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Last update: Wednesday April 16, 2008

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Quote of the month:
"Love looks not with eyes, but with the mind. And therefore is wing'd cupid painted blind nor hath love's mind of any judgement taste. Wings and no eyes figure unheady haste. And therfore is love said to be a child. Because in choice, he is oft beguilded."- Helena from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
-- William Shakespeare
. Read more quotes...
 

What's  for this month? meg@letter-writing section

If you are interested in making an online learning experience you can now apply for a scholarship for an online course at CRG. Read More....
New! Free Activities & Templates!!  Book reviews!!  Grammar rules to go!!
New words???
Do you know what this words mean? These are some of the new words in the Merriam-Webster's 11 edition of the Collegiate Dictionary.
Find out what they mean...

Dot-commer
McJob
dead presidents
Frankenfood

You might be an EDUCATOR IF...

Articles
What's a learning block? (Part 2)
by Gabriela Lombardo for meg@ ELT

What's a learning block? (Part 1)
by Gabriela Lombardo for meg@ ELT

Building rapport with your students.        
by Prof. Laura Szmuch for meg@ELT                                                     

e-Learning vs. Distance Learning?                   Visit our Professional Development page, take a free online       lesson to find out the difference. Read our e-Learning Glossary        
                                                                                      

What's Brain Gym?
by Gabriela Lombardo                     
for meg@ ELT -
 Léelo también en  español  

Knowing what you want helps you get it.      by Prof. Laura Szmuch for meg@ELT -  Léelo también  en español 
                                                                                                          
       
New! A guide to using punctuation correctly.
Punctuation is used to create
... 

Click here
meg@letter-writing section


Last-minute news!!!                                                 
Now, Euro English ?
By  Prof. Christelle Allin           

Call for papers                                                                          
If you are interested in publishing a paper with  us  please send  it to   info@megaelt.com;   subject: Paper   evaluation. It should be in         English (word format). Its  Spanish translation can be  published         as well.                                                                                             

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Forthcoming events

Visit our new Professional Development page this month!

TAKE A FREE ONLINE LESSON ON
e-LEARNING.

Date:  Starts every Monday  for 4 weeks
Venue:  ONLINE Course at http://campus.crg-consulting.com
Event   Singing and playing with the little ones.
Tutor: Lic. Cintia Roman Garbelotto
Registration fee: $100  -
 Great discounts through meg@ ELT
Information: Mon - Fri 9:00 to 12:30  Phone (011)4654-1316  
info@crg-consulting.com
  - Enrollment closes Friday prior to start.

Date: Group's choice
Venue: In Canada or Argentina
Event: Teacher Training
Registration Fee: To be determined
Organizer: Canadian Government Agency.
Information: A 5 to 7 week Teacher Training course to be held either in our
Campus in Toronto or in the host country by our qualified professors. 
Visit www.tcet.com
 

Viviendo nuestros sueños, online 
Date:  comienza todos los meses
Venue:  ONLINE
Event   Curso con seguimiento, orientado al logro de objetivos.
Tutor: Prof. Laura Szmuch (Trainer PNL- Coach)
 Information:cursospnl.laura@gmail.com
 
 

Dates:15 y 29 de marzo - 3 y 12 de abril del 2008-
Venue:Barrio Villa Urquiza, Ciudad  de Buenos Aires
Event:Organización Cerebral Optima en castellano
Speakers:Gabriela Lombardo
Information:Joyful Learning Center- www.centrojoyful.com.ar centrojoyful@fibertel.com.ar -011-4523-5261

                                                                    

Date: Del 10 al 12 de Abril de 2008
Venue: Córdoba - Argentina
Event: El Aprendizaje del Futuro - El desafío de la formación y la capacitación - 3ra. Edición
Registration Fee: Contact organizer
Organizer:
www.clusterkairos.com | info@clusterkairos.com
www.cordobalearning.com.ar
 
Date: April 26th 2008 8:30 to 1
Venue: Ntra. Señora de la Misericordia - Buenos Aires
Event: APIBA Seminar - All You Need to Know About International Exams
Registration Fee: Free for APIBA members - $30 f/ Non members / Students $15
Organizer: APIBA

 

Date: Sat., April 19th  10 am to 1 pm.
Venue: Anglia Central Exams Office- Lima 1149, 12 A, City of Buenos Aires
Event: DIGGING UP "REAL" ENGLISH - Chris Kunz
Registration Fee: $70
Organizer: Anglia Exams

info@angliaexams.com Tel/fax: +54 11 4305-7913

 

Coming up in next...

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ather's                          

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New words

New words???

Dot-commer: someone who owns or works for a dot-com.
McJob: low-paying work.
dead presidents: paper currency.
Frankenfood: genetically engineered food.

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                MArcador Valen

 

Phrases & Riddles
What did the stamp say to the envelope?  Stick with me and we'll go places.
What does an envelop say when you lick it?  Nothing, it shuts up.
What happens when you fall in love with a French chef? you get buttered up.
What is the difference between a girl who is sick of her boyfriend
and a sailor who falls into the ocean?  One is bored over a man, the other is a man over board.
 

 

You Might Be An Educator If...

1. You believe the staff should be equipped with a Valium

salt lick.

2. You find humor in other people's stupidity.

3. You want to slap the next person who says, "Must be nice

to work 8 to 3 and have your summers free."

4. You believe chocolate is a food group.

5. You can tell it's a full moon without ever looking

outside.

6. You believe "shallow gene pool" should have its own box

on the report card.

7. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if

anyone says, "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."

8. When out in public you feel the urge to snap your fingers

at a child you do not know and correct his or her behavior.

9. You have no time for a life from August to June.

10. Marking all A's on report cards would make your life SO

much simpler.

11. When you mention "vegetables" you are not talking about

a food group.

12. You think people should be required to get a government

permit before being allowed to reproduce.

13. You wonder how parents ever MANAGED to reproduce.

14. You laugh uncontrollably when people refer to the staff

room as the "lounge."

15. You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac.

16. You encourage an obnoxious parent to check into charter

schools or home schooling.

17. You believe no one should be permitted to reproduce

without having taught in a middle school setting for at

least five years.

18. You've ever had your profession slammed by someone who

would never DREAM of doing your job.

19. You can't have children because there's no name you

could give a child that wouldn't bring on high blood

pressure the moment you heard it uttered.

20. You think caffeine should be available to staff in IV

form.

21. You know you're in for a MAJOR project when a parent

says, "I have a great idea I'd like to discuss. I think it

would be such fun."

22. You smile weakly and want to choke a person when s/he

says "Oh you must have such FUN every day. It must be like

playtime for you." Or, "My kid is having trouble with his

English/history/math/science class. Do you think you could

help him/her out?"

23. Your personal life comes to a screeching halt at report

card time.

24. Meeting a child's parent instantly answers the

question, "Why is this kid like this?"

 

 

Read more

 

Article: Knowing what you want helps you get it     by Laura Szmuch

 

The above is one of the basic presuppositions of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming).  As one of the pillars of NLP is, precisely, outcome orientation, one of the basic conditions to get what we want is, quite obviously, to know what we want.

Many people inhabit the eternal complaint that things are not the way they would like them to be.  However, they haven't got the slightest idea of how they would like things to be. In order to have the possibility to achieve something, it is essential that we first are certain of what it is that we want.

 

Do I always get what I want if I know what I want?

No, not always. 

Anyway, the mere fact that we know it is the first step to start designing the life we want. Many times we drift through life. And sometimes it is positive that it is that way.   There are periods in life when we have no clear direction, or when we gather information about possibilities, or we take a rest to assess our present state.   And there are other stages in life when we take the reins of our own lives and we make decisions and we take action.  We are the protagonists of our own decisions.  And we don't blame anyone else that we have arrived nowhere if we had never had a clear destination in mind in the first place.  

 

Take a few seconds to think about this:

If you take a taxi and you tell the taxi driver: "Take me"

 

What do you think can happen?

One possibility is that the taxi driver might ask you where it is that you want to go….and that would solve the embarrassing situation- not to take into account the fact that he might  understand something else, of course…Mmmm

 

 It is also possible that he will NOT ask you, and he takes you where HE wants to take you…And you might like it…but, what would happen if you didn't?

 

Exactly the same thing happens in life when we don't make our own decisions: other people make them for us.

 

As I have said before, we can't possibly get what we want if we don't know what we want.  And simply knowing what we want is no guarantee of getting it.  Unless….unless we take action.

 

Once we know what we want, it is essential that we are as specific as possible about our goal.

Does that mean that I must be terribly strict and only expect what fits those  "specifications"?

No, absolutely not. What I mean is that simply saying "I want a big house", for example, is not enough.  

 

 

What kind of house do you want?

How many rooms are there in your "big house"?

How many bathrooms?

Is there a patio or a garden?   A park?

Where do you want it to be?

Describe the house of your dreams exactly the way you want it.

How much money are you ready to pay for it?

What do you want the big house for?

And so on…

 

Once you imagine it, what you want starts to take shape in your mind.

You are not going to get the house of your dreams unless you have a house in your dreams.

You may not find exactly the house you have dreamt about, however, the fact that you have placed it in your mind in great detail is the first step.

 

Is dreaming about it enough?

No, but it is wonderful. Once you dream about it with all your senses, you MUST take action to get it. NLP offers us loads of techniques to help us get what we want.

Your homework, dear reader, is to start asking yourself what you want in the different areas of your life, for example: personal, professional, family, health, finance,etc

 

Start thinking-if you haven't already done it, of course- that you can design your own life, or enjoy more what you absolutely love about it.

Until next time!

Laura Szmuch©*

www.lauraszmuch.com.ar

lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Subscribe to the newsletter in Spanish: en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com

Subscribe to "RTNews" (in English): rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar

 

* Laura is a graduate of INSP "Dr JV Gonzalez, and master Practitioner and Trainer in NLP.She applies NLP to her English teaching.  She is the co-founder of Resourceful Teaching, an educational consultancy, and  produces the e-zines called RTNews and En Contacto.  She runs NLP courses for teachers and other professionals both in English and in Spanish and coordinates self-development workshops, courses and retreats, among them "A Spa for the Teacher's Soul".

She has written " Aprendiendo Inglés, y disfrutando el proceso", and co-authored "Really Thriving" of forthcoming publication.At present she is training as a Transformational Ontological Coach and as a Pychoneuroeducator.

 

 

What is NLP?  

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming   NLP is an eclectic body of thought which is a branch of  the Cognitive  Sciences and Cognitive Behavioural Psychology.  It grew out of General Semantics (Korzybski), Transformational Grammar (Chomsky), Anthropology and Cybernetics (Bateson), Reframing (Watzlawick et al), Family Systems  (Virginia Satir), Gestalt Therapy(Perls), Medical Hypnosis (Erickson) and  several related studies.  Its founders were Richard Bandler (a mathematician) and John Grinder (a  linguist) who, in the early 70s, set out to discover the "structure of  excellence".

What NLP training does for you....

 This acronym reminds us of the fact that our mind and body are interconnected and that we are responsible for the models of the world we create.  

NLP training has two areas of application:
1. How we communicate with others

2. How we communicate with ourselves

It also aims at revealing the underlying structure of excellence.  It offers answers to the question of "how" to do things effectively, or rather, how successful people in different fields do what they do wonderfully.  It analyses subjective experience, taking into account patterns of behaviour, capability, values, beliefs, mission in life and internal representations of reality.
It offers a learnable technology which can help us improve performance and communication, overcome limitations, achieve goals and confidence in different areas of our lives.

With training in NLP we learn how to get rapport with virtually anybody, how to become flexible in our communication, how to use language effectively.  We learn how to deal with conflict on a win-win basis, how to tap our resources (such as confidence, competence, inner peace, motivation, health, abundance, etc.), how to discover our strategies (of excellence, creativity, good memory, etc.), how to work with our beliefs and other levels of growth and learning and how our brains code our subjective  experience.

 Resourceful Teaching©

www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar

 

 Espanol

 

Y en español, para compartir con amigos y familiares:
 

 Nota:  Si sé lo que quiero voy a conseguirlo

 

Esta es una de las presuposiciones básicas de la PNL.   Como uno de los pilares de la PNL es, precisamente, la orientación hacia el logro de objetivos, una de las condiciones básicas para poder conseguir lo que queremos, es, obviamente, saber qué es lo que queremos.

 

Mucha gente vive en la queja constante de que las cosas no son como les gustaría que fueran.   Sin embargo, no saben cómo les gustaría que fueran.  Para poder tener la posibilidad de lograr algo , primero debemos tener la certeza de qué es lo que queremos.

 

¿Siempre consigo lo que quiero si sé qué es lo que quiero?

No, no siempre.  No obstante, el saberlo es el primer paso para poder empezar a diseñar la vida que queremos.  Muchas veces vamos por la vida sin rumbo.  A veces está bien que así sea.  Hay períodos en la vida en los que nos dejamos llevar, o juntamos información acerca de posibilidades, o nos tomamos un descanso para evaluar nuestro estado actual.  Y hay otros períodos en la vida en los que nosotros tomamos las riendas y decidimos y actuamos.   Somos protagonistas de nuestras decisiones.  Y no culpamos a nadie por no haber llegado a ninguna parte si jamás nos habíamos propuesto un determinado destino.

 

Piensa en este ejemplo:

Si subes a un taxi y le dices al taxista: "Lléveme"

¿Qué crees que puede llegar a suceder?

Es posible que el taxista te pregunte dónde quieres ir, y ahí estaría solucionado el tema.

También es factible que no te pregunte, y te lleve donde él quiere.

Y tal vez te guste…pero, ¿y si no te gustara?

 

Lo mismo sucede en la vida cuando no tomamos nuestras propias decisiones: otros las toman por nosotros.

 

Como dije anteriormente, no podemos conseguir lo que queremos, si no sabemos lo que queremos.   Y sólo saber qué es lo que queremos, no es garantía de conseguirlo, a no ser que nos pongamos en movimiento para hacerlo.

 

Una vez que sabemos qué es lo que queremos es bueno ser lo más específico posible acerca de nuestro objetivo.  

 

¿Eso quiere decir que me tengo que poner estricto y sólo esperar lo que entra dentro de esas "especificidades"?

No, absolutamente no.  Lo que quiero decir es que con sólo decir "Quiero una casa grande", por ejemplo, no es suficiente.

¿Qué tipo de casa quieres?

¿Cuántos cuartos tiene tu "casa grande"?

¿Cuántos baños?

¿Tiene patio o jardín?  ¿Parque?

¿Dónde quieres que esté?

Describe la casa de tus sueños tal y como la quieres.

¿Qué cantidad de dinero estás dispuesto a pagar por ella?

¿Para qué quieres una casa grande?

etc

 

Una vez que la imaginas, lo que quieres empieza a tomar forma en tu mente.

No vas a poder conseguir la casa de tus sueños a no ser que tengas una casa en tus sueños.

Quizás no encuentres exactamente la que soñaste, sin embargo, el haberla puesto en tu mente con bastante detalle es el primer paso.

 

¿Y soñarla es suficiente?

No, pero es maravilloso. Y una vez que la sueñas, tienes que ponerte en marcha para conseguirla.

La PNL ofrece muchísimas técnicas para crear y lograr objetivos.

En próximos números te iré contando acerca de ellas.

Mientras tanto, te invito a que empieces a preguntarte qué es lo que quieres en tu vida en sus distintos ámbitos, como por ejemplo: personal, laboral, familiar, etc

 

 Esa es TU TAREA, querido lector, para este mes.  Empezar a pensar que puedes diseñar tu vida, o aumentar lo que te gusta de ella.

¡Hasta la próxima!Laura Szmuch©

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E-learning

What is Brain Gymâ ? By Gabriela Lombardo 

Brain Gym is an educational system developed by Dr. Paul Dennison, Ph D with many years of successful application in more than 20 countries in different fields, such as: personal development, education and business. Dr Paul Dennison´s work is based on his understanding of the interdependence of physical movement, language acquisition and academic achievement. His effective and ground-breaking approach to learning grew out of  his background in brain research and experimental psychology.

 In  Brain Gym ,   simple and powerful exercises are used to activate the different dimensions of intelligence , thus stimulating information flow within the brain and the body. Through movement we enhance our inborn ability to learn, release learning blocks, process information and respond to our world in an effective way. This allows us to function at our optimal state..

 Who can use Brain gym?

EVERYBODY, from children to adults.

How can you experience Brain Gym?

 Through  

v     Balancing sessions on a one to one basis, ,where we work with process oriented goals to achieve them or to untap our potential where we feel limited, among other things. (consultancy). 

v     Learning these  wonderful techniques in a workshop delivered by a certified and licensed Brain Gym instructor.  

Through the use of Brain Gym new neural pathways are created and in this way the person who experiences a session  has new response patterns as he learns a feeling of natural ease in relation to ¨the issue¨.

The topics that can be dealt with in a session are endless. From dyslexia, hyperactivity, difficulties in reading, communication, stress before exams, to  any situation in which you  feel ill at ease or know  you  haven´t acquired a certain skill yet.   

Some brain gym premises and basic concepts.

 1- We learn what we actively experience.

2- Intelligence is inborn.

3- Each one of us is affected by every other.

4- Learning is an inborn activity, it is fun and it lasts our whole lives.

5- Movement is the door to learning and it stimulates brain function.

6- Stress inhibits learning.

7- Learning blocks can be released.

8- Noticing is a personal feedback mechanism .

 Can we learn without stress? 

YES, not only can we learn with a lot less stress but this also benefits our brain and body hugely. Learning without stress does not mean being inefficient, on the contrary. By being more relaxed and less stressed , learning through our senses is enhanced and in this way we can express our creativity more easily. We also release emotional stress that can be affecting us in different areas in our lives.. 

Is using Brain Gym in learning effective? 

It certainly is . Improvements in listening, learning, memory , concentration, self-expressing and  coordination have been  observed.

As far as school life is concerned,  the following can improve:

       Ø      Attitude

Ø      Discipline,

Ø      Behavior,

Ø      Performance in sports, exams and other activities. 

Gabriela Lombardo,
  
Instructor / Consultant.
For further info::
www.centrojoyful.com.ar.
centrojoyful@fibertel.com.ar.

Telephone. (011) 4523-5261- 
Buenos Aires, Argentina.