SHARE CONVENTION: "Selfies and Motivation"

Selfies and Motivation

By Mathilde Verillaud

  This seminar was mainly devoted to talk about the new fashion which has recently emerged among teenagers and also some people of all ages.

She mentioned that selfies belonged to the Y generation, which is a generation of students that grew up with technology. They also help students to learn about themselves and it helps teachers to connect to their students by facilitating a self- discovering process.

 To carry out an effective teaching in our classroom we need to have a clear understanding of what our students´ reality is since it is essential to establish a connection between English and students´ daily life. So it is our work to use selfies as a creative tool. Teachers earn students´ respect by getting interested in them and their needs.

  During the workshop we discussed some of the possible reasons why people are so fond of taking selfies. For example, to be cool because everyone does it, they may have an obsession with technology, some of them want to promote themselves on social networks since they look for others´ acceptance and positive comments or they may want to create a better version of them.  In fact, selfies show personality and who our students really are.

  Finally, we saw on screen some possible sequences of activities in which the concept of selfies and photographs in general is present. Those activities were really creative and motivating. The one I liked the most was one in which students had to look at pictures of painters or writers and they had to guess what their personality was. Some of them were also useful to work on vocabulary related to photography.

  In conclusion, I really liked this workshop since consider that students´ interests should be present in lessons as much as possible. Selfies and many other fashions are really significant for our students´ life since they are part of their culture and reality. The real task for us is to take advantage of those interests to enhance English learning and students´ motivation. 

SEMINAR: "Improving Learners' Pronuciation Skills."

Improving Learners´ Pronuciation Skills

                                   By Professor Andrea Gil

I attended this seminar in charge of Andrea Gil because I am really interested in pronunciation and how to encourage students to improve their own pronunciation.  The main purpose of this seminar was to make us aware of the importance of using pronunciation activities in our lessons since there is a general tendency among teachers to skip those activities every time they appear on course books.

  We worked in groups to revise most features of speech such as stress rhythm and intonation and we also explore and tried out simple activities, which we could implement in the classroom. The teacher also talked about the importance of technological digital tools that would really help to increase learners´ autonomy when dealing with pronunciation. Students can use these tools both in and out the classroom. We have to motivate them to practise at home.

 We also discussed about the importance of intonation and little by little we could get our students used to reading properly giving a bit of rhythm an intonation to the texts.

  We also saw on screen some useful websites that offered further practice on pronunciation. In one of them, for example, students could record themselves to practice pronunciation.

  In my opinion, it was a very interesting seminar since I consider that speaking and pronunciation should be essential for our students so as to be able to communicate in English. I really agree with the fact that teachers normally avoid pronunciation activities because they may think that they are difficult for students or they may have no time in their lessons because they have to cover all the contents from the curriculum. We have to feel comfortable and confident about integrating pronunciation within our teaching practice.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Essay #18

Children exploitation

The industrial Revolution in England contributed to improve people´s living conditions. That meant an expansion in population, for the first time the birth rate in London was higher that the death rate, so children became a huge part of society.  Poor children had always worked in England but during the industrialization their work became highly valuable to factory owners since they realized that it was more advantageous to employ children rather than adults.

    Most factories’ owners were interested in employing children because they were tractable, cheap and easy to discipline. Children were very efficient when carrying out simple repetitive operations. Unlike adults, they did not show antipathy to factory labour. Due to these advantages, factories and mines absorbed children who were much more exploited than ever before. Children as young as six years old during the industrial revolution worked hard hours for little or no pay. In extreme cases, they sometimes worked up to 19 hours a day, with a one-hour total break. They worked also in horrible conditions. Children normally used large, heavy, and dangerous equipment so many accidents occurred in which they were injured or killed. Besides, they were paid only a fraction of what an adult would earn, and sometimes factory owners would get away with paying them nothing.

   The treatment of children in factories was often cruel and unusual, their safety was generally neglected. The youngest children, who were not old enough to work the machines, were commonly sent to be assistants to textile workers. The adults tended to beat them, abuse them verbally, and take no consideration for their safety. One common punishment for being late or not working efficiently would be to be "weighted." An overseer would tie a heavy weight to worker's neck, and have them walk up and down the factory aisles so the other children could see them and "take example." This could last up to an hour.

  Children´s parents knew how terrible the working conditions at the factory were but they were almost forced to accept them because they needed the income. However, many years later there appeared some important figures that fought for the regulation, improvement, and abolishment of child labor. The first step to improve conditions was in 1833 when the Parliament passed the Factory Act. This act limited the amount of hours children of certain ages could work. The children were also supposed to attend school for no less than two hours during the day. The most important part of this act was that the government would appoint officials to make sure that the act was carried out properly in every factory.

  To conclude, in the time of the Industrial Revolution, the families who moved to the crowded cities had a terrible economic situation. When children lived in rural areas, they used to work long hours with hard work for their families farms, but in the cities, they worked longer hours with harder work for large companies. The treatment was more severe; there were more sickness and injury. 

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Essay #16-17

A better taste is coming -

A belief in order, efficiency and social discipline.

The industrial Revolution caused a big impact on the English society and it really influenced people´s attitude towards social matters. After this period, people began to think more critically about the politic institutions and the social conflicts that they used to take for granted ad accept as their reality.  The administrative class and the new industrial magnates, who were the leading figures of the industrial revolution, increased their belief in order, efficiency and social discipline.

   Firstly, people adopted a new attitude towards the old problems of society, such as poverty, crime, debt, disorder and waste. They also became more critical to the inefficient constitutional machinery. Satire or self-satisfaction among people was replaced by analysis and constructive criticism. As a consequence, there was a growing moral imperative, which held that human virtue could be measured only by its immediate social value. This new moral outlook did not affect the aristocracy since they had always lived in a golden age of power, privilege and wealth.

    Secondly, there was a rivalry between the Whig and Tory squires. However, the political animosity had already started to weaken since the hard times affected both of them. For instance, the problems of rural poverty touched both big and small landowners. The industrial expansion and the threat of the new world were weakening the antagonism between old Whig and old Tory.

  Thirdly, the new industrialists were concerned about law, order and efficient administration of towns. It was highly necessary to reform the local government. After the industrial towns became modern towns, the lack of local government and local administration became unbearable. The government wanted to maintain the immense privileges and profits that they enjoyed at the expense of citizens.

   Finally, people started to fight for their rights and the proper living conditions which they deserved. They also claimed for powers to run social services in their towns. As a result, between 1761 and 1765, a body of enterprising citizens secured Private Acts of Parliament by which they were enabled to charge a house rate in exchange for providing paving and lighting to each house. They would intervene in case any anarchist citizen refused to pay for those improvements. This marked the end of a long local struggle. Citizens in charge of bringing those changes received different names, such as Paving Commissioners, Lighting Commissioners or Improvement Commissioners. Those groups were formed by people with different religions who gather to achieve the same goals of contributing to England’s social development.

  To conclude, people of different social classes, Whigs and Tories, people with different religions put their differences aside to reach a common purpose together. They all wanted to achieve development and improvements on society, to make authorities respect people’s rights and to have a more efficient local government and administration.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Essay #14

Journalism and Literature

  During the eighteenth century newspapers multiplied both in London and the provinces due to the plethora of pamphlets produced by political or religious development.  There was a high demand for news all over England. In 1727, seventeen new newspapers had been successfully established. A considerable growth in literacy among people was the reason of the demand for books and newspapers. Both Journalism and literature books had a clear and defined style during this century.

   Most people became fond of reading because there was a significant increase in literacy. Since the revolution, the number of undergraduates at the universities was rapidly declining. However, primary education improved immensely trough the charity school movement. Those schools were run largely by Dissenters and after some time, by mixed groups of Anglicans and Dissenters. Charity schools provided education for the artisan’s and small shopkeepers´ children. People who ran those societies were essentially puritan since they believed, like their grandparents before them, in godliness, industry, and thrift. Then they would form the Methodism movement.

 Some people became professionals on letters due to the products of charity school and the new grammar schools. Consequently, there was a great increase in literary styles apart from theology and travel.  Writers started to work on good, bad or indifferent poetry and plays. But in those times, novels were quite unusual. Other writers such as Young and Thomson, wrote smooth, elegant and formal verse to gratify the conventional tastes of their patrons. The growth of literature and the development of journalism deeply affected the writing of prose.

  To conclude, the seventeenth century´s pieces of writing were embellished but there was a lack of effective and deeply personal use of words. Instead, writers started to implement plainer writing and a simpler vocabulary to produce suitable books for the simply educated people.  The readers were more varied than before when only high classes used to read.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Essay #12

Reason and Religion

  Before the Industrial Revolution took place in England, people used to accept the dogmatic theology of an early age without questioning it. But during the period of industrialization there was a really important improvement in science, which enlarged man´s understanding and made him question the whole nature of the biblical universe in which his ancestors used to believe with great faith.  The Englishman´s horizon was expanding rapidly and curiosity grew. 

 In the seventeenth century, the triumphs of reason had been so startling and astounding that it was impossible for intelligent men to accept unquestioned the dogmatic theology that used to prevail.  Science had begun to dominate people´s intellectual life so it was difficult to reconcile reason with religion. In an attempt to do this, the preacher and the publicist played down miracles, banished the terrors of hell and they stressed the reasonable nature of Christian ethics. Pope and Bollingbroke imposed “Deism”, which was the belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a Creator, accompanied with the rejection of authority as a source of religious knowledge. As a consequence, Christians started to defend religion and in the twenties and thirties there was a violent theological controversial.

  Philosophy was also affected by the same skeptical spirit which was clearly represented by David Humes in his book “Treatise on Human Nature” in 1738. In literature philosophy was not as popular as theology. So that book was not spread among people maybe because it did not show revolutionary views of the world. 

  To conclude, people during the Industrial Revolution needed the light of reason as much as the nature of the physical universe or the mysteries of God. So it was very important to find a way of conciliating reason and religion so as to avoid the disputes that emerged between religious people,philosophers and scientists.

  

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Essay #10

Transport

   In the eighteenth century England´s transport system was in terrible conditions and it did not contribute to the nation´s growth since it was very difficult to move goods from one place to another. It seemed impossible to cover long distances. England was experiencing a time of great commercial expansion so merchants began to claim for solutions to have an improvement both on roads and means of transports.

   One of the most serious difficulties that merchants found in English towns was the bad conditions of the roads. The government ignored the damaged roads and they did not offer money to repair them. Instead, some people from the near parishes tried to repair them with the scarce resources they possessed. Roads in that time used be like a swamp infested with swarms of armed robbers. As a consequence, pack horses appeared as the only available method for transporting goods for short or long distances but it was very expensive.

   Coast water-borne trade was quicker, cheaper and freer than pack horses. Traders and the government wanted to take advantage of this so they established more control over the rivers. This helped to connect important cities such as Manchester and Derby. Consequently, the products became cheaper and they managed to rich both local and national market.

   During that time, many businessmen were looking for the opportunity of investing their money wisely so as to obtain convenient benefits. That’s why some of them decided to keep the maintenance of a particular section of a read and in return they were allowed to charge a fee every time people used those roads for transportation of goods. Parliament supported enterprisers to do this by giving them private acts. These investors were known as the Turnpike Trusts and they turned out to be quite dishonest since they only cared about money and they did very little to help road transport. London was the exception since its trustees were really involved and concerned with the ease of transport.

   In conclusion, the improvement of transport was highly necessary for guaranteeing merchants the possibility of trading with other towns. That would give them the chance of growing economically and having a better position among society. The improvement of roads was not a difficult task for the unconcerned government and it really facilitated merchants´work.