‘GET INSPIRED!’

Magdalena Każmierkiewicz – do you recognise the name? She is a recent addition to the team of SIG co-ordinators, and is responsible for Teacher Development. She also has a regular slot on the main IATEFL website, titled: ‘The Inspired Section’.

So, what exactly does that mean? Well, Magdalena cordially invites you to create a section of creative inspirations together. ‘GET INSPIRED’ is a space for all teachers to write articles on different topics – from personal development, psychology, and pedagogy, to ….. ready-made ideas to be used during language lessons. Let our work be not only an inexhaustible source of inspiration, but also (and perhaps, above all) a set of ready-made ideas to be used in class to make the teaching and learning process more pleasurable and effective.

If you have an article to share in Polish or in English, or need to get more details, write to: magdalena.kazmierkiewicz@iatefl.org.pl  Get inspired together!

The present main website has an article: ‘Komunikacyjny wellbeing w czasach zarazy’, which is a positive contribution to the section, just before Christmas. Do feel inspired and motivated to share your ideas with IATEFL Poland members, via Magdalena’s Inspired slot.

Magdalena’s bio: Who is she? 

She works as a Director of Studies in the Sokrates School of Foreign Languages in Warsaw, where she constructively helps teachers in their development process. She previously worked in the PASE Association, where she was responsible for the content of teacher conferences. Magdalena has a passion for creative thinking, writing workshops, and conference programmes. As a blog writer (zpamietnikametodyka.pl) and teacher-trainer, she shares her experience, thoughts, and ideas with people, with whom she loves to work and live. For IATEFL Poland, she applies her skills as a Co-ordinator for Teacher Development, and has formulated the ‘GET INSPIRED’ section on the association’s main website.

For a glimpse of what she looks like, so you will recognise her at future Conferences, here is her photo:

RECENT WEBINAR: ‘SMOOTH SAILING THROUGH A SEA OF WORDS’ – HUGH DELLAR….

The ever-popular Hugh Dellar was a recent guest of IATEFL Poland, presenting a vocabulary-based webinar, titled: ‘Smooth Sailing through a Sea of Words’. As ever, Hugh did not disappoint. You will be able to watch the video of it soon, but in the meantime, I will show a sequence of screenshots, which give an outline of his talk, along with his ideas behind the use of vocabulary and issues arising.

Here is a bio-pic, just to remind you about his colourful background: ‘Married with 2 kids, resident in North London, he grew up on the south coast of England, and in south London, where he graduated in English Literature, in 1991, from Goldsmith’s College, which is part of the University of London. Like many native-speakers, he drifted into language teaching, only really becoming serious about it during a 4-year stint in Indonesia, in the mid-90’s. He returned to London to do his DELTA, and then an MA TESOL, and moved, soon afterwards, into course book writing. He worked initially with Michael Lewis and Jimmie Hill, the two men behind ‘The Lexical Approach’, a book that influenced him enormously. In his free time, Hugh continues to play in a band called ‘The Beatpack’. He also writes for a music magazine, and DJ’s occasionally. He reads voraciously, enjoys cooking, and is a life-long Arsenal supporter. Finally, Hugh contributes to Facebook, regularly, speaking out loudly about social and/or political issues. What an amazing person – where does he find the time?

He runs his own language school, Lexical Lab, based in London, in conjunction with Andrew Walkley……contact: lexicallab.com/about-us

Latest news:

New Treasurer: For over two decades, IATEFL Poland has been served admirably by Danusia Sołtyska, who has led the organisation through many obstacles, such as new laws, changes in VAT rules, and administrative changes, and has steered the good ship ‘IATEFL Poland’ into calmer, financial waters. Never a job that appealed to many people, Danusia persevered with her duties, and has patiently waited for a replacement. That time has now finally come, and Danusia will be switching to a role on the Review Committee, whilst the job of Treasurer will be bravely taken by Ania Gębka-Suska, a former two-time President of the Association. Danusia has trained Ania for the job, and she is now ready to take over. We at IATEFL, wish both ladies good luck with their new roles, and a big, big thank-you to Danusia for her marvellous work as Treasurer.

Events in 2021:

Usually in January, there is an ESL Conference in Lublin, but not in 2021. The organisers wish to hold a conference with people face-to-face, so they hope to offer such an event later in the year. Let’s hope that vaccines work quickly and effectively, and make that dream come true.

In spring, Radom Region normally hold a mini-conference, too. Magda Zawadzka cannot confirm such an event yet, but hopes to do soon. The theme? ‘Teachers’ well-being’.

Joanna Leszkiewicz and her colleagues in Wroclaw Region, including Magdalena Każmierkiewicz, are also planning an event for spring, and this may well be on-line. The theme will be ‘Communication’. Dates to be confirmed yet.

REPORT: 

Gdańsk Region: Webinar – ‘Inspiring Virtual Trips with Skype in the Classroom’. 

On the 12^th of November, Gdańsk Region hosted a 90-minute webinar presented by Małgorzata Buszman and Skype in the Classroom. It was a truly global event, as can be seen below by the pie chart showing the attendance figures. 57% of participants were based in Poland, but the rest came from all over the world, including South America. 

The event was a success, inspired by the speaker, and a recording of the session can be found on the IATEFL PL Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/iateflpoland/videos/?ref=pageinternal   

Małgorzata Bukowska-Ulatowska, Vice-President, IATEFL Poland.

“Not a lot of people know that!” …… a new column by Geoff Tranter.

“Oh yes, I can! Oh no, you can’t!” British Pantomime unravelled.

Question: Where can you find women dressed up as men, men dressed up as women, men in the skin of a horse, a cow, or even a camel, a crowd of people hissing and booing, and shouting “Oh, yes I can!” and “Oh no, you can’t!” at each other. The answer is, of course, that you will find all of this on the stages of many UK theatres offering Christmas pantomimes every year during the months of December, January, and February. The uninitiated may well retort: “Impossible” – pantomime must have something to do with mime, and people don’t start shouting in a mime! In actual fact, the British pantomime genre has very little to do with mime. Its origins lie in the medieval tradition of the Italian Commedia dell’Arte with clowns and harlequins. By the 19^th century, this had developed more or less into the typical Christmas show, adored still today, by kids and adults across the whole of the United Kingdom.

Basically, it is a kind of musical offering singing, dancing, and most importantly, joke-telling – usually the kind of ‘corny’ jokes normally found in Christmas crackers (cf. below). The plot, if that is the right word, is usually based on one of the many fairy-tales that audiences remember from their childhood, e.g. ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Aladdin’, etc. Other productions come from popular children’s stories, such as Peter Pan or Robinson Crusoe.

What all Christmas pantomimes have in common is a large number of conventions that are rarely found in other stage productions. For example, the young male hero, known as the ‘Principal Boy’ is normally played by a woman, and his (her?) sweetheart is a young woman (the ‘Principal Girl’), who is also played by a young woman. The other main female role, known as the ‘Panto Dame’, is often the widowed mother of the Principal Boy, and the grotesque, ugly, big figure is played by a man. Other standard roles in pantomimes include a comedian, who is responsible for most of the jokes, and gets involved in all kinds of messy slapstick scenes; the Good Fairy, who is there to help the hero fight the cause of Good against the evil Villain; and, of course, Good always prevails! Whenever the Villain appears on stage, the whole of the audience has to hiss and boo fortissimo. There is also almost always a pantomime horse or cow or camel, played by two men in animal clothing. To round off the musical experience, there are groups of singers and dancers, often young girls and boys, who constantly encourage the audience to sing along as loud as they can. So, as you can see, pantomime is very interactive!

This audience participation is one of the main attractions for children and parents. Not only do they have to sing along, very often in competitions between parents and children to see who can sing loudest, they also have to boo and hiss the Villain, as mentioned above, and they are also expected to respond in the traditional way to statements made by the actors on stage. For example: when the Villain claims: “I will be King!”, the audience respond with “Oh, no you won’t”, whereupon the villain continues: “Oh yes, I will!”, and the sequence is repeated a few times. If the Villain appears on stage unseen by the hero, the audience have to warn him by shouting: “He’s behind you!”

Quite often, members of the audiences are invited onto the stage to get involved in the action, but beware!.... many an unsuspecting father has taken up the challenge, only to make a complete fool of himself. So, avoid seats in the front row if you can! Otherwise, you might suddenly find yourself having cream cakes thrown at you!

On a more serious note, it is true that Christmas pantomimes are definitely not politically correct. They tend to break many of the PC rules that abound, nowadays. As a result of this, pantomime is not without its critics, who want a more sensitive approach to many of the conventions described above. For parents and children alike, this is all forgotten for the two hours of fun that they experience together, once a year, around Christmas time.

Anyone interested in seeing a Christmas pantomime should try YouTube, where you will find a wide selection, often produced by amateur theatrical groups. However, for anyone who has never seen a Christmas pantomime before, it is advisable to start with a professional production with professional actors. These are found by searching for “TV pantomimes”, and you will immediately be offered productions of Aladdin, Cinderella, and Dick Whittington. But when watching pantomime, you should never forget that the most important thing about Christmas pantomime is the atmosphere, not the plot!  

Geoff Tranter

(Ed: one point to add is that pantomimes are brilliantly written, with one set of dialogue but with the humour on two levels – one innocent layer for the kids, and one which can best be described as ‘adult humour’, which is often sexual. When it comes to actually going to the local theatre for a pantomime, it’s probably the parents who are keener to go!). 

Enjoy!

Here are this year’s Top Ten UK Christmas Cracker jokes: (have to be corny)….

1. What is Dominic Cummings’ favourite Christmas song? ‘Driving Home for Christmas’.

2. Did you hear that production was down at Santa’s workshop? Many of his workers have had to Elf isolate!

3. Why didn’t Mary and Joseph make it to Bethlehem? All Virgin flights were cancelled.

4. Why are Santa’s reindeer allowed to travel on Christmas Eve? They have herd immunity.

5. Why did the pirates have to go into lockdown? Because the “Arrrr!” rate had risen.

6. Why is it best to think of 2020 like a pantomime? Because it will soon be “behind you”.

7. Why couldn’t Mary and Joseph join their work conference call? Because there was no Zoom at the inn.

8. Why can’t Boris Johnson make his Christmas cake until the last minute? He doesn’t know how many tiers it should have.

9. What do the Trumps do for Christmas dinner? They put on a super spreader.

10. Which Christmas film was 30 years ahead of its time? ‘Home Alone’.

2021: IATEFL Poland’s 30^th Anniversary:

2021 will be a momentous year for us, as we celebrate our 30^th year of existence.

Let us know how we can celebrate it. We have some ideas of our own, but you are invited to send us your ideas. Contact me, Peter Whiley, at: newsletter@iatefl.org.pl .

 Peter Whiley (E-Bulletins Editor) -  newsletter@iatefl.org.pl