SATE Spring 2025 Course with Martin Mühlheim
We may have been a small group when we met at the James Joyce Foundation in Zurich for a twilight workshop at the end of March, but we were lively, curious and eager to learn from manager Martin Mühlheim’s impressive expertise. The session centred on two short stories, ‘Eveline’ and ‘The Gallants’, both of which sparked rich discussion and thoughtful interpretation, alongside practical prompts from Martin for use in our upper-secondary classrooms. Our journey into Joyce's world didn’t stop at the page, however. We explored selected songs inspired by his work and responded to related visual art, too, from cartoons to paintings, bringing new dimensions to our understanding. A guided tour of the Joyce collection rounded off our visit, with highlights including rare artefacts and striking artwork. Overall, we were thoroughly immersed in all things Joycean on our visit and left feeling inspired and energised!
We highly recommend both a visit to the James Joyce Foundation and to one of Martin’s engaging workshops. As highlighted during our designated information session at SATE’s November 2024 AGM, the centre also offers a wide range of learning opportunities for students, including on-site workshops and walking tours of Zurich. Martin also reminded us of the special programme of events marking the 40th anniversary of the Centre – a perfect time to explore or re-engage.For further information or to enquire about workshops, tours, or events, please contact Martin directly or visit https://www.joycefoundation.ch
By Lynn Williams Leppich
SATE November 2024 Course with Kirsty Logan
Workshop at Collège St. Michel in Fribourg
The 2024 SATE course was one of expansion. Under the tutelage of the Glaswegian professional “daydreamer” and writer Kirsty Logan we were incited to expand on those stories we have heretofore been “allowed” to tell in order to probe what has been deemed (un)worthy of designation.
Together we delved into a Scottish world outwith cliché. One whose contours moved beyond “shortbread and heroin”. We stretched ourselves to reclaim and reinvent narratives using tools as varied as shredders, maps, protest poems, and the unfamiliar.
Time was dedicated to real worlds, fantastical realms & personal abodes.
The senses were given free rein enabling us to slow down and pay attention, something that can be deemed now more than ever, an act of quiet rebellion in our relentlessly scrolling, instagrammatic world.
Each of the mini workshops (albeit eclectic) was focused on how we as teachers can get reluctant writers to bloom.
Kirsty’s work, already a staple in Anglophone classrooms and EFL settings, offered our group not only a creative boost but also explicit pedagogical applications. Her detailed materials, complete with sample exercises and follow-up activities, bridged creative, critical, and personal writing.
Over the two days, we experimented with genres and styles, developing our own unique voices in an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard and rich collegial exchange.
By Orlaith Nellen
SATE November 2023 course with Heather Holt
This year’s course responded to recent participant calls for a concrete pedagogical toolkit to take away, and was well received, with a good deal of positive feedback.
SATE November 2022 course with Sarah Maria Griffin
The SATE November course 2022 took place in Biel/Bienne on the 24th and 25th of November 2022. Course organiser Orlaith Nellen writes:
How vital is it to not only see, but to unpack, intuit and practise divination? The marrying of visual literacy, imagination and intellect is of utmost importance in a world where we are bombarded with images ad infinitum. With the renowned Irish writer Sarah Maria Griffin, educators from all over Switzerland got to delve into both the surreal and semiotics, quickly moving beyond cliché and into the realm of the extended metaphor. For two full days participants got to think and write beyond the literal and to couch real-life concerns in fantastical garb. Being at the mercy of global vagaries we are in need, now more than ever, of the strange and otherworldly to sustain us by elucidating the messiness of being alive in a refreshing and thought-provoking manner.
Speculative fiction encourages escape, but it can also reinvigorate. Galvanizing us into agency once more Sarah Maria Griffin was able to disarm us, bolstering us with the freedom of privacy and inviting us into the power of the weird and wonderful. She divulged to us how Science-Fiction can equip us with discernment to avoid falling for a panem et circenses form of superficial sustenance. Ultimately, Sarah Maria Griffin taught us that decoding and questioning enable us to reflect on what kind of present we inhabit and what type of future we hope to build.
Having other dimensions of existence allows us to retreat momentarily while still being connected. Why limit reality to the parameters of the logical mind? The congruence of singularity and interconnectedness is housed perfectly in the Gaelic word Tonn. The word means both a single wave and the entire ocean. Sci-Fi encapsulates this paradox superbly, helping us to recalibrate our gaze by showing us how intertwined and unique we all are. Hopefully this is enough to engender empathy for ourselves and the world we call home. Sarah taught the group how to build by decoding, how to find comfort in creation and develop a deeper understanding of humankind by embracing the surreal.
SATE November 2019 course with Nicolaia Marston
The SATE November course 2019 took place in Wil (SG) on 28 and 29 November 2019. There were 33 participants, who all took home a bagful of ideas on how to introduce acting techinques into their teaching. The course was taught by Nicolaia Marston, who works as a freelance actress and director and acting coach. With upstart entertainment Nicolaia launched the Shakespeare in the Courtyard series in the wonderful medieval(looking) Courtyard of the English Seminar at the University of Basel. So it was of course Shakespeare’s plays (mainly A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet) that we focused on, but there were also modern playwrights: Edward Albee, Caryl Churchill, Jennifer Haley. The moving and a little disturbing play The Nether by the latter was very much in the centre. We did a lot of practical work as you can see in the pictures! And we enjoyed several meals with each other, above all a very pleasant communal evening meal at the restaurant L’Olivier. For one of the most important characteristics of the SATE November course is that you meet other teachers - a very social affair.
SATE NOVEMBER 2018 course with Elaine Feeney
35 teachers attended this stimulating and wide-ranging workshop given by the Irish writer, Elaine Feeney. The aim of the workshop was to show how poetry and 'fiction poetry' (prose poems) can be used in the classroom with 'reluctant teenagers', to use Elaine's phrase. Emphasis was placed, not only on which types of material can be used, but also on how teenagers themselves can be encouraged to show their creativity and to develop their critical faculties. Participants were sent a number of texts in advance, which were then discussed during the workshop. Elaine also brought along a short story by the Irish short story writer, Claire Louise Bennett. So no lack of reading matter!
After a brief introduction Elaine got us to write a short letter to our 16-year-old selves in order to encourage empathy with our students and to imagine life as a teenager – an interesting trip down memory lane! Then, after discussing the question of which topics poetry should or should not deal with, she introduced us to some spoken word or 'performance' poetry, viz.
Mathematics by Hollie McNish (dealing with immigration and racism) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJX5XHnONTI
From This Day by Shane Koyczan (dealing with bullying) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY
Home, by Warsan Shire (dealing with the plight of refugees) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9D92Xiygo
All three of these powerful poems are available on YouTube, and it was an interesting and sometimes moving experience to listen to the authors reading their poems. In one case (From This Day) the poem was accompanied by fast-moving visuals (cartoons), which some participants, including more 'mature' participants like myself, found somewhat distracting, but Elaine assured us that the younger generation (she teaches teenagers herself) can cope with the rapid, multi-media approach. Certainly all three poems are highly topical and would be suitable for use in the classroom.
We then turned to some more complex 'page' poems: Feel Free by Nick Laird, The Artane BoysBand by Jess Traynor (both read by the authors), Aubade by Ocean Vuong (accompanied by footage of the Vietnam War), and the prose poem I loveYou by the Trinidadian poet, Vahni Capildeo. The poems were syntactically and lexically highly demanding, which led to a discussion about the choice of poems and the level of difficulty. Elaine also spoke about the question of how to introduce teenagers to poetic form. We were then divided into groups of six and given a "hat" or category by which to judge all the poems. For example, each person had to examine the poem according to how it displayed aspects of logic, emotion, optimism or creativity. One person had to play the 'devil's advocate' (putting forward counter- arguments), while another person had to 'manage' the discussion. We were then asked to rate the poems according to our "hat". Finally we were asked to decide which was the 'best' poem. An interesting exercise which makes the reader look at a poem from various perspectives.
In the following session Elaine set us an interesting task. She asked us to think of a powerful early memory, to jot it down, mentioning sensory details (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch), and then to retell the memory to our partner. The partner's task was to take notes and then to retell the memory in the form of a short poem. Elaine's point was that, apart from encouraging creativity, the exercise forces students to listen to one another and fosters mutual respect in the classroom. Certainly I was highly impressed by the quality of the 'poems' that were produced. Obviously there is a lot of hidden poetic talent among SATE members!
The next session was entitled "Poetry in Fiction". Elaine pointed out that poetry and fiction are merging to some extent in contemporary literature, a remark which reminded me of Robin Robertson's recent verse novel The Long Take (shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize), a highly original mixture of poetry and prose. Elaine said that when she wants students to write fiction, she starts with the background and gets the students to describe one or two people they know (age, height, family status, job, positive traits, etc.). She then goes on to setting (preferably something students are familiar with) and then plot. Our own poetic fiction task was based on Nicole Flattery's story "Track", which we had read before the workshop. We worked in pairs, with one person acting as a psychologist/therapist, who had to offer advice to the troubled female character – an interesting exercise in identifying with characters in a story.
The final session was devoted to discussing the style and content of the short story "A Little Before Seven", taken from Claire Louise Bennett's collection of stories Pond, the shortest of which runs to a few sentences! Although interesting, many participants felt that the somewhat abstruse nature of the story might make it unsuitable for use in the classroom, though others disagreed.
To sum up. A rich, stimulating workshop, given by a gifted teacher and multi-talented writer (her first novel will be published in January 2020). Elaine Feeney's combination of intellect sharpness, eloquence, passion for literature, charisma, warmth and humour meant that the course was both rewarding and highly enjoyable.
This was her first visit to Switzerland. We are sure it will not be her last.
Dewi Williams (on behalf of the SATE Committee)
SATE NOVEMBER 2017 course with Alan McMonagle
Using (Contemporary) Novels and Short Stories in the Classroom
This 2-day workshop, which was organized by Hansueli Müller and Dewi Williams, was attended by 29 teachers and run by the young Irish writer Alan McMonagle, who has published two volumes of short stories (Psychotic Episodes and Liar, Liar) and a recent novel Ithaca, which was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Award for first novels . Participants were required to read Ithaca before the workshop and were also sent a file of material which included some short stories from his two collections. Just as Odysseus is determined to return home to Ithaca, the 11-year-old narrator of this darkly comic novel (set in a small town in central Ireland) is determined to find the father whom he has never known. The novel is both poignant and humorous and gave rise to some animated discussion. Alan dealt with themes such as the young narrator in fiction, the contrast between short stories and novels, the role of fantasy and myth, the importance of character and language, etc. He also read from some of his (often amusing) stories. All in all, a stimulating and enjoyable workshop.
