Friday, January 23, 2009
Dushanbe
A usual sort of carrot seller for Tajikistan. He later received this picture of himself and was very happy.
I'm back in Dushanbe for the first time since August. I'm en route to Cairo via Dushanbe and Moscow. A lot has changed since I was here last. I now know enough of the language simple every day things like ordering at a restaurant or taking a taxi no longer present problems for me. Right now I'm updating this blog from my hotel room. I'm staying in a very nice hotel room here per the embassy's recommendation. I flew to Dushanbe this morning on a 737 and it took 40 minutes. (this info. is for my dad) I imediately noticed that it is a lot warmer here. In Khujand I wear a stocking cap, gloves with the fingers cut off, long underwear, a heavy coat, and very warm smartwool socks and it is still cold for me sometimes. Here I was walking around today with a shirt and light jacket with no stocking cap and no longunderwear and I was fine and warm. I also went to a restaurant tonight that had fajitas it was great. I went with the other Eng. Lang. Fellow here. You can't get Mexican food in Khujand but all the same I LOVE Khujand it is the right place for me. Dushanbe is much less conservative socially than Khujand. I was comparing notes with the other ELF here today realized just how conservative everything really is in Khujand compared to here in Dushanbe. We both agreed that the trend is towards conservatism based on Islamic values. Things aren't getting more liberal here. Hope all is well with you. I'm doing fine. Trying to take my dad's advice and live one day at a time.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
typical scene
my American friend D. originally gave me the idea for this blog as a way for students to express themselves and learn about the internet. That's why the title of the blog is "English Practice 211." D. had a lot of wonderful ideas about how to start businesses here, make money etc. I was a lot like him during my peace corps days. He had all these ideas because he was a young American.
Anyway my students have shown little to no interest in this blog so now its intended purpose has changed. I have explained to them about the blog given the address etc. I have shown them the blog at the American Corner. Now I have even put their work on the blog. But still no real interest. It just isn't important to them. They live in their little world and they have a hard time transcending it. I think in general most people are like this. people make artificial barriers for themselves and can't go beyond them. This is too bad because like D. I know the possibilities and know the stakes are high. But thinking/attitude is the hardest thing to change in people yet it is the most important. D.'s thinking was very different from most people here....
Lives
I always felt like when I was playing basketball that my play greatly determined whether or not my team won or lost. It is like that with teaching too. A teacher can greatly determine whether or not students learn. Here this effect is even more pronounced. My actions are talked about and watched and I have a big impact on people. A lot of people's dreams and hopes are tied to my actions and work. This creates a great opportunity for me but also a huge responsibility. A teacher in the U.S. has a big responsibility but here my responsibility seems much bigger- it keeps me awake at night. Let me give you some examples.
a. debate club- I started a debate club at my univ. last week we had a lively discussion about whether or not it is appropriate for girls/women to wear head scarves to school. It was great but now there won't be a debate club for two weeks because I will be gone and they refused to do it without me.
b. hiking- no one goes hiking unless I go.
c. I have young (18 yrs. old) mothers rearranging their schedules with their families and husbands just so they can come to my lesson. Their passion for knowledge and drive to be successful despite many obstacles is amazing. I can't let them down with bad lessons.
b. Helping a woman prepare for an interview so that she can study in the U.S. for Grad. School.
Etc......
It is sometimes overwhelming the number of people who are depending on me and want me to do something for them. The stakes are high but I try not to let it get to me but when you are dealing with people's lives and dreams sometimes it is hard. I always want to be winning but that is almost impossible to do all the time.
a. debate club- I started a debate club at my univ. last week we had a lively discussion about whether or not it is appropriate for girls/women to wear head scarves to school. It was great but now there won't be a debate club for two weeks because I will be gone and they refused to do it without me.
b. hiking- no one goes hiking unless I go.
c. I have young (18 yrs. old) mothers rearranging their schedules with their families and husbands just so they can come to my lesson. Their passion for knowledge and drive to be successful despite many obstacles is amazing. I can't let them down with bad lessons.
b. Helping a woman prepare for an interview so that she can study in the U.S. for Grad. School.
Etc......
It is sometimes overwhelming the number of people who are depending on me and want me to do something for them. The stakes are high but I try not to let it get to me but when you are dealing with people's lives and dreams sometimes it is hard. I always want to be winning but that is almost impossible to do all the time.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
student work about pictures below
The assignment was to write in the present tense about the first four pictures and in the past tense about the final two pictures. I know the appropriateness of the pictures is questionable.
But here is some student writing after one edit.
Dilafruz- "A gentleman walks behind the beautiful girl. She walks with pleasure as the weather is fine and the sun shines. She puts on a wonderful dress. Suddenly the man falls into a man hole. The girl cries and calls to the ambulance. The ambulance comes and takes the man to the hospital. He hurts a lot and is unconscious. Doctors examine him and operate, so they put him in the hospital for a month.
The man went out from the hospital. His hand was bandaged, but with the other hand he smoked. At the same time he complimented another woman. Then he fell down to the man hole again, as his mind thought only about woman and that's why he couldn't see anything in the road."
Nasiba- "I want to describe this pictures. We can see a man, who walks behind the beautiful woman. He tries to compliments to her. The man smokes the cigarette. The man falls on this man hole. The woman calls to ambulance. The ambulance takes the man away to the hospital. In the hospital doctors operates him. He breaks some part of his body.
The man went out from the hospital. His hand was bandaged. He was smoking with his other hand. He was well dressed. Next to him walked a beautiful woman, who was maked up. The man followed behind the woman again. He didn't complimented her, and didn't saw the man hole. He felt down to the man hole again. The man was stupid that's why he felt down again."
Manizha- "A man walks behind a woman in the street. The man compliments to the woman. He smokes a cigarette. Suddenly the man falls into a man hole. Then, the woman cries and calls to the ambulance. The nurse takes him to the hospital and the man is unconscious. The man is in the bed and surgery doctor checks him. One of them is shock. To my mind the man's condition is very serious.
The man's hand was broke. He came out of the hospital. His hand was bandaged. He was walking behind another woman. He complimented her again. The woman looked very beautiful. In the street were many people. He didn't notice the way. And he fell into a man hole again."
But here is some student writing after one edit.
Dilafruz- "A gentleman walks behind the beautiful girl. She walks with pleasure as the weather is fine and the sun shines. She puts on a wonderful dress. Suddenly the man falls into a man hole. The girl cries and calls to the ambulance. The ambulance comes and takes the man to the hospital. He hurts a lot and is unconscious. Doctors examine him and operate, so they put him in the hospital for a month.
The man went out from the hospital. His hand was bandaged, but with the other hand he smoked. At the same time he complimented another woman. Then he fell down to the man hole again, as his mind thought only about woman and that's why he couldn't see anything in the road."
Nasiba- "I want to describe this pictures. We can see a man, who walks behind the beautiful woman. He tries to compliments to her. The man smokes the cigarette. The man falls on this man hole. The woman calls to ambulance. The ambulance takes the man away to the hospital. In the hospital doctors operates him. He breaks some part of his body.
The man went out from the hospital. His hand was bandaged. He was smoking with his other hand. He was well dressed. Next to him walked a beautiful woman, who was maked up. The man followed behind the woman again. He didn't complimented her, and didn't saw the man hole. He felt down to the man hole again. The man was stupid that's why he felt down again."
Manizha- "A man walks behind a woman in the street. The man compliments to the woman. He smokes a cigarette. Suddenly the man falls into a man hole. Then, the woman cries and calls to the ambulance. The nurse takes him to the hospital and the man is unconscious. The man is in the bed and surgery doctor checks him. One of them is shock. To my mind the man's condition is very serious.
The man's hand was broke. He came out of the hospital. His hand was bandaged. He was walking behind another woman. He complimented her again. The woman looked very beautiful. In the street were many people. He didn't notice the way. And he fell into a man hole again."
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Up in the Air
I have to stay flexible here. On Friday my students informed me that we had three classes in a row together on Sat. that is 4 hours of classes with the same group of students. This was just added to my schedule without my knowledge sometime late in the week. Then the classes I had on previous Saturdays were dropped. So I ended up not teaching these three classes in a row because I already had different plans for this day at this time. As any educator would tell you it is difficult to teach the same group of people for 4 straight hours especially after you have taught them all week M-F. But who knows what will happen next week. I just try to keep my head up and keep plowing on. I started my own writing and TOEFL classes at the library, A.C. Right now I've been waiting for my friend for 40 min. to go hiking and he still isn't here so I went into this cafe and updated this blog. It is cold here and most people don't want to go hiking but I have the right clothes so it is ok.
take care
take care
Friday, January 9, 2009
Earthquake
Last week, I think on Tuesday and Wednesday, there were small earthquakes in the middle of the night. It was enough to wake me up and kinda scary. Someone said it was a 5.0 but I don't know forsure. Then on Friday night at about 5 am a rumor/fear spread that we were going to have another quake. So people ran outside yelling. People started driving around the city etc. I guess everyone called each other and said that we were going to have an earthquake at 5 am. I didn't get out of bed. But this tells you and me a lot.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
New Year
I'm slowly trying to get my students to use this blog. The post before this one was from three of my best English students. I think you would be surprised at how well they know English given the textbooks they have to work with and the various other serrious constraining factors that I don't feel at liberty to mention right now. That's probably not a grammaticaly correct sentence but whatever. It's funny here I teach a lot of grammar. At the universityI have two grammar classes and I'm also teaching grammar from the TOEFL preparation book. I don't teach a lot of grammar in the U.S. I'm more focused on writing and reading in Tacoma. So it is both interesting and boring for me but I try to make it interesting for my students. For example, right now I'm teaching about declarative, interogative and exclamatory sentences. And of course as you all know there are 4 types of interogative sentences- general, disjunctive, special and alternative. Hey! It's what they want me too teach and I use a text from the 1960s with examples from Dickens and Bronte. Fun stuff I tell ya.
But yesterday I had to teach about interjections like- ah, oh, humph etc. It was kinda fun acting these out and making sentences with them.
I also helped re-write the Tajiki national anthem recently in English I changed "name" to reputation and "sucessors" to generation just so it would rhyme and sound pretty.
I've been pretty lucky with my electricity 24/7 but a lot of people here go without especially in the regions. It's been super cold here too. Near freezing.
I'm organizing dramatic performances of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, when he was put in jail in Albany, Georgia and so on. It seems to be going pretty well. But I always feel stressed out cuz I got a lot going on. I always have a lot of ideas in my head and some will work out and some won't.
I guess it is raining back in Seattle so stay dry and enjoy these pics.
But yesterday I had to teach about interjections like- ah, oh, humph etc. It was kinda fun acting these out and making sentences with them.
I also helped re-write the Tajiki national anthem recently in English I changed "name" to reputation and "sucessors" to generation just so it would rhyme and sound pretty.
I've been pretty lucky with my electricity 24/7 but a lot of people here go without especially in the regions. It's been super cold here too. Near freezing.
I'm organizing dramatic performances of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, when he was put in jail in Albany, Georgia and so on. It seems to be going pretty well. But I always feel stressed out cuz I got a lot going on. I always have a lot of ideas in my head and some will work out and some won't.
I guess it is raining back in Seattle so stay dry and enjoy these pics.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
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