poem to the sea

COME WITH ME
Come with your soft breeze
and flood with your wather
my bare feet on the sand
come at dawn and the sun illuminates
with its rays your frozen waters
Come and caress my body
with your calm
come and take me with your waves
to discover your world
to know the stories
that are hiden in the depth
of your being.
Come ans let me enter
in your depth heart
and to know the wonders
that live inside you
Let me travel the world
to caress the transparency of your body
with the touch of my fingers
to enjoy the soft breeze
that caress my face
when the wind runs to youor side
And returns in the nigth
when the moon from the sky
lighsts up to your deep waters
and transport me to a world
made of dreas of sand and salt
by PAOLA ANDREA TORRES DURAN

LITERATURE: IS IT A GOOD TOOL IN THE LANGUAGE TEACHING?

LITERATURE: IS IT A GOOD TOOL IN THE LANGUAGE TEACHING?

By Paola Andrea Torres Durán

Literature is the art of expressing and creating, in an oral or written form, a literary text. In other words, all artistic creations expressed in words, even if they have not been written, but transmitted from mouth to mouth, according to Rafael Lapesa, are literatures. But all written texts are not literary texts. It is only those which are written in an artistic and aesthetic way.

But why should literature be used in language teaching? There are many reasons; for example, literature helps to increase vocabulary and stimulates cultural enrichment, which is important because it enables students to have a better understanding of life and the social context in which language is used.

According to Nazia Hussain, “the use of literature in a language classroom provides enough space for the learners to comment, justify and mirror themselves. Such a class can enhance the critical thinking abilities of the learners and at the same time maintain a learner centred environment. Thus, it gives the teacher an opportunity to open a broad context of language use for the students. By using literary texts the language class can turn out to be lively and motivating. The purpose of using literature in a language classroom is to make the class interactive and it can be stated that an interactive class can obviously improve communicative competence of the learners and keep a lasting impact on their mind.”
As is said in the last paragraph, the use of literature in the classroom does not only improve the cognitive skills, helping the students to develop their capacity to analyze, interpret and understand any text, but also to improve the communicative skills through written and oral comprehension. Moreover, innovation in materials and the way they are used is very important to create a pleasant environment where the students feel comfortable and motivated to participate in class, which breaks the monotony of traditional language classes.
Another good reason to use literature is given in the book: literature in the language classroom a resource book of ideas and activities. “In reading literary texts, students have also to cope with language intended for native speakers and thus they gain additional familiarity with many different linguistic uses, forms and conventions of written mode: with irony, exposition, argument, narration, and so on.”

Through this kind of reading it is possible to teach the grammatical and linguistic components of the language, including different registers, types of language use and ways of expression in a language, such as greeting people, expressing gratitude, making requests, and agreeing or disagreeing with someone. It is also possible to know the behavior and intonation patterns that are appropriate in the foreign community to express something, in order to learn correct oral and written expression. Collie and Slater note that literature can familiarize "many features of the written language--the formation and function of sentences, the variety of possible structures, and the different ways of connecting ideas--which broaden and enrich their own writing skills"

But what does a “foreign community” refer to? There are many places where the English language is spoken such as the United States, Britain, and Australia. Even if they have the same language, they do not always have the same ways of expression to refer to something, both orally or in a written form.
Another question that is necessary to answer is; how can we teach language through literature? In the same way that there are many reasons to use literature, there are many forms of teaching a language through it.
Some activities such as question/answer, true/false statements, multiple choices, precise writing, and letter writing, can be used to facilitate the comprehension of texts. Students can also write their comments regarding how they enjoyed the literary piece, which part of the text they liked most, which character appealed most to them and why etc. Through all these techniques the students can improve their creative and imaginative faculties as well.
Another strategy that can be used is the translation of texts as a way to reinforce the interpretative skill. Translation, according to Larson, is a craft, which consists in an attempt to “discover the meaning of the source text and to use receptor language forms which express this meaning in a natural way.” This definition implies that before translation can be attempted, the translator has first to understand the text itself. Hence, interpretation plays a crucial part in the translation process.

When the students are translating the text, they are constantly required to take on the task of examining words, grammatical structures and emotional and cultural contexts of the source text in order to discover its meaning and understand it. But the disadvantage of this method is that it basically emphasizes the writing skill and the learning of grammatical rules.

Translation also helps students to increase their vocabulary in different ways. One way could be that the teacher could help by giving the meaning of certain words from the text and encourage the students to make sentences with them. Another way is using synonyms and antonyms to replace certain words in the text without changing the meaning of the text or making sentences with them, to make a comparison between the respective synonyms and antonyms.
Bedsides all these advantages, the best thing about working with these kinds of readings is the variety of ways in which activities can be developed. Examples of activities which can be used are: interpretation questioners about the text, vocabulary games in which the students have to associate the meaning of some unusual words used in the text, ordering events in a chronological way, role plays and others.

According to Collie and Salter Short Stories for Creative Language Classrooms provide English language learners with an authentic way to learn English and it is short stories that promote creative activities that address all four skill areas: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The stories and activities are all designed, not only to educate students, but also to inspire, involve and intrigue them. Short Stories develop exercises for the practice of specific grammar or literary points, as well as offering tasks and creative activities that allow the learner to become involved in the story itself, rather than focused solely on language acquisition

To conclude, including literature in the teaching of the English language is an important factor for the Students to have a chance to learn vocabulary, analyze information individually and in group discussion, to stimulate analytical, critical and interpretative thinking and learn many grammatical aspects. But it also enables the teacher to change from traditional methodology and increase the students’ motivation. Finally, as Shanahan says, Literature indeed helps students to expand their “linguistic and cognitive skills, cultural knowledge and sensitivity”.

El ariculo THE


El articulo determinado / the definite article THE

El articulo determinado THE es el equivalente de cuatro de nuestros artículos el, la, los ,las.
CUANDO PODEMOS USARLO
Nosotros usamos el articulo determinado The en los siguientes casos:

-Con nombres de personas (apellidos) y lugares en plural:

*People/personas: the Torres (The family Torres); the Jaimes; the Johnsons; the Gamboas.... the Simpsons
*Countries/paises: The United States; the Filippines *Groups of islands/ grupos de islas: the Canaries/ the Canary Islands; the British Islands; the Bahamas.
*Mountains ranges/ cadenas de montañas: the Andes; the Alps; the Rockies.

-Con nombres de edificios y lugares

*Hotels/restaurants/Pubs / hoteles/restaurantes/bares-café: the Cariongo Hotel; the Solar (restaurante);
*Museums/galleries museos/galerias: the British Museum; the Anzoategui *Theatres/cinemas teatros/cines: the Almeyda; the Jauregui Theatre. * Oceans/seas/canals oceanos/mares/canales: the Indian Ocean; the Mediterraneans Sea; the Suez Canal
CUANDO NO PODEMOS USARLO

-No podemos usarlo con nombres de personas eje: Paola (not the Paola); Andrea (not the Andrea)
- Nosotros tampoco lo usamos con nombres de Países,
*continentes/continents: Africa (not the Africa); Europe (not the Europe); South America.
*estados o regiones/states,regions: Texas(not The texas),
*islas/islands: Bermuda (not The bermuda), Corsica, Sicily.
*ciudades/cities: Pamplona (not the Pamplona), Cúcuta (not The Cúcuta), Bogota, Cali. *montañas/mountains: Everest (not The everest), Kilimanjaro (not the kilimanjaro)

Eample: Mapuche Mountain NOT THE Mapuche mountain

- cuando nosotros usamos Mr/mrs/Captain/Doctor/President.... + un nombre no usamos THE

*Mr Pedro is blond (not The Mr pedro...), Mrs Sofia is nurse (not the Mrs sofia)
* Doctor Pedro (not The Doctor Pedro)
*Captain Pedro ( not the Captain Pedro)
* President Pedro (not the President Pedro)
*Princess Sofia (not the Princess Sofia)
*Aunt Sofia (not the aunt Sofia)

" nosotros podemos decir" - I call the doctor - but -I call Doctor Pedro ( not I call The Doctor Pedro)-