Digital Tasks

This activity was suggested within the context of a speaking training session. We tackled the possible questions that the examiner might ask in Part 1 and then agreed to condense the relevant information about the candidates profile in a more appealing format. For that I proposed the use of Glogster as a visually engaging tool to answer the basic question: Who are you? I was more than pleased with my students' response.

We are proud to share with all readers the work of Carla, our student in Spain doing CAE online with us. Thank you, Carla!


 

Teacher: Florencia Viale
Class: CAE Online

Grabbing Blurbs

Teacher: Mariana De Biassi

Class: CAE 'B' 

Lights, camera, action!

Teacher: Lucy Guerrero 

Class: FCE 'A'

 

Putting values at the heart of learning

Valuing self, others and the environment through the consideration of an ethical values is at the heart of learning in our classroom. Students are encouraged to model values and to engage in reflective practices so that they are empowered to become effective learners and good individuals. These practices help our learners to develop holistically, nurturing a secure sense of self, respect for self and others.

We read "Diogenes and the Wise Man", a story which shows that "all that glitters is not gold" and that, sometimes, even a great king like Alexander  might like to be a beggar. We paid special attention to  the last line of the short story, where Alexander says:" If I weren´t Alexander, I´d like to be Diogenes".

The aim was to think about why a king would like to be a down-and-out and  who or what the students in First Certificate 'M' would like to be if they weren´t themselves. We got very interesting ideas which were later symbolized in a collage.

We have also read 'Dazzler' by Suniti Namjoshi, a fable whose central characters are a sunbird and a duck- each of them with distinct sets of values. Here the questions were: Are you more of a sunbird or a duck? Why? What qualities do you have? Answers were then represented in an artistic drawing.

As a corollary of both short stories, the group chose to leave an imprint of the the values that are at the heart of their learning through ART. 

Put value to reading! Together we can make the difference!

Teacher: Patricia Zorio

Class: FCE 'M' 

Making thinking visible

Many times what we learn mirrors what others are doing around us. We watch, we imitate, we adapt, we construct from there, we develop. Now imagine learning to dance when the dancers around us are not visible. Strange as it may seem, something very close to it happens all the time when learning to think. Thinking is pretty much invisible.

What we did in our group was try a way of making thinking visible through the use of art. The learners browsed through a menu of short stories and they chose the one that attracted them most. Yes, each learner can choose what to read and yet be in the same class as peers who have taken different reading decisions and paths. 

First, the learners decided what to read and I made sure that more than one student would read the same story from the menu.

We followed the several-stories-but-same-task approach. When the time came to discuss the stories we left the classroom and went to the place that speaks volumes about books: the library, which accounted for a big portion of the successful outcomes.  There the students gathered in different corners with the like-minded partners who had read the same short story.

The task I set was very simple, the thinking they engaged in was not: they were asked to say what was meant by the title and to select powerful quotes so as to discuss their implications. Next came art and that was when their thinking became visible.

These are the posters they designed to encourage others to read their short stories in our school:

All this flowed from rendering thinking visible. However, the first step is to overcome the problem of invisibility. Part of the challenge lies in the invisibility of thinking, which is in itself invisible. We are so used to thinking being invisible that we do not notice how easily thinking can stay out of sight. As educators then the first task is to see the absence, to hear the silence, to notice what is not there. A journey of one thousand miles, the Chinese proverb says, begins with but a single step. Seeing the absence is an excellent first step.The second making thinking visible through art.

Art invites thinking, encourages visual literacy, fosters different learning modalities, develops forms of thinking that are vital to grow as individuals. The positive payoffs of the experience? Thoughtfullness, accomplishment, enjoyment, ownership, and above all a dream come true: a bunch of adolescents staying 20 minutes after the class was due, handling books and gathered around the librarian to borrow one!

Teacher: Analía Dobboletta

Class: CAE 'C'

CAE Pioneers sit Computer-based Exam

We are proud to announce that a group of nine candidates, all of them students at Asociación Rosarina de Cultura Inglesa, sat CB CAE last 10 December. Today, 13 days later, we celebrate that they all passed their exam with flying colours. Our congratulations to the pioneering team:

Burlán, Florentina

Cristiani, Juan Pablo

Diez, Fernando

Evangelista, Ignacio

Grasso, Francisco

Leguina, Damián

Nuñez, Alejandro

Peñalva, Juan Ignacio

Perpiñá, Juan

Many thanks to Mariana De Biasi, Cristina Insinga, Laura Gieco and Analía Dobboletta for encouraging their students to try this new experience.

Most of the candidates pointed out that the most user friendly test screens are Writing and Reading. These are followed by Listening and Use of English.

Advantages of Writing

- Ease and speed of typing

- Editing versatility

- On screen word count

Advantages of Reading

- Drag and drop feature for Part 2

- Text and questions in parallel for Part 4

- Dynamic navigation menu

Advantages of Listening

- Headphones aid concentration

- Ease and speed of typing

- Part 4 layout

Advantages of Use of English

-In Parts 1, 2 and 5, it is much more meaningful to read the answers embedded in the context.

A word to candidates-to-be:

- You should give it a try! It may sound awkward because we are not used to the CB test but it was clearer. Francisco Grasso.

- It´s a very good experience. If you have the chance, give it a try. Juan Pablo Cristiani.

- Very practical. Juan Ignacio Peñalva

- Really enjoyable experience. You get your results soon. Ignacio Evangelista.

- It is better than the paper based test in every aspect. Alejandro Nuñez

A word to teachers:

- It is quicker to do than the paper test. Juan Pelayo Perpiñá

- Keep on recommending CB tests to students. Florentina Burlán

- Get your students to do the CB exam. Fernando Diez

-The strategies for reading from computer screens and reading from paper are different. Highlighting is not necessary for e-reading. Damián Leguina

THE ARCI ADVANCED TEAM

Play Reading: Hills like White Elephants

At the end of one of the units in the coursebook, we did an activity the book brings to practise using future in the past forms within a past narrative.The activity was called “White Elephants”. It involved reading about some famous white elephants (things that are useless or no longer needed but which have cost a lot of money) and making sentences using future in the past. The following book unit introduced similes.

It was then that I remembered Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills like White Elephants”. As we had not done any extensive reading, I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a work of literature.

I asked my students to read the short story and then we talked about it in class. We discussed the title, the setting, the themes and the symbols in it. Some of the students were amazed to discover the couple in the story was discussing “abortion” without making it explicit. We also noticed that the story is heavily dependent on dialogue and, thus can be easily adapted into a play.

At this point, I invited my students to stage the story. However, as learning lines by heart might have discouraged them, I suggested reading lines.

We talked about reader’s theatre and they agreed to adapt the story, perform it as a play and film it.

We distributed roles:

Characters (three)

The American: Fernando Diez

The waitress: Gala Casares Albarracín

Jig: Lucila Sanguedolce

Narrator: Regina Silvano

Sound operator (he mixed sounds of bars and trains): Juan Perpiñá

Props person (he brought glasses and bottles): Francisco Grasso

Camera operator (she filmed the performance): Ma. Belén Cristiani

Scenic designer (she made a powerpoint presentation of photos showing landscapes and important symbolic elements in the story -which was projected by means of a beamer at the back of the stage): Gala Casares Albarracín.

The performance was a success. The students were really proud of what they had been able to do. Some even joked about taking up acting!

The play was followed by an in-depth discussion in which interesting points were raised:

-how the dramatization had helped fully appreciate the story

-the number of questions the female character asks evinces her lack of confidence and her need for constant reassurance

-insight into the female character´s state of mind can be gained by looking at the landscape and other symbolic elements

-the time they spend drinking gives a clue to the nature of their relationship (they drink to fill in time)

-the characters talk, but fail to communicate with each other, which highlights the rift between the two.

Finally, we reflected on Henry Miller’s words:

 “The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is important. For this only one good reader is necessary.”



Listen to these students´ voices:
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Teacher: Mariana De Biassi             Artículo en Español
Class: CAE 'B'