2010

Rascals… With a Difference

You loved the gala dinner and dance, with no need to drive to your hotel, the after parties, the hot tub, and (as ever) the stimulating lectures, workshops and chats with your far-flung colleagues who come every year from near and far for the RASCALS colloquium.

On behalf of the St. Jérôme committee, we would like to thank the organizers and participants of Rascals 2009.

The Language Department at Cégep St. Jérôme wants to continue the tradition and live up to the high standards of previous Rascals conferences. This year, the host committee, having accepted to organize RASCALS with the expert help of SPEAQ, welcomes you to participate in Rascals 2010. The theme of this year’s conference is Rascals…With a Difference. We wish to look at differentiation, and we want to be different. We invite participants to share their teaching ideas and their teaching experience. WE NEED YOU.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER  

Albert Nerenberg is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and Laughologist for CBC radio. His feature documentary Laughology recently played to sell out crowds at the Hot Docs and Just for Laughs Festivals. Laughology was called “screamingly funny” (the National Post) and the most comprehensive filmed study of laughing ever. Nerenberg is one of the world’s top experts on laughter.

But what makes him different from many specialists on comical subjects is Nerenberg makes people laugh, a lot. In fact, he developed an entire technique for doing it, known as Laughercize  Laughercize uses a series of natural triggers for laughter where people often end up rolling in the aisles literally. The Globe and Mail called him “wonderfully funny.” Laughercize is now taught by instructors around Canada for general wellness. Nerenberg has travelled the world studying unusual laughter phenomena – including the Tanzanian Laughter Epidemic, Laughter Yoga, and Holy Laughter. Generally, he is an expert on “positive contagions” – smiling, laughter, elevation, and frisson. He believes that in a world with a lot of stress and angst, that positivity can be spread just as easily as negativity. He is currently working on a documentary about the science of smiling.  

 

PRESENTERS

Paulette Cake - ESL teacher, formerly at the MELS

Walcir Cardoso -  Dept. of Education, Concordia University 

Gwen Gauthier - Pedagogical consultant with expertise in differentiation 

Isabelle Giroux - Commission scolaire de la Rivière-du-Nord 

Netta Gorman - Cegep Abitibi 

Sarah Kennedy - Dept. of Education, Concordia University 

Ursulla Mueller - Cegep St-Laurent; Robert Laviollete -Cegep Baie Comeau; Joan Thompson -Cegep Edouard Montpetit  

Deirdre Potash - Language arts teacher and Speaq presenter 

Terry Price --Professor, UQAT and UQAM 

Mike Randall - Cegep Gerald Godin 

Claudia Rock - Cegep Marie Victorin 

Judith Rolf - ESL teacher and Speaq presenter 

Norman Spatz - Cegep du Vieux-Montreal 

Nicholas Walker -College Ahuntsic

 

This year’s colloquium will take place May 27 and 28, at the idyllic Manoir St. Sauveur, in the beautiful Laurentians. We will begin with a lunch on Thursday and end as usual Friday afternoon after lunch.