Barboni Postmethod Pedagogies Applied in ELT Formal Schooling

POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGIES APPLIED
IN ELT FORMAL SCHOOLING

TEACHERS VOICES FROM
ARGENTINE CLASSROOMS
Este texto cuenta con el aval de la Secretara de Extensin de la Universidad Nacional
de La Plata, habiendo sido sometido a evaluacin interna y externa de pares.
Barboni, Silvana J.
Postmethod pedagogies applied in ELT formal schooling: teachers voices from
Argentine classrooms. - 1a ed. - La Plata : Argentine ELT Innovation, 2012.
ISBN 978-987-28082-0-4
1. Teoras Educativas. I. Ttulo.

CDD 370.1
Diseo y Diagramacin: DGP Adriana Mura
Hecho el depsito que marca la ley 11.723

Impreso en Argentina
No se permite la reproduccin total o parcial de este libro, sin el permiso previo de la

autora.
TEACHERS VOICES FROM ARGENTINE CLASSROOMS
CONTENTS
FOREWORD OF THE EDITOR .................................................................................. .................................5

PART A
"ELT THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING TEACHING FROM
POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGIES IN ARGENTINE FORMAL SCHOOLING." BY SILVANA BARBONI.........................77
1. ELT IN THE CONTEXT OF ARGENTINE.....................................................................................................9
2. THE ADVENT OF POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGIES ......................................................................................113
3. ELT EDUCATION FROM A SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE:
ENQUIRY BASED TEACHER LEARNING - TEACHING ...........................................................................1 17
4. CONCLUDING REMARKS ...................................................................................................................221
31
PART B ................................................................................................................................................3
TEACHING SEQUENCE ONE ...................................................................................................................3 33
CAN YOU SAY PEACE? BY PIA ISABELLA ..............................................................................................335
THE THEORY BEHIND IT BY JULIA GARBI .................................................................................................4 43
TEACHING SEQUENCE TWO ...................................................................................................................4 47
DO YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND? BY MARIANA PALMIERI ................................................................449
THE THEORY BEHIND IT BY MERCEDES PELUFFO ......................................................................................5 53
TEACHING SEQUENCE THREE .................................................................................................................5 57
TOMMY AND THE TIME MACHINE BY FERNANDA CRESPI AND PIA ISABELLA .......................................559
THE THEORY BEHIND IT BY MARIA MARTA BORDENAVE .........................................................................6 63
TEACHING SEQUENCE FOUR ..................................................................................................................6 67
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS BY MARIANA PALMIERI .................................................................................669
WHY INCLUDING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN THE L2 CLASSROOM? BY ALEJANDRA FAVINI ..................773
PART C ...............................................................................................................................................777
HANDOUT ONE ....................................................................................................................................7 79
THE NATURAL WORLD ( 1ES ) BY ANA CENDOYA ............................................................................8 81
THE THEORY BEHIND IT BY MARCELA JALO ...........................................................................................8 85
HANDOUT TWO ...................................................................................................................................8 89
A FRIEND FOR LIFE ( 1ES ) BY MARCELA JALO ................................................................................991
THE THEORY BEHIND IT BY MARIA VERONICA DI BIN ............................................................................9 99
HANDOUT THREE ...............................................................................................................................1 105
TALES OF TERROR IN THE NEWS ( 3ES ) BY SILVANA BARBONI ......................................................1107
THE THEORY BEHIND IT BY ANABEL ALARCON ....................................................................................1 113
HANDOUT FOUR ................................................................................................................................1 119
BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP ( 6 ES ) BY ANABEL ALARCON ...........................................................1121
THE THEORY BEHIND IT BY ANA CENDOYA ........................................................................................1 129
3
FOREWORD OF THE EDITOR
The purpose of this work is to show teachers in action in the collaborative and
collegial contexts of work fostered by the National University of La Plata. We intend
to make known the work done by ELT Argentine teachers working in the state
educational institutions of a national university, whose daily classroom practices
embody postmethod pedagogies in this part of the world. In this respect, this book
is an exponent of the innovation that is taking place in certain academic communities
in Argentina, since it documents ideological changes expressed both in teaching
practice and teacher thinking of practice.
Section A compiles some fundamental notions on the ways in which literacy, ideology
and identity interact to explain what English Language Teaching is all about in
Argentina in the 2010s. Sections B and C compile the interactions that teachers carry
out on a daily basis at schools. These interactions are made up of specific ways of
talking about teaching, of specific social practices among teachers embodied in
classroom sequences and teaching handouts. These two specific genres that are
widely used for teacher activity in educational settings are too often neglected, they
are in most cases not even acknowledged as genres themselves of the teaching
profession. However, they have historically been part of our daily work in all schools
all the time. They operate as powerful documents for the interpretive eye to
understand teacher thinking and innovation in class. They are undoubtedly central
to professional activity and are systematically "read" by other colleagues as the
written substance of their work. This book intends to assign a central value to these
documents of the teaching profession to help younger generations learn about
postmethod. Both sections B and C are made up of a "Read it, Reflect on it" part
followed by a teaching sequence/ teaching handout and closing with "The Theory
Behind it" in which the voices of other fellow teachers explain a key theoretical
point behind the teaching sequence/teaching handout analysed. This is by no means
a closed set, it invites the the reader to find connections, to add their own perspective,
in brief, to participate in this interaction.
To conclude, we would like to acknowledge the financial resources provided by
Secretara de Extensin of the National University of La Plata that made possible the
publication of this work as part of the subsidized project "La enseanza del ingls en
la escolaridad obligatoria" and the support provided by the Ministry of Education of
the Province of Buenos Aires for the distribution of this work in all English Language
Teacher Education Institutions around the Province.
Silvana Barboni
La Plata, January 2012
5
PART A
"ELT theoretical perspectives on teaching and learning teaching from postmethod

pedagogies in Argentine formal schooling."
by Silvana Barboni
7
1. ELT IN THE CONTEXT OF ARGENTINA
Lopez haba nacido en la ciudad junto al ro inmvil; Ward, en

las afueras de la ciudad por la que camin Father Brown.
Haba estudiado castellano para leer el Quijote.
El otro profesaba el amor de Conrad, que le haba sido revelado
en una aula de la calle Viamonte.
Hubieran sido amigos, pero se vieron una sola vez cara a cara,
en unas islas demasiado famosas, y cada uno de los dos fue
Can, y cada uno Abel.
Lopez had been born in the city next to the static river; Ward, in
the outskirts of the city where Father Brown had walked.
He had studied Spanish to read the Quixote.
The other one professed a love of Conrad, revealed to him
in a classroom of Viamonte Street.
They would have been friends, but they saw each other face to face only once,
in some too well known islands, and each one was
Cain and each one Abel.
(Jorge Luis Borges, 1985: 641)
No one but Jorge Luis Borges can capture with such mastery what English is for us,
in this part of the world. In his poem Juan Lopez and John Ward, Borges wonderfully
illustrates the twofold dimensions of what English is for Argentine society in the
character of Lopez. As two sides of the same coin, English is the language of literary
masterpieces but it is also the language of domination, English can be the language
of international communication and a key to knowledge in a globalised world but it
can also be the language of empirical control and exclusion, English can be perceived
as a friend but it is also seen as a foe. The complex status of English needs to be
traced both in the social and political effects of English and American colonialism in
Latin America, which date back to 1810 in South America, as well as in a long ELT
tradition in Argentina that has historically legitimized practices of otherisation.
On the one hand, there are historical and social reasons why English is seen as a foe
to national sovereignty and cultural identity. In historical terms, the presence of
English and the English as an empirical power can be traced in our history through
two outstanding signposts highlighted in national history books and school manuals.
The first one is the attempt of the British Crown to invade the region during the
9
POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGIES APPLIED IN ELT FORMAL SCHOOLING
revolutionary period of 1808 and 1810 ending in our national independence. The
second historical event is the almost two hundred years of sovereignty claims on Islas
Malvinas leading to the 1982 War and revived every now and then through diplomatic
claims. Even though these historical incidents have had an impact in the ways English
is related to ideas of domination and piracy, the most prevailing negative impact is
the one caused by the economic and cultural domination of USA through neoliberal
policies imposed on Latin America with tremendous social effects. English has been
associated in the last fifty-years with a history of economic domination and control
in the hands the USA through the World Bank and the IMF policies of structural
adjustment imposed on Argentina and blamed as responsible for the 2001 collapse
(Stiglitz, 2002: 18). English is then a lingua frankensteinia (Phillipson, 2008) for a
great majority of Argentine citizens since it is at the service of Macdonalisation of our
culture and Latino stigmatization.
On the other hand, there are reasons within our systems of education and ELT cultures
that can be blamed for most of the negative connections made with English. It is well
documented that the academic community of English teachers in Argentina have
historically legitimated certain pedagogic practices of otherisation (Varela et al,
2010; Barboni and Porto, 2011; 2008) passed on from one generation of teachers to
another through what postcolonial theory calls a construct of marginality
(Kumaravadivelu (2003; 2006). As in many other parts of the world, this construct
operates in different dimensions (economic, linguistic, cultural and scholastic) and
places the native speaker self in a superior position than the non native speaker other,
who is in turn placed in a subaltern position (Kumaravadivelu, 2003). This idea of
passing on a set or methodological precepts clearly highlights the nature of EL
teacher education tradition in Argentina (Barboni, 2011) . Methods (Richards and
Rogers, 2001) operate as a useful tool towards technocratic ELT practices (Porto, 2012;
Barboni, 2011) with a strong colonial trace stemmed in the British applied linguistics
tradition (Pennycook, 2001; Holliday, 2005). The result is homogenization of practices
at the expense of professionalism in two related ways, connecting the experiences of
both teachers and students within a vicious circle that reproduces exclusion of both,
teachers and students.
Adherence to method transforms teachers into technicians, undervalues the cultural

experiences they bring to the teaching context and diminishes their capacities of
choice and critical professional judgment for not being the native speaker, the
authoritative voice. Through this ideological mechanism of undervaluing local
knowledge, the bilingual experiences with languages of Argentine English teachers are
wiped away for the sake of a pedagogy of the mainstream (Canagarajah, 1999: 15).
10
English teachers are expected to be operative, they are not to produce knowledge but
rather to apply it following the mandates of a well established community of practice
with a monolingual tenet (Kumaravadivelu, 2003).
Although the concept of method has been described as a homogenisation tool in ELT
worldwide (Holliday, 2005), it would be naive to neglect the responsibility that
Argentine teachers have had in reproducing practices of domination through method
based pedagogies decade after decade. Also, it is necessary to understand the
development of certain academic practices in terms of the socio- historical drives in
the country and the region that have perpetuated certain practices while silencing
others. As Barboni (2011) suggests, the socio historical impact of national
development policies introduced by president Frondizzi with lasting effects in the
60s and dictatorship in the 70s left a foundational basis, a frame of reference,
difficult to avoid in particular because of the ways in which teachers were educated
into it. A "technique of teaching" became the core of a strategy for teaching English
and for the education of English teachers. Teachers were expected to use the
techniques passed on from one generation to the other in order to develop a
prescribed curriculum of a product oriented approach. A strong emphasis was given
to objectives that could measure results in development policies and that could office
as a control mechanism during dictatorship. Teachers were "trained" to be operative
within a policy of human resources necessary for development in one case and for
ideological control in the other. In both cases, a repetition of the same efficiency
pattern was present: a logic of reproduction devoid of contextual relevance and
intellectual freedom.
What is then the impact on students? How does the class develop? The pedagogy
proposed neglects the colonial associations that English bears in Argentina and that
students bring. Imparted with materials produced by centre-based publishing
companies, the class becomes devoid of the particularity necessary to address the
enormous heterogeneity of school populations found along the territory (Gandolfo,
2008). Learning fails to be negotiated and becomes pre constructed and detached as
a purely cognitive activity. Presented as universal, it becomes a form of oppression
(Freire, 1970: 76-77) The student is exposed to pedagogic situations which fail to
address the cultural dimension of learning, the richness of experiences with English
around the world and the diversity of voices present in it as well as in the class.
Through a focus on language as an object supposedly devoid of culture and value free,
students fail to find their own voices and a specific cultural universe is imposed at
the expense of others. The class becomes a useful technology to homogenise English
as an instrumental tool and to legitimate a given set of voices to address certain
11
prescribed objectives. English is taught for all in the same way denying the different
forms in which people appropriate the language as a communication resource and the
different cultural meanings that different people will communicate with it. Students
feel they do not belong, they do not find themselves represented in the class.
Interaction in class is constrained to a purely textual activity, devoid of interpersonal
and ideological dimensions.
12
2. THE ADVENT OF POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGIES
"El ser humano sabe hacer de los obstculos nuevos caminos porque a la vida le basta
el espacio de una grieta para renacer"
" Human beings know how to make new roads out of obstacles because it is enough
for life to find the space of a creak to be reborn."
(Ernesto Sbato, 2000: 75)
There have been forms of resistance against method based practices. These have
acquired different shapes and have related the experiences of students and teachers
under a culture sensitive understanding of educational settings. Forms of student
peaceful rejection and lack of participation in "traditional" English classes have been
documented extensively in compulsory education in Buenos Aires (Gandolfo, 2008)
in a similar fashion to what has happened in other parts of the world (Canagarajah,
1999). Also, a number of dispersed innovative experiences have been developed by
teachers in different contextual circumstances in the last thirty years. Even though
many were silenced and even contested, some others have given way to the
development of a fertile soil for the advent of new academic cultures, embracing
diversity (Varela et al, 2010) and developing seminal pedagogic experiences as
exponents of post method pedagogies.
At a linguistic level, postmethod pedagogies adhere to theories of critical discourse

analysis (Pennycook, 2001; van Dijk, 1993; Fairclough, 1995) to understand, explain
and teach language. These theories explain discourse, on the one hand, as the ways
language is used for social action and interaction and describe how people use
language in real social situations. On the other hand, they define discourse as a social
construction of reality, a form of knowledge, using post structuralist theory of
language.
Postmethod pedagogies rely on both conceptualisations of discourse and they use

Hallidays (1973; 1978) systemic description of texts as a set of options at three
levels of activity that students of language need to be aware of: textual, interpersonal
and ideational. These different levels of analysis help define language activity as
genre based, that is to say, linguistic activity by means of which people engage in
staged goal oriented social practices (Martin, 2009; OKeeffe et al, 2009) in which
they make ideational, textual and interpersonal choices to convey context specific
13
and purpose oriented meanings through language. In this respect, Kumaravadivelu

(2008: 75) refers to the educational impact that working with these three levels in
class has:
"the three types of interaction may be said to produce three types of discourse: a)
interaction in a textual activity produces instructional discourse resulting in better
conversational understanding; b) interaction as an interpersonal activity produces
informational discourse resulting in superior social communication; and c) interaction
as an ideational activity produces ideological discourse resulting in greater
sociopolitical consciousness."
Traditional views of language teaching restrain the teaching of English to the

development of an instrumental use of the four macro skills (reading, listening,
speaking and writing). "Moreover, learners are not sensitized to the generic
conventions, the interactants, their purposes, why the texts are written as they are and
how they work" (Bronia, 2004), they are simply introduced into restricted textual
levels, such as syntax and grammar, that help them use the system without actually
conveying and interpreting meanings at discourse levels (Widdowson, 2007).
In contrast, postmethod pedagogies advocate the development of multiliteracies,

that is, the flexible and sustained mastery of a repertoire of practices through oral,
written or multimedia texts containing a variety of semiotic systems used for different
purposes in different contexts (Luke and Freebody, 2000; Anstey and Bull, 2006).
Unlike traditional views which aim at helping students become users of language,
teaching English from a literacy perspective requires both teachers and learners to
become intercultural explorers (Kern, 2000) of a plurality of genres. To do so, apart
from the traditional meaning maker and text user student roles, learning sequences
will have to cater for code breaker and text analyst roles (Anstey and Bull, 2006) to
prepare learners for the complex and dynamic literacy identities they will have to
enact when using English (Gee, 1996). As Collins and Blot (2003: 174) note, this
expanded view of literacy "is coupled with an account of identity which emphasises
the fluid, changing nature of identity" and the ways in which cultural affiliation (Sen,
2009) is inseparable from language use so much so that genre theorists describe
culture as a system of genres. Implicit in this socio cultural view of language learning
is the notion that becoming literate is necessarily a process of "understanding oneself
and ones own relationship to the world in terms of the relationship between power
and knowledge in society" (Garca, 2009: 352) when interacting through texts. This
brings about important pedagogic consequences.
14
At a pedagogic level, postmethod pedagogies stem from theories of critical pedagogy

(Giroux, 1988; Giroux and McLaren, 1989; Shor, 1992) that in turn spring from the
foundational work of Paulo Freire (1970) advocating for a problem posing education.
The "recipes" provided by method based prescriptions, applicable to any context and
any student, are rejected as exponents of a "banking education" (Ibid: 71-74). In
contrast, post method pedagogies emphasise the role of educators in creating,
together with students, conditions in classrooms where reality unveils fostering the
emergence of consciousness and where dialogue is indispensable for cognition. As
Cannagarajah (1999: 17-19) points out, critical pedagogic practice is conceived "in
terms of an expanded notion of context" by means of which the teaching of English
becomes context specific and cultures sensitive (Kramsch, 1998; Byram, 2001).
This postmethod condition establishes new relationships between the theory and
practice of teaching and claims for what Kumaravadivelu (2003) calls "the pedagogic
parameters of particularity, practicality and possibility". Practicality refers to the
deployment of context sensitive pedagogic strategies which bear in mind the local
socio cultural, historic and linguistic realities of learners as well as the complex
settings where the language will be spoken by learners. The second parameter
encourages teachers to theorise from their practice, to develop a body of knowledge
from their own experiences and to feed their practice with new theory. It is the praxis
dimension of teaching which continuous professional learning echoes. The third
parameter "seeks to tap the sociopolitical consciousness that participants bring with
them to the classroom so that it can also function as a catalyst for a continual quest
for identity formation and social transformation" (Ibid: 37).
There are a number of ELT postmethod pedagogic proposals. This is the case of Sterns
(1992) three dimensional framework, Allrights (2000; 2003a; 2003b) exploratory
practice and Kumaravadivelus( 2003; 2006) macrostrategic framework among the
best known. In all cases, the class becomes an exponent of a number of guiding
insights in terms of teaching and learning processes. These examples also illustrate
the ways in which teacher theorizing takes place at technical, practical and
emancipatory levels (McIntyre, 1993) since throughout classroom work, teachers
amalgamate in complex ways the technical knowledge they have, the ongoing
development of theories they put to test, appropriate and transform through their
everyday practices and the innovative practices they carry out through their
professional engagement in the institutional and cultural settings where they work.
The peculiarity of a postmethod pedagogy is that it is not a fixed prescriptive list of
classroom routines or behaviours for teachers to copy. Much on the contrary, it is a
frame of reference to understand the highly creative task of teaching which can only
15
be described and explained in culture specific contexts and communities of practice

through an interpretive understanding of teacher activity.
16
3. ELT EDUCATION FROM A SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: ENQUIRY BASED

TEACHER LEARNING - TEACHING
"Los chicos aprendan a unir consonantes y vocales y armaban una palabra. Y despus,
unidas consonantes y vocales, nombraban el paisaje, los rboles que les eran
familiares, las chivas y los perros. Sumaban un nmero y otro nmero hasta sortear
el error, para que, les deca ella, no los engaaran cuando les llegara la hora de cobrar
un sueldo.
Ella aprendi, a su vez, que los chicos crecan entre piedras, llanura, vientos y
resignacin, y que olvidaran los precarios trazos que escribieron en la pizarra y en el
papel.
[...] Ella los miraba bajar el cerro, camino a sus casas, en el crepsculo de cada da.
Ella conoci la fatalidad de algunos desamparos"
"The children would learn to join consonants and vowels and make up a word. And
then, once consonants and vowels were joined, they would name the landscape, the
trees they were familiar with, the goats, the dogs. They would add up a number to
another until they could sort out mistakes in order not to be deceived when the time
came to earn a living, she would say to them.
She learnt, instead, that children grew up among stones, planes, winds and
resignation and that they would forget the precarious sketches they had written on
board or paper.
[...]She would look at them going down the hill, on their way to their homes, at sunset
each day.
She knew the fatality of some neglects."
Andrs Rivera (2000)
This extract from the story "Lento" by Andrs Rivera vividly captures how learning to
teach takes place in context bound circumstances which shape our understanding of
the profession and our own identities as educators. The teacher in this extract is
confronted with the social and ideological bearings of her task as a teacher in a rural
setting which is representative of many Latin American school settings. The
interaction between self and school community sets into motion complex
mechanisms of identification as a teacher and triggers a set of ethic dilemmas that
guide her professional inquiry. This interplay between self agency and the social
circumstances in which we teach is what postmethod pedagogies rely on to explain
teacher learning inseparable from teaching practice.
17
If culturally responsive practices are at the basis of postmethod pedagogy in the

English class, teacher education needs to be concerned with helping teachers develop
an awareness of their own cultural identity and to "know how to interpret cultural
symbols, and establish links between cultures and their teaching" (Smolcic, 2011:
15). Teacher education in line with postmethod pedagogies " is based on the
assumption that knowing, thinking, and understanding come from participating in
the social practices of learning and teaching in specific classroom and school
situations" (Johnson, 2009), it is intrinsically interpretive in nature and it relies on
teacher authored accounts to help teacher thinking evolve through reflection.
Recognising that teacher learning occurs in interaction conceptualises teacher

learning within a sociocultural perspective and has two important implications. On the
one hand, such a view highlights as a main concept that the human mind is mediated.
As Lantolf (2000: 1) explains, humans do not act directly on the physical world but
rely, instead, on tools and labour activity, which allows us to change the world, and
with it, the circumstances under which we live in the world, we also use symbolic
tools, or signs, to mediate and regulate our relationships with others and with
ourselves and thus change the nature of these relationships. In this line of thought,
all human activity, including learning on teaching, is mediated.
Therefore, we expect teachers to use both physical as well as symbolic tools or

artifacts to mediate their learning on teaching in the process of internalising new
understandings on their professional activity. These mediational tools or artifacts they
will use are the ones available to them, culturally developed in the communities of
practice where they work and learn. These tools can be enumerated as the cultural
artifacts and activities, the concepts and the social relations that teachers will use to
learn (Johnson, 2009). All three will help teachers walk through the zone of proximal
development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978), that is, the distance between what a person
can do on his/her own and what a person can achieve with the support of a cultural
artifact or someone else.
The knowledge on teaching that teachers develop is not done through direct
appropriation, it is not a copy of other peoples knowledge. In contrast, it is
internalised in a dialogic way in which a persons activity is initially mediated by
other people or cultural artifacts but later comes to be controlled by himself/herself
as he or she appropriates and reconstructs resources to regulate his or her own
activities (Johnson, 2009: 18). We go beyond a model of one way knowledge
transmission into viewing teacher development as a process of transformation in
which rather than transmitted, knowledge is generated by people through this
18
participation in interactive communities in which meditational tools are used and

even transformed in the process.
On the other hand, a sociocultural understanding of teacher learning recognises

teacher agency in this dialogic process of transformation. In so doing, great relevance
is given to reflexivity processes (Heilbronn, 2010 b). These facilitate new and refined
understandings on applied theory, implicit in the classroom experiences of teachers.
Reflection becomes a powerful device to develop theorising capacities necessary to
learn "to read a situation and adapt ones behaviour" (Eraut, 1994: 67) in contexts
of practice with the aim of improving professional expertise.
Among a great diversity of teacher education provisions, those based on inquiry and
practice based research(Campbell and McNamara, 2010; Campbell and Groundwater-
Smith, 2010) seem to powerfully address a postmethod rational of teacher learning.
These programmes request teachers to enquire into their own practices using a variety
of tools and getting involved in a variety of communities of practice. They consider
teachers as researchers of their own practice (Sachs, 2003; Johnson, 2009; Zeichner,
2009). They value what teachers know and recognize the strong potential for
transformative practice that teachers have as they use meditational tools to walk
through the ZPD.
Through enquiry based teacher learning, teaching becomes what Myers and Simpson
(1998: 58) describe as a never-ending process of investigating and experimenting,
reflecting and analysing what one does in the classroom and school, formulating
ones own personal professional theories and using these theories to guide future
practice. This knowledge building process is not done in isolation but co-constructed
in learning communities, where people are working together with a joint enterprise,
engaged mutually and sharing a repertoire of practices (Wenger, 1998). "Teacher
learning and the activities of teaching are understood as growing out of participation
in the social practices in classrooms; and what teachers know and how they use that
knowledge in classrooms is highly interpretative and contingent on knowledge of
self, setting, students, curriculum, and community." (Johnson, 2009)
19
4. CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this section, I have tried to draw a theoretical framework on the relationships

between English language teaching (ELT) in Argentina and theories that explain
teacher education from a sociocultural perspective (Johnson, 2009; Roberts, 1998).
I have provided descriptions of language education in Argentina in our socio cultural
and historical context and have referred to postmethod pedagogies stemming from
international problem posing educational trends that work on the idea of multiple
and changing cultural identities (Sen, 2006 ; Kumaravadively, 2008; Byram et al,
2001; Thisted et al, 2007). The purpose of this was to shed light into the relationship
there is between the development of plurilingual capacities in people (Garca, 2009;
Edwards, 2009) to address questions of world peace and the enhancement of human
rights (Sen, 2009) and the role of English teachers and EL teacher education in a
social justice agenda.
Moreover, I have drawn links between what sociocultural approaches to teacher

education can do to help develop professional teacher identities (Johnson, 2009)
within communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) and I have speculated on the ways
in which these practice based approaches to teacher learning can result promising
in the ways they relate theory with practice and empower teachers. The focus of this
theoretical analysis has been postmethod pedagogies (Akbari, 2008; Kumaravadivelu,
2003; 2006; 2008; Canagarajah, 1999; Allwright, 2000; 2003a; 2003b) which on the
one hand demand the professionalization of English teachers and on the other
provide a theoretical basis for practice based teacher education provisions (Roberts,
1998; Richards and Farrell, 2006).
I have also described in this theoretical discussion how practice- based approaches
to teacher learning encourage the use of discretionary judgement in actual contexts
of practice (Pickering et al, 2007) and help teachers reflectively theorize on that
context bound practice (Eraut,1994) in ways that impact themselves as professionals
and their communities. The teaching experiences of the next section and the
reflection questions before and after each narrative intends to help the reader
finetune such theorising powers in the light of the foregoing discussion on
postmethod pedagogies.
21
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30
PART B
Teaching sequences of English in Primary School
31
TEACHING SEQUENCE ONE
Read it, reflect on it
How does the sequence develop a cultural understanding?
In what ways does it foster dialogue with otherness?
What is the relevance of relating diversity with world peace?
Why is this teaching sequence of social relevance for children?
33
CAN YOU SAY PEACE?

by Pia Isabella, teacher of 2 A
TOPICS: Me as citizen of the world. The right to live in peace. Respect to other
cultures of the world. Developing my identity within my culture and within others.
TEACHING SEQUENCE:
Context of situation: The following sequence is implemented in September since the
21st September has been declared International Day of Peace by the United Nations.
It is also implemented after having worked with the topics Me in the World and My
Place in the World. The children have read the story Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney
and among other subjects they have thought about and given their opinions as
regards children around the world who represent different social and racial
conditions, children of varied origins and countries. Respect of Diversity is one of the
topics children reflect upon in 2nd Grade.
1st Class
PREPARATION
- Teacher exploits the cover of the book Can you say Peace? By Karen Katz and brings
about the topic: Peace.
- First, she elicits that the children on the cover represent other cultures around the
world.
- T asks SS questions such as:
Why do you think the children on the cover belong to other countries?
What are they wearing?
What do they look like? Look at their eyes, their hair.
- T asks SS to try to find and Argentinian child (there is not) and elicits what the
Argentinian child would wear if he/she were to be included on the cover. If the
children name any of the countries the children belong to, the teacher tries to find
it on the Earth Globe she has brought to class.
- Then, T asks Ss what the concept of Peace represents to them: no violence, no wars,
no fighting. and how the concept would be applied in class. T draws a mind map
35
on the board with SScontributions.

- T connects the idea of Peace with some of the childrens rights SS have seen in class.
For example, the Right to Play, because if they fight they cant play in peace. The
teacher also shows Ss the symbol for Peace for Ss to recognize.
CORE TASK
- T draws Ss attention to the fact that there are different ways to say Peace. Why
would that be? Because many languages are spoken around the world so there are
many ways or translations for the word Peace.
- T starts reading the story interactively. As she reads she shows Ss where the
countries are on the earth globe. The chunk (Meena) lives in (India). (Meena) says
(shanty) is scaffolded by different techniques: memory games, false statements,
saying chunks with rhythm, rapping them.
- T goes on with three characters. She also makes Ss aware of the way each character
is dressed to represent a stereotype and Ss recognize the pictures characteristic of
each country in the story. For example: an elephant in India, a koala in Australia, huts
in Ghana, the pagodas in China.
FOLLOW UP
- Ss learn and sing a chant related to the topic. They sing the chant and pretend to
be the animals mentioned. They also do actions for the other parts.
We can see elephants.in India!

We can see pagodas.in China!
We can see koalas..in Australia!
We can see huts.in Ghana!
Look! The Eiffel Tower is ..in France!
2nd Class
PREPARATION
- T reminds Ss of the chant learnt the previous class and they sing it again.
- T stars reading the story again from the beginning pausing for Ss to complete the
statements, making them find the countries on the globe and scaffolding language as
36
necessary.
CORE TASK
- T continues reading the story interactively, scaffolding the main chunks. (She
chooses three more characters) She finishes the story.
- T makes them reflect upon the topic (SS will answer in Spanish)
Por qu los nios de todo el mundo quieren ir al colegio, jugar, compartir actividades
con sus familias y caminar contentos por las calles?
Cmo se quieren sentir? (Teacher elicits: se quieren sentir seguros, quieren vivir en
paz y felices)
Qu impide que no haya paz? (Teacher elicits: la guerra, la ambicin, la agresin, la

falta de tolerancia)
Por qu todos los nios del mundo tienen una palabra para decir paz? Las palabras
son distintas pero significan lo mismo. Por qu?
Reflection: A pesar de hablar diferentes idiomas y de ser diferentes todos necesitamos

lo mismo: vivir en paz. (Even though we speak different languages, we all need the
same: to live in peace!)
- T now asks Ss how they would apply the concept in class. T leads SS to the idea:
We should be nice children, care for others, be generous, etc.
37
FOLLOW UP
- Ss learn and say the complete rhyme.
- Teacher brings cards with names of countries and the different ways to say peace
in those countries. On the board Ss have to match the countries with the
corresponding translation of the word peace. This is left on the board as a reference
for the next task.
- Ss work on a worksheet with the picture of a map of the Earth. They have to write
the word Peace in different languages on the correct country. They also have to
draw a picture that represents that country on the map. For example they write the
word he ping on China and draw a pagoda or a Chinese child. They show their
productions to the rest of the class. In turns they make oral presentations. Children
say (he ping) in (China).
3rd Class
- Ss watch the video Peaceful World and are assigned a focus task while watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Jcymc4dpo
What images represent the concept of Peace?

Which ones represent the opposite? Why?
Chunks to be learned: We see a peaceful world in unity (miming ) and we sing a song
of love(miming) and harmony No more hate no more fear no more pain and no
more tears
FOLLOW UP
- Ss work on a worksheet. There are images that represent the concept of Peace
and others that dont. Ss have to choose which ones go under the heading Peace,
they cut them out and stick them into their notebooks.
- Finally SS act out some scenes in which people help each other, work together, play
together, listen to each other and other actions that bring about the concepts of
tolerance, hope and respect.
38
FINAL PROJECTS
1. Ss have to find other ways to say Peace in other places of the world. This
task is to be done at home with the help of their families. Ss and parents make up a
class poster for the International Day of Peace. On the poster we will find the different
ways to say peace, the families opinions on why Peace is important in the world.
There will be peace symbols that represent other cultures too. The teacher will divide
the activities to do among the childrens families.
2. Ss design another page to be included in the book Can you say peace? that
would represent our country: Argentina. First, they think of the name of the character
and the way he/she would say the word peace. For example: (Emilia) lives in
Argentina. (She) says paz. Then, they think of the pictures or images they would draw
for Argentina. For example: the obelisco, the Cataratas del Iguaz, gauchos having
mate and others. Finally, they write and draw their pages for the book and present
them in turns to the rest of the class.
39
STUDENTS PRODUCTIONS
40
41
THE THEORY BEHIND IT

Intercultual and plurilingual education for a world of diversity
by Julia Garbi
Every society is multilingual. Within each country, multilingualism is composed of

traditional languages: the national language(s) and its varieties, minority
languages, regional languages or dialects (Cavalli et al, 2009: 2). In addition,
linguistic diversity in contemporary societies is even greater because of mobility and
globalization (Cavalli et al, 2009).
Every school is a plurilingual and multicultural space as learners bring with them a
variety of repertoires. Despite of whether school welcomes or rejects linguistic
diversity, varieties always find ways of expression. School has the purpose of
contributing to social inclusion and cohesion through the development of the
language of schooling and through the recognition of what learners have already
acquired (Cavalli et al, 2009).
As individuals, we have plural identities (Lahire, 2004; Cavalli et al, 2009; Atkinson,
1999). According to Cavalli et al, individual identity is one and plural. It is one
because the individual has a sense of unity but it is also plural because individuals
have multiple roles and identifications (Cavalli et al, 2009). As Atkinson points out,
all human beings exist in multiple social worlds, have multiple social
allegiances, and play multiple social roles-all of which, additionally, are
continuously changing (Atkinson, 1999: 643).
Intercultural and plurilingual education can be seen as a response to such a plural and
varied world. Intercultural and plurilingual education provides a basis for an
identity open to linguistic and cultural plurality and diversity, insofar as languages
are the expression of different cultures and of differences within the same culture
(Cavalli et al, 2009: 6). Intercultural education is based on respect for individuals and
equality of human rights (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey. 2002).
Byram, Gribkova and Starkey (2002) develop the concept of intercultural competence
(Byram, 1997). They define intercultural competence as the ability to ensure a shared
understanding by people of different social identities, and their ability to interact
with people as complex human beings with multiple identities and their own
individuality (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002: 5).
Intercultural competence is composed of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values.
Knowledge about the functioning of social groups and identities is fundamental.
43
Equally important are comparing, interpreting, relating, discovering and interacting

skills and critical cultural awareness. Intercultural attitudes, such as questioning our
own points of view are crucial too (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002).
Many authors agree on the need to develop a critical intercultural perspective

(Estermann, Walsh, Diez et al, 2009). A critical intercultural philosophy is related to
the de-colonization discourse. The concept of colonialism introduces a critical
reflection upon the necessary conditions for pacific, just and equal intercultural
relations (Ibid). A critical intercultural philosophy does not only recognize and value
diversity but also denounces the social mechanisms that establish a hierarchical order
among groups and individuals (Diez, Thisted, Martinez, Villa, 2007).
The intercultural perspective in language teaching has crucial effects in the way
English teaching and learning is perceived. Learning another language and therefore,
coming into contact with other cultural expressions, does not mean that the learner
has to drop his/her identity in order to adopt the identity of the target language
speaker. On the contrary, it means engaging in dialogue with others, acknowledging
them as equals in rights, forging our own identity and questioning naturalized and
stereotyped thought (Byram et al, 2002). The recognition of plural identities makes
resistance and appropriation possible when speaking a foreign language, instead of
accepting the imposition of values learners may not feel identified with (Barboni,
2011).
44
BARBONI, SILVANA (ED) (2011). Enseanza de Ingls e Identidad Nacional: A los 200
aos de la Revolucin de Mayo. La Plata: Ediciones Al Margen.
BYRAM, M., G RIVKOVA, B. AND STARKEY, H. (2002). Developing the intercultural
dimension in language teaching. Council of Europe, Language Policy Division.
DIEZ, THISTED, MARTINEZ, VILLA (2007). Interculturalidad como perspectiva poltica,
social y educativa. Direccin de Modalidad de Educacin Intercultural. La Plata,
Direccin General de Cultura y Educacin.
LAHIRE, BERNARD (2004). El hombre plural: los resortes de la accin. Barcelona:
Editorial Ballatera.
ATKINSON, D. (1999). Tesol and Culture. Tesol Quarterly, 33, 625-654.
CAVALLI, M., CO STE, D., CRISAN N, A., VAN DE VEN, P. (2009). Plurilingual and
Intercultural Education as Project. Council of Europe. Language Policy Division.
ESTERMANN, J. (2009) Colonialidad, descolonizacin e interculturalidad. Apuntes
desde la Filosofa intercultural. In Viaa, J; Claros, L.; Estermann, J.; Fornet-
Betancourt, R.; Garcs, F.; Quintanilla, V.; Ticona, E. Interculturalidad crtica y
descolonizacin. Fundamentos para el debate. Convenio Andrs bello- Instituto
Internacional de integracin. La Paz, Bolivia.
WALSH, C. (2009). Interculturalidad crtica y pedagoga de-colonial: in-surgir, re-
existir y re-vivir. In Melgarejo (comp.) . Educacin Intercultural en Amrica latina:
memorias, horizontes histricos y disyuntivas polticas. Mexico Universidad
pedaggica nacional. CONACIT, editorial Plaza y Valds, mexico.
DIEZ, M. HECHT, C.; NOVARO, G.; PADAWER, A. (2009). Interculturalidad y educacin.
Cruces entre la investigacin y la gestin. In Novaro G (comp.) (2011) La
interculturalidad en debate: experiencias formativas y procesos de escolarizacin en
nios indgenas y migrantes. Editorial Biblos. Buenos Aires.
45
TEACHING SEQUENCE TWO
How is language developed in the class?
How does the teacher facilitate language acquisition?
Can you identify any specific strategy the teacher uses to help students make
language their own?
How can thinking skills help linguistic development?
47
DO YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND?

by Mariana Palmieri, teacher of 1st form
Contents:
Values: Love and friendship
Linguis tic exponents: animals, their physical and personal characteristics, their
colours, numbers, feelings and emotions.
Task: telling a story
Preparation task:
To arouse interest in the story, T asks children if they have ever tried to
become friends with someone new or if someone has ever tried to become
their friend. T asks in English:
When? How could they tell? What did they do (smile, ask to play, say kind word,
share, sit nearby, do nice things, etc.)? How did they feel?
- T introduces the title, author and illustrator of Do You Want to Be My Friend? T

tells children he comes from Australia and tells stories in English.
- T takes a picture, walks, letting children look closely at each picture in order to
make predictions about which animal is next in the story, discussing the colors of the
animals, what the animals appear to be doing, what each animals' response may be
and why, why the little mouse keeps running past each animal, etc.
- T ends the picture walk after the giraffe is introduced and lets children make
predictions about the ending. T reads aloud for enjoyment and to see if the mouse is
finally able to find a good friend.
- T encourages comments and feelings on the story read.
- T introduces the animals in the story through a guessing game with pictures taking
advantage of the artwork of Eric Carle.
49
Core Task:
- T teaches animals and their characteristics and colours.
- T retells the story with a predictable linguistic frame so that children can join in
at will
The mouse saw a (color) tail.

It belonged to a (animal).
Do you want to be my friend? asked the mouse.
But the (animal) was too busy and did not seem to hear the mouse at all.
So the mouse ran on
- T asks SS to match pictures to text.
- T plays memory games to help SS memorize new linguistic exponents and lexis
- SS classify and group animals according to categories (domestic vs. wild)
- SS solve a task where they should transfer information from one semiotic system
to another: write and draw
- SS order logical sequences of words: (Do you want to be my friend?)
- In groups, children decide to take out one animal from the story and introduce a
new one. T helps them to justify.
Follow up task:
- SS role play the story: children use their voice to show personal characteristics of
the animals in the story.
- The whole class tells the new Do you want to be my friend? story with the
animals each of them have included.
Other possible tasks to be included:
T reads the poem Friends and rereads using mime and echo reading.;
50
Friends
by Jill Eggleston
Friends share.
Friends care.
We need friends
everywhere!
- T tells children that they will each be given a turn to draw a friend's name from
a basket. They will then need to use that friend's name to complete the predictable
sentence, " (Name of student) is my friend." The 'friend' orally spells his or her name
as T writes it. T writes each sentence on chart paper, writing the 'drawer's' name at
the end of the sentence in parenthesis. T rereads each sentence tracking the print.
51

Scaffolding the language
by Mercedes Peluffo
Scaffolding must be one of most graphic concepts coined when it comes to talking
about acquisition. It might sound rather funny when heard for the first time,
especially if associated to the world of construction. However, once grasped,
scaffolding truly becomes the basics of any teacher's practice.
The concept was first defined by Jerome Bruner in the 1970s as he was doing some
research with young children and their interaction with their mothers. The definition
reads:
a process of setting up the situation to make the childs entry easy and successful
and then gradually pulling back and handing the role to the child as he becomes
skilled enough to manage it. (Bruner, 1983: 60)
Scaffolding is deeply rooted in a socio-constructivist perspective. From this view we

see the child as an active participant in the learning process and in the creation of
his/her own reality. Each child possesses a unique and predisposing capacity to learn.
This child, however, is not alone in the world but surrounded by other people who
constantly interact with him/her. Learning, then, occurs through the interaction with
others. In any given a situation, a mum reading to her child, a teacher giving some
instructions, peers playing a game, there is meaningful input, relevant language
produced and adapted, if necessary, to a particular child or group of children in a
particular context. The child gradually takes part in the interaction, little by little
modifying his/her output.
In the context of a class, teacher and peers are therefore the others, the mediators
(Vygotsky: 1979). Mediators manipulate language experiences, creating opportunities
to expand and develop (first and) second language and, through language, to allow
the child to enter the linguistic community and, therefore, to access to culture. A
mediator passes on the language to the child shaping the speech encounters. For
this, mediators make use of patterned situations, formats (Bruner: 1983).A format can
be thought of as the simple version of a more complex interaction pattern. Formats
contain demarcated roles (Bruner: 1983; 120), which become reversible. Formats, at
the same time, grow and expand.
Circumscribed to the teaching and learning of a second language in a classroom
53
situation there are two basic concepts associated with scaffolding: format and
elicitation. As we said before, a teacher starts manipulating the different structure(s)
s/he wants to work with(the formats) in a relevant and significant context. The child
is exposed to these formats through a series of varied tasks. At first, the teacher will
manipulate the format completely to later, and little by little, remove the scaffold
letting the child be an active participant of that interaction. Each time teacher
presents a task, s/he will be removing a piece of the scaffold, giving the child the
opportunity to appropriate this piece. The child appropriates the format and uses it
first within a demarcated context and then, within a motivating and clear context of
use, in novel situations. In simple words, the teacher helps the child to start
manipulating a target linguistic item little by little. It becomes clear that teachers
intervention must be planned and carefully thought in advance. It is the childs active
participation that makes it possible.
The other concept connected to scaffolding is related to the techniques a teacher

uses to elicit students' production. The teacher resorts to different elicitation
techniques which enable him/her to pass on the target format to the child. An
elicitation technique aims at provoking a response through the removal of a part of
the format. Teacher can, among many others, produce a false statement for students
to correct; ask a direct or an or question (is the girl happy or sad?), ask students to
complete statements with missing content words, etcetera. Itis advisable children
produce complete statements especially because the ultimate aim of elicitation
techniques is to help children appropriate the whole format, not just to give a two-
word answer. The same technique can be used with the whole class for students to
gain confidence and later in small groups and/or in pairs. These elicitation techniques,
which aid constant revision and recycling, must be an integrated part of daily class
plan.
Walquie (2006)refers to the balance there should be between what the teacher hands
over and what the student takes over. She argues that assistance provided should
always be only just enough and just in time (Walquie 2006:165).
54
BRUNER, J. (1985). Childs Talk: learning to use language. New York: Norton. Cap. 1,
2, 3 y 6.
VYGOTSKY, L..(1934). 1978.Mind in Society. Harvard: Harvard. Cap 6.
WALQUIE, A. (2006). Scaffolding Instruction for English Language Learners: A
Conceptual Framework, International Journal of Bilingual Education and
Bilingualism, 9: 2, 159-180
55
TEACHING SEQUENCE THREE
In what ways is this lesson highly context bound?
In what ways does the topic foster meaningful language use?
Why is this lesson a good exponent of postmethod pedagogies applied in primary

school?
57
TOMMY AND THE TIME MACHINE

by Fernanda Crespi and Pia Isabella, teachers of 2 A and D
The sequence is implemented in May before May 25, May Revolution Day
Class 1
Preparation
- Story time! T tells Ss that they are going to listen to a story. When they listen to
this, SS go to the story time corner and sit around their teacher.
- T asks Ss to predict what the story is about. She shows them some pictures: a boy
(Tommy) playing computer games, a moon and the stars, a time machine, a picture
of a big house with four colored doors and the date 1810. Ss give their opinions.
Core task
- T starts to tell the story interactively.
Tommy is a seven- year-old boy who loves playing computer games and who has the
latest technological devices. One day he goes to sleep and when he wakes up the
next morning he can see a new toy in his bedroom. Its a time machine! He goes into
it. There are a lot of buttons and a big screen. Suddenly, the machine starts to move
and takes him to1810. (Thats the date on the screen).Tommy is in a big house and
starts to knock at the colored doors .Different characters open the doors: first: a
creole, then: a clergyman, after that: an African slave and finally: a pedlar. They
represent some members of the society at that time. Tommy asks them questions
Can I take a taxi to go home/phone my mum/write an e-mail/play video games? The
characters answer No, my little boy. Only horses/letters/street games if you want.
Tommy feels desperate and starts to cry. All of a sudden, he opens his eyes and wakes
up. It was just a dream!
- As T tells the story Ss imitate and mime the actions. T re-tells some parts, putting
emphasis on the sequencing words first, then, after that, finally and the order of
the events. She makes false statements for Ss to correct.
T: First, Tommy knocks at the blue door

Ss: No, (name of teacher). Tommy knocks at the red door
59
Follow up
- T asks Ss to mime different actions from the story and adds some more: write a
letter/an e-mail, take a taxi, ride a horse, drive a car, play video games, phone. They
refer to the actions that Tommy can or cant do in the past.
- Then, one S comes to the front and mimes one action. The others have to say which
action it is.
Ss: Can you (play video games)?
S: Yes, I can/ No, I cant
Class 2
Preparation
- T sticks some pictures on the board. They are the words for the actions they worked
with last class. T mimes an action and Ss come to the board in turns to choose the
correct word for that action. Then, T sticks the images all mixed up and Ss have to
match them with the correct phrase.
Core Task
- T reminds Ss of the story told last class. She concentrates on the part where Tommy
starts to open the doors. She sticks the colored doors on the board but not in the
correct order. Ss have to tell her the right order using the sequencing words First,
Tommy knocks at the red door. Then, he knocks at the blue door. After that, he knocks
at the brown door. Finally, he knocks at the green door
- T asks Ss in L1what they think these words mean and what they are for. Altogether
T and Ss come to the conclusion that they are used to order a sequence of events.
- T sticks the sequencing words on the board and Ss come to the front to stick them
next to the correct door.
- Then, T shows Ss the pictures of the different characters that open the doors (a
pedlar, a clergyman, etc). Ss learn their names by playing different memory games
and they stick the characters on board behind the correct door.
60
- T and Ss start to re tell the story with the help of the sequencing words and pictures
on the board.
Follow up
- Ss complete a worksheet. There are four doors. They are half-opened. Ss have to
colour the doors, draw the correct character behind them, and write their names
above each door. The names of the characters are given, but not in the right order.
Class 3
Preparation
- T writes 1810 on board. She stands below the date and asks Ss Can I (play video
games)? Ss answer No, only (street games) if you want. T continues with the rest
of the activities and Ss answer. Then, she writes 2011. She stands below the date and
asks Ss Can I (play video games)? Ss answer Yes! Of course you can. She continues
standing below the different dates in turns and asking children to answer accordingly.
Core task
- T checks with Ss if the worksheet they worked with last class is okay. At the same
time they start re telling the story using the sequencing words. T models answers
and Ss imitate.
- In groups of three, Ss act out part of the story. They represent the narrator, Tommy
and the character behind the door.
Follow up
- T sticks phrases and other content words related to the story on board. Ss mime
the actions and imitate. Then she gives them a handout for Ss to complete. They have
to choose one of the door scenes, complete the short dialogue between Tommy
and the character, colour the door and draw the chosen character for that scene.
61

"APPLING KUMARAVADIVELUS PARAMETERS IN CLASS"
by Mara Marta Bordenave
What should I do in order to help my students from my discipline to be prepared for

the future? I find Kumaravadivelus macrostrategic framework particularly relevant
to answer this question. He centers his pedagogy in three parameters: particularity,
practicality and possibility.
The parameter of particularity is based on the belief that any language teaching
programme must be sensitive to a particular group of teachers, teaching a particular
group of learners pursuing a particular set of goals within a particular institutional
context embedded in a particular socio-cultural milieu. (Kumaravadivelu, 2001:538)
This parameter supports a type of pedagogy which is responsive to individual needs
in a given context.
The parameter of practicality refers to the relationship between theory and practice.
In applied linguistics there has always been and unproductive division between the
theorist and the teacher. That is, the theorist produces knowledge and the teacher
consumes knowledge. The parameter of practicality goes beyond this marginalizing
dichotomy and aims for personal theory of practice generated by the practising
teacher (Kumaravadivelu 2003). This concept has encouraged me to think about
designing the teaching material myself to meet my students needs. No theorist can
know my students needs and demands better than I do.
The parameter of possibility is derived mainly from Freirian critical pedagogy that
seeks to empower classroom participants so that they can critically reflect on the
social and historical conditions contributing to create the cultural forms and
interested knowledge they encounter in their lives. Their lived experiences, motivated
by their own socio-cultural and historical backgrounds, should help them appropriate
the English language and use it in their own terms according to their own values
and visions (Kumaravadivelu 2003; 2006; 2008). This parameter made me reflect on
my students individuality and the fact that they will make use of the language from
their own identity despite the global socio-cultural reality.
In such a process we, teachers, wonder, how can I help my students deal with
academic texts? I have been thinking about how to support my students
pedagogically to achieve their potential. Learning is a matter not only of cognitive
development but also of shared social practices. The social and the cognitive go hand
63
in hand in classroom learning. The primary process by which learning takes place is
interaction , more specifically an engagement with other learners and teachers in
joint activities that focus on matters of shared interest and that contain opportunities
for learning (Walki, 2006) The concept of mediation is central to Vygostskys (1973)
theory of learning, mediation is the use of a tool to accomplish some action. Many of
these tools are culturally and historically produced. They are made available to the
child in social interaction. The basis for all learning is social interaction. Vygotsky
emphasizes that social interaction precedes the development of knowledge and ability.
This social interaction takes place between a child and his parents, and between a
child, peers and others, including teachers.
Creating contexts for linguistic academic learning in ZPD occurs in part through the
scaffolding of social interaction. It is within the ZPD that the scaffolding can take
place. Working in this zone means that the learner is assisted by others to be able to
achieve more than he or she would be able to achieve by him or herself. David Wood
describes scaffolding as contingent, collaborative and interactive behaviour. It is
contingent when it depends on other actions. It is collaborative when the final result
should be jointly achieved and it is interactive when it includes two or more people
mutually engaged in one activity.
64
KUMARAVADIVELU, B. (2003). A postmethod perspective on English Language

KUMARAVADIVELU, B. (2008). Cultural Globalisation and Language Education. New
York: Yale.
VYGOTSKY, L. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
65
TEACHING SEQUENCE FOUR
Why do we use well known stories to scaffold the foreign language?
What is the role of stories to aid language learning?
What features do we need to bare in mind when we select stories?
67
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

by Mariana Palmieri
The didactic sequence described below resulted in collaborative story telling task
between students and teacher. The original sequence has been designed by Ines
Fernandez and Fernanda Crepi. The present one is the sequence I followed with my
students.
Preparation tasks
T introduces the characters of the story (mother pig, the three little pigs, wolf)
through drawing guessing games on the board.
TiIntroduces key vocabulary items (straw, sticks, bricks) through realia. T makes SS
touch and feel the materials.
T asks students (SS) whether they know a story in which they can find three pigs and
a wolf and whether they know what the pigs do with the straw, the sticks and the
bricks.
T introduces more vocabulary (house, build a house, chimney, easy to build, difficult
to build) as teacher (T) connects the characters and materials at play.
T asks SS to repeat after the T the lexical items and expression introduced with
different voices personifying the different characters: A straw house is easy to build
in a sharp high pitched voice as if they were one little pig; Im hungry in a deep low
voice as if they were the wolf.
T tells the story with picture support and asks SS to listen to the whole story first.
T reflects with SS what they can learn from the story. T asks them what they learn
from the mother, the pigs, the wolf. T talks about the versions they know to find
similarities and differences.
SS draw the most significant part of the story for them.
Core tasks
T retells the story with different techniques:
69
a. T sets up the picture story in the wrong order on the board. Ask SS how we
should order the sequence. T tells the story and SS confirm the order.
b. T sets up the picture story on the board but some part is missing. SS have to
tell that part of the story.
c. SS perform the story. SS take from a bag some straw, some sticks and some
pieces of brick. T is the wolf. T tells the story and SS have to do/mime the actions
(build a house of straw,Its easy to build, No, no, no not by the hair; when the
wolf blows the house all SS fall down to the floor).
d. T asks SS to help them tell the story. T stops speaking and SS finish the line.
T start with words and moves onto complete chunks. For example:
T: Once upon a time there were three little SS: pigs T: that
lived with their mother.
T: Once upon a time there were SS: three little pigs

T: that lived with their mother.
T: Once upon a time SS: there were three little pigs
e. T and SS perform the voices for the different characters in the story. Divide
the class into character groups and each group says their lines with the help of the
teacher.
f. SS prepare finger puppets for the characters and the houses. SS listen to the
T tell the story. SS are the puppeteers. Later SS play the narrator and ask their partners
to move the puppets.
g. T introduces a retelling chart that consists of speech bubbles for the

repeated lines of the wolf and the pigs which SS have to order.
Follow up tasks
SS and T tell the story together with the finger puppets and the houses. As the story
unfolds, SS put up the different houses and move the different puppets as they
interpret their voices. T takes the role of the narrator.
T goes back to the topic of wolves and asks SS in which other stories wolves appear.
T reflects with SS about the wolf character; establishes similarities and differences
70
between the Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs: What was Little Red
mothers advice? Did she do as she was told? What about the Little pigsmom? Did
they follow their moms advice? What happened in the end?
T resorts to SS imagination and asks: Where did the wolf go at the end of the story?
T enjoys their answers. T might suggest that the wolf waited in the forest until Little
Red appeared and then tried to eat her or perhaps the other way about. The wolf
was still hungry because he was not able to eat Little Red so now he wanted to eat
the pigs.
Show the video: Silly Symphony The Big Bad Wolf at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Lx5Bmpojw&feature=related
Compare versions.
T talks about other messages in the story: the importance of effort, to have initiative,
to respect and listen to adults, perseverance, security, compromise and how do these
topics relate to their own rights and obligations. T makes a poster to show these
rights and obligations.
71
WHY INCLUDING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN THE L2 CLASSROOM?

by Alejandra Favini
In the 21st Century teaching English as a foreign language demands the

responsibility of developing literacy in the students. Literacy skills include being able
to read and write texts for different purposes. In most societies today, literacy is part
of everyday life for children and adults, and life is full of different sorts of written and
visual texts: in storybooks, in songs, in cartoons, on TV and video, in computer games,
and as part of everyday talk in the home, on the street and in school (Cameron 2001).
Teachers should take advantage of this knowledge that students bring to the class
and use it to teach the target language in genuine communicative contexts, thus,
fostering discourse practices. Teachers should be concerned with how they make
sense of texts, and the ways in which texts are implicated in specific social and
historical relations. It is therefore not primarily the formal, isolated, narrow linguistic
features and effects of texts that should engage teachers, but the specific interactions
among persons and places that those texts represent or prompt. Teaching discourse
practices is teaching the language interactively: it involves learners in
comprehending, manipulating, producing and interacting in the target language,
their attention will be principally focused on meaning rather than form (Ellis, 2003).
Texts used in the class should employ different semiotic systems that may convey
several possible meaning (Anstley and Bull, 2006), something not frequently found
in the traditional structurally-based texts and the newly communicative courses
where we might be confronted with a list of words and out-of-context structures.
A syllabus that draws heavily on authentic material provides a motivating medium

for language learning and fosters the development of the thinking skills that are
needed for L2 academic literacy (Ghosn, 2002), it develops human communication
and enriches ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that students have undergone
in their own culture.
Using Traditional Stories in the English Foreign Language Class
Using traditional stories broadens the students knowledge of the world and develops
discourse skills that students might use in other contexts. Pupils learn new language
in context and recycles already-met one; they practise listening, speaking, reading
and writing skills and most of all, develop critical thinking and builds in literacy
(Cameron, 2001).
73
Using Different Text Types
Stories offer a whole imaginary world, created by language, that children can enter
and enjoy, learning language as they go, allowing children to pursue personal
interests through L2. Teaching can emerge from the dynamic interplay between
possible tasks, activities, and materials, on the one hand, and childrens desire to find
and construct coherence and meaning, on the other. (Cameron 2001). With stories, we
start from materials and content that have a more independent existence beyond the
classroom. Stories bring into the classroom texts that originate in the world outside
school.
Stories are linked to poetics and literature and to the warmth of early childhood
experiences. They can serve as metaphors for society or for our deepest psyche
(Barboni et al, 2008). Children participate in many literacy events outside school that
involve texts that are not stories, and that combine texts and visuals in varied and
dynamic ways. They may be equally motivated by the importing of some of these
other texts types into classrooms, and we will look at some possibilities in the
following suggested activities for a child learning English as a foreign language in
the primary school.
74
ANSTLEY, M. AND G. BULL. (2006). Teaching and Learning Multiliteracies: changing

times, changing literacies. Newark: IRA.
BARBO NI, S.; BEACO N, G. Y M. PORTO. (2008). Diseo curricular EPB. Direccin
General de Cultura y Educacin. Pcia Buenos Aires.
CAMERON, L. (2001) .Teaching Languages to Children. Cambridge:CUP.
ELLIS, R. (2003). Task-based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford: OUP.
GARCA, O. (2009) Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A global perspective.
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. (selections)
GOSHN, IRMA, Four Good reasons to use literature in primary school ELT, ELT
Journal, Volume 56/2. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002.
75
PART C
Teaching Handouts from Secondary School Experiences
77
HANDOUT ONE
How can teaching and learning be enhanced by the use of ICT as shown in this
digital handout developed with EXE learning?
In what ways does technology appeal younger audiences?
What variety of tasks can you identify? How are they organised?
In what ways are macroskills presented, in isolation or integrated in the sequence?
79
"THE NATURAL WORLD" (1ES)

by Ana Cendoya
81
82
83

"Teaching English with ICT "
by Marcela Jalo
The simultaneous impact of globalization, the spread of English and technological

development have transformed our learning and teaching English as a lingua franca
in an unprecedented way (Warschauer, 2004). As a result, both English and ICT have
become essential literacy skills for a growing number of non-native speakers of
English to ensure full participation in the information society. In our rapidly changing
society, the need to be technologically aware and competent is vital. International
developments mean that teachers and pupils can communicate quickly and easily
with those in other countries, working together, for example, to share ideas and on
shared curriculum projects. Educational decision makers around the world are
concerned that teachers should make the most of these opportunities. Locally, the
incorporation of ICT at schools has changed education a lot. The use of technology
in the classroom is becoming a normal part of the ELT practice with the inclusion of
the program "Conectar Igualdad" in secondary schools in the Province of Bs As.
Computers represent an inexhaustible source of material for teachers and learners.

Some common uses of ICT in language teaching include:
Using websites
Using online reference tools
Using electronically produced materials such as webquests
Sharing a class blog or a wiki
Exchanging Email keypal projects
Working on Internet-based project work
According to Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hocklly (2007) there are many compelling
reasons for using Internet-based project work:
1. They encourage critical thinking skills. Learners are not required to simply
regurgitate information they find, but have to transform that information in order to
achieve a given task.
2. They can be used for language learning purposes and also for
interdisciplinary projects, allowing for cross-curricular subject areas.
3. More often than not, they are group activities and, as a result, lend
85
themselves to communication and the sharing of knowledge. Thus, they encourage

cooperative learning.
By the time you start planning a project you will have found, evaluated and decided
on a collection of web pages which you want to use as part of your teaching. Planning
a web- based project is not intrinsically different from a more traditional one. We
would like to divide a web-based session into three parts (www): warmer, web, what
next.
The warmer part of the lesson is the kind of thing we all do as a matter of course, with
introductory activities, interest-generating ideas and so on. This part prepares your
learners for what they are going to do in the web part of the lesson.
In the web section, it is important to spend as much time as you need working with
the computer. For this part, learners can be taken to a computer room or work with
their netbooks in the familiar environment of the classroom. It's worth remembering
that once you put students behind computer monitors, it's easy for them to forget that
you are there and more importantly, why they are there. So the two vital words here
are time and task. Make sure students have a clearly defined task to achieve and a
clearly defined time frame in which to achieve it.
Once the class has got what you intended from the computers, it's time to move them
back to the classroom for the what next stage of the lesson. This part should deal
with the tasks set for the web part and then proceed with more familiar follow-up
activities to round off the lesson.
The real benefit for students begins when activities exercise different kinds of learning
styles, provide a real audience for communication and allow for interaction on both
a local and or international scale. In this way they can enable students to: evaluate,
review, publish, compare, negotiate, stimulate, create, investigate, hypothesise,
organize, debate, interview, listen, watch, retell, examine, experiment, play, survey
and report.
The following sample activities will hopefully give a taste of what is possible.
86
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
DUDENEY, G. & HOCKLY, N. (2007). How to Teach English with Technology. Pearson
Longman.
TEELER, DEDE & GRAY, PETA. (2000). How to Use the Internet in ELT. Pearson Longman
WARSCHAUER, M. (2004). Technological change and the future of CALL. In S. Fotos
& C. Brown (Eds.), New perspectives on CALL for second and foreign language
classrooms (pp. 15-25). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
87
HANDOUT TWO
Why is this handout a well developed teaching material?
What criteria did the teacher think of when developing it?
How does it differ from traditional method based materials?
What aspects does this teacher consider when selecting or developing materials?
89
A FRIEND FOR LIFE (1 ES)

by Marcela Jalo
Pre tasks
Task 1. Work with pictures and proverb.
Aim: To introduce the topic of friendship. To talk about dogs as pets and working
dogs.
Lets look at this proverb
Mans best friend is his dog
Have you got a dog? Is your dog your friend?

What do you do with your dog? Do you feed your dog? Do you ?
How can dogs help people?
What are dogs special qualities?
Task 2. Pre reading tasks.
Identify the text type. What is this text?
What features of this news article can you identify (headline, photograph, location,
text)?
What is their function?
91
Focuse on the meaning of the headline.

How can the dog help the girl?
What does the dog do for the girl? Why?
Read the text and find out.
Dog is Girls Bridge to the World What does this mean? What is a bridge?
What the dog do to help the girl?

Why?
Core task
Task 3. Interactive reading. Reading for main ideas.
What is the macrostructure (text organization) of the text? Identify the number of
paragraphs and the main ideas in each of them.
Read the text and find the main ideas in the text. Find the actions the girl does, the
actions the dog does and the things they do together.
92
Who is the news about?

Similarities and differences.
More information about the girl

and the dog?
How does the dog help the girl?

In school
At home.
At the mail.
Conclusion.
Task 4. Match to the correct names. Who does each thing?
Augie Jenny Both of them

(They)
1. go to school
2. hang out at the shopping mall
3. pick up the pencil or notebook
4. bring TV listings.
5. help clean Jennys room.
6. go to get Jennys parents or sisters.
7. carry food dish back to Jenny
8. fill food dish with dog food
9. wear a backpack.
10. carry the food to the counter
11. give the cashier Jennys wallet.
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12. wait for the change.
Who does these things? Does Jenny do them? Does Augie do them? Do they do them
together?
Attention: Pay special attention to the s for the third person singular.
Task 5. Comprehension questions
1. Who is Augie? Describe him.

2. Who is Jenny? Describe her.
3. Why does Augie help Jenny?
4. What things does Augie do to help Jenny at school?
5. What things does Augie do to help Jenny at home?
6. What does Augie do to help Jenny at the mall?
7. Augie is Jennys bridge to the world. What does this mean?
Follow up
Homework: Search for information on the web about Freedom Service Dogs
organization. Are there any other organisations like this one in Argentina?
First, read the information in wikipedia and then watch a video about the organization
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Service_Dogs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrinRJFWbfE
Then, complete a short text by using the information they found as a summary.
Denver-Colorado - rescues - 1987

Organization-trains-disabilities
Freedom Service Dogs is an __________ in ________________that ________ and

________ dogs as service assistance dogs for people with ________ that include
Down syndrome and spinal-cord syndrome among others. Michael and PJ Roche
founded this organization in ________.
Dogs __________ (receive) a training program for a period of 9 to 12 months.
Each dog ________ (cost) about $20.000 to $25.000 to train.
Clients _____________ (not pay) for the dogs and the training they receive.
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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Service_Dogs
Outcome
1. In small groups talk about the meaning of friendship and present your ideas
in a poster or collage using pictures and words. They can use a proverb, a poem,
pictures or words related to friendship.
Use of ICT
Suggested tools: moviemaker for a slide presentation or comic strip or photovisi or

glogster for a collage. Eg:
2. Use of the virtual environment (webunlp). Go to webunlp (espacio 1 ao)

and complete the task. Class email group
Your tutor has sent an e-mail to you! Read it and then write an answer. You can
write about your pet or your favorite possession.
95
96
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
CASSRIEL, BETSY and REYNOLDS, GAIL (2006). Stories Worth Reading 1.. Thomson
Heinle. USA. Unit 6: A Friend for Life
SHOEMAKER, CONNIE and POLYCARPOU, SUSAN (2001). Inside the News . Thomson.
Heinle. USA Unit 1. Dog is Girls bridge to the world.
97

Materials in the English class:
by Mara Vernica Di Bin
The question of materials in language-learning classrooms has always been a matter

of discussion. Commercial or teacher-made materials are in general the main
resources that both, teachers and students employ in their classes. But learning
contexts are situation specific and many times, commercial materials do not match
learners needs. Therefore, teachers are required either to adapt existing materials or
to design their own for their specific teaching- learning context. Clearly, this relates
to one of the main concepts of the Postmethod pedagogy developed by Kumaradivelu
(2003; 2006) which empowers teachers to do what they consider appropriate for
their particular contexts. This pedagogy allows to go beyond and overcome the
limitations of method-based pedagogy. More specifically, Kumaradivelus parameter
of particularity refers to the idea of "adapting any language teaching program to the
particular group of students pursuing a particular set of goals within a particular
institutional context embedded in a particular sociocultural milieu" (Kumaradivelu,
2001: 538). Therefore, this notion implies the fact of adapting materials to a specific
and particular learning context to fit particular learners needs.
According to Brown (1995) and Mishan (2005), materials is a term used to encompass
both texts and language-learning tasks: texts presented to the learner in paper-
based, audio, or visual form, and /or activities built around such texts. This definition
includes the two basic elements around which a class is generally developed.
As Tomlison (1998) states, language-learning materials should ideally be driven by

learning and teaching principles, and based on the most important theoretical
principles he pointed out that materials should basically:
Expose the learners to language in authentic use.

Help learners to pay attention to features of authentic input.
Provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to
achieve communicative purposes.
Provide opportunities for outcome feedback
Achieve impact in the sense that they arouse and sustain the learners
curiosity and attention.
Stimulate intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional involvement.
As it has been stated before, materials design and/or selection draw on a wide range
99
of theoretical foundations, since they reflect particular considerations about the

nature of language, of language learning and of language teaching.
In this way, texts as a kind of materials to be used in the ELT class can be clearly
connected with the rationale of genre-based pedagogy. Genres seem to represent the
best environment for students to appropriate the language in genuine contexts of
use. They focus on language at the level of the whole text while at the same time take
into account the social and cultural context in which it is used. Thus, texts selected
as class materials should contain the generic features of a genre, that is to say they
must be a trace of discourse activity. The focus of text selection must be placed on
the text types and the genres in which those text types are realized.
Moreover, texts can also be related to the concept of multiliteracies, a concept that
has evolved in response to concern about how literacy teaching can equip learners for
the changing world in which they live. With this aim in mind, teachers need to help
learners develop the capacity to produce, read and interpret spoken, print and
multimedia texts to become multiliterate persons.
According to what has been stated above, materials include not only texts, but also
tasks built around those texts. As Ellis (2003; 2009) points out there are two principal
reasons given for basing language teaching on tasks. The first is that the learners will
only succeed in developing full control over their linguistic knowledge if they
experience trying to use it under real operating conditions. The second is that
interlanguage development (i.e., the process of acquiring new linguistic knowledge
and restructuring existing knowledge) can only take place when acquisition happens
incidentally, as a product of the effort to communicate. In this way, and relating the
theoretical rationale for tasks to the use of texts, these kinds of activities should allow
the systematic work with the macro and microstructures knowledge of genres. This
could be done through the development of unfocused and focused tasks. In terms of
Ellis (2009) unfocused tasks are intended to elicit general samples of learner language;
that is, they are not designed with a specific linguistic feature in mind, although it may
be possible to predict a cluster of features that learners are likely to need when they
perform a task. Focused tasks, on the other hand, are designed to elicit use of a specific
linguistic feature (typically a grammatical structure).
On the other hand, tasks, as opposed to exercises, seem to provide the ideal context
to work with the three dimensions of the language, that is, they allow the design of
ideational, textual and interpersonal entries to foster language development. In this
way, learners are encouraged to solve tasks that involve the systematic use of lower
100
and higher order thinking skills, helping learners move from the simpler to the more
complex thinking operations.
Based on different principles and theoretical foundations, texts and tasks seem to be
the key resources for the ELT class. The selection between commercial or teacher
made materials and their relevance to a particular teaching-learning context should
be decisions teachers are supposed to take based on the aims and needs of their
particular group of learners.
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ELLIS, R. (2003). Task-based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford: OUP.

ELLIS, R. (2009). Task-based language teaching: sorting out the misunderstandings.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics. Vol. 19 ( 3) pages 221 246.
KUMARAVADIVELU, B. (2003). A postmethod perspective on English Language
MISHAN, F. (2005). Designing Authenticity into Language Learning Materials. Bristol:
Intellect
TOMLINSON, B. (ED). (1998). Materials Development in Language Teaching.
Cambridge: CUP.
10 3
HANDOUT THREE
What is the guiding principle of this handout prepared by the teacher?
What linguistic content is being taught? Why?
What metalinguistic strategies are being developed?
In what ways is this unit empowering for students?
Why is this work relevant to become a better communicator in any language and
not just in English?
10 5
TALES OF TERROR IN THE NEWS (3 ES)

by Silvana Barboni
1. Read the following extracts. Where are they from? Write a number.
1. A story
2. A Newspaper
3. An email to a friend
Michael Jackson Dies after Apparent Cardiac Arrest
He was there, in his room, unconscious on his bed. Suddenly, his heart stopped.
Have you seen the news?!!! They are saying Michael Jackson is dead??!!!!
2. How do newspapers present information? What is the function of these

parts in a newspaper cover?
Masterhead
Headline
Puff
Strapline
Image
3. These are different headlines published in different newspapers around the

world on Michael Jackson`s death. Analyse them.
Why are they effective?
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Are they taken from local or international newspapers?
What do you think?
REMEMEMBER
Michael Jackson Dies after Apparent Cardiac Arrest

Effective headlines:
Michael Jackson is dead
Pop star Michael Jackson dead at 50? * summarise the story in a few words
A Star Idolized and Haunted, Michael Jackson Dies * do not include articles the a
at 50
* are in the present
King of Pop Michael Jackson is dead: official * use emotive or dramatic language
4. Look at the newspaper article on Michael Jackson`s death.
Read it and answer:
When did he die?
Why did he die?
Why was he the biggest star in the world?
What did radio stations do?
Why was Quincy Jones devastated?
What did his fans do?
108
June 25, 2009
A Star Idolized and Haunted, Michael Jackson Dies at 50
Rusty Kennedy/Associated Press
By BROOKS BARNES
LOS ANGELES Skip to next paragraph Michael Jackson, was pronounced dead on
Thursday afternoon at U.C.L.A. Medical Center after arriving in a coma, a city official
said. Mr. Jackson was 50.
Paramedics of the Los Angeles Fire Department rushed the singer to the hospital
yesterday. A hospital spokesman did not confirm reports of heart attack. He was
pronounced dead at 2:26 pm.
As with Elvis Presley or the Beatles, it is impossible to calculate the full effect Mr.
Jackson had on the world of music. He was indisputably the biggest star in the world;
he sold more than 750 million albums. Radio stations across the country reacted to
his death with marathon sessions of his songs. MTV, played its early days as a music
channel by showing Jackson`s biggest hits.
I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news, the music producer
10 9
Quincy Jones said in a statement. I lost my little brother today, and part of my soul
is gone with him.
Improvised vigils started around the world, from Portland, Ore., where fans organized
a one-gloved bike ride (glittery costumes strongly encouraged) to Hong Kong, where
fans gathered with candles and sang his songs.
5. These are the events the story tells about. What is the chronological order
of the events? Number them.
a. When Michael Jackson arrived in the hospital, he was in coma.

b. Paramedics took him to the hospital.
c. Michael Jackson was the biggest pop star in the world.
d. Radio stations played his songs all day immediately after he died.
e. Quincy Jones talked to the reporters and his fans started vigils around the world.
f. He had a heart attack.
g. Michael Jackson died.
6. How are these events pre sented i n the s tory? Are they presented in
chronological order? Find out:
a. Which paragraphs give you the information on who, what, where, why?
b. What information do the other paragraphs give you?
c. Why does the writer include quotations?
d. Why do you think he included the photo?
7. Language Analysis:
How can this diagramme help you remember the way newspaper articles are
organised? Insert these phrases in the correct boxes.
INFORMATION ON WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY

IMPORTANT DETAILS
NON IMPORTANT DETAILS
HEADLINE
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11 1

The importance of genres and text organization
by Anabel Alarcn
Apart from the genres, students must learn that the organization of texts is not
arbitrary but it is intended to convey meaning in a logical and coherent order. In
other words, when students are taught that paragraphs have a certain organization
like comparison-contrast, cause-effect, or problem-solution, this order helps them to
comprehend the text in a better way. Structural information is important because it
helps readers organize the content and thus aids in the process of constructing a
mental representation that is, the meaning of the text (Williams,2007:200)An
important issue to bare in mind is that text organization and text signalling is
relevant not only when reading textbooks but also when reading content-areas
textbooks. It is only with well written texts that students can build a text model that
will help them integrate their prior knowledge with new information.
It can be mentioned that teaching aspects of structural organization such as

headings, preview statements, sentence initial phrases, definite reference to prior
text ideas, summary statements, etc will direct students to find out all the necessary
clues for comprehension. On the other hand, at an advanced level and in order to
develop awareness of discourse structure, students should also be trained on other
much more controlled techniques like unscrambling sentences, unscrambling
paragraphs, determining which sentence does not belong, making headings for
subsections, etc. To sum up, connecting information to various parts of the text , the
identification of main ideas, the analysis of text purpose, summaries, predictions,
formulation of questions, generation of discussions about text understanding all this
appear to improve awareness of text structure and text comprehension. Considering
that throughout a series of interviews performed by researchers, it has been observed
that many students refer to the positive effect that genre-based instruction has
caused in their L2 reading demands, teachers should expose students to different
varieties of genres and empower them with the necessary elements for subsequent
reading requirements (Martin, 2009).
When learning English, a genre based approach helps students not only to discover
the paper conventions writers use in the organization of texts but gives them the
confidence they need to approach more complex texts faster. In general when
students are confronted to different genres they must be taught to discover four
fundamental elements within each genre: (1) content (2) structure (3) language style
(4)purpose. Following this analysis teachers will be reflecting Swales (1990: 58)
11 3
definition of genre as a category of texts sharing "some set of communicative

purposes as well as various patterns of similarity in terms of structure, style, content
and intended audience.
In general students are confronted with textbooks, journal articles or papers, e-mails,
computer and educational books, short stories, etc. while some others read lecture
notes, newspapers or magazines. In any of the cases, when discussing the reading
strategies used, they cite the different features corresponding to different genres and
highlight the use of certain components learnt in classes such as structure of news
stories, surface clues ,core content, anecdotal openings, etc. that helped them to
associate their prior knowledge to the new ones.
To sum up knowing how to read and having the structure of texts students will be
able to write and compete with native speakers who may probably have a greater
linguistic knowledge but may lack rhetorical awareness.
All texts students are exposed to are formed by patterns and systems of text
organization that serve to show the goals of the writers, the purposes of specific texts,
and the expectations of the readers. In order to adapt the texts to readers needs and
goals, it is quite important that readers could recognize that genres can be described
in terms of real world uses of texts which at the same time belong to macro genres
like expository, narrative, persuasive (Grabe, 2002).
When groups of people begin to use certain conventions for organizing texts in ways
that reflect group goals and purposes, the patterns of use stabilize into sets of genre
conventions.
As far as real world uses is concerned, genres can be described in different ways:
- in terms of real world uses such as business memo, the announcement flyer, the
newspaper ad, the science research paper, the news report, the editorial, the letter of
solicitation, the CV, medical chart notes, warning labels on medicine, or the television
guide.
- in terms of instructional genres: textbook chapters, the novel, the poem, the
magazine article, the course reader, the report, the summary, class notes, etc.
- in terms of genres that belong to other families of genres: types of textbooks, types
of letters (letters of invitation, complaint, warning, congratulations, negotiation,
114
personal exchange).As genres belong to macro genres, it is necessary to define them.
The macro- genres are identified as expository, persuasive, narrative (Grabe, 2002) or
as narrative, recount, argument, and report(for instructional contexts) (Hyland, 2002).
It has been observed that both younger children and older students make significant
improvements when they are taught the structure features of different genres and
use these features to carry out various tasks.
11 5
GRABE, W. (2002) Reading in a Second Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.
HYLAND, K. (2002) Genre: Language, Context and Literacy. In M. McGroaty, (Ed.)
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. Vol. 22: 113-135.
SWALES, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings.
WILLIAMS, J. (2007) "Literacy in the curriculum: Integrating text structure and
content area instruction." In McNamara, D. (Ed.) Reading comprehension strategies:
theories, interventions, and technologies. London: Routledge (pp: 199-220)
11 7
HANDOUT FOUR
What is the connection between literacy and image in this unit?
What conceptualisation of literacy is the teacher departing from?
In what ways is the unit helping the teacher and students become code breakers?
How does the content of the unit appeal to young audiences?
11 9
BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP. (6 ES)

by Anabel Alarcn
Think:
Are all people satisfied with their appearance?
3 4
Task 1-Look at images 1-4, they have illustrated magazine articles about beauty.Then
look at magazine headers A-D.Match the images to the headers .
12 1
You are learning: How print and images combine in texts to emphasise the writers
point of view and influence the reader.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

A campaign against anorexic stererotypes .
Anorexic nation: the girl who didnt want to get fat.
Natural beauty. Portraying the real woman.
The most successful top models.
Think:
Do you agree with the ideas behind the headings? Would you like to change any of
them?
Vocabulary
Physical appearance and Personality
Task 2 -Look at the following box and cl as sify adjectives into two categories:
personality adjectives and descriptive adjectives. You already know some. Now lts
time to learn some more (picture/gestures/opposites)
Skinny- plump- slim- self confident- unstable -attractive-elegant-grotesque- healthy-

successful-overweight-graceful-repulsive-energetic-natural-beautiful-sexy-disgusting-gr
oss-beautiful fat--thin
PERSONALITY DESCRIPTIVE
.......................................... .......................................
.......................................... .........................................
Task 3- Individual / group work.
A- Choose one of the pictures describe it using the adjectives from the previous
e xercise .Then express your own views. Give your opinion. You may resort to the
language suggested in the box below.
I like / I prefer........ because........

I absolutely hate..... because...
122
You are learning:

How to express opinions, agree and disagree.
Useful language1
Giving opinions
Express opinions Agreeing
I think / I believe I agree with you
In my opinion Thats true
To me I partly agree
Asking for opinion Disagreeing
What do you think about I dont think so /I dont agree
Whats your opinion Perhaps youre right
Dont you agree But on the other hand
I see what you mean
Examples:
S1- To me the picture is showing that some people cant accept the way they look.
S2- I agree with you .Some girls specially want to look like top models so
S3- Perhaps you are right but not all the girls act like that.
You: ......................................................................................................
B- The choice of image can help the writers of magazine articles to influence the
readers opinion. After looking at the pictures make your own assumptions about the
situation behind them.
Useful language 2
Making assumptions
Judging from... she / they may /could / might be ... (its possible)
I cant tell for sure / be certain, but it looks as if she / they.+past
She / They must be...
I dont think she / they could be... because...
They cant possibly be ... because...
12 3
Examples: ideational
S1- I cant tell for sure but I believe that the skinny model is not quite happy with
her life.
S2- I dont think that shes not happy,maybe she thinks she looks beautiful.
You............................................................................................................
Reading
Task 4-
a- The above pictures speak by themselves. Read the following quotations and match
them to the pictures.
b- In the quotes below there are hidden messages. What message do they convey?
Which quote called your attention? Why?
Chubby girls are nice. They will always be on fashion.Even though we are surrounded
by much silicone and so much artificial beauty,there are still some people who prefer
them like this. Botero
I'm so gross! I don't know how anyone stands to look at me. All the skinny girls in my
classes get the boyfriends, the attention, and what do I get? I get called a pig. Jason
is the worst. I know brothers exist to make their sisters' lives miserable, but I think the
reason Jason's comments hurt so much is because I know they're true. I am a pig.
Shanel Lu: I love the thought of being a part of an ad that would potentially touch
many young girls to tell them that it is all right to be unique and everyone is beautiful
in their own skin.
Julie Arko: Being a woman is beautiful. Waking up every morning and living a happy,
healthy life is beautiful.
Sigrid Sutter: Truth is beauty.
Think
Have you ever felt like any of these girls? When? Why?
124
c- Do they all express the same ideas or different? Sum them up using s ome
connectors.
Useful Language 3: Adversative connectors
Clauses of concession are used to express a contrast.They are introduced with the
following words / phrases:
Although /Though / Even though + clause
In spite of / Despite+ the fact that...
While /Whereas + clause
On the other hand + clause
Eg: While some people think they are gross, others think that truth is beauty.
You:........................................................................................................
Writing
a- What is the price of living on appearances Write a blog to other teens about
appearance. Think about what you know from your own experience, from the world
around you and from other things you have read.Use that knowledge to help you
draw conclusions. You may resort to the following ideas:
Many people believe that if...............

I absolutely disagree with ..........................In my opinion...
In addition to this.....................................................................
Besides,......................................................................................
To sum up, I think.......................................................................
What do you think?
b- Imagine you have a friend who lives on appearance, who uploads many photos
of herself/ himself in Facebook but is not happy. Post a message in Facebook to
help her /him.
c- Song
Get into You Tube and look for the song Beautiful lyrics by Cristina Aguilera. Analize
the words or phrases used to express positive ideas on beauty. Whats the message
of the song? Do you agree ?
12 5
BEAUTIFUL
Spoken:
Don't look at me
Every day is so wonderful

And suddenly, I saw debris
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the pain, I'm so ashamed
I am beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down
So don't you bring me down today
To all your friends, you're delirious

So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone left the puzzle undone
That's the way it is
You are beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring you down
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring you down
Don't you bring me down today...
No matter what we do
(no matter what we do)
No matter what they say
(no matter what they say)
When the sun is shining through
Then the clouds won't stay
And everywhere we go
(everywhere we go)
The sun won't always shine
(sun won't always shine)
But tomorrow will find a way
126
All the other times
'cause we are beautiful no matter what they say

Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no
We are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring us down
Don't you bring me down today

12 7

Visual Literacy and Critical Thinking
by Ana Cendoya
Without image, thinking is impossible Aristotle
The use of visual elements in the process of todays teaching and learning is
increasing as images and visual representations integrated with texts in textbooks,
classroom presentations, and computer interfaces broaden (Benson, 1997; Branton,
1999;Dwyer as cited in Kleinman & Dwyer, 1999). Although the educational
community is introducing the visual in instruction, the connection of visual and
verbal information is evident throughout history.
The incorporation of the analysis of visual elements may help to achieve a balance
between verbal and visual cues in education and in doing so a greater
interdependence between the two modes of thought is fostered. Kellner (1998)
suggests that multiple literacies are necessary to meet the challenges of today's
society. These literacies comprise print literacy, visual literacy, aural literacy, media
literacy and computer literacy among others.
Visual literacy refers to the learned ability to interpret visual messages or texts
accurately. Creating such messages or texts is part of new literacies and
multiliteracies conceptualizations that seek to understand the evolving nature of
literacy in the new millennium.
When considering visual and multimodal texts, a broader concept of reading is

required. Written text unfolds in sequence, over sentences, paragraphs and pages,
while an image, with all its design and spacial elements is received all at once when
viewed. (Callow, 2008) Thus, a multiliterate individual will need to have a variety of
skills to make meaning of all types of texts.
The use and interpretation of images is a specific language in the sense that images
are used to communicate messages that must be decoded in order to have meaning
(Branton, 1999; Emery & Flood, 1998). If visual literacy is regarded as a language,
then there is a need to know to communicate using this language, which includes
being alert to visual messages and critically reading or viewing images as the
language of the messages.
The use of visuals in education, although consistently shown to aid in learning, must
12 9
becarefully planned. If the use of visuals steer the learner to the exciting or
entertaining aspects of presentation without encouraging thoughtful analysis of the
underlying meaning, it may interfere with the purpose of the lesson; in other words
if the aim of the lesson is to read the visual, there is more to it than the simple and
superficial description of what meets our eyes. Dwyer (as cited in Williams & Dwyer,
1999) suggests that visuals must be properly used in the educational setting since
visualization alone does not function to maximize student achievement.
In line with this, Callow explains that this culture of the visual has focused attention
on the connection between print text and visual text to see how meaning is created
by the interrelationship of print and visual images. The semiotic system associated
with visual texts encompasses elements such as colour, format, texture, shape. In
order to develop in our students the ability to read visual texts, they need access to
a metalanguage both to explain their own visual designs and to develop more
sophisticated and critical understandings of how visual texts in general are
constructed. For this to occur, teachers require an understanding of visual features as
well as the ability to incorporate appropriate pedagogical practices into the classroom
environment.(Callow, J. 2003)
Jon Callow (2008) states that there are three dimensions involved when visualizing
photos or paintings : affective, compositional and critical. The first one involves
personal interpretation where viewers bring their own experiences and aesthetic
preferences to an image. The second dimension implies the use of specific
metalanguage to analyse concepts such as actions, symbols, angles, colour, layout
which reflect knowledge about visual texts. The last one is probably the most
challenging dimension since students are supposed to comment on the effectiveness
or clarity of the scene and about how an image positions the viewer to think or feel
a particular way. Visual literacy, then, including students viewing, creating and
discussing texts should be considered from affective, compositional and critical
aspects. Multiliteracies should also include learning about how texts are constructed
and then this knowledge should be used to redesign new texts as part of applied
practice ( New London Group, 2000).
Working with the visual then implies a pedagogy. It involves teaching to discover, to
reflect on an image and to put yourself at a distance in order to become an
expectator. A pedagogy of the visual understands that images are not just simple
icons they are the essential part of visual discourse which occur in a given context
since they are social practices. Mirzoeff (2006) states that the visual element is in
itself part of history and that the way the world is represented and seen changes
130
along time because societies change and new events should be recorded but in such
a way that there is room for new understandings of the same event .
Todays world demands multiliterate citizens. That is to say individuals able to

interpret, use and produce texts that employ different semiotic systems to achieve
various purposes in diverse contexts. Texts in the present world are not only print
based but they are multimodal with a special emphasis on visual ones. The literature
suggests that the use of visual elements in teaching and learning yields positive
results
Thus, educators should aim to assist students in becoming multiliterate learners

especially across multimodal and visual texts and they should also incorporate
appropriate pedagogical practices such as the ones suggested by Callow. This kind of
practices can be of help to achieve this goal since it may be the springboard for
students to develop the ability to read visual texts as well as explain their own visual
productions and have critical understanding of how visual texts are constructed and
what messages they convey.
13 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY REFERENCES
ALBERS, P. COWAN,K. (2006) Semiotic representations: Building complex literacy

practices through the arts in International Reading Association (pp. 124137)
doi:10.1598/RT. 60.2.3
ANSTEY,M. BU LL,G. (2006) Teaching and Learning Multiliteracies. International
Reading Association. Delaware. USA
CALLOW, J ( 2008) Show me : Principles for Assessign students visual literacy. in the
Reading Teacher . International Reading Association. First published on line 9 NOV
2011 DOI: 10.1598/RT.61.8.3
CALLOW, J. (2003, APRIL). Talking about visual texts with students. Reading Online,
6(8). Available
DUSSEL, I. ABRAMOWSKI, A. IGARZABAL,B. LAGUZZI,G.(2006) Aportes de La Imagen
en la Formacion Docente. Abordajes conceptuales y pedagogicos. Proyecto red de
actualizacion e innovacin educativa
LANKSHEAR,C. KNOBEL, M (2011) New Literacies. Everyday Practices and Social
Learning. Open University Press. England
SUZANNE STOKES (2002) Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature
Perspective in Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education, vol.
1, no. 1:
http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=callow/index.html
13 3
Este libro se termin de
imprimir, en la ciudad de La Plata,
en el mes de Mayo de 2012

Barboni Postmethod Pedagogies Applied in ELT Formal Schooling

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POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGIES APPLIED

IN ELT FORMAL SCHOOLING

1. Teoras Educativas. I. Ttulo.

Diseo y Diagramacin: DGP Adriana Mura

Hecho el depsito que marca la ley 11.723

No se permite la reproduccin total o parcial de este libro, sin el permiso previo de la

FOREWORD OF THE EDITOR .................................................................................. .................................5

FOREWORD OF THE EDITOR

"ELT theoretical perspectives on teaching and learning teaching from postmethod

1. ELT IN THE CONTEXT OF ARGENTINA

Lopez haba nacido en la ciudad junto al ro inmvil; Ward, en

(Jorge Luis Borges, 1985: 641)

Adherence to method transforms teachers into technicians, undervalues the cultural

2. THE ADVENT OF POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGIES

(Ernesto Sbato, 2000: 75)

At a linguistic level, postmethod pedagogies adhere to theories of critical discourse

Postmethod pedagogies rely on both conceptualisations of discourse and they use

and purpose oriented meanings through language. In this respect, Kumaravadivelu

Traditional views of language teaching restrain the teaching of English to the

In contrast, postmethod pedagogies advocate the development of multiliteracies,

At a pedagogic level, postmethod pedagogies stem from theories of critical pedagogy

be described and explained in culture specific contexts and communities of practice

3. ELT EDUCATION FROM A SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: ENQUIRY BASED

Andrs Rivera (2000)

If culturally responsive practices are at the basis of postmethod pedagogy in the

Recognising that teacher learning occurs in interaction conceptualises teacher

Therefore, we expect teachers to use both physical as well as symbolic tools or

participation in interactive communities in which meditational tools are used and

On the other hand, a sociocultural understanding of teacher learning recognises

In this section, I have tried to draw a theoretical framework on the relationships

Moreover, I have drawn links between what sociocultural approaches to teacher

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/p/porquecantamos.shtml [Last accessed

possibilities'. Oxford Review of Education, 32 (5) pp561-573.

GIROUX, H. (1988). Teachers as Intellectuals: Towards a critical pedagogy of learning.

KUMARAVADIVELU, B. (2006). Understanding Language teaching: From Method to

Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

herramienta de conocimiento y accin. Buenos Aires: Novedades Educativas.

Extranjeras en el sistema Educativo Argentino: Situacin, desafos, perspectivas.

Teaching sequences of English in Primary School

TEACHING SEQUENCE ONE

Read it, reflect on it

How does the sequence develop a cultural understanding?

In what ways does it foster dialogue with otherness?

What is the relevance of relating diversity with world peace?

Why is this teaching sequence of social relevance for children?

CAN YOU SAY PEACE?

- T asks SS questions such as:

on the board with SScontributions.

We can see elephants.in India!

Qu impide que no haya paz? (Teacher elicits: la guerra, la ambicin, la agresin, la

Reflection: A pesar de hablar diferentes idiomas y de ser diferentes todos necesitamos

- Ss learn and say the complete rhyme.

What images represent the concept of Peace?

THE THEORY BEHIND IT

Every society is multilingual. Within each country, multilingualism is composed of

Equally important are comparing, interpreting, relating, discovering and interacting

Many authors agree on the need to develop a critical intercultural perspective

TEACHING SEQUENCE TWO

Read it, reflect on it

How is language developed in the class?

How does the teacher facilitate language acquisition?

How can thinking skills help linguistic development?

DO YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND?

Values: Love and friendship