IATEFL Slovenia Magazine, Winter issue 2019, no. 75

Fake News and Alternative Facts: Critical Digital Literacy in the Classroom by Kirsten Hempkin

Successful foreign language learners and use of learning strategies: at the crossroads between theory and practice by Urška Petrevčič

Mapping the written wor(l)ds of classic novels by Nora Nagy

They Call This (C)rap! by Hazelynn Anak Rimbar

My immigration story (TED Talk Lesson) by Klavdija Krempl Slana

Student Showcase

To be up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl2.splet.arnes.si 1 Critical thinking at a glance (3) Case Study: When the fake news is the news Nada Đukić

Contemporary British and American media discourse is very pro- ductive and rich in terms of its range of catchy or at least interesting phrases. One of these is “fake news”, which became extremely popular and widely used after being repeatedly used by a certain world leader. But what is really at the core of this phrase? Through the lens of critical thinking, we can at least “detect” an extremely important distinction that needs to be made, i.e. the ability to point out what facts (“truth”, “reality”) are and what opinions (“interpretations”) are, and especially not to mix them up…!

4 Fake News and Alternative 28 Using songs with young 40 Student showcase Facts: Critical Digital language learners In the presence of the moon Literacy in the Classroom by Janja Androić nobody sees stars by Kirsten Hempkin 30 Our plenary speakers at the 44 Lesson Plan 7 Successful foreign language 26th International IATEFL My immigration story learners and use of learning Slovenia Conference 2019 (TED Talk Lesson) strategies: at the crossroads #empowerED by Klavdija Krempl Slana between theory and practice by Urška Petrevčič 31 They Call This (C)rap! 47 European Day of Languages by Hazelynn Anak Rimbar 2018 18 How can I say it in English? Some strategies to How to Be a Great Teacher Report from 28th compensate for lexical gaps. 34 49 from A to Z IATEFL-Hungary conference by Antonella Percara by Nataša Intihar Klančar by Sandra Vida

Mapping the written wor(l)ds 20 From Rogaška Slatina to the The Macedonia Experience of classic novels 36 50 British English Olympics by Danny Singh by Nora Nagy by Catherine Earles IATEFL Slovenia Events Promoting multiculturalism 53 22 Teacher Thoughts opinion column and language learning with 38 My Friend the Calculator ERASMUS +: Youth in Action by Lea Koler by Barbara Lukač Patarčec

Student showcase Students’ practical work 39 24 An exploration of art, and vocational training in culture and the unspeakable the 1970s and 80s school by Tina Šajn reform – Keeping in touch with reality, knowledge and skills for a quality life and the world of work by Mirjana Došen

2 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Editorial IATEFL Slovenia Magazine Vol. 16, No 75, Winter issue 2019

Published by: IATEFL Slovenia, p. p. 1677, 1001 Ljubljana

Email: [email protected], www.iatefl.si

IATEFL Slovenia President: Janja Čolić

IN editor: Lea Koler

Public relations: Sandra Vida

Primary school coordinator: Metka Lovrin

Secondary school coordinator: We all know the drill. Nataša Meh New Year rolls around and we all make our lists, promising ourselves that this year Seminars: Martina Volk – this year – will be different. This year our New Year’s resolutions will stick. This year we’ll make time for our hobbies. We won’t be left looking sheepish sometime in May, Printed by: Design Studio, d.o.o. not a book read nor a hill climbed nor a new country visited. We’ll enrol in that pottery Graphic design: Petra Turk class and we just noticed those language classes they do just round the corner...

Articles, letters and According to the University of Scranton’s study on New Year’s resolutions, only 8% of other contributions should people who make them stick to them for the entire year. Some sources claim that 80% be addressed to IATEFL, of all resolutions fail by February, which should be when you’re reading this. That is, p. p. 1677, 1001 Ljubljana if I kept to my New Year’s resolution to organise my time better and learn to prioritise tasks... Email: [email protected] So, what can we do to stick to the resolutions to live our best life this year? IATEFL Slovenia Board Members: Janja Čolić, President, responsible Perhaps, instead of New Year’s resolutions, we could try making more everyday reso- for sponsors, tenders lutions? Of course, we can resolve to be better people, better thinkers, better teach- Sandra Vida, Public relations ers every single year. That, after all, is the whole purpose of these resolutions – to Metka Lovrin, Primary school take some time to look back and reassess our lives. However, something a bit more Nataša Meh, Secondary school short-term might be a better choice for most of us. Instead of making life-changing Martina Volk, Seminars decisions, we might just change one little thing a month. Lea Koler, IN editor If you are looking for ideas on tackling your resolutions with regard to work, perhaps Cover-page photo, you might consider attending a conference, reading some research on teaching is- page 2, 3, 15, 33, 35, 11, 25: sues (see the second instalment of the articles on successful language learners by www.freepik.com Urška Petrevčič), or trying out a new approach or idea (some ideas in this issue in- clude using rap, literary maps and TED Talk lesson plans). Or maybe you could em- brace your inner writer and send us an article for our next issue? ISSN 1855-6833 Whatever you decide, I hope you enjoy our dose of motivation to be an even better teacher.

Lea Koler, Editor

Source: Ali, S., Ph.D. (2018, December 5). Why New Year's Resolutions Fail. Retrieved January 14, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/modern-mentality/201812/why-new-years-resolutions-fail

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 3 Fake News and Alternative Facts: Critical Digital Literacy in the Classroom by Kirsten Hempkin, Filozofska fakulteta, Univerza v Mariboru

Kirsten Hempkin arrived in Slovenia I’m sure that many of you will be famil- Politicians and the media have often from Scotland in 1996. She has made iar with the story of the so-called Brexit been accused of being “economical her home in Maribor, raising her kids bus. Employed by the leave campaign with” or distorting the truth, but it (and dog) with her husband in a bilingual prior to the U.K. referendum on Europe- seems in today’s world being down- household. She is a lektorica at the an Union membership, the bus drove right untruthful is commonplace – Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, around with a sign on its side claiming which presents a challenge to the edu- where she teaches a wide that by withdrawing from the E.U., the cational community and to us, as variety of courses in UK would save 350 million euros a teachers of English, in particular. Eng- speaking, writing and week (which could then be spent on the lish language classrooms have long general language National Health Service). The only prob- been the site of other types of learning, development. Her lem, however, was that the claim was such as intercultural and human research interests entirely false - which was admitted by rights,1 which go hand-in-hand with include intercul- one of the main campaign figures, Nigel language education. Although they tural issues and Farage, the very day after the vote. The differ to some extent, the content and language teacher Brexit bus story is an example of what aims of these educations are similar in identity. When she we’ve come to identify as “post-truth”, that they focus on developing the skills is not working, she the Oxford Dictionaries 2016 Word of and competences our learners need to loves running, reading and the Year, which they define as “relating function in a globalised and democrat- supporting her favourite football team. to or denoting circumstances in which ic society, especially how to live in Her ultimate ambition is to learn how objective facts are less influential in peace and tolerance with others (Audi- to sklanjati in Slovene. shaping public opinion than appeals to gier 2000; Tibbets 1996; Byram 2008; emotion and personal belief”. Starkey 2002). This is also one of the core values embodied in the White If you take an interest in American poli- Paper on Education in Slovenia (1996), tics, then you are sure to have heard on which the current Slovene educa- President Trump using the term “fake tion system is based. news” to attack media outlets he feels are trying to discredit him. Collins Dic- However, it seems that fulfilling our tionary, who selected this as their 2017 responsibilities as members of a dem- Word of the Year, define it as “false, ocratic society is becoming more chal- often sensational, information dissemi- lenging as a result of the proliferation nated under the guise of news report- of misinformation (fake news, alterna- ing”. And while we’re on the subject of tive facts) we encounter in our post- the White House, we cannot overlook truth world. As researchers from Stan- the (in)famous “alternative facts” (or, in other words, untruths) provided by Sean Spicer, then press secretary, in the row 1 Citizenship education is closely related and has shaped and informed both intercultural over attendance figures at Trump’s and human rights education, although it inauguration. usually takes place in the mother tongue.

4 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si ford University point out,2 it is pare news stories on the same day head-of-state, had been deposed in becoming harder for citizens to make from a variety of sources. I list the top a military coup. the types of informed and reasoned five stories as presented by the “news decisions that underpin democracy, suite” app on my phone. For example, In the same way, comparing Facebook going as far as to suggest that democ- on 15th Nov. 2017, my top five were: 1. news feeds reveals how we only re- racy is under serious threat. How do Johnny Depp starring in a Marilyn Man- ceive a limited stream of information, we decide, for example, who to vote for son video; 2. Nicky Minaj in a very dar- sometimes referred to as the “social if we cannot be sure that the informa- ing outfit; 3. Caroline Flack (a British TV media bubble”. If I look at my news tion about the candidates is accurate? presenter) poses topless; 4. Meghan feed from Nov. 15th, for example, there In the USA-wide research the Stanford Markle co-star poses on red carpet; 5. are commercials inviting me to buy researchers undertook, they investigat- South Korea hit by 5.5. magnitude Harry Potter merchandise (because ed school children’s ability to reason earthquake. my daughter has been using my laptop about information available on the to look at HP sites), while there are internet, with their findings making What is immediately clear is that the stories reflecting my interest in football sobering reading. They describe the first four stories are celebrity-based, and notifications from sites I have ability of the participants to reason while the first story with any “real” “liked” such as Liverpool FC and Oh My about the information they access on news content comes fifth. Comparing Goal. There are politically flavoured the internet as extremely poor, while my news stories with my students’ posts also: my husband shared a New the students themselves are often illustrates how the featured stories York Times article on how the rich easily misled. differ – a selection is made for us avoid tax; a colleague shared based on personal preferences we a post critical of a decision to deport a We may like to think that the picture is have either stated or which are as- Syrian refugee from Slovenia; another different in Slovenia, and I would certain- sumed for us. The second step is then colleague shared a newspaper article ly agree that this question has yet to be to compare our news sources with on Russian tweets from fake accounts systematically researched, but if you ask others. The Guardian headline on that during Brexit; Michael Moore (the doc- your learners – as I frequently do – not day, for example, reported that Robert umentary-maker/activist) was again just what they know about the world Mugabe, long-ruling Zimbabwean critical of Donald Trump. around them but how they come to this knowledge, you might begin to think differently. When we discuss news events and news sources and resources, my learners (students of English at uni- versity level), often tell me that they get no further than the news alerts that they receive on their phones or stories that are shared on Facebook, and, equally worryingly, that they rarely question the validity or credibility of the information they are receiving. It seems that if we are to truly prepare our learners for modern life, then we must also work with them to develop the necessary critical skills to reason online, i.e. incorporate critical digital literacy into the (language) class- room alongside or as part of citizenship, intercultural or human rights education.

One of the ways in which we can begin to include critical digital literacy in our classrooms is to question the news sources I mentioned above. Often what we receive from such sources is not so much “fake news” but a distortion or distraction from “real” issues and events. To illustrate this, I’ve used two main activities. The first task is to com-

2 Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning” (Stanford History Education Group, November 2016).

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 5 Again, what is striking here is that I the 7 “fake” stories.) The quiz not only tion. The exercises I’ve suggested here receive only limited content on Face- tests but also educates, suggesting the that I use – and the others that I’ve pro- book. I have chosen my friends on the reasons behind the production of fake vided links to – are a solid start in guid- site (who mostly have similar political news, which can also be a helpful intro- ing our learners to not only think about views to mine), while Facebook has duction to the topic of language and world events but also to evaluate their made an educated guess at what I power. We see how language can be sources of knowledge about them. Talk would like to see by following what I’ve used to mislead or manipulate for profit to your students about their online hab- previously liked and clicked. This se- or political and ideological gain.4 its, test their ability to reason online and mester we will try out a game in class Another tool in developing critical online – or at least try to – uncover the truth – trying to guess a classmate’s identity awareness is the following visual guide, together! based on the content in their Facebook which is one of the many extremely feed. For further reading, there is an helpful resources at http://www.teach- excellent article in The Guardian3 on hub.com/teaching-strategies-de- what happened when a Republican tect-fake-news). It’s a cut-out-and-keep Works Cited: and Democrat supporter swapped aid which, according to its creators, • Audigier, Francois. Basic Concepts newsfeeds: https://www.theguardian. should be stuck on the learner’s comput- and Core Competencies for Education com/us-news/2016/nov/16/face- er and consulted on a regular basis. The for Democratic Citizenship. book-bias-bubble-us-election-conserva- advice is practical and systematic, en- • Council of Europe, 2002. tive-liberal-news-feed). couraging students to begin by following • Byram, Michael. From Foreign Lan- their gut instincts. To paraphrase number guage Education to Education for As for fake news, it is extremely difficult 10, if you feel angry, you’re probably sup- Intercultural Citizenship. Multilingual at times to identify false stories, but posed to – so check the story further! Matters. Clevendon, 2008. there are several excellent resources • Fairclough, Norman. Critical Discourse available to draw learners’ attention to If we are to truly help our learners nego- Analysis: The Critical Study of Lan- guage. Harlow: Longman, 1996. the issue. The BBC news site, for exam- tiate our globalised, post-truth society, ple, contains a quiz to test how adept we need to incorporate critical digital • Byram, Michael, Bella Gribkova and Hugh Starkey. Developing THE learners are at guessing fake news sto- literacy into our classrooms alongside Intercultural Dimension in Language ries: Http://www.bbc.com/news/maga- (inter)cultural and human rights educa- Teaching: A Practical Introduction for zine-38005844. (I of course tried the Teachers. Council of Europe, 2002. quiz before I gave it to the students, and • Tibbitts, Felisa. 1996. “On human 4 Critical digital literacy exercises of this dignity: A renewed call for human despite being a fairly sophisticated read- nature ideally complement traditional rights education.” Social Education, er, I managed to identify only 4 out of critical discourse activities, which guide 60(7): 428–431. learners to uncover the ideologies and social meanings contained in texts (see, • Starkey, Hugh. Democratic Citizenship, for example, Fairclough 1996). Byram, Languages, Diversity and Human 3 “Bursting the Facebook bubble: We asked Gribkova and Starkey (2002) make use Rights: Guide for the Development voters on the left and right to swap news- of critical discourse activities to develop of Language Education Policies in feeds” November 16th, 2016. intercultural skills. Europe. Council of Europe, 2002.

POETRY COMPETITION

As a part of our 2019 conference, we are organizing a poetry competition. All participants of the conference are invited to enter the competition with poems written prior or during the conference. The best three poems will win prizes. The winners will be announced on Sunday, after the main plenary. Each participant may submit one original poem based on the theme of our conference and/or its title, written in English. An independent jury of 3 participants will be appointed on the first day of the conference. Please collect a code when you submit your poem at the registration desk and write this on your entry instead of your name. Leave your poem at the registration desk by 6 pm on Saturday.

6 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Successful foreign The Long Read language learners and use of learning strategies: at the crossroads between theory and practice by Urška Petrevčič

1. Introduction great deal of frustration and failure and frustration. The learners were chosen In the article “Successful foreign langua- could help push learners towards the according to their success or failure at ge learners and use of learning strate- “successful” end of the scale regardless school and in afternoon language cour- gies: A theoretical overview”, which was of their previous experience or aptitude. ses. All of the learners are Slovenian published in the previous issue, I dealt This is the reason why I decided to high school students and study either with the complex issue of language study successful and unsuccessful English or French as a foreign language. learning strategies from a theoretical language learners, their profiles and viewpoint. their use of language learning strate- There are key connections to be made gies. among the learners, which is why they As a foreign-language lover and teacher, are divided into two pairs. The first pair I am constantly meeting a wide variety This empirical part thus tries to connect is formed with the focus on the learners’ of learners of foreign languages. There the theoretical knowledge with practice success in listening comprehension and are many learners who enjoy learning and get some useful results. The main oral expression and consists of a suc- foreign languages and meanwhile also purpose of this section is to find effecti- cessful and an unsuccessful learner. experience the various benefits of mas- ve ways to help unsuccessful language The other pair is formed according to tering them; however, there are also learners become more successful and the learners’ success in reading compre- others who find language learning give them concrete suggestions on how hension and written expression. frustrating and even in some cases see- to approach the study of a foreign lan- mingly impossible. This means that if guage in a meaningful and productive The names of the learners have been we take the two extremes, we can divide way. changed in order to preserve their ano- learners of a foreign language into two nymity. The four learners were asked to broad groups (although there are also a perform either a speaking or a writing lot, of course, who fall in between): “suc- PART 1: THE USE OF LANGUAGE task. After completing the task, they cessful” and “unsuccessful”. However, in LEARNING STRATEGIES: SUCCESS were invited to describe what they did my opinion, there are too many learners AND FAILURE IN MASTERING THE before, during and after completing it. who could do much better at learning FOUR SKILLS (CASE STUDIES) They could help themselves explain the languages if only they knew how to This part of the research was carried process with the help of a questionnaire study them and what techniques and out with four foreign-language learners. about the strategies proposed by Cha- strategies to use. Knowing how to deal Two of them are considered successful mot et al. (1999). with language learning in a successful language learners, while the other two way could help reduce or even avoid a constantly experience failure and

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 7 The Profiles Lea or a short story, he never writes more Lea is a high school senior (18 years than a couple of simple sentences. In Anže old). She is taking French as one of her class, he is usually silent unless he is Anže is a high school sophomore (16 five subjects at the final high school called on to speak and often does not years old). He enjoys English, especially examinations (Matura). Lea did not learn follow the classes actively. In group when students have to prepare a pre- French at primary school, because there work, he does not cooperate much and sentation on a topic they like. For such was no option to take French as an elec- prefers to use Slovene instead of presentations he always picks a topic he tive course. So she started learning it French. Most of the time, he does his really likes or is genuinely interested in only at high school, and at first she had homework, but it is usually done incom- and dives into it completely: he reads quite some problems with the language. pletely and negligently. He confesses he books about it, watches videos, films or Because of that she was afraid to speak, is not interested in the language, does television programmes, and even posts as she felt she did not know enough; in not like the sound of it very much, and questions about the topic on various other words she was not self-confident mostly learns French only with the pur- internet forums. His pronunciation is about her French. Nevertheless, she pose to pass the tests and consequently excellent, his use of vocabulary extreme- liked the language and wanted to learn it the subject. Tomaž does not use French ly rich and varied. He is fluent in English, well. So she decided to take charge of outside of school. He does watch some and if I talked to him in the centre of her learning and learn and practise it films in French from time to time, but Ljubljana or somewhere abroad, I would whenever possible. At school, the tea- always has Slovene subtitles turned on. have probably mistaken him for a native cher did not give the students a lot of Sometimes, he also watches a sports speaker. Anže also likes reading books exercises or homework to do, so Lea programme in French, but only occasio- and online articles about the topics he is bought a grammar and vocabulary exer- nally if “there is nothing else on televi- interested in, listens to English and Ame- cise books and started doing the exerci- sion”. rican music, and has some foreign ses. She also took special notes and friends with whom he always talks in kept a vocabulary notebook throughout English. He is genuinely interested in high school. She rewrote many of the Dealing with a Specific English, motivated to improve it even vocabulary expressions several times to Language Task more and enjoys using the language. remember how they should be written The four learners individually carried out and made flashcards for verb conjuga- a specific language task: Anže and Alja Alja tions and the expressions she found were asked to prepare a presentation on Alja is Anže’s classmate. She has always difficult to remember. She became more a topic they liked and were interested in had problems with learning English and and more successful in her French, es- and Lea and Tomaž had to write an says that her grades at the end of a pecially in written expression. Lea en- essay with the title “My Favourite Tourist school year are always a question of “to joys reading and writing in French very Destination and Why I would Recom- be or not to be, to pass or not to pass”. much, but stayed a little less self-confi- mend Visiting it” (the topic they were She is a reserved student who regularly dent regarding her spoken French. Her dealing with in school at the time, plus does her homework and listens to the motivation and persistence have brou- we discussed it at the course too). The teacher but has problems with following ght her far: now she is one of the best four learners were asked to carry out the the lectures and understanding them. learners in her class. She makes very tasks at home and to approach them in She does not speak in class, even when good use of grammar and vocabulary the way they usually did: I specifically there is group work, but only listens to which is varied and appropriate. She asked them to carry out the tasks in the other students. She lacks the very ba- writes coherent and witty texts and her way they usually did so that I could get sics of the language and therefore can- written work is remarkably good. She real results and not improved versions. not and does not perceive English as a enjoys reading books in French, wat- Anže and Alja then gave their presenta- language with a system and logic ching French television, films, shows tions during our courses; Lea and To- behind separate rules and expressions. and documentaries, listens to French maž handed in their essays. This may be the reason why she is stuck songs and chansons, and watches on a low “plateau” and cannot improve French YouTube videos. Lea has also The results were as expected. Anže and her language, even though she does been keeping her personal diary in Lea performed extremely well. I was make some effort, listens in class and French. positively surprised by how many and does her homework. She also does not diverse vocabulary expressions they use English outside of school; her moti- Tomaž used and used appropriately. They used vation is only to pass the subject in Tomaž is Lea’s classmate but is not correct grammar, spelling and pronun- school every year. She does watch En- taking French at the Matura exam. He is ciation, presented interesting ideas and glish and American films, but not very slightly better at speaking than at wri- supported them well, were coherent in often and always with Slovene subtitles. ting but has problems with passing the their thoughts, etc. They made some She also only reads books that are tran- subject every year. The biggest problem mistakes, but these were not significant slated into Slovene and prefers Slovene, for him is to write a coherent text, even a and did not change the meaning or Croatian or classical music to English or shorter one. Asked to write about so- make it harder to understand their pre- American. mething, whether this be a description sentation or essay. Alja and Tomaž, on of an object, a day of the week, an essay the other hand, were not very success-

8 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si The Long Read ful. Alja’s presentation lacked focus: she ning strategy and activated their bac- ners strive to improve and do their best, had problems with pronouncing certain kground knowledge: they made either a while unsuccessful ones often give up words, misused quite a few expressions draft or a mind map, which Anže and too quickly or do not use all of the re- and made several bigger grammatical Lea claimed to have kept changing sources available. Moreover, as I found mistakes. Nevertheless, she had some throughout dealing with the task (adding out during the interviews, a poor attitude interesting ideas and had prepared a or deleting ideas etc.). towards mistakes and fear of embarras- PowerPoint presentation, which was sing themselves impede many learners’ neatly and wittily made, although it con- In addition, Anže and Lea predicted the chances of improving their language. tained some grammatical mistakes. The use of certain expressions which they This robs them of valuable practice, essay that Tomaž wrote, however, lac- first checked in the dictionary (if they clarification of confusing expressions, ked structure and coherence and was needed to do so) and then wrote on their usage and grammar rules, and of fee- full of spelling and grammar mistakes. drafts. dback on their knowledge. Tomaž used simple vocabulary and very short sentences throughout and wrote The planning stage proved to be very Problem solving only 18 sentences altogether. important for the students in order to The learners were asked to briefly find information about the topic they comment on their problem-solving The empirical part with the learners were dealing with, focus on the task, techniques. They had to comment on performing the tasks was carried out and decide on their main ideas and the whether they used any of the four prob- with the purpose of finding out whether message. Moreover, Anže and Lea lem-solving strategies of the Metacogni- the use of strategies that Chamot et al. showed that it is important to preview tive Model by Chamot et al. (1999) when (1999) proposed in the Metacognitive and predict useful expressions and to they were working on their language Model of Strategic Learning had any keep updating the first draft. tasks. The four strategies they were influence on whether learners would asked about are: successfully or unsuccessfully carry out Monitoring • inferencing; a certain language task. My hypothesis The monitoring stage consists of five • substituting; was that the application of such strate- strategies: • asking questions to clarify; gies helps learners perform the task • asking if it makes sense; • using resources. better and more successfully, and I • selectively attending; checked it by giving the four learners a • taking notes; Similarly as in the process of monito- questionnaire to complete about their • talking yourself through it (self-talk); ring, the two successful learners asked use of the Metacognitive Model of Stra- • cooperating. for clarification and help, while the unsu- tegic Learning strategies. ccessful ones did not. When dealing with their tasks, Anže and Lea used three important strategies: All of the four learners commented that Results: Application of the asking if it makes sense, selectively they used various resources already in Strategies of the Metacognitive attending and taking notes. The use of the planning stage and then kept using Model of Strategic Learning these three strategies was crucial for them throughout the completion of the by Chamot et al. (1999) them to make their presentation/essay task, which shows that the Metacogniti- Planning coherent and to organise and present ve Model truly is of a recursive nature. In the questionnaire, I asked the four their thoughts and ideas well and clear- One important point regarding the use learners if they used any of the five stra- ly. On the other hand, Tomaž and Alja of resources is that although both suc- tegies that are suggested by Chamot et did not use these strategies, which may cessful and unsuccessful learners used al. (1999) for effective planning. These be a reason why their works lacked stru- them, the two successful learners used strategies are: cture, organisation of ideas and focus. more resources than the unsuccessful • setting goals; ones, plus they used a variety of them. • directed attention; Alja was the only one to use a self-en- While Tomaž and Alja only used bilingu- • activating background knowledge; couragement technique, most probably al dictionaries and Wikipedia, Anže and • predicting; because of her insecurity and lack of Lea used mono- and bilingual dictiona- • organisational planning. confidence in speaking. I believe that the ries, internet forums, YouTube videos, other three students did not need to and newspaper articles. All of the four students claimed that specifically and consciously encourage they directed their attention to the task themselves as they already uncon- All four learners also substituted unk- at hand and ignored other distractions. sciously believed that they could accom- nown words with descriptions or other Tomaž did not tick anything else in the plish the different tasks. related words; most probably they hel- planning process. ped themselves by using dictionaries. As for the strategy of asking for help or Anže also wrote in the questionnaire It is interesting that none of the students feedback, again it was the two success- that, during his presentation, he descri- ticked that they set goals before dealing ful learners who used the strategy while bed a couple of expressions which he with the task. Nevertheless, Anže, Lea the unsuccessful ones did not, which forgot in the excitement of presenting or and Alja used the organisational-plan- shows that successful language lear- used synonyms for them. Both tech-

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 9 niques are believed to be characteristics comment that they both usually use the five adult learners finished high school of good language learners and strate- summarising strategy only in their he- not more than four years ago. The gies which good language learners use ads and do not write down the key po- high-school learners study English and when they have to compensate for lack ints again. French because the languages are part of knowledge. of the school programme and attend the Findings afternoon language courses to get more None of the students reported to have The objective of the tasks and the fol- practice and improve their language used the strategy of inferencing. lowing questionnaire was to find out skills. On the other hand, the adult lear- whether the use of strategies which ners attend the afternoon language Evaluating Chamot et al. (1999) proposed in the classes to improve their language skills In the questionnaire, I also asked the Metacognitive Model of Strategic Lea- because they need them for their work. four students about their use of the next ning helps learners deal with a certain five evaluation process strategies: language task more successfully or not. Half of the 50 successful language lear- • verifying predictions and guesses; My hypothesis was that the application ners are students of English, the other • summarising; of such strategies does help learners half of French. I decided to mix students • checking goals; perform the task better and more suc- of both languages to get more general • evaluating yourself; cessfully. The hypothesis proved true: answers from learners of foreign langu- • evaluating your strategies. the use of the strategies of the Meta- ages. cognitive Model did help the learners Surprisingly, none of the four learners deal with their task more successfully. The students were asked to complete seemed to have used the strategies of However, it is clearly not obligatory to Oxford’s questionnaire on language verifying predictions and guesses or use all of the strategies; rather they sho- learning strategies. For each learning evaluating strategies. However, Lea uld be used according to the task at strategy, they had to state how often wrote a thought-provoking comment by hand, plus a student needs to use those they use it: next to sentences describing claiming that she usually does not eva- that are the most meaningful and effec- different language learning strategies, luate the use of strategies after comple- tive for them. Moreover, the nature of they had to respond 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 on ting a certain task, but rather at the be- the Metacognitive Model is recursive, how true of them the statement was. ginning of dealing with a new one, i.e. which means that the strategies are not The scale was a five-grade scale with when she is making plans for tackling it. sequential and do not need to be used in the grades: It is then that she thinks of her previous the exact same order as proposed in the experiences with similar tasks, reflects model, but should rather be used in 1 = never or almost never true of me; on the strategies she used and evalua- accordance with the demands of the 2 = usually not true of me tes them. After a quick evaluation, she task and the way learners deal with it. (less than half the time); uses those which were helpful and 3 = somewhat true of me effective again and does not apply the (about half the time); ineffective ones in the next task. PART 2: THE USE OF LANGUAGE 4 = usually true of me LEARNING STRATEGIES ACCOR- (more than half the time); On the other hand, all of the four lear- DING TO OXFORD’S (1990) STRA- 5 = always or almost always true of me. ners reported to have used the “evalua- TEGY INVENTORY FOR LANGUAGE ting yourself” strategy. Interestingly, all LEARNING (SILL) (QUESTION- The students who studied English as a of them wrote that they read through NAIRE) foreign language got a questionnaire their presentations or essays after they The second empirical part investigates about their use of language learning finished them and checked the vocabu- the use of language learning strategies strategies when learning English; the lary and spelling. However, they did not among a group of 50 successful foreign learners of French got the same reflect on their weaknesses and stren- language learners; it is based on Ox- questionnaire, but about their use of gths. Again, only the two successful ford’s Strategy Inventory for Language language learning strategies when learners added a (similar) comment Learning (SILL). The 50 successful lan- learning French. saying that they somehow highlighted guage learners were chosen according or took note of the aspects they still to different criteria: high-school students Results of Individual Categories needed to improve on. Anže even gave were chosen according to their grades The biggest interest for me was which an example: when preparing his presen- in school or/and their results at after- strategies are most frequently used tation, he was not sure about the use of noon language courses; adult language among the 50 successful language lear- some verb and preposition combina- learners were chosen according to their ners, so that I could provide unsuccess- tions, so he had to check them on inter- results at the final Matura exam and/or ful language learners with a collection of net forums and with his teachers. their results at afternoon language cour- the most efficient and most commonly ses. All of the learners are either Slove- used strategies. There was another interesting finding: nian high-school students or adult lear- everyone except Tomaž used the strate- ners who attend my afternoon language gies of summarising and checking go- courses. The majority of the learners als, and both Lea and Alja added the (45) are high-school students, while the

10 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si The Long Read Part A: Remembering More PART A: REMEMBERING MORE EFFECTIVELY Effectively (Direct Strategies: (DIRECT STRATEGIES: MEMORY STRATEGIES) Memory Strategies) Strategy Average Grade In the first part, “Remembering More Effectively”, there are nine individual 1 I remember new English/French* words or phrases by 3.40 language learning strategies. remembering their location on the page, on the board, on a street sign... As seen in Figure 1, successful langua- 2 I think of relationships of what I already know to new things 3.14 ge learners make use of context and I learn in English. memory devices and like to connect their new knowledge with pre-existing 3 I use new English words in a sentence so I can 3.14 knowledge. The three most widely used remember them. strategies of the set are the first three: 4 I connect a sound of a new English word and an image 3.12 remembering new words with or in their or picture of the word to help me remember the word. context, connecting new knowledge with pre-existing knowledge, and using 5 I remember a new English word by making a mental 3.10 new words in a sentence (and thus gi- picture of a situation in which the word might be used. ving context to the expression). Howe- 6 I review English lessons often. 2.40 ver, some strategies show almost the same average, for example strategies 2 7 I use rhymes to remember new English words. 1.96 to 5 from Figure 1, which means that 8 I use flashcards to remember new English words. 1.94 they are probably fairly equally impor- tant and effective among the 50 stu- 9 I physically act out new English words. 1.74 dents. Figure 1 Part A: Remembering More Effectively (Direct Strategies: Memory Strategies)

Part B: Using All Your Mental PART B: USING ALL YOUR MENTAL PROCESSES Processes (Direct Strategies: (DIRECT STRATEGIES: COGNITIVE STRATEGIES) Cognitive Strategies) Strategy Average Grade The second part, “Using All Your Mental Processes”, is composed of 14 langua- 1 I watch TV in English or go to the movies in English. 4.38 ge learning strategies. These, together 2 I try not to translate word-for-word. 3.74 with average scores from my survey, are presented in Figure 2 below. 3 I read for pleasure in English. 3.46

4 I use the English words I know in different ways. 3.39 In this set, the strategies dealing with authentic materials are the most highly 5 I try to talk like native English speakers. 3.38 graded: watching TV in English or 6 I try to find patterns in English. 3.28 French and reading authentic materials. Similarly, successful language learners 7 I practise the sounds of English. 3.20 seem to deliberately avoid direct transla- 8 I start conversations in English. 3.18 tions from their mother tongue into the foreign language. 9 I find the meaning of an English word by dividing it into parts 3.06 that I understand. Interestingly, there is quite a big differen- 10 I write notes, messages, emails, letters or reports in English. 2.94 ce between the most and the least po- pular strategy in the set: the first, wat- 11 I say or write new English words several times. 2.76 ching authentic materials, got an 12 I look for words in my own language that are similar to new 2.72 average grade of 4.38, while the last, words in English. first skimming a passage and then rea- ding it again, got a grade of only 1.94. 13 I make summaries of information that I hear or read in English. 2.70

14 I first skim an English passage (i.e. read over the passage 1.94 quickly), then go back and read carefully.

Figure 2 Using All Your Mental Processes (Direct Strategies: Cognitive Strategies)

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 11 Part C: Compensating for Missing PART C: COMPENSATING FOR MISSING KNOWLEDGE Knowledge (Direct Strategies: (DIRECT STRATEGIES: COMPENSATING STRATEGIES) Compensating Strategies) Strategy Average Grade The six strategies presented in Figure 3 below belong to the “Compensating for 1 If I cannot think of an English word, I use a word 4.36 Missing Knowledge” set of strategies or phrase that means the same thing. according to Oxford (1990). 2 I read in English without looking up every new/unfamiliar word. 4.16 Oxford (1990: 47) claims that good lan- 3 To understand unfamiliar English words, I make guesses. 3.24 guage learners make guesses and do 4 I make up new words if I do not know the right ones 2.50 not panic when confronted with unk- in English. nown expressions. The results of the questionnaire support her statement: 5 When I can’t think of a word during a conversation 1.96 the average scores of the first three stra- in English, I use gestures. tegies of the “Compensating for Missing 6 I try to guess what the other person will say next 1.96 Knowledge” part are all very high (all of in English. the three strategies are about making guesses and effectively using compen- Figure 3 Part C: Compensating for Missing Knowledge (Direct Strategies: Compensating Strategies) sation strategies when faced with an unknown expression).

Part D: Organising and Evaluating PART D: ORGANISING AND EVALUATING YOUR LEARNING Your Learning (Indirect Strategies: (INDIRECT STRATEGIES: METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES) Metacognitive Strategies) Strategy Average Grade The nine strategies of the “Organising and Evaluating Your Learning” part are 1 I pay attention when someone is speaking English. 4.12 presented in Figure 4 below. Again, the 2 I have (clear) goals for improving my English. 3.82 strategies are arranged according to the frequency of their use among the 50 3 I notice my English mistakes and use that information to help 3.61 students. me do better.

4 I try to find out how to be a better learner of English. 3.57 Oxford (1990) further divides meta- cognitive strategies into three classes: 5 I try to find as many ways as I can to use my English. 3.30 centring your learning, arranging and 6 I think about my progress in learning English. 3.06 planning your learning, and evaluating your learning. It is interesting that each 7 I look for opportunities to read as much as possible in English. 2.98 of the three the most popular strategies 8 I look for people I can talk to in English. 2.58 belongs to one of the classes of the metacognitive strategies; the three thus 9 I plan my schedule in a way that I would have enough time to 2.12 form a unit. This shows that it is impor- study English. tant to take all sides of learning into Figure 4 Organising and Evaluating Your Learning account and not focus only on one part (Indirect Strategies: Metacognitive Strategies) of it, such as the evaluation of one’s learning. The results also show that different language learning strategies can be used to reach the same goal and that even successful language learners are different. The latter further shows why it is important to know about the variety of language learning strategies and choose those that work best for you as an individual learner.

12 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si The Long Read Part E: Managing Your Emotions PART E: MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS (Indirect Strategies: Affective (INDIRECT STRATEGIES: AFFECTIVE STRATEGIES) Strategies) Strategy Average Grade The next six strategies deal with emotions, attitudes, motivation 1 I encourage myself to speak English even when I am afraid of 3.64 and values in language learning. making a mistake.

2 I try to relax whenever I feel afraid of using English. 3.26 Although the importance of affective language learning strategies cannot be 3 I notice if I am tense or nervous when I am studying 2.82 overstated, these strategies are often or using English. neglected. The results of the question- 4 I give myself a reward or treat when I do well in English. / I 2.64 naire show that successful language compliment myself (can be done silently in your mind) when I learners do use these strategies, but the do well in English. results are not as positive as in the other five classes (more than half are used 5 I talk to someone else about how I feel when I am 2.00 only about half the time or even less). learning English. It would be interesting to compare the 6 I write down my feelings in a diary (could also be 1.74 results of the 50 successful language a blog) in English. learners with a group of unsuccessful language learners, as successful language Figure 5 Managing Your Emotions (Indirect Strategies: Affective Strategies) learners maybe do not use affective stra- tegies much because they are already successful and confident in their language learning. The successful learners pro- bably use such strategies unconsciously: the results show that successful langua- ge learners notice when they feel tense and afraid and choose to encourage themselves in such a situation. On the other hand, unsuccessful language lear- ners most likely need more encourage- ment and would appreciate to learn how to lower and reduce their anxiety.

Part F: Learning with Others PART F: LEARNING WITH OTHERS (Indirect Strategies: (INDIRECT STRATEGIES: SOCIAL STRATEGIES) Social Strategies) Strategy Average Grade The last six strategies of Oxford’s SILL questionnaire belong to the category 1 If I do not understand something in English, I ask the other 3.70 “Learning with Others”. person to slow down or say it again.

2 I ask English speakers to correct me when I talk. 2.96 Language is the basic form of communi- cation for human beings. Learning a 3 I try to learn about the culture of English speakers. 2.88 language involves communication with 4 I ask for help from English speakers. 2.84 other people, which means that develo- ping social strategies is important for 5 I practise English with other students. 2.68 language learners. Although none of the 6 When I write/speak in English, I translate the sentences from 2.41 strategies got a very high average grade my mother tongue. (except for the one asking for repetition or speaking slower), none got a very low Figure 6 Learning with Others (Indirect Strategies: Social Strategies) one either, which shows that the 50 lear- ners use the social strategies regularly. However, the social strategies are not the ones that they use the most. This maybe shows also that these learners prefer learning individually, or that they do not have regular contact with native speakers.

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 13 General Results: List of the Three THREE MOST FREQUENTLY USED LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES Most Frequently Used Language FROM EACH CATEGORY Strategies from Each Category Strategy Category A list of the three most frequently used language learning strategies from each 1 I remember new English/French words or phrases Remembering more of the six categories is presented in by remembering their location on the page, on the effectively Figure 7 below. board, on a street sign, etc..

2 I think of relationships of what I already know Remembering The results of the questionnaire suppor- to new things I learn in English. more effectively ted many of the statements made by Oxford (1990) and other researchers. 3 I use new English words in a sentence so I can Remembering Although only a few language learning remember them. more effectively strategies scored an average grade abo- 4 I watch TV in English or go to the movies in English. Using all your ve 4, every category had at least some mental processes strategies with a fairly high score. More- over, a fair amount of strategies recei- 5 I try not to translate word-for-word. Using all your ved an average grade above 3, which mental processes means that they are used at least half 6 I read for pleasure in English. Using all your the time among the learners. With such mental processes a variety of strategies in the question- naire, this is a very high score, which 7 If I cannot think of an English word, I use a word Compensating for shows that successful language lear- or phrase that means the same thing. missing knowledge ners often use language learning strate- 8 I read in English without looking up every Compensating for gies and indeed several of them. new/unfamiliar word. missing knowledge

9 To understand unfamiliar English words, I make Compensating for Conclusion guesses. missing knowledge The investigation into the complex phe- 10 I pay attention when someone is speaking English. Organising and nomenon of foreign language learning evaluating your and the connection between the use of learning language learning strategies and a higher success rate in language learning 11 I have (clear) goals for improving my English. Organising and confirmed my assumption that theory evaluating your and practice do cross in this field. The learning following are some important lessons I 12 I notice my English mistakes and use that informa- Organising and have learnt from the research. tion to help me do better. evaluating your learning My hypothesis that the use of strategies which Chamot et al. (1999) proposed in 13 I encourage myself to speak English even when Managing your the Metacognitive Model of Strategic I am afraid of making a mistake. emotions Learning helps learners perform the task 14 I try to relax whenever I feel afraid of using English. Managing your better and more successfully was su- emotions pported. Nevertheless, it is not obligato- ry to use all of the strategies. The strate- 15 I notice if I am tense or nervous when I am Managing your gies should be used according to the studying or using English. emotions task at hand, plus students need to use 16 If I do not understand something in English, I ask Learning with others those that are the most meaningful and the other person to slow down or say it again. effective for them in the order that is in accordance with the demands of the 17 I ask English speakers to correct me when I talk. Learning with others task and the way learners deal with it. 18 I try to learn about the culture of English speakers. Learning with others Such was the situation for the four lan- Figure 7 List of the three most frequently used language learning strategies guage learners here. Although Anže and from each category Lea are very successful language lear- ners, they did not use each and every language learner strategy proposed in the model. However, they used the ones that were effective for them and used them wisely, diversely and accordingly to the task at hand. On the other hand,

14 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si The Long Read while Tomaž and Alja, the two unsuc- and they use different strategies to reach establish the strategies of which catego- cessful language learners, did use some the same goal. Also, since the results ries are most frequently used and which of the successful language learner stra- were not extremely high or low, these strategies should be encouraged to be tegies, they lacked variety in using them, learners most probably use a variety of used more. Finally, all these aspects flexibility in their application and motiva- language learning strategies and adapt could also be studied among unsucces- tion to keep improving. the use of them according to the situa- sful language learners and then compa- tion or the task at hand. Finally, strategies red with the results of the successful One of the first big steps in learning is to in no one category received particularly ones. understand one’s weaknesses. Then, low average grades. This shows that being aware of them, a learner can orga- successful language learners know that My research, however, did not end with nise their learning and, for example, sear- it is important not only to focus on one the investigation of the language lear- ch for ways to ameliorate their use of a part of learning, but to take all aspects of ning strategies proposed by Oxford foreign language. The first step – appre- it into account. (1990). Alja and Tomaž agreed to focus ciating weaknesses – is essential. Howe- more on their foreign languages during ver, it does not have very much value if The final list of the three most frequently the school year and work harder the second is not realised too: in order to used strategies from each category was towards their improvement. We agreed get better, an active role on the part of made simply on the basis of the average to make learning plans and focus espe- the learner is crucial. From the interviews grade. This list could thus be improved cially on language learning strategies, as with Tomaž and Lea, I became conscious in many ways. For example, it would be they did not use them adequately or of the fact that most of the successful interesting to see how the grades were appropriately. At first, I wanted to make language learners make both steps, while dispersed for each individual strategy individual learning plans for them, but it the less successful ones get stuck with and check how many answers of 1, 2, 3, transpired that they enjoyed their joint the first and therefore deprive themsel- 4 and 5 the strategies received: knowing endeavours and the way they could ves of the opportunity to improve. whether there were mostly middle gra- encourage each other; therefore we des or whether there were learners who agreed to make plans for the two of Lea and Tomaž showed, moreover, that always use a given strategy and those them together. Because I did not want it is vital to not give up and to keep im- who never use it could help us under- the learners to feel overwhelmed, we proving. Lea is considered a good lear- stand more about the use of certain decided to set monthly goals. Starting in ner, but she knows she has not maste- strategies. Also, individual profiles of January and finishing at the end of red the language yet and has to keep successful language learners could be June, we had six months and six chal- working on it. Thus she accepts challen- made according to their questionnaire lenges in total. We prepared their lear- ges and in fact is getting better and responses, revealing their overall use of ning plans and set the goals, which we better. Tomaž, on the other hand, is not strategies. Subsequently it would be made sure were realistic and attainable. successful in his learning. He seems useful to undertake further research into The challenges, I am pleased to report, stuck on a low “plateau”; if he improves, the frequency of use of language lear- brought impressive results and improve- he improves only insignificantly. ning strategies of individual classes and ments for both students.

The results of the questionnaire suppor- ted many statements made by Oxford (1990) and other researchers. Although, according to Oxford (1990), the 50 langu- age learning strategies collected in the questionnaire are all language learning strategies that are effective and conside- red to be used by successful language learners, the research showed that only some of them are frequently used by the 50 successful language learners that were part of the present research, while some others are not used so often. Aga- in, this could be explained by the fact that with such a wide variety of strategies, it is impossible for these learners to practise all of them on daily basis. Reasonably, some language learning strategies are also more popular than others, which is quite understandable since there are different language learning strategies that can be used to reach the same goal: even successful language learners differ

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 15 APPENDICES III  1 Inferencing 1.1 APPENDIX 1: Problem (Did you make guesses when you did Sample Questionnaire: “Use of The Strategies Solving not know a certain expression? Did you of the Metacognitive Model of Strategic Learning use gestures, images or context?) by Chamot et al. (1999)”  2 Substituting (Did you substitute the unknown words USE OF THE STRATEGIES or describe them?) OF THE METACOGNITIVE  3 Asking questions to clarify MODEL OF STRATEGIC LEARNING (Did you ask anyone to explain or clarify Tick (use √ or X) the strategies which you used during the four something to you?) processes when dealing with your task. If you did not use a  certain process at all (planning, monitoring, problem solving, 4 Using resources (Did you use any reference material, evaluating), leave the whole part empty. If you only used a such as a dictionary, the internet, books, certain strategy, tick that one. Please add any comments or newspaper articles, etc.?) further explanations in the special spaces marked “Any other comment?”. Any other comment?

I  1 Setting goals Planning (Did you identify what you want IV  1 Verifying predictions and guesses to achieve with the task?) Evaluating (Did you check if the predictions and  2 Directed attention guesses that you made at the beginning (Did you focus on the task and ignore were correct?) other distractions?)  2 Summarising  3 Activating background knowledge (Did you restate your main ideas and (Did you think about all of the knowledge the message?) you already possess and can come in  3 Checking goals handy when dealing with the task?) (Did you check whether you met your  4 Predicting goal(s) or not?) (Did you predict what kind of expressi-  4 Evaluating yourself ons, formats, etc. you will need in order (Did you check how well you performed to complete the task?) the task? Did you reflect on your  5 Organisational planning strengths and weaknesses?) (Did you make a plan for carrying out the task? Did you make a draft or brainstor-  5 Evaluating your strategies med the ideas, useful vocabulary, etc.?) (Did you check if you used the appropriate strategies and used them well?) Any other comment? Any other comment?

II  1 Asking if it makes sense Monitoring (Did you check if you are making sense?) Did you use any other strategy?  2 Selectively attending (Did you focus on important Did you use any strategy during a different stage or process information?) as suggested in the Model? If so, which and when? Thank you for your time and cooperation.  3 Taking notes (Did you write down key concepts and (Adapted from: Chamot et al. 1999) ideas?)  4 Talking yourself through it (self-talk) (Did you encourage yourself that you APPENDIX 2: can do it?) Sample Questionnaire: Oxford’s Strategy Inventory  5 Cooperating for Language Learning (SILL) (Did you ask anyone for help or feedback?) QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE USE OF LANGUAGE Any other comment? LEARNING STRATEGIES: OXFORD’S (1990) STRATEGY INVENTORY FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING (SILL) Next to particular sentences describing different language learning strategies, write the response (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) that says how TRUE of YOU the statement is.

16 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si The Long Read 1 = Never or almost never true of me 27 I read in English without looking up every 2 = Usually not true of me (less than half the time) new/unfamiliar word. 3 = Somewhat true of me (about half the time) 4 = Usually true of me (more than half the time) 28 I try to guess what the other person will say next 5 = Always or almost always true of me in English. 29 If I cannot think of an English word, I use a word or phrase that means the same thing. PART A PART D 1 I think of relationships of what I already know to 30 I try to find as many ways as I can to use my English. new things I learn in English/French*. 31 I notice my English mistakes and use that informa- 2 I use new English words in a sentence so I can tion to help me do better. remember them. 32 I pay attention when someone is speaking English. 3 I connect a sound of a new English word and an 33 I try to find out how to be a better learner of English. image or picture of the word to help me remember the word. 34 I plan my schedule in such a way that I have enou- gh time to study English. 4 I remember a new English word by making a mental picture of a situation in which the word 35 I look for people I can talk to in English. might be used. 36 I look for opportunities to read as much as possible 5 I use rhymes to remember new English words. in English. 6 I use flashcards to remember new English words. 37 I have (clear) goals for improving my English. 7 I physically act out new English words. 38 I think about my progress in learning English. 8 I review English lessons often. PART E 9 I remember new English words or phrases 39 I try to relax whenever I feel afraid of using English. by remembering their location on the page, 40 I encourage myself to speak English even when I on the board, on a street sign, etc. am afraid of making a mistake. PART B 41 I give myself a reward or treat when I do well in 10 I say or write new English words several times. English. / I compliment myself (can be done silently in your mind) when I do well in English. 11 I try to talk like English native speakers. 42 I notice if I am tense or nervous when I am studying 12 I practise the sounds of English. or using English. 13 I use the English words I know in different ways. 43 I write down my feelings in a diary (could also be a 14 I start conversations in English. blog) in English. 15 I watch TV in English or go to the movies in English. 44 I talk to someone else about how I feel when I am 16 I read for pleasure in English. learning English. 17 I write notes, messages, emails, letters or reports PART F in English. 45 If I do not understand something in English, I ask 18 I first skim an English passage (read over the the other person to slow down or say it again. passage quickly), then go back and read carefully. 46 I ask English speakers to correct me when I talk. 19 I look for words in my own language that are 47 I practise English with other students. similar to new words in English. 48 I ask for help from English speakers. 20 I try to find patterns in English. 49 I try to learn about the culture of English speakers. 21 I find the meaning of an English word by dividing 50 When I write/speak in English, I translate the it into parts that I understand. sentences from my mother tongue. 22 I try not to translate word-for-word. 23 I make summaries of information that I hear or Thank you for your time and cooperation.  read in English. (Adapted from: Oxford 1990) PART C 24 To understand unfamiliar English words, I make guesses. Bibliography

25 When I can’t think of a word during a conversation • chamot, A. U., S. Barnhardt, P. B. El-Dinary and J. Robbins, 1999. in English, I use gestures. The Learning Strategies Handbook. Harlow: Pearson Education; Longman. 26 I make up new words if I do not know the right ones • Oxford, R. L., 1990. Language Learning Strategies: What Every in English. Teacher Should Know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 17 How can I say it in English? Some strategies to compensate for lexical gaps. by Antonella Percara, Universidad Adventista del Plata – Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos E-mail address: [email protected]

Antonella Percara Introduction source language into the target lan- is an EFL Teacher An English Language Teacher Educa- guage where the equivalent expression at Universidad tion (ELTE) programme located in a does not exist” (Priyono, 2005, p. 228). Autónoma de non-English speaking country like Slo- In some cases speakers may impro- Entre Ríos. She venia or Argentina may offer the ideal vise, creatively combining words or holds an MA in environment – or a perfect bubble – for phrases, while in other situations they English and Applied those who, apart from being passion- may appeal to the lexical items they Linguistics (Universi- ate about teaching, find the language have heard other people in the pro- dad Nacional de Córdo- fascinating. One reason for this is that, gramme choose. ba) and is a Specialist in as in our case (an ELTE programme Education and Technologies (Argen- offered in a small town from Argenti- As Wajnryb (2008) notes: “It’s rarely the tinian Ministry na), where the degree course is taught predictable language that causes prob- of Education). She teaches Linguis- in English, future teachers (FTs) are lems. Rather it’s the unpredictable, tics, Language and Civilisation and given the opportunity to practise and unrehearsable part” (p. 18). The lexical Culture of the English Speaking improve their language skills in a simu- gaps become part of those unre- Countries at the EFL Teacher Educa- lated immersion atmosphere that of- hearsed communicative situations, and tion Programme at Universidad fers plenty of meaningful input in the the terms, expressions or strategies Autónoma de Entre Ríos and English target language. And although being used to compensate for the lacunas Literature and North American encouraged to follow an English-only or semantic voids contribute to charac- History at the EFL Teacher Education policy through the course of studies terise the ELTE programme as a and Translation Programmes at might shock some of the students at speech community. Reflecting upon Universidad Adventista del Plata. the beginning, FTs gradually embrace this aspect – probably observable in the idea as the number one rule. The other institutions too – is thus relevant ELTE programme “is then a small bilin- for English as a foreign language (EFL) gual speech community in which there educators, as it may shed light upon is a common L1 and the L2 is both the understanding some of the challenges means and the object of study” (Per- to effective communication and suc- cara & Bayona, 2018, p. 20). However, cessful interaction faced by non-native the linguistic code used in the institu- speakers. tional context to which the programme belongs is the L1, and the academic jargon, in our case specific to the Ar- Lexical gaps and communication gentinian education system, gets lost strategies in translation when trying to find L2 By means of participant observation equivalents. At this point, interlocutors and through a survey that FTs consent- find themselves applying diverse strat- ed to complete, I collected information egies to fill in the lexical gaps, i.e. “to on their preferred strategies to fill lexi- translate an expression from the cal gaps when referring to academic

18 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si jargon in their L1. For Bialystok (1990) again, if the interaction takes place Garcés and López Olivera (2014) clear- the communication strategies lan- among English speakers who do not ly put it, “a good choice of communica- guage learners implement to get their share the same home language, com- tion strategies by language learners message across can be defined as munication might be misleading and can be of great help to facilitate the “techniques of coping with difficulties ineffective. development of communicative skills” in communicating in an imperfectly Finally, the least commonly selected (p. 22). known second language” (p. 3). In strategy among FTs was approxima- most of the cases, and mainly when tion, a technique that, according to referring to a student’s academic sta- Castro Garcés and López Olivera tus specific to our institutional context, (2014), should be highly preferred over References the FTs used L1 words with the corre- code-switching or calque. In approxi- • Bialystok, E. (1990). Communication sponding L1 pronunciation. This pro- mation, students use alternative terms strategies: A psychological analysis cess, known as code-switching that describe the meaning of the target of second language use. London, UK: (Dörnyei, 1995), was the most recurrent lexical item as closely as possible Blackwell. compensatory strategy and, as the (Dörnyei, 1995). Hence, in some situa- • Castro Garcés, A., & López Olivera, S. interlocutors shared the same L1, the tions, FTs explained the L1 academic (2014). Communication strategies used by pre-service English teachers of tactic proved successful and avoided jargon by providing definitions in Eng- different proficiency levels. HOW, 21(1), misunderstandings. This could be lish, usually preceded by the word “like”. 10–25. seen, for instance, when students en- For example, “it is like… uhm… when you • Dörnyei, Z. (1995). On the teachability quired about their academic status at don’t pass and have to take the final of communication strategies. TESOL the end of a term. They preferred using exam”. Quarterly, 29(1), 55–85. the Spanish jargon they were familiar • Larizgoitia, X. A. (2010). A typology with instead of English lexical items By applying approximation, FTs of calques. The calquing mechanism in contemporary Basque. ELUA, 24, they were unsure about. However, it seemed to leave less room for misin- 13–35. should be noted that when this is not terpretation. The denotations they • Percara, A., & Bayona, S. (2018). the case, i.e. when speakers do not wanted to convey became easier to “Am I a free student?” Of lexical voids, have a common linguistic code to grasp by their interlocutors as their reasons and consequences. ArTESOL which to turn, and bearing in mind that descriptions compensated for the se- EFL Journal, 2(1), 19–24. the aim of the programme is for FTs to mantic voids. As a lexical gap-filling • Priyono, P. (2005). Lexical constraints in translation and learning English as use English as a communicative tool, mechanism, approximation appears to a foreign language in Indonesia. code-switching may be regarded as the facilitate understanding among speak- TEFLIN Journal, 16(2), 223–236. last resort (Percara & Bayona, 2018). ers whose L1 is not the same. Even • Wajnryb, R. (2008). You know what though the strategy may require stu- I mean? Words, contexts and The second most widely chosen tech- dents to resort to varied, alternative communication. UK: OUP. nique to overcome lexical gaps was terms, it could provide their interlocu- calque. As Larizgoitia (2010) explains, tors with a more complete explanation this strategy, which can also be called of the lexical item, leading them to loan-translation or substitution, implies construe the message more effectively. “reproducing the meaning of an item in another language through imitation, employing the target language’s signifi- Conclusion ers or linguistic elements” (p. 15). Thus, Observing and reflecting on the in many of the cases when the FTs communication strategies presented, employed word-for-word translation to chosen as lexical gap-filling mecha- English, the meaning conveyed in the nisms by the FTs in the Argentinian L1 suffered modifications and, conse- ELTE programme, may prove beneficial quently, communication was impre- for language educators. After identify- cise. An example found in the data ing techniques that may benefit stu- collected was the English equivalent dents in their process of becoming students offered for the Spanish term more efficient users of English, we cuerpo docente, which may be translat- may help them develop awareness of ed as teaching staff. Since cuerpo can their potential for both enhancing and be translated as body and an uncom- hindering communication in the target mon translation for docente is profes- language. Further, we may contribute sor, a few students referred to the to reducing the risk of English lan- teaching staff as the “professor’s body”! guage students naturalising non-exist- As Percara and Bayona (2018) point ent lexicon in the target language (Per- out, if interactants’ L1 is the same, cara & Bayona, 2018), which may act literal translations may elicit the same as barriers between speakers who do associations for all the speakers. But, not share the same L1. As Castro

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 19 Mapping the written wor(l)ds of classic novels by Nora Nagy

Nora Nagy is an Do you remember the first time you visit- the English language through them. The English Language ed an English-speaking country? How far reason they managed to stick is that and Literature did you have to travel to do so? My first they were all embedded in stories, which teacher and memorable trip to England must have have a power only few other educational researcher. She happened when I was about 12 years old, tools have. They create context for the is the co-author when I first read Sherlock Holmes stories memories through their slow develop- of the Helbling by Arthur Conan Doyle. His books trans- ment and quick dialogue. They teach us Readers Blog and has ported me back to 19th-century London. about the natural environment, the buzz- written activities for Then I travelled up north to Yorkshire with ing streets of big cities and the daily graded readers. Currently Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, hopped routine of small towns through their she is also writing her PhD dissertation over to Prince Edward Island in Canada colourful words and sentences. These in Applied Linguistics/TESOL at the with Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud words and sentences reflect character- University of Pécs, Hungary. Her Montgomery and afterwards returned to istic features of the natural and built research areas include multimodality, England with Howards End by E. M. Forst- environment, and by learning them, we social semiotics, Legitimation Code er. It then took me only a day to travel to learn something about why people in the Theory, and language and literacy Yukon Territory with Jack London’s sto- area think and behave in certain ways. education. She is especially interested ries. By the age of 16, I had already visited After all, learning to think and communi- in multimodal literacy and writing some amazing countries, and I was able cate efficiently in another language is the development through the visual arts, to imagine their countryside, houses and dream of language learners. One great illustrated fiction and museum visits. cities. So when I finally got to visit Eng- thing about being a language learner is land and the USA in real life, I had all sorts that we are able to learn a little bit more of pictures in my mind about the Mid- about varieties of English and their re- west, New York, the Frontier, the English gional dialects. In other words, our liter- countryside and the different districts of ary experiences in another language are London. Now, if I build my own map of some of the best examples of the re- literary travels, I can confidently say that I search interests of cognitive linguistics have become a world traveller! and sociolinguistics. Imagine visualizing all these stories on a map, and then dig When I reflect on these reading experi- deep behind them and explore the world ences as a teacher, I realise that I gained around their locations. Such activities an incredible amount of knowledge can lead to fascinating projects in the about culture, geography, history and language classroom.

20 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Building maps of fiction invite your students on imaginary walks Each area will also have its characteris- Mapping our reading experiences has in real cities. Through exploring in this tic expressions, sometimes unique, become easily manageable with digital way, the locations of our beloved stories sometimes common. These words will maps. Although placing our favourite become real places worth visiting. not only build your students’ vocabulary, stories on a printed map is a beautiful but also increase their cultural knowl- and creative project, digital maps have Getting around. The functions ‘Direc- edge. affordances which can engage students tions from here’, ‘Directions to here’, in and out of class. Start by opening a ‘What’s here?’ and ‘Search nearby’ are Track changes. The mapping projects web mapping service. For example, sign excellent starting points for activities to can also lead to observations about into your Google account, open ‘My practise getting around an area. Set the changes in the landscape and cityscape. Maps’ [www.google.com/maps] and objective of getting to a particular place For example, it is an interesting project click on ‘Create a new map’. Once you from your hometown. The students to compare Baker Street in London at are on this page, you can search loca- need to plan means of transportation, the time of the Sherlock Holmes stories tions, drop pins and add information starting by taking a flight or a train or in the late 1800s to Baker Street as we about them. You can do this as a class, driving. Then, once they have arrived in know it today. By doing a simple search in groups or as an individual project with the city of London, for example, they on the internet, we can find old maps your classes. Visit the map from time to need to get to 221bBaker Street, the and images, which will let us compare time to see how many titles and loca- home of Sherlock Holmes. How will they the street names and houses back then tions have been added during the year. travel? How long will it take them? How and now. Similarly, going back to Yukon much will it cost? What means of public Territory, students might undertake an transport will be available? Answering all environmental research project to learn Start exploring these questions might take a whole about the changes in the environment Navigate the map. When you select a lesson, but it will definitely equip the near the Arctic between the late 19th location, click on a pin and then on ‘View students with practical skills which will century and today. in Google Maps’. This link will take you boost their confidence. to the place on the map and you can start exploring the area. What’s the ter- Travel with an author or a character. rain like? How many rivers, lakes, moun- Culture and environment It’s easy to go on a long journey through tains and forests are there? You can Learning about the culture. Exploring the works of certain authors and certain then look again at the places mentioned the streets teaches us about transporta- adventurous characters. For example, in the story you’re reading. tion, shopping, eating out, buildings, with older students it’s easy to travel parks and entertainment in a city. In from England to Italy and then to India Let’s take the novel Anne of Green Ga- other words, we learn a lot about the through E.M. Forster’s novels. And when bles by Lucy Maud Montgomery as our culture of the given area, and finding out we ask questions about the importance example. First, we find Prince Edward about these places leads us to further of the settings, we will soon find our- Island, then type in ‘Anne of Green Ga- research. We can then find out more selves discussing British history in the bles’, and among the results we can find about a café by finding its webpage or 19th and 20th centuries. The novel A Green Gables Heritage Place in Caven- social media page. Students can look Room with a View will raise questions dish. Then, by clicking on the names, we for opening hours, the menu and pic- about the Grand Tour of Europe, while A can read about their relevance to our tures of the place itself. By providing Passage to India will teach us about the story. Exploring the map will take us to such context, imaginary dialogues be- East India Company and the Indian Inde- lakes, like Lake of Shining Waters, and come more realistic, and following the pendence Movement. beaches which are really close to the steps of our favourite characters can place which inspired the novel. lead us to real-life experiences. Never stop exploring Change to Street View. Dropping the Learning about the environment.The With these simple tasks, I’ve illustrated yellow figure on the map lets us walk words of our natural environment are how much active engagement and the streets around our selected area. also hidden in these maps. These words learning opportunity there is in digital Take this opportunity to explore the road teach us something about the history maps. Whether we take them as start- signs. On which side of the road do the and the everyday lives of people in the ing points for CLIL projects or vocabu- cars drive? What’s the speed limit? Are area. If you visit Yukon Territory, well- lary building, they will definitely colour there any bus stops? How might you get known from Jack London’s The Call of our lessons and set us off on longer around the area? When we have ex- the Wild and White Fang, for example, journeys. Some of these imaginary and plored the different ways of getting you’ll find words like ‘crossing’, ‘landing’, literary journeys might even become around, we can study the buildings. ‘junction’ and ‘rampart’ and names like real-life experiences at a later time, but What are they made of? What do they First Nation, Little Salmon and Porcu- in any case our students will remember look like? How are they different from pine River. Just by finding out about the stories and the experiences they the buildings in our cities? Where would these words, we can learn a lot about gained in these lessons. you go for a coffee? Where can you go the history and the habitat of the people shopping? You can continue this list and there.

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 21 Promoting multiculturalism and language learning with ERASMUS +: Youth in Action by Barbara Lukač Patarčec

Barbara Lukač Patarčec While partnerships allow for student Volunteers in the programme can be is currently working exchanges, the downside is that usually native speakers, but volunteers from as an English teacher only a small percentage of students are other countries can often prove to be at Šmartno Primary in fact able to participate in them, thus an even better asset, as they provide a School in Šmartno leaving the majority without the possibil- completely new range of learning oppor- pri Litiji. Before ity to experience the benefits. tunities. that, she taught English as a Comeni- Our school, together with several others Non-native English-speaking volunteers us Assistant in Spain in our region, has found a solution to can often better relate to our students, and for the last couple this problem within the Erasmus+ pro- as they are familiar with the problems of years has been a mentor gramme itself. The solution is the Volun- of studying English and contribute to a and school coordinator for Erasmus+: teer Projects that are a part of the Eras- greater feeling of a multicultural society. Youth in Action volunteer projects. mus+: Youth in Action initiative. She is a true book-lover, devoting almost every free moment to reading. These Volunteer Projects give young Volunteers in schools adults the opportunity to live and do While school exchanges do not involve voluntary work in a host country for up all the children that go to a certain to 12 months. The volunteers’ primary school, having a foreign volunteer pres- tasks are to engage with the community ent at their school does. My school, OŠ Šmartno, is one of four they live in and contribute to it, along schools in our local community that with undertaking practical tasks that These volunteers should not be mistak- participates in an Erasmus+ programme afford learning opportunities for the en for COMENIUS teaching assistants, called Youth in Action. volunteer. because their role in the school is differ- ent. They do not necessarily assist with Erasmus + enables schools to partake teaching, but rather provide other learn- in various partnerships that offer both Who are the volunteers? ing opportunities for the children. The teachers and students the opportunity The volunteers are young adults, aged emphasis of their work is on non-formal to experience other cultures and use 18 to 30, and their reasons for offering education, so some of their more impor- foreign languages. Within this scope of their services differ greatly. In countries tant roles are in school-based extracur- the Erasmus+ programme, schools such as Germany and Austria, for exam- ricular activities, during week long out- most often form partnerships that allow ple, it is quite common for young adults ings and so on. Most importantly, these the faculty and a number of students to to join such programmes after finishing volunteers are not necessarily teachers travel to a school in another European high school and before going to univer- or even studying to become teachers. country with whom they’ve formed a sity. This is the so-called gap year, in Those applying to schools are often partnership. which they gain invaluable experience interested in working in education and along with a better insight into them- may have some experience in working This is indeed a wonderful opportunity selves and their future goals. with children, but they do not generally for students to broaden their horizons hold a formal degree in teaching. and become more aware of themselves, Some volunteer because they would like appreciate the usefulness of speaking to change the direction of their lives, to Volunteers participate in after-school foreign languages, and learn to become give them more meaning, while others activities, go on field trips, participate in more accepting of the differences that use such programmes to find them- extended stay programmes and so on, exist among different countries and selves professionally, thus volunteering in though of course they take part in regu- cultures. homes for the elderly, schools and so on. lar lessons too.

22 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Very often they are included in English ing their work. As the communication accept other cultures and learn about the lessons or other language lessons, where flows in English, students also learn new differences and similarities between they help in communicative exercises. words and expressions. them. So far, we have explored the cul- These are especially beneficial, because tures of Ireland, Spain, the US, France, students are “forced” to engage and par- In sports, the volunteer can again help Hungary and Poland. Our cultural explo- ticipate in the conversation in a foreign prepare the materials for the lesson and ration with the volunteers takes place not language. This can be quite motivating do tasks based on their previous knowl- only within the school, but also in our for students who have low self-esteem edge and interests. Our volunteers usu- local community, as the volunteers help and are reluctant to speak: in the situa- ally prepare a lesson about folk dances in preparing and running cultural events. tion they find themselves in, they are from their country and the students do aware that the volunteer has no under- the same for the volunteer. In this way standing of their language, so communi- both the students and the volunteer How to host a volunteer? cation in English or other foreign lan- learn a lot about each other’s culture, As this is Erasmus+, in order to become guages is a must. The focus then turns finding both differences and similarities. eligible to host a European volunteer, the from obsessing about speaking correctly school first needs to apply for accredita- to being understood and putting your When it comes to older students, we have tion, in which you have to describe the message across. Our weaker students regular project-based after-school activi- school and staff, how the volunteer would have come to realise that they are, in fact, ties where the volunteer and the students benefit the local community and what the much better at communicating in English learn how to cook certain dishes, make volunteer would learn through the experi- than they had thought, and slowly but posters about preserving the environment ence of volunteering at the school, where surely their confidence rises. Thus, by and so on. The volunteer also has an the volunteer would live, etc. having the volunteer in the classroom, after-school lesson with students who are the students both are “forced” to use a less confident about using English, where When applying to host a volunteer, a foreign language and at the same time they simply talk about different topics or school or youth centre needs to prepare gain new knowledge about other people, prepare for oral exams. With the students a project that details the roles of both countries and their cultures. who are more comfortable with English, school and volunteer. This project needs the volunteer helps in preparing various to be accepted by the National Agency The greatest impact on students, howev- presentations or organises other activi- and is then uploaded to a database which er, is not to be found within the English ties (games, drama, etc.). volunteers from other European countries classroom but in other classes. For ex- access to find a volunteer project they’d ample, the volunteer helps teachers in art, For those interested, the volunteer also like to apply to. To make things easier in sports and other lessons. All the while, holds lessons in his or her mother this regard, the schools in our community the communication flows in English, thus tongue. For example we’ve had French work with a local youth centre that han- affording students the opportunity to use lessons for both students and teachers dles most of the paperwork and takes the language in different situations and in who were interested in learning French care of the volunteers during the week- non-formal contexts, which in turn prove from our French volunteers. ends and school holidays. to be a real fount of knowledge. Very often we include our volunteer in After all the paperwork is done, the out-of-school activities, whether it be school just needs to choose a volunteer Volunteers at our school excursions or out-of-school classes, from the applications they receive and In preparation for the arrival of our vol- which include a week of skiing and a prepare for his or her arrival. unteer, the whole school lives and week on exploring different ecosystems, breathes the experience. All students with both younger and older students. More information on the Erasmus+: from 1st to 9th grade participate in deco- Within the scope of these activities, the Youth in Action initiative and volunteers rating the school in the colours of the role of the volunteer is to interact with can be found at: new volunteer’s country, making infor- the students – playing board games, MOVIT – mladi v akciji mation sheets for the volunteer, translat- helping out in outdoor activities, singing http://www.movit.si/erasmus-mladi-v-akciji/ ing signs and school rules, and so forth. songs or playing instruments and other activities the volunteer feels confident in. We do our best to incorporate our volun- teer in as many different aspects of During holidays and festivals which are school life as possible. important both in Slovenia and in the EUROPEAN COMMISSION: ERASMUS + volunteer’s home country, the volunteer VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES We find that with the younger students, prepares lessons on the customs and https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/eras- arts and sports lessons are the most traditions pertaining to them, and then he mus-plus/opportunities/individuals/ appropriate settings for engagement or she and the students try to find simi- young-people/european-voluntary-service_en with the volunteers. During art lessons, larities between the two countries. By for example, the volunteer helps prepare delivering lessons and participating in the materials, gives ideas on topics they preparing lessons about different cultural could work on and helps students dur- aspects, the students learn to better

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 23 Students’ practical work and vocational training in the 1970s and 80s school reform – Keeping in touch with reality, knowledge and skills for a quality life and the world of work by Mirjana Došen, teacher advisor (retd.), Karlovac, Croatia

Mirjana Došen, teacher Acknowledgement and gratitude advisor (retd.), owes are due to Gimnazija Karlovac’s a debt of gratitude (and my) former pupils Goranka to her Alma Maters Šubašić-Muharemaj, Dragana the Universities of Bolješić Knežević and Mirjana Zagreb and Bristol. Podvorac. Now, as successful She worked for 43 professionals, they have kindly years as a teacher agreed to share their invaluable and teacher trainer. In experiences and insights with us, cooperation with a number shedding light on their first of institutions, Mirjana also worked contacts with the realities of the as a translator/interpreter. Her articles latter half of the 20th century for HUPE, IATEFL and other printed and world of work. e-publications deal not only with various ELT-related topics but also with the history of education; with her col- leagues she also organised lectures about young people’s safety on the net. Now retired, she has been engaged in local history and community empower- ment projects, as a result of which she was awarded the Karlovac Prize in 2010.

24 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si A little bit older, a whole lot wiser...

Goranka, a foreign language Mirjana, business correspondent/translator/interpreter (gradu- teachers’ aide (final exam 1979), ated 1986), also wrote in favour of timely inclusion of young points out the imagination, skills people into their future world of work. According to her, this and the desire invested to en- offers skills for life and insight into the structure and various gage our students and prepare forms and models of official and business communication and them for their future profession. elements and phases of doing business, and that by comparing Her experience is that the pro- cultures (learning about others, raising our awareness of differ- gramme “helped us grasp the ences and similarities), we also learn more about ourselves. practical aspect of teaching both Mirjana considers maintaining business contacts on a profes- elementary and secondary sional level of mutual respect of the utmost importance. I school classes”. She feels that strongly agree with her statement that this sort of approach the engaging teaching methods helps people fill in the gaps that existed even in our own lan- and their little foray into the real guage. And Mirjana also pointed out the importance of promot- world were scary and fun at the ing acceptable forms of behaviour and communication every- same time. where, particularly in public space.

Dragana, business correspondent/translator/interpreter (graduated 1984), finds work placement for students inval- uable, not only in the final grades but also in the early stages of secondary education. She says that observing in production, in her case at Karlovac’s Josip Kraš shoe and footwear factory, was an eye-opening experience for her generation of young people. Dragana is still appreciative of the friendly shoemakers’ skill and dedication and of the sound advice they spontaneously gave to our students.

Later on, Dragana was given an opportunity to work at the Korana Hotel as a receptionist and gained insight, as she says, into something she could really do – the client service part of the operation, including administrative tasks that required accuracy and attention to detail.

Dragana testifies that these experiences played a major role in her personal and professional development at school and later in life. That makes her a strong supporter of hands-on learning and schooling based on relevant skills for life and workplace alike. It is her opinion that schools have to make an endeavour to bridge the gap be- tween education and workplace requirements while students are still preparing to enter the world of work and, most importantly, while they are deciding on their future paths in that world.

Complex preparations there was also trial project work to be ation and organisation of the learning/ for fundamental changes dealt with, for example The Liverpool & acquisition process, curricula for individ- of contents and methods the Merseyside Project organised by the ualised instruction, listening comprehen- Profession-oriented curricula made it Ministry of Education and their advisors, sion, the audio-visual dimension in L2 possible for all secondary school gradu- based on authentic work material. On learning and teaching, creative tech- ates to enter the job market (the world the one hand this was demanding and niques and forms of work, preparing of what was then called “associated time-consuming, on the other truly moti- authentic teaching materials, the cogni- labour”). For teachers this meant more vating and educational for both the tive approach, student self-management meaningful lifelong education, especially teachers and the pupils involved (in and the foreign language classroom, in the field of business correspondence those days they were still called “pupils“ group work (as preparation for demo- and translation/interpreting, and cooper- at that stage of their education). The cratic teamwork, shared responsibilities, ation with various institutions and enter- Ministry of Education and the PPS (the co-competition and brainstorming in prises. Prior to the reform work on Education and Pedagogical Services) adult life), organisation and strategy in-service training of secondary school were obviously doing their best to pre- of a permanent group system, and teachers was made more complex and, pare the ground for the reform ahead. extra-curricular activities. at the same time, intensified: there were seminars, meetings at individual There was a wide variety of topics dealt In the course of these lifelong education schools and at the city and municipality with at the aforementioned events: stu- events and activities, both our Croatian levels, and open-door days at Zagreb’s dent evaluation in the context of the new advisors and foreign professionals leading schools including theoretical vocationally streamlined (directional) shared their expertise with us. Teachers lectures and very interesting demonstra- education system, motivation, error were encouraged to share and evaluate tion classes. Back in the early 1970s analysis, learning strategies, individualis- each other’s experiences. The meetings

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 25 were well attended as different foreign which frequently helps in the pedagogi- dent and the teacher. Not to mention languages, Latin included, were a part cal approach to young people on the the time-consuming process of choos- of the in-service training scheme. one hand and the andragogical ap- ing the “right” kind of textbook and the We were also provided with the Minis- proach to adult learners and the staff expense as well as the effort of getting try-approved curricula and other official themselves on the other. Needless to adjusted that goes with the fact that documents pertaining to the teaching say, students’ emotional well-being and textbooks are regularly changed in of the new subjects such as business well-balanced intellectual development four-year intervals. correspondence and the theory of trans- go hand in hand. Also, lation/interpreting. The Ministry-ap- it needs to be pointed out that although The English language-related subjects proved curricula brought cooperation some of the professions offered were taught were, in addition to general Eng- not only with the PPS, but also with the quite interesting, many of the curricula lish, business correspondence and the relevant faculties and departments and proposed were a little one-sided – to theory and technique of translation/ the institutions and enterprises the say the least. People seem to tend to interpreting with the aim of preparing young people were being trained for. go from one extreme in another in the our future professionals for the global sensitive area of education. In terms of market, since our companies had busi- As one of the former students, Goranka, foreign languages, the number of peri- ness ties with companies practically all points out, owing to the supportive at- ods one got to teach was either too over the world, from what were at the mosphere, sometimes we were able “to small or too big, the contents some- Practical work, supervised by our teach- go above and beyond the required curric- times too narrow or too vague. To be- ers in cooperation with professionals in ula”. gin with there were hardly any text- various institutions and enterprises, was books worth mentioning (or they complementary with the subject-matter Glitches, advantages appeared on the market irregularly), taught at school and therefore invalua- and disadvantages and obviously in those days textbook ble: it took place at the school itself (for Still, in spite of some good plans and writers and publishers were not as well teachers’ assistants/aides), at primary all good intentions, once the new or- informed about nor as involved in the schools and kindergartens, and in librar- ganisational scheme had been put in reform as the teachers themselves. ies, factories, insurance and travel agen- place, there were problems as the huge But that said, there were some good cies, hotels, and transport firms for busi- secondary school educational centres teaching materials on the market, e.g. ness correspondents. It was a good that were created certainly proved to the business correspondence work- merger of two complementary realities be a serious drawback. The schools sheet folders. Present-day hyper-pro- – the realities of the classroom and the that were merged often had very little duction of teaching materials came realities of the world of responsibility in common, which caused at least only after the end of the reform, i.e. at and work. One could also simply say misunderstandings and some occa- a time when the number of periods one this was the best vocational guidance or sional friction among their staff and has to teach dropped significantly (and supplement to vocational guidance im- between staff and students and the is therefore again so low), so the abun- aginable. Actions speak louder than local community. Such big institutions dance and wealth of teaching materi- words! Thus the pupils were given an lacked the feeling of togetherness als is partly wasted on both the stu- opportunity to get to know the school

26 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si system better, learn about the structure experienced teaches and relate them how demanding it was, it was good – in of a variety of enterprises, enhance their to the curriculum and the textbook. some instances even excellent – as a problem-solving and communication The business students and translators/ kind of very meaningful experiential skills, especially their negotiating skills, interpreters, meanwhile, were intro- learning, training and, to point it out once gain a feeling of responsibility and ac- duced to another kind of world, the again, vocational guidance for the stu- countability, and boost their persever- world of work, business and money. dent and additional creative in-service ance – in short, after facing the realities Both groups had to keep a vocational training as well as lifelong education for of childhood and school, to face a new work diary dealing with this pre-ser- the teachers involved. The reform re- set of real-world challenges. vice/pre-university work. Their final mains a meaningful and worthwhile exams were, as a result, focused di- long-term investment into the future, In the case of teachers’ assistants’, rectly on work at school or on enter- combined with a kind of quality assur- business and translators’/interpreters’ prise-related topics. ance and quality control at all levels that classes, a lot of vocational training was contributes to the dignity of each and centred around foreign language teach- every profession and with it to the dignity ing/learning. The teachers’ assistants Dignity of education and value of education. “The current were given an opportunity to study and and work among true values efforts and challenges of all parties in- produce teaching aids such as posters, Of course, this required considerable volved in the kick-off of the new school transparencies, including double ones preparation on the part of both the reform have yet again brought to mind providing instant feedback and/or con- teachers and the students themselves, the 1970s and 80s school reform with all firmation about, for example, modern as well as the good will of the people its ups and downs… Are we able to learn engineering materials, crossword puz- involved in various places outside the from the experience?” Mirjana asks. For zles, and authentic teaching materials school. The reward was that it was chal- all our sakes it is essential that we do, so under the supervision of qualified and lenging and interesting so, no matter here is our little contribution!

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 27 Using songs with young language learners by Janja Androić

Janja Androić is • they enable access to authentic lan- “Do you like Broccoli Ice Cream?” (link an English teacher guage input and exposure to pronunci- below) is a great song for teaching yes/ at l. Osnovna šola ation, stress and intonation patterns, no questions, for example. We can also Rogaška Slatina. and use songs to develop listening skills (lis- She has been • they can help young learners memo- tening for gist or specific information), to teaching 6–15 year rise vocabulary, grammar and chunks develop speaking skills and pronunciation old pupils for of language. (pupils practise the language in a safe 11 years. She has environment through repetition), to prac- specialised in teaching Despite all the advantages, however, tise reading and writing, and much more. English to young pupils. some teachers don’t use songs in teach- Apart from teaching English to ing because: young learners, she is also interested • they do not regard music as suffi- HOW? in implementing ICT, especially tablets, ciently serious for the classroom and Songs should be presented in three stag- in English language teaching. She has are not able to conduct lessons using es: pre-listening, while-listening and fol- attended several courses on the use songs appropriately, low-up, each stage consisting of different of tablets in the classroom and also • music can disturb other learners in activities. In the pre-listening stage, actively participated in IATEFL Slovenia other classrooms, teachers introduce the topic, elicit some and Sirikt conferences in the last year. • teachers can lose control of learners vocabulary and provide some input, while very easily, pupils can predict or guess vocabulary, • the vocabulary may not be suitable, guess the missing words in a gapped • expressions may be different to the song, or order jumbled lines. In the rules of grammar being taught and while-listening stage, pupils might per- Language teachers, especially those this can be misleading, resulting in form actions, sing along, point to words teaching young learners, often use mistakes, or pictures, clap the rhythm, put pictures songs in the classroom because they • teachers do not know how to develop in the correct order, shout “stop” when are fun and motivating and children love material successfully, and/or they hear a certain word, sing different them. • a teacher may not enjoy singing or verses in groups, and so forth. In the teaching with music. follow-up stage, pupils might sing, use What are the advantages of using songs the vocabulary, change the words, add in teaching young learners? If the use of song is meaningful and care- new vocabulary, illustrate the song or • they function as first steps in speak- fully planned, however, some of the above role-play. ing as they offer opportunities for obstacles can be overcome. Using songs practising sounds, rhythm and intona- is not just about playing YouTube and The three stages can be illustrated using tion in the safety of the group, singing: teachers should find songs with the song “If you’re happy” (link below). In • they are repetitive, appropriate vocabulary or use just one the pre-listening stage, the teacher • they are fun and motivating for chil- part of the song if the rest is not appropri- pre-teaches vocabulary (feelings) using dren, ate. They should prepare a lesson plan a magic box, pantomime and flash- • children enjoy songs and the positive and with sufficient guidance the pupils cards. The teacher puts emoticon balls feelings and attitudes created in the will probably not lose control. Songs can in the magic box and the pupils first language classroom transfer to the be used to develop all four language guess what’s in there. Then the pupils learning experience as a whole, skills: listening, speaking, reading and draw emoticons one by one and the • they allow language to be reinforced writing. We tend to use songs to create teacher (or a pupil) says the word de- in a natural context, a more relaxed and motivating environ- picted, which the pupils then repeat. • they build confidence in young learn- ment and at the same time teach vocab- Another game to pre-teach the vocabu- ers (even shy pupils sing along), ulary. However, we should bear in mind lary is pantomime. Here a pupil draws a • they help create a safe atmosphere in that songs can also be used to teach and picture and mimes the action and other the classroom, reinforce various grammar points too. pupils guess the word.

28 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Magic box Flashcards Pantomime

In the while-listening stage, pupils listen In the follow-up stage, pupils practise the to the song on YouTube and learn the vocabulary. They might throw a die and lyrics. In the first listening they get famil- sing about a feeling which is shown. The iar with the song. The teacher can elicit teacher encourages them to add vocabu- words they heard or put up flashcards lary and to change the lyrics. They pres- and get the pupils to point to what they ent the pupils with a die with emoticons heard. They may need to listen to the drawn on it (happy, sleepy, angry, scared, song several times to check understand- hungry and sad – the last two don’t ap- ing. In the second or third listening pu- pear in the song). A pupil throws the die pils might mime the actions, which is and they sing the appropriate line. When something they love. The teacher can they throw hungry or sad, the teacher then mute the sound and play the video encourages them to make up a sentence References again and the pupils have to say and about that, for example “If you’re hungry, • Clark, S. (2008, March). Kids and Songs. mime the words. hungry, hungry, eat a sandwich.” Retrieved from https://www.teachin- genglish.org.uk/article/kids-songs • Millington, N. T. (2011). Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners 1. Retrieved from https://www. researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader. html?id=538f6c0ad2f- d64a3298b4653&assetKey=AS% 3A273540257910786%401442228487 298 • Kuśnierek, A. (2016). The Role of Music and Songs in Teaching English Vocabu- lary to Students. Retrieved from http:// yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/ bwmeta1.element.psjd-c18d141f-2e69- 4b69-9edf-484a788c108a/c/ WSN_43_1___2016__1-55.pdf

My pupils love it when I teach through Songs songs, probably because they feel they • Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream? are not really learning but having fun. https://youtu.be/frN3nvhIHUk Among their favourites are “If you’re • If You’re Happy happy” (Super Simple Songs), “I Am the https://youtu.be/l4WNrvVjiTw Music Man” (The Learning Station), • I am the Music Man “Move and Freeze” (The Learning Sta- https://youtu.be/22kqia2ibVU tion) and “Let’s Go to the Zoo” (Super • Move and Freeze Simple Songs) (links below). https://youtu.be/388Q44ReOWE • Let’s Go To The Zoo https://youtu.be/OwRmivbNgQk

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 29 Our plenary speakers at the 26th International IATEFL Slovenia Conference 2019 #empowerED

Mojca Belak, Pilgrims Lynda Steyne

During the summer Mojca is a Pilgrims Lynda (Lyn) Steyne is trainer specialising in creativity in a South African born, language teaching as well as in Choice American passport Theory. For the rest of the year she is a holder who’s lived in lecturer at the Department of English, Bratislava, Slovakia, longer University of Ljubljana. Working with a lot than anywhere else. She’s of dedicated future teachers made it possible for been an English language her to bring many of her students to IATEFL Slovenia. teacher for going on 30 years, teaching She is a dedicated member of ‘the big IATEFL’, where students aged nine and up in public she is Chair of Membership and Marketing Committee. primary and secondary schools, as Besides in Slovenia, she has had talks, workshops and well as at university. She’s served as seminars in the UK, Austria, Croatia, France, Lithuania, deputy head of a secondary school, Portugal and Serbia. She likes dancing, distance bilingual programme coordinator, and running and trees. teacher trainer/mentor of incoming English teachers. Lyn has taught academic writing, research skills, and English at both the university and secondary school level, as well as Sophia Mavridi short courses for Slovak journalists. She’s the current (and founding) chair Sophia Mavridi is an EdTech & EAP of the Slovak Chamber of English lecturer, teacher trainer and researcher. Language Teachers (SCELT ). She is currently teaching in UK higher education as well as providing in-service training for institutions and publishers around Europe. She is the IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG co-ordinator and her research interests lie Dorothy Zemach in the increasingly important role of digital & media literacies in language learning. Dorothy Zemach is an author, editor, teacher, and teacher trainer in the field of English Language Maureen McGarvey Teaching (ELT). She taught English, French, Maureen McGarvey has been working and Japanese for over 20 years in ELT as a teacher, teacher trainer, in Asia, Africa, and the US. She manager and online trainer for over currently writes and edits English 25 years. She is Programme Manager language teaching materials and eLearning at IH London. She runs range textbooks, and conduct teacher of blended, face to face, and online training workshops. Her areas of training programmes for academic managers specialty and interest include teaching and teachers. She wrote the management writing, teaching reading, business module for the MSc in TESOL offered by Aston University English, academic English, testing, and and tutored this module for several years. She has also humor. She is a frequent plenary tutored on the management module for the MA in speaker at international conferences, TESOL offered by Westminster University. She is Chair and a regular blogger for Teacher Talk of the IATEFL Scholarship Committee. at Azar Grammar.

30 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si They Call This (C)rap! by Hazelynn Anak Rimbar

Hazelynn has been Once upon a time there was a little girl • provides an ideal way to teach proso- a teacher and who had a lisp. Despite her good com- dy, the rhythm, pitch and tone of a lecturer at mand of the English language, she was language; and several public constantly laughed at because of her • creates a bridge between generations and private pronunciation. So she started to prac- and breaks down possible teacher– institutions, tise her speech by singing along to Emi- student role barriers. including nem and Linkin’ Park, and soon her University speech improved and the lisp disap- Learning English through music has Technology of peared. been proven to improve language profi- MARA and Swinburne ciency. When you learn English songs, University of Technology, The little girl was me. you tend to repeat them again and Sarawak. She has also worked as an again, because practice is enjoyable. advisor and mentor on the National Similarly, Ed Sheeran, as reported in The This in turn contributes to learning Eng- Education Transformation in Malaysia. Times (UK) in 2017, revealed how he lish instinctively. Krashen’s Input Hy- She currently heads the English cured his childhood stammer by learn- pothesis states that humans acquire a Language and STEM Education ing “rude stuff” from an album by Emi- language by receiving comprehensible Department at the Ministry of Educa- nem: “And when you’re nine, and some- input. Rap – like other music genres tion, Science and Technological one is saying rude stuff, you wanna – use a collection of set phrases which Research of Sarawak, Malaysia. learn it, and he raps at such a fast pace can be learned and memorised by learn- that my stammer would go. And weirdly ers. It is a similar process to first lan- enough, that was the speech therapy guage acquisition, when children learn that cured me.” phrases and use them as one-word expressions (Miller, 1956). The collec- Does this mean that rap has a magical tion of authentic language texts are power that can help children with stored in an individual’s network of sche- speech problems? Maybe so, but there mata and will be recalled when needed. is more to it than simple magic. This article will look at how rap can be used in the language classroom as a means But Why Rap? to improve EFL learners’ pronunciation The main advantage of rap is that you and fluency. I will argue that this misun- do not need to know how to sing: you do derstood genre (yes, some even call it not need to have a trained voice in order “crap” – pardon my French), often asso- to do rap! Rapping uses difference in ciated with vulgarity and gangster cul- pitch and flow and applies rhythm and ture, can actually be a useful pedagogi- rhyme to words that are spoken at dif- cal tool in the classroom. ferent speeds. It is thus the genre clos- est to normal human speech.

What is Rap? According to Weinstein (2006), rap is According to the Oxford Dictionary (2016), known for being a form that is character- “rap” means to utter sharply or suddenly. ised by its lack of elevated language and Rap music is a combination of rhyming for its ability to communicate in a deeply and poetry to a beat. In fact, the word is social manner. But despite Weinstein’s an acronym for rhythm and poetry. claim about the lack of elevated language in rap, it is interesting to note that Emi- Music and chanting have been long nem, the famous American rapper, reads used for educational purposes, and the dictionary every day to add to his research has provided ample evidence language repertoire. Indeed CNN Enter- that music: tainment reported in 2015 that Eminem • creates a learning environment that uses the biggest vocabulary in contempo- lowers the affective filter; rary music. The study compared the vo- • elevates student interest; cabulary size of 93 best-selling artists

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 31 across 25 different music genres. Emi- Tongue twisters, sentences that repeat ging, you need to warm up your mus- nem topped the list with 8,818 unique similar sound patterns, are an excellent cles. Similarly, by practising and “warm- words used, followed by Jay-Z with 6,899, vehicle for this, because trying to say ing up” your speech organs, you gain the late Tupac Shakur with 6,569 and them aloud forces you to pay attention better control of mouth and lip move- Kanye West with 5,069. Bob Dylan – a to how you’re speaking. To say a tongue ments. Also you create muscle memory, Noble Laureate, no less – came in only twister properly, you have to concentrate which is immensely helpful for later fifth with 4,883. It is interesting to note on what you’re saying and fully enunci- fluency. that the top four are all rappers, which, the ate each word and syllable – otherwise study notes, is as expected because of your words are going to get all twisted the genre’s heavy emphasis on lyrics. together into a garbled mishmash that Rapping means nothing. I have shown how rap helps to strength- Can this also be true in education, i.e. en the muscles necessary for proper might students who use rap in their Try this tongue twister, for example: speech as you practise the correct learning have a larger vocabulary than “She sells seashells on the seashore” placement of your tongue, lips and their peers? We do not know that for teeth. However, we should also not over- sure. Yet Weinstein (2006) documented Notice how, as you do it faster, it takes a look the poetry element in rap. Using rap cases of underperforming students who lot more effort to make sure your pro- can help show how different sounds can had improved their literacy skills when nunciation and enunciation are correct. be used to create a particular effect, rap was introduced as a literacy tool for such as rhyme, but in a more fun and teaching and learning. Different tongue twisters focus on the more meaningful activity then a tradi- production of different sounds. For ex- tional literature lesson. ample, “She sells seashells on the sea- Focus on Fluency shore” emphasises the /sh/ and /s/ You might have your students try this Pronunciation is one of the most difficult sounds, whereas “Peter Piper picked a simple activity aspects to master when it comes to peck of pickled peppers” works on the learning a foreign language. Because /p/ sound and the rapid change to /k/. First, go to the YouTube link https:// people use everything from their throats While /p/ is a bilabial plosive, produced www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOuJhk9_16s to their noses when speaking, people who at the front of the oral cavity, /k/ is a have different facial features produces velar sound, produced when the back of 1. Play the song and get the students different sounds and have different voices the tongue touches the soft palate or to listen to it individually. (Linguistics Society of America, n.d.). The velum. The rapid back and forth be- 2. Play it again and encourage them vocal tract anatomy has a huge influence tween these different places of articula- to sing along to it individually. on how a particular culture or language tion makes this tongue twister more 3. In pairs, get them to take turns rap- form their phonetic system and speech difficult than it looks. ping different stanza, without the production (Dediu, Janssen, & Moisik, song playing. Here also get them to 2017). Each language has a different The same principles apply when one correct each other’s pronunciation. phonetic system and sounds on which is rapping. The speed with which the 4. Play the song again and get the that language is built. Some sounds are words are articulated makes rapping whole class to sing together. similar to each other in different languag- difficult. However, practice does help es, while others do not exist in other lan- improve changing the position of the guages. Japanese, for example, often use tongue and moving from one sound to “Just the Two of Us” /r/ and /l/ interchangeably, because both another swiftly. You might also look at it by Will Smith sounds are considered liquid phonemes like physical exercise: when you go jog- in the language. Goto (1971) reports that Japanese who learned English as adults From the first time the doctor have difficulty perceiving the acoustic placed you in my arms difference between /r/ and /l/. Despite I knew I’d meet death before many years of living in America, many I’d let you meet harm Japanese still have difficulty producing Although questions arose in my the two sounds distinctly. mind, would I be man enough? Against wrong, choose right Taking this into consideration, we move and be standin’ up. to the most important organ for speak- ing: the tongue. Just as leg muscles need to be exercised for one to run fast- It will take a while, but once your stu- er, the tongue needs to be exercised in dents are used to the lyrics, they’ll follow order to be more flexible and able to the tempo better. Once they’ve mastered produce certain sounds in rapid succes- this, you can try another rap song with a sion. [insert figure 2] faster rhythm. You might have your students try this song, for example:

32 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si words, their meanings and use, and the by a father to his son. They might also “In the End” emotions and contexts that may allow make comparisons between the differ- by Linkin’ Park such use need to be discussed. Simply ent pieces of advice the fathers give in banning these from the language class- two completely different eras. The stu- room does not make them disappear dents then can decide which advice It starts with one thing from everyday use in the outside world. sounds more sound and meaningful. I don’t know why Therefore making the students aware It doesn’t even matter of purpose, audience, context and cul- So, “crap”? I think not. Rap will get you to how hard you try ture (PACC) offers them choices and work on your pronunciation and later on Keep that in mind agency, rather than mechanical lan- fluency and score you some extra points I designed this rhyme guage use. If you do not believe me, for cool! Rap, if anything, puts the C for To explain in due time watch the first few minutes of Four cool in ‘Crap’! Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and think about the effect the director want- Your students will find that their tongues ed to create with that scene. are loosening up after these exercises. Fun is an important element of success- Sources And by gradually increasing the tempo ful learning. One example of a fun activi- • Weinstein, S. (2006, December ). A love of the songs, your students will struggle ty that can be done in the classroom is for the thing: The pleasures of rap as a less when trying to produce the sounds “guess the parts of speech”. Here stu- literate practice. Journal of Adolescent accurately, also giving them adequate dents are asked to identify explicit & Adult Literacy, 50 (4) 270-281. challenge following Krashen’s i+1 words and what parts of speech they • Miller, G. (1956). The magical number (Krashen’s Input Hypotheses, where “i” is belong to. They need to then replace the seven, plus, or minus two : some limits on our capacity for processing informa- learner’s interlanguage and “+1” is the words with another word from the same tion. Psychological Review , 63 (2) 81-97. next stage of language acquisition.) word class. It seems easy, but to find • France, L. R. (2015, July 24). Enimem the right word, with the same number of has music’s biggest vocabulary, study Challenges with Rap syllables, and sometimes with the same says. Retrieved from CNN Entertain- Rap has a bad reputation among edu- sound, is often not, believe me! ment: https://edition.cnn. com/2015/07/24/entertainment/emi- cators for its sometimes explicit lyrics nem-kanye-bob-dyan-study-music-feat/ and unorthodox content. However, we There are many activities with which index.html should admit that in the age of the in- teachers can use rap songs not just to • Goto, H. (1971). Auditory perception by ternet, there is no escape from explicit promote oral fluency, but also to get normal Japanese adults of the sounds words. As educators, it is our duty to students to learn poetry in a fun and ‘L’ and ‘R’ . Neuropsychologia, 9(3), 317-323. make sure our children understand the motivating way. One poem I love using implication of using such words. There- is If, by Rudyard Kipling. I put it side by • Dediu, D., Janssen, R., & Moisik, S. (2017). Language is not isolated from fore I strongly believe that instead of side with Will Smith’s Just the Two of Us its wider environment: vocal tract influ- avoiding them, explicit lyrics and con- rap lyrics and get students to compare ences on the evolution of speech and tent should be dealt with too. For older and discuss their theme. They will find language. Language and Communica- tion, 54, 9-20. (and higher level) students, “taboo” that both rap song and poem are written

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 33 How to Be a Great Teacher from A to Z by Nataša Intihar Klančar

Let me ask you a question to start with: even uses one’s acting skills in class: ly, go cross-curricular, and a sense “Is there a guide that would help us being a comedian every now and then is of achievement and pride will follow. teachers to evolve and be really efficient a positive trait that rarely loses its charm. and successful without going through Every once in a while show the students H: Every teacher should be prepared to too much stress and disappointment?” your inner child – smile, relax be child- work hard. There’s no rest and relaxation Well personally I’m afraid there isn’t ish and allow yourself to laugh out loud. during our lessons, is there? Hardwork- one. It would be great, though, to have Embrace the sense of fullness, of intrin- ing teachers put a lot of effort into les- some sort of a checklist to keep us on sic aliveness, of joy in being. Treasure son planning and preparing, marking, track, motivated and strong at all times, the value of just being yourself. and giving extra time to those students giving us support and energy to deal who need it. It’s a constant challenge to with all sorts of challenges we may face D: Dedication is our middle name, balance all the requirements and obliga- in and out of the classroom. isn’t it? Always having our students and tions. Try adding a bit of humour and lessons in mind, determined to offer the everything will be much easier. I’ve been teaching English at a primary class the best we can. This is the way school for almost 20 years and over that to go. Being dynamic and ready for the I: Set a good example, be a role model time have come across certain charac- new challenges we face in our job helps and an inspiration to the youngsters you teristics that one seems to find time and us to be efficient and successful. teach every day. They look up to you time again in great teachers who inspire (despite not always showing you this) and lead their students to success and E: Students are introduced to the pow- and appreciate your standpoint, so use independence. My personal experience er of kindness through kind words and your intuition to give and share the best has helped me a lot, so I prepared a list acts, thus supporting and encouraging you have and are. Talk to the children of some of these characteristics (feel free our students is so important. The ener- and show a genuine interest in them to add some more, by the way). I’m sure gy and enthusiasm we share are both – you will reap the rewards. you’ll be able to relate on many levels. contagious and effective and they go a long way. J: Both teaching and learning should A: I believe every teacher should be not be all serious and boring, so make actively involved in the teaching process F: As educators we should always be sure your class is also joyful and fun. It and take part in different teaching tech- flexible, allowing ourselves to sometimes is a proven fact that students learn more niques and methods, trying out new adapt the standards-based content to efficiently in a relaxed atmosphere – in a things in order to achieve maximum slightly change the topics and follow what place they feel accepted and important. success. They should be able to adapt works best in class without worrying we Make every student count and be a part to various situations in the classroom might lose some precious time. Stimulat- of a greater scheme. and try many approaches that help them ing the students’ interest by following to be an inspiration to their students. their stories helps them to feel good K: Share your knowledge and experi- about themselves, learn more efficiently ences and do not feel limited by the B: Being busy is definitely one of the and enjoy the process itself while actually coursebook materials you use in class. foremost characteristics of our job. A being relevant and a way of having fun Mix and match the serious and the diffi- teacher never stops or has time to relax in class. What more could you wish for? cult on the one hand with the fun and the in the classroom, as we have to be ready familiar on the other. Teach kindness and for all sorts of twists and turns that may G: I guess every teacher experiences you will be rewarded with happy children occur. Try to do your best no matter ups and downs during their careers. who enjoy greater peer-acceptance and what and the students will follow. At one point we may feel we have all feel optimistic and self-worthy. the power and the knowledge, whereas C: Teachers should promote students’ there are times we feel powerless and L: Keep in mind that you are not only a creative aspect and care for different exhausted. We should therefore allow teacher but also a learner. Learning is needs and levels. It does not hurt if one ourselves to grow, accept new concepts, an ever-present process and helps us to possesses a good sense of humour or step out of our comfort zone occasional- expand our horizons and to see things

34 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si from another perspective. In order to in class, resulting in better achievement. class, which is then in turn inspired and achieve this, make sure you are an at- Successful teachers produce success- motivated to pursue their goals and skills. tentive listener, which means being ful students, it could be said. flexible and responsive. X: Great teachers are confident and T: By being honest, open, responsible they never forget how X-tra awesome M: Mentoring youths is a challenging and compassionate, we show our quali- and fantastic they are – along with their task, and every teacher is on a mission ties as a trustworthy person our stu- class, of course. carrying it out. It’s done more easily by dents can rely on. Moreover, the central using your motivating skills, combined features of trustworthiness play a critical Y: It is truly helpful to nurture your with the multi-tasking abilities that each role in developing a moral relationship brain’s capacities by maintaining a teacher possesses. In this way you fill between the teacher and the students. youthful mind-set which is dynamic, many roles and make reaching and ac- By providing a climate of safety and re- vibrant and curious. Staying young at complishing goals easier. spect, learning will follow smoothly. heart and keeping a genuine interest in the students will offer numerous oppor- N: Try to stay non-judgemental, though U: In order to be an understanding tunities to grow and evolve. of course we’re tempted to be otherwise teacher, you have to be able to see on certain occasions. Keep an open mind things from the students’ perspective. Z: Really good teachers share their en- and allow various opinions. Maintain a Every child needs understanding and a thusiasm, zest, excitement and zeal for never-say-die attitude and be an opti- clear structure which enables them to teaching and active learning alike. They mist and this will make your work (and feel secure in order to learn and grow. pass these qualities on to their students. life) easier. Don’t miss a chance to be unique and They are driven by a deep desire to teach unforgettable – just like your students. and help others – thus teaching is not O: As a teacher you’ve no doubt found only a profession but is also a vocation. that being organised is a big part of V: Teaching is so much more than being successful at what you do. It lessons from the textbook. The valuable To sum up: great teachers are enthusias- prevents you from feeling overwhelmed life lessons that the students learn from tic and energetic multi-taskers who learn and confused and it reduces your stress the teacher (and school life in general) and evolve together with their students levels, making room for an optimistic are sometimes even more important and remain positive and creative in their view on both teaching and life. than the curriculum. A teacher’s vigour attitude. They are not afraid to step out of can contribute immensely to learning their comfort zone to change the routine P: A great teacher isn’t shy of sharing life lessons such as communication and to freshen up their lessons. So don’t the passion for teaching and the sub- skills, the power of negotiation and re- be afraid to stand out and be one of a ject-matter with their students. They are spect, teamwork practices, emotional kind. Stay true to yourself and keep in intensely curious and ready to learn new intelligence, and time management. mind that a positive attitude brings good things. It is with patience that they ap- results. Use praise genuinely and freely proach new challenges and give their W: A good teacher makes a large impact and encourage your students on a regular heart and soul to their chosen profession. on students by teaching them new skills, basis. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and new knowledge and new perspectives. It to consult your colleagues for bright ideas Q: Maintaining a high level of quality is with wit and wisdom that these quali- and solutions. Last but not least, always of lessons by choosing a wide range of ties are presented and delivered to the try to enjoy what you do. teaching methods and techniques is a process that needs constant adjustment to meet the needs of the students. It is the best qualified teachers that can manage that most easily by successful- ly responding to the ever-changing situ- ations in the classroom.

R: A teacher is a role model and should as such behave in a highly responsible way. They should be reliable, just and set a good example to their classes. They should then inspire their students to strive for great things and to develop their potentials to the maximum.

S: By showing support to our students, we are then more likely to get them to trust us, show more engagement in learning and consequently behave better

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 35 From Rogaška Slatina to the British English Olympics by Catherine Earles

Catherine’s path to the Since November last year something only imagine how hard it might be for beautiful greens of odd has been happening around the II. this group of young adults, aged Slovenia was a OŠ Rogaška Slatina in the peaceful between 12 and 14, to switch their somewhat long and town of Rogaška Slatina. On Saturdays mindset to 100% English for the day. winding road. Hav- and public holidays, while most kids ing worked as an were fooling around in the snow, or, The motivation for the seventeen exercise physiolo- perhaps more likely these days, students sat before me was their gist for Britain’s elite hibernating inside with their gaming ma- selection for Team Crystal, Rogaška athletes in her younger chines, a handful of young students Slatina, who were due to compete in the years, the arrival of a hus- have been coming into school of their British English Olympics (BEO) 2018. band and children saw her own accord. With lights down low, the BEO, organised by Oxford International retrain to more family-friendly career small party of students, quietly seated Education Group, is an English language options - first as a tennis coach in the in an otherwise empty dining hall, and academic contest designed for the heart of England and then as a mathe- seemed oddly melancholic without the world’s brightest international students, matics teacher at local secondary usual hustle and bustle of school life simultaneously offering an authentic schools. As the family grew to 6 (plus around them. cultural programme to 12 to 16 year a dog) so came a change in priorities. olds from around the world. 2018 A few years ago she made the bold There was a strange lull as the students marked the 10th anniversary of the decision to pack up her job and move took time to greet me. Granted, it was competition, and included more than to Slovenia to build a house in the hope oh-so-early on a Saturday morning, but 2000 students from 139 schools that space and time would prevail over they seemed unusually reserved given worldwide, the vast majority of them the everyday stresses and pressure of there were no other teachers around private fee-paying schools and many life in the UK. Five years on and the observing their behaviour. As we started bilingual institutions. Twenty-three house is still an ongoing project, but to converse I soon recognised what countries were represented with Team business has succeeded in the form might have been interpreted as a lack of Crystal being the sole representatives of of a collaboration with a local glass enthusiasm to be in reality a wave of Slovenia, and only the second Slovenian company, who she now assists to drive nervousness slowly diffusing through group to ever attend the competition, sales in Europe. Pure Glass specialises the room. The reason? Both work and following Osnovna Šola Ivana Cankarja in personalised engraved glasses for play were to be conducted in English from Vrhnika in 2017. all occasions, exclusive hand-made that day. jewellery, trophies and environmental- The training has been tough, especially ly-friendly gifts. Having lived around As an UK expat having lived here for a for the older students who already have the world, Catherine can’t help but feel few years, this was a strange environ- more than their fair share of work to do that Slovenia seems the perfect place ment for even me to adapt to. Living preparing for their graduation from to mix such business with pleasure. outside of the major Slovene tourist primary school. Their English skills are centres, I rarely hear English beyond my excellent but the competition places a own interactions, and still cannot help whole new range of demands on the but turn my head if I hear a passer-by students, which they are not used to speak my native tongue. Limited practising in school. The theme of this Slovene that I have, it was still hard not year’s competition was “Out of this to automatically reply with the word World”, and there were seven elements “hvala” as the day progressed, or to the competition for which they had to translate the odd word as required. I can specifically prepare:

36 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 1. BEO TED TALK A science and donation. A charitable concert was activities such as an international night, technology presentation regarding arranged at school featuring some of a talent show, and a cdisco added to the impact of robots on future the many talented musicians who were their evening entertainment. commerce and society. former students of VIZ II. OŠ Rogaška, as well as musical performances from Throughout the preparation period 2. BEO DEBATE 2.0 A debate sur- current students and the school choir. there had been one clear goal for Team rounding the educational challenges The headmistress, Karla Skrinjarič Crystal from the small town of Rogaška facing the world in the modern era. highlighted the goals of the school in Slatina - to do their best and to have a fostering and recognising the talents good time. Many feared they would 3. BEO Country Spotlight A presenta- of all students, from all backgrounds, freeze on stage or that the team would tion where each team must repre- whether musical, academic, sporting or come last, but as the hard work sent a given country at a University otherwise. The concert was a resound- increased so did their confidence. They fair for professors and students of ing success with over 1000 people never felt they would be competing for science and technology - Team attending. Further fundraising was the top prize, but they would hold their Crystal were assigned Singapore achieved through the sale of calendars, heads high and hoped to succeed in the charity raffles, cookie sales and more to “Fair Play” category at the very least. 4. BEO Drama Festival Write and reach their goal and set on their way. As nervousness slowly gave way to perform an original short play within competence, common goals began to the “Out of this World” theme. And so it came that on a dull Tuesday prevail - be prepared, do your best, and afternoon in late March, the Team enjoy yourself. Their talks went to plan 5. BEO A Cappella Contest To write a Crystal students made their way to and they were satisfied with their perfor- song in English relating to the theme school for a later than usual start, laden mances. The talent show performance and perform it A Cappella style. with suitcases, snacks and the red peak was a success. They excelled them- caps that had become to show their selves in the improvisation category in 6. Improvisation Challenge An team status. As they waited for the bus which they had to write a play about a unknown task testing creativity to pull up to the school gates they got Rennaissance man travelling in time which would only be announced on their first taste of England - rain! As to the modern day. Everything went the day of the event. predicted, there would be plenty more to plan, with no major hiccups. of that to come over the following After 8 days of incessant activity the 7. Mystery Challenge A 3hr mystery fortnight. The bus rolled through the whole delegation of more than 2,000 challenge, announced on the day, grey mist towards Ljubljana, carrying students finally gathered to declare to test their creativity and linguistic seventeen students and two teachers which teams had been selected to versatility. full of hope, expectation, excitement and nerves. As well as researching the topics and writing the texts for the presentations After all the hard work the students themselves, workshops were held were delighted to finally reach English covering various topics such as shores and show what they could do. non-verbal communication, pronuncia- Their residence for the stay was tion, teamwork, improvisation and Ardingly College, a prestigious inde- public speaking. As something so new pendent boarding school in the South for the students here, who typically of England. A colleague of mine noticed learn in a different way, this proved to a photo of the school building one day be a challenge for both students and and described the place best by his teachers alike, but ultimately led to great immediate remark: “It looks like developments in the confidence of something straight out of Harry Potter.” these youngsters working in a second Quite a change for a group of pupils language. from the East of Slovenia, most of whom had ever visited England before. In addition to the intensive preparations for the competition, the students were Over the following two weeks they not further responsible, alongside their only competed as Slovene representa- friends and family, for a variety of tives in the competition, but also fundraising efforts to allow them to enjoyed a full cultural programme to finance the trip. Many local businesses experience what England has to offer. showed generous support with financial Excursions included a trip to Ports- and material sponsorship, parents of mouth, where they saw HMS Victory at the team members made contributions the Royal Historic Dockyard, as well as and some employees from the school guided tours of London, Oxford and grouped together to make an additional Brighton. Further extra-curricular

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 37 progress to the next round of the Teacher Thoughts opinion column competition. With no expectation of progressing, it was with great delight and excitement when “Team Crystal, VIZ II Rogaška Slatina” was announced as one of the teams to proceed to the semi-fi- My Friend nal. Even more impressive, Team Crystal were nominated as winners of the “People’s Choice Award” and were presented with a plaque for the best the Calculator debate of the competition. It didn’t take long for the news grapevine to relay the by Lea Koler achievement back to Rogaška, and there was a distinct buzz around school for the rest of the day to welcome us into the weekend. I have a calculator. He sits in my phone, snug as the proverbial bug in a rug, waiting for the bouts of activity I bestow upon him at regular intervals. One more round of competition, and another mystery challenge awaited Every month, he calculates the hours of extracurricular activities, substitution them to see if they could do what they lessons and other work I write down neatly in my report for our third pillar. Unfor- had once imagined impossible and tunately he does not calculate the hours I have to spend planning my lessons. progress to the Grand Final. Following Other calculators did that instead of him and came up with 33 hours per week. a tremendous effort, this turned out to He disagrees, but he is a lowly, unimportant calculator and they are big, impor- be just the smallest step too far as they tant calculators with a lot of gravitas and fancy jobs. Such is life. missed out by the narrowest of margins to make the final four teams left from Every two months he calculates the marks of my students’ tests, deciding the Ardingly College. fate of individuals, judging and weighing their knowledge. Unfortunately, he does not calculate the hours a particular student invested to get a well-deserved two, The official winner of BEO 2018 was nor can he calculate the hours another particular student spent gaming instead Instituto Moderno Americano from of studying, which then resulted in barely a three. He cannot talk to the students Mexico, but back in the small town of and so simply relies on what the marks tell him. Such is life. Rogaška Slatina the students of Team Crystal are the real winners - young Every month he calculates my expenses, paying particular attention to the local heroes welcomed home by proud school-related ones. He got used, during my freelancing days and the less-than- parents, teachers and friends. They stellar days of the crisis, to put aside some funds for professional development. have worked hard, listened, learned and He is of the opinion that nobody can take education from you and so it is a sound blossomed as a result of this challenge, investment. He would try telling that same thing to the calculators in power, but and the teaching staff of VIZ II. OŠ are again, he is only a lowly calculator and does not understand budgeting and the deservedly very proud of their progres- country’s needs. So they tell him, anyway. Such is life. sion. They have undoubtedly had the experience of a lifetime. The big calculator’s decisions cannot be disputed: they are all-encompassing and absolute. But while a number may be true, it is only a representation of the reality we choose to put it in. We may not be able to change this reality or the result we “It is good to have an end to journey get, but by changing the formula and maximising the only important calculation toward; but it is the journey that – the thirst for knowledge –, we can positively influence the intermediate steps. matters, in the end.” Sadly, as these intermediate steps are all but imaginary to the higher calculator Ernest Hemingway and it has not yet developed the ability to work with complex numbers, they re- main in the margins of any important decisions. Such is life.

To see more pictures and videos Would the system be any better if it took our small calculators’ equations into con- of the students in action, please sideration? I’d like to think so. I’d also like to think that my calculator is fair and just, visit their facebook page: but I can only hope. In the equation of education, our calculators are always lack- https://bit.ly/2GQJmkw ing, because try as they might and important though their calculations may be, they cannot calculate the worth of a teacher’s friendly word or the power of their This article was previously published on words in class, nor can they calculate the impact we have on a person’s life. Total Slovenia News website on 30 May 2018 and is reprinted with the kind Such is life. permission of the author. A special thanks to my colleague Alen Ajanović for his thoughts on Mathematics that inspired these musings.

38 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Student showcase An exploration of art, culture and the unspeakable by Tina Šajn

Introduction This is a way for us to build an eternal People create art and culture and then identity even though we are not des- To write seek to define them in many different tined to live forever. Culture and art ways. The definitions are often open, may thus both arise from the realisa- a single poem subjective and debatable. The two con- tion of our mortality and the question cepts remain thought-provoking, they of our legacy. you have help us to grasp the human condition and enable us to contribute something to know the of our own to the world. Cultural and Defining art artistic manifestation and understand- The concept of art is a bit narrower. whole world. ing have changed over time, and both It is a component of culture, reflecting notions continue to stir controversy economic and social substrates in its Srečko Kosovel today because of the number of sensi- design. Its definition, role and evalua- ble interpretations. I hope it is not too tion have changed through time and idealistic to envision their impact in space. We cannot deny the fact that connecting people and making us re- art does not evolve in isolation, closed flect on our humanity. At the end of the off from the world – context is of great day, we all contribute to the reality we importance. are living in. Tina Šajn is a 4th-year student at Art definitely encompasses a diverse Gimnazija Vič. The following essay range of human activities, creations was written as part of a presentation Culture and ways of expression. The Oxford on one of the topics for the English Culture is our way of life. We are born Dictionary states that art is the expres- Matura oral exam. Her mentor is into a premade world and become part sion or application of human creative Anže Perne. of a society which existed before us. In skill and imagination, typically in a order to survive, we take advantage of visual form such as painting or sculp- this powerful tool and its creations. We ture, producing works to be appreciat- learn about behaviour, values, beliefs, ed primarily for their beauty or emo- customs and traditions. Language tional power. plays a very important role here as it not only helps us communicate, but also enables us to think in the first A journey through history place. Our human nature is a source of To Plato, art was imitation of nature. many uncertainties, and culture helps Early on, it meant skill or craft; it was us to navigate, to seek purpose and a something you could excel at through sense of belonging. Nevertheless, we practice and hard work. Through Ro- are dealing here with a very fragile phe- manticism and the birth of individual- nomenon, as it is continually changing ism, on the other hand, art came to and is easily lost because it only lives mean originality. To do something new in our minds. We inherit knowledge and and never previously thought of defined the responsibility for its preservation. the artist. His or her personality be-

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 39 I think we can all agree on a consensus picture. Their work is a mirror of the that artistic creation is mainly about individual, of society and of the interac- ideas and emotions. It is an exploration tions between the two. Hence this type of the human condition and a product of exposure contributes to our aware- of the human experience. ness and gives us an insight into what it means to be human.

The arts Concerts, performances and plays can Our understanding of the arts generally be special and unforgettable occa- comprises the various branches of sions. They are also all transient, which creative activity. Traditional categories relates to the inevitable finality of life. within the arts include literature (includ- ing drama, poetry and prose), the per- The visual arts are the oldest docu- forming arts (among them dance, mu- mented forms of art. That may be be- Plato sic and theatre) and the visual arts cause of their tangible presence, ena- (including architecture, design, paint- bling us to merge the experiences from came essentially as important as the ing, photography and sculpture). the inner and outer life we face. Keep- artwork itself. In the 19th century, pho- ing ourselves grounded can be quite a tography and film took over the func- Literature derives from our need for challenge in an age which gives us little tion of depicting reality. During the era language. Literary expression is a re- time to focus on physical aspects of of Modernism, the search for originality flection of our humanity and a way for our beings without judgement. Visual led artists to re-evaluate art. In 1847, us to understand each other. The voice artworks feel undeniably real, enabling for example, Charles Baudelaire pub- of another person can shed light on us to simply be present in the given lished Les fleurs du mal, which tried to things which we were not able to un- moment. Our bodies may not exhibit represent absolute truth through com- derstand before. It allows us to step unconquerable strength, but our minds plex metaphors. In the 20th century, back for a moment and learn about life are often unrelenting. The ability to abstract art overturned the whole no- and everything that comes with it. manifest elusive and imperceptible tion that art was about representation, Sometimes we may feel as though notions and contribute to the objective and the avant-garde radically experi- words are frail and weak, but literature world in such an evident manner is mented and pushed the boundaries shows us that they can in fact possess greatly fulfilling. From underneath our of our expectations. great power. As opposed to other arts, hands raise artefacts that make our literature hardly ever includes a social vague figures seem slightly more inde- component and thus many people are structible and limitless. turned away from it or resort to its attenuated forms. They fail to see read- ing as an activity which is much more Purpose and meaning complex than merely scanning pages The purpose of works of art may be to full of text. Literature can be quite in- communicate political, spiritual or phil- timidating, uncomfortable and lonely, osophical ideas, to create a sense of because nobody will pick up a book beauty, to explore self-expression, to and read it for us. It pushes us to face generate strong emotions, or to make ourselves, reach into the deepest parts us wonder about the world and ques- of our beings and doubt whether our tion things. They push us into the un- sense of truth is absolute. Heavyheart- known to reveal the underlying truth. ed things should not be left behind as unwanted remains. Art and beauty are formally studied in a branch of philosophy known as aes- The performing arts, meanwhile, en- thetics. But what is the link between chant us in the moment. In giving them the two? Beauty is not about pretti- our undivided attention, they become ness. It is rather a measure of affect, a more than a narration, offering us the measure of emotion. In the context of chance to live through the story and art, beauty is the measure of success- experience it directly and fully. There is ful communication between partici- something cathartic about them which pants – the conveyance of a concept helps us balance our unpredictable between the artist and the perceiver. Charles Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal nature, whether taking the form of a Beautiful art accomplishes this aim by harmonious melody or chaotic move- portraying the artist’s most profound ment on the stage. Performing artists intended emotions, inner visions and rarely hold back, put limitations on ideas, whether they be pretty and bright themselves or try to paint a perfect or dark and sinister. Beauty begins

40 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si where the lines between our physical, Retrieved from https://www.livesci- emotional and rational understanding ence.com/21478-what-is-culture-defi- nition-of-culture.html start to fade. However, neither the art- ist nor the observer can be certain of • Herman, J. (2014, June 27). 27 Re- sponses to the Question “What is successful communication in the end. Art?”. Retrieved from http://mental- Therefore, beauty in art is eternally floss.com/article/57501/27-respons- subjective. But does art even exist with- es-question-what-art out the viewer? • What is Art? And/or What is Beauty?. (2018). Retrieved from https://philoso- phynow.org/issues/108/What_is_Art_ Creating an artwork means giving it and_or_What_is_Beauty a life of its own, separating it from • Burrill, A. I. (2017, December 6). 10 oneself, and letting it out into the world. Powerful Responses to the Question Only time will then tell whether it ena- “What is Art?”. Retrieved from https:// www.huffingtonpost.com/en- bled us to become freer, more awake try/10-powerful-respons- and more perceptive. es-to-what-is-art_b_9651936?guc- counter=1 • Popova, M. (2012, June 22). What Is Conclusion Art? A Few Famous Definitions, from Antiquity to Today. Retrieved from There are times when we may feel https://www.theatlantic.com/enter- estranged from art and culture, as if tainment/archive/2012/06/what-is- they are making us bear the weight of art-a-few-famous-definitions-from-an- tiquity-to-today/258871/ our ancestral heritage. We may find ourselves regarding them with disdain • What is Art?. (2018). Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ and being unable to free our minds boundless-arthistory/chapter/what-is- from the prejudice of them being good- art/ for-nothing and not playing an impact- • Marder, L. (2018, September 23). Ways ful, irrefutable or crucial role in our of Defining Art. Retrieved from https:// lives. I think, however, that we should www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-defi- nition-of-art-182707 realise that humanity, driven by the undiscovered, thrives on artistic and • Maraviglia, M. (2010, July 23). About Art – What do We Really Mean. Re- cultural expression. Art and culture are trieved from https://www.smashing- not an unwelcome force from the out- magazine.com/2010/07/what-do-we- side, but rather one that exists and really-mean-by-art/ develops inside of us. They are an em- • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britanni- bodiment of our inexplicable and never ca. (2018). The Arts. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/ fully uncovered minds, something we the-arts can hold on to, while the process of • Straker, D. (2013, March 10). The turning ideas into creations remains a Purpose of Art. Retrieved from http:// mystery. changingminds.org/blog/1303blog/ 130310blog.htm • The School of Life. (2014, September 9). What is Art for? [video file]. Re- trieved from https://www.youtube. Sources com/watch?v=sn0bDD4gXrE

• Art. (2018). In Oxford Dictionaries. • Big Think. (2012, April 23). „What is Retrieved from https://en.oxforddic- Art, and What is Not?“ [video file]. tionaries.com/definition/ Retrieved from https://www.youtube. art#h69923466541060 com/watch?v=LRAptNtN9-A • Culture. (2018). In Cambridge Diction- th ary. Retrieved from https://dictionary. cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ culture • What is Culture and Why Does it Mat- ter?. (2018). Retrieved from https:// www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/depart- ments/thc/culture/content/cpr/mat- 26 ter.html International • O’Neil, D. (2006, May 26). What is Culture?. Retrieved from https:// www2.palomar.edu/anthro/culture/ IATEFL Slovenia culture_1.htm • Zimmermann, K. A. (2017, July 12). Conference 2019 What is Culture? Definition of Culture.

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 41 Student showcase Maks Andrijanič, OŠ Antona Ukmarja Koper Mentor: Tanja Berginc

In the presence This proverb truly is a good one. It describes the human race these days. We are like some sort of sat- ellites to these few people and we of the moon can see only them. Not each other, only them. That’s because celebri- ties have such big influence and power. They are the true rulers of nobody sees this planet. Celebrities have a big impact. Most- ly on kids and especially on teenag- stars ers. The impact is mostly positive. With that I don’t mean when they Helena Žnidaršič Seme, competition co-ordinator say stuff like “Stay in school, kids”. I mean with the things they do. When people see how successful their idols are, they think that maybe they Being an 8th grader is a special period in one’s life, associated with the need for can do that too. And then they start recognition and approval. A teen may have a writer, philosopher, English teacher, doing it. And some of them even etc. hidden within him, and an English language competition is a wonderful op- succeed. The only negative effect is portunity for the expression of his potentialities. In November our best 8th grad- that when they see how great their ers wrote about the impact of celebrities on teenagers. They successfully show- idols are, it kind of takes their cased their English writing skills, creativity and maturity. Below are some self-esteem because they think that examples we particularly enjoyed reading. they will never get as good as the celebrities they have as idols.

The influence celebrities have is Julija Pavlin Vodušek, great. Sometimes even bigger than OŠ Solkan we get from our parents. Because Mentor: Luka Pavlin being big and famous to some kids means also a very high IQ. Sadly, it’s Nowadays the media has a huge not like that in most of the cases. impact on our lives. Especially in the plish their dreams of being a big teenage years, when we are the star with a worldwide fame. A person who has lots of money most insecure, celebrities influence and is famous is the definition of our thoughts about our bodies and The thing that the majority of teen- celebrity. And let me tell you, money our talents. I think that there are too agers probably don’t understand is can bring happiness. It depends on many stars that are having a bad that money or fame can’t buy happi- what kind of person you are. But influence on teenagers all over the ness. fame can’t. It can bring satisfaction, world, with their inappropriate be- In fact, sadly, in most cases it’s quite maybe, but not happiness. And haviour and song lyrics. Kids are the opposite. Actors that we used to people start invading your life and starting to think that doing drugs or watch on TV as little kids are proba- even personal space sometimes. drinking lots of alcoholic beverages bly unfortunate and sad. Living in And that is a recipe for stress. is okay and cool. the spotlight with paparazzi and other media constantly behind you, So, to sum up, celebrities have a I think that parents lost the impact without the privacy you want, isn’t big impact on our society. You that they used to have on their kids’ always easy. hear so much about them you can lives. Children would rather listen to sometimes even describe their successful YouTubers or singers I think that if you truly want to be daily schedule. And that is not who dropped out of school, thinking happy, you don’t have to own a villa healthy. In that case you could say they could do the same. But they by the beach or have a private our society is sick and needs a don’t realise that there are more plane waiting for you in your ga- cure. There is still the moon, just such people who failed to accom- rage. not as shiny as it used to be.

42 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Mark Vodičar, Nace Triler, Tinkara Praznik, OŠ Valentina Vodnika, Ljubljana OŠ Cvetka Golarja OŠ Fram Mentor: Blaž Preglau Mentor: Andreja Wastl-Petrič Mentor: Blaž Preglau

If you don’t know the name of We are in a time in which celeb- These days more and more chil- the new album Drake just re- rities have more influence than dren want to grow up to be like leased, you could say you’re liv- ever before. That is why we call their favourite celebrities. But how ing under a rock. The new hair- them influencers now. The much impact do they really have? style from Kylie Jenner? most affected are without a And is it positive or negative? Everyone knows about it. Pop doubt teenagers, who represent culture affects almost every the majority of the fanbase of When you think of famous influ- teenager out there. In 2015 musicians or other celebrities. encers, people like Kylie Jenner, somebody posted a picture of Rihanna, Justin Bieber and oth- their face and now you see peo- The influence can be very posi- ers probably come to mind. ple taking Snapchat selfies left tive as teenagers find some- Some are spoiled, money-hungry and right. My point is that the thing to do if they are bored or opportunists who do drugs, drink media can influence teens way it could help them calm down if and buy expensive clothing and too much sometimes. It has they are sad. But the effect can cars while others are kind, genu- positive and negative effects also be negative because teen- ine people with real talent, who – mostly negative in my opinion. agers often get obsessed by donate to charities and fight for One celebrity can control millions their favourite musicians or equality. And kids and teens upon millions of teens. They can groups. A prime example want to be just like them. say whatever they want, do what- is the group N. W. A. that ever they want, the teens will introduced gangster rap and But let's not blame it all on the follow them. It’s almost like after that crime has severely celebs and focus more on the brainwashing at this point. increased. people who are exposing them to their children. Parents are most Of course as a little kid you don’t Parents often have less influ- likely the ones who chuck an iPad know much about new movies, ence on their kids than musi- at their kids and say: “Hey! Stop songs, etc. That’s why most par- cians, because teenagers like to nagging and play with this." Now ents are afraid of what media rebel, but I think it's smarter to the device is like a second home can do to their kids. They are listen to your parents because to them and soon they begin to scared they will lose their influ- they always know what is best stop listening to their parents and ence. And a lot of parents do. As for you. to live like the people on the a teen myself, I have friends that screen. When the parents realize are influenced more by social In some songs (mostly rap) you they've made a mistake, the kids media and celebrities than their often find that musicians like to are already in too deep. parents. Some of them want to show off their possessions become famous YouTubers, such as cars, mansions, etc. They become spoiled, always some of them even Instagram You always need to remember wanting new things. But can models. This has come so far that money can't buy you happi- money and fame really bring you can have posting on social ness. In my opinion, these mu- happiness? To some extent, yes. media as your full-time job and sicians are only trying to boost I mean, who wouldn't like the don’t have to worry about your their image and ego. hottest new phone and designer financial issues. clothes? Who wouldn't want to I hope you learned something be recognised in the street and But of course, money and fame and if you disagree you at least be invited to exclusive parties? can’t bring you true happiness. get to see my point of view. But, after a while all these things Helping others, accomplishing become meaningless and tiring. something through hard work, Soon you’re surrounded by fake even helping your sister to do the friends, who want your fame, dishes bring true happiness. But paparazzi trying to take an em- people don’t see these small acts barrassing picture of you and no of kindness because even if they real purpose. shine brighter up close, “In the presence of the moon nobody You wish you could hop in that sees the stars.” new sports car and drive back to your old life.

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 43 Lesson Plan My immigration story (TED Talk Lesson) by Klavdija Krempl Slana

Klavdija Krempl Slana is an English language teacher with almost ten years of teaching practice, mostly at secondary school level. She graduated in English and Slovene Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts in Maribor in 2009 and has worked as an English teacher since then. For the last seven years, she has been teaching English at II. gimnazija Maribor. She also coordinates the English language competition for third year students at her school, works as an external Matura examiner for English and prepares students for CAE exams.

Name: Lesson title: Topic: Klavdija Krempl Slana My immigration story (TED Talk Lesson) Immigration

Type of lesson: Student level: B2 Length: 90 minutes Skills (speaking, (according to CEFR) listening, writing) and vocabulary Lesson aims: Teacher comments: • to develop language skills (listening, speaking, writing) I usually deal with this topic with my third year • to revise/upgrade vocabulary (topic: immigration) high school students. The umbrella topic of my • to develop language skills by using third year syllabus is GLOBAL ISSUES, where I an authentic source of language input incorporate current and meaningful topics into • to raise students’ awareness about an actual topic my lessons and thus facilitate real-life language learning. The students love TED Talk lessons and are usually very inspired by the speakers and are more than willing to engage in class discussions. Materials: handouts, PowerPoint presentation (with pictures), answer key Lesson procedure: Time Procedure Teacher comments 15 minutes Pre-listening: Teacher announces the topic of the lesson – 1. lead-in questions (whole class) immigration – and distributes handouts. 2. making predictions based on pictures (whole class) Pre-listening section is carried out. 3. giving instructions, reading the questions (whole class, individual) 15 minutes While-listening Teacher gives instructions; students read through (if necessary, students watch it twice): comprehension questions, watch the talk and 1. watching the TED Talk, answering questions answer the questions. (individual) 60 minutes Post-listening: The whole post-listening section is carried out. 1. checking answers (whole class) 2. discussion questions (whole class) 3. vocabulary work (individual, whole class) 4. creative task: poem writing / immigration word search (groups, whole class) 5. discussion on immigration (groups, whole class) 6. Homework

Sources Pictures • https://www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_my_immigration_story • Tan Le: https://www.visualcv.com/tanttle (TED Talk) • Fishing vessel: https://goo.gl/images/zJ6zEA • Second-hand shop: https://goo.gl/images/Ka4eiw • An apple: https://goo.gl/images/vV7gSP

44 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si HANDOUT Listen and watch the video and answer the questions. TED TALKS – Ideas worth spreading Tan Le – My immigration story 1. How old was Tan Le when she fled Vietnam? https://www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_my_immigration_story 2. Who are the “three generation of women” in her family? In 2010, technologist Tan Le took the TEDGlobal stage to demo a powerful new interface. But now, at TEDxWomen, she tells a very personal story: the story of her family – her mother, grand- 3. How long did the boat journey take? mother and sister – fleeing Vietnam and building a new life. (Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_my_immigration_ 4. Where does she live now? story)

5. What was her deceased grandfather’s profession? a) Questions Do you have any friends or family who are immigrants? How does that affect your view of immigration? 6. How was the boat disguised and why? What nationalities are most people who come to our country? Do you know any that have become famous/ 7. What did they fear the most on their journey? successful?

Why do people immigrate to other countries? 8. What did her mother carry with her and for what purpose? (Make a list of possible reasons.) 9. What did the man on the oilrig give her? What’s the difference between a refugee, an illegal immigrant, an asylum seeker and a migrant? 10. What was the family’s financial situation like in Australia?

Would you ever consider leaving Slovenia? Which country would you move to and why? 11. What offensive word was she called?

12. What kind of jobs did her mother take on to support the b) Picture analysis family? Based on the photos, make predictions about the person’s life. 13. What kind of university did she finish?

Who is she? What is her job? What impression do you get about her life and personality? 14. What do you learn about her grandmother?

15. Why did she sue her husband?

16. How did her grandmother come to say goodbye to her on the day of her death?

QUESTIONS • How did Tan Le’s story make you feel?

• Summarise her talk in a couple of sentences.

• What did you learn from her and her story?

• How did the fact that she was an immigrant affect her life in Australia? Do you know someone who has suffered any kind of discrimination because they come from another country?

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 45 VOCABULARY WORK POEMS ON IMMIGRATION / IMMIGRATION WORD SEARCH Read the sentences and fill in the missing words from the box. Write an acrostic poem about immigration. Sometimes you may need to change the form of the word. Or use your dictionaries to search for words connected to IMMIGRATION. HUDDLE • CUTLERY • IN VAIN • ENDURE • BRAVADO After you finish, be ready to share with the class. PRECARIOUS • RELENTLESS • JIGSAW • OBLIVIOUS (Maybe even have a class vote on the best one). ALLOCATE • BEAUTICIAN • SINEW

DISCUSSION ON IMMIGRATION 1. The government is going to ______€10 As a group discuss the given statement (agree/disagree million for health education. and justify your opinion) and be ready to share with the class.

1. Everybody should be able to live where they choose. 2. It was so cold that night that we all ______Freedom of movement is a civil right. together for warmth. 2. People should stay and live in the country where they are born. 3. It was an act of ______that made him ask his boss to resign. 3. There should be more help available to immigrants to adapt to their new country.

4. There is no currently recognised treatment for the 4. Immigration makes countries more interesting ______progression of this disorder. and helps people become more tolerant. It is simply incurable and unstoppable. 5. All immigrants should completely adapt to their new culture, learn the language, etc. and forget their own. 5. When is the right time to introduce ______to teach a child how to eat on his own? HOMEWORK: DIARY ENTRY / ARTICLE Diary entry (after having dealt with Ellis Island 6. These steel posts form the ______immigration): (=temelji) of the building. Imagine you are one the millions of people who immigrated to the USA in the early 20th century. You have just arrived at Ellis The lorry was lodged in a very ______way, Island and have been granted access to American soil. Write with its front wheels hanging over the cliff. a diary entry describing your journey across the sea and your Ellis Island experience and share your hopes and visions of your new life. 8. She has decided to become a ______because she has always been interested in make-up Article: Write an article in which you share your views on immigration by discussing its positive and negative effects. and helping people look good.

9. We spent all evening doing a 1,000-piece

______. Notes:

10. She’s already had to ______three painful operations on her leg.

11. Absorbed in her work, she was totally ______of her surroundings.

12. All the police’s efforts to find him have been ______. He’s still at large.

46 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si STUDENT SAMPLES I finally came to America, the land of my new beginning. After 11 days on the ship, which was filled to the deck, I Legal aliens in Slovenia? felt closer to my dreams than ever before, but I have nev- Immigration is one of the biggest society problems of the er been so mistaken before. As I recall, I thought that our 21st century. Many countries are overwhelmed with big transportation was the worst part, and it was till the arriv- waves of people trying to get citizenship or even immigrat- al at Ellis Island, where a nightmare for us all start- ing illegally. ed. Back in Russia I recall the check -ups for the army, they were crazy, or at least I thought so before I came to In countries like Britain or Australia, politicians try to limit Ellis Island, which showed me even more vicious inspec- the amount of people migrating into their country. But in tions. The Travelling made me meet lots of new people, Slovenia, where population growth is negative, immigration because there was no space, and we were all mixed up. is actually quite welcome. Recent public survey purports to Mostly I talked with a Polish teenager and a German show that immigrants are in 71% very well accepted and the ex-soldier, both told the same reason I have for the travel, majority of people know that immigrants provide cultural the wish of a better life. Except the overcrowding of the diversity to our country. There is no racial or national dis- ship the way to America was quite fine. At arrival we were crimination when it comes to education system or getting fast sorted by our Nationality. There were like 30 Rus- a job etc. It all sounds so great, but we are aware of the fact sians, within 300 people, so I thought that we will be have that some of the Slovenes are still very close-minded and a fast check in, but that wasn’t like that. Everyone has tend to be rude to immigrants. Furthermore, some of them been processed so long, they made a total medical believe that immigrants take jobs away from local residents. checkup, then they tried, if you understood English and could read, so this took quite some time. And they did There has been a lot of press on the topic of immigration lack on staff I heard saying, something went wrong some recently, especially on the matter of “The Erased”, where days before our arrival. The thing I wanted the most was people do not legally exist due to some irregularities with a good warm meal and a bed for the night, but I was on getting their citizenship during the emancipation of Slovenia. Ellis Island, waiting for my inspection, for 6 days, without What do the politicians say about The Erased, as well all of a real meal, on the cold floor. We all were only numbers the other illegal aliens and legal immigrants? for them. When I finally came on the row there was first this man who was asking me tons of questions, like my Alenka Bratušek, the prime minister: “We are happy to wel- reason of migration here and other. Then he sent me for come any immigrants, as long as they apply for the citizen- the reading part, and I had to read a part out of a book, ship. There are some quotas for the number of immigrants which wasn’t a problem. And then was the medical in- per year that can be allowed to become Slovenian citizens, spection, where I was treated as a dog or even worse, but there are not too many people asking for the “green they were just checking, they didn’t ask me anything just card”, so basically everybody is granted permission to live pushing me around from one to another, one checked in Slovenia. height, the other checked my eye sight and another my hearing, so it went on for some hours. When I have gone I believe that emigration should be our greater concern, through all check ups I needed to wait 7 more days, since especially the brain drain.” the Russian quota was full, after 7 days of being there, I was finally released into the country of my dreams, so But do the immigrants blend in? One of the right-extremist starts a new chapter for me. politicians, Zmago Jelinčič said: »Let’s all admit, that immi- grants can never be real Slovenians. I believe that we do not need any immigrants, all they do is take jobs away from the IMMIGRATION – poem authentic Slovenians and make our culture and language disappear.« I am moving abroad, Missing my country a lot. In defiance of some harsh opinions, many agree that we Moving to somewhere unknown, should support immigration. The immigrants enrich our I can’t imagine living on my own. culture and contribute to making new traditions. We should Going as a refugee, somewhere where they not look at them as if they were legal aliens, because they didn’t heard about me. are one of us. After all, we are all citizens of the same coun- Remember me? try. Although we might not share the same habits, language All of my friends were left behind, or skin color, we share streets, cafes, buses, we share the The new ones are not that kind. country. We are all citizens of Slovenia. I am adapting slow, Oh my life is a blow, but what hurts the most, 16th of December 1916 No one cares, I am like a ghost.

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 47 European Day of Languages 2018 by Maša Kolenko

How do students define language? How do they visualise it? What do they think about it? This year your creative work offered answers to these very questions. We hope they sparked many a discussion on languages in your classrooms. A big thank you goes to all mentors and students for taking part in the project. We've received quite a number of contributions, so we would like to share just some of them with you.

Selected contributions

High School: Elementary School: If language were an emoji, LANGUAGE stands for … what would it look like (and why)?

Šolski center OŠ Podbočje, OŠ Col, Novo mesto, mentor Jasmina Sanković mentor Irena Saksida mentor Sanja Radošević

Learn an interesting language every day And make no excuse just to play. Nobody gains here but you, Glamour and knowledge is for you. Use it in every aspect of life, Anywhere that makes you go wild. Give all you can improve, English will help you move. Aljaž Hren

Other secondary schools

Literature Love Against And Not Never Giving Give Us Up. A Accept Good Great Education Experiences. Lea Simončič in Leja Hudoklin Tinkara Lampe

OŠ Škofljica, OŠ Koroška Bela Jesenice, mentor mentor Barbara Ahačič Andreja Janežič Stanešič

Zala Potočnik Urška Torkar

48 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si Report from 28th IATEFL-Hungary conference by Sandra Vida

Hungarian conferences have always that teachers must be able to nurture been a special treat in terms of the and develop it. She presented a nice workshops, speakers and social little sentence-completion activity, events they offer, and as a delegation where each student gets a strip of of representatives of IATEFL Slovenia paper with an ending and a beginning drove towards Budapest, we knew of a proverb or quote. The first one this weekend would not disappoint. reads their part of the sentence and As it does every year, it gave us an whoever has the corresponding ending opportunity to meet friends new and reads it and then continues with their old, see what the publishers had to sentence beginning. We’ve prepared a offer and attend workshops by teach- worksheet for a similar activity which ers who not only dare to be different you can find in the members area of but also dare to say it out loud. our website.

I will try not to bore you with too many According to many conference pro- details to do with organisation, al- grammes, gamified classrooms are all though this is what we assess when- the rage with activities either involving ever we go to a conference, thinking augmented reality or even very basic about who or what we could bring to paper-based games like treasure hunt our conference, about what we might and escape room. These activities avoid or do better. offer a lot in terms of hands-on experi- ence and fun and at the same time The first workshop I attended was also provide food for thought regard- about how rap can be included in our ing what is really important in the teaching. Knowing many of my stu- classroom today and where we want dents listen to it, but also knowing that things to take us with our new genera- the lyrics can often be too explicit for tions of students. the classroom, I allowed the speaker to open my mind about the subject mat- The more conferences I go to, the ter. And she did. Not only did she make more I realise just how important they a great case about why the explicit- are. Keeping up with the new genera- ness of the lyrics is exactly the reason tions gets harder every year, not just why we should allow rap into our because the gap between us gets classrooms, but she also showed how bigger, but also because our world is it can be used to teach literature, pro- changing faster. If you missed the nunciation and even reading. Hungarian conference, too bad, but the good news is that all the best speakers Margit Szesztay’s talk was about so- we saw have been invited to speak at cial intelligence for teachers. This is our conference as well, so don’t miss something none of us was taught ex- out on that opportunity whatever you plicitly at school, although it is logical do. See you at the next conference!

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 49 The Macedonia Experience by Danny Singh

Danny Singh, born and The ELTAM conference is held in Struga supposed to be a very small place and raised in London, but every two years. The dates were good, I more importantly, with no other col- now based in Rome, was free, so I sent my speakers propos- leagues around? I contacted a few gives creative al, which was accepted, then set about friends I’d made at the previous confer- English language booking flights. There were no direct ence and they expressed excitement lessons and teacher flights to Struga, so I would have to ar- about the fact that I was coming and the training courses all rive in Skopje, then get a bus, similar to possibility to see me again, so at that over Italy and abroad. the journey made previously when my point, I decided to stay a couple of nights He also offers stimu- plane was diverted to another airport. in Skopje before moving onto Struga. lating monthly presenta- However, the airline only flew two days a tions on language related week to Skopje, Monday and Friday. As In October 2018, exactly ten months after issues at Rome’s biggest international the conference began on a Friday, I my first visit to Macedonia, I found my- bookshop and is visible on web TV could either fly on Friday and miss at self in Skopje again. Thankfully, there was www.inmagicartwebtv.eu with a series least 50% of the conference, which no fog this time, indeed the temperatures of interactive English video lessons. would be a waste of time, or arrive four were not much different from those in He is author of two books, “I was a days early. Coming back was no prob- Rome, sunny and warm during the day happy man...then one day I came lem, as the conference finished on Sun- and cooling off at night. I met up with across Laughter Yoga” and “Learning day and the flight was on Monday lunch- some of my local Skopje friends, revisited English through the mind and the time from Skopje. I listened to those the old town, the main square with its body” and is currently working on his voices within me and my sixth sense, fountains, and wandered around munch- third book, “Life is full of surprises”. which told me to go ahead and book my ing on a wide range of bureks from vari- He regularly attends Pilgrims TT tickets to arrive four days early. ous bakeries. Two weeks previously, I summer courses as a Guest Speaker. had been at the IATEFL Hungary confer- website: www.laughnlearn.net Having booked my plane tickets, the next ence in Budapest, when at the end of one e-mail: [email protected] question was how I was going to pass of my workshops, I was approached by a those four spare days! Surely, four days participant, who said he enjoyed the ses- was far too long to stay in what was sion and he’d be in contact. I asked him

An amazing view from Sveti Naum Teaching 7 year-old kids in Struga Fountains which change colour at the main square in Skopje

50 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si where he was from and he replied, Mace- talk about until we reached the final As it was the 10th conference, there was donia! As a result, Agim Poshka, a Univer- destination. a celebratory atmosphere and some sity Professor, had me at the SE Europe- formal awards to a number of people an University performing in front of his The conference hotel in Struga was who had helped to build the ELTAM con- young students, who were training to even more overbearing than the airport ference up to what it is today. Once the become teachers. This was not the only in Skopje. There were several flights of formalities were over, we got down to irony, as Agim actually lived in Struga, stairs on each floor, so when you took business and kicked off with a plenary literally two minutes’ walk from the con- one, you were never quite sure where from Fiona Mauchline. This was ironic, ference location. you were going to end up. As there were because I’d met her at the IATEFL Hunga- still no other conference participants ry two weeks previously, but had been On my journey from the airport to my around, I popped over to Agim’s bar, unable to attend her plenary which hotel in Skopje, I had got chatting away where I met Mark Andrews, who I had closed the conference, as I had had to to the taxi driver, as I often do and he often seen at various conferences, but leave slightly earlier. Her talk was fun and gave me his card and told me that he never really had a chance to speak to. interactive, as she reminded us of some could take me to Struga, Thessaloniki, As I sipped my first rakija, I realized that of the basics that we sometimes forget, Sofia, Pristina or any other long-distance this man was a wealth of information, when searching for new ideas. After this, location. I dismissed this idea as ridicu- particularly on three subjects that I en- I went to a workshop on “using mindful- lous, especially as he was not forthcom- joy; the history of the Balkans, football ness in the classroom”, given by two local ing in giving me a price estimate. The from a social point of view and music teachers, Biljana Shoposka and Emilija bus station in Skopje is located far bands and “live” gigs. After starting my Paunkoska. They had the additional diffi- enough away from the centre of Skopje, second rakija, Mark suggested taking a culty of having to shorten their workshop, that you need a taxi to get there. I duly boat trip on the famous Ohrid lake the due to the formal presentations overrun- took a taxi and again got chatting to the next day, as the weather forecast was ning and what was coming up, but they driver. This time, he convinced me with for sunny weather and calm waters. As managed it quite well. What was coming his quality intonation to be driven all the I had nothing to do the next day and the up you may well ask? An organised trip to way to Struga. Why would you want to idea of increasing my knowledge on a Ohrid. That sounded interesting until I spend 8 euro on a coach when you can variety of topics that I enjoyed beck- inquired for more details and was in- spend 80 euro with me? Do you think it’s oned, I agreed! formed that it involved a boat trip. I had too much? Well actually, considering it had just about as much water as I could cost 20 euro just to get from the airport On our way back to Struga, Mark invited stand, so found a small group of local to the centre of the city, while Struga is me to join him, where we did a lesson teachers who wanted to go to Ohrid for at least a three-hour journey from Skop- together with some of Selpi’s (Agim’s a coffee and a walk. This was extremely je, I thought it wasn’t too bad and I had wife) seven - and twelve-year-old stu- interesting, as I got to meet and under- just about enough cash on me. In addi- dents. Another interesting teaching ex- stand a bit more about the education tion, my mind went back to that horrible perience and more rakija in the evening, system in Macedonia, while devouring journey I’d had the year before when my I was exhausted, I had already been in some local cakes recommended to me. flight had been diverted to Ohrid. So I Macedonia for four days, though it I will never forget the stunning views of accepted and off we went. The views seemed like four weeks and the confer- the lake, as the sun set before we made were interesting and we had plenty to ence hadn’t even begun yet. our way back to Struga.

A well-deserved trout and potato lunch Having fun with new friends made at the conference

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 51 presentation, although I have been one was about The Great Escape from proved wrong a couple of times. In this the Classroom. It was not the first time I case, I knew the speaker, Pero Sardzoski had attended a workshop on this sub- who was one of my translators at the ject, however, as the presenter was dif- MakeDox Skopje conference back in ferent, I decided to give it a go. The 2017. He runs his own school in Tetovo speaker was Magda Goraj, who came all which is close to Skopje and one thing the way from Barcelona and she gave he has in common with me is that his us a good demonstration of how she lessons are paperless, however, his uses it, which wasn’t easy, as the room methodology is quite different as he had an enormous table in the centre of it focuses on technology, while I focus and little room for manoeuvre. more on movement and using the body. After yet another coffee, I went to the After his short presentation, it was my toilet, as one does and while there, a turn, as I gave my workshop on team man entered, looked at me and smiled. I Sunset in front of Lake Ohrid building, which I had already done at looked back at him and smiled. He then several other conferences, including said, hello. I politely replied, hello. His In the evening, there was a Macedonian IATEFL Slovenia back in March 2018. I next words were utterly shocking; taxi? I dinner offered for the teacher association had a pretty good turnout and did all the couldn’t believe it! Taxi drivers approach- representatives, which involved a fair usual activities, the name game, the cir- ing me in the hotel toilet to try to get amount of eating and drinking. Alexandra cle game, some gibberish and laughter business! I told him I was fine and sped Popovski the ELTAM President, had in- yoga. The gibberish went down very well along to Ereza Mehmeti’s workshop on formed me that she was getting calls and after chatting to several people at Differentiated Instructions, which was from an insistent taxi driver, who wanted the end of my presentation and having extremely interesting, especially as in to speak to me. Yes, apparently, he (Miki) photos taken, it was time for a late and the first activity she gave us, we all inter- had called the hotel asking for me, as he much deserved lunch. Daniel Xerri, al- preted her instructions in different ways, was convinced I would be stupid enough ways immaculately well-dressed, gave a as if to illustrate the point. The final to take a return journey with him from plenary on creativity. Daniel is one of the workshop of the conference was Mark Struga to Skopje. The hotel was not will- main organisers of the conference for Andrew’s Paddington Bear story and ing to give out my name, so asked Alek- teachers in Malta and naturally enough, how he uses it in the classroom, highly sandra to deal with it, which she promptly he was promoting the many niceties of amusing, as well as informative. Finally, did. As we staggered back to the hotel, I his country. I decided to skip the last two there was the raffle, prizes for winners couldn’t resist asking the question, slots of workshops, as my energy levels and the closing ceremony. should we call Miki and ask him to take were low, so I spent my time drinking us on a three-minute ride to the hotel? coffee, rakija and chatting to other partic- I said goodbye to as many people as I ipants, until the evening agenda. could and got a lift from my friend Pero The next morning, we started with a Sardzoski, so no buses and more impor- plenary by Jon Hird on the subject of The evening consisted of a birthday tantly, no taxis for this stage of the jour- dyslexia. He originally got into this sub- party to celebrate the 10th ELTAM con- ney. The last evening was spent in the ject, as his son is dyslexic and he ference, so there was a buffet, a punch square that I love, with the water in the showed us some of the extensive re- cocktail and a rock band which kept us fountains changing colour continuously. search he has done on the subject. After moving into the early hours of the morn- I had one final burek. I had missed my a coffee break, I had a tough decision to ing. It was another opportunity to social- bureks while in Struga, but I had experi- make, as there were three speakers who ise with other participants and the one enced so many other pleasures. I went I knew well, giving workshops at the theme of the evening although I have no to bed early and slept well, having asked same time. I decided to give all three a idea why, was to wear something black. the hotel to provide me with a driver to miss and take a gamble on going to a Sometime after midnight, though I’m not take me to the airport. For the first time workshop given by a speaker that I sure exactly when, I stumbled back to in Macedonia, I had a taxi driver who did didn’t know. The subject was one of my my room, mentally and physically ex- not insist on taking me halfway around favourites, “creative writing”, and al- hausted. the world or leaving me his business though I had attended a two-week work- card for future reference, but simply on shop at Pilgrims with my mentor and Sunday morning was tough, after the taking me to my destination with a mini- good friend, Mario Rinvolucri back in late night before. After making my way mum of fuss and a pleasant chat to help 2007, I always believe that there is more downstairs for a late breakfast and hav- pass away the time. An incredible week to learn on any subject and indeed there ing to leave the room by a certain time, I was coming to an end, with an endless was, as Rina Krasniqi from Kosovo gave unfortunately had to miss Jen MacAr- list of unforgettable memories; a great us some entertaining and useful activi- thur’s early plenary on “using poetry in conference, tasty food, kind and gener- ties. After this, there was a half-an-hour the classroom”. I did however, make up ous people, stunning views and over- slot, which I’d normally skip, as I feel for it to some extent, by going to three zealous taxi drivers. What more could that thirty minutes is rather short for a of the four sessions remaining. The first one ask for?

52 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si IATEFL Slovenia Events Literature reading in Ljubljana

It was very interesting listening to Lor- I am a holiday reader. I almost never ca‘s poem in Serbian, as it is a language have time to read otherwise. But hearing I mostly understand but still feels for- excerpts from the books others read, I eign to me. It felt as though I was look- couldn‘t help but find the books and put ing at the poem through a filter and it aside all the housework and homework reminded me that this is probably how and read in the evening, in the breaks. It our learners feel about English texts all felt really good. I will definitely do it the time. Altenatively, they might very again. possibly understand as much as I un- Nataša Meh, derstood the Spanish original, so nada. OŠ Komenda Moste Nina Jerončič, OŠ Louisa Adamiča Grosuplje IATEFL Saturday in Maribor

Dashing through Maribor The seminar gave me much more than How many workshops do you know that I’d expected it would... Interesting, fresh take you to the streets on a wild treasure and in such good company, it will stay hunt? I’d known none – not one! – until I with me for some time... I strongly rec- went to the IATEFL Maribor workshop. ommend everyone who missed it to rent Not only did I learn the basics of making a time machine and go for it... a successful treasure hunt, but I learned Ana Županić, OŠ Miklavž pri Ormožu this by exploring the city while competing with other groups of teachers. Dashing I’ve been attaining workshops at IATEFL through the streets, knocking on doors conferences for years and have always of shops, restaurants and historical build- been delighted and empowered by them. ings, asking for hints and gathering clues I always learn so much and return home was an experience worth every step I took. filled with positive energy and a sleeve Metka Lovrin, DOŠ I, Lendava packed with new ideas. It was a pleasure to share my own ideas with other English Book exchange teachers as well as my colleagues at my Engaging students in reading is a chal- own school, where we prepared an inter- lenge. Some “real books” are fun but are esting and relaxing workshop morning. It likely to be beyond the language level of was fun observing teachers taking part in our students. Other books, for example the career-planning game, discussing graded readers, are perfect in terms of different aspects of their points of view language but are lacking in structure and and learning more about themselves in excitement. The IATEFL book exchange the guided fantasy meditative workshop. was my cozy couch where teachers gave The very best part for me was taking the teachers great ideas for authentic books teachers around our home town, Maribor, that can be used in the classroom. For where they took part in a scavenger hunt the youngest, we shared picture book and discovered various historical facts titles and fun activities that bring move- about it. I also loved other workshops ment into every class. For the older stu- prepared by other teachers. I have al- dents, we delved into short novels that ready put some ideas into action, since touch the soul and do not shy away from this is the best way of remembering topics that really matter—especially for them and taking full advantage of such those young minds which do not just marvellous gatherings. crave for a “why” but also for a “because”. Nataša Luković, Metka Lovrin, DOŠ I, Lendava OŠ Ludvika Pliberška, Maribor

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 53 Plečnik Code in Ljubljana

We were going on a treasure hunt, A bunch of English teachers on Prešeren I‘ve lived in Ljubljana for more than half We were going to catch the big one, Square on a cold December afternoon of my life and had walked these streets We weren’t scared turning into evening. You‘re probably a thousand times but I had never taken After OUP we dared! thinking this doesn‘t sound promising. the time to really explore the city and get Oh look! It’s the pretty old town! Well, think again. If the teachers are to know its secret until that Friday night. Can’t go over it, members of IATEFL Slovenia on a treas- I am really glad I had the chance to learn Can’t go under it, ure hunt around Plečnik‘s Ljubljana, then something new about Ljubljana and I Can’t go around it, fun is guaranteed and cold (almost) have already spread the new acquired Got to go through it! forgotten. Added bonus: you get to learn knowledge to my friends and family. a lot about your hometown. A few hours well spent in lovely compa- We had a blast, exercised our brains, got ny. And the hot cider at the end was the lost, got found again, learned some new So when you next see an invitation from perfect ending! info about Plečnik’s Ljubljana and the IATEFL Slovenia, don‘t hesitate and say Nataša Meh, OŠ Komenda Moste Freemasons, but most important of all: YES! it gave us a chance to unwind among Petra Mikeln, OŠ Polje old friends. Vesna Gros, OŠ Polje

54 To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si th International IATEFL Slovenia 26 Conference 2019 #empowerED

Our next conference aims to empower everybody in education, but especially women. Therefore, we bring you an all-female selection of fantastic plenary speakers.

With Lynda Steyne, Sophia Mavridi, Mojca Belak and others to be confirmed.

Nikita

To stay up-to-date with what is going on, visit our website: www.iatefl.si 55 TWin odlični izleti!

Turistična agencija TWIN se s kulturno-izobraževalnimi potovanji ukvarja že 20. leto. Ker v Veliko Britanijo potujemo pogosteje kot večina ostalih Zemljemerska ulica 12 slovenskih organizatorjev potovanj, ponujamo odlično in preverjeno izvedbo. 1000 Ljubljana Tel.: 01 280 28 20, Naše cene tudi že vključujejo javni prevoz in obvezne vstopnine. Cene so 040 187 830 odvisne predvsem od termina odhoda in vaše fleksibilnosti pri odhodu. e-pošta: [email protected] www.twintur.com Zakaj s Twin-om v London:

1 Pogosti in redni, zagotovljeni odhodi v London. Twin 6 Vsaj 183 osnovnih in srednjih šol je že potovalo z nami. Z nami organizira šolska potovanja v London že 20 let, v povprečju zelo malo šol potuje samo enkrat. Če želite neobvezujoče imamo na mesec vsaj 3 zagotovljene odhode v London. vzpostaviti stik z organizatorjem na eni od šol, ki je že potovala z nami, vam bomo z veseljem posredovali kontakt. 2 Odlično vodstvo. Pri Twinu se zavedamo, da je odlično poznavanje običajev in turističnih znamenitosti Londončanov Ponujamo 3-dnevni program, kjer za izvedbo ni potrebno le prvi korak k odlični izvedbi. Naši vodniki imajo dolgoletne 7 delovnika. izkušnje pri vodenju šolske mladine, zato odlično poznajo vse sestavine programa, saj jih sami pripravljajo. Tudi zato je Več informacij na www.twintur.com ali na 040 187 830 vodenje/izvedba toliko bolj fleksibilna glede na želje skupine. ali v poslovalnici na Zemljemerski ulici 12 v Ljubjani. Naj še omenimo, da boste v Sloveniji težko našli vodnike, ki v London vodijo tako pogosto kot Twinovi vodniki. Osmisliti učenje je osnovna naloga vsakega učitelja in ni boljšega 3 Nastanitev, ki presega običajno turistično kategorijo. Pri načina, kako priljubiti angleščino, od tega, da učence popelješ po Twinu se zavedamo, da je dober spanec pomembna sestavina svetu. V današnjih časih to ni enostavno. Šole in učitelji se bojijo izleta. Vsi naši hoteli so hoteli s 3* in pri večini udeležencev odgovornosti, mnogi starši pa ne zmorejo ali znajo otrok odpeljati presežejo njihova pričakovanja. Kot specia list za London lahko sami. Ni bilo lahko pred 15 leti prvič sesti na avtobus in se podati z zagotovimo vsaj en bogat angleški zajtrk (običajnih zajtrki agencijo, o kateri nismo vedeli ničesar, na večdnevno potovanje v v Londonu so skromni kontinentalni). Veliko Britanijo. Bilo nas je strah pred odhodom, a takoj ko smo se podali na pot, smo vedeli, da je bila odločitev prava. 4 Nikoli naknadno ne spreminjamo pogojev. Naša cena je vedno znana že ob prijavi in se nikoli ne spremeni zaradi Po tistem, ko smo prvič potovali s TWinom, smo vedeli, da nas ne bo več strah. Lani smo že desetič odkrivali Evropo in vsakič smo se vrnili spremembe cen dobaviteljev, goriva oz letalskega prevoznika. ne samo zadovoljni, ampak tudi hvaležni za TWinovo strokovnost, prijaznost, ustrežljivost ... Hvaležni smo celotni ekipi in nikoli ne bi 5 Vedno ponudimo kakšno dodatno storitev – izbrala druge agencije, saj sem prepričana, da niti cenovno niti brezplačno. S program zagotavljamo minimalni obseg strokovno potovanja ne bi mogla biti ugodneje in bolje izpeljana. storitev oz. ogledov, vendar nikoli ne izvedemo samo minimalnega obsega – vedno, pri vsaki skupini dodamo Ta ekskurzija je postala stalna praksa naše šole in učenci komaj nekaj po sebnega, kar ni zapisano v programu. Prav tako v čakajo, da bodo dovolj stari, da se je bodo lahko udeležili. Nam, naših programih nikoli ne zapišemo “če bo čas dopuščal”, kajti spremljevalcem, pa je v neizmerno veselje, ko jih opazujemo, kako vse naše programe vedno v celoti izvedemo. In ker si London polni vtisov in lepih doživetij še dolgo pripovedujejo o potovanju. zelo pogosto ogledujemo, poznamo tudi optimalno 56 Ksenija Tripkovič,www.iatefl2.splet.arnes.si OŠ Selnica ob Dravi zaporedje ogledov brezTo benepotrebnega up-to-date with hitenja. what is going on, visit our website: