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what's new in the english department?dr orly haimI have the mind of a researcher, not an inventor. To study in order to know? No. To study in order to know more? No. I think it is to study in order to ask more and more questions. Janusz Korczak , Loving Every Child- Wisdom for Parents Dear Students & Faculty, I am delighted to welcome you to the seventh issue of our online journal of the English Department at Beit-Berl College. I’d like to extend my appreciation to our outstanding newspaper committee for their hard work and efforts in producing this fantastic edition: Ms. Margaret Porat, Dr. Daniel Portman, and Dr. Li Shir. Special thank you goes to Ms. Porat, the chair of the committee for her commitment, dedication and inspiration! I also wish to thank the students for the interesting articles and their contribution to our newspaper. We value your contributions to the history and the future of the English Department at Beit Berl College. I am delighted to share with you recent events from 2015-6 and updates about the growth and development of our wonderful department. Last year was a busy one for the department, as the following pages will reveal. The English department thrives on innovation and creativity, nowhere more so than in our practicum experience and also our disciplinary courses. Below is a description of some of our innovative projects and activities: Inspiration for Teachers: Guest Lectures and Workshops Every year, the English Department organizes lectures and workshops given by specialists in the field of TEFL (Teaching English a Foreign Language). One of the most inspiring guest lectures which was held this past year was the famous American teacher, Ms. Erin Gruwell who is known for her unique teaching method, which led to the publication of The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them (1999). The 2007 film Freedom Writers is based on her story. Ms. Gruwell shared with our students her teaching methodology and insights gained from her teaching experience with low performing students. Her lecture included excerpts from the journals written by her students and the movie depicting their story. Our students had the opportunity to ask Ms. Gruwell questions. The lecture of Erin Gruwell at Beit-Berl college was funded by the Office of Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Other enrichment lectures and workshops place this year include: The Art of Debating by Mr. Yoni Cohen; Using Mobile Learning and Applications by Ms. Micki Zaritzky; Creating Digital Books by Dina Kablinksky and Using Body Language and Communication Skills by Ms. Michelle Stein-Tier. Telecollaboration between Israeli and German Students In today’s digitally oriented global society, there is value in student teachers gaining comparative perspectives of dimensions of foreign language instruction particularly those relating to the role of technology in teaching EFL. I am delighted to report about a telecollaboration project designed to develop such intercultural awareness through an international collaborative project, which connected student teachers from Beit Berl college and Ludwigsburg University in Germany. The telecollaboration project involved on-line discussions among Israeli and German students focusing on similarities and differences between the Israeli and German context with regard to grammar teaching and the role of technology in grammar teaching. Unique Language Learning Projects in Our P.D.S Schools A unique project which was carried out as part of the student practicum in primary schools involved writing “identity texts.” The purpose of this project was to give pupils the opportunity to tell their personal identity story, while enhancing their English knowledge and literary skills. Pupils studying at our P.D.S schools wrote their personal stories using digital tools under the guidance of our students. At Ziv school where there are many immigrants, the pupils wrote multilingual books about their immigration to Israel. Our students developed units of instruction incorporating various tools and methodologies that are known to be effective in creative writing and in teaching immigrants (e.g., recording of spoken texts, visuals, translanguaging and multilingual texts). The project empowered the pupils by respecting their culture and their mother tongue, and allowed them to process their immigration experience both in the telling of their stories, and also in their personal reflections. In each school, a special event was held to celebrate the accomplishments of the pupils. Pupils presented their books to their classmates and to their parents. Indeed, last year, the English Department initiated various innovative language learning educational projects in collaboration with our partner schools. I am thrilled to report that during the months of May and June, various school based events took place, celebrating our students’ accomplishments in the practicum courses. Among the events that were held in our P.D.S schools: Primary Schools Secondary Schools Every year out first year students visit various educational sites and schools. These visits offer valuable learning experiences outside the campus and provide them with opportunities to meet with practitioners in the field and get acquainted with specialized language learning programs. Here is a select list of the school sites they visited this past year: Thank you to Ms. Dvorah Bohak for organizing the field trips. Meaningful English Teaching and Learning at Beit-Berl As a reminder, in recent years incredible progress has been made in the department in the fields of creativity and innovation. Over the past year we continued to develop our new digital learning environment: Meaningful English Teaching and Learning at Beit-Berl which enables collaboration via technology and is open to all students, our graduates and practicing teachers in the field. An important goal of this environment is to share innovative instructional activities and language learning materials that enhance meaningful learning. This newly developed environment is an extension of BEAR (Beit-Berl Academic Resource Center), our digital resource center which includes resources and links on all kinds of topics connected to language teaching and learning. I am proud to report that the new learning environment includes various content based innovative lessons developed by our students. To see innovative lessons incorporating meaningful instruction click here. I am also pleased to report that the internship group used this environment to reflect on their first year experiences and to share their Stories of Success. To read the stories of our alumni go to Tried, Tested and Succeeded. We are grateful to our webmaster and coordinator, Ms. Ora Baumgarten, for her dedication, hard work and efforts in developing these fantastic digital environments and for her help in promoting the use of digital tools in our department! Reaching Out to Schools and Communities Our English department is deeply committed to reaching out to the community. Our outreach endeavors include initiatives both within our P.D.S schools and the local communities in the area. I am excited to report on a new initiative that started in the spring semester in collaboration with Beit Eckstein School in Hod-Hasharon. As part of the course Identification of Learning Disabilities taught by Dr. Susie Russak, our students tutored pupils from Beit Eckstein school every Thursday. The feedback we received from all parties involved: students, pupils, the staff at Beit Eckstein and Dr. Susie Russak, the project leader, was extremely positive. The project will continue next year. I am pleased to announce that our on-going tutoring projects at the various P.D.S as well as local schools will continue next year as well. As noted in one of our previous issues, we believe that tutoring has the potential to tap into effective methods of language teaching and learning. I am also proud to report that the English department collaborates with Push, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help disadvantaged children succeed at school by tutoring them. Over the past three years students from our department, i.e., the recipients of the English Department scholarship, have been working with pupils at schools in the area helping them acquire literacy skills in English. Thank you to Dr. Pamela Peled for her important contribution to this project. As noted in our previous issues, Beit Berl College fosters volunteer work in the local community. Undergraduate students who participate in a community service project and fulfill the community service requirements are eligible to receive two academic credits for the volunteer work. Further details about community service are available on the Beit-Berl site. Exchange Programs As part of the exchange program, two exchange students studied in the English Department during this academic year: Sarah Steege from Ludwigsburg University, Germany and Michał Wachuła from the Pedagogical University of Cracow. Both students adapted beautifully to our department and participated in the various academic and enrichment activities. They also presented at our annual student conference. Next year, two international students will be studying with us in the Fall Semester. Student Conference - The annual student conference was held on June 10th and as always was an intellectually stimulating event which afforded our students opportunities to wider interactions among our students and staff. The keynote speech was on the topic of Novels of the Contemporary: Responsibility, Subjectivity, and Possibility in Morrison and Hopkinson, delivered by Dr. Keren Omry, a renown EFL specialist from Haifa University who also taught literature in the English department at Beit Berl a few years ago. The conference included paper and poster presentations and an exhibition of language learning materials prepared by our students. The excellent presentations were punctuated by an interesting panel titled Building Bridges which included presentations of narratives written by our students. Thank you to Ms. Dvorah Bohak, our conference convener for her timely efforts to organize our student conference. Farewell The academic year 2015-6 marked the retirement of a number of colleagues and changes of faculty members who will be dearly missed: Margaret Porat has taught oral proficiency in our department for over 30 years. I can think of no one who has done more to bring awareness to the craft of speaking and presentation skills as an instructional, essential practice, to be understood and appreciated by all. Additionally, Margaret has chaired our on-line newspaper committee for seven years!!! I know that Margaret’s warmth and generosity will be dearly missed by us all, including the many students she has taught and mentored over the years. Ora Baumgarten joined our department in 2010. Ora has taught two on-line courses focusing on the use of technology in the 21st century. Every student who has studied with us during that period has been taught and influenced by her. Ora has been actively involved in the various activities of our department and contributed to its “digital” growth and success. She developed BEAR (Beit-Berl Academic Resource Center), our facebook page, and also our new digital learning environment: Meaningful English Teaching and Learning at Beit-Berl. She gave workshops to both students and pedagogical advisors on the use of innovative digital tools for language teaching. Indeed, her dedication and professionalism have been boundless. We owe her a debt of gratitude and will miss her immensely. Anne Sagi also joined our department in 2010. She taught a unique course on teaching English to young learners which. Anne did an excellent job in giving our students tools and strategies to teach English to young learners. In her capacity as a regional inspector she also provides our students with useful information about the context of language teaching in Israeli schools. We thank Anne for her generosity and immense contribution to our department. We hope she will continue to mentor and influence our graduates in their teaching career. Finally, we were sorry to say goodbye to Dr. Miri Yochana and Nava Nakash. Dr. Miri Yochana taught a number of courses in linguistics. Nava Nakash, who graduated from the English department, taught in the tutors’ course and was a pedagogical advisor. We thank them both for their excellent work with out students and dedication to the English department. Welcome to Our New Faculty Members We are delighted to welcome three new colleagues to the department, each of whom has spectacular experience in her field: Prof. Liliana Tolchinsky who will teach a new course: Later Language Development Ms. Susana Galanta will be a pedagogical advisor for the secondary school group. Dr. Hagit Rifinsky who will be a pedagogical advisor for secondary school group. We wish them lots of luck and success. Changing of the Guard As most of you might know, I have decided to step down from my role as department head. In October, I will hand over the head of department role to an incredibly capable person - Dr. Susie Russak. She will have the task of leading our wonderful department through its next phase of growth. I know the department will be in great hands! I want to thank all the faculty, the staff and the students for the collaboration and all the support you have given me over the past eight years. It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve as your department head during this time. Our department has developed and grown thanks to your hard work and efforts. Before I close this newsletter, let me recognize all of you who support the Department of English through your generous contributions of both time and hard work. Thank you to Prof. Bracha Alpert, the Dean of the Faculty of Education for her continued support. Thank you to Dr. Elana Milstein, the Head of the Teacher Training Program, and a lecturer in our department for facilitating the PDS events and activities. Thank you to our dedicated staff members who work so hard and care so much about the learning and well being of our students. And last but not least- thank you to our delightful and enthusiastic student body for their continued support. Congratulations to those students who are graduating this summer, I’d like to offer my congratulations on your achievement in completing your studies successfully. I appreciate how much work you have put into reaching where you are today and you can be very proud of yourselves. We welcome you into the teaching profession with warmest wishes for great success! If you wish to receive regular updates, please join our facebook! I hope you have had a restful summer vacation and I wish every one of you a productive, fulfilling year ahead. With best wishes for a happy and healthy new year! Dr. Orly Haim |