Tertulias Dialógicas

[Music] Hello, my name is Virginia Gay-Bassie and I wanted to tell you what is Tertullia and how is the experience of making a Tertullia. The literary dialogue Tertullia is a way of understanding the reading in which the texts are interpreted, be it ordinary readers or not. Experiences, emotions or feelings generated from reading become the object of dialogue and a common reflection with a focus that goes beyond the textual meaning of writing. The individual experience of reading is also important in that practice. It takes place at the moment of the Tertullia in an experience and the incorporation of the different voices, experiences, cultural, generated, a understanding that surpasses what can be achieved individually. The learning of reading, as Paulo Freire says, is not reduced to a mechanized and conceptualized act, but it should be an opening to dialogue about the world and with the world. Literary Tertullia increases the vocabulary, improves the oral and written expression, amplifies the reading comprehension, the critical thinking and the capacity to argue of all participants, producing important transformations in the overcoming of inequalities. What do I mean by this? The important thing about a literary Tertullia is being able to participate among all students or people or members who intervene in this Tertullia. First, it is the selection of that book, of that chapter that wants to make the Tertullia. Then, it is very important that everyone can read what was written, but if there is someone who for some reason could not read it, they still participate in the Tertullia. That is very important. It is not a condition that someone has not read the book, or the fragment, or the chapter, to not participate in the Tertullia. Everyone should participate in the Tertullia and they can participate in the Tertullia. That is the most important thing. How do we build the Tertullia? How is the way in which a literary and dialogical Tertullia is developed? The position is important and it is very enriching for this practice that we can all sit around. What does it mean with this, so that we can see ourselves, so that we can listen to ourselves? It is very important. The moderator, who is not necessarily a teacher or a person who is prepared in literature, can be any person in the moderator. The most important thing and the role that the moderator performs is to be able to distribute the word and set up a list of speakers to be able to respect the turns of the word. As we said, the role of the moderator in the practice of the Tertullia is very important. And let's remember that the moderator does not need to be an expert in literature, not a professional, not a teacher, but the moderator can be any person. That his role is to try to make the word "circule", to set up the list of speakers. So, once we are all sitting around, the moderator, with a pencil and a paper, because only the moderator will notice the speakers. It is not that the moderator will take note of what is said or said in the Tertullia, but simply the moderator sets up a list of speakers to make the word "circule" and give the place to each one when it is necessary to talk. So, for example, let's say that the list of speakers was noted by Juan, Clara and Pedro. So, the moderator gives a start to the Tertullia and says, "Well, let's see, Juan, what was what you wanted to tell us?" Juan, in this case, does not have to make a summary or tell what I read, but simply chooses something from the text that has been read or the paragraph or the prayer that he wants to express. So, for example, he says, "Well, and it does not sit in the text and in the part that he chose." Why is this so important that it does not sit? Because if there are some of the members of the Tertullia that could not read or that did not read, at that moment when the person, let's say, who is talking and telling which was the text or the paragraph that he chose, he reads it, he jumps, and there the rest of the participants of the Tertullia are located and are located in that part and in that text that he is commenting on. It does not have to be a literary analysis, the Tertullia is something else. The Tertullia has to do with emotions, with being able to express ourselves. So, maybe he can say, through this paragraph and comment on what he thought, what his perception was, that maybe it does not have to do specifically with the book that I read, but with something that he or she or they want to express, want to tell, want to comment, want to be able to say. And we take into account, and this is very, very important, that everything that is worked out and is said in the Tertullia is within the Tertullia. It is not something that later we are going to be doing an analysis, that later we are going to be doing a dialogue. No, it is not simply that each one has their own space and their place within the Tertullia to be able to share what it means. And that the rest of the participants of the Tertullia can listen to it carefully. This is fundamental, the key of the Tertullia is to be able to express oneself, to have the voice of being able to speak, and also to listen to it, to listen carefully to the rest of the participants who are intervening in the Tertullia. Once you finish talking, the participant who was commenting and talking about what he thought, what he wanted to express, the moderator opens the turn of words again, but for those who want to speak or say something about the text or the argument that that participant chose, not that they want to say something about what he said, because this is not, because if we were not making a judgment of value to what the partner expressed or the partner who was participating. This is very important, we do not make a judgment of value in the Tertullia, we respect the opinion and what the person who has at that time is talking, or who is expressing part of the text. The most important thing that we have to take into account is this, that the word circulates, that we can express ourselves freely without feeling judged. Even if the moderator, at some point in the practices, is a teacher, we are not going to be evaluated. In other words, the practice of the Tertullia is a different practice to what it has to do with the curriculum of education and the pedagogical contents that are being addressed. Not one, for expressing himself and for saying at that time, is being evaluated. Under no point of view in the Tertullia, the student, the student or the students are evaluated, but precisely so that through the Tertullia we can be heard, that our voices circulate within the circle of participants, that we can acquire greater vocabulary, that we can feel that it is our moment to express ourselves freely. The practice of the Tertullia can be done once a week, we can do it twice a week, we can do it once every 15 days, we can do it in a closed place, we can do it in a square, we can do it in a library, we can do it anywhere we sit comfortably and want to do the Tertullia. But three issues to take into account. Before the Tertullia, choose what we are going to read or the text we are going to read or the paragraph or the chapter we are going to read. Consensual, between all, what is what we are going to read. Second, look for the day and the time where we are going to make that Tertullia, between all. And third, that that moderator that is designated, it is not necessary that it is always the same, you can rotate the moderator in different Tertullias, make the list of orators and that the word can circulate. And once the Tertullia is finished, everything is left there, what was worked, what was talked about, is left in the Tertullia. And before finishing the Tertullia, we agree that is what we are going to read for the next Tertullia. [Music] I invite you to get comfortable, comfortable, to take out everything that bothers you. Pay attention to the belt of the pants. Think on your back. Breathe slowly. Make sure that the air can travel each section of your body. I invite you to get ready to listen. [Music]