Job Discussion Forums

[ChinaMovieMagic]

SUGGESTION:
On-line Discussion Group, focused-on on-line articles from the Journal of Imagination in Language Learning.
http://www.njcu.edu/cill/journal-index.html

The idea is:
*folks visit the China Job-related thread "Promoting Change in China's Classrooms?" to...
(1)see the title of the article suggested for reading/discussion
(2) read the article on the JILL Website
(3)discuss the article in the "Promoting Change..." thread (NOT HERE)

The first article is from Volume I - 1993

NOTE: There are 7 Volumes, with around 12 articles in each Volume. So...how about if we start w/this article BELOW...and then later (or at the same time?) discuss other articles in Volume 1...until folks feel it's time to move on to articles in Volume 2.

Here's a sample of the article, available at:
http://www.njcu.edu/cill/journal-index.html

AGAIN...Discussion about the ARTICLES to take place at "Promoting Change..." Thread. Discussion of the PROCESS to take place initially here. Suggestions?

===============================================
Where the Magic Lies: An Interview with Carolyn Graham

Carolyn Graham is internationally known for her "Jazz Chants" books. As a teacher-trainer, she has conducted workshops throughout the world on the use of the arts in the ESL classroom. She is a Master Teacher at the American Language Institute at New York University, and is a summer teaching fellow at Harvard University.

SEGMENTS
JILL: Changing the focus a little, let me ask if you have any idea why the imagination is squelched as children grow up in our society? That is, children seem to have a vivid imagination, but as they get older, the schools seem to weed it out of them. Often, by the time they get a college degree, they don't seem to have any idea of what the imagination is.

Graham: The imagination is certainly not encouraged in the traditional Western classroom. The imagination is frightening and unpredictable. You lose control of the child when you let that imagination loose. You really don't know where it's going to go. Some parents and some teachers feel that they want to be very much in control of what the child learns and what goes into the brain.

JILL: Have you encountered any society that is a little different?

Graham: Well, I've heard that the aboriginals in Australia are quite different. There, in the course of a day, a person can write poetry, make paintings, compose music--and they don't think anything of it. And in Bali, that's also the case. Art is not a separate thing. Everybody seems to be an artist...

...Kenneth Koch has used these beautifully in his book Wishes, Lies and Dreams. Particularly where you bring the person back to their childhood. You ask them to remember what it was like when they were ten years old. You start to get them thinking in terms of their childhood. There's a simple little exercise that I used to do where you say, "I came into the world..." and then the student gives an "ing" word like "laughing" or "singing". By the way, this works well with adults. You model the sentence and have them provide only one word.

JILL: Would you care to mention any other teaching techniques you might happen to be working on at the present?

Graham: Yes. I'm focusing very much on teaching students to think in English.....