APAVAC Castelló English Teaching Exchange ,Saturday, April 18th

Hi everyone,

As a follow up to our local presentation  last October , APAVAC Castelló are now  organising an  English Teaching Exchange; our first on  a series of professional get-together events on Saturday, April 18th from 10.30am until 12 noon. 

Our English Teaching Exchange will  be taking place at Agora Centre D´Estudis, C/Madrid no. 10 bajo izq. (next to La Plaza la Muralla in the centre of Castellon)

This is a great opportunity to get involved and help shape the future of a forum which aims to provide support, information, access to information, sharing of experiences and resources and training....and whatever else we decide is important to us as English teaching professionals in the Castellon area.

The English Teaching Exchange is free to attend and will consist of 3 main components:-

• useful input on teaching ideas and methodology 
• sharing and exchange of ideas, resources, information and experience
• fun, support and networking opportunities 

The first session on April 18th is entitled, ´Dealing with Difficulties´ and will look at various aspects of classroom management particularly working with mixed level groups and handling large classes both common concerns of many practitioners. 

Space at the venue is limited to 25, to confirm your place please  e-mail to   apavacastello@gmail.com     with a ´ÝES´ in the subject bar. The idea is to meet regularly if the sessions prove to be successful and to larger venues if necessary.

Please get in touch with me here or on 692604206 if you require any further information or if you would like to lend your support.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 18th

Richard (APAVAC Castelló)

APAVAC BOOK CLUB REVIEW<< 'Buckingham Palace', District Six

Hiya All!

"The state of being apart", "apart-hood" or what we know better by its more familiar Afrikaans name - Apartheid!

Given the horror, revulsion and the unfairness that the name evokes,  I find it difficult to read books on Apartheid.  I mean, I'd hesitate many times over, before choosing one.  I approached 'Buckingham Palace', District Six by Richard Rive with a certain amount of trepidation.  I looked up the author, tried to find a parallel, decided that a probable one might be James Baldwin; the fact that they come from different continents notwithstanding! Yeah, right, you got it...I was procrastinating!  That's how much I worried about getting drawn into the suffering of an indigenous people dominated in their own land!


Set in South Africa of the '50s and '60s, the novel spans 15 years in the lives of the inhabitants of this row of motley cottages, ironically called Buckingham Palace.  Mary, "Madam" of the Casbah and her "girls", Zoot, her bouncer, Pretty-boy, his friend, the Jungles, Knight-before-last and Katzen, their Jewish landlord.  It is their religion and their sense of community that binds them together.  In his tragicomic narrative, Rive takes the reader through the harsh incidents that characterized life in the South Africa of that time.  His craft lies in the skill with which he makes you feel all the injustice the characters accept stoically.  He does this, without going into profound details.  Unlike Baldwin, I might add.

Why does their stoicism upset me?  Why can't I see that they had no choice?? Is it because I always put up a fight???  Is it because of Richard Rive's narrative, is THAT what he wants me to see....that they had no choice?  That under apartheid, they...had...NO..choice!


We go off to the US of A next to pursue the American dream with the " Namesake " by Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri.  We meet on the 24th of April 2015 at 1830 hrs at Luis Vives.
Have a lovely Easter!

Take care
Michelle Ann Prabhu

Apavac Book Club having a cuppa