Dr Danyal Farsani, University of Chile, will be the speaker. Danyal is particularly interested in analyzing language (Verbal-Vocal-Visual).

He frequently runs workshops on body language in different institutional settings such as schools and universities. As well as his contribution to the field of education, he also provides training to Lawyers, TV presenters, Daters, MPs (member of parliaments) and the Police.

Danyal completed his thesis at University of Birmingham in 2015. His thesis investigates communication (verbal and nonverbal) in a bilingual (Farsi-English) complementary school mathematics’ classroom. The study examines gestures were used as a resource for teaching mathematics in a bilingual setting, enabling intercolutors to construct meaning and mediate understanding. That is, the ways in which language and gesture can be seen as resources in supporting and conveying mathematical ideas is described. I investigated a number of verbal and nonverbal resources and show how these are culturally and socially shaped. I also explored how modes of communication are employed in creating mathematical meaning in a bilingual classroom context. A multimodality framework was adopted to analyse data which included audio and video recordings, observations and interviews with teachers and pupils. I found that gestures were employed to convey aspects of the mathematical register and how these were used to amplify what interlocutors were expressing verbally. Furthermore, I identified that different languages activated a different conceptual understanding of the same mathematical concept which was reflected through the students’ and teachers’ gestures