Number 3 Bogotรก D.C., Colombia 2015-1
Licenciatura Idioma Extranjero Ingles
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway The “Underground” Magazine, which is a newish project that was born in LIEI, has the pleasure to welcome again all its friendly readers. “Underground” highlights the importance of sharing the different students’ language reflections and literature disertations that come out of different subjects from the Bachelor´s. Thus, keeping constant writing activities to ensure the continued publication of “Underground”. “Underground” looks better when its contributors decide to turn their thoughts and ideas into words to finally get the reader and sparkle in his interests. In addition, “Underground” also focuses on the imperative to motivate and create an opportunity to develop authentic professional writing skills of future lang u a g e p r o f e s s i o n a l s . S o t h a t i s t h e r e a s o n w h y, t h i s p r o j e c t h a s s t a r t e d t o gain experience being the window where outputs flow and are seen by others. As for this new edition, the series of articles you will read are concerned with Anglophone and culture, Methodology and Didactics, Pedagogy and last but not least, Education and Linguistics and Literature. Alexander Benito E LT P r o f e s s o r
El diseño y las imágenes de las páginas Cover, Editor’s page, index 9,10,15,16, 24-26
29-35 del presente número fueron tomadas del software Adobe CS6 Collection .
3
Is Ict Essential For Teaching English Today? Yeison David Sua Rodriguez. 3 Ten Helpful Ideas For Teaching English To Young Learnes Cristian Gómez 4 Is There A Holy Grail For Sla? Cristian Andres Martinez Castellanos.5 Why Teachers Should Know About Krashen’s Approach Anonymous LIEI 6
Cultural Respect And Preventing Discrimination In The EFL Class Jaime Rojas Education Vs Necessities Karen Calviche. Teachers Should Know It: Language Disorders Go Beyond The Academy.Gina Arciniegas The Implications Of Power In The Field Of Knowledge José David Azuero Sánchez What are the implications of English as a Global language in countries like Colombia? Can be Colombia Excluded? Laura Ximena ARIAS Teacher, your mission is… build personal and group identities Diana Katherine Orjuela What are the implications for you as a teacher of the 21st century?Jaime Rojas
Linguistics and Literature How May Language Build Meanings In The Classroom According To The Teacher – Are Students’ Roles Socially Established Javier Andres Cardenas All Profound Distraction Opens Certain Doors. You Have To Allow Yourself To Be Distracted When You Are Unable To Concentrate Daniela Fernanda Porras Fonseca. A Shipwreck Disaster In The Sea Of Fears. Jaime Rojas Nowadays And Formerly, A Comparison With The Pygmalion Jenny Rodriguez Vega
Anglophone Culture Good Friends Ibeth Ospitia. Colombia: A Chevere Country Jennifer Wang Language, Culture And Stereotypes In The EFL Classroom Laura Ximena arias Will It Just Be Coincidence? Milena Poveda. The Perfect City Cristian Romero Martinez Translator Or Dictionary? Yoana Andrea Losada. Can English Language Become The World Language In The Nearby Future? Laura Arias Jon Bon Jovi Catalina Fuelantala. 10 reasons of why The Beatles are the best band of all time Tania Lorena Sepulveda Blanco
3
Didactics and Methodology
Since a few years ago, the information and communications technologies, or in their acronym "ICT," have become a trend when it comes to teach English in a classroom since many consider them to be tools that help us as teachers to teach in a cutting edge way using the technology as first resort. However, if we look beyond the amazing aspects of using ICT in the classroom, and we look at the reality that many Colombian schools probably do not have the option of using technological resources in their classes-- either due to a lack of financial resources, a lack of infrastructure, or simply a lack of access to wireless networks-- then we could ask: is it possible for people without these resources to learn English successfully? Below, we are going to talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of using ICT and certain characteristics of them to try to conclude if they are really essential to teach today. According to Bushati, Barrolli, Dibra & Haveri (2012), using ICT in a classroom can be innovative and creative, make use contemporary devices, support the teaching and learning processes, and perform a series of education activities, all while contributing to the academic growth of students' skills to achieve a more effective education. I would say however, that these benefits exclude excellent activities that many teachers do in a manual way, which can have the same advantages and impact as ICT. For example, dynamic, innovative and creative games using basic resources such as flashcards and activities where technology is not used, can also allow the growth of students' academic skills and support English teachers. Similarly, Bushati et al., (2012) talk about the disadvantages of using ICT, such as the fact that it is more expensive than traditional education, that it reduces the students' desire to learn, that the maintenance and management systems can be a burden, and that it reduces communication between teachers and students. In light of these disadvantages I think that all these things wouldn't happen if activities were done manually by teachers, due to the fact that these develop more skills in students, more of a desire to learn, fewer costs, more communication between teachers and students, and therefore an increase of their ethical awareness of our
According to an article published in the El Heraldo (2014) called "Por si solas, las TIC son inutiles en la educacion," "Education is not only to store data, formulas and facts in the history, it could say that for this, computers and all devices that evolved in technology matters were created. The brain can achieve many things and technology can facilitate all those things and also interpret and analyze the information that enters." In other words, this tells us that technology or the use of ICT are facilitators of learning, but at the same time this tells us that our brain can achieve much more than what these technologies can do.
Finally, I would like to make it clear that the use of ICT in a classroom to teach English is not necessarily a problem and nor is it bad to use them. The purpose of this article is oriented to highlight some of the qualities ICT resources have and point out the importance of hand-made materials and planning activities without using technology in the classroom. The formers may be more innovative and creative and thus, enhance a successful English learning if planned carefully when computers, internet, television, or many other electronic devices are hardly approached.
Written by: Yeison David Sua Rodriguez. ID: 000259793BIBLIOGRAPHY: •Bushati, J., Barrolli, E., Dibra, G., & Haveri, A. (2012). “Advantages and disadvantages of using ICT in education”. University of Shkodra and University of Tirana. •Gonzalez, M. (2014). “Por si solas, las TIC son utiles en la educacion”. ELHERALDO.CO. Taken from http://www.elheraldo.co/blogs/tecnologia/por-si-solas-las-ticson-inutiles-en-la-educacion-149029 •Figure 1: Rebar, P. (2013). Programming a career in ICT. Image taken from http://www.careeroptionsmagazine.com/articles/ programming-a-career-in-ict/
3
Didactics and Methodology
TEN HELPFUL IDEAS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS (Shyn 2006) ANALIZED BY: CRISTIAN GÓMEZ
I am going to talk about methodologies and activities that help teachers make the correct decisions depending on the class context. I have chosen three of those ideas and I want to explain them one by one and say why I consider them the most important ones. The first idea is: “supplement activities with visual, realia and movement”. I work with children between 4 and 6 years old and as we know, it is difficult for them to keep their concentration for long periods of time; to avoid that issue, I use visual media resources to attract their attention. Regarding realia, Shin (2006, p. 4), says that “Young learners tend to have short attention spans and a lot of physical energy. In addition, children are very much linked to their surroundings and are more interested in the physical and the tangible”. During my experience I have noticed that children need to be in constant movement, when I do
activities with different resources in the classroom they are more focused in the activities that I do. I use the (TPR) approach; this tool is useful when you want your students to burn some energy at the beginning of the class. The second idea is “establish classrooms routines in English”. I have established some routines for my classes: at the beginning, the middle and the end of my classes; it helps my students and me because it controls the organization in the classroom. Children are always focusing on everything around the classroom and the routines also create a relaxing environment in the classroom. Establishing routines, Shin (2006, p. 5) states that “Having basic routines in the classroom can help to manage young learners”. In my case, I make a routine when they go to the bathroom; everyone has to clap each time that we say a number in English, it is a useful routine because you can work on reinforcing the numbers. The organization of the routines is your decision. I took the third idea from this: “use stories and contexts familiar to students”. I support this idea from Shin when he said that children learn more easily when things that they learn are related to their context, in other words learning through something that is familiar to them. In my case, I read Colombian tales in English, I use a lot of body language to make it easy and also I try to have my students repeat the common words that I pronounce and in this way they learn vocabulary. In conclusion, if you have never taught young learners, this is an article for you, it has a series of recompilations about the best strategies for teaching English to young learners. In my case, I have used the majority of the ideas in the article and in the same way, the article gave me some new strategies for working with my students.
4
Didactics and Methodology
Is there a holy grail for SLA?
J u s t as in the king Arthur’s legends in the search for the “Holy grail”. When somebody wants to learn a foreign language, is there a key to acquire it from an easier way?. Answering this question is so complex, because we cannot tell whether there is a method to learn it, or whether there exists a specific skill to develop to acquire the new language. This may be the reason why for many years some psycholinguistics and researchers have tried to discover the key to foreign language acquisition. But they have not found the key yet.
In agreement with some psycholinguistics and researchers the answer is simple. The key to learning a foreign language is the “attitude”. It is developed by people in several ways; one of these attitude ways is “motivation”. According to Lauren Razavi in The Guardian Newspaper (March 19th 2014) “for more than 50 years, two terms have categorized the motivation of language learning: integrative and instrumental. Though distinct, these types of motivation are closely linked” (1). This postulate is great; motivation is the biggest key to learning a second language or more languages. So the people who are interested in learning or in other activities which imply to learn are more successful than others. This is due to them having a set of qualities, such as aptitude and willingness, which gives them the opportunity to enjoy learning and to have an enjoyable experience from it. As mentioned above, motivation is an important factor in foreign language acquisition. To start off, we should analyze the mother tongue acquisition and its causes. Well it is a necessary event in the human’s life. Firstly, it starts when a child begins to attract the attention of everyone around him. As a result of that, he needs to interact with them, so the child wants to become a member of the society, this process is an innate motivation (he wants to be part of the society, to communicate with others). Secondly, it is how a child takes off some things that people do or say. The child tries to understand how he can fit into a social group, the typical phrase when the child makes a mistake “that is what you are taught in your home?”.
5
it is strictly related to the things which he has learned. Because, he is as a sponge. He takes up what he sees and feels around his world. In this process, he acquires the knowledge and uses words like “How?”. In brief, each child’s attempt to learn is strictly related with motivation.
Motivation in second language acquisition is a pleasure and likewise, sometimes it is a practical option. According to John Schumann referenced by Lauren Razavi in The Guardian Newspaper (March 19th 2014) “two terms have categorized motivation in language learning: integrative and instrumental”. Those terms support both postulates, the first one integrative motivation, means to learn a language in order to get it, know it, learn it and use it to interact with others. The instrumental motivation is the second. Well it is how the language learning has practical purposes, such as fulfilling a school requirement, getting a job. Getting a promotion in a job or being able to deal with customers. To sum up, the acquisition of a second language is not as simple as a Holy Grail or philosopher’s stone, the key is to be motivated to have an enjoyable experience when we learn a foreign language. In addition, it is more rewarding to learn with pleasure than with imposition. We have to remember that we could have the world in our hands if we were able to communicate in the same language as others. The best option is speaking a universal language like English. On the other hand we have to set aside thoughts about how a human being learns a new language, only when we were born with an innate knowledge. It is certain that some people were born with left brain lateralization which allows them to develop an easier language learning acquisition. Also it is certain there are people who do not have this type of lateralization developed, but they can acquire a foreign language through attitude, motivation and willingness to develop the four skills. Elaborated by: Cristian Andres Martinez Castellanos. motivates us ?.retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/educa tion/2014/mar/19/language-learning-motivation-brain-teaching
H
D KNOW ABOUT KRASH L U O H EN’S RS S E H APP AC E RO A YT
CH
W
Didactics and Methodology
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eTVbdstastI/maxresdefault.jpg
Anonymous LIEI
Stephen Krashen is a linguist, educational researcher; activist and professor specialized in theories of language acquisition, much of his research have been developed in the non-English and bilingual language acquisition. Krashen is known for his theories about second language acquisition and for introducing various concepts of it. All of his work should be taken into account for the future to teach a second Language. The natural approach was developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen and according to them, is the natural way of taking up a language in a classroom setting, emphasizing communication and giving less importance to grammar structures or students errors. The language output isn’t forced, it takes place more spontaneously and the characteristics of the FLA (first Ianguage acquisition) are used to acquire SLA (second language acquisition). Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition is based on five hypotheses and the acquisition-learning hypothesis is the most important of the five hypotheses. It says that the acquisition is subconscious and learning is the conscious knowledge of a language. The monitor hypothesis explains the relationship between acquisition (utterance initiator) and learning (editor); the input hypothesis is related to acquisition and states that learners acquire a SLA when they receive understanding messages; the natural order hypothesis suggests that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a natural order and the affective filter hypothesis states that some emotions infer with process of the SLA. So, what is the importance of Krashen’s theories? Krashen’s theories have an application for teaching a second language. According to the theories, the way a language is learned is through natural communication; therefore, a teacher creates a situation where the students acquire the language instead of learning it. Teachers have to be aware that some structures are more easily acquired than others and provide a comprehensible, understandable input for learners.
References Ellis, R (1997) Second Language Acquisition, United Kingdom, Oxford: Oxford University Press. hen main hypotheses. Retrieved from: Rhalmí, M. (2009) My English Pages: T he natural approach. Retrieved from: Schütz, R. (2014). English made in Brazil: Language Acquisition. Retrived
6
Cultural Respect And Preventing discrimination on the EFL class
Written by: Jaime Rojas Barrera.
Working on respecting culture in school They also might think about him as is a topic that i becoming important in someone with strange behaviors or our country nowadays, and of course it is rituals (descriptive stereotype).So, important to talk about because it teachers and students can have stereoconcerns Colombian education where types about other students from a differdiscrimination has been increasing. This ent place in the city, the community, the discrimination ultimately affects each country, or even the world. school, each group of students, and each class including the EFL classroom. So, The phenomenon of stereotypes grew for us as English teachers it is necessary because we have used them to establish education is constantly as is everything else inItpeoples’ to createNowadays a classroom environment in changing certain human characteristics. is totallives; during the last few years, the development and improvement in thedifferquawhich cultural respect is possible and in ly known that now children from lity of life has continued, as have the necessities in life. Being a teacher in thisof which our students will be able to ent cultures and from different parts century is a challenge, because as a teacher, you have to face many situations, understand its importance, so that they Colombia can get together in the same can avoid discrimination in the class- school and classroom. In this case, the also your way of living. room and obviously in their lives. stereotypes that we created about others Based on it, I think, there exists some factors that are really important and rekeep in touch with the reality of these levant for the 21st century teacher that we must take into account: First of all, The difficulties of discrimination started people we were stereotyping about. technology is a tool that has the potential to help. Most of the teachers should with the creation of stereotypes and the Today is much easier for us to relate to incorrect use that people have given to people from different parts of the counthem. Nowadays, are somein the same school any in Bogota one enrich the stereotypes students’ learning process try; and the labor of teaching knowledge thing normal for humans; that is why it can find people with totally different or information. is normal that humans create stereotypes cultural backgrounds. Second, of a multiculabout others. Wethe canexistence define stereotypes lessonthe planning, classas established representations and/or Onassessment, the other hand, use of stereoTeachers have to be aware and pay room management, approaches, idealizations about someone or some- types is not negative at all, “thus,methe attention the world aroundthey the stu-argument thods, techniques, thing. Even in theto EFL classroom, is that strategies, humans deaare dents and the institution because it is ling with problems, error correction, can appear as either as descriptive or programmed to use stereotypes in discipline, behavioral etc. prescriptive stereotypes. To identify choosing actions because aspects, these stereoculture of the people and their histowhat those categories are, I will refer to types provide ‘‘information’’ in situarical background. With globalization, Fourth, schools in the community an article written by Frank J. Landy tions in which fuller information is are important. During the last few because there is a brief explanation of absent” (Industrial and Organizational ways of life that determine their perthese categories. tellsabout us,rea-Psychology, 2008.p. andtaking it means formance and Landy point of view cally, schools have380) been an “Descriptive are should beliefs we can recognize stereotypes and lity. 21ststereotypes century teachers knowthatimportant role in society and its deabout what a group ispossesses, them for learning purposes in activithatattributes cultural diversity in the class-usevelopment. Currently, there are more whereas room prescriptive stereotypes are ties like sharing opinions about different and know how to deal with it. schools in more places with the idea beliefs about what attributes a group cultures and usingcan stereotypes that everyone access education. should possess.” (Industrial and Organi21st century teachers are aware of zational teachers Psychology, 2008.p. 380). knowleFor that and take into account the role use new teaching example,dge, let´sskills say there were a group and abilities in the of class- of schools among groups of people Although there now exists studentsroom. in Bogota, and that one of these sed education has increased in this studentsthousands was fromof Lamethods, Guajura.techniques The strategies for teaching, the 21st century. Education in this century studentsand and teachers from Bogota century teacher is will ablehave to an explo- is related and focused on the stumight think that this student re, identify and select the best indigenous culture completely different one dent; it means that each part of the of own them(prescriptive). to use in the classroom. lesson and the curriculum is desigfrom their ned to enrich the students’ learning because teachers are constantly process and because of it, teachers revising their knowledge about have to pay attention to each detail
7 3
opinions about different cultures and using stereotypes and ideas about different cultures without discriminating and instead, encouraging a cultural respect within the EFL class. As teachers, we must go further than our thinking and encourage students not to make generalizations about others. There exist cases where students discriminate against other students in the lessons given to the students because they come from a specific based on their necessity of learning. region or country (it can generate problems and interfere in the process of Sixth, the use of the web and virtual learning in athe 21st foreign language knowledge century educa- like English) tion; education has a new tool to use in
favor of a better learning process that Our role of is virtual more than to share is composed knowledge andknowledgesuch about a language; we have spaces as the web. Teachers must to be surehow thatto we are creating know use them correctly the be- most appropriate atmosphere where students cause the internet and all its resources English. to arecan partlearn of people’s dailyProblems life so we related can usediscrimination it for learning purposes in schools. can influence the class
just other obstacles do, so it is a teach-
Seventh, content knowledge is neceser’s obligation to solve these problems sary in today’s education. Today, it is using English language and different more important to know how to use strategies to reinforce the cultural therespect. knowledge that we learn in class than to memorize it. 21st century
Finally, we as teachers have to do our
knowledge in their teaching and actibest to eliminate a problem such as vities to their students using practical discrimination because it affects the methods and information that will development of a society, and in a more encourage and enrich the learning
specific case, the education in our schools. We need to take into account thatprocess discrimination ning because theproblems student iscan be seen in thesomething EFL classroom, andmewe must able to learn through assume our role as teachers and citizens aningful content taught in the class. and teach not only the language but also and information life. Toknowledge conclude, those are some offorthe implications of being a 21st cenReferences: tury teacher;Industrial however, they are and Organizational Psychonot logy, 1 (2008), 379–392. Copyright
ª 2008 Societyto for Industrial and rather, are challenges deal with Organizational Psychology. 1754every day in our profession. If we as 9426/08 teachers are able to improve our teaching performance and knowledTimberlake, J. M. and Williams, ge and also to develop teaching R. H. (2012), our Stereotypes of U.S. Immigrants from Four Global Re
our students and our community. gions. Social Science Quarterly,
93: 867–890. doi: 10.1111/j.15406237.2012.00860.x
Education vs necessities Elaborated by Karen Calviche
In In the last 50 years the world has had a lot of changes; culture, new technologies, etc. The people who are in the world have changed their necessities. For this reason they need to develop new abilities, but the Colombian educational system is not responding to this. Nowadays there are countries which have adapted their educational models such as Finland, Switzerland and Canada. So how have these countries improved their educational system? These are the educational models for the future. One of the most important countries is Finland. It has the evaluation model of the west. Well it implements some points according to Adam Taylor “as children do not start school until they are 7 years old, they rarely take exams or do homework until they are 10 years old. There is one mandatory standardized test in Finland. It is taken by teenagers, when they are 16 years old. 30% of children receive extra help during their first nine years of school, 66% of students go to college and Science classes are capped. They perform practical experiments in every class. Also the teachers only spend 4 hours a day in the classroom, they take 2 hours a week for “professional development,” the school system is 100% state funded and more”. With those points and others the Finnish education is one of the best in the world. Finland thinks of the comfort and happiness of its students and teachers. Its system is focused to construct creative women and men. On the other hand, one of the powers in economic and finance cities is Switzerland. Actually its educational system is based on financial education; the students learn mathematics. According to Expatica, Switzerland has an education department for each “canton” state. The Swiss banks are in constant contact with the students. best-in world-2012-11?op=1 http://www.investopedia.com/articles/profes sionaleducation/12/top_educationalsystems.asp
IWell they provide them special programs, because they have the Swiss financial institution and Swiss banking school. Also education in Switzerland is mandatory when the students are 16 years old. 95% of students attend public school, besides in the schools, the students can learn one national language for example, German, French, Italian or romance. Sometimes they learn 2 foreign languages. But the students who want to be teachers need specific requirements. We are not familiar with these methods in our country. As we see with the previous examples, there are many differences between these countries’ models and Colombia’s models. Why is Colombia so far from this achievement? Well Colombia has an obsolete model. It was developing when the industries needed manpower and repetitive action and now we can see that is the actual education. The children repeat, repeat and repeat the things which they have been learning. But they are not learning. The children are more curious and that could be exploited in a good way. The industry is very advanced and soon it won’t need manpower. The times have changed, the people have changed. Nowadays the important areas are financial, environmental care, emotional care and having innovation. In Colombia’s models, the teachers have a forgotten place in education. Better salaries and training should be essential. Also, many teachers make a mistake when they think they are the principal character in the education system; the students have a role too. Actually Colombia’s education cannot adopt others countries’ models because the social conditions are totally different. It is important to think in the present. Twenty years ago people thought that education was the basis of society, so what basis are we building for the future? If Colombia’s model is obsolete what are the new options? There are many aspects to a simple educational reform; many educational diseases affect our country. Finally, we should be aware of this because education is an important and necessary topic in our lives.
-
8
9
As Professor Lucy Henry of London South Bank University states: “existing studies of young adults with SLI in their 30s show that on the whole they have very few educational qualifications, often have difficulty finding stable employment and, lacking the language skills to make good friendships, can become quite isolated”. According to this, personal life might be affected due to children and young adult people not being able to express themselves in a correct way because they can’t find the words to do it. In concordance with the Manual for Children's Parents with Specific Language Disorder (2013): "Having SLI implies having problems in social interaction with others, especially in school, because children are less sought at playtime".
10
THE IMPLICATIONS OF POWER IN THE FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE by José David Azuero Sánchez Power is the privilege that everybody wants to possess and in some situations we have the possibility to govern and guide other people with the power that we impulse, but sometimes we wonder why people who we consider to not deserve this power, are in this privileged position. To answer this it is necessary to take a look at what is the meaning of power in the current society. Let’s think of someone who has power over us (it could be the president, a teacher or a judge) and try to think what arguments those people have to control what we think and how we act depending on the situation. Most of the cases, we can say that these people possess knowledge and a social position to justify their job; so here comes another outstanding question, what makes knowledge so important to deserve the power? We as human beings have the necessity to know and understand the world that is around us, but sometimes the possible explanations that we produce towards a phenomenon are not as valid as the ones that have been planted by people who are “experts” in some people have the possibility to acquire the truth of knowledge and transmit it in a very convincing and almost persuasive way; so from this point, experts and the society start to construct a whole concept around a single idea that becomes the immutable truth. possible to see how the author needs
11
to support his ideas with the ideas of people who know more about the take a deeper look; “his ideas” are just a reproduction of what other people have said about the same topic, varied in only some aspects applied to his own context. According to all of these aforementioned aspects, power needs knowledge to progress and vice versa, it means that someone who has power because of his social status needs to keep up with knowledge. If it doesn’t happen, it is very possible that someone with more knowledge takes over his position, which again takes us to a matter of power. Just as Van, D. (1993) argues “one crucial power resource is privileged or preferential access to discourse. One element of such complex access patterns is more or less controlled or active access to the very communicative event as such, that is, to the situation…” which means that someone who is capable of managing power, is also capable of managing his context, that includes “time, place, setting, presence or absence of participants in such events” Van, D. (1993). Now, if we take a look at the implications of this power in a situation most of the time, social groups and cultures who have built an ideology and their own concepts about a into some other social groups considered by them as minorities just
because the minorities´ ideology is against their own needs and thoughts, which does not enact power over them because a single sentence such as “we are right and you are not” provides these people with the position and power that they are supposed to have. It is here where we can take into account of how the discourse is so important in constructing a system of government all over the world. Without a very well organized discourse, it is almost impossible to believe in people who come up with new ideas and concepts. Even if one may think that they have experience in an area, they are not wise enough to convinfor a person who attends a political conference to be heard if this person represents only a recipient of information, no matter if this person has enough arguments to be a participant in the political discussion. In this way, our society is ruled by two main divisions; the participants in the society from their discourse and the users of the language that use it to move through a circle of interaction created by those who enact power. people in our daily life is just a reminder of the power that other people enact on us, and that power is represented in institutions and scopes of the society. Now a person can’t be powerful if he does not have access to education, but it depends on how
Didactics and Methodology that education is given to that person. Most of the time, education is necessary for people to participate in positive changes of a community, society or that education is arranged to provide students with ideas that are not strong enough to go beyond the boundaries of the “user of the language” and this is because the ones who have the power, want to keep the quality of the knowledge away from them. cause no one who lives in this era has had the opportunity to be in the exact place and time where the important facts and moments in history have occurred. and dominance that are around us. But not everything is about the power that others perform on us; “A certain kind of disposition is also required to permit individuals to be receptive to the requisite knowledge so that they can avail of the means necessary to acquire it”
to receive and accept what other people say, and this is when we talk about the dominance that is present in the entire context. An example could be related to family. Our parents need to be dominant and most of the time, our disposition allows them to have power, otherwise we would be going against the rules and their place of dominance and power would be brought down.
In conclusion the power of knowledge and the dominance are aspects that have accompanied us since ancient ages, even when comparing humans creates a cyclical reproduction of information, giving the most powerful people the chance to continue being quoted and being taken into account as a point of reference in all areas of study.
REFERENCES: Quinn P. (1998): Knowledge, Power and Control: Some Issues in Epistemology. Retrieved from: http:// www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliQuin.htm Van Dirk, T. A. (1993) Discourse society
12
What are the implications of English as a Global language in countries like Colombia? Can be Colombia Excluded?
Laura Ximena arias English is considered a Global language by the economic, political and social powers where countries have it as their official language. By this explanation, Colombia is not one of them, but it is entering its globalization eve, therefore Colombia has to speak the language that dominates the world. It is a long process to acquire but in order for Colombia to reach this objective, it will need its people to overcome these changes. The first one is the language to allow communication and the establishment of codes to understand each other. I consider globalization important in that English is used as a lingua franca in order to make communication possible among people that do not share a mother tongue, with the objective of reaching acheivements in different fields: science, academic, economic, education, political, so for me, these would be the implications, positives changes and new investments for development of the country. The important point here is that
13
Colombia adapts to this language without losing its cultural the implications, positives changes and new investments for development of the country. The important point here is that Colombia adapts to this language without losing its cultural aspects, especially its dialects and accents. I conclude that English is spread out all over the world; this is a result of having a high status because many countries speak this language and clearly most of them are powerful countries. As I said before, in Colombia, English is a foreign language not a second language. However, there are many nonnative speakers, in relative to the total of people that speak English around the world. Currently, Colombia has a minor percentage of English-speakers, so, before thinking of the implications, we need to think of how it is possible to reach this goal of bilingualism so that Colombians can speak English for business, education, politics, economic issues, in laws and even in their daily life. http://chinese-breeze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/So-ignorant.jpg
“the disenchantment of society”
By Sindy Coock Cudris
analysis of the social recons- Today there is strong support in truction in the modern world. sociological theory. Mannheim He was focusing on the problems was a pioneer in the hermeneuand some possible solutions for tic approach in sociology with a general theory of the relationship application of theories based on between individuals and society rationality and the application by analyzing the interaction of our of sociology using knowledge to make society much smarter and cognitive interest and research planned, but this wasn’t a threat to plans could be a little bit peculiar democracy. Also, Mannheim focused his knowledge from a socioare called generations, in which the society shares a series of events. are based on elitism and modest conservatism due to the problems Although someone discovered that experienced at the time. We can the individual leaves because of say that the sociology of knowleinterest for utopias and ideologies dge is concerned with more than describing the modern age as a time just knowledge. Knowledge is of “social disenchantment” where obtained with cultural products, globalization and technology make in which we analyze socio-cula strong contribution to this con- tural phenomena the same way. cept, we are living in our time. And all has changed the social concept. In conclusion, we analyze However, Mannheim has analyzed the sociology of knowledge of man ciology as the science of cul- Bibliography: Karl Mannheim Capitol 11 in the social classes and makes an tural formations in society. http://ciempre.wikidot.com/facticidad Mannheim is recognized for being “critical;” his goal was to gain new knowledge, and his greatest work was his book ideology and Utopia. In this process, we can identify the social change that was generated because of the social problems of the time. Mannheim’s outlook is ba-
3
14
án
rin
athe K a n ia
By D
jab u C a l e e Orju
The identity, is a topic that many people like to talk, other people prefers to change the subject and talk about any other thing that doesn't have anything to do with their identity, maybe because they don't know their own identity yet, but in some point in our lives, we have to build, created or change our identity. We can do this task when we are with our families, our friends or in the street, but what is the place where we spend a very large part of our lives? I am talking about to school. This is the place where we spent eleven years of our lives (maybe others spend more than eleven years), seeing each other, teachers and students, five days per week for seven hours every day, so our pass through school helped us to build our personal identity. But now, as future teacher, how could we build identities in the classroom? The aim of this article is search for some answers to this question; search for proposals that we could implement in our classes, and in this way, help to construct a new generation of people that can be able to transform the society, and give it the push that they need to come up, to evolve in a better citizen for all of us. Before start, it is necessary to define the key word of this article: identity. According to Erik Erikson, who was an American (born in German) psychologist and psychoanalyst, says that “identity is not static, and represents a self-image. Identity is the perception of sameness in time, and is connected to the perception of the others1”, so that means that identity is how the others perceive us, and as a personal opinion, I think this should not be like that, because people start to build their personal identities to be part of a group, so you always have to change, and maybe, you will never show yourself as the way you really are. Now, as future teachers, I think that is very important to develop the capacity of build our identity and the identity of the students.
http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo-school-still-life-with-copyspace-on-chalkboard
While I was searching on the Internet, I found a really interesting video about an American teacher, who was building personal identities in children in a primary school. In the activity, called “family flags”, the teacher described some flags that also the children recognized; she explained the colors, the meaning of each color, also some symbols and their meanings etc. and then the children start to create the flag of their families, like any other flag, had to have a meaning, the reason for the colors, of the draws, of everything that the children has put in it. I think this is an excellent idea to build national identity, and as Colombian, we have too much history to bring back, and maybe we can have a really nice surprise if we investigate our ascendant. Other activities that I think really helps to build the identity are the ones that let children see the differences and similarities between each other: between girls and boys, and boys with another boy and so on. These types of activities allow children to find those differences with other kids, and that they see that those differences are good. On the other hand, we have the similarities between each other, so they can see what kind of characteristics they have in common, and at this part, is when we as teachers, can create identity of groups. There are many groups that we may create, maybe a group of math, or the ones that like literature, music, etc. and that is what we have to improve in each one of them, their interests and always motivate them to continue developing their personal and also group identity. As a conclusion, construct or build identities is a very hard work, you have to create the perfect activities to get the best of your students, and in this way create identities that be firm and unique. Our own identity is the most important thing that we show to the world; we expound our beliefs, personality, tastes, character etc. and we just expect to belong in one of the hundreds of groups that exist, we expect to be accepted and develop an important role in those groups, and our work as teachers is develop in the best way possible, those identities in process, never stop the ideals of the students, because if we do that the only result that we are going to have, is children with really bad attitudes, and the classes definitely won’t be as interesting as if we interact with the children and explode the best of them.
16
What are the implications for you as a teacher of the 21st century? Jaime Rojas.
Nowadays education is constantly changing as is everything else in peoples’ lives; during the last few years, the development and improvement in the quality of life has continued, as have the necessities in life. Being a teacher in this century is a challenge, because as a teacher, you have to face many situations, also your way of living. Based on it, I think, there exists some factors that are really important and relevant for the 21st century teacher that we must take into account: First of all, technology is a tool that has the potential to help. Most of the teachers should enrich the students’ learning process and the labor of teaching any knowledge or information. Second, the existence of a multiculTeachers have to be aware and pay attention to the world around the students and the institution because it is culture of the people and their historical background. With globalization, ways of life that determine their performance and point of view about reality. 21st century teachers should know that cultural diversity is in the classroom and know how to deal with it. teachers use new teaching knowledge, skills and abilities in the classroom. Although there now exists thousands of methods, techniques and strategies for teaching, the 21st century teacher is able to explore, identify and select the best one of them to use in the classroom. because revising
17
teachers are constantly their knowledge about
assessment, lesson planning, classroom management, approaches, methods, techniques, strategies, dealing with problems, error correction, discipline, behavioral aspects, etc. Fourth, schools in the community are important. During the last few cally, schools have been taking an important role in society and its development. Currently, there are more schools in more places with the idea that everyone can access education. 21st century teachers are aware of that and take into account the role of schools among groups of people sed education has increased in this century. Education in this century is related and focused on the student; it means that each part of the lesson and the curriculum is designed to enrich the students’ learning process and because of it, teachers have to pay attention to each detail
in the lessons given to the students based on their necessity of learning. Sixth, the use of the web and virtual knowledge in the 21st century education; education has a new tool to use in favor of a better learning process that is composed of virtual knowledge and spaces such as the web. Teachers must know how to use them correctly because the internet and all its resources are part of people’s daily life so we can use it for learning purposes in schools. Seventh, content knowledge is necessary in today’s education. Today, it is more important to know how to use the knowledge that we learn in class than to memorize it. 21st century knowledge in their teaching and activities to their students using practical methods and information that will encourage and enrich the learning ning process because the student is able to learn something through meaningful content taught in the class. To conclude, those are some of the implications of being a 21st century teacher; however, they are not rather, are challenges to deal with every day in our profession. If we as teachers are able to improve our teaching performance and knowledge and also to develop our teaching our students and our community.
Linguistics and Literature
“All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate” (Julio Cortàzar, around the day in eighty worlds) Elaborated by: Daniela Fernanda Porras Fonseca
We have always had literature as background, but it is important to give consideration to the major exponents of Latin American literature and even in Latin America. One of the pioneers of this global literature has been Julio Cortázar, who implemented concepts of freedom and a way of writing. In this article I will explain why Julio Cortázar has been an important writer in the Latin American and global literature. Cortázar is one of the greatest exponents of Latin American and global literature. His romantic and realist literature made him the greatest writer in history. Since his death, his work continues captivating the attention of many readers. In the 60s and 70s, Latin America was living a global catastrophe and revolution so at this point, it was not common to see someone write, but Cortázar did it. Some works from him are Rayuela, 62 modelos para armar. The Boom Latino Americano was written around 1968. He became one of the most famous writers worldwide. Cortázar was interested in Latin-American politics. Well he wanted to change the idea that Latin American was about to be marginalized by countries which had the power. Although that idea has not changed yet. You cannot deny that http://www.literaberinto.com/cortazar/corta1976.jpg literature has changed the world and has created new ways to fight against senseless wars in the last decades. During the decade of 60s and 70s Latin America had political and economic problems. The literature has taken a crucial role. Some Latin American writers such as Mario Vargas weep, Pablo Neruda and Julio Cortàzar, who decided to write about the power of passing borders. Also some international writers such as Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre revealed through literature the world’s problems. But it did not help in a great way. There were people who transformed literature giving another way to understand ideas. They were heard more when it was written on paper than when they were made their speeches. Julio Cortàzar and his literature work have been becoming something extremely important and something else. He released another part of South American and European world. The wars were turned into words and the problems into solutions by him.
After 60 years, today their literature work remains a source of inspiration for the new writers, giving the opportunity to enjoy the literature implementing different topics which anyone can enjoy reading. It is clear to some people that Cortázar in his time was not a famous writer but now he is a great writer. The people who have had the fortune to read “Rayuela”, one of the most famous books by him, can explain Cortázar’s work (how he took the pain and made with it a clean literature). His books have different characteristics of Cortázar. I think in his books the readers can analyze other concepts and perceive the politics, love, relationship and economy in another way. Cortázar is not only a great writer of literature, http://www.pulzo.com/sites/default/files/julio-cortazar.jpg he has showed different expectations, sometimes filling gaps of ignorance with letters, words and thoughts. In conclusion, Cortázar lived in an unsatisfactory time. But he was a dreamer who changed the course of history to form a powerful literature. This is was important and allowed him to convert something insignificant into something important. An implemented new technique to let the world know that literature could be enjoyed creating different worlds, where the people can visualize unimaginable and impalpable worlds. The importance in Latin American literature is that Cortázar has made world revolution with which people can change their views about the marginalization which has been in different countries. Cortázar is remembered as an icon and representative of Latin America. References: Cortazar.J.goods reads, Juilo Cortazar Quotes.Recovered of : http://www.goodreads.com/author/
18
HOW MAY LANGUAGE BUILD MEANINGS IN THE CLASSROOM ACCORDING TO THE TEACHER – ARE STUDENTS’ ROLES SOCIALLY ESTABLISHED? by Javier Andres Cardenas To begin, language is considered a fundamental part of a person’s development, since it is the best mode of communication we have at our disposal. Because also exchange information to express their feelings. In addition, language is customs, level of knowledge, and ability to understand structurally every detail of each person or place. On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize the reto construct meaning between teachers and students when social and cultural exchanges are being carried out within the classroom. Firstly, it is important to mention and describe the role of teachers and students within the classroom. Teachers are tasked not only with sharing their knowledge; they also must create an environment of communication and form the student that all society wants. In the same way, students must represent their own concepts from their work and designate a communication method to express their thoughts of their linguistic tools of thought and socio-cultural experience of the child. ´ (Vygotsning in the classroom according to the socially established roles of teachers and between two similar people sharing the same parameters; no one has authority over another and each student is able to practice their own way of using language which varies depending on the community which he or she comes from. In is in a position of authority because when a conversation between a teacher and a student occurs, the social factors change; the participants and the social context-- such as such as the place where they are talking, what they are talking about, and who is talking-- is taken into account. It also takes into
19
account the issue that is being disthe conversation. Corroborating the view that Vygotsky has said that when language is developed from the cultural and social interaction and that both teachers and students are part of a relationship of knowledge. On the other hand, it is common to dents or teachers in a classroom and rent expressions are used to communicate the same thing. But why do ple facets where the language is inmanagement to be given verbal expression changes but not the context. You can say that the language is very tuation where the amount of knowledge is not a barrier as long as respect is not lost between the parties and with more reasons when the other person is a symbol of power or superiority. To Holmes (2001), languages provide a variety of ways of saying the same thing such as addressing and greeting
Linguistics and Literature others, describing things, and paying compliments and the relationship between the people in the particular situation, and how the speaker feels about the person adto another is a useful clue to nonlinguistic information. handled by one person in a community, classroom or events, among others, where social guidelines are established according to the social information that is required. For this reason, sociolinguists that are in charge of studying the relationship between language and society are -
if the conversation is formal or informal and whether meters are known as social dimensions commonly used in all communication experiences that arise in daily life. Another important parameter is when you need to know the “why” of things, describe the sociolinguistic variation, and begin to look for patterns which will help to formulate an explanation of why people use one set Sociolinguists call this looking for explanations. Moreover, language brings a very special, abstract ,and complex feature called power, which is necessary to talk about the lives of people that are part of the communication
social factors. Vocabulary or word choice is one area of linguistic variation. But linguistic variation occurs at others levels of linguistic analysis too: sounds, word structure and grammar as well as vocabulary, within each of these linguistic levels there is variation which
never strong enough always to be master unless he transforms his power into right and obedience into duty’. It can be inferred that Rousseau in his sentence establishes a hierarchical order in which someone is the master, in a situation of interaction where there is a scale of status among people who are talking, where the less powerful person is listening carefully to the words spoken by one who is his superior. In the case of a student and his teacher, both may be governed by limits and thus follow to their socially constructed roles so the teacher would be superior and student would be subordinate creating a relationship where they have already established powers. In conclusion, how language constructs meaning between students and teachers
you see all the aspects that are at work in a language system, and the number of concepts that can be built within an environment that is socially established --in this case in a classroom and participants are teachers and stu-
applications that can be given to it, where factors such as dimensions, explanations, and social factors, as well as the management of power between the parties involved exist. It is also important to note that examining the way
given to language. You can create a thought for which all the aforementioned parts would be essential in everyday life and not in a single location.
a wealth of information about the way language works, as well as about social relationships in a community.
tors such as the ability of information each person has or under what social circumstances they are. An important point in the construction of meanings is hierarchical
REFERENCES:
identifying the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. It is considered the basis of what can be found in communication, ways people says things? To get an idea of how to answer this question it is necessary to recognize aspects that are very important for relating or interacting with someone else. Janet Holmes says ‘Sociolinguists are also types of linguistic variation
tion. Holmes, Janet (2001) An Introduction To Sociolingui tics, Chapter I, p. 3. Longman. Holmes, Janet (2001) An Introduction To Sociolinguistics,
Of Modern Tough, p. 678
20
A shipwreck disaster in the sea of fears By Jaime Rojas
What makes you read? Is it the story? Or how the story makes you feel? In the pleted by American writter, poet, editor and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe-- it is the narrative of A. G. Pym, a young man who travels aboard some whaling ships where he has many adventures and terrible misadventures. Here, the author shows us how human psychology and the mind can be used to catch and to relate to us through our own thoughts and feelings with a reading. In this article, the objective will be to understand how fear is used as a way of catching the reader’s atFear is the method piece of literature to catch reader’s attention as from scared, panic, terror, pain and moreover thoughts, states and feelings that are showed in the book trough characters and narration for relating reader in terested and loyal to the readin the story is developed in many circumstances and proders. Readers form a relationship with the character because they know about that person, knowing all the information that is showed on the book. Some of the problems that Arthur has to face are shipwreck, mutiny, murder, disorientation, sunstroke, destruction, danger, hungry, thirst, and cannibalism. dition, quotes like “It is hardly possible to conceive the extremity of my terror” (Chapter I) or ‘Never while I live shall I forget the intense agony of terror I experienced at that moment” (Chapter I) have the same Chaos, desolation, threat of danger, loneliness, deception, treason, bad luck, panic, terror, pain (etc.) and all types of fear are feelings or/and situations that readers experience, too. reality is a part of us, and it relates them with the story. Surviving may be another example of how fear can tempt readers to continue reading; it is a main toat all moments, readers are seeing or imagining if they were in that situation of being in the middle of the ocean, without food, without water, or it
21
is
another
way
to
keep
the
reader
interested
in
the
story.
Didactics Linguistics andand Methodology Literature
son, Robert Plutchik, and Paul Ekman, is an innate part of each human to a it. Obviously however, the fear the author can produce in a story is not a high-level fear, but rather, an attractive fear that keeps the reader’s attention. someone aren’t always the same for another person. In this book, according to fear of water, in this case because of the sea. Or someone who has claustrophobia might fear those chapters where Arthur is in a little space. Some analyses of this book explain that Edgar Allan Poe had had some experiences with shipwreck Feelings in literature make the reader feel a relationship and also the necessity to be in contact with the story, with characters, and the plot. It is necessary to make the story interesting, and fear makes readers to relate with the book. It can take more feelings or points of views to feel a story, but fears are a private and important part of each person,since fears are generally part of the human nature and they are in our mind without a previous way of conscience. With that us a part of understanding a story from our own minds and capacity to feel.
References:Bittner, W. (1962). Poe: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Kopley, R. (1999, 06, 1). Google Books. Retrieved from http: //books. google.com.co/books?id=6ZZ eCSVz-HgC&pg=PT1&dq=pym+poe+borges&as brr=0&ei=mqjiR7OxL5O8zATq94zXBA&sig=7DTvXdUHJ0zqDCAGE6auQKypC5Q&redir_esc=y#PPT1,M1 Poe, E. A. (1998). lated Tales. Oxford: J. Gerald Kennedy - Oxford University Gordon Pym of Nantucket. California: Modern Library.
22
Linguistics and Literature
Nowadays and Formerly, a Comparison with the Pygmalion Written by: Jenny Rodriguez Vega Pygmalion, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1912, is a play characterized by romantic comedy and so sor and phonetician Higgins with the help of Colonel Pickering, another authority of language science. At the time in which the play was written, the way one spoke, dress, and expressed themselves in public was synonymous with their social status. However things have not changed much in contemporary society, since nowa In the play, high social status was determined by knowledge about art, culture, music, philosophy, dressing, how to the speech. In addition, those in high society were treated by servants, called gentlemen, ladies, Miss, Mr, Mrs, and only allowed in if they were “educated.” On the other hand, those in lower society were treated like people without feelings and were rejected for their appearance. According to Bob Temple, 1912 was the year in which tween social classes at that time were present in all contexts. For example, the ship had been divided in two richest people had to pay for the trip and it was organized with the best accommodations such as music, the ganized in the bottom of the Titanic and perhaps many of them were there without paying with their families. Before and now there are still social classes since nowadays ces are many between rich and poor people because the richest people think that the poor people can’t or are unable to improve their social conditions and vice versa. In these classes are conditioned to think that any of them can increase or decrease. According to Robert that what one person expects of another can come to serve as a
are, and will be conditioned by external factors such as physical appearance, how a person looks like in a meeting, and how a person expresses his or herself in front of a group book, Professor Higgins taught Eliza how to be a lady, but he never sees her as one.
23
that she made until she refused with these words that cau sed impression and made Higgins consider what happened with his aptitude. However, when he reacted he was too late.
while another man truly looked at her as a lady. In that moment Eliza’s instinct told her not to marry Higgins be cause she felt that he was unfair to her with his dominee ring superiority, coaxing cleverness and ability to evade her wrath. Eliza’s instinct warned her not to marry her Pyg malion, but at the same time, her instinct told her that the Freddy Eynsford Hill was in love with her and was better and younger than Mr. Higgins and then they got married.
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will” By George Bernard Shaw.
References Bernard Shaw, G. 1912 Pygmalion.1912. P.23 Retrieved of http://www.hn.psu.edu/faculty/ jmanis/gbshaw.htm November 30th 2012. ve history adventure. Pp. 9 to 10.Retrieved of http://books.google.com.co/books?i d=KHdn-jpGqJIC&printsec= frontco ver&hl= es#v=onepage&q&f=false Novem ber 30th 2012. sini Encyclopedia of Psychology. 1–2. Re trieved of http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0761/ abstract;jsessionid=E9BCAC4718F53DC F4BCA86E9BACDB393.d02t02?deniedAc cessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenti cated=false November 30th 2012.
Anglophone Culture
GOOOD FRIENDS
Written by: Ibeth Ospitia.
Sometimes people think that they can count on their friends in the same way that they can count on their fingers. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find good friends who will always there for you. Obviously there will always be some exceptions. But one thing is true: the good friends will be with you in your worst moments. In the world there are good friends, good listeners, who are intuitive and sympathetic. Nevertheless, people often feel alone because their friends do not actually behave as friends. On the other hand, the world has the best friends: pets. Unfortunately however, people have forgotten that. Many years ago, human beings believed that dogs were man's best friends in the world, due to the fact that they are intelligent, loving and friendly. In addition, they like to spend time with their owners; it doesn’t matter if they have to wait for their owners until they get home.
3
https://dreamingworkingliving.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/4481-best-friend-forever-800x600.jpg
On the other hand, other people prefer cats. They have good and wonderful characteristics, too. They are kind, loving, loyal, and so on. Other people prefer birds such as parrots, canaries, parakeets and cockatoos, while others prefer hamsters, spiders, or rabbits. Choosing a pet is easy, because there are different ways to get a pet; people can buy or adopt one. Therefore, any pet is a good option, because people can find a good friend with any pet. They will always be with their owner and they will always forgive their owners. In the world there are good, interesting, and wonderful friends and so it is important to look around to find them. Having a pet is an amazing experience, so if you have a pet, you have to take care of it and give it the best, because it needs love and special care.
24
er, I answ y n e h w use m botic nd ro ntry, beca ed to u o s ow ant cou ure I n ut Gabo’s ecause I w origis m ’ I abo ia?” nd b I had olomb learn more olombia, a ear, when C o t ut C nd y ome d to NG you c nd wante things abo for a seco A d i W d R a y back “Wh for erful NIFE tude have gain, f Soli wond hy I came a o s e by JEN r n s e m a r i v a told nd o omb ns w 0 Ye y Col over a esis on 10 ogotá and Colombia n a d e m k B s my th hat so telling from een a ride t e and I’ve b se I wrote ofessor is et tired of p d n r g u r. opl ve a “Beca Spanish p er, I never ly one yea the lo ces, the pe e l e e v e f n t e i i or o d to it ju som How favor ying f starte e fresh fru lsa.” orld, a I a t w s s n e e n n r h h lea ed o cone in t tay w ove th plann d to s w much I l e anywher ever, I can e t n nally a in tIw t lik how e ho ed tha d to realiz lives. Jus er people; t the norm z i l a e Ir no rte g eir oth I think untry. I sta have in th isrespect n and e of meetin o i t p e o d r c and they easu e exc and their itivity rd the laws ple are th had the pl enerous s o p the peo the I’ve ega , g e disr those lombians welcoming e I’m from, o peopl say that wher terest the C credibly y e l n f i t o m n e t e s u s d r k n o i fi at e e as are bia. M meon stems from sen to com o s Colom efriending r e cho sity b enev and d. Wh , the curio ons I have e d n i e he m as rove t open- y of the tim and the re d p u it ratld C major ackground 4 Wor team celeb t 1 0 2 b e in th emen ccer in my country. ation he so s the excit am, t r p i i s e c i a h t t r to pa nzy r te ha bia’s o a fre s. As muc the socce ributColom ountry int s f tt c succe shments o was also a reate r r i e t t f n a e li d was c comp ccess playe ed su out the ac bians dis at the team mes was b Ja th om pawas a e that Col eputation o of t o news d h p e d r s i r e A e p n v . e the positi e country f the Taiwa emonstrat e h t r g o i o ed t and d for praisin e ent ront page h e t m r o f d st ing f n the t surprise ment was h mo f t o i p w u g a blown feature tha the tourn ly. So alon ut also o b nt al ts per, a w importa nternation f sadness ted from i i o a o n h e i s tear nam just elim bia’s y, I cried mbia was m o l o r C lo count en Co cidof the e pride wh cup n I de I o s a e r e d other as becaus ced extrem or the worl e h T f perien stay w quest e ed to had not ex ia to b till y b l p m o m l i o s es h of C there wer to visit g u o en d ot es, wante had n ied. Y satisf nd towns I I felt like I he culture nd. t a t, ta cities e than tha eally live in to unders n amazr r g o n ga lly yi but m chance to me tr hips, joinin za and fina á were i t h e c had th ent so mu l relations a EFA Dan n in Bogot to y sp fu el io that I g meaning ty at Escu ansportat opportunit ad r i t n n e i I c u h i t t h l Form ce comm e pub ot yet had the comfor eded s u n o a t ad n e of ut ne how ing d hat I h advantag wanted, b g out t n i s r t u n e fig nly take plishm ed to I not o accom joy. I want lized that n ntry. ea fully e and so I r in the cou d e create d more tim n to spe
25
Anglophone Culture
But my time here has also had its fair share of difficulties and challenges. Within the first few months, I had already moved in and out of different places, spent a night at the bus terminal, and embarrassed myself countless times with the language. Even though I had spent years studying Spanish and lived in Spain for four months, trying to negotiate details for renting an apartment, obtain my cédula and resolve problems with my bank account were completely new challenges. These tasks required not only new vocabulary, but also new cultural and social skills to successfully figure out the way that things functioned. As my stay here is coming to an end, I am happy about the progress I have made towards my original reasons for moving here. I have learned more about the life of Gabriel García Marquez and 100 Years of Solitude by visiting Aracataca and obsessing over the Macondo theme at FilBo. My professor’s praise of the beauty of the country has proven true, as I have traveled around Colombia visiting breathtaking places, from small towns such as Une to expansive regions like La Guajira. I have been in awe of the landscapes in Parque Tayrona, the Eje Cafetero and Guatapé, jewels that are still very much hidden from the world. My salsa dancing is a work in progress; despite taking weekly salsa classes at Uniminuto and occasional classes at La Villa, I still have a long way to go. Colombians just seem to possess a certain flair that isn’t so easily learned. But I am also leaving here with so much more; I am taking a part of the rich Colombian culture with me. For years to come, I will be making chocolate with a molinillo in the mornings and making patacones while listening to Carlos Vives at night. I’ll be using slang like “chévere and diminutives like “un poquito más grandecito.” I’ll definitely be wearing my yellow jersey whenever there is a match and attend Colombian cultural events in the United States, eager to speak to other Colombians about my love for their country. Being part of the Uniminuto community has been a privilege, working with so many dedicated students and professors who are all eager to create positive change in the world. Thank you for all of the help and advice, generosity and openness & joy and laughter that you have given me. I hope that the same open arms and welcoming community will greet you all when you travel abroad. When my previous boss told me about the difficulties I could face in Colombia, he said that the hardest part would be not wanting to leave. After spending nearly two years in this beautiful country, I have to admit that he is absolutely right. There is so much that I will miss about this country but with an optimistic mind and an open heart, I am certain that I will be back.
26
Language, culture and stereotypes Language, culture and stereotypes in the EFL Classroom Laura Ximena arias in the EFL Classroom Nowadays stereotyping is still present around the world because stereotyping is part of culture. The culture is not static, however, there are some tendencies that people continue practicing through time and they do that without even being aware. Stereotyping is one of these tendencies. As a definition of what stereotyping is we can say that it is a prejudice towards any characteristic of a person so it creates a perception that determines social, economical, psychological, cultural and educational perspectives from other people. Therefore they are classified in a category and it provokes discrimination and exclusion.
Stereotyping involves different features of a person such as gender, race, age and also language; those are the principal ways in which people have the opportunity to express themselves. Language allows communication, taking into account the social and cultural background, and the aspects mentioned before are accompanied by the form that people speak. Because of that, people create a previous attitude and opinion that interfere in the perspective and way to act according to the perspective and prejudices made by a person. It marks distance betweengroups of people based on these beliefs.
The next examples illustrate two groups of people that generally are stereotyped, black people and immigrants, thus according to this definition that mentions two types of stereotypes we can analysis the first example: “Stereotypes are often further parsed into subcategories such as descriptive and prescriptive or injunctive stereotypes” (Eagly & Koenig, 2008) “Descriptive stereotypes are beliefs about what attributes a group possesses, whereas prescriptive stereotypes are beliefs about what attributes a group should possess”. (Landy, 2008. P 379). We can distinguish that people
stereotype some groups creating general attributes and also people make some assumptions about characteristics that a group might have. The next example is quite strong but it is the one of the major prejudices. Some people think that a person with black skin definitely does not know how to express themselves properly or in a polite way. People assume that their skin color makes them speak in a different way, probably faster, or modifying the words that a white skin person would not use. Consequently, when someone sees a black person they have this idea of their communicative process. It happens because of the influence of other people, or perhaps because they absolutely consider that all people with black skin should have these features, or people make assumptions about their level of education, or people have some presuppositions depending on the regions of the country. Continuing with the topic about level of education, we can say that it is linked with how we can use the language in a formal or academic context. This level is taken high or low depending on the socioeconomic status. In this case we have the second example of a group that has been stereotyped, they are the immigrants: “First, education is frequently conceptualized as an indicator of social class. Higher levels of education are related to higher income and occupational prestige, and therefore lower levels of labor market competition with low-skill immigrants” (Timberlake and Williams, 2012 p. 873). Many immigrants are stereotyped by low economic conditions and skills.
27
Anglophone Culture In the last two examples we can obser ve that educators have a challenge to face about teaching, is not enough just to teach a foreign language, teachers need to know and handle the context that they will overcome, also the cultu ral aspects that are immersed in a EFL classroom, because as we see in the cases mentioned before some groups of people are frequently discrimina ted by someone for the way that they look or speak based on stereotypes.
them or change their normal routines all is the result of stereotypes “Citizens who live in areas with high concentrations of out-group residents feel more threatened, and therefore respond with more negative stereotypes, on average, than citizens who live in areas with low concentrations of out-group residents� (Timberlake and William, 20012 p. 870.) however, it is not juscreases social distances and generate
It is usual that people feel threatened by the society because people who are discriminated assu me that the rest of the population pretend to domain
stereotypes, in this situations people are unconscious about this fear and establish limits without logical reasons. So it is time to change and teachers can overcome the problem in discussion these negative distinctions in the people´s culture through the adopt a critical perspective is necessary in these times by teachers and educators, because nowadays people take tendencies of discrimination rent to us, as a result of this, steting the development of interaction and the respect a m o n g e a c h
other.
To sum up we as teachers need to identify and stimulate a culture res pect in the EFL classroom in order to transmit that the language reaches a range of possibilities of integrate communities, a mean, the cultureseach other with a common code and just the language makes it possible.
Immigrants from Four Global Regions. (2008). Frank J. Landy Stereotypes, Bias, and Personnel Decisions: Strange and Stranger. Elaborated by Laura Ximena Arias Ardila
28
http://www.rmstitanichotel.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Titanic.jpg
http://topinfopost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/N
29
Anglophone Culture
2014/05/141.jpg
M000267_001.jpg
30
Anglophone Culture
31
http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/download/vector_green_house_154915.html
By Yoana Andrea Losada
REFERENCE Radmila Popovic, (1992) The place of translation in Language Teaching, sueleatherassociates. Josefsson, E (2011) Contemporary Approaches to translation in the Classroom, a study of Students Attitudes and Strategies. Pg 13 -14 Brandimonte, G ( 2004) algunas reflexiones sobre el uso del diccionario en el proceso traductor, Universitรก di Messina.
32
Laura Ximena Arias Ardila Language is the most useful tool that we have to communicate between one another, and we can find a many different varieties such as Spanish, Chinese, French, and Italian among others. But there is one language that has great influence not only on a social level but in politics, economics, and culture: that one is the English language. But firstly, we need to define why English is becoming the world language. English has international prestige due to the fact that not only affluent and important people speak it in developed and powerful countries. In this way, English is moving from a national to an international level, which is the main reason for its internalization. As a result, the Lingua Franca was created by English people and other communities in the interest of trying to standardize the way everyone in the world could communicate, and take advantage of different cultures without losing their own. Secondly, I personally think that English can become the world language if something transcendental happens internationally, such as a relevant event that can affect the big fields in the world like the economy, education, politics and so on. If new countries become world powers or acquire more capacity on an economic or political level, it is likely they will start to speak in
made by Freepik.com
33 3
3
Anglophone Culture
English, because the first world powers were English-speaking countries. But we could take into account that in terms of business, some countries have taken leadership positions and they do not speak English. This could mean that languages other than English are important in business matters, and that other languages are being taken into consideration. Finally, there is the idea that speaking English is synonymous with job opportunities, travel, respect, knowledge, etc., and this is a really strong reason why people have started to learn English through Internet courses ,in which a vast amount of the information is presented in English, or by attending courses in institutions. In conclusion, English can become in the world language and this is determined by several aspects: political, economic, social, and educational among others. I do not think this could be possible in the nearby future, because it depends on how the world, the people, and culture evolve and develop. But English is definitely a very important part of everybody´s life all over the world. We have contact directly or indirectly with English; it is just a matter of wanting to learn a new language, and it depends on every person.
3
Anglophone Culture
by Catalina Fuelantala
References: *Bonjovi: (2.009, November) retrivied from http://www.todomusica.org/bon_jovi/ * icaro. (2.010, September 28). Bon Jovi. Retieved from http://www.lastfm:es/music/BonJovi
35
http://todayschildmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/shutterstock_75757024.jpg
Anglophone Culture
by: TANIA LORENA SEPULVEDA BLANCO
Rol
REFERENCES toria. mejor grupo de la his el es tles Bea The l er que -para-creer-que.htm nta razones para cre nes trei azo de s ta-r Mรก ein . 11) e-tr (20 s-d /ma Hernandez Gomez, V. logspot.com/2011/06 ones-de-la-historia/ nci zg.b s-ca nde rna jore ohe -me ver 500 listas/lasTaken from http:// http://rollingstone.es/ 1-1920x1080.jpg historia. Taken from eatles-wallpaper_15194 jores canciones de la me les.brothersoft.com/t/the-b //wfi 500 http: Las . 11) (20 . ling Stones magazine
36