1. “A Visual Guide to Building Teachers’ Associations”

The English Language Office of the U.S. Embassy is happy to share with you “A Visual Guide to Building Teachers’ Associations.”  It is a tool designed for Teacher Association members and officers who would like to know how to improve programming and build membership; it is also a tool for enthusiastic English language teachers who would like to begin their own association or chapter.  Finally, it is a resource for teachers, administrators or Ministry officials who would like to better understand how an association works and what it tries to accomplish.
The Visual Guide could be of great help to any English teacher – it contains 9 full length presentations of leading Russian and American experts.
The DVD is indeed a “visual” guide.  It contains dozens of video clips that showcase association activities and allow a viewer to listen to experts in the field talk about their experience with associations.  It also contains a photo album showing several years worth of work by associations around the country.
To make the most out of the DVD, read the introduction carefully and, if needed, install onto your computer ( it takes from 5 to 40 minutes).  It also helps to use the DVD while connected to the Internet so that you can visit other sites that are highlighted in the text.
As a product of our office, there is no copyright on this DVD.  In fact, we encourage you to make copies of it for your colleagues.  You can also have access to it at the site: http://www.vg.lingvograd.ru/
The English Language Office fully understands the important role Teachers’ Associations play in supporting the professional development of English teachers across the country.  The Visual Guide is one small step toward further supporting the effort of so many outstanding instructors who volunteer their time and energy in order to build stronger communities of practice

2. Michael Krauss’ FORUM and  “Integrating the Internet into the Classroom”
We invite Teachers’ Associations to nominate participants for the next Michael Krauss’ legendary course “Integrating the Internet into the Classroom”. The course will be held on April 5-23, 2010.  Please e-mail your nominations to Nataliya Fomenko at fomenkonv@state.gov
Everyone is invited to chat with Michael Krauss this week at the NING Forum! Please get registered at elt-russia.ning.com!
Visit ELT Russia at: http://elt-russia.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
Michael Krauss is so right in his response to one of the teacher’ posts: “Often I think we forget that learning activities that peak our curiosity will often be stimulating for our students as well!”

3. Practice Speaking with Any Video!
http://englishcentral.com/  I am sure you will wow when you try this site. It has subtitled clips/videos and your students can Learn English while watching videos! Their unique speech recognition platform allows you to practice SPEAKING with any video you choose and then get INSTANT FEEDBACK on how well you are doing.

4. Picturing America

In the last Umbrella Newsletter # 41 we advertised a new fabulous resource - a wonderful visual portal to American culture http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/
EFL Fellow, Natasha Frank, is the leader of a new project ‘language studies through American art’.  At the moment 10 of your colleagues are in the USA on an exchange IV program visiting museums and collecting additional data. They keep working on the project online. We expect to get a set of lesson plans that could be used with the 40 pictures presented at the website by NATE in Chelyabinsk (end of June). The ELO will send out packages of pictures to American Centers, Access sites and those cities that nominated their representatives. Don’t hesitate to contact the grantees; they might be from your city: Kobzina Tatiana  (Moscow),  Shamsutdinova Nellie (Kazan),  Pastukhova Elena  (Ivanovo),  Makarova Svetlana (Samara) ,  Grigorenko Tamara (Krasnodar) , Nesterets Nataliya (Syktyvkar), Elena Tsatsura (Irkutsk),  Rozhkova Olga (Kaliningrad), Vera Tomilko (Khanty-Mansyisk ), Evgeniya Sotskaya (Stavropol). A few more participants of the project are joining the project on-line: Olga Mironova (Nizhniy Novgorod), Irina Pervukhina (Ekaterinburg), Vera Reikhet (St.Petersburg). If you are interested in this last chance to join the project, please do it ASAP and send an e-mail to lubninaen@state.gov

5. When Did Your Young Students Go to the American Center/Library Last?
 If there is an American Center in your city or if there is a library with a FL Books Department, you could take your young students there for an “edutation” tour. Here is a “Hunt” developed by
FLEX alumni, Access teachers and representatives of American Corners:
American Center/Corner Information Hunt
1) Find five books that have numerals/names/countries/colors in their titles.
2) Write the address where the American Center/Corner is located.
3) Find the definition of the word/term/idiom in the encyclopedia and write it down (not more than 5 sentences).
4) Find the capital of California/Washington state (any other state) on the map, find info about this state (state flag, motto, emblem - draw a picture, what is the state famous for: production, famous places, people, music, landmarks, famous buildings, etc).
5) Count how many computers there are in the American Center/Corner.
6) Find a book with tongue twisters/proverbs (if available) and memorize three of them!
7) Find out how many Presidents there were in the USA, who is #12, # 30, etc.
8) Find the book "__", open page #___ , read it! Write down five words you don't know and find their definitions in a dictionary.
9) Collect signatures of two people working in the American Center/Corner.
10) What, apart from books, can you find at an American Center/Corner?
11) What kinds of activities happen at the American Center/Corner?  What kind of audiences do you think they will attract?
12) What is the next activity planned at the American Center/Corner?  When?
13) What other activities would you like to see at the American Center/Corner?
14) Name three ways someone can improve his/her English at the American Center/Corner.
15) What kinds of books are there in the reference section? 
16) Can you find information about the American Center/Corner online? Where?
17) Find information about one American Holiday (what the holiday is about, when it is celebrated and how, its’ history, traditions, decorations, food recipes, etc). Please make a holiday decoration and present it to the Corner/Center.
18) Find out where the Empire State Building/ Brooklyn Bridge, etc are, and why they are so famous.
19) What computer databases does the American Center have access to? What sort of information can you find in them?
20) Can you find books about American popular music? Write down the title of one.
21) What is your favorite movie in the American Corner collection?
22) How many books about American slang can you find in the Corner?
6. Writing English as a Second Language . Point of Departure, Winter 2010
By William Zinsser
This is a wonderful article with good advice on writing from the leading U.S. writing teacher
URL to article: http://www.theamericanscholar.org/writing-english-as-a-second-language/
(If it is difficult for you to retrieve the article, please send an e-mail to you and I will send a file to you)
If you are interested, there’s an entertaining article on language battles between the prescriptivists/descriptivists in Harper’s, April 2001, by the late David Foster Wallace.
http://www.harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-2001-04-0070913.pdf

6. Anatomy of a Jury Trial
Attention of those who teach Legal English – it is highly recommended by your colleagues!
English version:  http://www.america.gov/publications/ejournalusa.html#0709
Russian version: http://www.america.gov/ru/media/pdf/ejs/0709-ru.pdf (Glossary available)

7. President- Elect of TESOL is Coming to Russia

We would like to share great news with you- a renowned scholar; a true international advocate of TESOL, a great friend of Russia - Christine Coombe - was elected as the President of TESOL! Christine came to Russia a number of times, she was the first American scholar who started to help with EGE materials about 8 years ago. She came two times more to work with the Russian EGE experts, to train a group of item writers, to generously share her knowledge and materials. Christine Coombe is coming to NATE Conference in Chelyabinsk on June 24-26 as TESOL President-Elect. We are very happy for Christine and very thankful to her for her devotion to professional development of teachers, inspiration and constant attempts to make TESOL teal international.
Please get registered to participate in NATE at http://www.chelta.ru/nate-2010 if you haven’t done so yet and don’t miss a chance to meet brilliant presenters.

8. “English”  Newspaper Highlights the Work of EFL Associations.

Many thanks to Alyona Gromushkina, editor –in-chief, of the famous “English” Newspaper! Stories and activities of KOMELTA and STAVELTA were highlighted in 2 issues and issue # 5 was devoted to KATE (Kaliningrad EFL Teachers’ Association), to the results of the last Umbrella Conference in Kaliningrad and to the articles, submitted by KATE members. It’s an excellent read! What is the next Association that would like to share its achievements? Please contact eng@1september.ru

9. Google Earth Day
Michael Rudder, a Regional English Language Officer in Washington DC would like to share with you the Google Earth links for ELT resources.
Google Earth has opened up potential for students in classrooms around the globe with its bird’s-eye view of the world. Whether you are a veteran teacher looking for new ways to teach old topics or you are a still an education student<http://www.associatesdegree.com/> getting ready to make your debut in the classroom, these exciting ways to use Google Earth are sure to infuse your lessons with plenty of punch. Find ideas for any age student and a handful of virtual tours that will not only help you instruct your students, but might even teach you something along the way.
You can find more than 50 of them for elementary, middle, high school and up at the website: http://www.eltrussia.ru/articles_40.html

10. What is Ahead?

As you know the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission http://moscow.usembassy.gov/obama-medvedev.html started to work last July and in December the members of the Sub Group on Education met for the first round of talks. Please find attached the link to the Joint Statement, taken from the official Ministry of Foreign Affairs site. http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/FD924BF022D571EEC325768800513C85
The first round was followed by another delegation, please find Nina Koptyug’s report:
“SHARE THE MOMENT!
A US Delegation in Siberia. February 19-21.
The US Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle, eBay.com boss John Donahoe, Twitter.com co-founder Jack Dorsey; Ellis Rubinstein, the president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences, several other government officials and company CEOs, as well as Ashton Kutcher, the Hollywood star known for his love of social media, came to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk on February 19-21.
On February 19, the American guests met with the Novosibirsk regional administration, and with many scientists, entrepreneurs, CEOs of innovative companies. They also visited a high school in the city of Novosibirsk. On February 20, the whole group came to Academgorodok, the academic research community near Novosibirsk, where they had several official meetings, and a long Question and Answer discussion session with the local university students and the press. 
Ambassador John Beyrle opened the event with the following address:
“Your region, Siberia, is one of the brightest academic centers of Russia. We believe that here, the future of your country is forged. Supporting innovations, science and technology are among the top priorities for both our countries. We hope that our visit will promote international cooperation. We wish to get acquainted not only with the achievements in various spheres, but also with the expectations of scientists, businessmen, and people working in education and health services”. Mr. Beyrle also said that Novosibirsk, as a city of innovations, may become a sort of link between the two countries. The Ambassador spoke flawless Russian. Novosibirsk students spoke very good English, so that both the visitors and the local young people could ask questions and get answers directly, without any help from translators.
There were a number of questions about international cooperation, student exchange programs and grants. Mr. Beyrle advised those who wanted to visit the USA to take part in the well-known program called “Summer Work & Travel”, which allows young people to come to the USA for a few months, to earn some money and to travel around the country. He also noted that today, it is possible to establish contacts, and to work with an international company, or to take part in an international project, via the Internet. No matter where you live, he said, you can be a part of the international community today.
Jared Cohen of the State Department’s Office of Policy Planning, shared his impressions of the Novosibirsk airport. “There is a lot of snow in Siberia, but there are no traffic problems. Maybe we ought to learn how to cope with the snowfalls from you”.
Mr. Ellis Rubinstein, President, New York Academy of Sciences, spoke about international cooperation in science. John Donahoe, of eBay, and Jack Dorsey, Twitter.com co-founder, shared their experiences of creating their companies, and gave examples of the many obstacles they had to overcome.
Ashton Kutcher, one of the best-known Twitterians, with more than four million followers, was recruited by the US State Department to join a delegation heading to Russia to discuss how communications technologies and social media can be used to strengthen and broaden the ties between the United States and Russia. He began his address to the Siberian students with an offer to turn on their cell phones, cameras, etc. Mr. Kutcher tweeted constantly during his stay in Russia, and streamed the events, so that one could watch all the meetings via his Twitter account. Today, technology allows every user to share the moment at once, to connect with their peers around the globe. “You are the new generation, the future of the planet. But to make a difference, you have to wish to be that future, to work really hard”, said Mr. Kutcher to the students. He also spoke about his production company Katalyst, and about the Demi and Ashton Foundation, which works on anti-trafficking issues.
“After an amazing day of connecting with elite minds in Siberia, I'm inspired by the potential of our collaboration”, tweeted Ashton Kutcher.
He must have been pleasantly surprised by his Siberian fans reactions to his presence. When the press-conference was over, Mr. Kutcher was greeted by a large crowd of young girls. Their scream when they saw him would have done Robert Pattinson proud.
The visit was yet another milestone in promoting international cooperation in many spheres.
When we see such a diverse group of people who all believe in the beneficial role of technology, in connectivity, we know that we really make a difference in the world.
Nina Koptyug, Novosibirsk, IEARN - Russia