Reading Marathon


Throughout the year, some students approached me asking how they could enhance their knowledge and improve their skills to be better equipped to face the demands of the course. Apart from mentioning attending Self Access and handing in homework, I insisted on the importance of reading - a habit which, frequently because of lack of time, we neglect.

On Sep 30th, Fundación Leer launched the 9th National Reading Marathon. Students, teachers, relatives and volunteers gathered to enjoy reading at schools, libraries, clubs, etc. I thought it was a good opportunity to remind students of the importance of reading, so we celebrated this event in the library, devoting part of the class to reading for the sheer pleasure of it. After the initial surprise (students did not expect to have a class in the library!), they chose some short stories and sat down comfortably in the armchairs. When they finished reading, they made their recommendations on “literary emoticons”, and shared their comments about the stories with other students. 

As a follow-up activity, the students designed a poster combining images and their quotations on reading. We all participated enthusiastically and benefitted greatly from the activity.




Listen to CAE 'D' students' comments:



Teacher: Laura Gieco                     Artículo en Español
Class: CAE 'D' 

Tea Party


Our project was the result of many talks we had in class during the first half of the year. Basically, at the beginning, students were interested in cultural and historical issues associated with The British Isles. Consequently, I (as a teacher ) took a map to the classroom since they even wanted to learn about the Commonwealth and topics connected with this.

By July, ARCI 70th Anniversary was also present in our talks and one of their concerns was associated with very name of the Institution. Why was it officially called ‘Cultura’ when people referred to it as ‘Cultural’? And so I told them about the Library and the concerts, plays, etc. that had taken place there. They agreed it was a real pity that all those events had been discontinued and were happy about the Film Festival held this year, for instance.

When we discussed our reader, ‘The Woman in White’, we devoted two complete 3 period  classes to the topic. I remember it was very cold (July in fact) and they were so involved that they did not even want to go out and take their break. There, they said how good a cup of tea and something sweet would feel. And there sprang the idea of celebrating ARCI’s  70 Anniversary with a Tea Party. Their research started and they collected lots of information on the topic. There were other alternatives in the air, such as competitions, etc. but the Tea Party finally won its place among us.

After our Director of Studies, Prof. Mónica Pérez was informed and she gave us institutional support. Then I introduced the idea of a raffle to make the event more attractive and because I felt both the Institution and our students (not only my group) deserved the chance of getting a present. It was a success and we got many prizes. 

 

We also agreed Escuela Cacique Taigoré would be the place we would help with donations. We collected many things for the school and the girls in charge of receiving donations were proud of the many objects we got.

Together with this simple account of the project I attach the file we forwarded via our Virtual Classroom to the other groups. The photographs of our Tea Party are part of the series of pictures our Coordinator, Prof. Analía Dobboletta shared with us.


READING ABOUT TEA

WRITING TASKS

All in all, it was a pleasure to work on this and all of us ( FCE Adults ‘A’ students and myself ) felt really happy and satisfied with the results.


Teacher: Gabriela Muller                       Artículo en Español

Forever Young

With our FCE classes we dealt with the topic of “Stages in Life” in our coursebooks. We studied a really interesting article called ”My Generation”, which was about a group of elderly people in the UK who got together and formed a rock band named “The Zimmers”.

As a follow-up activity we watched their video on YouTube and then we talked about how brave, how enthusiastic, how unbelievably young these elderly people looked. In contrast, we also talked about those other people who are dumped in homes, marginalized and forgotten.

And thus the idea of the project was born. We thought we could visit a home near Cultural and spend a nice time with the inmates there. So we got together - FCE “G” and FCE “M”- several times, rehearsed a couple of songs and a puppet show and the students had good fun  during the rehearsals.

On August 24th we happily made our way to “Excelencia”, a home on Laprida Street, and we spent an absolutely delightful afternoon there. The elderly people were fascinated to see so many young people around, talking, singing, dancing for them…They were moved to tears. They were so grateful to us for the visit!!


Yet, we believe our students -really sensitive kids by the way- were still much more touched. They were amazed at the lively chat, the easy manners, the sweet looks these people gave them in return for their songs and dances.

We conclude our students learnt that elderly people are not always unhappy and that sometimes feeling 'forever young' is possible, that there is always a will to go on…

It was an utterly rewarding learning experience for the elderly people in the home, for our students and for us, which made us all feel better people. Unforgettable…



Teachers: Laura Lupo and Patricia Zorio
Classes: FCE 'G' and FCE 'M'
                  Artículo en Español

Pequeños Gestos, Grandes Logros

Students from FCE 'A' ran a solidarity project to help the 'Pequeños Gestos, Grandes logros' Charitable Fund. 
 

Teacher: Lucía Guerrero                           Artículo en Español
Class: FCE 'A'

Welcome!


This blog is initially meant to be an open door for the whole community to browse through the work we do in our advanced classes, and also as a place where our advanced students can learn from fellow students and their teachers. 

'La Cultural' is always on the move!

We would like to share our projects, photos, news, thoughts, views  - and information that may be of use to our advanced level learners.

Feel free to move around and leave your comments. 

THE ARCI ADVANCED TEAM
Asociación Rosarina de Cultura Inglesa