Newsletter
Issue 13, March 2002
Table of Contents
From the President Dear APIBA Member, As you may now be aware, following the somewhat prolonged AGM last year, several Committee Members agreed to stand again and were duly re-elected. This we did, in spite of our reluctance to perpetuate ourselves in the positions, but encouraged by the expressed will of the assembled members to work towards increased member participation that will hopefully lead to a more orderly transition at the end of the current term. On behalf of the Committee, I would like to thank our three departing Committee Members, Valeria Artigue, Silvia Rettaroli and Silvia Iummato, whose term concluded at the last AGM. Apart from drastically reducing the number of ‘Silvias’ on the Committee, they will be sorely missed for their enthusiasm and hard work, but we are sure they will still be involved in APIBA activities in other capacities. The previous term was taken up with some urgent matters concerning organisation and order in areas of administration and finance that required the Committee’s full attention. We also aimed at increasing the number and variety of activities the Association was engaged in, and of course, organising the FAAPI 2001 BA Conference, which fortunately was a great success. Through all this, the number of APIBA members increased to a modest if healthy 300 strong. The current year finds the Association facing new challenges. We aim to strengthen the successes achieved, but have our sight set on new goals too. Above all, the conclusion of the 2001 Annual General Assembly was to emphasise the importance of the increased participation of all members of the Association. At the risk of sounding repetitive, allow me to reiterate that an Association is not (cannot be) solely represented by its President or Executive Committee. It is the active participation of all members that make an Association what it should be. We have planned several activities to encourage members to participate and you will find more information about these in this Newsletter. Your contribution may be a question or a paper, but they are both equally important. You can also participate by joining one of the Sub-Committees that were formed at the AGM that cover areas ranging from Publications to Finance. Another way to consolidate the presence of APIBA is by means of lasting visible results, and this is why we will be launching two APIBA publications in June, the APIBA SIGs Handbook, and the APIBA History. We have also extended the office hours to give members more time to drop by! I look forward to hearing from you all and seeing you at APIBA events.
Dr. Cristina Banfi
Course submitted to City of Buenos Aires APIBA have submitted the course “Evaluation” by María Silvia Stagnaro and Corine Arguimbau before the Government of the City of Buenos Aires to be approved as “Proyecto de Capacitación Actualización y Perfeccionamiento Docente” (Resolución 1659 - 14/09/01 Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires). The course will take place at the I.E.S. en Lenguas Vivas “J.R. Fernández” (Carlos Pellegrini 1515) on Wednesday from 18 to 21 (9 sessions), starting on April 3rd. The cost of the course will be $30 for members and $70 for non-members.To enrol, please contact info@apiba.org.ar and write “Course” on the subject heading.
APIBA (Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Buenos Aires) Newsletter
From the President / New Committee / You and APIBA history / Course submitted to the City of Buenos Aires / Discounts for members / Thanks FAAPI & AGM / My favourite classroom task / Cocktail & Auction / GCBA Bilingual schools’ end-of-year / APIBA SIGs 2002 / The voice of APIBA members / APIBA SubCommittees
New Committee The New APIBA Committee elected on November 9th, 2001 is composed as follows: President: Dr. Cristina Banfi Vice-President: Stella Schulte Secretary: Laura Renart, M.A. Treasurer: Sandra Revale Deputy Treasurer: María de los Ángeles Rodríguez Members: Analía Kandel, M.A. Pablo Toledo Substitute Members: Litty Mora Marisa Vilaseco
You and History
APIBA
Would you like to add your contribution to the APIBA History which will be published this year? Then send a 50-word statement answering one or more of the following questions to info@apiba.org.ar: • Why are you a Member of APIBA? • Why is APIBA important? • What APIBA event do you remember? • What would you like APIBA to do? A selection of answers will be included in the publication (and authors duly acknowledged). Answers should be received before April 30th, 2002.
March 2002
APIBA Book Presentations, Auction and Cocktail – 30th Anniversary Celebrations To celebrate its 30th Anniversary APIBA will be launching two publications that will be of interest to all its members. The publications are: • APIBA SIGs Handbook • APIBA History To launch them, a presentation will be held on June 19th at 6p.m. at British Arts Centre, Suipacha 1333. Analía Kandel, M.A., APIBA SIGs Liaison Officer, and Dr. Raymond Day, author of the APIBA History, will make presentations about the publications they have authored for APIBA. All APIBA members who attend will receive the publications free of charge. Alternatively, they will be able to collect their copies from the APIBA office after the launch. Those non-members wishing to purchase the publications will get a 50% discount at the launch. The event will also include the Auction of the three cartoons that were presented to APIBA to celebrate its 30th Anniversary. Two of these cartoons were included in the FAAPI 2001 Conference Programme. The artists are Tabaré, Grondona White and Julio Parissi, and the framed originals will be auctioned at this event. Even if you are not planning to bid, come along for the fun of a live auction! After the presentations and auction, a celebratory cocktail will be held (if not for the bidding and the fun of the auction, come along for the drinks!).
FAAPI AGM APIBA has received the Convocatoria for the FAAPI Annual General Meeting to be held in the city of Córdoba on March 16th, 2002. The issues to be discussed are detailed in the following Agenda: 1. Lectura y Aprobación del Acta anterior. 2. Lectura de la Memoria Anual 2001. 3. Lectura y aprobación del informe de Tesorería y de la Comisión Revisora de Cuentas. 4. Renovación total de la CD y Comisión Revisora de cuentas. 5. Fijación de la cuota anual. 6. Informe acerca de nuevas Asociaciones y Asociaciones inactivas. 7. Congreso Anual FAAPI 2001 (Informe y Rendición de cuentas por parte de APIBA). Congreso Anual FAAPI 2002 (Informe por parte de ACPI). Propuesta preliminar APISN para el Congreso 2003. Candidaturas para el Congreso Anual 2004. 8. Informe de las asociaciones. Actividades 2001 y previstas 2002. (Entrega de informes) 9. Designación de dos asambleistas para refrendar el acta. We would like to receive suggestions and comments from APIBA members that they would like voiced at the FAAPI AGM. To make your contribution, just send an email to info@apiba.org.ar
My Favourite Classroom Task - Call for Submissions Would you like to share with other teachers that classroom task or that evaluation activity that never fails? Would you like to show how you tackle that particularly difficult grammar point? How about that role play that your students love? Would you like to become a published author? Then this APIBA Call is for you. A panel of well-known teacher trainers (and APIBA members) will be the editors of this APIBA Publication. They include: Silvia Ronchetti, Silvia Stagnaro, Silvia Rettaroli and Silvia Luppi. Participation will be open to APIBA Members and Teacher Trainees. To participate, you should send a message to info@apiba.org.ar and you will receive further details in due course. The deadline for submissions is June 30th.
Di$count$ for APIBA Member$!!! •
The British Arts Centre (BAC) offers a 50% discount on their play tickets for all APIBA members, and a 25% global discount for groups of students accompanied by an APIBA member. • The National Resources Centre and AACI’s General English Library offer 25% discounts on memberships for all APIBA members To claim these benefits all you need to do is bring along your APIBA membership card and your receipt for the current year.
Thank you, FAAPI APIBA would like to thank FAAPI for the gift of a silver-plated plate to celebrate APIBA’s 30th Anniversary. The presentation was made in the context of the FAAPI 2001 Conference.
Bilingual state schools close their first school year The bilingual state schools of the City of Buenos Aires held their end of year celebrations at the Escuela Número 7 Olegario V. Andrade in Boedo on December 4th. APIBA was invited to attend, along with educational authorities and programme sponsors. The four languages taught in the city programme were represented by groups of first grade children displaying on stage their recently acquired foreign language skills. Sketches and songs in English, Italian, French and Portuguese entertained the audience. We all jumped to our feet when the French group stomped into the hall in demonstration style, dressed up as monsters and invited us to sing La Murga del Horror. Absolutely magnifique! The British Council and Pearson Education will be sponsoring some training of teachers of English in the context of the City bilingual programme which, as announced by Programme Adviser Prof. Teresa Davis, is expanding in 2002. Litty Mora
APIBA SIGs 2002 All APIBA SIGs will hold a joint first meeting on Saturday, April 13, 2002 at IES en LV "J.R.Fernandez", Carlos Pellegrini 1515, Buenos Aires. From 10 to 11 am there will be a SIGs General Meeting (Auditorium 4th floor) followed by individual SIGs meetings from 11 to 12.30. The first SIGs Timetable will be sent shortly and it will provide details about April 13th meeting and future SIG meetings. If you would like to receive APIBA SIGs Timetable by e-mail once a month or would like to find out more about APIBA SIGs please contact Analía Kandel, APIBA SIGs Liaison Officer, at apibasigs@apiba.org.ar APIBA (Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Buenos Aires) Newsletter
March 2002
APIBA Sub-Committees The following Sub-Committees were formed at APIBA’s last AGM. If you have suggestions, proposals or want to be part of these Sub-Committees, you can contact the individuals listed below or send a message to info@apiba.org.ar Sub-Committee Members Finance Graciela Moyano, Alejandra Jorge, Virginia López Grisolía, María Luisa Ghisalberti, Daniel Reznik, Clem Baraldi de Durán Services to Members María Cristina Bardeci, Mónica Cuello, Ana Kuckiewicz, María G. Piqué, Nora Lizenberg, Verónica Storni Fricke, Gabriela Pezzi Ethics María Isabel Santa, Inés Cambiasso, Silvia Luppi, Marisa Vilaseco, Susana Lezcano de Colombo Publications. Verónica Storni Fricke, Claudia Ferradas Moi, Pablo Toledo Legal Matters Paula López Cano, Silvia Iummato Data Collection Patricia Connolly, Sergio Rodríguez Institutional Relations Litty Mora, Cristina Grondona White, Inés Cambiasso, Alicia Perera Communications Cristina Grondona White, Daniela V. Delgado, Cristina Bardeci, María Lucrecia Puppo, Ángeles Rodríguez
The Voice of APIBA Members As from this issue of the APIBA Newsletter, there will be a section devoted to including the members’ opinions for all to share. Our aim is for the APIBA Newsletter to become a true forum for English teachers to share their ideas. The Opinion Column will welcome articles (500 words max.) on any matter related to English language teaching, professional development, further studies, etc. The Newsletter will also include a section called Comments and Queries, where Members will be able to send in suggestions, questions or other remarks they consider will be of interest to other APIBA Members. APIBA usually publishes three Newsletters a year: early-March, early June, and early September. Your submissions should be received at least a month before these publication dates. If your contribution arrives after this date, it will still be considered for the following issue. To send your material, all you need to do is send the article or message to info@apiba.org.ar
Opinion column
TEACHING IN ARGENTINA GROUND ZERO The attack on the Twin Towers last September 11 meant a great blow against humanity. The loss of thousands of lives of people who were just doing their jobs in the hands of suicide aeroplane pilots brought about significant changes in the values of peace-willing people around the world. Not having yet recovered from the impact and consequences of that, we are faced today with the reality of our nation in the midst of disruption. We are actually walking among the debris of a devastated Argentina, a crisis-stricken society that had hardly imagined that decay would ever reach the perceived strongholds of a democratic community: its institutions. The aftermath of this ravage is, by now, familiar to us all. Daily protests, public assemblies in cities and quarters, chains of emails, are some of the various demonstrations used to express indignation and to promote the removal of anyone in office or near it. Probably, this is not all. Noam Chomsky says “there has been a general assault in the last 25 years on solidarity, democracy, social welfare, anything that interferes with private power, and there are many targets. One of the targets is undoubtedly the educational system”.1 One may think that this assault has already seized our educational system, which is striving to sustain its institutions through the effort of its teachers. However, in Argentina Ground Zero, it has been possible over the past few weeks to go to the schools and find the teachers waiting for the students to come for orientation, for students to sit for final exams on the appointed dates, for teachers to start planning the school-year’s activities. Educational services were still being rendered as planned. It must have had a soothing effect on a society that is concerned with the future and that still trusts education as the means to overcome the crisis. The school-year is about to start. If life-styles changed in the world back in September, many other aspects of life have changed in our country in the past few weeks. We were concerned at that time with a reality that would no doubt have lasting effects on humanity; we are worried today about our own reality, one that will not remain outside the schools. The entire community, teachers, students, parents have suffered the blow – the soaring unemployment, the rising cost of living, the devalued salaries have knocked at our doors. In schools today, it will no longer be enough to teach the syllabus, it will not be relevant to integrate subjects, it will not be significant to incorporate new technology. Nothing will matter unless we begin to work cooperatively between teachers and students. More than anything else, we will need to help students to build a positive self-concept, a sense of community and to strengthen interpersonal relations by showing that their teachers work likewise. We will need to instil in our students the desire to work for a participatory democracy that will prepare better leaders and will rule out voter apathy. “Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone’s knowing how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.” (John Dewey) We must renew this commitment. Graciela C. Moyano gmoyano@netizen.com.ar 1. http://www.cnrs-bellevue.fr/~sncs/Chomsky.html Disclaimer: this article expresses the view and opinions of its writer. APIBA does not hold itself responsible for its content.
APIBA (Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Buenos Aires) Newsletter
March 2002
APIBA/SEA informative meeting On February 25, APIBA and SEA (Schools of English Association) held a joint informative meeting in which their presidents, Cristina Banfi and Marcelo García, explained the nature, status and goals of their associations to an audience made up of representatives of the media and the ELT industry. In the context of this meeting, the following letter was delivered to representatives of publishing houses and bookshops: De nuestra mayor consideración: Nos dirigimos a Ud. con el objeto de plantear nuestra preocupación ante la situación por la que atraviesa el país en su conjunto y los efectos que la misma ha tenido sobre el mercado de materiales para la enseñanza del inglés y otros idiomas extranjeros. Como es de vuestro conocimiento, nuestras entidades son Asociaciones Civiles Sin Fines de Lucro que agrupan a Docentes de Inglés, en el caso de APIBA, y a Centros de Enseñanza de Lenguas, en el caso de SEA. Como tales, tanto nuestras entidades como nuestros asociados, no nos encontramos ajenos a las dificultades económicas que a todos aquejan. Sin embargo, nos vemos afectados de manera particular por la naturaleza de los insumos imprescindibles para realizar nuestra tarea cotidiana, o sea materiales didácticos que en su mayoría son de origen extranjero. Hemos notado con gran preocupación una marcada tendencia de aumento en los precios de dichos materiales, así como también el abandono de los tradicionales descuentos realizados a docentes. Nos preocupan seriamente las consecuencias prácticas que esto pueda tener ya que, con el comienzo del año lectivo, hemos tomado conocimiento de situaciones en las cuales las instituciones y los docentes han decidido mantener los textos con los que venían trabajando, a pesar de desear hacer un cambio, para facilitar la compra de material usado por parte de los alumnos. Es evidente que, dadas las circunstancias extremas, también nos debe preocupar la posibilidad de que algunos alumnos opten por la perniciosa opción de la fotocopia de material que todos condenamos. Para arribar a una solución intermedia, creemos sería interesante poder ofrecer la implementación de algún mecanismo para el caso de nuestros asociados que permita que el precio final que los mismos abonen sea de preferencia. De esta manera, ambas Asociaciones podrían informar a través de Gacetillas y otros medios (comunicaciones electrónicas e Internet), las facilidades que las distintas librerías ofrecen. Creemos que de esta cooperación mutua, todos los interesados podrían beneficiarse. Evidentemente, dada la cercanía del comienzo de clases, sería importante poder concretar estas ofertas a la brevedad. Desde ya, quedamos a vuestra disposición para cualquier consulta. Sin otro particular, y quedando a la espera de una pronta respuesta, nos despedimos cordialmente, Dra. Cristina Banfi, Presidente, APIBA Marcelo García, Presidente, SEA
MEMBERSHIP FORM 2002 (Please feel free to make copies) From APIBA Statutes: Artículo 5º.- De los Asociados.- Se establece una sola categoría de socios. Estos deberán poseer título docente en la especialidad, expedido por: a) las Universidades nacionales, provinciales o privadas; b) los Institutos Superiores del Profesorado nacionales, provinciales o privados.- En todos los casos los títulos deberán ser los reconocidos por el Ministerio de Educación de la Nación para la impartición de la asignatura en las escuelas nacionales.- Son requisitos para ser socio de esta Asociación: 1º.- Que la solicitud haya sido aceptada por la Comisión Directiva de la Asociación. 2º.- Que el socio abone regularmente la cuota mensual1 que determina la asamblea. 1 La cuota de APIBA se abona anualmente. Ver monto al pie.
I would like to (re-)apply for membership of the Association of Teachers of English of Buenos Aires
Name:________________________________________________ I.D. Number (DNI/LE/LC): _________________________ Address:
Street / No: _______________________________________________________________________________________ Town: _____________________________________________ Post Code: ____________________________________ Telephone: ________________________________________ Fax: __________________________________________ E-mail: __________________________________________________________________________________________ Degree: _______________________________ Awarded by: __________________________________ Year: ________ Work at: _________________________________________________ Position: ________________________________
Please tick [ √ ] and complete as appropriate: 1) I am already a Member of APIBA [ ] Members need only pay outstanding dues from 1999 to the present as APIBA declared a Moratorium on dues not paid before 1999. 2) I am applying for Membership of APIBA for the first time [ ] New members have to pay dues for the current year, submit a photocopy of their degree and two passport-sized photographs. These can be submitted by hand to any Executive Committee member or posted to the APIBA office. Remember that this is an initial step and that the application procedure is concluded when all the material is submitted and once the APIBA Committee have accepted the application. 1999 Dues ($50) 2000 Dues ($50) 2001 Dues ($50) 2002 Dues Before April 30th After April 30th Voluntary Contribution
$______ $______ $______ ($30) ($50)
TOTAL AMOUNT
$______ $______ $______ _________________ $______
Send/Bring cash or a cheque to the APIBA Office: M.T. de Alvear 1369 (Kel Ediciones), C1058AAU Buenos Aires. Or deposit total amount at any branch of Banco Francés, account numbers: Cuenta Corriente Especial en $017-041719/2. By signing below you affirm that you have read APIBA Statutes and agree to be bound by them.
Date: ______________________________ Signature: ______________________________________ IMPORTANT: Please write your full name on your deposit slip and fax it to (011) 4326-3927 with this form. For information about APIBA: E-mail: info@apiba.org.ar Web: www.apiba.org.ar Tel/fax (011) 4326-3927 (Librería Rodríguez)
APIBA (Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Buenos Aires) Newsletter
March 2002