a challenge for the non-native language learners, the foreign language teachers and the translators who need to master them both to reach out for many others learners and users of the language. I have always loved idioms, similes and proverbs, having become a specialist on translation and paremiology, the collection and study of proverbs, on what may be beyond them, in English and Spanish when compared and contrasted. Translation is a specialization of mine, and the operations which languages themselves or translators necessarily do or do not: additions, subtractions, substitutions, adoptions and adaptations, and to what an extent they do, if so. I learnt the method (devised by Dr. Julio Santoyo, Universidad de León) when I was preparing for the Analysis of the Three Spanish Translations of Harper Lee' s To Kill a Mockingbird, my m.a. thesis. The original novel, the Readers' Digest condensed novel, and the film script were analyzed in these terms. From my studies and observations, I have concluded that we constantly use and see life in metaphors, and we visualize situations whether we are aware of them or not. Through tasks in the EFL class we transport students to another cultural background, to worlds within new words and structures, and through mediation to a repositioning axis as the GPS on and on does for us. And, as it happens with the GPS when we use it, there is a request, the GPS device has the data, chooses the best way to get us to the planned destination, and we are informed through visual or sound means. The GPS mediates in our knowledge directions gap. To start with, from what I have observed, for mediation to be so, and to catch an initial glimpse of what it, generally speaking, may be, we must bear in mind that there must be some required elements: - a need to cater for - somebody who needs help - somebody who can lend a hand and is willing to do so after being informed of the need - a possible third party who knows that somebody needs help and informs the latter about the former (who, incidentally, for different reasons cannot ask the latter for direct assistance) From my experience, a teacher is, definitely a professional at mediating: building knowledge bridges for multi-level learning-styled students, through the projection of all sorts of competences and elements which necessarily are to intervene: teachers have the knowledge and have been trained to fulfill their a job, their professional intervention in their assigned job has been demanded, the receivers of their work need to welcome it; the students´ parents (if students are minors), or the students themselves (if they are adults) have enrolled them or English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 39 themselves, respectively, in the pursue of knowledge, and the most suitable learning and teaching methods; then teachers are assigned a course, get a list of students, and plan out a school year with daily lessons on what they know best, devise tailor-like made projects and provide numerous and varied teaching and learning opportunities, which follow the curriculum, as they try to cater for them all. As the school year advances, the students´ parents or the students themselves may point to further needs, and teachers, after evaluating them, choose from the new data which they have been passed to see what will better suit the next sessions, and take care of them, that is, as introduced earlier, teachers constantly reposition themselves. The teachers reach out for the students´ needs, and embark on individual or group projects with these students to help them overcome their difficulties. In my opinion, having the chance of deliberately working on mediation is continuing working on projects, on tasks, which combine both a human and binary basis, which can therefore give wings to both imaginative teachers, who, supposedly, will have less trouble in adjusting to that, and will take it as a challenge, and also to those teachers who might think that despite believing that they may not be so much into “new, original and clever ideas” (as Cambridge dictionary defines “imaginative”, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/imaginative), they will be guided through the earlier-mentioned key elements from square one. All kinds of teachers can get slowly started, and keep working on a trial and error basis until specialized mediation teacher training sessions take place, diverse teachers´ teams begin to study the subject thoroughly, materials are shared, and works are published. In either case, and, as it happens with all projects and tasks, all teachers need to stick to the syllabus, and coherently blend in all the necessary ingredients for the perfect mix. As it happens with projects and tasks, when the right proportion in each part is it, the outcome is a master piece. Through mediating tasks, teachers and students can enjoy promoting language communication, language expression, learning, talents, and values. But, first things first. I would like to point to the definition of mediation. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary (https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/mediation), mediation is defined as: “the act or process of especially: intervention between conflicting parties to promote reconciliation, settlement, or compromise”. In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) (https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97) mediation is presented (p. 14). In section 2.1.3 Language Activities, we are introduced to them, and reminded of their involving reception, production, interaction, or mediation, being each activity possible in oral and written form texts. Mediation is referred as follows: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) 2.1.3 (p. 14) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 40 In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors (https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion- volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989, p. 103) we are told that “The development and validation of the scales for mediation is described in the report Developing Illustrative Descriptors of Aspects of Mediation for the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The aim was to provide CEFR descriptors for a broader view of mediation presented in the paper Education, Mobility, Otherness: The mediation functions of schools”. Mediation is described as follows: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors (p. 103) In the CEFR Companion Volume (p.105), we are told what overall mediation means: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors (p. 105) The CEFR Companion Volume specifically describes mediating activities (p. 106-107) with regards to mediating a text, mediating concepts, and mediating communication: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 41 Next, the three mediations (a text, concepts, and communication) are throroughly described: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 42 To finish the CEFR Companion Volume focuses on the descriptors, relaying specific information and what is expected in each level. B1 learners are expected to” select and relay specific, relevant information in a straightforward spoken annnouncements or in written texts like leaflets, brochures, letters”. Last but not least, In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors, p. 104, mediation activities (mediating a text, mediating concepts and mediating communication), and mediation strategies (to explain a concept and to simplify a text) are presented in a diagram which certainly helps have a wide picture of what we can do and how. It is included in the annex. After that, numerous references which I researched on are listed. They range from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR), to the Companion Volume with New Descriptors, laws, publishing houses booklets, and, as important, practical webpages, which show what has been done up to now on the subject: activities, courses, blogs, examples, guidelines, documents… May these resources and this collection of three articles help in the practice of mediation, which, from my experience, certainly needs small steps at a time. The next 2 articles will present the practical work which I devised after my research: The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 43 ANNEX Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors, p. 104 (vertical display in this publication) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 44 References Actividades de Examen. EOI Jesús Maestro https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/mediacion1/actividades-de-mediacion1/- /visor/actividades-de-examen- Actividades de Mediación. EOI Jesús Maestro https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/mediacion1/actividades-de-mediacion1/- /visor/actividades-de-mediacion-eoi-jesus-maestro An introduction to the 2018 changes to the CEFR from Richmond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO7fq0vA3GE&feature=youtu.be C.E.F.R. Changesto the Common European Framework of Reference. Richmond Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR). Modern Languages Division. Strasbourg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989 Continuem explorant la #mediació #lingüística a les #EOI. EOI Tarragona. Twitter https://twitter.com/eoitgn/status/1042749288600743936 Coste, D., Cavalli, M. (2015) Education, mobility, otherness. The mediation functions of schools Language Policy Unit. DGII. Directorate General of Democracy. Council of Europe https://rm.coe.int/education-mobility-otherness-the-mediation-functions-of- schools/16807367ee Council of Europe Language Policy Portal https://www.coe.int/en/web/language-policy/home CURSO: La mediación lingüística en la enseñanza de idiomas. Diseño de actividades y evaluación. SESIÓN 5ª: Elaboración de una tarea de mediación para el aula Profesores Michèle Berger Alberto Conde (Dpto. de Francés de la EOI Madrid -Jesús Maestro) https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/educamadrid/principal/files/b7473cba-4da2-4daf-90d6- cbc41353ad9a/Tarea%20de%20mediacio%CC%81n-5%C2%AA%20sesio%CC%81n- Miche%CC%80le-Alberto.pdf?t=1543432120409 DECRET 4/2009, de 13 de gener, pel qual s'estableix l'ordenació i el currículum dels ensenyaments d'idiomes de règim especial https://portaljuridic.gencat.cat/ca/pjur_ocults/pjur_resultats_fitxa/?action=fitxa&mode=singl e&documentId=498005&language=ca_ES English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 45 El blog para preparar el writing de la EOI. Connectors and linkers http://writingeoi.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html El blog para preparar el writing de la EOI. Text structure. Organization Exercises http://writingeoi.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_10.html EOI Madrid Jesús Maestro (Noviembre 2018). MediacIón lingüística. Actividades de Evaluación https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/mediacion1/actividades-de-mediacion1 EOI Madrid Jesús Maestro. Modelos examen otras comunidades https://sites.google.com/site/eoivillaverde/modelos-examen-otras-comunidades EOI Madrid Jesús Maestro (Noviembre 2018). Plantilla para la elaboración de actividades de B1. https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/educamadrid/principal/files/2b82e2d6-1ee2-4e53-b8ef- 4c7613a95110/Nivel%20intermedio%20B1- plantilla%20para%20el%20dise%C3%B1o%20de%20tareas%20de%20mediaci%C3%B3n.pdf?t= 1544445981099 Especificaciones para la redacción. PIIE La Mediación en Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas 2018 Especificaciones redacción materiales https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/educamadrid/principal/files/95277070-6536-4046- 88a2- 1c5479e219a1/4.%20ESPECIFICACIONES%20PARA%20LA%20REDACCI%C3%93N%20REDACCI% C3%93N%20DE%20TAREAS%20DE%20MEDIACI%C3%93N%20LING%C3%9C%C3%8DSTICA%28 1%29.pdf?t=1543314946765 Fontenla, M. (24 de enero de 2019) DIDÁCTICA - Tema 5 (Cristina Rodríguez)-Innovative Learning Blog http://innovativelanguagelearning.blogspot.com/2019/01/didactica-tema-5-cristina- rodriguez.html Harry Potter wiki https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/King%27s_Cross_Station Macmillan English Hub. Linguistic mediation. Iberia Edition A1-C1. Macmillan Education. Mediación Ling_MEH-folleto.pdf https://www.macmillaneducation.es/en/elt/language-schools/macmillan-english-hub/ House, S. (1997) An Introduction to Teaching English to Children. London: Richmond publishing. Izquierdo, N. Mediación escrita B1 - Recommending a book https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/educamadrid/principal/files/95277070-6536-4046- 88a2-1c5479e219a1/Recommending%20a%20book_Nivel%20B1- Expresi%C3%B3n%20escrita.pdf Lakoff, G., Johnson, M. (2003: 1980) Metaphors We Live By. London and Chicago: University of Chicago Press. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 46 Merriam-Webster dictionary https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/mediation Montoro, L. (2001) “A Study of some Barbadian Proverbs and the Mediating Role of English when Translating them”. V Congrés Internacional de Traducció (ponència). Bellaterra: E.U.T.I. Universitat autònoma. Montoro, L. (2017) “Grammar Aids in EFL. Part 1: Auxiliaries and Metaphors “. English Is It! (ELT Training Series). Volume 9: 34-44. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. Montoro, L. (2015) “The Writing Skill. Part 1: Nine Requirements from the Start. Theory and Samples”. English Is It! (ELT Training Series). Volume 5: 31-41. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/96336/7/Vol_5_English_Is_IT.pdf Montoro, L. (2015) “The Writing Skill. Part 2: Worksheets and Tasks from Elementary to Advanced English”. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Volume 5: 42-52. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/96336/7/Vol_5_English_Is_IT.pdf North, B., Piccardo, E. Developing Illustrative Descriptors of Aspects of Mediation for the Common European Framework of Reference https://rm.coe.int/developing-illustrative-descriptors-of-aspects-of-mediation-for-the- co/1680713e2c Pedregosa, I, Sánchez, A. (2919) Análisis, diseño y evaluación de actividades de mediación para el alumnado de EOI. EOI Bilbo. Dossier del curso: Conceptualización y toma de conciencia. La competencia mediadora. La mediación en la enseñanza de lenguas. La mediación en las EE. OO. II. TALLERES Análisis de actividades de mediación. Elementos y características de una actividad de mediación. Guía para la elaboración de actividades de mediación. Rúbrica de evaluación para una actividad de mediación. TALLERES Creación y evaluación de actividades de mediación. https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/educamadrid/principal/files/07166506-6983-438f-8b89- 3298a0cb3ddc/Dossier%20Profesores%20Euskadi%20Definitivo%20220219.pdf?t=1551288971 294 Pedregosa, I., Sánchez, A. (22.7.2017) “La mediación interlingüística y la traducción pedagógica en el aula de ELE”. LdeLengua 117 sobre mediación interlingüística. Audio MP3 (49´58´´). Centro de Lenguas e Intercambio Cultural (CLIC). International House. Cádiz. http://eledelengua.com/ldelengua-117-sobre-mediacion-interlinguistica/ Real Decreto 1041/2017, de 22 de diciembre, por el que se fijan las exigencias mínimas del nivel básico a efectos de certificación, se establece el currículo básico de los niveles Intermedio B1, Intermedio B2, Avanzado C1, y Avanzado C2, de las Enseñanzas de idiomas de régimen especial reguladas por la Ley Orgánica 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educación, y se establecen las equivalencias entre las Enseñanzas de idiomas de régimen especial reguladas en diversos planes de estudios y las de este real decreto https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rd/2017/12/22/1041 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 47 Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 2: Intralinguistic Mediation. Role Bank, 4 Email Proposals and Samples Lourdes Montoro mmontoro@xtec.cat This article focuses on the first part of The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project for intermediate English students. The first part is based on the practice of intralinguistic mediation, that is, mediation which takes place within the same language. It presents 4 compositions which were created for the project, and includes one written sample of each. Despite being a volunteer project, all students attending class decided to participate in it. This was also true of the second part of the project (described in the next article): “Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 3: Interlinguistic Mediation. 3 Email Proposals, Samples, and Conclusions”. This added up a total of 7 compositions to the 10 fixed ones which are scheduled for the EFL course. Additionally, during the course, students also wrote 2 required compositions around two readers which were compulsory for all students in the level. Moreover, during all the school year, in my promotion of guided and free written expression and interaction, students were welcome to leave in the classroom IN tray any piece of writing of theirs any time, and they would find it corrected in the OUT tray on the next day. That meant that by the end of the school year, most students had written between 12 and 20 compositions. This written practice definitely turned into good results in the final school exams. Out of 39 students taking exams, 32 passed the exam (65% passing mark). When observing the results by skills, 35 students obtained the highest results in interaction and written expression, which led the way in scores. Best results were followed by oral expression and interaction (33); 25 students, 15 students and 11 students passed use of the language, written comprehension and oral comprehension, respectively. Students enjoyed their practice of the language which they were learning, and had attention and decoding difficulties in the reception of English as a foreign language. In linguistic mediation students need to see their need to act and intervene to facilitate communication between them and another individual or a group of people, with who somehow, they cannot directly communicate. Students help sort out some obstacle for the third party and need to take into account the needs of the other person/persons´ (who needs/need the information which students can provide. Students will also need to consider the person/persons´ main traits too. Students can enact the role of friends or relatives, and/or have other roles too. When I started devising The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project, I devised the following bank chart. It includes potential roles, which can be retrieved any time to prompt further mediation written practices. STUDENTS´ ROLE BANK English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 48 DIETITIAN WEDDING PLANNER COUCH SURFER AQUA PARK WORKER AIR-HOSTESS COUNSELOR ERASMUS STUDENT INFLUENCER PERSONAL CARE ASSSTANT PERSONAL SHOPPER PERSONAL TRAINER PROGRAMMER SOCIAL WORKER TEACHING ASSISTANT VOLUNTEER REALTOR HOMEOPATHIC DOCTOR VEGETARIAN PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR GRAFFITI ARTIST YOGA TEACHER C.E.O. TRAVEL AGENT CELEBRITY CHEF NATURE LOVER FREEGAN CYBORG FARMER FIRST-AIDER DOG WALKER BABYSITTER HOUSE SITTER I devised the project ranging from more familiar to less, and from more general to more specific. For the first two intralinguistic compositions in the first part of the project, students were assigned the roles of friends within their very familiar premises: the city where they live (Barcelona), and the Spanish food which they are all so knowledgeable in. Firstly, they needed to take the role of the host/hostess in the city, and, secondly, they needed to simply be a local, and recommend Spanish food, in order to reach out for people located abroad or overseas. The addressees needed to be lent a hand on the above-mentioned topics, and that was the students´ task. The last two compositions in the intralinguistic project, standing also on a friendship basis, had students play the first two roles from the previous chart: being a dietitian, first, and a wedding planner later, that is, being experts in certain matters. Next there is a chart presenting the 4 proposals which students followed to practise intralinguistic mediation. It includes the 4 main areas which I devised to create the proposals that follow: the students´role in the compositions, the prompts that they were to find, the contribution which visuals could make, and the students´ intermediating task that was expected. STUDENTS ´ROLE PROMPTS IN TASK VISUALS STUDENTS´ MEDIATING TASK 1 The student is a host/hostess in Barcelona 4 images: Bicing https://www.bicing.ba rcelona/es WELCOMING A GUEST AT HOME English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 49 Chocolate with“churros” https://theculturetrip. com/europe/spain/art icles/top-10-places-in- barcelona-for-churros- and-chocolate/ Public libraries https://bibliotecavirtu al.diba.cat/barcelona- sant-andreu- biblioteca-ignasi- iglesias-can-fabra Gaudi heritage http://www.gaudiallga udi.com/ 4 updated pictures of the inexpensive bike- riding city system, followed by everybody´s favorite snack, an outstanding public library connected with the American Consulate in Barcelona, and, last but not least, the world heritage Gaudi works Pointing things to do in Barcelona to a dear young person who will be college student in the city 2. The student is a friend giving tips for a birthday preparation in the U.S. 6 images: Tortilla de patatas Sangría Pan con tomate Empanada Gazpacho Flan https://spanishsabore s.com/2017/09/09/to p-20-essential- spanish-recipes-to- make-at-home/ 6 appealing pictures from the same webpage, deliberately under their Spanish name RECOMMENDING LOCAL CUISINE Providing practical guidelines for the party organizers 3 The student is a dietitian Top 18 weight-loss tips https://www.dietdoctor. com/how-to-lose-weight Inviting introductory excerpt from website, preceding hyperlinked list with the 18 tips CONSULTING A DIETITIAN Helping out a person who needs to lose weight and does not dare ask anybody else for help 4 The student is a wedding planner 2 images: Bouquet https://www.etsy.com/e s/listing/245989588/bou quet-bouquet-de-novia- lavanda-y-lila Wedding dress https://millcrestvintage. com/products/1950- damask-vintage- wedding-dress 2 delicate, humble- looking, romantic and elegant pictures CONSULTING A WEDDING PLANNER Lending a hand to a couple who has a low budget English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 50 In all cases, students needed to carry out a series of linguistic processes to finally produce the mediating emails which they were proposed. Therefore students needed to firstly process all the email frame and scenario, secondly process the information which the email proposals included, and, finally, decide on the kind of mediating email which they want to produce. Since students were exposed to all kinds of information, they needed to work with it, that is, adapt it, adopt it, rephrase it, select it, summarize… This was not an easy task, as it goes beyond strict EFL data learning and collection. And this also motivated students to carry out all the practices. They realize that mediation emails promote varied and enriching human and language opportunities, which get them close to the multilingual and multicultural classes and society of which we are all part. Students were explicitly exposed to images, web addresses, and pieces of information. The first two tasks also included having to reach out for people from a different culture - the subject which the to-be addressees were to learn about from locals (the students) only rang a bell to them. The students were going to throw in some light, provide detailed information, include tips, etc. Next the 4 intralinguistic mediating email proposals are included along with a student sample production, and introductory comments (the samples included here represent different EFL levels in the classroom). 1/ WELCOMING A GUEST AT HOME Your best friend's daughter needs to spend a few days in Barcelona before she gets settled in a college dorm. Mom wonders if you could host her and recommend her things to do as she gets settled. These are some of her interests. Can you help her? https://www.bicing.barcelona/es https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/top-10-places-in-barcelona-for-churros- and-chocolate/ English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 51 https://bibliotecavirtual.diba.cat/barcelona-sant-andreu-biblioteca-ignasi-iglesias-can-fabra http://www.gaudiallgaudi.com/ The sample chosen for this practice is by J. M., a very disciplined student, who has grammar difficulties which can be overcome with lots of practice (by observing the p.s. included one can see that the student is focused on practising the third conditional, while still struggles with it). Instead of P.S., the student uses the Spanish acronym (P.D.), which gives a picture of the EFL learning itinerary where this person was at the time of writing this composition: at the start of the mediation project. This student includes beginning and ending formulas, organizes the writing (linguistically through “firstly,”, and “secondly”), provides opinions as explanations, and recommendations. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 52 2/ RECOMMENDING LOCAL CUISINE Your friend Samantha is preparing a birthday party for her husband, Peter, and their friends. Peter is crazy about Spanish food. Samantha is not sure if the dishes what she has found are the most typical ones and if they are easy to make. Can you suggest some and give her some practical hints? Tortilla de patatas Sangría English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 53 Pan con tomate Empanada Gazpacho Flan https://spanishsabores.com/2017/09/09/top-20-essential-spanish-recipes-to-make-at- home/ Next there is a composition by M. J. O., one of the top students in class, who I had already taught elementary English two years before (she had never studied English before). This student shows awareness of the role that she has to play, readiness to do so, emotional involvement within her role, willingness to help out, enthusiasm, and last but not least, she provides her opinion on 4 of the cooking proposals, suggests a practical web page, which she is supposed to know about, and makes herself available on the phone too. She takes the chance to attach a picture, which is connected to the person that she is writing too. Not much space is devoted to the recipes, yet, what she says it is her choice and what she does is providing a link to compensate that. She also enhances her availability on the phone too. The person/s in need of help can get started, and, if necessary, they can call her up. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 54 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 55 3/ CONSULTING A DIETITIAN You are a dietitian. Your cousin has sent you an email because her best friend – who is very shy - is trying to lose some weight. She already found some information on the Internet but does not know how to begin. Your cousin has written to you to ask you for some practical advice for her friend. Top 18 weight-loss tips Are you ready? Here we go. Start at the top of the list (most important) and go down as far as you need. Click on any tip to read all about it. Perhaps you only need the first piece of advice? 1. Choose a low-carbdiet 2. Eatwhenhungry 3. Eat real food 4. Eatonlywhenhungry 5. Measureyourprogresswisely 6. Be persistent 7. Avoidfruit 8. Avoidbeer 9. Avoid artificial sweeteners 10. Reviewanymedications 11. Stress less, sleep more 12. Eat less of dairy products and nuts 13. Supplementvitamins and minerals 14. Use intermittentfasting 15. Exercisewisely 16. Achieveoptimalketosis 17. Getyour hormones checked 18. Consider weight-loss pills (if desperate) https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 56 The composition included here shows the work by A. F. Like the student mentioned in number 2, she had also enrolled in my elementary English class two years earlier. This student, unlike the previous one, had already taken English at school, and although she was familiar with it, it had never become fully hers. This student has a very artistic, imaginative and creative personality, and has difficulties in imitating language models. Instead of focusing on the language which must be used and consolidated after listening to it, and being able to utter it, and recognize it in writing when reading it, her enthusiastic and outgoing nature makes this person miss part of the guidelines which she is supposed to follow. When she is asked to put in writing the language which she has been expected to have already mastered (in oral comprehension, written comprehension, use of English, and oral expression and interaction), she always feels comfortable expressing all her thoughts, which often lead the way. And this is excellent, yet language accurary is discarded at times. For example, with regards to the sample included, she writes directly to the addresee who is not to be reached directly, and which she has imagined. She is definitely writing to help out, to make herself available, and presents a series of thoughts in order: suggesting meeting to plan out what the addressee may need (diet, fitting program…), supporting addressee morally, showing empathy, offering the facilities where she works, and her phone number too, and attaching some documents for the addressee to start looking through. Linguistic mistakes include sentence stucture, gerunds/infinitive, vocabulary, translation… The email presents an introduction, an end, and a p.s. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 57 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 58 4/ CONSULTING A WEDDING PLANNER Your old neighbor´s daughter is getting married. You are a wedding planner. The couple does not have much money or imagination, and they like simplicity above all. Can you give them advice on bouquets, wedding dress, reception, photographers…? This is the style which the bride likes. https://www.etsy.com/es/listing/245989588/bouquet-bouquet-de-novia-lavanda-y-lila https://millcrestvintage.com/products/1950-damask-vintage-wedding-dress M. G. is a student who I had also taught in the elementary English class two years before. She is a very expressive and generous student whose wish to communicate usually takes her mother tongue to interfere in her EFL learning. The topic fit her personality, and she felt very comfortable in it, showing awareness of the email format, and organization. She had a series of linguistic errors regarding prepositions, adverbs, connectors, and sentence and paragraph English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 59 structure (“like…honemoon.”). Her p.s. shows her emotional involvement in the email mediation task, and she is even willing to present the imaginary to-be newly-weds with the flower arrangements - her courtesy-. The next article will present the second part of the project which was based on interlinguistic mediation: students, playing the role of friends, helped people from other cultures understand main ideas in Catalan and Spanish texts which interested them, and could not grasp by themselves. The practices next involve two different languages (besides English): English and Spanish texts around an au-pair application, Spanish proverbs for Spanish as a foreign language class, and Catalan excerpts related to enrollment at Institut del Teatre. At the end of the next article, final data on the results of The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project, the rest of the course writings, and the course work itself are included. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 60 Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 3: Interlinguistic Mediation. 3 Email Proposals, Samples, and Conclusions Lourdes Montoro mmontoro@xtec.cat This article focuses on the second part of The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project for intermediate EFL students. The first part was presented in the previous article: “Mediation in Intermediate EFL Written Expression and Interaction. Part 2: Intralinguistic Mediation. Role Bank, 4 Email Proposals and Samples”. It covered the familiarization and practice of intralinguistic mediation, that is, the mediation which takes place within the same language. It presented 4 compositions which were created for the project, and included one written sample of each. As it also happened with this first part of the project, all students attending class decided to continue participating in the second part of the project. In case that each article is read separately, the same introductory information that was pointed to in the previous article is included here as well (in italics). The project added up a total of 7 compositions to the 10 fixed ones which are scheduled for the EFL course. Additionally, during the course, students also wrote 2 required compositions around two readers which were compulsory for all students in the level. Moreover, during all the school year, in my promotion of guided and free written expression and interaction, students were welcome to leave in the classroom IN tray any piece of writing of theirs any time, and they would find it corrected in the OUT tray on the next day. That meant that by the end of the school year, most students had written between 12 and 20 compositions. This written practice definitely turned into good results in the final school exams. Out of 39 students taking exams, 32 passed the exam (65% passing mark). When observing the results by skills, 35 students obtained the highest results in written expression and interaction, which led the way in scores. Best results were followed by oral expression and interaction (33); 25 students, 15 students and 11 students passed use of the language, written comprehension and oral comprehension, respectively. Students enjoyed their practice of the language which they were learning, and had attention and decoding difficulties in the reception of English as a foreign language. In linguistic mediation students need to see their need to act and intervene to facilitate communication between them and another individual or a group of people, with who somehow, they cannot directly communicate. Students help sort out some obstacle for the third party and need to take into account the needs of the other person/persons´ (who needs/need the information and orientation which students can provide. Students will also need to consider the person/persons´ main traits too. Students can enact the role of friends or relatives, and/or English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 61 have other roles too. When I started devising The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project, I devised (…) bank chart (…) which includes potential roles, which can be retrieved any time to prompt further mediation written practices. I devised the project ranging from more familiar to less, and from more general to more specific. For the first two intralinguistic compositions in the first part of the project, students were assigned the roles of friends within their very familiar premises: the city where they live (Barcelona), and the Spanish food which they are all so knowledgeable in. Firstly, they needed to take the role of the host/hostess in the city, and, secondly, they needed to simply be a local, and recommend Spanish food, in order to reach out for people located abroad or overseas. The addressees needed to be lent a hand on the above-mentioned topics, and that was the students´ task. The last two compositions in the intralinguistic project, standing also on a friendship basis, had students play the first two roles from the (…) chart: being a dietitian, first, and a wedding planner later, that is, being experts in certain matters. Next there was a chart presenting the 4 proposals which students followed to practise intralinguistic mediation. It included the 4 main areas which I devised to create the proposals that followed: the students´role in the compositions, the prompts that they were to find, the contribution which the visuals could make, and the students´ intermediating task that was expected This article presents the second part of the project which is based on interlinguistic mediation, that is, mediation including more languages besides the one which students are learning, English. In the three following emails students are asked to play the role of friends who can help people from other cultures understand main ideas expressed through Catalan and Spanish texts. The contents interest them, but they cannot have direct access to them. Students must assess the addressee´s needs and traits, work around information and experience, and produce a mediating text. Students intervene because, as hinted earlier, the contents of the themes which interest the addressees cannot be grasped just by themselves, hence the necessary work of students, and their written mediating tasks. The practices next involve, besides English, two different languages, and are presented in the following order: English and Spanish texts around a potential au-pair application, Spanish proverbs for a Spanish as a foreign language class, and Catalan excerpts related to enrollment at Institut del Teatre. At the end of the article, final data on the whole results of The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project, the rest of the course writings, and the course work itself are included. Next there is a chart presenting the 3 proposals which students followed to practise interlinguistic mediation. It includes the 4 main areas which I devised to create the proposals that follow: the students´ role in the compositions, the prompts that they were to find, the contribution which visuals could make, and the students´ intermediating task. STUDENTS ´ROLE PROMPTS IN TASK VISUALS STUDENTS´ INTER MEDIATING TASK English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 62 1 The student is a friend, prompted in mediation by an English and a Spanish text 2 webpage images (English and Spanish sources) https://www.aupairworl d.com/es/au_pair_progr am/uk/au_pair/pocket_ money Welcoming invitation in English to either become an au-pair or a hosting family + Information in Spanish on au-pair salary, working hours and free time BECOMING AN AU- PAIR ABROAD Precisely helping with the relevant information, which is only provided in Spanish, the background being that the student is supposed to have been an au-pair earlier, and therefore, can talk from experience. 2 The student is a friend prompted in mediation by a Spanish text 12 proverbs in a table (Spanish source) https://mydailyspanish.c om/popular-spanish- proverbs/ https://studio3alicante.e s/english-proverbs-and- their-spanish- equivalents/ https://www.fluentu.co m/blog/spanish/famous- spanish-proverbs/ http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ Discourse/Proverbs/Spa nish-English.html Attractive selection and presentation of very well-known Spanish proverbs DOING ASSIGNMENT FOR A SPANISH CLASS OVERSEAS Lending a hand to a high schooler who needs to understand some of them for a class task 3 The student is a friend prompted in mediation by Catalan text 3 images: (Catalan source) Theatre icons and description https://www.institutdelteat re.cat/estudis/oferta/artdra matic.htm map https://www.google.com/s earch?client=firefox-b- d&q=google+maps Appealing expressive screenshots of theatre school and map ENROLLING AT THE THEATRE SCHOOL IN BARCELONA Informing of what courses are like, and the school location English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 63 In all cases, students needed to carry out a series of linguistic processes to finally produce the mediating emails which they were proposed. Therefore students needed to firstly process all the email frame and scenario, secondly process the information which the email proposals included, and, finally, decide on the kind of mediating email which they wanted to produce. Since students were exposed to all kinds of information, they needed to work with it, that is, adapt it, adopt it, rephrase it, select it, summarize it… Since this was not an easy task, as it goes beyond strict EFL data learning and collection, it was challenging and motivating for students. They realized that mediation emails promote varied and enriching human and language opportunities, which get them close to the multilingual and multicultural classes and society of which we are all part. After students are explicitly exposed to images, web addresses, and pieces of information, and realize that they have to reach out for people from a different culture (which to the to-be addressees only rang a bell), they, as locals, are ready to throw in some light, provide detailed information, include tips, etc. Next the 3 interlinguistic mediating email proposals are included along with a student sample production, and introductory comments (the samples included here represent different EFL levels in the classroom). 1/ SPANISH AND ENGLISH – BECOMING AN AU-PAIR ABROAD You live in London and your best friend´s sister would like to work as an au-pair there, as you did last year. Your friend in Barcelona has written to you because her sister is not sure about which agencies she should contact or how being an au-pair works. She has found some information. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 64 https://www.aupairworld.com/es/au_pair_program/uk/au_pair/pocket_money Here is a composition by O. G., a student who also attended my elementary English class two years before. O.G. is a very applied student. He uses introduction and ending, frames the question to sort out what he can help with in the context of his own experience, and starts guiding the addressee. He points to the relevance of an updated cv, and the best au-pair agency from his view. He also explains how this company proceeds once they receive a request. Last but not least, he assesses his experiences as very positive at different levels. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 65 2. SPANISH – DOING ASSIGNMENT FOR A SPANISH CLASS OVERSEAS Your friend John has a son, Tim, in high school who is studying Spanish. Tim has to choose 4/5 popular proverbs and explain them in class. These are proverbs which Tim found. Tim is not sure if they are really common and what they mean. Could you write to John, and lend Tim a hand? El mundo es un pañuelo Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente Mucho ruido y pocas nueces https://mydailyspanish.com/popular-spanish-proverbs/ Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres. Nunca llueve a gusto de todos. Gusta lo ajeno, más por ajeno que por bueno. https://studio3alicante.es/english-proverbs-and-their-spanish-equivalents/ English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 66 Más vale pájaro en mano que ciento volando De tal palo, tal astilla Hablando del rey de Roma, por la puerta asoma https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/famous-spanish-proverbs/ A la ocasion la pintan calva. Hierba mala nunca muera En casa del herrero, cuchillo de palo http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Proverbs/Spanish-English.html Students daily take pictures of all class sessions: screen, board… Earlier in the school year I had decided to present a proverb per week, which they very much enjoyed. The interlinguistic mediation composition which I devised had them all. When I presented the optional email, including Spanish proverbs, I grouped students into 4 groups, and each one brainstormed on the corresponding proverbs in English in each section, which they had already been individually exposed to earlier in the year. This is the information that was collected on the board. A lot of students decided to mention some of the English proverbs in their email practices besides explaining the proverbs. C. G. is an excellent student who I had also had the chance to teach elementary English two years before. He opted for explaining his choice of proverbs. C.G. usually writes long compositions and constantly takes delight in applying language models. This shows throughout the email practice: introduction, ending, general structure, train of thought, p.s.…. He enjoys presenting ideas and using connectors, and few errors are detected (connector, tense…). He shows his willingness to reach out for the addressee in need, sends a book to the high school student, and even offers to host him at home to help him practise Spanish. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 67 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 68 3/ CATALAN – ENROLLING AT THE THEATRE SCHOOL IN BARCELONA Martha (the daughter of one of your best English friends, John) is considering studying at Institut del Teatre. She has checked the Internet but does not understand what it exactly says or know if the school is conveniently located. Her dad has written to you and included all this information. Write back to him as soon as you have a chance. https://www.institutdelteatre.cat/estudis/oferta/artdramatic.htm English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 69 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=google+maps A. D. R. was also a former student of mine in the elementary English level two years before. A. D.R. is a well-travelled and applied student whose personal EFL learning background allows her to feel comfortable when writing. There is a friendly and easy-going tone which leads the way from the start: she includes a salutation, shows interest in the addressee through a question, specifies the course length, describes the course contents, the convenient location, offers further help if necessary, and finally closes the email with a formula too. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 70 Next there is a conclusive data chart on the effect of The Voluntary 7-Composition Intralinguistic and Interlinguistic Mediation Project, the school year course compositions (10), and the compositions on readers. This necessarily added up to a whole school year of intermediate EFL learning/teaching activities, which was combined with voluntary virtual materials within the level virtual site (Moodle), tutoring sessions, and a dynamic whatsapp group which reported on all the sessions, and helped students keep updated. 10 REGULAR COURSE COMPOSITIONS (10 Units) + 2 COMPOSITIONS (2 compulsory readers) + THE VOLUNTARY 7-COMPOSITION INTRALINGUISTIC AND INTERLINGUISTIC MEDIATION PROJECT + INCIDENCE IN FINAL RESULTS English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 71 (B1 L e v e l) STUDENTS TAKING EXAMS 39 STUDENTS PASSING 32 STUDENTS NOT PASSING 7 PASSING PERCENTAGE 80% GENERAL REASONS ACCOUNTING FOR NOT PASSING EXAMS - REGULAR ATTENDANCE - REGULAR ASSIGNMENT - EFL LEARNING DIFFICULTIES - L1 INTERFERENCE SPECIFIC REASONS APPLIED TO EACH CASE - 2 COULD ONLY ATTEND 10% CLASSES. WHEN THEY CAME, ONE ALWAYS DID THE ASIGNMENT. THE OTHER ONE DID NOT. - 2 ATTENDED 50% CLASSES. THEY DID NOT DO THE ASSIGNMENT REGULARLY. - 3 ATTENDED REGULARLY YET HAD EFL DIFFICULTIES AND L1 INTERFERENCE. THEY DID ASSIGMENT TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY COULD. WRITTEN EXPRESSION AND INTERACTION RESULTS 35 STUDENTS PASS IT ORAL EXPRESSION AND INTERACTION RESULTS 33 STUDENTS PASS IT USE OF THE LANGUAGE RESULTS 25 STUDENTS PASS IT WRITTEN COMPREHENSION 15 STUDENTS PASS IT ORAL COMPREHENSION 11 STUDENTS PASS IT The data show that students especially excel in interaction and written expression, and interaction and oral expression. The latter is the initial key to all the EFL teaching sessions and language presentations. The former is the consequence of all the lessons, showing the consolidation of language. They both mirror the beginning and ending in mother tongue acquisition, starting at home and finishing at school. If followed closely in EFL teaching, that is, if truly going from listening, to speaking, reading and writing, and, if making students aware of their responsibility as learners, success can be it. What is more, if students understand what mediating is, simple texting and icons which seem to take the lead in communication these days may be beaten, at least, in the EFL class. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 72 ADDENDA English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 73 EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 3: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La Madre Naturaleza (Introductory Literary and Historical Context, and Assessment) M. Consuelo Belda mbelda2@xtec.cat “No puede, en rigor,la educación actual de la mujer llamarse tal educación, sino doma pues se propone por fin la obediencia, la pasividad y la sumisión ” ( …) (E.P. Bazán: “La educación del hombre y la mujer, sus relaciones y diferencias” Congreso pedagógico, 1982) This article is part of a collection of five articles that started with two articles on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights:”EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 1: Wuthering Heights (Introductory Literary and historical Context, and Assessment)” and “EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 2: Wuthering Heights (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Character)”. In this volume, a parallel study of two Spanish novels by Emilia Pardo Bazán is pursued through two articles as well: - “EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 3: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La Madre Naturaleza (Introductory Literary and Historical Context, and Assessment)” - EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 4: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La Madre Naturaleza (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Character)” The collection ends up in the following volume with a comparative study on the both authors´ literary productions. All articles necessarily share the same aim: the promotion of the students’ literary curiosity by cooperative work between the EFL class and the Spanish literature one. Teachers in both subjects are led to help students welcome and get to know classic pieces in both languages, while their critical thinking is encouraged too. By doing that, students become able to crosscurricularly compare the different pieces and, needless to say, more proficient in the two languages, and nuances within them. In order to ensure that the linguistic and literary work in the EFL class and the Spanish literature class stays even throughout the symmetrical lesson plans, the joint EFL didactic and Spanish literature project necessarily follows a parallel structure, which helps students clearly discern and learn about key aspects in each literary work. Hence, some paragraphs in this article and the following one will directly quote some common excerpts from the previous one, which will be indicated in italics. The English teacher and the Spanish teacher´s investment in timing and efforts to coordinate the interlinguistic and interliterary project soon English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 74 show excellent collaborative and interdisciplinary learning, as well as outstanding comparative literature interest from the start. As it was explained in Belda (2018), “The contents and method which will be introduced go from general to specific, and are presented in the same volume to ensure that EFL teachers have both a general perspective and detailed work on this literary piece. It is also important to take into account that this is part of an adaptable project which each EFL teacher can implement according to the class needs. So, each teacher can decide on the distribution of class work, and the relevance assigned to either, the introduction and the historical and literary context of the novel, and/or more specific aspects, such as biography, fiction, structure, narrators and characters”. In this volume, two articles are presented on two groundbreaking novels which shocked their readers: Emilia Pardo Bazan´s, Los Pazos de Ulloa (1886), which is considered a masterpiece, and its sequel, La Madre Naturaleza (1887). The nineteenth century was the age of positivism, scientific advance and literary revolution. Emilia Pardo Bazán (further referred as EPB) was a leading exponent of Spanish Naturalism (EPB´s 2nd novel consolidated Naturalism), and a key figure in 19th century Spanish literature. For this project the teacher and the students use the Alianza Editorial edition (included in References). For historical reference it is worth starting that the first edition of Los Pazos de Ulloa published by Daniel Cerezo y Compañía (Barcelona) started the collection of Biblioteca de novelistas contemporáneos and included a biographical note written by the author and titled Apuntes autobiográficos. Notwithstanding, they are not reproduced in the current edition, but can be consulted in Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes Virtual (included in References as well). This article describes how EFL students can easily become familiar with Emilia Pardo Bazan’s naturalistic outputs and the historical and literary contexts of which it is part. As far as the literary field is concerned, the century opened with Romanticism, an artistic movement that emphasized emotion and individualism. After this period, realism existed from mid nineteenth century up to late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Realism began in France after the 1848 revolution. It was focused on showing everyday life without romantic idealization or dramatization. Around 1880 realism came to a further degree, coined naturalism by Émile Zola in France. In Spain EPB was the one in charge to introduce this sub-movement. The disillusionment with literary and philosophical idealism attracted the liberal writers towards the acceptance of naturalism and Zola proposals As it happened with the first part of the project on Emily Brontë’sWuthering Heights, the whole project devoted to Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza can also “last for 8 sessions, which can be divided into 4 two-hour sessions. As mentioned earlier, they can be easily extended and readjusted as necessary”. Chapters 1 to 8, 13, 15, and 20 to 30 in Los pazos de Ulloa, and Chapters 1 to 10; 19 to 21, 32 to 36 in La Madre Naturaleza are strongly recommended. “But first things must go first, and before starting the multi-angled analysis of the novel, students must be acquainted with the social and cultural context. Therefore, the first study guide which the EFL teacher follows in the third part of the project is focused on an initial and global itinerary which is presented as Lesson Plan 1”: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 75 LESSON PLAN CONTENT TIMING LANGUAGE COMPETENCE GROUPING ASSESSMENT 1. BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH TO EMILIA PARDO BAZÁN (Session 1) 1.Introductory Questions (warming-up) 2. Research work 3. Sharing 4. Adding Knowledge and assessment 15´ 60´ 20´ 25´ Oral Digital Reading and speaking Listening Whole group Groups of 5 students All groups Whole group Students secretly evaluate each other through color cards. (50%). Teacher also assesses how students become capable of learning from their classmates Coinciding with the previous work on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, “the material which follows can be easily implemented and/or adapted. All the content activities will be detailed next. Due to the different nature of each section, the answers to Section 1 and Section 2 are provided in the annex. The outcome of Section 3 and Section 4 are already included within the presentation. When activities and/or questions are open, guidelines towards possible interpretations, solutions or answers, are also pointed. The description of Lesson 1 and its activities follows next”. Lesson Plan 1 L I T E R A R Y A N D H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T This session is divided into 4 parts, which cover: 1. Brainstorming through introductory questions 2. Group Researching 3. Group exchanging and sharing 4. Adding knowledge 1. BRAINSTORMING THROUGH INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS “The teacher asks students some questions to awake their curiosity. They are first invited to imagine a strict society in which family values and strict gender roles are emphasized. After that, students are asked to answer the following questions”: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 76 1. How do you imagine that society welcomed a story that shows poverty, inequality, corruption and which even contained some hybrid language? 2. Do you think that this kind of novel was expected to have been written by a noble and well-married woman? After hearing the students´ answers, the teacher explains that Los Pazos de Ulloa created something of a scandal when it appeared in 1886. They learn that EPB's take on description was an unsettling one: rather than a bucolic description of the country life, nature was a wrenching force that drove people to madness and beastliness. Students also become aware that, in those times, some critics thought that literature had some limitations as far as a woman was concerned. In the preface of the novel, the critic and also novelist Leopoldo Alas, Clarín, pointed that women´s position, especially if there were catholic had to follow decency rules and decorum in writing. In relation to this, the teacher poses a last question: 3. Can you guess how a culturally inquisitive woman could complete her formation? The teacher helps students round up their answers, specifies that EPB was a voracious reader, a real bookworm, and adds that she taught herself English in order to be able to read in the language. 2. GROUP RESEARCHING “The students´ goal is to look for information about four different aspects related to the novel, which go from general to specific”: - Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre Naturaleza in Spanish history - Realism and Naturalism in literature - The new economy and lifestyle - Women writers “Students get distributed in four groups. Therefore, groups of five or six students are formed. After that, all groups carry out a research work on the basis of bibliographical references, which are both provided by the teacher, and the students´ digital resources of their own choice. The specificity of the work which GROUP 3 and GROUP 4 must do is guided through two additional charts, which will be presented at the end of this section”. GROUP 1 LOS PAZOS DE ULLOA and LA MADRE NATURALEZA IN SPANISH HISTORY When Emilia Pardo Bazán lived and published her work GROUP 2 REALISM AND NATURALISM IN LITERATURE 1. Main characteristics in literature during Emily Pardo Bazán´s life 2. Other authors who wrote in the same period in Spain and in Europe English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 77 GROUP 3 NEW ECONOMY AND LIFESTYLE 1. Comparing the rural life style (Los Pazos), and the urban way of living (Santiago de Compostela) GROUP 4 WOMEN WRITERS 1. According to Juan Valera, why was Emilia Pardo Bazan´s admission into the Spanish Academy not possible? 2. Who was the first woman to be admitted in this institution? When? 3. How would be define EPB’s attitude in relation with the assertion of her male colleagues. “Students must answer some questions and resolve some activities proposed by the teacher. On the board, some assigned tasks are written. Students choose their preferred topic. As research takes place, students inform the teacher about their research sources and advances. The teacher verifies that they are reading the correct materials and surfing in correct webpages, forums, blogs…” With regards to GROUP 1 (LOS PAZOS DE ULLOA and LA MADRE NATURALEZA IN SPANISH HISTORY: When in Spanish history Emilia Pardo Bazán lived and published her work) students fill a timeline chart which shows some essential events happened in this time (the independence war, the kingdoms of Fernando VII and Isabel II, the liberal sexennial and the Bourbon restoration). GROUP 1 necessarily needs to be aware that Emilia Pardo Bazán, who writes during the kingdom of Isabel II, lived and published in a period of political instability and many civil conflicts. This activity could be made through digital resources, which besides helping in the comprehension of the novel’s background and composition, makes students more skillful at digital abilities. When checking GROUP 2 (THE REALISM AND NATURALISM LITERATURE: main characteristics of the literature during Emilia Pardo Bazan’s life) with regards to the main characteristics of the literature during EPB´time, the teacher finds that students easily point to main general features in the kind of literature that evolved during the second part of the 19th century. To ensure that the differences between Realism and Naturalism are clear, the teacher provides students with a chart which is to be filled out with True/False statements. This chart is, in fact, a poster which is shared by the whole group later. The poster helps students identify, at a glance, main traits in these two cultural movements, whose terms, at times, have been exchanged. REALISM AND NATURALISM 1. Realism and Naturalism are both “basic” views of life and humanity, stripping away the layers of romanticism to present a “natural” or “real outlook of the work T/F English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 78 2. They idealize or flatter the subject. They use artificial, fantasy, or supernatural elements T/F 3. Both of these pessimistic views emerged in the 19th century, a period known for its trials and turmoil T/F 4. Realism sought to be a faithful representation of life, while Naturalism was more like a “chronicle of despair” T/F 5. In a way, Realism proceeded Naturalism and can be an exaggerated form of it T/F 6. Naturalism shows humans as being determined by environment, heredity and social conditions beyond their control, and thus rather helpless to escape their circumstances T/F 7. While in Realism the main focus was on the upper class and its problems, Naturalism often focused on high-class characters, and on themes involving violence and taboo activities T/F 8. While in Realism, faithful representation of reality including the details of nature is important, in Naturalism, nature itself is a force, generally a powerful, indifferent mechanism T/F Students enjoy finding out which other authors wrote in the same period as EPB in Spain and in Europe, and they easily write a list of contemporary writers. The teacher complements the students´ research with a list containing more thorough information, which is projected in due time. Students are also are prompted to know the most outstanding realistic author in the rest of Europe. A poster with a list of names, titles and countries that students have to put in order is pinned by the teacher on the classroom bulletin board. WRITERS LITERARY WORKS COUNTRIES BALZAC DOSTOIEVSKI FLAUBERT DICKENS STENDHAL TOLSTOI War and Peace, Anna Karenina Red and Black Oliver Twist, David Copperfield Crime and Punishment, Karamazov Brothers Human Comedy, Madame Bovary France Russia Great Britain “The aim which each group must reach is that, firstly, each group is to become an expert on the specific topic which they have chosen, and is expected to sort out doubts and questions that may be posed from their classmates. After this has taken place, all groups are to swap their papers, and each group is encouraged to read the work of their fellow classmates before moving on”. 3. GROUP EXCHANGE AND SHARING “As indicated in section 2, each group is responsible for one of the four above-mentioned main aspects which are related to the time when the novel was published. The teacher begins leading the group exchange and the sharing of information and ideas”. To orient the presentation of GROUP 3 (NEW ECONOMY AND LIFESTYLE: Comparing the rural style of life (Los Pazos), and the urban way of living (Santiago de Compostela) the teacher starts by English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 79 projecting the students some short videos from Síntesis de España en el siglo XIX (included in References). Students are also told that both Los Pazos de Ulloa and La Madre Naturaleza start with the arrival of two characters from the city, the former, when don Julián arrives at “Los Pazos”; the latter, when don Gabriel reaches the same place. The two novels, by the way, explain the collision that these two protagonists endure in their attempt to adapt to extreme mountain conditions. Students learn that: - Life in hill farming was often harsh - There were isolated farmsteads - There were rigorous weather conditions - The rural population struggled to survive (Marceliano Santamaría´s picture (https://annalesdeltiempo.blogspot.com/2010/11/sintesis-de-espana- en-el-siglo-xix.html) shows how mothers are separated to their own children to wet-nurse the rich families ones - an issue tackled in Los Pazos de Ulloa-) In addition, the teacher helps students to understand that both novels try to show the confrontation between civilization (don Julián, Nucha, don Gabriel) and barbarism (Primitivo, don Pedro). EPB proves that power in the rural and primitive environment coarsens their dwellers and destroys the newcomers. Students are asked to fill up the following chart. Los Pazos Santiago de Compostela Direct contact with __________ Great _________ of nature _________ is the fundamental occupation. _________ as an atavistic and primitive distraction No fundamental occupation (manufacturing, trade commerce, other works) _________density of population _________ density of population. Student city, imbued with_________, __________ and culture _________homogeneity More heterogeneous (different types of population, class, races, religions…) _________ culture __________ (non-religious) culture As far as GROUP 4 (WOMEN WRITERS, the oppositions between women social expectancies and literary perspectives) is concerned, the teacher usually rounds up the students´ presentation by saying that: Emilia Pardo Bazán decided not to renounce to her name and always published under her own name; she also refused to dress as a man (as Concepción Arenal did), to attend classes at university (consequently, she could not obtain an academic English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 80 degree since in the nineteenth century women were not allowed to enroll in advanced education and research); and that the presence of a woman writer like her is self-explanatory. In the group´ last section, the teacher guides and complements the students´ conclusions. Students are told that the presence of a woman writer in a rather important intellectual debate depicts that social and political changes were in process. They also learn that some books by EPB, for instance, La cuestión palpitante, were pivotal in the debate on naturalism. Finally the students are asked to read an article about EPB´s rejection at the Spanish Academy: “Sra. Pardo Bazán: con gusto la RAE le ofrecería un asiento, pero no cabría en él” .The teacher sends them the link (included in References).After reading the article, all students in group 4 can make sure that they have got all the answers for their assigned questions – presented at the start of Section 2 in this article –. 4. ADDING KNOWLEDGE To end up, Lesson Plan 1, the teacher shows the whole group a documentary which introduces to EPB´s personal and literary profile: “Mujeres en la historia. Emilia Pardo Bazán, feminist comprometida” (included in References). While watching it, students take notes and draw four or five ideas that could well define the author. “It is important to say that students must know about the assessment procedure before the project starts. Whichever method we use, it must help when evaluating their continuous work, and the results of each part in the project. In the EFL class, with the help of some colored cards, students explicitly express where they exactly are in each stage of the project, and how they assess their work and learning results. This is the system which I use: the teacher hangs a panel with the four groups´ distribution in the classroom and hands each student three cards with the basic traffic light colors (green, yellow, red). Depending on the students´ understanding of the literary work, they put a different colored secret card inside a paper envelope, and then, they deliver it to the teacher”: GREEN means that they have easily carried out their task and mastered their learning YELLOW stands for a task that has been easily carried out, but whose understanding of the new contents has been hard at times RED signifies that, despite their efforts, they think that they have not understood as much as they wanted to. The teacher collects all the cards to cater for equality and respect at alltimes “At the end, the whole group shares their conclusions. The teacher answers any last possible doubts and provides some specific explanations. Furthermore, the teacher has the last word in the work appraisal, evaluating not only the research process but also the intercommunication exchange between students, which students have been also informed about before starting the project. After taking into account the students´ considerations, the teacher decides the final English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 81 grade and shows it to them in the next session, throughout the color code in the panel. Boths, the teacher and the students, must agree on the final score”. After all students know some of the main prominent biographical events that could have determined the author’s identity, they are ready to move forward, and start learning about Emilia Pardo Bazán´s biography, the role of fiction in the novel, its specific structural features, the narrators and its characters. The study guide corresponding to these sections will be presented as Lesson Plan 2, Lesson Plan 3, and Lesson Plan 4 in the following article “EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 2: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La Madre Naturaleza (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Characters)”. APPENDIX: KEYS TO SECTION 1 AND SECTION 2 (LESSON PLAN 1) L I T E R A R Y A N D H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T 1. BRAINSTORMING THROUGH INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS 1. The answer to the initial questions is open. 2. The answer to the initial questions is open (when commenting on the answer, students enjoy discovering that EPB was also Countess of Bazán) Note: These opening remarks help students recognize the unusual and unexpected motifs that the novel offers. 3.The answer could be completed with this autobiographical note (which is commented in English as well): “Es difícil para el público que lee, y en el cual los hombres están en mayoría, formarse idea de lo difícil que es para una mujer introducir un poco de método en sus lecturas y hacerse una cultura autodidáctica. Los hombres van a las escuelas de Instrucción primaria, al Instituto, a la Universidad. Bien sé que mucho de lo que aprenden es rutinario, y algo acaso sea superfluo o estorboso; pero sin embargo, no hay duda que semejante gimnasia -y lo veo hoy que tengo próxima la educación de un hombrecito de diez años- fortifica y habitúa a saber estudiar, a no pasar de lo difícil a lo fácil [partir de lo elemental], a ir de lo conocido a lo desconocido, a familiarizarse con palabras e ideas que por punto general la mujer no maneja, como no maneja las armas ni las herramientas profesionales” 2. GROUP RESEARCHING GROUP 1 (LOS PAZOS DE ULLOA AND LA MADRE NATURALEZA IN SPANISH HISTORY) Students are expected to conclude that EPB lived and wrote during a very controversial time. Los Pazos de Ulloa was set against the backdrop of Spain’s Glorious Revolution (1968). The novel also touches on the politics of the day, a diversion which offers EPB plenty of scope to explore the various underhand machinations of the district’s leading movers and shakers. In 1830 Fernando VII overrode the Salic Law and enforced the Pragmatic Sanction. As a consequence, the dynastic Carlist wars started. EPB also lived the 1968 revolution, the first Republic and the Bourbon Restoration. The aim of the Restoration was to create a new political system based on the deliberated rotation of the Liberal and the Conservative parties. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 82 That was often achieved by electoral fraud. This system of despotism is reproduced in EPB´s first novel. The dates corresponding to the time line chart are: (1808-1814) Spanish Independence War / (1814-1833) Fernando VII´s kingdom / (1833) Mª Cristina´s regency / (1837-1855) Disentailment / (1834-1840) I Carlist War/ (1843) Isabel II/ (1868) Glorious Revolution / (1868-1874) Liberal sexennial / (1873-1874) Republic and Borbonic Restoration / (1931) II Spanish Republic GROUP 2 (REALISM AND NATURALISM IN LITERATURE) True-False statements 1T / 2F / 3T / 4T / 5F(Realism preceded Naturalism and can be seen as an exaggerated form of it /6T / 7F (Realism was focused on the middle class and Naturalism on poorly educated and lower-class characters) /8T Contemporary authors Leopoldo Alas Clarín, Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Benito Pérez Galdós, José María Pereda and Juan Valera. The teacher can emphasize that EPB was the only female voice in the Spanish literary panorama, and add that a similar scenario is reproduced in Europe, with the exception of the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen in England. 1.Balzac 2.Dostoievski 3.Flaubert 4.Dickens 5.-Stendhal 6.-Tolstoi 1.Human Comedy 2.War and Peace, Anna Karenina 3. Madame Bovary 4.Oliver Twist, David Copperfield 5. Red and Black 6. Crime and Punishment, Karamazov Brothers France (1, 3, 5) Russia (2, 6) Great Britain (4) GROUP 3 (NEW ECONOMY AND LIFESTYLE) (Los Pazos) (Santiago de Compostela) Direct contact with nature Great isolation of nature Farmer is the fundamental occupation. Hunting as an atavistic and primitive distraction. No fundamental occupation (manufacturing, trade commerce, other works) Lower density of population. High density of population. Student city, imbued with history, architecture and culture. Social homogeneity More heterogeneous (different types of population, class, races, religions…) Sacred culture Secular (non-religious) culture The teacher lets students know that in Los Pazos de Ulloa the homestead was also called “La Huronera” (the place where a ferret hides). They are also told that the rural area where everything takes place in both novels were described by the author as “un país de lobos” (a wolves ´country). These expressions refer to the rusticity and the stone-age landscape in the two novels. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 83 GROUP 4 (WOMEN WRITERS) To refer to EFP´seducation, the teacher can read a very descriptive paragraph from Apuntes autobiográficos:“Siempre había sido yo de esas niñas que leen todo lo que les cae por banda, hasta los papeles de envolver azucarillos; de esas niñas a quienes se les da un libro, y se están quietecitas y sin hacer diabluras horas y horas enteras”. WH- Questions 1.Valera argues against EPB´S candidature by referring to her physical appearance. Through that students realize gender discrimination. 2. The first woman admitted in the Real Academia was Carmen Conde (1978) 3. Her attitude was ironic, showing a great sense of humor. References Alas, L. Prólogo a Los pazos de Ulloa. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/clarin-critico-de-emilia-pardo- bazan/html/00177026-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_28.html Allavena, J. “La Galicia de Emilia Pardo Bazán (La Coruña 1851-Madrid 1921)”. Actas XLV. AEP. Centro Virtual Cervantes https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/aepe/pdf/congreso_45/congreso_45_24.p df Belda, C. (2018a) ”EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 1: Wuthering Heights (Introductory Literary and historical Context, and Assessment)”. English Is It! (ELT Training Series. Volume 11: 104-115. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/128188 Belda, C. (2018b) “EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 2: Wuthering Heights (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Character)”English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 11: 116-127. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/128188 Bretz, M. L. (1992) Voices, Silences and Echoes. A Theory of the Essay and the Critical Reception of Naturalism in Spain.London: Tamesis Books. Collie, J., Slater, S. (1987) Literature in the Language Classroom. A Resource Book of Ideas and Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Constenla, T. (23.2.2019) “Todas las Emilias de Pardo Bazán”. El País. https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/02/21/actualidad/1550772689_933804.html DesEquiLIBROS (17/9/2014) “Sra Pardo Bazán: con gusto la RAE le ofrecería un asiento, pero no cabría en él” http://desequilibros.blogspot.com/2014/09/sra-pardo-bazan-con-gusto-la-rae-le-ofreceria-un- asiento-pero-no-cabria-en-el.html#.XPF1ZogzZPZ English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 84 Emilia Pardo Bazán, feminista comprometida. Mujeres en la historia. RTVE http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/mujeres-en-la-historia/mujeres-historia-emilia-pardo- bazan/849428/ Emilia Pardo Bazán (año 1851), Paisajes de la Historia (La rosa de los vientos) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq3Sl2DeNh8 Emilia Pardo Bazán. Los pazos de Ulloa. Materiales de lengua y literatura http://www.materialesdelengua.org/LITERATURA/HISTORIA_LITERATURA/PARDOBAZAN/pard o_estructura.htm Freire López, A. (2001) “La primera redacción, autógrafa e inédita, de los «Apuntes autobiográficos» de Emilia Pardo Bazán”. Cuadernos para Investigación de la Literatura Hispánica. Núm. 26 (2001): pp. 305-336. Madrid: Fundación Universitaria Esapñola. Freire López, A. (2003) “La primera redacción, autógrafa e inédita, de los «Apuntes autobiográficos» de Emilia Pardo Bazán”. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-primera-redaccin-autgrafa-e-indita-de-los- apuntes-autobiogrficos-de-emilia-pardo-bazn-0/html/ffbb8ec8-82b1-11df-acc7- 002185ce6064_2.html#I_1_ Lazar, G. (1993) Literature and Language Teaching: A Guide For Teachers and Trainers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pardo Bazan, E (1886). Los Pazos de Ulloa. Biblioteca de novelistas contemporáneos. Barcelona:Daniel Cortezo y Cía. Pardo Bazan, E. (1985) Los Pazos de Ulloa. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. Pardo Bazan, E (2010) La madre naturaleza. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. Penas Varela, E.(2004) “Clarín, critico de Emilia Pardo Bazán”. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/clarin-critico-de-emilia-pardo- bazan/html/00177026-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_25.html#I_0_ Sell, J. P. A. (2005) ”Why teach literature in the foreign language classroom?” Encuentro 15, Journal of Research and Innovation in the Language Classroom: pp. 86-93). Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. “Síntesis de España en el siglo XIX”. El pasado del tiempo https://annalesdeltiempo.blogspot.com/2010/11/sintesis-de-espana-en-el-siglo-xix.html Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays, and Prose. London: Longman. Short, M. (Ed.) (1998) Reading, Analysing and Teaching Literature. London: Longman. Showalter, E. (1977) A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing. New York: Virago Press. Showalter, E. (2002) Teaching Literature. Oxford: Blackwell. Teranishi, M. (2015) Literature and Language Learning in the EFL Classroom. London: Palgrave Macmillan. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 85 EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 4: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa and La Madre Naturaleza (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Characters) M. Consuelo Belda mbelda2@xtec.cat “(…)almas gemelas que en el triste suelo de un pensamiento viven; esto sin duda son los que se quieren su fe guardando entera, y acaso pasarán cuando aquí mueran a amarse en otra esfera.” (Almas gemelas, EPB) This article is part of a collection of 5 articles on a crosscurricular EFL and Spanish literature project, whose final class aim is to have students enjoy literary masterpieces in English and Spanish and learn about them through the 2 languages. The five articles have a parallel structure, and, therefore, some excerpts are quoted directly from its English literature equivalent one (“EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 2: Wuthering Heights (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Characters)”, Belda, 2018b). This is the fourth article in the collection, and the second part with regards to the Spanish literature project. This article follows “EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 3: Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Los Pazos de Ulloa y La Madre Naturaleza (Introduction, and Literary and Historical Context)”. In the previous article, I presented how students were slowly introduced to the novels through different types of activities, timing, competences, group arrangements and assessment. They were part of Lesson Plan 1. In this article, I will refer to how students are slowly introduced to more detailed work on specific aspects such as EPB´s biography, the role of fiction, the structural elements, the narrators, and the characters. As indicated in part 3, the students work on the Alianza Editorial edition.The fact that the project is explained in a parallel way along its articles is the result of the need to pedagogically ensure that its structure perfectly fits in the students´ reading advance of the novel. Reading the whole novel is certainly recommended, but, some chapters are certainly more advisable that others. This is true of chapters 1, 3, 7, 13, 15, 20, and 28 to 30 in Los pazos de Ulloa and Chapters 1, 8, 19 to 25, and 32 to 36 in La Madre Naturaleza. I designed this part of the project to last for four two-hour sessions, which can be easily extended and readjusted as necessary. Before starting the analysis of the novel, students must be acquainted with the social and cultural context. They must also know some prominent biographical events that could have determined the author’s identity. After that, attention is drawn towards the structural features of the novel, and the approach to its characters. Therefore, the study guide, which the EFL teacher follows, continues the work done in Lesson Plan 1, and is divided into three sections which correspond to Lesson Plan 2, Lesson Plan 3, and Lesson Plan 4. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 86 LESSON PLAN CONTENT TIMING LANGUAGE COMPETENCE GROUPING ASSESSMENT 2 BIOGRAPHIC AL APPROACH TO EMILY BRONTË (Session 2) 1.Introductory Videos 2.Biographical table 3.Preface reading 4. EPB’s writing 5.Creative compositions 6. Content sharing 5´ 15´ 15´ 30´ 30’ 25´ Listening Research Reading and speaking Listening Writing Speaking Whole group In pairs Whole group Whole group Individual Whole group The teacher assesses accuracy on the contents included in the tables and corrects the compositions 3. STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS (Session 3) 1.Settings (…) 2. Locations analysis 3.Series(part I) 4.Link scene 5.Plot 15’ 15´ 55´ 15’ 15´ Reading Writing Listening Speaking Writing In pairs In pairs Whole group Whole group Individual The teacher assesses the students´ comprehension and attention 4. NARRATORS CHARACTER S (Session 4) 1.Series(part II) 2. Summary 3.Narrative frame 4.Main character couples 5.Character list 55´ 15’ 15´ 20´ 15’ Listening Speaking Artistic competence Matching Speaking Matching Whole group In pairs In pairs Individual In pairs In pairs The teacher assesses the students´ ability to reach conclusions The keys to Lesson Plan 2, Lesson Plan 3, and Lesson Plan 4 are provided in the annex. Some necessary comments are previously included in the following presentation.When activities and/or questions are open, guidelines towards possible interpretations, solutions or answers, are also pointed. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 87 Lesson Plan 2 B I O G R A P H I C A L A P P R O A C H A N D F I C T I O N A L S E T T I N G The second session of the crosscurricular project is divided into six parts: 1. Introductory videos 2. Chronological table 3. Reading Un viaje de novios (preface) 4. EPB’s writings 4.1 What EPB did to amuse herself 4.2 What she read 4.3 What she created 5. Creative and imitative compositions 6. Content sharing 1. INTRODUCTORY VIDEOS The teacher provides the students with an opportunity to catch a glimpse and get familiar with EPBs´ time and her social and cultural environment. Students start being introduced to detailed work by watching: A/ A video which, ironically and humorously, depicts the main events in EPB’s life:“Emilia Pardo Bazán, una mujer adelantada a su tiempo” (2´´53’): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP-jk63kWso B/ The only document that records the real image of the Galician author: “Emilia Pardo Bazán” (1´´43’): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4lPKILVCMI 2. BIOGRAPHICAL TABLE After that, the teacher presents a blank chronological table containing the most relevant dates in Emilia Pardo Bazán´s long and intensive life. In pairs, students are expected to fill it out with the requested information. Students easily find the information; as the teacher checks the different work that is taking part in pairs, students may be suggested some websites too (they are included in the Reference section at the end of the article.) 1) 1851 2) 1868 3) 1873 4) 1882-83 5) 1916 6) 1921 Once students finish, the teacher projects the data, and students self-correct their work. Then, the teacher explains that EPB had a revolutionary spirit and struggled her whole life against the patent sexism in the intellectual and social circles of her era. 3. READING UN VIAJE DE NOVIOS (PREFACE) The whole class reads a paragraph from the preface of Un Viaje de novios (1881) in which EPB defined her own idea of the novel. After having read it, the teacher invites students to brainstorm on their own experiences and expectations as readers. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 88 De la pugna surgió ya algún principio fecundo, y tengo por importante entre todos el concepto de que la novela ha dejado de ser mero entretenimiento, modo de engañar gratamente unas cuantas horas, ascendiendo a estudio social, psicológico, histórico, pero al cabo estudio. Dedúcese de aquí una consecuencia que a muchos sorprenderá: a saber, que no son menos necesarias al novelista que las galas de la fantasía, la observación y el análisis. (…) En el día -no es lícito dudarlo- la novela es traslado de la vida, y lo único que el autor pone en ella, es su modo peculiar de ver las cosas reales: bien como dos personas, refiriendo un mismo suceso cierto, lo hacen con distintas palabras y estilo. Merced a este reconocimiento de los fueros de la verdad, el realismo puede entrar, alta la frente, en el campo de la literatura. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/pardo_bazan/obra- visor/un-viaje-de-novios--0/html/ff0f2944-82b1-11df-acc7- 002185ce6064_2.html#I_1_ (Emilia Pardo Bazán y de la Rúa’s portrait by Joaquín Vaamonde Cornice (1896). Fotographic reproduction of the lost original. https://www.alamy.com/stock- photo/pardo-baz%C3%A1n.htmlR 4. EPB´ WRITINGS 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 are dealt with as a whole. The teacher explains that EPB was a real bookworm and her first poem was written at nine. The teacher also shows the students a power point presentation which includes a manuscript of her recently found first novel, Aficiones peligrosas (Dangerous affections) and sums up her extended productions from her beginning as a writer until her last outputs. Afterwards, the teacher asks the students some questions: At the age of thirteen EPB wrote her first novel. She wrote also more than 600 tales, the first of them when she was fifteen. As a poet she composed, Jaime (1881), devoted to her first son. Besides, she was also interested in theater. Some of her performances were staged without success. She founded and run some publications as Nuevo Teatro critico. Nevertheless, her most outstanding literary contribution was as a novelist. Firstly, she participated in realistic literary movement. Then she introduced the naturalistic trend and finally evolved to a progressive idealism. Her journalism work was incessant and the articles and stories published are worth highlighting. She founded the Women's Library (1892). Original copy of the letter sent to Lázaro Galdiano in 1998 with the manuscript of her first novel Aficiones peligrosas, kept in the editors´ foundation. a. What did EPB do to amuse herself? b. What did she read? c. What did she create? 5. CREATIVE AND IMITATIVE COMPOSITIONS The teacher invites the students to imitate EPB´s autodidactic apprenticeship process. Students write down a short composition inspired in some book which they know or in some event that had impacted their childhood. Following EPB´ s model, they create their own story from scratch. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 89 6. CONTENT SHARING When all the compositions have been corrected by the teacher, they are printed in different colored paper and posted on the classroom walls. Students vote for their favourite ones, and explain why their choice is so. Lesson Plan 3 S T R U C T U R A L E L E M E N T S The teacher focuses on 3 structural elements: 1. Settings 1.1 Reading chapter 1 paragraph 1.2 What “pazo” mean 2. Locations 2.1 Listing descriptive words and framing location 3. Plot (first half) 3.1 Series (Episode I) 3.2 “Link scene”(comparing the novel and the film) 1. SETTINGS In literature, setting is, rarely, as important as it is in EPB's Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza. The book is named after its primary location: the rundown and isolated house owned by the false Marquis of Ulloa. This lonely location is crucial to the story. The landscape, at times, almost becomes a character in this novel. 1.1. READING CHAPTER 1 PARAGRAPH The whole group reads don Julián’s first look at the house in the first chapter of the book: “En fin, en llegando al crucero vería los Pazos de Ulloa... Todo se le volvía buscar el atajo, a la derecha... Ni señales. La vereda, ensanchándose, se internaba por tierra montañosa, salpicada de manchones de robledal y algún que otro castaño todavía cargado de fruta: a derecha e izquierda, matorrales de brezo crecían desparramados y oscuros. Experimentaba el jinete indefinible malestar, disculpable en quien, nacido y criado en un pueblo tranquilo y soñoliento, se halla por vez primera frente a frente con la ruda y majestuosa soledad de la naturaleza, y recuerda historias de viajeros robados, de gentes asesinadas en sitios desiertos. -¡Qué país de lobos! -dijo para sí, tétricamente impresionado. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/pard o_bazan/imagen_album/ The teacher clarifies that the image reflects the remote Pazo de Meirás. EPB, who inherited the farmhouse, undertook major remodelling to create the current building layout. She married in the Chapel and once the works were complete, she spent more than four months there every year. She worked in the tower, which she called "de la chimera", and where her library was. 1.2. WHAT “PAZO” MEAN Oftentimes students wonder about the meaning of the title of the novel. The teacher simply helps students by asking them what the word “pazo”means, with a view to having them realize the final significance of the title as a whole: What does “pazo” mean? English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 90 By checking online dictionaries, students easily discover that “pazo” stands for the Latin word “palatium”. For example, in DRAE (https://dle.rae.es/?id=SEnMn78), it is defined as “casa solariega gallega especialmente la edificada en el campo”. It seems that there is not any house identical to the one described in her literary works. As a matter of fact, EPB lived for several periods in some ancestral houses owned by her husband José Quiroga, such as the Country House of Cabanelas or of Bangas. So students grasp the idea that the Houses of Ulloa seem to be the result of many manor houses that were flogged together through EPB´s imagination. 2. LOCATIONS 2.1 LISTING DESCRIPTIVE WORDS AND FRAMING LOCATION Firstly, students are expected to create a class list of descriptive words that depict the setting in Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza. They must also check their meaning. As they find them, and check the meaning, they go to the teacher´s computer, and type them in alphabetically, and include a brief meaning. As they do that, the teacher proofreads class work. Secondly, students must learn that the setting in the novel is based in two places, both miles away, and inspired in real locations. As students do that, the teacher makes sure that they discover the largest and finest house in Santiago de Compostela, where don Manuel Pardo de la Lage and his four daughters lived. Students also find out that the dwellers in each of the two houses are in harmony with their surroundings, for this reason Moscoso feels uncomfortable in the city and the characters that come from the “civilization” (Nucha, don Julián, Gabriel) end up being destroyed by “nature”. To define each location and their inhabitants, paired-up students complete the following chart: Los Pazos de Ulloa Santiago de Compostela 3. PLOT (first novel) 3.1 SERIES (episode I) In 1985 RTVE broadcasted a version of the two novels in an awarded series by Gonzalo Suárez. As students continue reading the novel, they are invited to watch some of their chapters. This series covers the whole story. The first three episodes (1h 11´10´/ 46´44´´ / 52´54´´) convey the Pazos story. Since classes last for 55´, students finish watching the first one, and voluntarily watch the rest at home. After that, students are asked to craft a one-page summary on the plot of Los Pazos de Ulloa, until the last chapter. It must begin as follows: PLOT SUMMARY “The young and distraught priest, don Julián, head off the farmehouse of Ulloa in order to be the marquis don Pedro Moscoso’s steward. __________________________After ten years the clergyman came back___________________________________________”. 3.2 LINK SCENE (comparing the novel and the film) Between the last chapter of Los pazos de Ulloa and the first one in La madre naturaleza there is a “link scene” passage is both in the novel and the film its climax. Just before the link scene is about to start, the teacher stops the projection. Students compare the quote to the film adaptation. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 91 “Oyó risas, cuchicheos, jarana alegre, impropia del lugar y la ocasión. Se volvió y se incorporó confuso. Tenía delante una pareja hechicera, iluminada por el sol que ya ascendía aproximándose a la mitad del cielo. Era el muchacho el más guapo adolescente que puede soñar la fantasía; y si de chiquitín se parecía al Amor antiguo, la prolongación de líneas que distingue a la pubertad de la infancia le daba ahora semejanza notable con los arcángeles y ángeles viajeros de los grabados bíblicos, que unen a la lindeza femenina y a los rizados bucles asomos de graciosa severidad varonil. En cuanto a la niña, espigadita para sus once años, hería el corazón de Julián por el sorprendente parecido con su pobre madre a la misma edad: idénticas largas trenzas negras, idéntico rostro pálido, pero más mate, más moreno, de óvalo más puro, de ojos más luminosos y mirada más firme. ¡Vaya si conocía Julián a la pareja! ¡Cuántas veces la había tenido en su regazo! Sólo una circunstancia le hizo dudar de si aquellos dos muchachos encantadores eran en realidad el bastardo y la heredera legítima de Moscoso. Mientras el hijo de Sabel vestía ropa de buen paño, de hechura como entre aldeano acomodado y señorito, la hija de Nucha, cubierta con un traje de percal, asaz viejo, llevaba los zapatos tan rotos, que puede decirse que iba descalza” (Chapter XXX, p. 292) Lesson Plan 4 N A R R A T O R A N D C H A R A C T E R S The teacher prepares work on 5 elements: 1. PLOT (second half) 1.1 Series (episode IV) 1.2 Oral summary 2. NARRATORS 2.1 The perspective the whole story is told from 2.2 The limited omniscient third person point of view 2.3 A reliable or an unreliable recount 3. CHARACTERS 3.1 Main carácter couples: don Julián/ Nucha; Perucho/Manuela 3.2 Don Julián: the priest in love 3.3 Nucha 3.4 Perucho /Young Manuela 3.5. Character List 1. PLOT (second half) 1.1 Series (episode IV) The teacher shows the fourth and last part of the series, devoted to the second novel La madre naturaleza (55´44’´). Students are invited to continue reading, and to finish their summary by writing after the following this statement (home assignment): The couple is enjoying a fabulous walk in the countryside when a heavy rain starts. _____________________________________________________He departs, but before he leaves, he states: “Nature, you are called mother… you should be called stepmother´“ 1.2 ORAL SUMMARY Students are asked to provide answers out loud: one sentence at a time, and a whole group oral composition is created by them all, and agreed upon. 2. NARRATORS The third person narrator has been the most commonly use in writing, and EPB wrote her novels in third person as an omniscient narrator. This narrative mode is presented by a narrator with an overarching point of view (PVO), who sees and knows everything that English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 92 happens within the world of the story including what each of the characters is thinking and feeling. EPB temporary switches the character perspective. The detachment allows the ironical PVO of the author and makes the narrator unreliable. The most outstanding example is in chapter 28, narrated through Perucho´s lenses. The writer also introduced free indirect style, which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of first person by eliding direct speech attributions, such as "he said" or "she said" in direct speech. The bulk of the novel is narrated by don Julián and Gabriel´s PVO. After checking this and clarifying any possible doubts, the teacher asks the students the following questions: 1. What perspective is the whole story told from? 2. What is the limited omniscient third person point of view? 3. Do you believe that their recount is totally reliable? 3. CHARACTERS 3.1 Main character couples: don Julián/ Nucha, Perucho/Manuela 3.2 Don Julián: the Priest in love theme 3.3 Nucha 3.4 Perucho/ Young Manuela 3.5. Character List 3.1 Main character couples: don Julián/ Nucha, Perucho/Manuela In these novels nobody can be considered the main character. Nevertheless, the story revolves around two couples: don Julián and Nucha in the first novel, and Perucho and Manuela in the second one. 3.2 Don Julián: the Priest in love theme The teacher affirms that nobody is clearly the main character in the story since two couples are pivotal respectively. Undoubtedly, one of them is don Julián, who could be considered an example of the Priest in love theme in nineteen literature. Julián grows up with Nucha throughout the novel. The pious town priest who tries to reform the house, is described as very young in appearance, “beardless”, and with a “girlish face” He is innocent, gentle, and sensitive. In the second novel, he became a sort of saint hermit always helpful with people. After students are guided through this explanation, they are asked to look for some information related to the following questions: a. Which other authors first sketched out the “Priest in love” theme? b. What are these characters worried about ? 3.3 Nucha is the first female protagonist of the story, characterized as feeble, but very pious. She is a weak city girl who wears corsets and does not look like a robust rural woman. She has a maternal interest in Perucho but after her long labor, giving birth to a girl (not the expected male heir), she does not have any more children. Nucha suffers from an unstable convalescence. Sheis a nervous and fearful new mom. Don Julián is determined, at her behest, to help her leave the Pazos. Students are asked what follows: Can you describe Nucha´s main stages as a character? 3.4 Perucho/Manuela Perucho, don Pedro and Sabel´s Illegitimate son, seems a kind of “good savage”. He is good- looking but always dirty and shabby. He is a kind of thief, lacking in formal education and English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 93 maternal care. Animal-like in behavior, he turns to do little illegal affairs. Nevertheless, the link scene shows that even if he is dressed finely, Nucha’s daughter, Manuela, is in rags. In La madre Naturaleza he becomes the heir. He goes to college while the orphan Manolita is turned down by his father, who is waiting for an heir – he was disappointed when she was born- . She is a temperamental, impulsive and true nature child, not a culture one, thus, ignoring social, cultural and religious conventions. They both imagine a space beyond culture where, like in nature (=Manuela´s mother), opposes unity. They love each other and being unaware of their parenthood, consummate their love. Students are asked the following question : Can you describe Perucho and Manuela´s evolution as characters? Finally, students are provided with a character and feature list. In groups of three, they need to pair up characters with their main traits. They must also come up with a couple of sentences to describe each character. 1. Don Pedro Moscoso A. Liberal, scientific, intelligent 2. Primitivo B. Civilized, well-travelled, literate 3 Sabel C. Instinctive, devilish, unscrupulous 4. Sabia D. Conventional, marriageable 5. Trampeta/Barbacana E. Newly rich, self-seeking, hypocritical 6. Priest of Naya F. Self-righteous, conventional, gluttonous 7. Rita, Manuela, Carmen G. Mysterious,arcane, visionary 8. don ÁlvaroJuncal H. Corrupt, powerful,political 9. Catalina (Junca’s wife) I. Selfish, narrow-minded, stubborn,violent 10. Don Gabriel Pardo de la Lage J. Strong ,natural 11. Angel, the piper K. Voluptuous, fertile,impure By now, students have reached the end of part 4 in the EFL Class project. As indicated in former parts, students must be familiar with the assessment procedure, which was explained in detail in Belda (2018a): “EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 1: Wuthering Heights (Introductory Literary and Historical Context, and Assessment”. With the help of colored cards standing for the basic traffic light colors (green, yellow, red), students explicitly express where they exactly are in each stage of the project, and how they assess their work and learning results. The teacher answers any last doubts and provides specific explanations if necessary. The teacher is key to not only assess the research process but also the intercommunication exchange among students. At the end, both parts the teacher and the students must agree on the final score. During the whole learning process, and at the end, the whole group shares their findings on biography, fiction, structure, narrators and characters. In Volume 13, I will present the last part of the crosscurricular project which involves the comparative work between Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Emilia Pardo Bazán´s Los pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza. Volume 13 will offer the whole perspective on the thorough crosscurricular English literature and Spanish literature project on these outstanding English and Spanish literary works of art APPENDIX: KEY TO LESSON PLAN 2, LESSON PLAN 3, AND LESSON PLAN 4 (KEY TO LESSON PLAN 2) B I O G R A P H I C A L A P P R O A CH A N D F I C T IO N A L S E T T I N G 1. BIOGRAPHICAL TABLE English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 94 1) 1851 Emily Pardo Bazán was born in La Coruña 2) 1868 Emilia married José Antonio Quiroga, a young country gentleman, and law student (in EPB´s words: “Me casé, me puse de largo y estalló la revolución”). 3) 1873 She started to travel extensively through Europe Travelling fuelled her Interest in modern languages and the literary and intellectual currents in France, Germany and England. 4) 1882-83 EPB published La cuestión palpitante (The burning question) an influential essay series that introduced French Naturalism in Spain. The ensuing scandal led to the end of their marital coexistence 5) 1916 Emily was the first woman who obtained a chair of Neo-Latin literature at the Central University of Madrid (former name of The Complutense University of Madrid). 6) 1921 EPB died from diabetes. (Note: 2 could be reinforced by projecting a short video by Cristina Patiño (1,29’) : http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/pardo_bazan/paisaje_vital_vida_familiar/ 4. EPB’S WRITINGS a/ She was the only child of a noble family. Her father believing in the intellectual equality of men and women provided her with the best possible education, inspiring her long-life love for literature. b/ As a child, EPB read voraciously and precociously. The libraries at her parental homes fed her inquisitive mind and complemented her education, which, at that time limited women to just learning about music and house economics. (KEY TO LESSON PLAN 3) S T R U C T U R A L E L E M E N T S 2.1 LISTING DESCRIPTIVE WORDS AND FRAMING LOCATION Unsheltered, oppressive, dangerous, stormy and omnipotent, pleasant, serene, quiet, peaceful… / The Galician countryside shows the positive and the negative side: it is a comforting and calm place; yet, on the other hand, it is unpleasant and threatening. El Pazo The manor is a house in moral and material decadence within nature, which is also barbaric and oppressive.A stately home which is sometimes sinister and frightening. Julian tries to clean and organize the archive room at Ulloa. It is an example of tension between nature (disorder) and civilization (order). Santiago de Compostela In the city, the ordered and polite house of the family was the opposite of “el pazo”.Yet the city’s tone is optimistic. Santiago is a stuck village, without economic and cultural life. Santiago depicts not only the space of art, history and conventions but also stands for the capital of economic delay, political corruption. social conventions, gossip and boredom (KEY TO LESSON PLAN 4) N A R R A T O R S A N D C H A R A C T E R S 2. NARRATORS English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 95 1. Although the third-person perspective prevails the PVO changes from one character to another/ 2. It is a point of view from a narrator who can see the thoughts and actions of all the characters / 3. Narrators are unreliable. 3. CHARACTERS Don Julián a/ Other authors and novels dealing with this topic are: Emile Zola´s Abbe Mouret's Transgression (1875); Juan Valera´s Pepita Jiménez(1874)and Doña Luz,(1879); Eça Queirós´ The sin of father Amaro (1875) Leopoldo Alas, Clarín´s La Regenta (1884-85); Pérez Galdós´Tormento (1884); Palacio Valdés´La fe (1892) b/ The theme of the Priest in love reproduces the figure of a man whose conscience faces divine law. Love, passion, sin, guilt and repentance collapse in the priest´s soul and mind. Nucha (Marcelina) Young girl, virtuous and innocent; after giving birth, panic-sticken and anxious; dead spirit / Perucho: Good savage. Heir. 3.6 Character and feature list 1.I/ 2.C / 3. K/ 4. G/ 5. H / 6. F/ 7. D/ 8.A / 9. J / 10.B / 11.E. References Ayala, Mª A. (2012) Proceso de redacción de “Los Pazos de Ulloa” - Videoteca. Biblioteca virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/pardo_bazan/entorno_a_la_obra_los_pazos_de_ul loa_2/ Belda, C. (2018a) ”EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 1: Wuthering Heights (Introductory Literary and historical Context, and Assessment)”. English Is It! (ELT Training Series). Volume 11: 104-115. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/128188 Belda, C. (2018b) “EFL and Spanish Literature in High School. Part 2: Wuthering Heights (Biography, Fiction, Structure, Narrators and Character)”.English Is It! (ELT Training Series). Volume 11: 116-127. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/128188 Bieder, M. (2009),””Mis retratos y mis caricaturas”: un articulo rescatado de Emilia Pardo Bazán”. La Tribuna. Caderno de estudos da Casa Museo Emilia Pardo Bazán, N.07, pp.281-293. La Coruña: Deputación da Coruña. Diccionario de la Real Academia Española https://dle.rae.es/?id=DgIqVCc Emilia Pardo Bazán. Filmoteca española (1920) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4lPKILVCMI López Mª C. (2017) “El tema del sacerdote enamorado en El pecado del padre Mouret de Émile Zola y Doña Luz de Juan Valera: pasión, pecado, culpa y arrepentimiento”. Revista de Literatura, vol. LXXIX, núm. 157, pp. 135-158. Madrid: CSIC. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 96 Mayoral M. Conoce la obra de ”Emilia Pardo Bazán” (Letra a letra). RTVE http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/los-pazos-de-ulloa/pazos-ulloa-conoce-obra-emilia-pardo- bazan-letra-letra/456676/ Pardo Bazán. Stock Photos and Images. Alamy stock photos, vectors and videos https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/pardo-baz%C3%A1n.html Pardo Bazán, E. (2011) Aficiones peligrosas, Fundación Lázaro Galdiano. Madrid: Analecta editorial. Pardo Bazán, E. (1881:2000) Un viaje de novios (prefacio). Biblioteca virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/pardo_bazan/obra-visor/un-viaje-de-novios-- 0/html/ff0f2944-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html#I_1_ Pardo Bazán, E. ( 2014) Los Pazos de Ulloa. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. Pardo Bazán, E. (2010) La madre naturaleza. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. Parstzsch H,(2011) ”Emilia Pardo Bazán: Spanish author: 1851-1921” http://www.womenwriters.nl/index.php/Emilia_Pardo_Bazan Patiño, Cr. (2012) “Emilia Pardo Bazán: Me casé, me puse de largo y estalló la Revolución”. Biblioteca virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/pardo_bazan/paisaje_vital_vida_familiar/ Penas Valera, E. (2004) Perucho y el capítulo XXVIII de Los Pazos de Ulloa, de Emilia Pardo Bazán. Biblioteca virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/perucho-y-el-capitulo-xxviii-de-los-pazos-de- ulloa-de-emilia-pardo-bazan/html/00178782-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html Penas Valera, E. (2012)” Proceso de redacción de Los Pazos de Ulloa”. Biblioteca virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/pardo_bazan/entorno_a_la_obra_los_pazos_de_ul loa/ Romero, R. (1997) “Los tipos temperamentales, psicología tradicional y naturalismo en Los pazos de Ulloa de Emilia Pardo-Bazán”. Argos 16. Departamento de Letras. División de Estudios Históricos y Humanos. Guadalajara: Universidad de Guadalajara. http://fuentes.csh.udg.mx/CUCSH/argos/16oct-dic00/16eromero.htm Suárez, G. Los Pazos de Ulloa Series. RTVE http://www.rtve.es/television/pazos-ulloa/ Telemadrid. Emilia Pardo Bazán, una mujer adelantada a su tiempo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYzGb-wGHmo Velasco Oliaga J. (2014) “Novedad editorial: La Fundación Lázaro Galdiano publica Aficiones peligrosas de Emilia Pardo Bazán”. Todo literatura. Madrid. https://www.todoliteratura.es/noticia/3334/actualidad/novedad-editorial:-la-fundacion- lazaro-galdiano-publica-aficiones-peligrosas-de-emilia-pardo-bazan.html English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 97 A Thinking Culture in EFL Secondary School: Thinking Skills, Routines, and a Dialogic Strategy Mar Cano mdmarcanom@gmail.com Skilful thinking can help us to achieve the highest standards in our quest for knowing and understanding the world around us and for acting wisely based on this knowledge and understanding." (Swartz, Costa, Beyer, Reagan, Kallick, 2008: 1) As I like to define myself, I am a passionate educator who got into the educational world thanks to my zeal for English, both the learning and teaching of this language and its cultures. Yet throughout time, I learned that the key in education is to think of our students not only as students of English as Foreign Language (EFL), but also as persons in process of personal and social growth. This change of mind-set is totally aligned with the wider goals of education proposed by the UNESCO in order to endorse a more humanistic approach for all the societies around the globe in the 21st century: “Education can be transformative and contribute to a sustainable future for all. Based on this ethical foundation, critical thinking, independent judgement, problem-solving, and information and media literacy skills are the keys to developing transformative attitudes” (2015:38). According to the approach that I already stated in my previous article (2017), when thinking of my EFL lessons from a more holistic and competencial approach, other key competences –such as learning to learn and learning to think–are at stake beyond the development of the linguistic and communicative competence. In this article, I would like to explain firstly how I develop these cross-curricular competences and the related skills in my EFL lessons, by offering a view of the whole as well as exploring some of its parts. Thus, in the first place I am going to offer a glimpse of what a thinking culture and, particularly, a Thinking-Based Learning (TBL) approach are all about. Secondly, I am going to unfold three specific examples, which I have implemented in my EFL lessons in both Secondary Obligatory and Post-Obligatory Education. Particularly, I have chosen examples from each educational stage (7th and 11th grades); nonetheless, they can be used in every other single level with the corresponding adjustments. These examples show how to get easily started by covering different components of a TBL approach: a thinking skill, a thinking routine and some habits of mind, which I have identified as embedded in a dialogical practice. From the basics, more complex processes of thinking can be developed. On the whole, when putting these different thinking skills, routines, strategies and habits of mind at work, I try to plant seeds for a thinking culture to blossom in my ELF classrooms. Moreover, mastering them requires that students practise them not only in the English class during the school year, but also in other subjects or with other contents. Furthermore, it is remarkable to say that these are skills to be developed and enhanced throughout time, rather than to be assessed with a grade. Yet, their positive influence can be seen both in the evaluation and assessment tools presented, which can be transformed into numbers, as well as in the grades obtained. This article will be presented as follows: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 98 1. A THINKING CULTURE IN THE EFL CLASSROOM TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ SKILFUL THINKING SKILLS 1.1. THINKING BASED LEARNING (TBL) AND THINKING SKILLS 1.2. VISIBLE THINKING AND THINKING ROUTINES 1.3. HABITS OF MIND 1.4. SOCRATIC DEBATE OR CIRCLES 2. PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES TO INFUSE A THINKING CULTURE IN EFL CLASSROOMS 2.1. EXAMPLE 1: ‘COMPARE & CONTRAST’ THINKING SKILL (7TH& 11TH GRADES) STEP 1: Setting the basics to use this thinking skill STEP 2: Co-creating a thinking strategy map STEP 3: Thinking and analysing with a graphic organiser STEP 4: Putting thoughts and analysis into a piece of writing STEP 5: Thinking about thinking or metacognition 2.2. EXAMPLE 2: ‘THINK-PAIR-SHARE’ THINKING ROUTINE (ALLGRADES) STEP 1: Starting straightaway to use this thinking routine STEP 2: Getting into thinking individually STEP 3: Getting in pairs STEP 4: Sharing thoughts 2.3. EXAMPLE 3: SOCRATIC DEBATE OR CIRCLES (11TH GRADE) STEP 1: Brainstorming different topics and voting for a topic STEP 2: Reading, listening and watching about that topic STEP 3: Getting to know the basics STEP 4: Sitting in two concentric circles. Space matters! STEP 5: Carrying out the debate STEP 6: Giving formative feedback 1. A THINKING CULTURE IN THE EFL CLASSROOM TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ SKILFUL THINKING Following Tishman, Perkins and Jay (1994), when referring to a thinking culture, I mean a type of school atmosphere where thinking is all around, both invisibly and visibly. I also identify it with which Project Zero states that “Students experience school as a place where thinking is valued and given time, rich opportunities for thinking abound in their day-to-day classroom experience, models of thinking are present in the form of seeing teachers and peers as fellow thinkers, and the environment is full with the documentation of thinking”. In order to provide enriching opportunities of this kind in my EFL classroom, I aim to set the proper climate that allows for co-participation, trust and respect, as necessary requirements. Once they are achieved, I introduce a variety of elements within a thinking culture, like the TBL methodology, the ‘Visible Thinking’ project, Socratic debate or circles, visual thinking and mind mapping. 1.1. THINKING-BASED LEARNING (TBL) AND THINKING SKILLS According to Swartz (2011), Thinking-Based Learning (TBL) “involves instruction in procedures for doing various types of higher order thinking skillfully (...) and in important thinking routines (...), that the teacher then asks students to use in thinking about important content that they are learning”. For this purpose, infusion becomes the core approach to teaching thinking, which is “based on the natural fusion of information that is taught in the content areas with forms of skilful thinking that we should use every day to live our lives productively” (Swartz, Parks, 1994: 4). In other words, it is not about teaching a procedure per se, but about direct instruction within meaningful contexts that require the use of that specific skill. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 99 The thinking skills that are considered most useful to teach at school are categorised into three main groups: 1) Skills at generating ideas, 2) Skills at clarifying ideas and 3) Skills at assessing the reasonableness of ideas. Additionally, they can blend to engage in broader processes, such as decision making and problem solving (Swartz, Parks, 1994). In the example 2.1, I will focus on the ‘Compare and contrast’ skill, which I decided to apply when observing my students’ needs to clarify some concepts. From that experience, I put it into practice in every level which I teach. 1.2. VISIBLE THINKING AND THINKING ROUTINES Visible thinking is understood by Project Zero as “a broad and flexible framework for enriching classroom learning in the content areas and fostering students' intellectual development at the same time”. Project Zero also states its key goals: a deeper understanding of the content, greater motivation for learning, the development of learners' thinking and learning abilities, the development of learners' attitudes toward thinking and learning, and their alertness to opportunities for thinking and learning. Visible thinking is based on a series of thinking routines, which are defined as “simple patterns of thinking that can be used over and over again and folded easily into learning in the subject areas” (Perkins, 2003: 2). As they are goal oriented, they promote different types of thinking, for instance: deeper inquiry, exploring diverse perspectives, exploring the complexity of dilemmas, etc. Unlike thinking skills, they do not “need to be taught at all as such. A teacher can put it to work right away with no introduction” (Perkins, 2003: 4). Project Zero considers some core routines, which are easy to get started with and which can commonly be found in ‘Visible Thinking’ teachers' toolkits. In the example 2.2, I am going to explain in detail the ‘Think-Pair-Share’ core routine, one of the easiest ones to be implemented. I often use it to engage my students from every single level in expressing and listening to each other just by following a few simple steps. 1.3. HABITS OF MIND Habits of mind are defined as the behaviours, dispositions, attributes and characteristics “of what intelligent people do when they are confronted with problems, the resolutions to which are not immediately apparent” (Costa, 2008: 15). Moreover, they enhance both the behaviour and the depth of our thinking, the attitudes which we have toward it, and our social interaction when we engage in skilful thinking (Swartz, Costa, Beyer, Reagan, Kallick, 2008). In total, there are 16 key habits of mind: (Adapted from http://www.habitsofmindinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HOM.Chart.Horizontal.pdf) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 100 1.4. SOCRATIC DEBATE OR CIRCLES Copeland states that “what Socratic circles offer students and teachers more than anything is the opportunity to practice and hone their skills in critical thinking” (2005:11). This is the reason why, although it is not considered part of a thinking-based learning approach, I believe that it is a powerful dialogical strategy that can be used to enhance a thinking culture. Actually, it promotes the development of habits of minds and other components from TBL while thinking and discussing about a myriad of topics. Thus, Socratic debate, dialogue or circles is not only about giving a voice to the students, which is a fundamental right, as UNESCO (1989) affirms in articles 12 and 13 from the “Convention of the Rights of the Child”. At the same time, the learning goals that the curriculum sets concerning the four core communicative skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking) can be fulfilled by sequencing a series of communicative tasks. Copeland adds that “Critical reading, critical thinking, discussion skills, listening skills, team-building skills, vocabulary improvement, and student ownership, voice, and empowerment are all valid reasons for including Socratic circles in the classroom. But perhaps more important is the reality that Socratic circles foster in students a new way of looking at the world around them” (2005: 3). 2. PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES TO INFUSE A THINKING CULTURE IN EFL CLASSROOMS In the previous section, I exposed the basic notions of a thinking culture. Here, I will present three different educational practices tightly connected with this approach through examples which will be detailed step by step. 2.1. EXAMPLE 1: ‘COMPARE & CONTRAST’ THINKING SKILL (7TH& 11THGRADES) I realised that students in 11th and 12th grades encountered many difficulties when telling the difference between an opinion and a discussion essay, and most of them even mixed them up. Hence, applying this particular thinking skill became a powerful strategy by means of which students could go deeper in understanding. From that experience, I also applied this thinking skill in other contexts and levels, for instance, in 7th grade students worked on a close topic, the world of schools, related to British culture. They learned about some British schools and their education system, and they were given the chance to compare and contrast our school with one of the British schools to choose: the Royal Ballet School, Eton College or the Brit School. In this case, the ‘Compare and Contrast’ thinking skill allows students to go through a type of analytical thinking more carefully and skilfully. It is not simply about spotting differences and similarities, but also about analysing which of them are meaningful, and under which criterion. And in the end, they have to develop some deep conclusions, which they have to synthesise. This is the procedure which I followed: STEP 1: Setting the basics to use this thinking skill Before getting started, I bear in mind that one of my main aims is to raise awareness of the thinking processes that we both teachers and students use when carrying out different types of tasks. Therefore, every time that I put into practice a thinking skill, I explain my students what they are going to do and the reason why it is necessary to do it. In this case, using the ‘Compare and Contrast’ thinking skill helps to clarify some ideas and get a deeper understanding about two specific issues by analysing them. I also tell them about the importance of following each step, especially in the beginning, until the whole procedure is fully acquired. Allowing time for thinking and reflection becomes a must in this context (Hargreaves, 2017). Thus, I always plan ahead more time, or even, a few more sessions than a simple process would English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 101 take. This time is going to be precious and very valuable, particularly in this first stage, as it is an investment that gives amazing results in the long run. STEP 2: Co-creating a thinking strategy map When using any thinking skill, it is key to create a thinking strategy map in collaboration with my students. So, the way that I scaffold their ideas is conclusive for the success of the elaboration of the thinking map. Therefore, I start by encouraging my students to elicit the steps which they usually follow to compare and contrast two things (whatever they are) and I ask questions to guide them, so that they can go into the deepest possible knowledge. It is important to remember that these questions can be easily adapted using the most appropriate language according to the level of the class group. As it is an outstanding element in every TBL process, the resulting thinking map for this particular thinking skill needs to be visible at all times. The thinking map often has questions like the following ones: 1. How are the things similar? / 2. How are they different? / 3. What similarities and differences seem meaningful? / 4. What categories or patterns do you see in the meaningful differences? / 5. What interpretation or conclusion is suggested by the significant similarities and differences? STEP 3: Thinking and analysing with a graphic organiser Next, students need to think individually in a silent mode. They have to take notes of their own ideas, which can be modified and enriched along the whole process. I ask them to get in pairs or small groups and work collaboratively by sharing their ideas. Before starting this collaborative team work, I tell them about some basic rules, related to some habits of mind, to bear in mind: 1) Listening actively and carefully to their peers, 2) Letting their classmates finish expressing their ideas without interrupting them, and 3) Not judging what their peers say straightway. In this step, students take notes in a so-called graphic organiser, which the following figure shows. As you can see, the graphic organiser corresponds to the questions in the thinking map. Therefore, it is a useful tool to organise the ideas clearly and coherently in a visual way. A4 copies, for individual work, and an A3 one, for team work, are recommended. Yet, the graphic organiser can be created manually by the students, instead of using the photocopy, as it can help them remember better every single step which the procedure requires. Grade 11th Graphic organiser, adapted from Swartz, Costa, Beyer, Reagan, Kallick (2008: 56) At this stage, students go through all the graphic organiser together as a team by answering the questions in the thinking map step by step, except the conclusions. It is essential for the thinking and reflective process that each student can synthesise the information and get to some English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 102 conclusions on their own, as this is the way to show up to what point they understand and acquire some deep knowledge on the topics covered. Grade 7th Graphic organisers and drafts STEP 4: Putting thoughts and analysis into a piece of writing After ending all the thinking procedure, I often ask students to put all that information analysed into a piece of writing, which includes at least four paragraphs: 1) The introduction, 2) The explanation of the similarities that both things share, 3) The discussion of the differences between both according to a variety of categories, and 4) The conclusion. When I work on the writing process, I remind students to follow each step: 1) Outline, 2) Draft, 3) Revision, and 4) Final production. At this point, I can focus on language as well, by listing some specific vocabulary or grammar structures that the students have to use, or by prompting them to use the bank of words and expressions that they have built together during the whole process. For further details on the process of translating good thinking into good writing specific instructions and guidelines of a writing map can be consulted in Swartz, Costa, Beyer, Reagan, Kallick (2008). Grade 7th Projects This writing task can be either an extension activity or part of a project. For instance, when I work on a project about schools in 7th grade, students end up producing a poster which includes pictures, QR codes with the links of the official school websites, a map with the location of the schools, the graphic organiser and an essay which tells about the similarities, the contrasts and the conclusions analysed. STEP 5: Thinking about thinking or metacognition English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 103 Once I finish with the whole procedure, I invite the students to bring awareness and to think about the thinking processes that they applied, the strengths and challenges which they faced, and how they would do it next time according to the ladder of metacognition (Swartz, Costa, Beyer, Reagan, Kallick, 2008). Other types of thinking processes will be presented in examples 2.2 and 2.3. 2.2. EXAMPLE 2: ‘THINK-PAIR-SHARE’, A THINKING ROUTINE (ALL GRADES) According to Project Zero, the ‘Think-Pair-Share’ is a type of core and understanding routine, which is used to encourage active reasoning and explanation about a problem, a question or issue integrated and used in a variety of contexts. Besides, it is one of the recommended routines to start with, as it is very simple and easy to include in an everyday class. I use it in every single EFL level, and from my experience it can also be used in other subjects. STEP 1: Starting straightaway to use this thinking routine There is no need to explain the full procedure of a thinking routine to students as they get the dynamics quickly by carrying it out repeatedly a few times until they become natural ways to work. However, I recommend explaining it through direct instruction whenever it is used for the first time. Additionally, images can also help to memorise the steps to follow in a visible way. STEP 2: Getting into thinking individually I ask my students to think individually first about whatever topic that I want them to deal with. I usually set a short time, about two minutes, for personal thinking time. STEP 3: Getting in pairs I tell students to get in pairs. If they always sit in the same place, I ask them to pair with their classmate on the left/right, in front or behind. Yet this definitely depends on classroom dynamics and how classroom management works best in each group class. STEP 4: Sharing thoughts I ask students to share their thoughts or ideas by using an active listening strategy. In each pair, they can assign a letter to each member, A or B. Then, students A are given an amount of time, about 1 minute, to talk and express their ideas. During that time, students B only listen to their classmates, but cannot interfere. When time is over, it is students B’s turn to speak, while students A listen carefully. At this point, students B can express their ideas by building upon what students A previously said. It is key that both members in the pair have the same amount of time to speak. To control time, I use either a countdown timer on my mobile phone or an online timer projected on the screen. This little detail can also make a big difference to create a climate of fairness in the class, where students feel comfortable and treated equally. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 104 2.3. EXAMPLE 3: SOCRATIC DEBATE OR CIRCLES (11TH GRADE) This dialogical strategy boosts the development of the four communicative skills: it is not only about dealing with the oral communicative skills (listening and speaking); but, being creative allows working with the written ones (reading and writing), as well as with specific linguistic aspects, such as vocabulary and grammar. Moreover, thanks to Socratic circles, multiple habits of mind can be trained to improve skilful thinking, such as: managing impulsivity in thinking and acting, thinking flexibly, thinking interdependently, listening with understanding and empathy, and communicating with clarity and precision. This all implies a strategic procedure that needs to be implemented step by step so that it can be developed in its full potential. I will exemplify it through some of my work in 11th grade. STEP 1: Brainstorming different topics and voting for a topic Unless I really want to deal with a particular topic that is the main theme of a unit that I have to cover, I rather increase students’ motivation by giving them the chance to elicit topics about current issues of their interest which are happening around the world. As I use the Edmodo online platform, it is easy to tell them to take their time to choose and share their topics one or two weeks before the Socratic debate takes place. I tell them to do it within a period of time, or from one lesson to the following one. Then, I create a poll with the different topics chosen so that they can vote, preferably on the same day. If I want to make sure that they have time to vote, I allow them to do it in class using their mobile devices. In less than two minutes that can be done, and before the end of that session we all know what topic will be discussed in the previously arranged date. STEP 2: Reading, listening and watching about that topic Once the topic is chosen, during the first debates I choose the resources which I would like my students to read, listen or watch in order to prepare the topic under discussion. These resources have information about what the topic at stake is about, some pros and cons, or some different perspectives from different resources. Besides, bearing in mind the diversity of levels in class, I offer material in different levels and different types of support to be as inclusive as possible. What is more, I also encourage students to share other material that they may consider interesting as well. In this way, I can see and analyse what type of resources they tend to use, and at the same time, I can guide them to choose resources from reliable sources critically. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 105 As I want them to expand their knowledge on specific vocabulary about the chosen topic too, I provide them with a glossary of vocabulary and useful expressions. Otherwise, I suggest them to create their own glossary or mind map of useful language (vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, etc). I additionally work on general language which students can use in a discussion or debate for different purposes. They highlight the expressions which they think that they mostly use from a list taken from the ESL Buzz website. Then I ask them to choose and write new expressions which they want to learn in a handout, which I modify according to the most challenging aspects for them, after having observed them. Likewise, I encourage them to keep and revise this list in every debate which they participate in along the school year, except when they are assessed (which I will refer to in steps 5 and 6). Thus, it implies that they need to study and learn this new language by heart to widen their knowledge. Handout sample STEP 3: Getting to know the basics I make sure that everybody knows what a Socratic circle is about before starting. Hence, I explain everyone’s roles and we read the handouts together at least for the first time, to ensure that English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 106 they understand both the key ideas and how to give formative feedback, and to clarify possible doubts which may appear. Sample handouts from Mir, B., Ripoll, O., Betrian, J. (2017).Descodificant el Deeper Learning a l’aula. FundacióJaumeBofill (own translation) STEP 4: Sitting in two concentric circles. Space matters! Before getting into the debate, the classroom layout needs to be prepared for Socratic circles. Therefore, desks, tables and schoolbags are moved away by both my students and I. Then, we place 5 or 6 chairs in a circle and the same number in an outer circle. In fact, different circles can be arranged depending on the total number of students in the group classes. STEP 5: Carrying out the debate Once all the preparation is ready, it is time for the real debates to start. Students in the inner circle discuss or debate about the chosen topic bearing in mind the basics in communication, (active conversation and listening). By contrast, students in the outer circle listen and take notes about students´performances in the inner circle in the observation grid shown above. Although students are usually assigned in a one-to-one basis, depending on the classroom ratio I sometimes assign two students in the outer circle instead. It really works if those students focus on different aspects: while one takes notes to evaluate the Socratic circle technique as such, the other one evaluates the linguistic competence with an evaluation tool, like a rubric or a chart of oral interactions.The debate can last for as long as necessary; however, I recommend starting with short debates (about seven minutes long), so that the whole process can be fully completed at least in the first lesson. Thus, students can get the overall idea of how it works and it makes sense for them. Again, projecting an online countdown timer is also very useful because the students can see how much time they have English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 107 left throughout the debate. In this way, those students who struggle to participate know that they need to engage before the time runs out. Chart of oral interactions designed by Mar Cano STEP 6: Giving formative feedback Going through all the evaluation and assessment tools together with all the group class before getting started is essential to ensure that all the students know what aspects they have to take into account in order to perform exceptionally. Once the debate is over, the classmates in the outer circle give formative feedback and discuss the notes which they took about their partners’ performance paying close attention to the type of language used. After that, students can take a look at their charts and observation grids to check what aspects they specifically need to improve, and consequently, focus on them in the following task. Getting engaged with this approach has carried me away by the awesome impact these practices create on students’ learning of EFL, and their interactions with others and with the world. Although at times it may be a truly challenging endeavour, it is worth remembering that, as a Chinese proverb says, “a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step”. In my experience, the earlier students get started the better, for these can be carried out independently of students’ age and level, and it is only a matter of readjusting these powerful educational practices according to the diversity in our classrooms. References Cano, M. (2017, April) “EFL Challenging Tasks for Late Teens from a Competencial Approach”. In English Is It! (ELT Training Series) 8, 89-101. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/112923/6/VOLUM%208%20%28ELT%20Training %20Series%29.pdf English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 108 Copeland, M. (2005) Socratic Circles: Fostering critical and creative thinking in middle and high school. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers. Costa, A. (2008) “Describing the Habits of Mind”. In Costa, A. and Kallick, B. (Eds.) Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind: 16 Essential Characteristics for Success. Alexandria: ASCD. Edmodo https://www.edmodo.com/ ESL Buzz “Useful Phrases for Discussion and Debate in English: Expressions to Use in Group Discussions & Conversations in English” https://www.eslbuzz.com/useful-phrases-for-discussion-and-debate-in-english/ Hargreaves, L. (2017) “Cal donar temps als infants perquè puguin pensar”. In Vidal, C. (Comp.) 15 Diàlegs d’educació. (129-134). Barcelona: Graó. King, F.J., Goodson, L., Rohani, F. (1998) Higher Order Thinking Skills: Definition, teaching strategies, assessment. Educational Services Program, Center for Advancement of Learning and Assessment. https://informationtips.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/higher-order-thinking-skills_.pdf Online timer https://www.online-stopwatch.com/eggtimer-countdown/ Perkins, D. (2003) “Making thinking visible”. New horizons for learning http://schoolofeducators.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/MakingThinkingVisible_DP.pdf Project Zero (n.d.) VisibleThinking http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/VisibleThinking1.html Ritchhart, R., Perkins, D. (2008, February) “Making Thinking Visible”. Educational Leadership, 65 (5), 57-61. Alexandria: ASCD. Swartz, R. (2011) “What is Thinking-Based Learning?” Center for Teaching Thinking http://teach-think.org/what-is-tbl/ Swartz, R., Costa. A, Beyer, B., Reagan, R., Kallick, B. (2008) Thinking Based Learning: Promoting Quality Student Achievement in the 21st century. New York: Teachers College Press. Swartz, R., Parks, S. (1994) Infusing the Teaching of Critical and Creative Thinking into Content Instruction: A Lesson Design Handbook for the Elementary Grades. Pacific Grove: Critical Thinking Press & Software. Tishman, S., Perkins, D., Jay, E. (1994) Un aula para pensar: Aprender y enseñar en una cultura de pensamiento.Buenos Aires: Aique. UNESCO (1989) Convention on the rights of the Child. http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/CHILD_E.PDF UNESCO (2015) Rethinking education: towards a common goal? Paris: UNESCO. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 109 Teaching Assistants from Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) in Junior High School, High School and Vocational School RosamariaFàbrega rfabreg9@xtec.cat Madeleine Harms madeleineharms_2019@depauw.edu Ethan Waugh waughe@etown.edu Rosamaria Fàbrega must have worked with over thirty BCA teaching assistants over the years. In this article two of her latest American assistants intervene: Madeleine Harms, a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, and Ethan Waugh, at present studying Political science and Spanish. Their enthusiastic and excellent work at school, and participation in this article are gratefully acknowledged. This article's train of thought has been devised by Rosamaria Fàbrega, and has been written in the third person. Since this article necessarily includes fundamental reports, in the 1st person, by the two above-mentioned BCA assistants: Madeleine Harms' on the teaching assistants´ view, and Ethan Waugh's on the students´, it is co-authored by the three of them, who are also referred in the third person. This facilitates the visualization of the project, the reading, while focuses on the necessary intervention of three main components, which also enhanced here. For years different teachers have joined the Foreign Languages Department at Rosamaria Fàbrega'ssecondary school, leading to high quality team work, and welcoming EFL teaching assistants in class. The Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA)Teaching Assistants Project has been carried out over two decades in junior high school, high school and vocational school in Barcelona. This article describes a project that can be easily adapted to all EFL teaching situations and expertise. There is only one condition that needs to be fulfilled: the instructors, who are the organizers,and the teaching assistants must be willing to get involved in it so that everything runs smoothly for the school benefit, and also all the people involved evenly benefit from it all.This article is divided into three parts, each presenting a viewpoint from all the participants: A) The teachers' B) The teaching assistants' C) The students' A) THE TEACHERS' The BCATeaching Assistants Project is a rewarding educational international project which was suggested by Rosamaria Fàbrega. Being always interested in counting on English speakers and having the experience of working with them, she already presented "Hanging out in Class...? No Way!: Native Speakers and Technology" (2015). In that article she emphasizes the relevance of transmitting passion for knowledge and wisdom through what she calls “Learning English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 110 Presents” which are never compulsory activities, as the curriculum is, but, which are offered to all students through class sessions and the intervention of, for instance, native speakers. In all cases they help to foster the students’ speaking skill, among other areas which will be detailed here. Rosamaria Fàbrega started working with BCA in the late 80s, when she was teaching in a secondary school. Having led this project for so many years has provided her with an exact picture of its pros and cons of having an English language assistant in class. All in all in the great picture the gains beat any possible loss or inconvenience which organizing such a thorough project might bring because lessons become fully meaningful from all angles, which is the point, and ensures EFL learning.Having an English teaching assistant always adds up to the EFL class because: - It is motivating - It encourages continuous learning - It counts on a surprise factor - It is made available to multilevel students - BCA assistants provide an American cultural background which complements the British one in textbooks - Students learn about culture - Students have the chance of directly asking the assistant for specific areas of their interest - Students confirm that what they learn serves a real communication purpose - Students enjoy its authenticity and dynamism - Students get to learn the latest colloquial English Organization skills have helped the Brethren Colleges Abroad(BCA)Teaching Assistants Project be successful from the start. On the one hand BCA Teaching Assistants are students at the University of Barcelona, which have been carefully selected by the Barcelona coordinator, Dr Carmen Barbosa. On the other, BCA Teaching Assistants need some orientation and guidance to get started, which is provided by Rosamaria Fàbrega, the coordinator at the secondary school. Diligence, serious work and yearly experiences on both coordinators´ ends have led to the following conclusions: - BCA students who have turned into EFL teaching assistants are always very grateful when provided with basic EFL methodological steps - They also appreciate being monitored because in some cases BCA teaching assistants might have a similar age to the students that are in their classrooms. - They are always willing to provide for assistance in the EFL class - They are always committed to serious organization and preparation, which leads them to also enjoy very positive outcome from minute one. Last but not least students here very much enjoy welcoming the American Teaching Assistants in class and at school, and helping them feel at home during their semester or year in Barcelona. Therefore, both “host” students here and American “guest” teaching assistants, share a wonderful learning language and culture scenario, which gets them closer, as they all take advantage of the riches of the international exchange at all levels. B) THE TEACHING ASSISTANTS Rosamaria Fàbrega has yearly asked BCA teaching assistants to provide feedback on their work, the organization behind and the hosting school. Madeleine Harms provided a English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 111 comprehensive report on her work as a BCA teaching assistant, which exemplifies the passionate and devoted work which American teaching assistants do at school. When Madeleine Harms was a BCA student at University of Barcelona, she had completed her third year of undergraduate studies at DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana. She spent her second semester of the 2017-2018 academic yearstudying at the University of Barcelona to better her Spanish through the American study abroad program. For two years, Madeleine had already volunteered in a Language Arts classroom. Moreover, in the summers, she had also helped her step mother (who is a mathematics teacher as well as a school principal director in the United States) teaching mathematics to elementary and middle school children. Observing Madeleine get started as a BCA teaching assistant and working in the different classrooms, level and students was a pleasure for us to see as well. Human touch and care was imprinted in all that she did. Madeleine is considering going to medical school in the next few years and becoming an Emergency Room doctor. When Madeleinewas asked to provide feedback on the BCA Teaching Assistant Project, and her learning, she sent in a heartfeltand sensible report which describes what the gains of participating in such a project can be. The report is provided in full at the end of this section with some excerpts in bold to facilitate its complete reading. To have an introductory idea of what Madeleine refers to, Rosamaria Fàbrega has summarized Madeleine's points as follows: - Having the opportunity to work with different group ages - Helping students in preparing their job careers - Having a chance to have her own ideas developed - Learning to work with different teachers - Being open to answer questions - Learning about multilevel students within the same grade - Getting to know one another - Learning about different activities - Ensuring that fun is part of the class - Learning about the curriculum - Teaching about her American life - Talking about food differences - Complimenting the teacher's work - Observing improvement in speaking, reading and cognitive activities - Getting the students to converse - Being a model herself of a learner of Spanish as a foreign language - Preventing students of using the Google Translator - Helping students be creative - Promoting reading games - Using games which she had learnt in Spanish as a foreign language - Highlighting the relevance of immersion in a foreign language - Learning the relevance of teachers who promote international projects like this one Madeleine Harms' report can be fully read next: BCA TEACHING ASSISTANT FEEDBACK REPORT Madeleine Harms (2017-2018) This semester I have worked with three different groups of students at Institut Severo Ochoa: 14-15 year olds, 17 year olds, and 18-20+ year olds, which was an animation class to help students get jobs in the English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 112 tourism industry. Though I enjoyed this position and helping out in the classroom greatly, my schedule only permitted me to be at the school on Mondays from nine until lunch time. I started the semester with a few ideas of things that I could bring to the class and managed to include some of them along with the normally scheduled lessons. The first day that I started as a teaching assistant in the younger two classes worked out well with what the classes were learning, which at the time was descriptions. Elena, the teacher I was with, decided that I wouldn’t do an introduction until later in the semester and this allowed for us to have the students practice their speaking skills on the first day. The students were told nothing about me and told that I did not speak Castilian so that they were forced to use their English skills. I was asked many question about who I was, where I came from, about my hobbies and interests, and anything else that the students wanted to ask, within reason. Elena asked the students about me after each small group had a chance to interview me and they had to relay the information back to her. This exercise was beneficial to both the students as well as myself. I was able to get a read on and understand the mix of levels among the students and see how comfortable the individuals felt in speaking in English. It also gave the students a chance to get to know me through a fun and very casual activity that also encouraged them to practice their oratory skills. We provided them an opportunity to get to know me as well as help them be comfortable with a stranger that would continue to help teach the class through the semester. I believe that this was a good way to bring student teachers into the fold of the classroom, but I think next time that this is done, there should perhaps be a way for the volunteers to learn the names of the students as well. That was the first of many activities we did in the classes. I prepared two presentations based on subjects that I thought would be fun for the classes and were made to prompt questions and discussions. I also reached out to Elena about the grammar subjects that were being covered during the time that I would be there to prepare some activities that furthered the understanding of the subjects in an entertaining as well as applicable manner. The first Power Point Presentation that I did was about myself. I included information about where I live in the United States, where I went to high school, where I go to college, pictures of my city, activities that I enjoy doing with my friends, and pictures of my family and pets. As I had been living in Barcelona for just shy of a month and I had already started to notice all the differences between my life in the United States and my life in Barcelona so I was very aware of what differences I could include in my presentation that I could highlight to prompt the student to ask questions. I also included a picture of food from one of my favorite restaurants and that incited more questions than I had ever imagined, and this lead me to create a presentation on different types of food and meals in the United States. For this presentation, I tried to use pictures of my family and I eating as well as pictures from my favorite restaurants to make it more tangible and real than just pictures that were obviously stock images of food. The differences in Spanish and American foods are very stark so this sparked a lot of conversation among the students and we were also able to go over different types of vocabulary about eating, types of food, and meals. I also was able to collaborate with Elena on what different grammatical themes were being studied at different points in the semester, and then prepared some activities for the students to do in classes that helped to further the comprehension of the subject. The first one we did was in the younger class and was based on the Second Conditional. I created a list of about twenty silly hypothetical questions, and the students had to follow the model for answering utilizing the aforementioned grammar topic. Though the students did this on their own for homework, we were able to go over their answers vocally as well as correcting their written responses. This was an unusual activity and it provided a way for me to see the difference in what made sense in my mind versus what they understood from these fun questions and gave me an opportunity to figure out how to explain things that I thought obvious and, though silly, easy to understand. The second activity we did with the batxillerat class was based on relative clauses. I gave them a list of eight relative phrases, divided the class into groups of three and four, and told them that they had to write a creative short story utilizing each of the relative phrases. I wrote a short example and showed them so that they could understand a more easily what I was asking of them. This activity was a success as they seemed to enjoy having the opportunity to take be more creative around learning grammar. The students were eager to English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 113 ask questions to see which phrases they were missing, how they could better use a phrase in a sentence, and other productive questions. I was not able to do activities like this every Monday, but I was still able to contribute in other ways to the class in their daily work that Elena had planned for the students. Though sometimes this was in their written work, we tried to take advantage of the fact that, as a native speaker, it would be more beneficial to have the students engage with me in conversation rather than just revising and editing their English on paper. One of these such activities with the older students was instructing two of them to read a two different short article and help them with unknown words, then the students were to summarize each to each other. This activity that we all worked on in pairs was to not only to help the students with their reading and comprehension, but also understanding how to effectively summarize information and vocalize it well enough for someone else to be able to understand the main points. After helping the students figure out the main points and how to explain the material, we discussed some proposed questions pertaining to the articles that were aimed to prompt more conversation and further their consideration of how to interpret more than the information directly illuminated. This in class activity helped the students in their speaking, reading, and cognitive abilities so it was a very beneficial in many different areas of their English skills. Another speaking activity that we did in groups in Elena’s older class was based on observing pictures of different settings as well as different people. In the person descriptions we first reviewed different aspects of people that can be used to identify them such as hair and eye color, body shape, age, and other factors as well as in what order the descriptors should be used. When we did this in groups, the other students had to try to guess which person in the picture was being described. In the activity that was based on place and setting descriptions, the students were to choose any place in the world, look at a picture of it, and then write a detailed summary of how it looked as well as why they chose and liked this place. While I did help in editing their written work, I also had the students speak to me and tell me why they chose this place and give me different aspects of it that they liked utilizing the vocab that they had learned the previous week about how best to give a description of a place. Both of these activities, like most of the others, were aimed at getting the students conversing with me. Many times they were embarrassed about speaking out loud because they were afraid of messing up, but I tried to be reassuring and tell them about how, even though I have been studying Spanish for many years, I still make mistakes when I am speaking and that the only way to get better and make fewer mistakes is to practice. One activity that was trickier than I had anticipated was writing poetry. There were two grammar ideas that we focused on when working on editing the poem with the students: rhyming and second conditional. While the second conditional is something that had been worked on previously, the idea of rhyming, while simple, is rather difficult to put into practice, especially not in one’s primary language. The easiest way that we worked on this was individually. I went around to the students and had themread their poems written out loud and we listened intently to the last words of every line. Sometimes it would take a couple of tries and prompting for the students to see how the words did or did not rhyme. While a word may have looked like it would rhyme with another based on the way it was spelled, we saw that the best way was to have them read it out loud. One useful tool that I believe would aid the students in the future is an online rhyming dictionary. This is extraordinarily useful because not only does it give a plethora of different words, but it also has an auditory component where one can listen to the words, which can greatly help with confusions from spelling and pronunciation. In Elena’s older class, there students were told to prepare a description of a place, whatever place they wanted, that included physical properties, hypotheses about what the place was like, why someone would want to visit, and what one could do in this location. I aided in editing these descriptions, but before that, I sat down with the students and had them tell me, without reading directly from their homework, a few of the aforementioned aspects. I believe that this was an important part of this class work because in a setting where nearly every student has access to the internet, whether on a computer or phone, it is extremely easy to simply plug in their description in their preferred language then have Google do the translating for them. This oral part of the class work helped to determine if the students had actually put in the effort to work on bettering their language skills as well as showed the students what they needed to work on. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 114 Another in class oral activity that we did in Elena’s younger class was describing jobs while focusing on the use of modal verbs. In small groups, the students were directed to say what one must or mustn't do in a specific job and write it down on a piece of paper. They had to communicate with each other in these small groups, and then after everyone was finished, they also had to read aloud what they had written as a list of “rules” for their chosen jobs while the other members of the class had to use their rules as clues so that they could guess the job. This activity seemed to be greatly enjoyed by the students as it allowed them to have fun and be creative. Though it took some thinking and consideration of what a job consists of, it provoked more conversation after a group went as students yelled out, “You forgot this!” or “Can they do this?” or “Is that a must or a should?” and we were able to really analyze the nuances of modal verbs. In the older class with Ana, one of the most fun activities we did was using directions in describing pictures. This helped the students learn about left and right, foreground and background, and other relative directions. The way we implemented this is by having one student have a picture while the other student was instructed to draw the picture based on the others’ instructions and descriptions of the simple image. As this class was working mostly on English for potential jobs in tourism, this really helped them understand how to give physics directions on what something looks like or where something should go relative to another thing. It was a huge success in terms of location accuracy even if not all of the students had fantastic artistic skills, which I didn’t either when I tried to do the activity with them. There were a few activities that I regret not being able to do, but think would be extraordinarily helpful in bettering the English skills of these students. One game is a sort of “get to know you” game that includes reading as well as speaking, which would be perfect for the beginning of a new teaching assistant’s semester. There are various questions about different things that ask the students to share a bit more about their personalities, hobbies, and other such things written on a soccer ball, and then it’s tossed around and whatever question their thumb lands on, is the question they have to read out loud and then answer. It’s a game that I have used in many different orientations, but is also applicable to learning a language as it forces students to practice reading as well as speaking. It could also be modified to fit different grammar subjects very easily. Another activity that I wish I had been able to do was use songs to help apply different grammar subjects. For instance, if the students are learning about the different past tenses, then find a song that uses this grammar topic a good amount, and print out the lyrics and they have to listen and follow along and identify where the topic is used. This is something that I have done in my past Spanish classes and it’s a good way to have fun and mix learning about grammar while exposing students to some culture. The last idea that I had come from a program I participated in while studying in Barcelona called “intercambio.” I was really impressed with and enjoyed the experience of meeting outside of a classroom with someone who was learning English at the University of Barcelona because it gave me a chance to learn more about the Spanish culture while practicing the language, and my partner expressed the same sentiments as well when we spoke in English. I think that with the older students this would be a very beneficial activity to do outside of the classroom because it would be a more relaxed environment and I believe that it would give the students more confidence in their speaking abilities. It can be intimidating speaking in front of other students, so this would give them a chance to mess up without having the pressure of everyone else listening and watching. Overall this relationship that Severo Ochoa has with BCA Study Abroad is wonderful for giving students like myself and others the opportunity to connect with the culture in a way that’s distinct from going to restaurants, bars, and spending time with our, generally, older host parents. I was able to see a completely opposite aspect of daily life that I had gone through when I was fourteen, but how it is in a different country. I hope to see this relationship continue to grow and flourish because I did see an improvement in the students’ English though I was there for a short three or so months. I also think that it makes learning a language feel more applicable when you get to know someone who actually speaks that language and interact with that person on a regular basis. The immersion part of learning a language is so vital to really strengthening one’s knowledge and confidence in the subject. This is something that I have personally experienced as I studied in Barcelona and grew to really be able to English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 115 converse well in a language that wasn’t my first. I am confident that Rosamaria will continue to advocate for the growth of the plurilingual approach to teaching language at this institution and I am beyond grateful for having had the opportunity to assist in this endeavor. C) THE STUDENTS As indicated earlier, Rosamaria Fàbrega has yearly asked BCA teaching assistants to provide feedback on their work, the organization behind and the hosting school. The third part of this article is written by Ethan Waugh, an American undergraduate student of Political Science and Spanish at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Throughout his schooling, Ethan frequently held positions in tutoring fellow students and as a teaching assistant in a number of classes. He also participated in his college's Children's Spanish Program, where he helped teach elementary school aged children Spanish. During his junior year of undergraduate education, he studied abroad through the BCA program at University of Barcelona. This is how he volunteered as an assistant English teacher at the Severo Ochoa Public high school. In his teaching style, he greatly enjoys integrating new classroom activities and strategies to make the students interact and speak as frequently as possible. Ethan Waugh provided an account on the students' points of view on the BCA teaching assistants´ project on what the help which they provide means in practice in the EFL class. Ethan Waugh collected general thoughts from students and put them into paper. To have an introductory idea of what Ethan refers to, Rosamaria Fàbrega has summarized his points as follows: - Students provided many responses - Some enhanced freedom to speak without having to use a book - Students felt more engaged in their EFL learning process - Students enjoyed their mind processes and their open conversations - Students felt challenged - Students valued the teaching assistants determination to help out - Students pointed the need for speed control and articulation - Students enjoyed variety in explanations - Students got the most out of working in small groups and being able to talk to the assistant in a personal way Ethan Waugh's full report can be read next: BCA FEEDABCK ON STUDENT TEACHING Ethan Waugh (2018-2019) As a study abroad student BCA, I had the unique and wonderful opportunity to assist in the teaching of English as a foreign language in a local public institute throughout my time in Barcelona while also taking the “Teaching English as a Foreign Language” class offered by the University of Barcelona. Before going abroad, my only work experience related to teaching had been in the teaching of Spanish, not English. I also had tended to be in positions that either worked with young children (4-7) or with people who required tutoring in specific areas; I had never before taught in front of an actual classroom nor been with students that, in many cases, were older than I was. Because I was abroad for two semesters with different class schedules, the classes with which I participated varied at times. During my first semester (Oct. - Dec. 2018), I worked mostly worked alongside Rose and Esther while occasionally assisting Elena when I was able. I came to the school almost every day of the week except Wednesday and was there for about 12 hours in the course of an average week. In the second semester, however, I was only able to come on Wednesdays and Fridays, which together totaled about 7 hours. Almost all of my students were between 18 and 25. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 116 From the very first day, I had a few ideas that I brought with me from my American experience as a student that seemed to be much less common here. Of these ideas were the importance of visual presentations,memorizing the names of the students, and trying to maximize class participation. As such, I remember that starting from the very first day I placed lots of emphasis on committing the students’ names to memory. Although it may have seemed strange to the students at first, I think these efforts definitely paid off in the end because the students were noticeably impressed, and I believed that it allowed me to build a relationship with the students, causing them to be naturally more engaged and more respectful in class. Especially during the first semester, I also made good use of PowerPoints and other forms of visual presentations. I tried to use these presentations not only as a form of having the students practice their listening skills but also as a form of teaching American culture. As such, the topics of my first presentations tended to revolve around major American holidays and traditions including Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. These presentations led to many conversations simply by asking students to comment on the presentation with their reactions and by asking them to compare American traditions to Spanish ones. Additionally, I found it very useful to end the presentations with at least three questions - the first asking a basic question of understanding from something in the presentation, the second asking students to give an opinion, and the final question asking students to create a hypothetical situation of something they would do/try/wear/etc. if they were to celebrate the holiday. The use of these questions during and after the presentations helped the students stayed involved in the presentation and gradually work them into using more and more complex structures. During the second semester, I began introducing other new ideas as I started to have a greater role in structuring the class. One of the very first of these new ideas implemented was “popcorn reading.” Popcorn reading is a type of group reading in which the entire class is presented with the same article. The teacher reads the title and the first few sentences, then says the name of a student. That student must then read a few sentences out loud before calling on another student, who repeats the same process. The students go around taking turns reading sections at a time until the entire article is finished. The only rule is that no one can be forced to read a second time until all the students in the class have read at least once. Reflecting on our popcorn readings in class, I noticed the following pros and cons to the activity. On the good sign, popcorn reading forces everyone to speak, allowing them to practice phonetics and familiarizing them with the formation of English sounds. Popcorn reading also demands that the students be constantly paying attention because they know that they could be called on at any moment and will need to know at what point to begin reading. The negative sides of this exercise are that students often don’t understand the parts that they read to the class because they are so focused on pronunciation that they do not process the meaning, and that speaking in front of the class may cause timid students to retract even more than usual if they mess up. In order to counter these disadvantages, we tried to end every popcorn reading with questions that tested understanding, and we would wait until everyone has finished before correcting major errors in pronunciation so that we were not constantly stopping the students during the reading and hurting their self-confidence in front of everyone. Over the course of the year, we also made heavy use of group work. After the students’ first exam, we divided the class into groups based on their test scores. One group at a time would go into a separate room to converse with me, the native speaker, and to discuss events or topics related to what was going on that day in class. The purpose of this separation was to help students practice with others who had similar levels. All too often, students who are highly skilled in English answer all of the questions and do all of the work while students of lower levels stay quiet, which, quite frankly, is the opposite of what is needed in a classroom setting. The isolated groups did have the effect of making the timid and/or less advanced students speak more frequently. I noticed very quickly that many of the students who hadn’t spoken in class all year were actually very chatty when given the support and the opportunity to speak. However, no system is without its faults. I had one student approach me after class and tell me that she felt the system of dividing the groups by level was discriminatory. She thought that the better students were receiving more attention and that being with less advanced peers made English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 117 her less interested in the conversations because they seemed basic and artificial. Nevertheless, I believe that the group system was very effective and helpful for the vast majority of the students; although, I do admit that perhaps making groups with a mix of all different levels could still be useful and also feel less discriminatory. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time as a teaching assistant, and I believe that the students enjoyed my presence as well. The teacher of one of my classes, Rosamaria Fàbrega, asked students to write about their feelings towards my presence in the classroom. There were many responses, but some of the most notable ones included: “[we have] freedom to speak without following the book,” “everything is more real,” and “by speaking he shows the feelings, this leads to be more interesting.” In general, the responses tended to indicate that students felt more engaged by having a native speaker in the class. They seemed to value the ability to speak their minds and have open conversations, and, as some other students noticed, they felt challenged to explain themselves better: “Me doy cuenta que tartamudeo, sé lo que quiero decir pero digo otra cosa, me cuesta mucho expresarme, con Rose yo sé que ella entiende lo que quiero decir, lo bueno de Ethan es que como ves que no te capta, tienes que esforzarte para que te entienda bien” // (I realize that I stutter, I know what I want to say but I say something else, it is very difficult for me to express myself, with Rose I know that she understands what I want to say, the good thing about Ethan is that since you see that he doesn’t get you, you have to make an effort so that he understands you well).An important thing to note when having a native speaker in the class is that it can be extremely difficult for the students to understand. There were a number of students that said they had a difficult time keeping up, and that if I had not repeated myself, they would not have been able to follow the lesson. As such, the native speaker must be very aware of his/her speaking speed at all times. He/she must also be very deliberate in their articulation of new, unfamiliar, or difficult words, and should always be prepared to explain things in multiple different ways to aid the students with their understanding. Here are pictures of the year. They show the work and comradely with students, while classes take place and team work prevails in the learning and teaching exchange: To catch a glimpse of BCA teaching assistant at work, a sample 2´14´´video is included next. The video contains part of a teaching session by Sam Niebla (2017-2018) In Rosamaria Fàbrega's class, which was addressed to Intermediate English Vocational Technology Training aged 17-18 students English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 118 Teaching Assistant 2017-2018 (https://youtu.be/zBUq6lsosZY) Sam Niebla is also kindly acknowledged. Although BCA students are quite close to local students in age and interests, they always impeccably know how to keep strong in their role model teaching position, share their culture, be themselves, do what they are expected to, feel free to do so, and be part of the classes which they are responsible for and involved in. Last but not least, Rosamaria Fàbrega includes a quantitative survey which her English Department carries out on the Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA)Teaching Assistants Project, and particularly, to having a BCA language assistant in class. The data which will be included next shows the students´ responses with regards to 10 items: 1. Working on my English with a young native has helped me develop my English communication skills. 2. It has been enriching to become familiar with a different culture and lifestyle. 3. Getting to know a foreigner has helped me realize how similar people are all around the world. 4. I believe the contribution of our volunteer to improve our English is of a high value. 5. The volunteer's contribution was different to that of a teacher. 6. A genuine need to communicate in English has arisen in the class. 7. The volunteer has acquainted me with new helpful learning materials. 8. New activities have been done in class. 9. Classes have been more exciting thanks to the volunteer. 10. The volunteer's assistance enabled the class teacher to better address my questions. The students´ assessment on the 10 items ranges from "Totally agree" (1) to "Not at all" (5). Students are yearly asked to fill in a form which allows them to send in their feedback. 62 students participated in the last survey. Here are their answers. VOLUNTEER PROGRAM – STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 119 In the survey students value that they do learn with a teacher but affirm that the language assistant is a great asset (results for question 5). The same results are obtained for questions 7 and 8. Therefore, basically even if students see that materials and activities in the EFL may continue being the same, they highlight the relevant role of the new person in class, the teaching assistant, who becomes a great inspiration for them in their English learning process. Having a language assistant in class does not mean that they are to face with different materials or activities. This is an aspect which is usually covered by the teacher, and students feel happy about that. The key point is, needless to say, the utterly natural way of the English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 120 conversation which flows as if students were not inside a classroom and immersed in an EFL lesson. Figures, views and experience prove that it is definitely important to welcome learning and teaching EFL experiences which involve teaching assistant international projects like the Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA)Teaching Assistants Project. As detailed on the previous pages this project has clearly benefitted all the participants involved: the BCA students who were learning Spanish as a foreign language in Barcelona, the EFL students at school here, the leading and support teachers, who could sense and see that their classes were sparkled with authenticity and motivation, and the school which hosted them, which made a difference in its teaching. Writing about the BCA Teaching Assistants Project has been a pleasure from the start. Counting on the Brethren College Abroad program at the University of Barcelona, reaching out for schools and teachers who may be interested in exchanges and international learning and teaching experiences is admirable. Collecting such positive feedback data over the years both from numerous teaching assistants and students continue encouraging and improving the project and EFL work at school. Year after year, the experience is wonderful at all levels, but the main point is that BCA teaching assistants are usually outstanding student teachers and teaching assistants. This was the case of Madeleine Harm and Ethan Waugh, whose personality and professionalism made the experience unforgettable at our school. Finally a kind reminder must be made not to forget that the coordinators at school, the English department, the teachers, and the BCA director at the University of Barcelona, Dr. Carmen Barbosa have been and are key pieces for the teaching assistant program to succeed through their joint educational team work. While the syllabus is always leading the way in EFL classes, the richness of teaching assistants-basedprojectscan spur the learning and teaching processes, while they enhance tolerance and understanding. May teachers find the inspiration and specific guidelines to carry out similar projects in their institutions through this article. References Brethren Colleges Abroad Barcelona https://bcastudyabroad.org/barcelona-spain/ Fàbrega i Mestres, R. (May 2015) "Hanging out in Class...? No Way!: Native Speakers and Technology". English Is It! (ELT Training Series). Volume 4: 10-24. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://hdl.handle.net/2445/67369 DePaw University. Greencastle, Indiana. United States. https://www.depauw.edu/ Elizabethtown College. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. United States. https://www.etown.edu/ Teaching Assistant 2017-18 https://youtu.be/zBUq6lsosZY English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 121 Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) Language Exchanges and Workshops at a State Language School and in College Lourdes Montoro mmontoro@xtec.cat The following institutions and individuals are gratefully acknowledged: Brethren Colleges abroad, Dr. Carmen Barbosa, the visiting BCA teams in Barcelona, the BCA staff at the University of Barcelona office, and, needless to say, the numerous BCA students who I have been able to work with for over two decades. They have all contributed to the understanding of American culture here, and let us, the local professors, the teachers and hosts, enrich our classes and life. For over two decades, I have been able to enjoy the leadership and imprint of Brethren Colleges Abroad (https://bcastudyabroad.org/barcelona-spain/) in Barcelona. Located at the University of Barcelona, from its headquarters, and under the steady and cordial leadership of Dr. Carmen Barbosa, it has reached out for local institutions and professors, whose background and teaching perspective could allow for cultural immersion of its American students, and for English and Spanish Cultural and Language Exchanges. I am a professor of English, and the present coordinator of the virtual teacher trainer collection English Is It! (ELT training Series) at the University of Barcelona (http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/21242/browse?type=author&order=ASC&rpp=20 &value=Montoro%2C+Lourdes). Since BCA (referred in short) initiated its academic work at the University of Barcelona, different teachers have supported the institution, which, no doubt, has very much helped carry out and enrich numerous creative and practical interlinguistic and cultural teaching projects. It is an honor to write on what BCA has done from my professional experience viewpoint, and also to express my gratitude for having made my work with them at a state language school and in college too, so interesting, productive, and enjoyable for all involved. Both the American students and the Spanish ones have definitely benefitted from the creativity, comradeship and professionalism which have always derived from each educational project which has reunited us all. Both the BCA director and I have shared the fact of being personally and academically involved with English-speaking countries, and believing in teaching and learning a foreign language through living it and doing. Having also been students of English as a foreign language, and having studied in the United States, we have been aware of the difficulties which learning a foreign language brings, and the linguistic toll and debris which learning a new language can take and drag along especially when the main source of one´s mother tongue does not coincide with the target language. In my case, comparing my mother tongue and English at linguistic and cultural levels was my specialization after graduating in college. My m.a. was based on the 3 Spanish translations of the American classic: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (The novel, the Reader's Digest version, and the film), and my doctorate studies were also based on comparing the Spanish and English languages, the culture and the mentality beyond each one. I had been interested in American culture since my early teens. As a college student and a graduate student, I had the English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 122 honor to attend class at an American university, and to be a teaching assistant at its foreign language department. I was also very fortunate to counsel children and lead youth groups at a camp in the United States. Learning about the American culture and the people in the country confirmed my passion, and increased it. I continued visiting the United States, helping and volunteering at the same camp for 30 summers, while I was also able to visit several universities, and do research as well on various academic and professional areas of my interest: - American accents - International accents - Slang - Sports terminology - Idioms - Traditional games - Translation - American and English proverbs Since I first returned from the United States, I started sharing what I had learnt, teaching its contents both in my EFL classes (elementary school, junior high school, high school, vocational school, and adult language school) and my teacher training sessions and classes (venues, on- going EFL education sessions, and college classes). Students and participants started being exposed to all American celebrations. For example, students and teachers learnt about Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine´s, Easter and 4th of July, and were provided with the tools to celebrate the holidays in their classes. They were also provided with classic American recipes along with their samples, excerpts of outstanding pieces of literature, historical notes, humorous passages, geographical features, and references to extraordinary American citizens Just before learning about BCA at the University of Barcelona, I had the chance to organize an American week at school, which later I presented in a venue: “How to Organize an American Week and Enjoy it“(Apac ELT Convention, 1994). The objective aimed at was always introducing local students and teachers to hands-on sessions on the American way of being and living. After getting to know about BCA and starting to work with its director, and the American students who enthusiastically signed up for the joint work, my cultural classes turned into specific workshops, such as “Halloween in the EFL Classroom”, which I presented in different institutions, and was also addressed to a Post-Graduate course at the Teacher Training School at the University of Barcelona in 1998. That introduced me to the teacher training School in Barcelona and the Institute of Educational Sciences (I.C.E.), which gave me the opportunity to start EFL teacher training there, and, which, at present, publishes this collection. Some of my workshops in conferences turned into articles too. This is the case of “Getting Culturally Involved. Organizing a Thanksgiving Dinner” (1995), and “American Christmas in the EFL Classroom” (1998). In 98-99, 99-00, I was asked to to turn everything which I had learnt by then into 30-hour teacher training American culture courses at the official School of Languages in Barcelona. BCA students spending their academic year at the University of Barcelona were assigned to me as teaching assistants, making a big difference in all my workshops, bringing reality to my EFL students, and making themselves available to them too. From my professional experience with English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 123 Brethren Colleges Abroad in Barcelona, I have very much enjoyed the fact that BCA has always been open to hear proposals which have been offered by local teachers, teacher trainers, and US culture specialists and enthusiasts. This article will present how BCA and I got involved into American and Spanish linguistic and cultural contributions, and what our joint work has been like. It is divided as follows: 1. A THANKSGIVING DINNER FOR 225 GUESTS (Official School of Languages) 2. ENGLISH AND SPANISH LANGUAGE EXCHANGES (Official School of Languages) 3. ENGLISH AND SPANISH LANGUAGE EXCHANGES (Teacher Training School - University of Barcelona) 4. WORKSHOPS ON AMERICAN CULTURE (Official School of Languages) 5. WORKSHOPS ON SPANISH CULTURE (Official School of Languages) 6. TEACHING ASSISTANTS ON 35-HOUR AMERICAN CULTURE TEACHER TRAINING COURSES (Official School of Languages) 1. A THANKSGIVING DINNER FOR 225 GUESTS (Official School of Languages) I have been very fortunate to cooperate with BCA since the mid 90s. I learned about BCA when looking for American guests to join me and help me host a Thanksgiving dinner for 225 local guests at the school canteen. I had just passed public exams to become a public servant in the Educational system and wanted to express my gratitude through the creation of a whole school project, which ended up in the dinner. Dr. Carmen Barbosa (BCA coordinator) offered me the chance to have BCA students at each table blessing the table, representing the US, values, and meaning of the holiday, and making friends with the local students. Specific details on how it was all organized are presented in the above-mentioned article “Getting Culturally Involved. Organizing a Thanksgiving Dinner” (1995). The project, and later on, the article covered organizational areas related to: - American guests - History - Advertising (school, department, students...) - Menu - Tickets - Questionnaires - Decoration - Musical entertainment English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 124 - Speeches and blessing of the table - Certificates and awards for all Bibliographical references were also provided. The model was followed by another language school in the following year, which I had the pleasure of being invited to attend. 2. ENGLISH AND SPANISH LANGUAGE EXCHANGES (Official School of Languages) After the Thanksgiving dinner was celebrated at school, I met the BCA coordinator in person, and we started our English and Spanish Languages Exchanges which still continue now. Every semester of every school year we have promoted the BCA English and Spanish Exchanges by means of which BCA students and students in my classes have met to improve their English and their Spanish respectively. Besides that, they have had the opportunity to learn firsthand from a native speaker of the language and the culture. And what is more, at times, American students have met my students´ families, and even become friends with them. Since 1995 the Spanish and English language BCA exchanges have promoted the integration of American students here. American students are usually hosted by paid families, so getting to meet other students their age and their families has exposed them to genuine hospitality, which, as foreign language learners, has meant the world to them, helping them enter a whole new cultural dimension. My students have also gained much from meeting with American students: they have practised their English, learnt about American culture, and also made new friends. Dr. Carmen Barbosa and I have been providing our respective students with exchange partners. This is the procedure which we have followed: Dr. Carmen Barbosa starts by sending a list of American students who are interested in meeting Spanish students, getting to know them, and their families at times, and practising their Spanish. The list simply includes their contact phone (and/or whatsapp number) and their email address. Since Spanish students are the hosts and hostesses here, they are the ones who are responsible for contacting American students and arranging for the first meeting. After that, they both agree on when and where to meet, the frequency of the meetings, the things to do, and so on. Meetings take place outside the academic premises. An average number of 30 American students and 30 Spanish students per year, that is, up to now, a total of 1200 students (60 x 23 years, and ongoing) have benefitted from the language and cultural exchanges. 3. ENGLISH AND SPANISH LANGUAGE EXCHANGES (Teacher Training School at the University of Barcelona) For 6 academic years, I also taught at the Teacher Training School at the University of Barcelona, and offered my EFL trainee students the chance to enjoy the language and cultural exchanges as well. Since my college students´ training was very specific and included both learning English as a foreign language, teaching methods and internships, I sent my students a message along with an annex which included additional information. Dr. Carmen Barbosa and I also created a specific sign-up sheet for them. All these documents are presented next: A/ MESSAGE English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 125 Divisió de Ciències de l’Educació Departament de Didàctica de la Llengua i la Literatura Dear students, As you know, you are offered the chance to be in touch with American students this term. They are spending a term or a full academic year at the University of Barcelona, and are interested in carrying out language English-Spanish exchanges with you. This should help you improve your oral English skills both in general and with regards to your academic oral presentations, microteaching, and class participation. If you wish to contact them, please let me know this week. Thank you. Best regards, Prof. Lourdes Montoro DLL Teacher Training School B/ ANNEX ENGLISH AND SPANISH CONVERSATION EXCHANGES WITH AMERICAN STUDENTS Conversation exchanges depend on the American students and, of course, on you, the students here. This necessarily includes academic goals and interest on everybody´s behalf. If you sign up for an English and Spanish conversation exchange, you need to remember that you are the hosts and hostesses here. American students are either spending a term here, or the whole school year. They are here to attend university, improve their Spanish, and learn about the culture. Your assigned American student and you are students at different schools at the same university. You can very much help each other. Remember that you will both be busy, and will need to decide what you would like to do to improve your English and their Spanish, and enjoy life together while doing so. Here are some suggestions. You may like to: - meet at a well-known place downtown - show them your favorite places in the city or your home town - introduce them to your family English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 126 - meet for formal conversation focusing on academics - travel to places… The more they live life here in Spanish, and the more you live life here in English, the better. And you should not forget that you should both have fun while engaged in the language exchanges. About the length, American students will tell you when they are finishing their academic stay at the University of Barcelona so that an English and Spanish language exchange calendar can be established for both parts. C/ OFFICIAL SIGN-UP FORMAT Divisió de Ciències de l’Educació Departament de Didàctica de la Llengua i la Literatura BRETHREN COLLEGES ABROAD S P E A K I N G E X C H A N G E (ENGLISH-SPANISH) Dra. Carme Barbosa, BCA, UB Prof. Lourdes Montoro, DLL, UB STUDENT EMAIL ADDRESS PHONE NUMBER English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 127 4. WORKSHOPS ON AMERICAN CULTURE (Official School of Languages) Since the mid-nineties, there have always been BCA students who have come to my classes to introduce American culture, and to also ask Spanish students about Spanish culture. They have led one-hour workshops from the elementary to the advanced levels of English. All American participants have received an official certification on their presentations, which they have been able to take back with them for further registry in their scripts and/or résumés. It is always important to acknowledge the work of our classroom guests. A sample letter follows: Barcelona,......................, 20..... TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN This is to certify that .......................................... presented two excellent one-hour practical workshops on American culture. Based on individual and group work, aspects on the American way of living were included, and an interview followed. The workshops were addressed to ................. level students of English. Yours faithfully, Lourdes Montoro English language professor Escola Oficial d´idiomes 5. WORKSHOPS ON SPANISH CULTURE Students at the official School of Languages are mostly adults, and they are specialized in different areas. Some participants in the English and Spanish Language Exchanges have offered to conduct tours in the city for their American exchange student and friends, and welcomed the local classmates too. If so, the tour has been given in English. When that has happened, the local students in charge of the activity have also received a certification on their work; the sample below refers to a guided visit to the gothic quarter in the city, the level, the usage of the language and its length: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 128 Barcelona,......................, 20.... A QUI CORRESPONGUI Per la present certifico que ................................ ha ofert una visita guiada en anglès al Barri Gòtic de Barcelona. La visita ha estat adreçada a un curs de nivell intermedi (B1), i la durada ha estat d´1 hora i mitja. Atentament, Lourdes Montoro Catedràtica de Llengua Anglesa Escola Oficial d´idiomes Language and culture exchange also takes place with regards to American BCA directors on works visits in Barcelona. Some of them visited the premises where I teach. In 2004 I also had the honor to present one workshop on Barcelona´s multiculturalism and universal character, which Dr. Carmen Barbosa had asked me to prepare for them. Language and cultural exchanges always provide international learning and knowledge acquisition. This takes students and all involved to acceptance of the different cultural communities which are part of our world. As general knowledge and bridges are built, our common globality is enhanced too. 6. TEACHING ASSISTANTS ON 35-HOUR AMERICAN CULTURE TEACHER TRAINING COURSES (Official School of Languages) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 129 For three years BCA students were teaching assistants in one of my specialty classes: American Culture for advanced learners of English. The contributions of American students as cultural assistants in the specialty course were registered in their academic transcript. They helped me prepare Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas, Valentine's, Easter, and Graduation, for classes, and assisted me on their favorite areas: US history, geography, immigration services, American states, American schools and colleges… BCA students and Spanish ones also participated in field trips which took place at the North-American Institute (https://ien.es/ ) too, and which were also part of the course. Components: - General U.S. facts - History - The government - The economic and social structure - The legal system - The people - Education - Religion - Sports - Entertainment - Curiosities about stereotypes (chewing gum, Coca-cola, the Pony Express, the Joshua tree, Uncle Sam…) - Famous Americans - Americans and their way of living - Introduction to the origin of some American holidays, and their celebration - American food: description, samplings, and a pot-luck cooking contest - American English: Grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation - Travelling, studying and working possibilities in the U.S. The course is divided into theoretical and practical parts which blend in. A series of worksheets are used to fulfill objectives, some being compiling materials for high school and vocational school teachers in training, as well as for personal purposes providing participants with strategies for further study. Class work includes components and facilitates the learning and enjoyment of the sessions, by involving films, general facts, geography, graduation, history, holidays, humor, literature, main cities, news, out of curiosity facts, people, questionnaires, spelling, vocabulary, writing, and a three-day field trip. My American culture classes also counted on gracious contributions by my American professor of English in the United States: Dr. Ronald Burman, emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (https://www.uwlax.edu/english/). He would often surprise me with English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 130 dynamic and daring interventions on American culture itself, along with any other topic within the course, which I was also honored to always take into consideration, to round the course up. Finally, I am happy to include next some of my answers and conclusions after a questionnaire which I was posed by BCA at the end of the 17-18 academic year, and which very well summarizes the accomplishments and exemplifies the BCA success as its students spend a term or an academic year at the University of Barcelona, and learn to work with other students, coordinators and local institutions: - BCA students definitely learn a lot during their time here in their host country They live life in Spanish: they live the language which they are learning, and the culture which they have studied, but, in this case, it is for real, and unforgettable, because they are part of it, and they are learning it all in action, by doing and experiencing it. When interacting with my students of English, they learn about their difficulties of learning their mother tongue, as it happened with their learning Spanish as a foreign language. They bond with each other, help each other, contribute to international understanding, and make life friendships. - As a teacher, I have enjoyed, and enjoy work with both the BCA organization and our students In my case, I try to lead them to their best self, their greatest talents, their dreams which they need to enthusiastically aim at, and work hard at, to accomplish. I also remind them that they must do whatever they choose for fun, for pleasure. They need to like it. The sense of belonging to a group is a must too. We are part of a community. And it has to work out for all. - Basically what I have learned through working with or hosting BCA students in class has been that I have just continued enjoying my life, as if I was in the United States. It is always an honor, and a pleasure. And my students have been delighted to meet American people, and the values which are taught both at home, and at school. Students here think US = Politics. After my students meet the BCA ones, a new world, including the discovery of very nice people, opens up to them, becoming best ambassadors to their home country. It is a pleasure for me to see those changes happening in my students' minds and hearts. One needs to live in the United States to know what its people are like. That is part of my teaching too, and BCA students always do a great job. - My motivation to work with BCA students is that I love Americans, and that I have wanted and want to return everything that they have given me while in their country (grants, scholarships, hospitality…) I know how wonderful they are when you meet them for real (besides movies and politics); BCA students are here for a semester or two, away from their families and friends, and I want to help them meet nice people here too, besides their official host families and classmates. Additionally, BCA students and working with Dr. Barbosa, make it all work, making me feel that I am back in the States, which I love and miss. I also want to promote the US, and serve as a bridge to BCA students, because I know their country, I have also been away from home, and learnt a foreign language. Through my contribution, I also want to give back to the US and its people what they have always given me: opportunities, love, care, respect, learning, hospitality, kindness, enthusiasm, fun, and hope. English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 131 Both BCA students of Spanish and local students of English are able to observe different kinds of people when they meet one another, they can take on the challenge to freely ask what they may be interested in asking. When BCA students are paired with mine twice a year for an English and Spanish Exchange, Spanish students and their families can kindly welcome them, explain what they might need to know about the culture, and contribute to ensure that they live their Spanish year to the most at all levels, with safety being always first. As time passes, I have no doubt that all teachers who have been fortunate enough to work with BCA to some extent or another, hope that new teachers will sign up for the BCA interlanguage and intercultural American and Spanish Exchanges. May this article help throw light on some successful pedagogical options, and promote further work for those professionals who may be interested in working with BCA and cooperating towards high quality language and cultural exchanges, and world wide communication. References BCA Study abroad https://bcastudyabroad.org/barcelona-spain/ English Is It! (ELT Training Series) (2014-2019) Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/21242/browse?type=author&order=ASC&rpp=20 &value=Montoro%2C+Lourdes) Institut Nord-Americà https://ien.es/ Lockley, T., Yoshida, Ch. (2016) “Language and culture exchange in foreign language learning: an experiment and recommendations” Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, Volume 10. Issue 3: pp. 238-254. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17501229.2014.960419 Montoro, L. (1998) “American Christmas in the EFL Classroom”. Actes. Terceres Jornades Pedagògiques de Llengües estrangeres de les Comarques Gironines: 43-47. Girona: Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament d´Ensenyament. Delegació Territorial a Girona. Montoro, L. (2016) “American Culture. Part 1: Overview and Itineraries”. English Is It!(ELT Training Series). Volume 7: pp. 34-46. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/105622/6/VOLUM%207- %20English%20Is%20It%21%20%28ELT%20Training%20Series%29URI.pdf Montoro, L. (1995) “Getting Culturally Involved. Organizing a Thanksgiving Dinner” Apac of News 25: 37-39. Barcelona: Apac. Distributed by Alhambra Longman. University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. English Department https://www.uwlax.edu/english/ English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 132 Intermediate EFL Literature Field Trip, Questionnaries and Tea Time at Miss Perkins´Tea Room Lourdes Montoro mmontoro@xtec.cat To honor Mari Angeles Perkins´ human, social, professional, artistic and literary work In “A Second Term Project for Elementary EFL Students: “Tea Time at Miss Perkins Tea Room” (2017), I described a first level field trip to an authentic tea room in Barcelona, which takes you to Lewis Carroll´ Alíce in Wonderland (1865), and Britain. The session had taken place at the start of the second term. The article explained the reasons for the EFL field trip, the procedure that I devised and followed, the persons involved, the timing, the interaction, the before-session work (grammar structures and vocabulary), the in-session work (Scavenger hunt, interview, and questionnaire), the enjoyment of a real tea time as a group, and the post-session work. It also included the documentation that was handed in: previous reading, in-session worksheets, and end-of-the session crumpets and scones recipes. In this article, I will present the literature field trip, and questionnaries which, on the occasion of enjoying tea time at Miss Perkins´tea room, and learning about it, I organized for Intermediate levels of English. The pedagogical justification lies on the same basis which was introduced in the previous article, and this is also true of the procedure, the persons that participated, the time sequencing, the interaction, the before-session work (grammar structures and vocabulary review), the enjoyment of a class real tea time in a real British Tea Room in the city, and the post-session work, which covered previous readings, and end-of-the session recipes. Due to the higher EFL level, and the specific curriculum goal of aiming at getting familiar with literature, the in-session work included three literature-based questionnaires which went from general to specific. Students were asked to carry out excavenger hunts on premises since they had to locate specific books, find quotes and novels excerpts, deduce meaning, compare titles to their original source names, among others. The work is presented as follows: 1. LITERATURE QUIZ AT MISS PERKINS´ TEA ROOM (courtesy of Mari Angeles Perkins) 2. HOMAGE TO AGATHA CHRISTIE AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM 3. HOMAGE TO ENID BLYTON AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM: The Twins at St Clare 4. KEYS TO THE THREE QUESTIONNAIRES (printed upside down on students´ copies) English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 133 English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 134 The main features of the Intermediate EFL literature field trip, questionnaries and tea time at Miss perkins´ Tea room can be summarized as follows: Questionnaires had their own key to provide for autonomous self-correction (when handed, they were printed upside down to prevent students from checking them); they were photocopied in pale pastel tones; during the session, students were also sent the worksheet to the class whatsapp group; this way they had immediate access to internet resources which were included in the last two questionnaires, which were more specific. Additionally, while for the first questionnaire students were free to choose any grouping format which they felt like working in, for the second one and the third one, the worksheets themselves guided them from group work to pair work, and to individual work. Reading, speaking, listening and writing were covered through the questionnaires. Students were also given some clues by the teacher as they moved around the premises to locate certain books, find quotes… Students were allowed to ask Miss Perkins for help if necessary, as the caterer of Miss Perkins´ tea Room, and avid literature reader. Tea time took place after the questionnaires were over. It was presented on the usual tiara, Miss Perkins explained to the students what each dish included: 1. Breakfast: scones and crumpets; 2. Lunch: Sandwiches (cucumber, chicken curry, fig and cheddar, avocado); and Dessert: biscuits (carob, coconut, cinnamon, chocolate) and cupcakes (lemon, vanilla pistachio, strawberry chocolate, dates). After tea time, students had the chance to interview Miss Perkins. Each literature questionnaire will be described in detail in the following corresponding sections. Their keys are included at the end. 1. LITERATURE QUIZ AT MISS PERKINS´ TEA ROOM (courtesy of Mari Angeles Perkins) Mari Angeles Perkins designed Miss Perkins Tea Room on the base of her passion for England, tea, art and literature. Two British authors of different genres are widely found on premises: Rosamund Pilcher´s romantic novels and Agatha Christie´s mystery ones. When Miss Perkins created this questionnaire to welcome my intermediate English class to her tea room, she wanted them to catch a glimpse of Rosamund Pilcher´s novels and life. She wanted them to find out that the author was born in 1929 in Cornwall, where most of her novels take place, and that Rosamund Pilcher was 15 when the Second World War started, which she joined through the woman's royal navy service. Miss Perkins also wanted students to become familiar with Frank McCourt´s 1996 Angela's Ashes: A Memoir, which explains stories of his childhood, which he dedicated to his wife and daughter, and won him the 1997 Pulitzer Prize. In 1999 a sequel followed: ´Tis. Miss Perkins also wanted students to find and learn about a following sequel: Amy Rowland´s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a play script by Jack Thorne, which first premiered on the 30th of July in 2016. Finally Miss Perkins wanted students to find a book by the top British playwright: William´s Shakespeare, and especially King Lear. This book had been edited by G.K. Hunter, a professor in Warwick University. At the end of the questionnaire, she wanted students to figure out the meaning of RSC: the Royal Shakespeare Company. The literature quiz covered the above- mentioned information: English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 135 LITERATURE QUIZ AT MISS PERKINS´ TEA ROOM By M. A. Perkins 1. Can you tell us what two famous British female authors are repeated most at Miss Perkins´Tea Room? 2. One of these authors bases most of her books in a place in England. Can you tell us the name of the place? 3. Which author is it? 4. In two of her books you will find her biography. What year was the author born? 5. How old was she in World War II? 6. Did she join the war? If she did, in what service? 7. Can you find the sequel to Angela's Ashes and tell us the name of the book? 8. Who is the author? 9. Did the author win any prizes for his book Angela's Ashes? 10. Who did he dedicate his book to? 11. You will find a sequel to a famous child's book. Can you tell us the title? 12. This book is different from others because it is a play script. Can you tell us who the play is by? 13. When did the play premiere? 14. Who is the original author of the child's books? 15. There is a small book written by a VERY famous British author. What is his name? 16. Can you tell us the title of the book? 17. What does this book and the previous book have in common? English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 136 18. Who was the book edited by? 19. Is he a professor in any British university? Which one? 20. Can you find what RSC stands for? 2. HOMAGE TO AGATHA CHRISTIE AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM Agatha Christie is very well-known worldwide, and I had no doubt that students would be familiar with some TV series, main characters or films around her mystery literary works. The questionnaire began through group work. I imagined that my adult students would have some favorite main character of hers: Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot... I wanted them to find out about the origin of the author´s knowledge on venoms and archeology references which are present in her novels: her being a nurse, and her passion for archeology, and her having been married to an archeologist. I also wanted students to locate Agatha Christie´s books at Miss Perkins´ Tea Room. They could be in a wheelbarrow, in a basket, both at the entrance, and/or on the invisible shelves at the end of the room. Students were asked to write down their titles (which are in Spanish), find the source title on the ISBN page, compare the titles, and read the blurbs on the back cover to find out what they were about. After that, students were asked to locate 15 baby blue laminated Agatha Christie´s quotes, and the main clue and pun was: “Follow the milky way”. Students had to figure out the connection with milk in the tea room: they would locate the quotes in a cow milk jug next to other smaller milk jugs. The finding led them to read them all, and choose one to their liking. The last team work activity consisted of discovering the 75 facts-on-file on Agatha Christie by John Curran, which were also photocopied in the same color as the quotes, and rolled as scrolls. They had to locate them, unroll them, and tell their group which one they liked best. After that, pair work started. Miss Perkins´ Tea Room stands out for also having delightful British personal memorabilia. In pairs, students were to choose 5 pieces of memorabilia from Miss Perkins' Tea Room and include them in a mystery composition; they also had to relate them to 5 possible fictional characters, and explain why. Finally, there was a choice for either pair work or individual work. Students were asked to compose a 10-line crime story in the past connected to Miss Perkins´ Tea Room, and the delicious Tea Time which they were about to enjoy. Their composition was to include the above- mentioned 5 pieces of memorabilia and characters. They were expected to ask Miss Perkins about the origin of memorabilia, and to let their imagination fly. After writing them at home, they were welcome to leave them in the classroom IN tray on the following days. The Literature quiz covered the above-mentioned information: HOMAGE TO AGATHA CHRISTIE AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM By L. Montoro English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 137 GROUP WORK 1. What do you know about Agatha Christie and her prolific and internationally well-known works? 2. Have you ever read them and/or watched them on TV and/or enjoyed them at the theatre? 3. Who is your favorite character, Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot? Why? 4. Do you know why Agatha Christie knew so much about venoms and archeology? 5. Are there any Agatha Christie's books in Miss Perkins' Tea Room? 6. What are the titles? 7. Can you figure them out in English? 8. What are they about? 9. Find 15 quotes by Agatha Christie in Miss Perkins' Tea Room, and explain the one that you like best 10. Find the 75 facts-on-file on Agatha Christie by John Curran. After reading them, tell your classmates which ones strikes you the most PAIR WORK 11. In pairs, choose 5 pieces of memorabilia from Miss Perkins' Tea Room to be included in a mystery composition, and relate them to 5 possible fictional characters; explain which ones you would choose and why. PAIR WORK OR INDIVIDUAL WORK 12. Create a 10-line crime story in the past connected to Miss Perkins delightful Tea Room, and her delicious Time Tea, and include the 5 pieces of memorabilia and characters from number 11. You can leave them in the classroom IN tray on the next days. __________ R E F E R E N C E S LIST WITH ALL HER NOVELS English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 138 http://www.lecturalia.com/autor/592/agatha-christie FABULOUS QUOTES https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/123715.Agatha_Christie BIOGRAPHY AND NOVELS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie_bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie_bibliography FACTS ABOUT AGATHA CHRISTIE https://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/christie-experts/john-curran-75-facts- about-christie 3. HOMAGE TO ENID BLYTON AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM: The Twins at St Clare Enid Blyton´s English children´s books have been world's best-sellers since the 1930s. Teaching adult students I was certain that they had read some of them or all of them at some point in their childhood or early teens. One of her most famous collections is The Famous Five, which features adventures by 4 boarding school children: Julian, Dick, Anne, Georgina (George), and their dog, Timmy. They take place during their school holidays in picturesque places, involving different houses and secret passages, and plots being related to criminals or lost treasures The Secret Seven is another collection which counts on a group of day school child detectives during the school year: Peter, Janet, Jack, Barbara, George, Pam and Colin, with Susie (Jack´s sister) and Binkie (her best friend) trying to belong to the detectives society. St. Clare´s is a series of children´s books whose main characters are Pat and Isabel O´Sullivan. The series tells stories about them, other girls and their teachers as they start their senior school studies and move on at an English girls´ boarding school. HOMAGE TO ENID BLYTON AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM: The Twins at St Clare By L. Montoro English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 139 GROUP WORK 1. Are you familiar with Enid Blyton? 2. What are the main traits in her biography? 3. As a child or as a teenager, did you read her series on The Famous Five (Los cinco), The Secret Seven (Los siete secretos)? or St Clare's (Santa Clara)? 4. Which was your favorite series? Why? 5. What kind of school is St Clare´s? 6. Who are the main characters? 7. How would you define them? 8. What is the relevance of The Twins at St. Clare´s within the context of the other 6 adventure stories around St. Claire´s which were written between 1941 and 1945? 9. If you could include 5 elements from Miss Perkins' Tea Room for St Clare´s, which ones would you choose? 10. If there was another book on the St. Clare´s series, where Miss Perkins' Tea Room was to appear, what role would you give it to it? What would happen to the twins, and her friends... there? 11. Find the beginning of the story book in Miss Perkins' Tea Room, and assess its Catalan translation. Would you keep it like that? What can you learn from it? (http://www.goanwap.com/ebook-download-sc1.html 12. Find the ending of the story book in Miss Perkins Tea Room, and assess its English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 140 Catalan translation. Would you make some changes? Can you learn any new English vocabulary? (http://www.goanwap.com/ebook-download-sc1.html) __________ R E F E R E N C E S COMPLETE BOOK LISTING https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-listing.php ST CLARE'S https://www.enidblyton.net/st-clares/ THE TWINS AT ST CLARE'S https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twins_at_St._Clare%27s THE TWINS AT ST CLARE'S. Review by Laura Canning (September 28, 2005) https://www.enidblyton.net/st-clares/the-twins-at-st-clares.html WHICH ENID BLYTON CHARACTER ARE YOU? https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/character-quiz.php 4. KEYS TO THE THREE QUESTIONNAIRES (printed upside down on students´copies) K E Y S T O T H E T H R E E Q U E S T I O N N A I R E S 1. LITERATURE QUIZ AT MISS PERKINS´ TEA ROOM 1. Agatha Christie and Rosamunde Pilcher 2. Cornwell 3. Rosamunde Pilcher 4. 1929 5. 15 6. Yes, Woman's Royal Navy Service 7. 'Tis 8. Frank McCourt 9. 1997 Pulitzer prize 10. His daughter Massie and wife Ellen 11. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 12. Jack Thorne 13. 30th of July, 2016 14. J.K.Rowling 15. William Shakespeare 16. King Lear 17. They're both plays 18. G.K.Hunter 19. Yes, he is a professor in Warwick University English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 141 20. Royal Shakespeare Company 2. HOMAGE TO AGATHA CHRISTIE AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM 1. A famous British mystery author of crime novels and short stories 2. Yes, probably seen on television, in films, or in the theatre (“The mousetrap”)…Her work has been broadcasted too. 3. These are the most famous Agatha Christies´characters. Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective. Miss Marple is an elderly single woman who plays amateur consulting detective. 4. Agatha Christie was a nurse and married an archeologist 5. Yes, there are. There are 4. 6. The titles are: - El espejo se rajó de parte a parte /Primeros casos de Poirot - El cuadro - La muerte de Lord Edgware /Asesinato en el campo de golf - Matrimonio de sabuesos 7. The original works were titled: - The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side/ Poirot´s Early Cases - By the Pricking of my Thumbs - Lord Edgware Dies /Murder on the Links - Partners in Crime 8. - The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side/ Poirot´s Early Cases The first one is about an American actress who has moved to England (Miss Marple). The second one contains 18 crime stories around Hercules Poirot. - By the Pricking of my Thumbs It is a cover-up story of insanity and crimes discovered by Tommy and Tuppence, two fictional detectives. - Lord Edgware Dies /Murder on the Links In the first one Inspector Japp, Hercule Poirot and his friend Arthur Haskins work around the case of a murdered husband, and two other crimes that follow. In the second one Hercule Poirot and Captain Haskins work around a stabbed man, who had changed his will two weeks earlier, and whose case resembles one which ocurred 22 years before. - Partners in Crime Tommy and Tuppence take over an international detective agency, employ an assistant, and tackle different cases. 9. After students located Agatha Christie´s quotes in the cow-shaped milk jar, they took their pick. 10. Students find the 75 facts-on-file on Agatha Christie by John Curran in the book basket. Some of the quotes which strike them the most have to do with: the discovery of Agatha Christie´s not having been educated at school in her early years or her having studied to become a classical musician. They also learn that she travelled round the world, was a dog lover, used a pen name in 6 novels… 11. Students may like to choose an old iron, 4 old books, a papermaché coffee pot, a letter by the Royal Queen written to Miss Perkins, a jubilee whisky bottle, a Twidledee and Twidledum picture, a personalized chopping board... English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 142 12. Compositions were left in the IN Tray on the next day, and corrections were handed back in the following class session. 3. HOMAGE TO ENID BLYTON AT MISS PERKINS' TEA ROOM: The Twins at St Clare 1. Being adult students, they were probably directly or indirectly familiar with the author and her three famous children and adolescent collections. 2. Enid Blyton was born in South London and became a teacher despite her parents´ wish to turn her into a pianist. To devote herself to writing poems, articles, and stories, she left teaching. She also did a lot of work for charity. 3. Answers depend on students. Students may have read some book in one of the collections, all books in a collection, one book in each collection, all books in all collections… 4. Students have the chance to explain which series they liked the most. In the teacher´s case, she loved The Famous Five, reminding her of her own adventures as a child and young adolescent, her enjoyment of her group of friends, and the fun of vacation time. 5. St Clare is an English girls´ boarding school. 6. The main characters are Pat and Isabel O´Sullivan, two twin girls, who are furious at their parents for not having sent them to a school of their choice, and determined to be as difficult as possible at the institution. 7. The twins love their old school friends, and miss their old sports (field hockey and tennis); yet Pat becomes the captain of the lacrosse team, and they make new friends, play pranks, and learn from what they do. 8. It is the first story of the collections and the twins´ beginning at their new school. 9. Students may like to choose a tea set, Miss Perkins children´s and adolescent books, her homemade biscuits, cakes, and sandwiches, her Alice and Wonderland memorabilia, her blackboard… 10. For example, Miss Perkins might be, for instance, a nutrition teacher, who created Miss Perkins´Tea Room at school. The Tea Room would be also open after classes, multilevel students would meet there… 11. Students may point to additions, subtractions, substitutions, adaptations and adoptions. 12. Students may point to additions, subtractions, substitutions, adaptations and adoptions. As indicated at the beginning, this article continues the work which the 2017 article already reflected. That one had been addressed to elementary students of English. This one has described the work of intermediate students of English. These intermediate EFL students had been my elementary EFL students two years before. So, I had already had the pleasure to teach them and take them to the basic excavenger hunt at Miss Perkins´Tea Room earlier in their English learning itinerary. After having enrolled in my intermediate EFL class, they asked me if they could go back on a hunt to Miss Perkins´ Tea room. So, I had the chance to do further research work on possible new excavenger hunts there, to count on Miss Perkins´ courtesy for the general literature questionnaire, and to honor two favorite British classic authors through my own questionnaires. Last but not least, students were, once more, elated with the teaching/learning class outside the English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 143 usual classroom premises, and the delightful and authentic Tea Time experience that followed. May this article lead teachers to be on the look-out for EFL teaching and learning opportunities in outstanding premises which can be next door, and make a difference, for all involved, through our teaching. References A brief history of English Literature http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lit/history.htm Agatha Christie Biography https://www.biographyonline.net/writers/agatha-christie.html Agatha Christie Quotes https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/123715.Agatha_Christie An A-Z beginners’ guide to the magical world of Harry Potter https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/beginners-guide-to-magical-world-of-harry-potter/ Best Agatha Christie book https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2126.Best_Agatha_Christie_Book Blyton, E. (1941) The Twins at St. Clare http://www.goanwap.com/ebook-download-sc1.html Blyton, E. (1989) Les bessones a Sta. Clara. Barcelona: Editorial Molino. British Literature basics https://quizlet.com/91988216/british-literature-basics-flash-cards/ Character Quiz. Which Enid Blyton character are you? https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/character-quiz.php Enid Blyton. Net. The Twins at St Clare´s https://www.enidblyton.net/st-clares/the-twins-at-st-clares.html Grotts, L. The history and Etiquette of afternoon tea http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-mirza-grotts/the-history-and-etiquette_b_3751053.html John Curran: 75 facts about Christie https://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/christie-experts/john-curran-75-facts-about- christie Learning English through Children´s Literature https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/learning-english-through-childrens-literature Miss Perkins Tea Room Facebook https://es-es.facebook.com/MissPerkinsTea/ Miss Perkins Tea Room Instagram https://www.instagram.com/missperkinstea/ English Is It! (ELT Training Series) Vol. 12 144 Montoro, L. (2017) “A Second Term Project for Elementary EFL Students: `Tea Time at Miss Perkins Tea Room´”. English Is It (ELT Training Series). Volume 8: 138-150. Barcelona: I.C.E. Universitat de Barcelona. http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/112923 St. Claire´s https://www.enidblyton.net/st-clares/ The Enid Blyton Society. Book listing https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-listing.php The Stories of Rosamund Pilcher (originally from www.manchesteronline.co.uk, February 24, 2004, Riazat Butt) http://www.in-honor-of-rp.com/winningformula.html Treasures in Full. Shakespare in Quarto https://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/basics.html