FAAPI Conference 2010

ACPI (Asociación Cordobesa de Profesores de Inglés) will be hosting the 2010 Conference.

Visit their website at FAAPI 2010 and take a look  at the FAAPI2010_call_for_papers.

“Tiny” Universe

When I was invited to the III National Conference on Microfiction “Microfiction in Spanish and in English”, little did I expect to find such a wide variety of topics and formats. There is certainly nothing tiny about this magnificent universe of creators and researchers.

On second thoughts, I realize I should have know what a pleasurable experience the Conference would be from this welcome presentation.

While there have been a number of international conferences on the subject in México, Salamanca, Valparaíso and Neuchatel, and previous issues in Argentina have taken place in Buenos Aires, Tucumán and Neuquen, the Rosario 2009 Conference was the first one in Argentina to be bilingual in character (incorporating texts and authors in English alongside Spanish).

The lectures and papers included analysis of texts from perspectives of both linguistic and literary theory (applying, for example, concepts from Ducrot, Bakhtin, Hutcheon, Eco, Todorov and Brasca), comparisons between works in both languages, pedagogic applications of microfiction, and presentation and discussion of translations. A novel kind of microfiction – Twitter Fiction –was also commented on. (see post by presenter)

Some of the authors in English whose work was analysed were Margaret Atwood, Michael Stanley Bubien, Laura Hirneisen, Gregory Burnham, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Aurora Levins Morales, Raymond Federman, Roberta Allen and Ronald Wallace. Presentations on authors in Spanish included Juan Armando Epple, Ana María Shua, Pablo de Santis, Sergio Francisci, David Lagmanovich and Augusto Monterroso.

In addition, the conference featured reading sessions by writers from Chile, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Buenos Aires, Neuquén, Mendoza, Jujuy and Santa Fe.

Two highlights were the audiovisual presentation by María Rosa Lojo and the documentary/interview to Luisa Valenzuela by Sandra Bianchi.

An essential theoretical resource on microfiction in Spanish is El Cuento en Red.

You can access my bookmarks on microfiction, including some blogs, texts, authors’ personal pages and biographies. Feel free to add more!

National Poetry Day UK 2009

October 8th was National Poetry Day in the UK, and it certainly made ample use of ICT to celebrate.

The official site included a wealth of resources to “live” the day both in the flesh and virtually. For example, they invited visitors to their website to contribute images of Poetry in Public Places.

See the slideshow. 

The BBC organised a poll to find the nation’s favourite poet. 18,000 votes were cast and the winner was … T.S. Eliot, followed by John Donne and Benjamin Zephaniah! Read this response to the results from The Telegraph.

Faber and Faber (the publishing house) held its 80th anniversary evening at the Soutbank Centre in London . This video features Seamus Heaney, Wendy Cope, Daljit Nagra, Alice Oswald and Paul Muldoon reading from their own work and a Faber poet from the backlist.

Faber 80th anniversary poetry event at the Southbank, London

Last but not least, the celebration was covered on Twitter.

Have you read about any other interesting events that you would like to share?

What people had to say (2009 FAAPI Conference)

During the two activities that AROO organised at the 2009 FAAPI Conference, i.e.  the Panel  and the Demonstration, participants were asked to complete a survey.

As can be seen below, they expressed widespread agreement about holding AROO in 2010, and the favourite topics suggested were Literature Teaching  and Contemporary Authors. On processing the results it was observed that the options to the question about their relationship with literature were inaccurately formulated, as a large number chose both “I enjoy reading lit. but I don’t teach it” and “I use lit. in my classes”.

Some participants showed interest in being presenters in 2010, and have already been invited to contribute to this blog.

See the detailed results:

View this document on Scribd

 

 

Check here where respondents came from http://tinyurl.com/y8g9gp5

         Bahia Blanca 22 participants                   

         Buenos Aires 2 participants                     

         Caleta Olivia 2 participants                     

         Cañada de Gomez 1 participant                       

         Carmen de Patagones 3 participants                     

         Cerrito Entre Rios 1 participant                       

         Coronel Dorrego 1 participant                       

         Colon Buenos Aires 1 participant                       

          Castelli Chaco 1 participant                       

         Concepcion del Uruguay 1 participant                       

          La Paz Entre Rios 1 participant                       

         Olavarria 1 participant                       

          Presidencia Roque Saenz Peña 1 participant                      

          Punta Alta 3 participants                     

         Rawson Chubut 1 participant                       

         Roldan Santa Fe 1 participant                       

         Rosario Santa Fe 4 participants                     

         San Antonio Oeste Rio Negro 1 participant                       

         Tres Arroyos 1 participant                       

         Viale Entre Rios 1 participant

Perspectives on the Teaching of Literature (2009 FAAPI Conference)

The panel “Perspectives on the Teaching of Literature” was held on Friday September 25th at the Bahia Blanca Conference with a large turnout. Mariel Amez summarised the changes in the Literature curriculum in Teacher Education programmes and posed some issues to consider in forthcoming reforms. Olga Liberti talked about the importance and use of theory in the Literature classroom. Finally, Susana Gullco Groisman explained the features of Reading Groups, offering advice and illustrating through concrete examples. The audience, which included trainee teachers alongside Literature lecturers from different parts of the country, showed considerable interest and engaged in the follow-up discussion.

Susana also shared this poem:

View this document on Scribd

Look at some photos of the event:

Read a summary of the panel as published in the Conference Proceedings

 

View this document on Scribd

Of Mouse and Book (2009 FAAPI Conference)

Last Thursday 24th September Mariel Amez offered a demonstration at the Bahía Blanca FAAPI Conference.

Of Mouse and Book – Using Web 2.0 resources in Literature Teaching
(A Room of One’s Own Presentation) focused on classroom materials and activities developed by and for students in Literature courses in Teacher Education, and suggested ways in which these can be adapted for EFL classrooms.

The slideshow below summarizes the examples shared and points made, though some samples of students’ work used in the actual presentation have been removed to protect their privacy.

Links to some useful tools can be found here.

View this document on Scribd

Getting ready for the FAAPI Conference

Less than a week to go before the Bahia Blanca FAAPI Conference!

Visit the official website and take a look at the schedule.

 

Our panel, Perspectives on the Teaching of Literature, will be held at Room 8 on Friday 25th, from 10.00 to 11.30.

The demonstration Of Mouse and Book: Using Web 2.0 resources in Literature Teaching will take place at 3.45 pm on Thursday 24th.

 
Could you spare a couple of minutes and take this survey? Thank you.
 
Click Here to take survey

“A Room…” at FAAPI 2009

A Room of One’s Own will be present at the 2009 FAAPI conference to be held in Bahia Blanca on September 24th, 25th and 26th.

Our central space will be the Panel: Perspectives on the Teaching of Literature. It  focuses on the teaching and reading of Literature, analyzing current trends in different contexts and reflecting on the future of the field. 

Teaching Narrative, Narrating Teaching (Olga Liberti) addresses the introduction of literary theory (mainly narratology) by relying on the students’ own knowledge of narrativity drawn from popular genres such as sitcoms, soap operas, and adventure films.

 Reading Groups. A Reflection (Susana Gullco Groisman) discusses the setting up of Reading Groups not only as an educational issue but also as a social one, pointing out the basic theoretical aspects in the dynamics of small groups, and illustrating with past and present cases.

 Literature in Teacher Education – a riches-to-rags story? (Mariel Amez)  examines the literary curriculum of  IES “O. Cossettini” (Rosario), commenting on strengths and weaknesses and offering some reflections on paths to follow in forthcoming reforms.

In addition, a demonstration has been submitted for approval. Of Mouse and Book – Using Web 2.0 resources in Literature Teaching (Mariel Amez) presents classroom materials and activities developed by and for students in Literature courses in Teacher Education, and suggests ways in which these can be adapted for EFL classrooms.

Children’s Literature in Language Education

Hildesheim University and the Young Learner & Teenager SIG, IATEFL, are organising an international TEFL conference on children’s literature.

It will take place in Germany from 25th – 27th February 2010.

The International Conference Children’s Literature in Language Education – from Picture Books to Young Adult Fiction intends to disseminate information and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences on the power of literature for the young; approaches to children’s literature and young adult literature as a bridge to reading beyond school; gender considerations – the different attitudes of different readers – and the resulting consequences with regard to the canon of literary texts for EFL; and the debate around original children’s literature and graded readers.

The Call for Papers is open until July 31st.

Please visit http://www.childrenslit.de:80/ for further information.

What are you reading now?

I’ve just found this site through a student

http://www.goodreads.com/about/how_it_works

It is described in the following terms:

“Goodreads is a free website for book lovers. Imagine it as a large library that you can wander through and see everyone’s bookshelves, their reviews, and their ratings. You can also post your own reviews and catalog what you have read, are currently reading, and plan to read in the future. Don’t stop there – join a discussion group, start a book club, contact an author, and even post your own writing.”

I think I’m going to give it a try. Would you like to?

Check out some books I’ve read at:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2259629-mariel