Sunday, 25 October 2015

La mia ora di lezione

Lo avevo comprato lo scorso anno, avevo iniziato a leggerlo ma c’era sempre qualcosa di più importante, di più urgente. Qualcosa che sicuramente riguardava i miei programmi didattici, intorno ai quali ruotano le mie scelte di lettura soprattutto durante l’inverno.
Durante questo fine settimana me lo sono imposta …devo finirlo!


Sto parlando del libro L’ora di lezione di Massimo Recalcati. E’ un libro che parla di didattica ovviamente, di scuola, di studenti e di insegnanti. Ma l’incipit è significativo…..”Accendere il desiderio”.
Ed è questo il filo conduttore di tutto il suo discorso.
Parla di scuola, di come stia cadendo a pezzi, come struttura e nelle sue strutture. Parla di insegnanti, spesso umiliati, frustrati, chiamati anche  alla funzione di supplenti di un discorso educativo che  a volte non sembra avere il sostegno delle famiglie o delle istituzioni. Parla di studenti, distratti, a volte violenti, capricciosi. E parla anche di genitori, che di questa storia sono parte integrante.


Come insegnante, sono assolutamente consapevole della situazione reale, ma Recalcati mette in luce qualcosa di più, che mi appartiene, che sento  mia.
Parla di un nemico acerrimo di questo lavoro, la tendenza al riciclo e alla riproduzione di un sapere sempre uguale  a se stesso. Mentre un’ora di lezione è ciò che può aprire un mondo, il tempo di un vero incontro.
Secondo Recalcati l’obiettivo primo della scuola “è il rapporto del soggetto col sapere che la funzione dell’insegnante deve essere in grado di animare”. Significa muovere lo studente verso il desiderio di conoscere, in un’epoca in cui tutto è sempre presente,  non esiste più “assenza”,  motore primo dell’esperienza  del desiderio.
Sapere non significa solo accrescere le proprie conoscenze, ma anche e soprattutto imparare ad aprirsi all’apertura del desiderio e, attraverso questa apertura, viaggiare verso altri mondi rispetto a quelli già conosciuti.
L’insegnante conduce verso strade  nuove ma soprattutto muove il desiderio del viaggio.
Per quanto mi riguarda,  ciò a cui tengo di più quando sono in classe, è non vedere sguardi assenti, che forzano la tendenza allo sbadiglio…..ma  tenere sveglio chi mi ascolta, far sentire la forza della parola.
Cito Daniel Pennac e il suo Diario di Scuola in riferimento all’ora di lezione:
“Se voglio sperare nella loro piena presenza, devo aiutarli a calarsi nella mia lezione. Come riuscirci? E’ qualcosa che si impara soprattutto sul campo, col tempo. Una sola certezza, la presenza dei miei allievi dipende  strettamente dalla mia: dal mio essere presente all’intera classe e a ogni individuo in particolare, dalla mia presenza alla mia materia, dalla mia presenza fisica, intellettuale e mentale, per i cinquantacinque minuti in cui durerà la lezione”
E ancora Philip Roth con Il Professore di desiderio:
“ Adoro insegnare [….]. Di rado mi sento così bene come quando sono con le mie pagine di appunti, i miei testi sottolineati e persone come voi. Per me non c’è altro nella vita che non valga l’ora di lezione...”

E questo lo sanno bene i miei studenti e chi mi vive accanto!


Wednesday, 21 October 2015

1st Module: "Did the Sun ever set on the British Empire?": New trading routes

The last topic of this first module is the British Empire during Queen Victoria’s reign which got  a very important role in history. I would like you to memorize the main events so that you get a clear overview of the age, together with the literary aspects. 

As a definition, an  'empire' is a group of countries ruled over by a single monarch.  But it doesn't need an 'emperor'.

The British Empire comprised Britain, the 'mother country', and the colonies, which were countries ruled to some degree by and from Britain.

The British began to establish overseas colonies in the 16th century. The growth of the British Empire was due mainly to the competition for resources and markets which existed  between England and her continental rivals, Spain, France, and Holland.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, England set up trading companies in the East Indies, explored the coast of North America, and established colonies there.

In the early seventeenth century those colonies were expanded . By 1783 Britain had a large empire, with colonies in America and the West Indies. This 'first British Empire' came to an end after the American Revolution, when the U.S.A got independence.
However, in the 19th century, the British built a second  empire, based on British sea-power, India, and huge areas in Africa.


The 'Whig' historians regarded the Empire as the deserved result of Britain's  superiority. They were proud that their country  had put together such a huge empire. Some modern historians have criticised Britain's 'cultural imperialism', suggesting that it was based on nationalism and racist scorn for other people.
After the First World War it became difficult for Britain to hold on to her Empire. It was clear that  Britain could no longer afford an Empire and had no right to rule peoples who did not want to be ruled by Britain.
Britain realised that the Royal Navy was not strong enough to protect all the Empire anywhere in the world.

Ireland rebelled between 1919 and 1921. In 1920‒1921 it was divided into Northern Ireland, which was part of the UK, and the Irish Free State. In 1937 it became more independent as Éire. In 1949 Éire became the completely independent Republic of Ireland and left the Commonwealth.

There was a strong independence movement in India. Mohandas Gandhi led a non-cooperation movement which refused to obey British laws.
In 1935 the Government of India Act gave Indians control of everything except foreign policy.

The British Empire was dismantled and replaced by a voluntary organisation of former colonies called the Commonwealth.

In 1926, the British government agreed the Balfour Declaration – that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were completely independent countries, "freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations".

In 1947, India and Pakistan were given independence.

Most of Britain's African and Caribbean colonies achieved independence in the 1960s.

In 1997, Britain formally handed Hong Kong back to China.

Until the 1960s, Britain was part of a Commonwealth trading community based on the Empire.











In 1973, Britain joined the European Economic Community, and became part of a trading community based on free trade between the countries of Europe.

See you in class with a new topic to talk about!

Prof


Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Un pensiero....

Non avrei mai voluto scrivere un post del genere su questo blog. E’ nato per altro, per i miei studenti, per parlare con loro, per comunicare con loro nel loro modo.

Ma ci sono eventi di vita da cui non si  può prescindere. Nonostante dolorosi.
Il modo per affrontarli è semplicemente riconoscerli, guardarli con coraggio e grande dolore….e trovare nella propria anima la forza di sorridere.

Sorridere per andare avanti. Sorridere per se stessi. Sorridere per chi ci è vicino e aspetta il nostro sorriso.

Ma sorridere solo quando sarà il momento. Prima o poi arriverà. E sarà inconsapevole e spontaneo. E ci sorprenderemo di riuscire a farlo.

A me è successo. 

“… Sono del parere che si deve semplicemente, senza voler essere troppo cattivi né scervellarsi, condurre la vita che si reputa giusta, senza esigere d’essere pagate subito in moneta sonante per tutto ciò che si fa. Alla fine, tutto sarà ben ricapitolato; e se così non sarà io  ‘proprio me ne infischio’,  anche senza la vita è per me una tale fonte di gioia: tutte le mattine ispeziono scrupolosamente le gemme di ogni mio arbusto e verifico dove ce ne sono; ogni giorno faccio visita a una coccinella rossa con due puntini neri sul dorso che da una settimana mantengo in vita su un ramo, in un batuffolo di calda ovatta nonostante il vento e il freddo; osservo le nuvole, sempre più belle e senza sosta diverse, e in fondo io non mi considero più importante di quella piccola coccinella e, piena del senso della mia infima piccolezza…"

Rosa Luxemburg, Lettere dal Carcere












Cerco ogni giorno una nuova  gemma sui miei arbusti e ogni giorno mi prendo cura di quella coccinella rossa........

Thursday, 15 October 2015

"Be resourceful....!"

It's a suggestion I always give my students...."Be resourceful, find a way, look for a solution, don't stop talking.....".
It's really important for  fluency and  confidence with a foreign language.
That's why the more words you learn and use, the more fluent your speech will be!
With my first classes, we are working on this: to remember as many ways as they can to say the same sentence....
Let's start from easy words then: good, bad, nice, pretty, happy, sad, big, small, interesting.....



In the following video  Ronnie will explain a very mind-blowing and funny way to learn and remember words. 
Shall we try????


  

Enjoy watching...



Sunday, 11 October 2015

1st Module: Victorian Age


Hello everybody!
Let’s go on  with one of my favourite writers, whose popular quotes are so famous that I’ve chosen one for you. It’s been a difficult  but the following one reminds me of so many situations I have experienced….
Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.

The greatest ever …OSCAR WILDE (Dublin, 1854- Paris 1900)












Read more quotes at:
Choose one and then tell the class why it’s meaningful for you!

Session 1: Wilde’s life and his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray
1-    Read Wilde’s biography on your textbook (pg E110-111) and get further information from the following  website and short video


2-      He considered  life as “a work of art” As and as a man he sometimes created  sensations  in the “respectable” Victorian society. His love affair with Bosie, the young man he fell in love with, was a scandal and was the reason for his being arrested and sentenced to two years’ hard labour (charged with indecency and sodomy).The following video is Wilde’s trial from the movie “Wilde” (1997)  where he does his famous monologue  “I am the Love that dare not speak its name…” . I’ll attach the text, but  watching  and listening to  Stephen Fry playing Wilde will be so involving!


“The Love that dare not speak its name in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as the “Love that dare not speak its name,” and on account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it.”

He died at the age of 46  because of a meningitis, , all alone, in Paris and  was buried in the famous cemetery of Père Lachaise, where lots of tourists go and see his grave everyday.










To see it  and kiss it  !!!!




Let’s talk now about the novel we’re going to study, The Picture of Dorian Gray, whose “Preface”, pg E114 of your textbook,  expresses all Wilde’s  committment to the principles of Aestheticism (look for further information about this movement on your own out of the following website:

http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/aestheticism-and-decadence



The image above is from the movie with the same title, The Picture of Dorian Gray,  2009, starring Ben Barnes and directed by Oliver Parker: they give a perfect impression of the theme of the novel, once more “the duality” of human nature, as in “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”.
 Here a couple  of the most outstanding scenes: one is the the murder of Basil, the painter of Dorian’s portrait.


And the final scene. When Dorian understands that his bad side is kept by the picture, he can’t do without “stabbing”  the portrait and so killing himself…..as Dr Jekyll does with Mr Hyde.  Have a look !


Last but not least, Wilde wrote a poem just  after his release from prison, The Ballad of the Reading Gaol. It deals with the harsh realities of prison and with the even harsher reality of an execution, the taking of a human life, through legal means, by fellow humans.
Here below  you’ll find a very interesting video from an Italian tv show  “Cult Book”, where Masolino D’Amico, an important Italian literary critic, gives his opinion about the text. You’ll see trailers from different movies inthere: try to get the common theme they have. I can’t wait to listen to your opinions when in class!


From the poem a very famous song was written,  “Each Man Kills The Things He ‎Loves”,  in  the movie “Querelle de Brest”, starring Jeanne Moreau, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1982). The same song is  now being used for a popular  Italian tv show about  femicide victims.  I’m sure you know it!


Hope you’ve enjoyed this post and fall in love with this
 unusual personality  as I did while attending  university lectures with  my special  Professor Paul  Jenkins……a long, long time ago!!!

See you soon!
Prof



Saturday, 10 October 2015

Happy B'day!

Well…it’s gone! The special day it was yesterday has gone by! It’s very embarassing to celebrate your own birthday actually, but it’s a way to realize you’re a new person! That life has been changing and you’re very proud of what you’ve become!
That’s why to get so many “Happy Birthday!”s from very special people has been a great pleasure. Many friends…..but many  former  students who remember you and want to tell you what they are now.
And flowers..... flowers again!!!


Great job is mine! 

And tomorrow great party night with the best friends ever!

What else.....!!!!!


Saturday, 3 October 2015

Last week......the "Welcome back to school" from one of my classes....


And from one of my students...


That's why I love my job....  :)

Friday, 2 October 2015

WOW!
It's the most common expression Roger Waters used during the  conversation with his former bandmate Nick Mason to comment on the questions they got from their fans.....
And I say "WOW!" for what I saw in the movie "The Wall"....thrilling, involving, moving...the more you say, the better!!!!
On the background you learn  his own personal relation with the two world wars (both his granddad and his dad died  as soldiers during these wars). The movie goes on with his visit to  meaningful places of the wars to finally get to the  cemetery memorial headstones where he can read his granddad's and his dad's  names,
Every moment of his journey by car is interconnected with moments and songs from the tour.
The stage scenery is colourful and really complex....sometimes you see such  surprising changing sets.....so amazing and impressive!
I was there with a group of students and was so glad they could experience such a show......

Here the official trailer


And the most popular "Another Brick in the wall"



My dear students...it has been a wonderful night....together with the final Chinese dinner!!!! :D