You haven’t heard from us for a
while. In order to meet the challenges of the new decade, we had to
sort out some housekeeping matters and to have a good, long think. We
also wanted to wait for this year’s meeting with other TA’s
(teaching associations) through the British Council to confirm
collaborative efforts.
There have already been some
significant changes, many as a result of having to reduce the
expenses which could no longer be justified after the association’s
golden years. On the other hand, some of the ideas for collaboration
among teaching associations across Spain and Portugal –thanks to
the British Council- will come to fruition. Things will start moving
now.
Please pencil these dates into your diaries:
10 April 2010 11.00 – 14.00 APIGA Day
General Meeting, roundtable on Basic Competences and optional lunch
Location: Pontepedriña Secondary
School, Santiago (to be confirmed)
Optional lunch at Paz Nogueira: Please
confirm as soon as possible so that we can book, phone 981 383 162
and leave your details with the Secretary.
Speakers will be confirmed, but we
want to get as broad a perspective as possible. One of the guests
will be from the equivalent of the CFR in the Basque Country; others
will be teachers and policy makers. This should be a very lively
debate and we look forward to receiving your contribution
April – 2 May APPI Conference in Guimarães
APIGA members will receive a very
special offer to this very lively and attractive conference, the
first time the two associations will collaborate on a formal basis.
David Crystal will open the event and, apart from a vast array of
simultaneous workshops, there will be cultural events for families.
Look on our website for information and forms. Therefore:
THE XORNADAS HAVE DIED! LONG LIVE THE XORNADAS!
Many of you have been asking about
this year’s conference and we can now reveal our plan. We will
reach out to our Portuguese counterpart, APPI, who has invited our
members to their event (see above). The next event will be a joint
one for Primary in September, on this side of the border. Moreover,
for Spring 2011 we will join TESOL Spain to offer a conference for
teachers in Asturias, León and Galicia.
RETAINING OLD MEMBERS/ ATTRACTING NEW MEMBERS
We are looking for new ideas. Members
should have a card as a physical acknowledgement. And we should also
try to get businesses to offer members a discount, just as they do in
Catalunya, with APAC.
A more attractive perk would be for
members to enjoy a certain amount of free consultancy on-line or in
person, shared out among our contacts: a kind of teachers’ surgery,
particularly for CLIL and Basic Competencies. We would need to
volunteer ourselves with specialities. Also, we can help people doing
the opposition. Of course, this help would be defined in scope. For
example, an institutional member could get one visit, for example.
The first step is this general
mailing, a kind of plea to stay with us despite past problems. Then
we would also go back to doing recruitment drives, looking towards
opo candidates, non-specialists doing CLIL, students and other
sectors like the EOI and concertados.
PROVIDING TRAINING
After that, we could run local
workshops in which the teachers themselves ask for help. They
organise their colleagues in the area and help get local people
together. As an incentive, that school would get free training, while
the others would pay enough to cover costs. Academies and publishers
can host training across Galicia, thereby gaining publicity.
Concertados can get Tripartite funding
and tomorrow. Last June, we ran a course in Coruña with 21
participants and the trainers were paid. We did CLIL as our focus.
Similar events could be repeated. A follow-up session could be held,
bringing together people from different sectors with the same
interest.
Point-getting once seemed attractive
through short courses, but judging by how sluggish the Xunta has been
in dispatching diplomas, we need to think carefully if this is worth
it other than for more major events. Nevertheless, our short courses
were popular and easy to do, so there may be something in that.
CLIL should be one of our main
activities (people are grateful for help- it´s not just a question
of points), as should younger Primary/Infants and personal
development (intensive language courses, for example). However,
that’s not to say that other topics are out of the question.
Schoolhouse in Vigo, for example, suggested conflict resolution
because they have a personal contact who is hot on this.
CUTTING COSTS
We have to survive on a shoestring for
a while. In the president’s patch, an academy has to offer a
physical location, infrastructure and perhaps a web domain to avoid
further expenses. To test the waters with this idea, Julie Bees-the
Vice President- and I offer English Studio as the first sponsor.
We also need to work with as many
entities as possible across sectors. While we don’t want to turn
APIGA into a business, we do want to be able to sing for our supper
by having sponsorship. For example, private schools could be
organising intensive weekend courses, offering a discount for
members.
English Studio will host the website,
put on hold for lack of funds and for want of a worthy substitute for
Xose, a tricky task. Once the Presidency changes, the real and
virtual base of APIGA will move to another sponsor.
The Executive has to serve as a
watchdog to ensure there is fair play in the distribution of work and
to see that everyone has a chance to bid for project work. People
should be remunerated for their time, but all of this has to be
transparent and always to the advantage of APIGA.
WELCOME BACK or COME ON BOARD!
To get back in touch with us, send an
email to info@apiga.org;
phone 981 383162
or write a letter to English Studio, c/Tui 24 B, 15570 Narón.
At the same time, the APIGA library is
now housed in the Ferrol CFR, while the few Primary materials there
were are now in English Studio Narón. I am opening up my academy to
visitors who want to consult my library of over 200 storybooks and a
very extensive CLIL library. Phone first, please.
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