newsletter octu bre 2007 final

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ASOCOPI Newsletter1

ASOCOPI

newsletterASOCOPI - Calle 25 No. 32-32 1er piso. Bogot, Colombia - Tel/Fax (571) 244 4167 e-mail: [email protected] - www asocopi.orgFrom thePresidentWelcome to our 42nd annualconference. This years version gives usthe chance to visit the beautiful city ofManizales, to get to know theUniversidad de Caldas and its academic

staff, and to continue working towardsthe development of the ELT professionin our country.

First of all, I should acknowledge the valuable contributions ofthe following different institutions whose support has been vitalto run our national event: ASOCOPI members and attendees;the Universidad de Caldas and its organising committee, ledby professor Carmenza Zuluaga; the ELT and teacher educationprogramme administrators; the universities and schools whohave sent their proposals to this conference; the American

Embassy who has supported us with the ELT Forumpublication; the British Council who has steadily sponsoredour newsletter; the VIF Programme, who offers workingexperiences to our teachers in the United States; and thepublishing houses who give us the chance to have access toan array of materials. All of them have contributed to updatingour professional field and to examining current issues fromvarious and critical perspectives with the purpose of makingdecisions on the basis of recent publications, classroompractices, projects, research and innovations.

I would like to thank the members of the Board of Directors forthe time devoted to ASOCOPI, and particularly to theorganisation of this event. This, as well as everyday work, hasbeen possible thanks to the collaboration of Edwin Martnez

and Alejandra Franco, pre-service teachers from UniversidadNacional de Colombia. Their kindness and patience make itpossible to pay attention to every single detail a big eventdemands.

As I wrote in an e-mail sent to our affiliates on August 31,Professor Carlos Rico cannot continue to be our treasurerbecause he will pursue his doctorate studies at the Universityof Leeds. On behalf of ASOCOPI, I also wish to express mygratitude to him. Carlos Rico helped us a lot during the pastfive years on the Board of Directors in our attempt to grow andmaintain high standards. His commitment and serious work

have been crucial first, as spokesperson, then as vice-presidentand, in the past year, as treasurer of our association. I am surehe will do very well in his studies and will continue contributingto the ELT area in Colombia.

ASOCOPI has emphasised the necessity for striving forexcellence in Colombian ELT. This means understanding notonly teaching techniques but also adapting methods andapproaches to our own contexts in order to attain the highestquality teaching and research available. Ensuring quality inELT has to do with teacher preparation and development, twocommon concerns shared by practitioners, teacher educators,

administrators, policy-makers, and the educational communityin general.

Teacher development has emerged over the last decade inour country as an identifiable area of study and, although therehave been very important experiences (many of them for severaldecades), not much has been written on the subject. Theteacher development literature coming from overseas hasserved to disseminate information on and ideas for improvingthe performance of teachers and, by extension, that of schools.


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It has provided the forum fordiscussion about the future of theteaching profession and the nature

of teaching as a job. Yet, as an areaof study, teacher developmenttends, for the most part, to bedominated by issues raised bytheoreticians or parties interested in

teaching teachers how to teach or in promoting change fromoutside with little or no connection to research or publicationsthat can strengthen, then, our knowledge of the field. Thus,this conference is an opportunity to discuss this issue andother related ones and to develop and expand further ourknowledge about them in future events and publications whichwill surely give us the chance to account for solid discussionson which changes and views are based. This is also an invitationto circulate the different positions concerning teacherdevelopment through written accountsthe means by whichscientific communities operate nowadays.

Not much has been reported on what happens with in-serviceprograms. The MEN had a long tradition of running coursesfor school teachers through the Instituto Electrnico de Idiomasand with the support of the British Council. Efforts were alsomade in the development of teaching skills and the promotionof communicative language teaching in the 80s and early 90s.Then, with the issuance of the Colombian Law of Education(1994), universities were given again the responsibly for therunning of in-service programmes and more awareness wasraised in regards to the connection between pre- and in-serviceteacher education. Quality assurance has also been givendifferent degrees of attention. While for some educators andeducational authorities teacher development shouldconcentrate on teaching our lessons by following tailor-madeprogrammes replicated all over the world, others point outthat teacher development programmes should aim atupdating, innovation and research. These aims embrace twoneeds that many feel are in our context: language developmentand keeping informed as regards new pedagogical trends.

Teacher development and school development go hand inhand. This implies not seeing teacher development as a massproblem, but as an area that requires attending the needs of

teachers in different regions and with different backgroundsand agendas. Bearing in mind the increasing demands onteachers and teacher preparation, educators feel it is thennecessary to consider possibilities to examine and suggestoptions to ensure quality in teacher development in our country.I extend a warm invitation to engage in the following:study the options we have to ensure quality in teacherdevelopment

- think of other alternatives we have tried out or consideredsuitable for our context

- bridge the gap between pre- and in-service education- consider follow-up strategies to support novice teachers

in teacher development- engage and disseminate research projects in the field- network and systematise experiences that account for

university-school collaboration- examine teacher educators readiness and preparation- evaluate the quality of teacher development programmes

offered in our country- compare the costs of programmes offered in our contexts

against national and international standards to reflect thenupon the investments of budgets belonging to publicinstitutions (Secretaras de Educacin, The Ministry ofEducation, etc.)

- promote study groups and research projects to documentteacher development processes

- expand this list and make it public in different forums(ASOCOPI publications, conferences, and scientificjournals).Hope you enjoy this years conference and can help usmake it a success!

Melba Libia Crdenas B.Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogot

ASOCOPI - Asociacin Colombiana de Profesores de Ingls

Melba Libia Crdenas, President; Gabriel Vicente Obando, Vice-PresidentCarlos Rico Troncoso, Treasurer; Adriana Gonzlez, SecretaryNancy Villamizar, Spokesperson;lvaro Hernn Quintero, Editor in ChiefEdwin Martnez, Office Manager; Alejandra Franco, Office AssistantRandall Barfield, Reviewer; Csar Vivas Valderrama, Design, and Graphic Process


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Editorial

Teacher development for qualityassurance is what everybody will be

talking about in this years conference ofASOCOPI. We have great expectationsabout what the scholars who havesubmitted their proposals for evaluationhave to say on the issue of quality in ELTprograms and language teachereducation in Colombia.

Quality as a concept can be viewed from various perspectives,such as official, pedagogical, research, marketing, labor, andindustrial. Particularly in language education and languageteacher preparation, a discussion that serves as an attempt torevise our conceptualization of quality as an issue in ELTcurricula is highly needed. Informed academic debates needto take place all over the country in language teacher educationprograms and elsewhere. For instance, the controversy causedby the separation between the official view of quality and theacademic view of it. While official representatives, based uponforeign industrial models, see standardized examinations asways to execute control and guarantee quality, there are criticaleducators who see examinations as ways to make sense oflife. In a relation that I can see between the issue of quality andthe activity of evaluation, I would suggest a conceptualizationof quality as closely related to evaluating living in general.

The conceptualization that needs to be rethought is that of atechnical evaluation that considers pre-specified, desirable,and remote goals. Conversely, what needs to be favored is theadoption of a human approach to evaluation that is continuous,immediate, and based on school life that gives meaning to anELT curriculum. Furthermore, this human approach considersthe teaching and learning experiences as the array of thoughts,feelings, attitudes, values, knowledge, and actions thatteachers and students undergo and undertake in living theirlives in schools (Quintero, 2003).

I am pleased to see that the Board of our Association has beenpromoting this academic debate and is gaining strength

conference after conference. This year, the AcademicCommittee and the Conference Organizing Committee havebeen able to put things together with the help of the team atUniversidad de Caldas in Manizales in order to assure acomfortable environment for special guests, presenters,participant teachers, student-teachers, and publishers to learn,share, and to play an active role in the discussions.

Manizales, a warm city with a prolific academic life, is locatedin central Colombia, capital of the Department of Caldas andpart of the Colombian Coffee region, lies near the Nevado del

Ruiz and is where the representatives of the foreign andColombian ELT community will gather to share insights aboutthe controversial topic of quality in education.

To conclude, I would like to wish the very best to ourAssociations treasurer, Carlos Rico Troncoso, who is leaving

for Leeds, England, to start his doctoral studies. People whoknow Carlos are sure that he will do fine and that his absencein our Association will be only temporary.

lvaro H. Quintero Polo


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This years Conference has the honor tocount with the presence of thefollowing group of outstanding ELTprofessionals, both from the country andfrom abroad, who are going to sharetheir insights with the audience in nine

plenary sessions.lvaro Hernn Quintero holds a B.A. in English and Spanishfrom Universidad de Nario, in Pasto. He is both a graduateand a professor of the Masters in Applied Linguistics ofUniversidad Distrital, Bogot. He also teaches in the EFLteacher education undergraduate program at the sameuniversity. Professor Quintero has also studied in England andthe USA. He is currently a member of the research groupLectoescrinautas at the Universida Distrital Francisco Josde Caldas.

Amparo Clavijo Olarte holds a PhD in Education from theUniversity of Arizona and a M.A. in TESL from Arizona StateUniversity as a former fulbright scholar. She is currently thedirector of the M.A. Program in Applied Linguistics to TEFL,The Colombian Journal of Applied Linguistics and the researchgroup Lectoescrinautas from Universidad Distrital. Her lastbook Prcticas Innovadoras de Lectura y Escritura waspublished by the Universidad Distrital Publication Office inJune, 2007.

Ganna Matichyna holds a B.A. of English Teaching from theInstitute of Social Science and Humanities of the UAEH (Hidalgo State Autonomous University, Mexico ) She also holds

a Human Rights master degree, with studies in the Universityof Nottingham, Great Britain. She has been professor of coursesof investigation and learning autonomy and an investigator atthe Department of Education at Gunma University, Japan.

Helen Cater has a BA(hons)Degree in Fine Art from theUniversity of the West of England, Bristol U.K. As a nativespeaker she has been working as a language assistant at theUniversity of Pamplona since 2004, where she gives culturalworkshops in writing and literature and runs various discussiongroups. She started the Voices Theatre Group In 2006.

Plenary SpeakersDr. Cheryl A. Roberts is Professor of TESOL/AppliedLinguistics at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa,U.S. She is currently also serving as Head of the Departmentof Modern Languages. Her research interests include teachereducation, Latinos in the U.S., and second/foreign languageteaching methodology.

Adriana Gonzlez holds a doctorate in Linguistics from StateUniversity of New York at Stony Brook. She is a teacher educatorand researcher currently appointed as the Director of the Schoolof Languages at the Universidad de Antioquia. Her academicwork and publications deal with teachers professional

development, content teaching, and second languageacquisition. She is the coordinator of the research group EALE

Natalia Salazar is a student of the Licenciatura en LenguasExtranjeras at the Unievrsidad de Antioquia. She is a memberof the research group EALE. Her participation has focused onprofessional development and content teaching projects.

Costas Pexos was born in Montreal, Canada, and completedhis Bachelor and Masters degree in English Literature atConcordia University, Canada. He has had extensiveexperience in teaching English as a foreign language inEurope. Mr. Pexos is involved in teachers training. He has alsoworked with MM Publications as an editor, ELT consultant andteacher trainer.

Chris Redston is the co-author of face2face, the major newgeneral English course for adults from Cambridge UniversityPress. He has worked in ELT for nearly twenty years, teachingin Turkey, Argentina and the UK for International House. He hasalso run teacher-training courses in Italy and the UK, and is anexperienced author of adult course materials. He has travelledextensively, visiting over forty countries.

Nick Perkins has been a teacher, teacher trainer and ELT

manager for the past 11 years, and has been living in Colombiasince 1999. Nick managed the ELT Department at theUniversidad Externado de Colombia between 2002 and 2006before moving to Pearson Longman, where he currentlycoordinates the Teacher Development Unit, as well as workingas an academic consultant in Latin America. His principalarea of interest is increasing student motivation in the ELTclassroom, and he strongly believes in using music, local cultureand the students themselves as the means of achieving this.Recently he has been exploring the topic of technology as amotivating factor in ELT.

42nd ASOCOPI Annual Conference


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There are advantagesand disadvantages tobeing a non-native

teacher of English. I havehad the opportunity ofbeing a native teacher ofSpanish as a foreignlanguage (NTSFL) in theUnited States for twoyears.

I have also been a non-native teacher of

English as a foreign language (NNTEFL)in Colombia. There are thousands of non-native teachers of English around theworld who use this advantage to helpfacilitate the process of learning in theirstudents. In this paper, I will support theadvantages of being a non-nativespeaking teacher and the importance ofusing the mother tongue to assist thelearning process.

As a NTSFL, I sometimes found it hard toexplain to my students some particular

difficulties of the L2. This situation iseasier to solve as a NNTEFL, as it wasjust a matter of appealing to the L1. Thecommon knowledge of the L1 gave methe opportunity to turn to the mothertongue of my students to facilitate thosespecific difficulties of the L2. This opinionis supported by Cook (2002), whoconsiders learners L1 a valuableinstrument in presenting meaning.

Phillipson (1996) considers NNTEFL tobe the ideal EFL teachers because theyhave gone through the process ofacquiring English as an additionallanguage. NNTEFL have had the

experience in learning and using asecond language, and their personalexperience has helped sensitize themto the linguistic and cultural needs of theirstudents. I believe NNTEFL, especiallythose who share the same first languageas their students, can help develop anavid awareness of the differencesbetween English and their studentsmother tongue. This appreciation givesthem the ability to anticipate theirstudents linguistic problems.

In my observations and experience in thefield, NNTEFL are better able to foreseethe problem areas in their students. Theyare better prepared to build remediesinto their materials, course outlines andtests. On the other hand, teachers ofEnglish as native speakers may find itquite troubling to help the same orsimilar students with even the simplestanalogies and problems caused bymother tongue interference. Medgyes(1992) points out that sharing and using

students first language in teaching aforeign language may be an invaluabletool in terms of explaining abstractnotions and managing the classroom. Inaddition, students tend to identify betterwith a teacher who speaks to them intheir own language.

Finally, Tarnopolsky (2000) states thatOnly NNTEFL can benefit from sharingthe learners mother tongue. One might

say that only teachers who share theirmonolingual students mother tonguecan better facilitate learners to developtheir interlingual awareness. The use ofthe mother tongue in a rational way canbe used as a vehicle of communicationand facilitator of the learning process.Much time can often be saved by justtranslating the word into the studentsL1, instead of trying to explain it in theL2. We know that students are not alwaysinterested in learning, and everyadvantage that we can use will help toease the difficulty of teaching a secondlanguage.

References

DIGEST (December 2002) Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers in the English TeachingProfession. http:// www.cal.org/ERICCLL

Oleg Tarnopolsky. (2000) EFL Teaching and EFLTeachers in the Global Expansion of English. http:/

/ www.wpel.net

Teresa Pica. (1984) A Re-Examinat ion of L1Interference and L2 Complexity as Factors inSecond Language Syllabus Design . http://www.wpel.net

Medgyes, P. (1992). Native or Non-native: WhosWorth More? ELT Journal 46(4),

340-349. http://sincronia.cucsh.udg.mx/sorianox04.htm

Phillipson, R. (1996). ELT: The Native SpeakersBurden. In T. Hedge & N. Whitney (Eds.), Power,Pedagogy & Practice (pp. 23-30). Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.

http://www.cal.org

Cook,V.J. (Editor) Second Language Acquisition,1 : Portraits of the L2 User.

Clevedon, GBR:Multilingual Matters Limited,2002

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/bibliosurcolombiana

The Advantages of Non-native

Teachers of English to TeachEnglish as a Second Language.

IN THE CLASSROOM

Javier Zapata Bahamn Universidad Surcolombiana


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Thursday October 119.00 a.m. 4.00 p.m. Registration ASOCOPI Table

5.00 5.30 p.m. Theater 8 de Junio Opening Ceremony and Keynote Speech: Teacher Development for Quality AssuranceMelba Libia Crdenas - Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogot

5.30 6.30 p.m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 1:Official Recognition, Quality Assurance and other Follies: The Need of Language Teacher EducationPrograms that Make a Difference. lvaro Hernn Quintero - Universidad Distrital

6.30 7.00 p.m. Opening Cocktail

Friday October 128.30 9.30 a.m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 2:

Teacher Engagement in the Use of ICTs for Language and Literacy Development Across EducationalLevels. Amparo Clavijo - Universidad Distrital

9:30 10:30 a.m. Concurrent Session 1

Type Ti t l e R o o m Presenter/s I n st i t ut i on

A Takin Care of Business - Teacher Training in Corporate Translation B- 414 Thomas Gardner Universidad del Norte

A The Evaluation of Teaching Performance: An Important Means of

Promoting Excellence in Education Lab. Olga Umaa Universidad de CaldasC Getting the Most from Adolescent Learners with Check it Out! C. Nder Milada Broukal Heinle Cengage Learning

C Common European Framework Based EFL Material (To The Top) B - 208 Costas Pexos The Anglo Publishing House

C Teenagers, Challenge and Language Learning H. Gallego Nick Perkins Pearson Longman

Development Course Based on Autonomy Mercedes Roldn UPTC

L English Immersions In San Andres Island: A Case Study B 214 Sindy Moya & Universidad Nacional deArturo Stephens Colombia, Sede Caribe

R Representations about the Ideal Holistic Training that Primary, Carlos A. Toro &

Public Foreign Language Teachers Have in the City of Medelln B 402 David Gmez Universidad de AntioquiaR Improving English Results in the ICFES Examination: Sol Herrera &

A Pathway to Success B 404 Liliana Valle Universidad de Crdoba

R English Discoveries Software and Professional Development B 406 Jairo Lpez Universidad Distrital

R How to Survey Pedagogic Practices of English Teachers B 408 Nidia Guzmn & Universidad SurcolombianaAlirio Insuasty

w Strategies for integrating the Four English Language Skills S. de Medios Yla Farr-Rigau The College Board

Type of Presentation: A: Academic; C: Commercial, D: Demonstration; L: Lecture, R: Research Report; W: Workshop

42ND ASOCOPI ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Academic Program


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W Rainbow Revolution: Effective Use of Colors and Patterns inthe Teaching of Grammar to Young Learners R. Vlez J. Phillips de C. The English School

10.30 11.00 a.m. Coffee Break

11.00 a.m. 12.00 m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 3:CLIL and the Possibilities of its Implementation in Latin American Foreign Language TeachingEducational Scheme. Ganna Matichyna - The Anglo Publishing House

12.00 m. 2 p.m. Lunch Break

2:00 3:00 p.m. Concurrent Session 2Type Ti t le R o o m Presenter/s In st i t u t i on

A Standards for English Teachers Performance as the Basis Norbella Miranda Universidad de Sanfor a Professional Development Program B 414 Georgia Costalas Buenaventura Cali

A Taking the Standards to the Teachers: the Socialization Process B 404 Gillian Moss Universidad del NorteC The Learners Dictionary: Reference Tool or Learning Opportunity? H. Gallego Ian Martin Heinle Cengage Learning

C Teaching Vocabulary in a Communicative Framework

(Channel Direct) B - 214 Costas Pexos The Anglo Publishing HouseC Programa Cultural Care Au Pair B - 208 Liliana Giraldo Cultural Care Au Pair

C Getting to Know Your Students and Teachers Betterwith ELASH & TESST C. Nder Ylda Farr-Rigau The College Board

Clara Rico VIF Program

C How to Teach English to Children Teatro Harold Bratovich Greenwich

L Walk in Your Students Shoes or Do They Actually LearnWhat We Teach? The Aspects of Brain Based Learning B 402 Ganna Matichyna The Anglo Publishing House

L Tutoring In A Pre-Service Teacher Education Program B 416 Aleida Ariza &

John Vifara G. UPTC

R A Holistic Approach to Professional Development of Cristina Cadavid &EFL Elementary School Teachers B 408 Diana Quincha Universidad de Antioquia

R A Descriptive-Interpretative Study about the Types of TechniquesCarried Out by Two First Semestrer Teachers from Spanish,English and French Languages Teaching Program at de Pilar Gaviln &La Salle University Lab. Diana Romero Universidad de La Salle

R Improving Oral Production through Cooperative Learning Strategies. S. de Medios Claudia Prieto Bachillerato Patria

W Incorporating Technology and Project Based Learning into the

Language Classroom: A New Approach for Improving TeachingMethodologies B 406 Andrs Atehortua Universidad de Caldas

W The Power and Possibilities of Critical Boalian Theatre forTeacher Education, Collaboration and Learning R.V. Ligia Lpez Wake Forest University

3.00 4.00 p.m. Theater 8 de Junio Panel 1Teacher Development for Quality Assurance

4.00 4.30 p.m. Coffee Break



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4.30 5.30 p.m Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 4:Using Theatre to Stimulate Active Language Learning - A Theatre Group Experience at TheUniversity of PamplonaHelen Cater - Universidad de Pamplona

5.30 6.30 p.m. Cultural Activity

Saturday October 138.30 9.30 a.m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 5:

Effective Strategies for In-Service Teacher Development Cheryl Roberts - University of NorthernIowa

9:30 10:30 a.m. Concurrent Session 3Type Ti t le R o o m Presenter/s In st i t u t i on

A Present trends in Language Teacher Education:Global and Local Perspectives Lab. Rosalba Crdenas Universidad del Valle

A Project Work at Schools of Education. An Experience B 208 Monica Castaeda Universidad Libre

C Using video with Young Learners H.G.G. Costas Pexos The Anglo Publishing House

C How Do Children Think and Learn B 214 Ganna Matichyna The Anglo Publishing House

C Learning English face2face C. Nder Chris Redston Cambridge University Press

C But There Are Too Many Words! Dealing with Vocabulary Teatro Pamela Hartmann McGraw-Hill

D Like Informatics and Love English? Try an InteractiveContest You Can Play Now in the Classroom no Matter the Age S. Medios Liliana Gil Colegio Trinidad del Monte

L Towards the Implementation of a Teachers Professional B 416 Bertha Ramos &

L Assuring Quality Teaching through Observation B 402 Kathleen Corrales Universidad del Norte

L Devising Strategies to Get Involved in Teacher Development Yezid Arvalo & Fundacin UniversitariaPrograms: An Institutional Experience B 416 Melissa Gmez Los Libertadores

L Become a Functional Grammarian, Teaching Grammar to Universidad Nacional dePre-service Teachers B 404 Claudia Nieto Colombia, Sede Bogot

R Internet: Make-sense Communication for Our Non-native Mauricio Jven &Speaking Setting B 414 Sara Gonzlez Global Languages Services

R Content and Performance Standards in Foreign Languages: Edgar Picn-J. &A Collaborative Pedagogic Innovation B 406 Lady Egle Gutirrez Universidad de Antioquia

R EFL Didactics: A Discussion upon Instructional Sequences B 408 Aldemar Alvarez Universidad de La Salle

W Strategies for Integrating the Four English Language Skills S.de Medios Ylda Farr-Rigau The College Board

W The Importance and Implementation of Extensive Reading R. Vlez Ian Martin Heinle Cengage Learning


11.00 a.m. 12.00 m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 6:Intramural University Faculty Collaboration to Teach Language and ContentAdriana Gonzlez & Natalia Salazar - Universidad de Antioquia

12.00 m. 2.00 p.m. Lunch Break



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2.00 3.00 p.m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 7:An Ounce of Motivation is Worth a Ton of Pedagogy: Tipping the Balance in Favour of Learning.Costas Pexos - The Anglo Publishing House

3:00 4:00 p.m. Concurrent Session 4Type Ti t le R o o m Presenter/s In st i t u t i on

A Qualities Needed to Teach Adolescent Learners Successfully B 208 Milada Broukal Heinle Cengage LearningC TV Readers, Beyond Words B 214 Ana Cristina Daz &Mauricio Beltrn Editorial Richmond

C Become an International Teacher with the VIF Program C. Nder Gloria Bohrquez

C Meaningful Input, Realistic Output H. Gallego Ganna Matichyna The Anglo Publishing House

D Avoiding Plagiarism: Assuring Quality Work From our Students B - 404 Kathleen Corrales &Angela Bailey Universidad del Norte

D Towards the Implementation of a Self Access Centre to Learn Angela Benjumea,Foreign Languages R.V. Imelda Zorro &

Deisy Baracaldo Universidad Libre

L TEPD: Local Proposals to Assume the Challenges for the Angela Prez & Colegio de Educacin BsicaNew Millennium B 416 Eliana Garzn Suse & UPTC

L Communicative Competence, What do teachers Have to do with It? B 402 Lourdes Rey &Nayibe Rosado Universidad del Norte

R Dialogue Journals in the EFL Classroom: Building LearnerAutonomy, Motivation and Self-Assessment throughWritten Interactio B - 408 Jorge Turizo Universidad del Norte

R Modern Language School Students Oral ProficiencyDevelopment: Teaching, Assessment and Evaluation Practices B 414 Nancy Carvajal UPTC

R Fostering Higher Order Thinking Skills as a Basis for Universidad Nacional de

Standardized Test Taking: The Aftermath and Practical Implications S.de Medios Esperanza Martnez Colombia, Sede BogotW Language Bombs: Disarming Myths, Misconceptions, Universidad Externado

and Taboos about American English B 406 Ernest White II de Colombia

W Helping Teachers Towards a Strategy-Based Approach to Grammar Lab. Jorge Ojeda Colombo Americano Bogota

4.00 4.30 p.m. Coffee Break

4.30 5.30 p.m. General Assembly

5.30 6.30 p.m. Cultural Activity

Sunday October 148.30 9.30 a.m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 8:

Which Words Dont We Listen to? Chris Redston - Cambridge University Press

9.30 10.30 a.m. Theater 8 de Junio Plenary 9:Technology: Re-placing Teachers? Nick Perkins - Pearson Longman


11.00 a.m. 12.00 m. Theater 8 de Junio Panel 2:Teacher Development for Quality Assurance

12.00 m. 12.30 p.m. Closing Ceremony



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ASOCOPI Newsletter10

The concept of EFLteaching in our country hasstarted changing duringthe last days. However,there is a tendency tofocus our English classes onlinguistic structures andsenseless information forstudents.

Thistlethwaite (1990) defines criticalreading as the process of makingjudgments and discovering informationand ideas within a text: evaluatingrelevancy and adequacy of what is read.Critical reading refers to a careful, active,reflective, analytic reading. Critical thinkinginvolves reflecting on the validity of whatyou have read in light of our priorknowledge and understanding of the world.By these definitions, critical reading wouldappear to come before critical thinking:

Only once we have fully understood a text(critical reading) can we truly evaluate itsassertions (critical thinking).

Taking into account the theory explainedabove, we would like to describe ourexperiences in the classroom by usingliterary texts. One of these experiences tookplace at UPTC with Modern Languagesstudents in the subject Communicative

Project 7th. For this experience, studentsread two stories written by Edgar AllanPoe. The other experience wasdeveloped with students of ninth gradein Colegio Bsico de Suse (Aquitania Boyac). This time, the fairy tale TheThree Little Pigs was read by students.

Garzn: The program established forCommunicative Project 7th in ModernLanguages School at the UPTC isoriented towards academic writingincluding different kinds of essays andreading strategies. I developed theseguidelines during the whole semesterwith my students but could notice thattheir written production was based on

trivial aspects closely related to theempty texts worked in class.

Therefore, I started feeling worried aboutthis situation and decided to becomean agent of change in my classes, whichmeans encouraging my students toreflect actively and discuss what theyread. It is through these reflections anddiscussions that students realize theyare active members of their society andthat English is not an isolated subjectbut a vehicle or excuse to go deeper into

their concerns of life.Consequently, I decided to plan andapply three lessons based on criticalreading of two tales written by Edgar

Allan Poe: The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart, after diagnosing mystudents reading likes. When we readliterature, we can gain entrance to aworld familiar or unfamiliar to us due tothe cultural aspects of the tales orstories, and take a voyage from theliterary text to our own minds to find

meanings for ideas which lead to criticalthinking.

Prez: This experience was carried outduring two lessons with ninth-gradestudents. I chose the fairy tale The ThreeLittle Pigs because I found two differentversions of it in English. In the originalversion, the wolf was guilty because of hisbad intentions of eating the three little pigs.On the contrary, the other version shows a

Two Samples Based on

How to ApproachReading Critically

IN THE CLASSROOM

Eliana Garzn Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de ColombiaAngela Prez Colegio de Educacin Bsica Suse


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different side of the story. Here, the threelittle pigs were bad neighbors of the wolf,so they provoked him into losing histemper. After reading the two versions, mystudents had to judge the wolfs behavioraccording to their own beliefs and pointsof view. Then, they had to create a playbased on a possible wolf trial.

At the beginning, I thought that this kindof reading was not interesting for mystudents because of their age. They areadolescents and fairy tales are mostlyread by children. Adolescents aresupposed to be more interested in topicsrelated to their context of life. However,when they were doing the activities, I was

surprised because of my studentsreaction. They enjoyed the proposalbecause it was challenging for them.

Young (1996) discusses the use ofchildrens stories to introduce criticalthinking to college students. He believesthat stories have two crucial advantagesover traditional content: First, becausethey are entertaining, students pervasiveapprehension is reduced, and they learn

from the beginning that critical thinkingis natural, familiar, and sometimes evenfun. Second, the stories put criticalthinking issues into an easily rememberedcontext (p. 90). Howie (1993) agrees withthe use of short stories to teach criticalthinking. He points out that instructorshave the responsibility to help studentsdevelop cognitive skills because everyoneneeds to make judgments, be decisive,come to conclusions, synthesizeinformation, organize, evaluate, predict,and apply knowledge. By reading andwriting, students develop their criticalthinking skills.

The purpose, when we work with

literature, is to teach our students how tothink critically about what they read,asking them to consider the story inconnection with their own experience(Ballentine & Hill, 2000). Thus, stories canbe used in many different contexts toachieve different results. We, as teachers,should consider not only how stories canenrich our communication, but also howwe can discuss values, teach language

Improve the practice of English language teaching.

Strengthen the sense of identity of language teachers through membership in a professional organization.

Promote the exchange of ideas, resources, information, and experiences between language teachers on a national level as well as atan international level.

Promote high levels of education and professional development of university students, in the field of foreign language teaching.

Provide opportunities of continued professional development of teachers.

Encourage research in the area of foreign language teaching and learning. Provide a forum for the introduction and exchange of new ideas and practices and for the production of educational material.

Encourage a high level of education and professionalism among its members.

Provide a consultative and advisory road in the development of educational innovations, English for Special Purposes, AppliedLinguistics, Material Development, and Academic Programs at the primary, secondary and university levels.

Stimulate the cooperation of mutual support among language teachers.

Organize support activities for the development and maintenance of linguistic abilities of non-native students and teachers.

ASOCOPI Mission Statement

skills, and encourage critical thinkingfrom them.

References

Ballentine, D. & Hill, L. (September 2000).Teaching Beyond Once Upon a Time. Language

Arts. Vol. 78, No. 1. (pp. 11-20).

Howie, S. H. (1993). Critical Thinking: A CriticalSkill for Students. Reading TODAY24.

Thistlethwaite, L. L. (1990). Critical Reading forat-risk Students. Journal of reading, 3, 33 (pp.586-592).

Young, A. (1996). Introducing Critical Thinking atthe College Level with Childrens Stories. CollegeTeaching 44 (3): 90.

Eliana Garzn Duarte holds anundergraduate degree from Universidad Industrial

de Santander and is enrolled in the MastersProgram in Language Teaching at (UPTC),Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica deColombia in Tunja. She currently teaches atUPTC. E-mail: [email protected]

Angela Yane th Prez Daza holds anundergraduate degree from UniversidadPedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia and isenrolled in the Masters Program in LanguageTeaching at UPTC. She currently works at ColegioBsico de Suse in Aquitania (Boyac). E-mail:[email protected]


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Among the differentareas of EFL teachersprofessional knowledge,there is one that hastriggered and continuestriggering our minds inthe face of our teachingpractices.

I am referring to the didactics languageteaching. This is perhaps one of thereasons many of us attend differentacademic events such as workshops,demonstrations or why we enroll incourses on methodology; we would liketo receive the appropriate recipe thatsuits our teaching needs. However, wehave all experienced thedisenchantment of going back to ourclassroom realities where all thetechniques, procedures and strategies

given by the experts do not always seemto work. Therefore, we all have to askwhether we are looking for the answer toour questions in the right place: Are theanswers inside or outside of our teachingsettings? How can the knowledgeprovided by experts become helpful?This short reflection, besides addressingthese two queries, will conceptualize thediscipline of didactics and some of thedimensions that constitute it.

When referring to didactics it is necessaryto bear in mind that it is grounded onfour essential axes (Estebaranz, 1994).Firstly, it prioritizes educational practice.This means that didactics ought to gobeyond the technical-rationality viewwhich focuses on instructional practice(know-how). Rather, it should aim ateducational practice which implies amore humanistic view of knowledge,instructional devices and pedagogicalactors. The development of didactictheory departs from practice. This

assertion implies that the nature of theconstruction of knowledge within thediscipline should be the teaching activityand, thus, the internal dynamics to suchprocess. A third feature of didactics refersto the historicity of the knowledge itproduces. Although knowledge issynchronically situated, it has abackground; hence, it is reshaped orrelocated in the present as a way torespond to current needs and theprojection of a future time. Finally,didactics takes into consideration the

complexities inherent to schooling,learning and teaching. The didactics ofa classroom needs to be informed notonly by cognitive and proceduralelements of teaching, but also by thecultural and social dimensions that exertinfluence in the educational process. Aclass, as implied by Prabhu (1992), isnot just a curricular event, but a socialevent as well.

IN THE CLASSROOM

Emerging Didactics for

Emerging Teaching-Learning Situations

Jos Aldemar lvarez Valencia - Univerisdad de La Salle


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The characterization presented aboveprovides some elements to definedidactics as a discipline that explainsthe teaching-learning processes, and, atthe same time, it purports to build itsknowledge based on reflection anddialogism among the axes that composeit and the agents that participate in thepedagogical practices. Thus, didacticshas to be studied and constructed frompractice as an emergent phenomenon;theory and practice around didacticsshould feed back each other constantly.

Now, if we return to the questions posedat the outset of this paper, we will have toincline for a middle position. Academicevents might help us find answers andwill provide tools, but they cannotbecome recipes. As was alreadyacknowledged, didactics emerges onthe basis of multiple articulations ofsocial, cultural, epistemological, andethical interactions that converge andmaterialize in a classroom. We shouldnot forget that classroom events arefounded on contingency caused by theinteraction of two or more subjects(teacher and students) who put into playtheir subjectivities. It is from theencounter of these subjectivities thatquestions about discipline, the bestmethod, the proper technique toimprove language use, among others,

start to trigger our minds. Then, our roleas mediating agents in a teachingcontext is that of, first, identifying thequestion (which is not always easy) and,second, trying to answer it. To do this,the help of outsiders can contribute,albeit the answer will be basically foundinside the classroom. It is our task to findthe answers by using the wealth of toolswe receive from theory, experts or closecolleagues.

We need to be open to new perspectivescoming from experts or more-experienced colleagues; nevertheless,we have to be aware that the knowledgethey have produced likely originatedunder different circumstances, in othercontexts and with other populations.Many of the suggestions or principlesoffered by experts can be adapted ratherthan adopted. A cautious testing andreflective exercise might help determinethe suitability of innovative material, atechnique, strategy, procedure and soforth. Although giving a set of principlesabout how teachers should act in front ofthe dynamics of emergent didacticswould sound contradictory, I do thinkthere are some general issues such asthe following we could consider:

- The need fo r teachers to seethemselves as researchers anddevelop action research exercises

- The implementat ion of ref lect iveteaching as an important activity toidentify and propose solutions toproblematic situations. In this way,journals diaries, field notes, classobservation, conferences and otherinstruments can help monitorclassroom dynamics.

- The change o f pat te rns o fcommunication and interaction

between teachers and students. Amore collaborative relationshipshould be enhanced sincepedagogical tensions are notderived from only one agent but arethe product of all agents involved.

- The significance of being aware thatthe emergent happenings in themicroworld of the classroom are notonly the outcome of its internal

dynamics but are influenced byextramural realities.

- The need to see didactic theory asone option or posture aboutpedagogical phenomena which arenot static but, on the contrary,dynamic. Didactic theory shouldconstitute a framework for context-

bound and classroom-orientedinnovative practices; therefore,teachers will progress from the stageof theory users to the stage of theoryproducers (Kumaravadivelu, 1994).

ReferencesEstebaranz, A. (1999). Didctica e InnovacinCurricular. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla, Serviciode publicaciones.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (1992). The Post-methodCondition: Emerging Strategies for Second /

Foreign Language Teaching. TESOLQUARTERLY 28, 1, p. 27- 47.

Prabhu, N.S. (1992). The Dynamics of theLanguage Lesson. TESOL QUARTERLY 26, 2,p. 225-241.

Edge,,J. (1996). Cross-Cultural Paradoxes in aProfession of Values. TESOL QUARTERLY 30(1), 9-30.

This issue ofASOCOPI newsletter

is sponsored by

www.britishcouncil.org/colombia


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Cambridge University Press ColombiaRicardo Romero M.Carrera 18 # 137 65, BogotPhone: (57 1) 649 06 25Fax: (57 1) 649 06 26/[email protected]

Greenwich ELT - Grupo Editorial NormaOscar Laiton, Ana Mara RojasCalle 95 No. 33-44. BogotPhone: (57 1) 6110735, 6184730Fax: (57 1) [email protected], [email protected], www.greenwich-elt.com

Heinle Cengage LearningNadia Reina Mendoza. ELT Manager - Andean PactCra. 90 No.17B - 39 Bodega 27 Sector Hayuelos. Bogot.Pbx: (57 1) 292 20 40 ext. [email protected]

Houghton MifflinLuz Angela UmaaCalle 46 No. 50 - 11. BogotPhone: (57 1) 221 24 54Cel: 315 353 00 46Fax: (57 1) 221 11 [email protected]

McGraw-Hill Interamericana S.ACarlos Eduardo Bermdez - Gerente General

Amparo Castillo Ramrez-Supervisora ELTCarrera 11 # 93-46 Of. 301. BogotPhone: (57 1) 600 38 54Fax: (57 1) 600 38 [email protected][email protected]

Pearson Longman Colombiangela Andrade, Gerente Divisin ELT/School

Carrera 65 B # 14-32, Bogot

Phone: (57 1) 294 08 00Fax: (57 1) 260 73 [email protected]

[email protected], www.longman.com

Richmond Grupo SantillanaMaria Vidalia Mrquez ELT ManagerSandra Liliana Rangel Sales ManagerCalle 80 # 10-23. BogotPhone: (57 1) 635 12 00 Ext [email protected]

www.richmond.com.co

The Anglo Publishing HouseJuan Carlos Gmez, Fitzroy KennedyCalle 79 No. 14-30. BogotPhone: (57 1) 621 67 21, 616 06 75Fax: (57 1) 621 66 [email protected]@coldecon.net.cowww.anglopublishing.com,www.mmpi.co.ukwww.expresspublishing.co.uk

The College BoardJanning Estrada Aquino208 Ave. Ponce de Len Banco Popular Center, Suite 150Hato Rey, Puerto RicoPhone: [email protected]://oprla.collegeboard.com

Universidad del RosarioEscuela de Ciencias Humanas

Fabin Felipe Lozano vilaCra. 6A No. 14 ? 13 Ofic. 420 Bogot D.C.

Phone: (571)3414006 Ext. 268 ? Cel.: [email protected]

VIF ProgramJennifer McInnis WigginsPO Box 3566, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 3566 U.S.Phone: 919-967-5144Fax: [email protected]

ELT Directory


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Asaderos De PolloFrisbyCra 23 Calle 60Centro Comercial Multicentro Estrella

Pollos Asados MarioCra 23 No 63 58

QuiquesCra 23 No 64 80

Almuerzo EjecutivoVamos Donde El MonoCra 23 No 62 79

Don JuacoCalle 65 Cra 23B

Mario BrossCalle 65 Cra 23B

La CuadrataCalle 62 No 23 56

El CarboncitoCalle 62 No 24 24

El TablnCalle 62 No 23c 44

BrunosCra 23 No 72 71

Pizza y PastaCalle 62 No 23 38

VegetarianoCra 23 No 73 112

Chuzos Casa BlancaCalle 63 Cra 24

Mister CrepesCra 23 No 63 106

BerenjenaCalle 62 No 25 72

Sal Y PimientaCalle 62 Cra 25

Comidas RapidasPrestoCra 23 No 58 36

Comida InternacionalPalograndeCra 23C No 64 18

A La LeaCra 23C No 62 66

Las Cuatro EstacionesCalle 65 Cra 23 B

Centros Comerciales:Alrededor de la Universidad

Centro Comercial Cable Plaza

Cra 23 Calle 65Centro Comercial San CancioCalle 67 Cra 28

Multicentro EstrellaCra 23 Calle 60

Restaurantes


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En cumplimiento del Artculo 9 de los Estatutos de la Asociacin Colombiana de Profesoresde Ingls (ASOCOPI), la Junta Directiva Nacional se permite convocar a todos los miembrosactivos, fundadores, correspondientes, honorarios y vitalicios a la Asamblea General Ordinariapara el ao 2007, que se llevar a cabo en el marco del 42 Congreso Nacional de la Asociacinel da Sbado 13 de octubre de 2007 a las 4:30 p.m. en el Teatro Ocho de Junio de laUniversidad de Caldas, ubicada en la Calle 65 # 26 - 10 en la ciudad de Manizales. La

agenda ser la siguiente:

1. Verificacin del Qurum

2. Lectura del Acta de la Asamblea anterior

3. Informes de la Junta Directiva

a. Informe del Presidente en representacin de la Junta

b. Informe de estados financieros y presentacin de presupuesto 2008 para aprobacinpor parte de la Tesorera

4. Eleccin de vacantes para la Junta Directiva Nacional

5. Asuntos varios

Atentamente solicitamos tener en cuenta los siguientes puntos:Artculo 7 Un Asociado que no pudiere concurrir a la Asamblea se podr hacer representar

mediante poder escrito conferido a otro socio activo. Dicho poder deber entregarse antesde la iniciacin de la Asamblea a la secretara de la Junta Directiva Nacional. Un Asociado nopodr representar a ms de dos ausentes.Toda propuesta que se desee tratar en asuntos varios deber ser entregada por escrito a lasecretara en forma de mocin, antes de iniciada la Asamblea y deber ser apoyado por lomenos por dos asamblestas para ser considerado en el orden del da.Las candidaturas para los cargos vacantes debern registrarse ante la secretara de la JuntaDirectiva antes de iniciada la Junta General.

Bogot, 28 de Septiembre de 2007

Junta Directiva Nacional

Firmado:Melba Libia Crdenas Beltrn, PresidenteGabriel Obando, Vicepresidente

Convocatoria

newsletter octu bre 2007 final

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