-by Shyam  Pandey

Language teachers are anticipated to keep themselves up to date with developments in the field related to language. They need to regularly review and evaluate their teaching skills and to take on new teaching assignments according to the changing needs of the institution. Some teachers may also be expected to serve as mentors to novice teachers, to plan workshops, to present papers at seminars and conferences and to write for journals and magazines and other professional activities. Professional development is one of the key issues for those teachers because it is inadequate to talk about teachers’ performance and learning outcomes without training, evaluation, mentoring the teachers etc. Teachers’ success in professional development enhances the results of students’ learning. At the core of the training process, teachers play a key role in determining students’ outcomes.

Every year, Teachers’ Professional Development (TPD) programs are applied in universities in almost all the countries in the world. These programs are held to serve the determination of providing teachers with apparatuses and best milieu to develop their profession. They deal with TPD from different outlooks, which pressures on teachers’ engagement in inquiry as a fundamental part of their teaching practice. Similarly, they must sustain their learning continuity both with their colleagues in professional communities and with their own students inside classroom. However, it does not seem that regular workshops, trainings and conferences regarding TPD programs take place successfully and effectively.

In the current climate of systemic alteration, the professional development of teachers has taken on new status. There are many reasons for this new urgency, ultimately centering on the importance of the classroom teacher in promoting successful student learning. Without the continuous improvement of teaching (and of professional teachers), the reforms will fail. Professional development must serve the purpose of promoting teachers’ continuous learning of integrating new knowledge about teaching and learning within the social contexts in which teaching takes place.

When English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers are aware of the different strategies and techniques of TPD, it helps to achieve the anticipated goal of the educational institutions. The teachers can adopt many strategies and modes for their professional development. In the context of Nepal, some of the models like classroom observation, case study, assessment, etc. are familiar and being used by many language teachers. Many colleges and universities like Tribhuban University (TU) (mainly), Kathmandu University (KU) launch the pre-service program to prepare teachers. They give good theoretical knowledge. After the completion of certain level like I. Ed., B. Ed., and M. Ed., the student teachers go to teach in the real classroom. However, when they try to teach the theoretical knowledge (inputs) which they have taken from colleges and universities, they face certain problems. They expect some help, guidance and coaching. Nevertheless, at that time they do not find anyone to support them. When I was in teaching practice (B. Ed.), I did not get proper mentorship from my teacher. After that, I joined M. Ed. in Kathmandu University where I got to know a lot about mentoring which gives good platform to the new teachers develop them professionally.

Mentoring can be defined as helping, guiding, assisting and coaching to novice teacher by the experienced one. Darish (2003) says, “Mentoring is a means of assisting and guiding the work of others” (p. 47). The very help, guide or support could be of about the problem of the novice teachers inside school or outside school as well or even sharing their success. In course of time, I joined a school as a teacher of English language. When I was a novice teacher, I faced lots of problems; sometimes finding resources which were available in the school periphery, sometimes I even did not know how to use such materials, sometimes classroom management, etc. and sometimes to apply the strategies which I had learnt from my university. I did not get any help from anyone until I requested them. Sometimes I consulted to my senior teacher but I was in dilemma whether I should consult him or not because my senior teacher may not have such willingness to help me. Therefore, I did not ask all my problems and concerns because I had a fear if they would rate me as an unqualified teacher. Neither had I seen my school having formal mentoring program nor any teacher groups or organizations helping the novice teachers. This is because “there is no any formal mentoring educational institution in Nepal which has separate course or program and mentoring to the new language teachers” (Pandey, S.B. 2009; p. 88). In the context of Nepal, mentoring can be one of the best tools that the language teachers can use to develop them professionally and personally but it is still not being practiced in Nepal formally which is an urgent need now. Portner, (1998) says “Mentoring is a powerful and effective way to provide support and assistance to neophyte teachers during their first year on the job” (p. xi). As Pandey, S.B. (2009) has discussed the English teachers of Nepal are well familiar with the concept of mentoring which helps them to adjust in the new situation and cope with the problems, get new ideas of solving the problems. Therefore, it is a platform for new and experienced teachers to share the things, to understand the new situation (p. 84). But Nepalese teachers have not formally practiced mentoring in their institutions yet which is a burning necessity now.

References:
Daresh, J. C. (2003). Teachers mentoring teachers: A practical approach to helping new and experienced staff. New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
Pandey, S.B. (2009). Mentoring for Teachers’ Professional Development in Nepal: A Status Study of Kathmandu District. Unpublished M.Ed. dissertation, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Portner, H. (1998). Mentoring new teachers. New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

-Ganesh Gnawali

Introduction

Reflection is great tool which leads us towards better learning. It is important aspect for teacher as well students. Being both I’m observing this issue from the near and practising this in my current days which is certainly enhancing my teaching and learning activities. As a teacher or lecturer throughout the year we can share our ideas about teaching and learning in staff meetings, conversations in the staff room, and outside the classroom. It is truth that most of us know the theory of reflective practice. In order to take this theory into practice, teachers should become aware that within their own teaching routine they have the main tools for personal professional progress: their own teaching experience and their reflections on it, and the interaction with other teachers in the institution. I believe that “teacher development takes place when teachers, as individuals or in a group, consciously take advantage of such resources to forward their own professional learning” Ur (1999: 318). Development does not just happen with time, it happens with awareness. An awareness of a need to change. Why we are back to take advantage from our own resources i.e. colleagues?
Bashyal (2007) expresses Reflective practice is a mode that integrates or links thought and action with reflection. It involves thinking about and critically analyzing one’s actions with the goal of improving professional practice. Engaging in reflective practice requires individuals to assume the perspective of an external observer in order to identify the assumptions and feelings underlying their practice and then to speculate about how these assumptions and feelings affects practice. It is interesting to note that Ur (1999) also considers that the Reflective Model can tend to over-emphasize teacher experience, with a relative neglect of external input – lectures, reading, and so on – which can make a real contribution to understanding. She comes to the conclusion that a fully effective Reflective Model should make room for external as well as personal input. She calls this model “enriched reflection”.
Professionalization has become a very important issue in the field of e education. Reflection on one’s own work is a key component of being a professional and is essential to teacher education. Teachers must examine their beliefs, assumptions and biases regarding teaching and learning, and determine how those beliefs influence classroom practice. Reflection improves a teacher’s ability to make appropriate and sound judgments and, therefore, become an empowered decision-maker.
Reflection refers to the ongoing process of critically examining and refining practice, taking into careful consideration the personal, pedagogical, societal and ethical contexts associated with schools, college, classrooms and the multiple roles of teachers.So reflection can be summarized as a natural process that facilitates the development of future action from the contemplation of past and/or current behavior.
The Collaboration in Reflection
The opportunity to share with colleagues and friends is important in becoming a more reflective practitioner. Feedback, comments, and discussion about your reflections might come from your mentor or supervising teachers, your university supervisor/coordinator and/or your peers in the program. Reflection, as a method of inquiry into teaching, can be collaborative. For example, questions from a friend can help clarify an issue for you, just as a probe or comment from a university supervisor can help you look deeper into the situation. Collaboration when developing a portfolio includes requesting feedback from you mentor, university supervisor, or colleagues and peers. It can also take the form of discussion with colleagues who will assist you in identifying appropriate artifacts to or to help you clarify your beliefs and dispositions. The feedback option provides opportunities for peer evaluation and editing as part of this collaborative process.

It has been noticed that teachers talk about their students in particular, whenever they meet their colleagues. In addition, it is quite revealing that the topics teachers touch on are frequently related to some problematic classroom situation, some negative attitudes or some difficulties students have in their learning process. Rarely do teachers speak about their student´s achievements in a spontaneous way. We often hear teachers say: “They don´t feel like studying and therefore they are getting low marks.” “They never get the initiative in oral interaction; I have to push them on all the time!” “They make too many spelling mistakes.” “Nothing seems to interest them.” “They don´t care about their homework”, “they are not serious about their study.”etc. On the other hand the principal, head teacher and managements committees blame teachers that they don’t prepare well. This motorbike teachers have not enough time so they hardly manage the time and they do not attend the meeting regularly and so on. It’s better to assign to self reflect on their own teaching of the teachers for their and institutions’ professional development.
Although we may agree that teachers´ complaints have become commonplace, we are inclined to think that when teachers talk to colleagues about their students´ problems, difficulties or attitudes they are expressing what they are really worried about or dissatisfied at. Such conversations drawback to struggles and disappointments which must be attended to in a reflective and professional way.
I found the clear idea that Neupane(2006) expresses the purpose of reflection is to allow the possibility of learning through learning. The experience may be the experience of meeting, project, a disaster, a success, a relationship or any other internal and external event. Certain kinds of experience create particularly powerful opportunities for learning through reflection. To make new sense of our experience through the process of inquiring into it is another aim of reflection. So that we can move forward in practical ways that make a difference. The basic idea of reflection in teacher development is that a teacher learns about her/his teaching by observing and understanding what is happening in her/his own classroom and reflecting in it. Reflection involves a structured approach to learning experiences.
Approaches to develop Reflective Practice
Underhill, 2006 presents the following most frequently adopted approaches for developing the skill of reflecting practice:
a. Self monitoring
b. Writing a teaching journal
c. Peer observation
d. Teacher support group
e. Reflective conversation
f. Action inquiry
g. Teaching portfolio

So reflection is a developmental learning process which can be acquire through practice teaching, attending seminars and conferences, subscribing to professional journals and publications. There are other important issues to be taken into account are individual or group reflection and interaction with colleagues, learning through experience etc.
A reflective approach to teaching involves changes in the way we usually perceive teaching and our role in the process of teaching. As the examples above illustrate, teachers who explore their own teaching through critical reflection develop changes in attitudes and awareness which they believe can benefit their professional growth as teachers, as well as improve the kind of support they provide their students. Like other forms of self-inquiry, reflective teaching is not without its risks, since journal writing, self-reporting or making recordings of lessons can be time-consuming. However teachers engaged in reflective analysis of their own teaching report that it is a valuable tool for self-evaluation and professional growth. Reflective teaching suggests that experience alone is insufficient for professional growth, but that experience coupled with reflection can be a powerful impetus for teacher development. I’m realizing this as a fact, though I’m in the beginng stage.

References:
Bashyal, G.P.(2007) Reflection and critical pedagogy, Journal of NELA: NELTA
UR, P. (1999) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge. CUP
Neupane, M. (2006) Reflective learning and teaching .Young Voice in ELT: Faculty of Education. T.U.

–Kamal Poudel

The older the people grow the more curious and inquisitive they become about the childhood days especially of their own. In many instances, they try to remember the events and activities that they were involved in. They still love those activities in which they were actively involved. Most of the adults of all ages in the societies like ours consider the activities in which children are involved in on their own as the ‘unschool’ activities. They can, as the societies believe, harm the growing children’s lives. To make it conspicuous, the children generally love the unschool events and activities which in general encompass playing locally available games and sports, listening to the music, watching movies, joining clubs to meet friends, visiting unfrequented places and so on. In my case, I never realized that those things were bad or would have some adverse effect on my personality. Interestingly what my society considered the ‘adverse’ was favourable to me, which always encouraged me to create a certain distance between myself and school, although I was always at school literally. Perhaps I had a kind urge that somebody would come up to me and ask whether I liked school where I was required to do the ‘school’ activities, which always meant ‘do your home assignment, come to the school in proper uniform, follow the school instructions strictly, do not make noise in the class, do not miss the class and listen to your teachers as long as they teach you’ and so on… In the meantime most of the children’s heads would feel the way students feel in the following picture presented by Ken Wilson at the IATEFL Conference Harrogate in 2010.

In our ELT or more generally educational scenario, thousands of people jump into the field of teaching without any plan and remain as teachers throughout their lives perhaps hardly understanding the urge of the students. This case may not apply to all schools, teachers and children. However, by and large, the students are always forced to follow the footsteps that their teachers create in the course of teaching. The students’ lives are always at stake as we train them to follow us and become like us. We claim that we are the role models for the students, so they need to follow us. I may not agree with this because following this principle, we are creating followers and not the creators. In many cases, I encounter a lot of problems and it is quite difficult to find the ways or solutions, perhaps there still remain the residuals of being a follower of my tutors. This might have forced me to become more dependent on the tutors, and interestingly the society has made us believe that the teachers and indeed in some cases seniors (in terms of age) are permanent guru for us. Mr Shyam Sharma argues against this idea in article which posted along with this. At this point, I would like to link this with TS Eliot’s expression and claim that teachers are simply catalyst and they should not attempt to leave the footprints of their personality into the personality of the students. Obviously, students can be impressed by their teachers’ personalities, but they should not bear in the mind that imitating or mimicking the teachers can make up the students. Unfortunately, knowingly and unknowingly we have created such situation that our students are forced to believe that what the teachers have said are the school things and what the students do or bring up are the unschool things, this is why we tend to think that ‘playing locally available games and sports, listening to the music, watching movies, joining clubs to meet friends, visiting frequented and unfrequented places and so on’ are the unschool things. We are preoccupied with the idea that just reading books (in our cases parroting the pages) is the school activity or say education activity.

The footprint following principle never allows people to become creative and develop the sense of self esteem. People without self esteem tend to be afraid of their teachers. In general the teachers and fathers in our societies are fear factors. Also they hold the position of godlike personalities in the society. Although the oriental philosophy advocates that the children over sixteen should be treated as friends, the practice is quite opposite. We hardly treat them as our friends, let alone celebrating the friendship day. Where mind cannot work without fear, there is little possibility of creation. The more relationship is informal the more likelihood of sharing feelings and knowledge. The passion and hope that we find among the people accelerate the increase of knowledge. Teaching students creating fear and translating oneself into a fear factor mean dehumanizing the learners, and making the mockery of teaching. How can the children consider that they are dealt with democratically? While ironically they are told that their societies are practicing democratic norms and values. I believe these students get confused with the meanings of democracy. These situations lead the children to feel that the institutions where they go in search of knowledge are actually ‘prison’. Citing Daniel T. Willingham the writer of Why Don’t Students Like School?, Peter Gray deliberates, ‘Everyone who has ever been to school knows that school is prison, but almost nobody says it. It’s not polite to say it. We all tiptoe around this truth that school is prison, because telling the truth makes us all seem so mean. How could all these nice people be sending their children to prison for a good share of the first 18 years of their lives? How could our democratic government, which is founded on principles of freedom and self-determination, make laws requiring children and adolescents to spend a good portion of their days in prison?’ In prison, you are not allowed to violate any established rules. You need to follow the footprints of the rules exactly the way you are asked to do. No logic, no reasoning, no arguments will be allowed. The schools treat the children in the same way. The prisoner is perhaps not allowed to look into the eyes of the jailor. Are the children practically allowed to speak to their teacher looking into the eyes with the cheerful face? I would say no. The question of how naïve you are, how gentle you are and how argumentative you are will not be of any concern. In the present context of the mushrooming of private schools, these facts speak more loudly and vehemently too. For example, ‘Dear students, you are not allowed to speak in Nepali or your mother tongue in the school premises, and if you speak, you will be fined, understand? Speak in English, English and English only … you know?’ What crime have they committed that they are not allowed to speak in their tongue when they are with their friend chatting over a cup of tea? And English for them is an alien. How can you be with the alien if you do not get any assurance, suggestions or problem solving skills? We know and should know, ‘Children don’t like school because they love freedom’. When you learnt/acquired your tongue, you were with your people at home and there was no fear. Now you are in fear. A frightened hunter or hunting dog cannot hunt the deer, rather the hunter gets hunted. The schools are becoming more and more prisonlike places. It’s relevant to read a few lines by Gray which describe the difference between the school and prison. He argues ‘The only difference I can think of is that to get into prison you have to commit a crime, but they put you in school just because of your age. In other respects school and prison are the same. In both places you are stripped of your freedom and dignity. You are told exactly what you must do, and you are punished for failing to comply. Actually, in school you must spend more time doing exactly what you are told to do than is true in adult prisons, so in that sense school is worse than prison.’ Modern teachers must be trained how to reduce the level of fear of teachers in students. Also speaking in one’s language is not a crime. The knowledge needs to be increased, for which there must be favorable situation for the receiver. There is no harm in using the native tongue even while you are in the English language teaching situation. This idea has been highlighted more conspicuously with illustrations and examples by P Baker in her article ‘Jumping the barrier: the fifth skill’ which is attached along with this writing.

The aforementioned unschool activities are the incredible sources for creating deep sense of motivation in students. The activities themselves can be the source of teaching. If good parents think of ‘likes’ of their offspring, it’s the job of teachers to think of the likes of their students instead of thinking that their students are unteachable. To take an example, if the students like the sports and other similar activities, we can increase their understanding of L2 by means of bringing the aspects of those sports and activities. We can increase the vocabulary items for example. Similarly, we can create the texts which deliberate the issues of the items that the students like. This can easily activate the learning motor of the students. If we speak against the likes of students, it can easily have the adverse effect upon the psychology of growing children. In many cases the false learners terminate their school. I have already mentioned that they feel dehumanized. To speak in a straightforward way, no human has rights to dehumanize another human. To change the students in a positive way the motivation always matters. In order to motivate the students, the so-called unschool things need to be brought into the educational lives of the children in a positive way, for example. In this context, we need to understand deeply that motivation matters; indeed both extrinsic and intrinsic. The extrinsic motivation is also equally important but if we are able to increase the intrinsic motivation, the students can effectively be changed and developed in a nice way. While creating the extrinsic motivation, the teachers should never bear the idea of fear factor which can be seen in the following picture that was presented at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate.

Dear readers, have you ever experienced the situation represented in the picture on the right here, or have you practiced that way while teaching? I do not know your case. But many teachers have had both experiences. At the same time let me ask you seriously do you really want to dehumanize the children? I know your answer will be ‘no’. If so, let’s remember our childhood days and honestly say together loudly ‘Schools are the second home for the children. Dear students, let’s cross the mountain together. Let’s have harmony among us. Let’s learn from each other. Knowledge for all is what we want.’

Please come up with your arguments and constructive ideas that we share with other fellow teachers.

Cheers.

— Laxman Gnawali

“How many English words do you know?” I ask participants of a short-term English teacher training programme. There are smiles, squeezed foreheads, I-have-no-idea expressions. I ask a further question, “Do you know at least two thousand words?” Again there is no clear response. “I think I do,” one of the participants says. Then, I announce a test to decide whether they know at least two thousand words. Everyone seems excited but not without some sense of self suspicion. I have brought a list of “Most Frequently Used First Two Thousand Words in English” which I found on the Internet with the help of Google search. These are words which are most frequently used in written English and the list was developed after an exhaustive survey with the help of a computer software. I announce that the participants will have to go through the list and underline if they come across a word which they do not know. Heads start rising after ten minutes and I go to those who have finished and try to find out what words they have underlined. When all have finished, I ask individuals to share which words they found new or difficult. Actually, they did not have many. Only a few words such as forbade, molten, cast, sawn have challenged them. I ask, “Do you know two thousand English words?” Everyone goes loud, “YES!” This experience has boosted their morale that they know at least two thousand words. I promise to bring “Most Frequently Used First Three/Four/Five Thousand Words in English” when I come next. They are excited.

As an English teacher, we are often approached by students with a usual expression, “I am not good at words. How do I improve my vocabulary?” Definitely, they are in need of proper guidance. As teachers, we try to give them meanings thinking that that is what helps. We do that with good intentions. But, if we do not use proper scaffolding, our efforts go in vain. So, in this article, I try to share with you how we can help students to learn new vocabulary as well as retain them for use as and when required.

There are three important things we need to be doing in teaching vocabulary: raising awareness, presenting new vocabulary and consolidating the vocabulary students have learnt once. Let me explain them briefly.

a. Raising awareness

Learners need to be aware of possible ways of learning new vocabulary on their own. This is what is called study skills: how can I learn new vocabulary? What is my style of learning vocabulary? What resources are available for me? In raising awareness, we can train students to use of dictionaries, provide information about local libraries, radio programmes, cassettes and CD’s, and if possible connect students with students of the same level in English speaking countries. Once they follow any of these, students will realize that they can improve their vocabulary on their own and start undertaking their own initiatives. This will ease our burden as teachers. In the experience I mention in the beginning of this article, I have tried to raise awareness about a few things: helping teachers to know how much they know, we need to learn the most useful words and the Internet can provide a lot of information. For the teachers and learners who have no access, I would do something else.

b. Presenting new vocabulary

This is actually what we do most in the classrooms. If we can present the words in a proper way, students can learn them and add them to their repertoire. Usually, we focus on the meaning and leave out the aspects like their usage and etymology. We may not know etymology of all words we are teaching, but if we present the etymology of those we know, it is easier for learners to remember. The word boycott means to stay away from. In the 18th century, there was a Navy Admiral, Mr. Boycott, who was very unsociable and unfriendly. No one wanted to be with him, and as a result, he was never invited to social gatherings. The word boycott was used with the meaning we know after his name. Together with the meaning, if we can tell this etymology, students will easily remember this word. For this, we need to have a dictionary that gives etymology of words. In presenting the meaning, we need to use a variety of techniques not just explanations such as these: draw pictures, miming, giving synonyms and antonyms, demonstrating, using a model, bringing the real thing into the classroom, giving a context and letting students guess, and if nothing else works, translate into the local language. We need to decide wisely what works with which words.

c. Consolidating

It is not always possible to remember all words we have learnt once. We need to use them again and again, play with them and hear them in context. Then, only they go in to the repertoire. Creating situations in which the words learnt once have to come in use, we can help students to be better familiar with the words. In the classroom setting, we can get students to form sentences with the words, to find antonyms and synonyms by themselves, to unscramble the words, or to write a composition in which these are practically required. Spelling contest are very useful for learners to remember the shapes of the words. The other way particularly for the school level is to use language games. There are a variety of games we can choose from: Bingo, Hangman, Tell-me-the-meaning, etc. When we use games we need to make sure that they not only become fun but also help us in moving on with the syllabus and the textbook.

I would like to share with you an activity which I have been using in my English language classes with success. I have chosen this activity as it serves all three purposes discussed above.

Realia in the bag

I have used this vocabulary activity several times with students of different ages. Every time I use it, I see that all types of students have similar fun in learning new words when the learning involves some suspense. Adults are usually surprised that they do not know the names of the objects they always use or see.

Preparation

Find a cloth bag. It should be as big as a school bag and made from normal cloth, not hardened. Collect at least 20 different objects. They can be anything that you can find around you: chalk, duster, stapler, box of staples, match box, ruler, keys, small bottle, shoe brush, tooth brush, paperweight, magnet, board marker, potato, onion, spoon, fork, lime, paper clips, perfume bottle, kettle lid, wooden block, bottle opener, can opener, corkscrew, tin opener, ladle, etc. You can choose items that you want to teach about. Put all of them in the bag and button it up.

Procedure

Tell your students that they are going to find out what objects there are in the bag without looking. They will feel the items from outside and name them. When they feel and decide what the item is, they have to say:
It’s thin and long, so it must be a ruler.
It’s heavy; it’s round, so it must be a paperweight.
Whenever we do an activity, we need try to integrate different aspects so the learning is rich. Here, if we can get students to use a particular structure in naming the objects, they not only learn vocabulary but also consolidate the structures.
OR
It’s thin and long, so it is a ruler.
It’s heavy; it’s round, so it is a paperweight.
OR
I have found a ruler.
I have found a paperweight.

If you are using this article with lower classes, you can ask them simply to name the item they think there is. The difficulty level of the structures of the sentences can be raised depending upon the level of the students.

Get one student to name three to five items only so that many students get a chance. As they name the objects, list the names on the board. When most items have been named, display all items one by one and get the class to name them aloud and spell the words. If the students have named any items wrongly, correct the list on the board.
Depending upon the level of students, you can either ask them to make sentences using the words, to copy them in their exercise books or to draw some items.

Useful books for teaching and learning vocabulary
Carter, R. & McCarty, M. (1988). Vocabulary and language teaching. Harlow: Longman.
Flower, J. & Berman, M. (1989). Build your vocabulary. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.
Gairns, R. & Redman, S. (1986). Working with words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McCarthy,  M. (1996). Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Morgan, J. & Rivolucri, M. (1986). Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, L. (1992). Vocabulary in action. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall.
Wallace, M. (1987). Teaching vocabulary. 3rd ed. London: Heinemann.
Watcyn-Jones, P. (1993). Vocabulary games and activities for teachers. London: Penguin.
Willis, D. (1990). The lexical syllabus. London: Collins.

[First published in the Shikshak Magazine, April-May 2010]