Staying of going?!?!

Well, I spoke with the dean and determined the reason they were thinking about not renewing my contract. It seems that it was a situation outside of work that was blown out of proportion. This made me even madder, and I requested that he talk to the person and tell them the situation. I also requested that I get something in writing telling me what was wrong, the reason it was wrong, and what I had to do to make it right. I never did get this thing in writing, but the dean did speak with the person, and he said that he straightened everything out. So, apparently I am still going to be able to come back next semester!!

Today was also interesting in that during my teaching of the lowest level of Vets/engineers, I was being observed by the Regional Academic Quality Control person. During the observation, the Minister of Agriculture along with a television camera and newspaper cameras came to talk a little with the students. I thought I was going to go out of my mind with the circus my class had become. But it only lasted around 10 minutes, so I went on with my lesson as if nothing was wrong.

The results of the observation were quite positive. She told me that my love for teaching came out in my eyes, the patience and interaction with the students, and that I obviously taught from my heart! She said that it was like I was the right person in the right place at the right time, and that I should make a career out of teaching. It was quite the compliment! I still have a hard time with the idea of being a teacher, but it is nice to know that someone has seen that I can do it, and I can do it well.

My university students are still giving me grief though (not their fault, of course). Today they were supposed to pick out the topic sentence of a paragraph. This would seem like an easy thing, especially when they just filled in a passage that said that the first sentence of a paragraph is the topic sentence. The problem came with the passage that they were given to work with next: the topic sentence was NOT the first sentence of the paragraph!! Why would any bookmaker in their right mind do something like that? One should not tell the students one thing and then have the exercise be an exception! Especially when the students are first learning, and you don't tell them that the exceptions exist!

So, I had to spend 15 minutes trying to get them to listen to me explain that the topic sentence is NOT always the first sentence. I don't think they got the message though, as it was nearly time to go home. I guess we shall see when we come back tomorrow.

One of THOSE days!!

Have you ever had one of those days? You know the ones I am talking about; the ones where you wish you could have stayed in bed, even though you know it would have made no difference. Well, this was one of those...and it started out so promising too!

I woke up this morning rather excited about going to school as I would have time to catch up and do whatever it was that I needed to do. I didn't have to teach group three of the Vets/engineers because it was the other teacher's turn. I didn't have to teach in the morning because it is Thursday, and Thursdays are test days. So, I figured I could use the internet, get some paper work done, and that would be that. This is not what happened.

I went in only to find that the internet was down. Then they finally decided that they needed to fix my chair, which had two broken wheels on it. They found that the replacement wheels were not the same, so they just took them off. Now I have no wheels on my chair and have a hard time moving it away from the desk. Then I find out that the company is worried that something may happen in the classroom to negatively reflect on them, so they are reconsidering my contract for next year! I have one instance of being sick (which did not affect my teaching other than the two days I was told not to go), and they think that there is a possibility it may happen again. Of course there is that possibility! But the other teacher got sick before I did, had to take a couple days off from work, miss classes during some other days and such, but they are not worried about that. I don't know what the reasoning is, or even who is making this decision. I just know that it creates an environment of animosity, and I don't think I want to stay even if they finally decide that it is alright for me to do so.

This is really tough for me because I was putting all of my heart into teaching these students. I had hoped to see them go through the school and learning all of the things they are going to learn. I was finally ready to stay in one place for at least a couple of years. Now I find this to not be a possibility anymore. I am not quite sure how to react to it. I almost find myself missing the students already, and I still have 2 months before I leave!

To top off this wonderful news, I managed to break my phone. This means that not only can I not communicate with anyone (not that I have been doing so anyway), but I never know what time it is now. This is not a good thing for a teacher who needs to know how much time is left for each activity and such. I guess I should just start looking for another job yet again, and forget what I wanted. Perhaps something better will show its facet to me.

Another interesting day

I once again went to the PPP school, and once again the students all found it very interesting and inspirational. We didn't have as much time to observe as there was a lot more talking going on, but this was not a totally bad thing, even with much of it happening in Kurdish. One of the lower level students who almost never says anything beyond superficials, even in Kurdish (as much as she likes to talk), asked some of the best questions. She attempted a couple of them in English, but her confidence isn't quite there yet. Even so, I was extremely happy and proud to hear the questions and the answers and the discussion that followed. The answers were given in English and Kurdish so that the dean and I could understand as well.

Earlier that same day, on the way to the university, we were driving along and the driver and the coordinator for the school started arguing in the front seat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the van stops, the driver turns it off and gets out, tells his daughter to get out, and they start walking. The coordinator drove the rest of the way to school. (Even walking the driver and his daughter arrived just before we did). It is sad to see this happen, though. I really liked the driver even though it was tough to communicate. Perhaps this is something that will just blow over, though I doubt it. I just hope this doesn't mean that his daughter will no longer be coming to the school.

I got paid! I am not sure when they get the money to pay people, but, while payday is supposed to be the last day of the month, we were still able to get it a little early. This means that I was able to send my money home and have it taken care of. Of course I also found out that while my company pays for the hospital (bad health care), the tests, and that sort of thing, they do not pay for doctors; even if it is to read the results of the tests. I am not sure what the reasoning is behind that, but I guess I am now required to pay the $75 for the doctor's fee. I need to get an invoice for it though as I am curious as to why it is so much.

There was supposed to be quiz night, but they decided to cancel it so people could train for the upcoming sports tournament. Of course I don't think I am going to do any of the sports, but I am sure the others will have fun nonetheless. The problem was that I was really looking forward to quiz night, and I was even asked earlier in the day if I was going. This seemed to suggest that there was going to be a quiz night. Then I got home. Upon arriving back home from Western Union, my housemate who also goes to trivia night, was on his way to the same place to train. I saw the way he was dressed and asked what was going on. It was then that I was told that the trivia night had been canceled. It seems that everyone else knew, except for me and the other teacher. Apparantly even the dean knew as he came up to us, dressed in running clothes, and said hello. He was supposed to go to trivia night as well. Why is it that I always seem to be out of the loop, even when it is concerning things that deal with me?

Cool Monday

For some reason my posting for Monday did not post....hmmm....Monday was a rather interesting day. A group of 9 students and I went to the local PPP (Public-Private Partnership) school that is managed by the company that also owns the university I work for. We were going so the students could see how the classroom worked and to learn a little more about the system we use. This went even better than planed.

We left mostly on time. When we arrived, we were taken to the directors office where she explained a little about the school and how everything there was run. She is fluent in English, Arabic, and Kurdish, so she was able to take questions and give answers in any language that was necessary for the students to understand. Then we were taken to learn a little about the kindergarten portion and the system in general. After that, we observed some of the classes. This was by far the best part. For me to be able to see the enthusiasm and excitement of the students was wonderful. For the students, to be able to see the kindergarten and primary school students' faces, and their level of English was also wonderful. They were amazed that students that young would be so good at English; most of them are better than the university students!

When we got back, most of the university students were very pleased with what they had seen. They like the system, and they want to be able to teach there some day...and this is exactly what we want from our future teachers. Hopefully it sticks with them.

Of course we got back just in time for me to teach the vets/engineers. This actually went quite well, too. All of the students were there (for the first time ever), and the gap fill exercise worked quite nicely, even though they didn't do it quite as it is supposed to be done. They were talking, they were learning, and I don't care that it went slightly different than what was meant!

Today was also a long day as I had to teach the vets/engineers as well (the lowest of the 3 groups of them). They were actually all there as well. In this class we corrected homework, and then we did a worksheet on family. Most of them were alright with most of the family members, but they were still a little confused with nephew, niece, and cousin. I think we may have straightened that out though.

The other problem that we seem to be facing is one of British vs. American English. Apparently the sink is in the kitchen only; that thing in the bathroom is a (wash) basin. Once again I have to make sure they understand that in America, one can also call it a sink. Hopefully this is not going to get in the way of their learning :P

We also spent 5 - 10 minutes talking about names. They were surprised to learn that the surname and middle name really don't have to be from your father. They thought that the last name was the father's first name as seems to be the culture here. Part of what took so long was that they also have compound names here, and I didn't know that, so what I thought was three names was actually only two, so my explanation turned into a moment of learning for me! They students loved it and learned a lot, so I was happy. It is always good to see the students smiling and participating and enjoying themselves. If only everyday could be this good!

A tiring day at the bazaar!

I usually get off work at 5pm. Yesterday, however, was sort of an exception. One of the students asked the other teacher if she wanted to go out shopping. The other teacher responded that we didn't get off until 5pm which was too late for the student. The teacher asked the student to ask the dean if she could go. The dean said that if she promised to use English, then we could all go and call it an educational field trip!!! YAY for understanding deans!

So, the three of us went to the bazaar. We looked at more clothes and shoes and bags/purses than I ever thought possible! We walked through the overcrowded walkways to the too small stores to see things that were mostly not worth buying. It would have been a lot more fun if I didn't have to lug around my heavy backpack for all this time as well!

Finally they said we were done. All that was left to do was cross the street to get some ice cream. Alas, what do we find on the other side of the street? More shops!! ARG!!! When will it all come to an end? I finally convince them that it is ice cream time. We get our soft serve ice cream in paper cups to go; we catch a cab and go home. When I arrive, I have a huge headache. We were shopping for about 2 hours, and I was exhausted. I lay down on the couch and fell asleep, sort of. After about an hour or two of that, I decided that it was time to actually go to bed. So, I went to bed and didn't wake up until 5:45am! I felt wonderful except for the soreness from carrying my backpack.

Yet another training!

Well, we had another training on the company's system. This time it was how to apply the point system to comprehension. It makes sooo much more sense now!! I have been very confused on what I have been supposed to do, but now it is much clearer. I am so glad that we had this training, even if it did come after I have already been teaching for 2 months!

The day today was good, though I am still running into problems with the differences between British and American English. I guess I may have to take an English course to figure all of this out! The Vets/Engineers are complaining that it is too easy for them, yet they don't do their homework at all. I don't know why I assign it if they are just going to have to take time in class to do it anyway. That is frustrating!

Last night I went to Shaqlauwa. I don't really know too much about this place, except that it is quite beautiful and is known for some of their sweets. I had an apricot/peach slushi, which was a little sour, but still good. It was good to get out of this town for awhile as well. I also ran into one of my students while there; it is his hometown and he was out and about on his weekend.

The day yesterday wasn't too bad...It was actually quite nice. Friday being the only day I have off, I went with my fellow teacher to a coffehouse called CoffeeShop and More. We went there so we could plan for today and she could smoke shisha (argela). Both of us seem to be more productive outside of the house. It was a great experienc that I hope I can repeat frequently!

It is nice to have the internet back, I must say. Thursday was a pain trying to teach the students to use context clues to obtain the information they were required to obtain. They all want to use the dictionary for every word! I am not sure what I have to do in order to get them less dependent upon it. I am going to attempt to write more questions on the lesson in order to give them more practice. I know they are going to have looked in the dictionary to answer the ones they already did. What a quandry.

I don't remember what happend the day before. I guess I am just not supposed to know. I believe that somewhere in here is the idea that there is much more you need to know, but I will not tell you hear because you need to be able to ask me about it later. The dialgouge with the author is a good thing! I hope all is well and that you can make a story with me again soon.

More stress and more thoughts

Today was a good day overall. I was a little tired when I arrived to school, but I was hopeful about how the day would go. Today was the Group 2 Vets/Engineers. We studied a little about countries and nationalities. One of the students is from Iran, and she said that she spoke Persian. I told her that the language is actually called Farci, and she was surprised that I actually knew that. She said it was the first time anyone has actually said it to her. This was somewhat of a surprise to me as I thought most people who were teaching ESL in the area would know that. Hmmmm...

One of these students is also a real pain in the neck! He thinks he knows everything. He tries to tell me what we should be focusing on in the lesson, and that the definition for student that was in the book was wrong. The book said that a student is someone who studies at the school or university, and he said that this was actually a pupil; a student only studies at primary school. Of course in British English this is correct. This meant that I had to attempt to explain that there are MANY differences between British and American English in pronunciation, grammar, and terminology. We will have to talk about them when they come up, but hopefully we can minimize it for much of the time!

The next class was the afternoon class when everyone is tired from the heat and the food they have just eaten. So, I try to get them to focus on what we are doing, for an hour and a half, hoping something will sink in. At least I did learn that the company is going to finally start sending the tests for us so we don't have to write them ourselves. Of course we will have to wait and see if they keep coming, but they should. This means we don't have to worry about writing them ourselves from now on, which takes a load off!

After class, the other teacher and I began to talk about the students and their shortcomings. It appears that the jump from book two to book three was so difficult for them not because the English was so much more difficult, but because the comprehension is expected to be so much greater. I believe that there is an underlying assumption that the students have these abilities in their native language; however these students do not. It definitely makes a difference. I am now in the process of trying to make some exercises where I can walk them through the process of finding the information in the passage. Hopefully it will help.

Today I am going to go out to the local German restaurant and get a different type of meal. I hear it is slightly expensive, but it will be an interesting experience nonetheless. Hopefully the food is good!

What am I really teaching?

I have been wondering why these students can't grasp what I would consider to be simple concepts for university students to grasp. They can't find information in a simple paragraph and answer questions about it. Yesterday I discovered that they were recently given a reading comprehension test in Kurdish. The scores on this test were VERY low! It seems that while the best students did score around 66% most were around 30-40%. This is at the 2nd grade level in their native language! While I was told I was teaching English skills, it turns out I am teaching literacy skills....this is a much more difficult task, especially in a foreign language.

When teaching English, one expects that the students can transfer certain knowledge from their native language into English. We assume certain general knowledge and certain skills. Both of these are severely lacking with these students (pupils?). It is tough to teach about sending letters when post-offices are very rare, and nobody writes letters. How do you talk about a bathtub when people just don't have the concepts? None of my students has ever used a bathtub, though they do have baby tubs that they use, so I was able to extract it from that. Using experiences to teach is difficult when their experiences do not include many things that one takes for granted! Time to delve more deeply into Iraqi-Kurdish culture!!

Teaching of logic is another problem. I realized this problem while taking my showers...when one wants to adjust the water temperature, they turn one of the taps. For example, one thinks the water is too hot, so they either turn down the hot water or increase the cold water. While this is simple enough, when I take my shower, I attempt to turn down the hot water, and it gets hotter! I attempt to turn up the cold water, and it gets HOTTER!!! How am I supposed to expect the students to think logically when the basic things in life do not behave logically?

I suppose I am making a little much out of all of this, but I am at a place where I must readapt everything I was thinking. Not getting the correct information makes it very difficult to do what one needs to do...hopefully I will just be able to simplify things enough to get them where they need to be....and hopefully I can do it without driving myself completely crazy!!

Maybe I am crazy!!

Last night and today have been quite hectic. I can't even remember what I did in class yesterday, and I have been trying to not! Actually, I found that both me and the other teacher had to teach the vets/engineers yesterday. They were split into 3 groups, and groups 1 and 2 came yesterday, and today group 3 came. The other teacher decided to teach group 3, though I am not sure I should have let her. I hope she doesn't think I wasn't willing to do it.

The class yesterday went by fairly quickly. The students were ready to work and found the lessons easy. Of course we took them back to the beginning of book one, so that had something to do with it. I am not sure when it will start getting difficult, but I do hope it is soon. The university students were driving me crazy as usual. I went and got my blood test results so that I could go to the doctor today to see if there was anything wrong with me.

Last night the group went out to Coffeshop and More in order to celebrate one of our friend's acceptance as a Fulbright Scholar at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. He is very excited to be able to do his Masters degree in Computer Science in the US. Of course spending 2 years in a place like New York after having grown up in Iraq may be a bit of an issue weather wise :)

Today I got up early and made too strong of coffee. You can tell the coffee is too strong when you are able to almost finish it and then add enough more water to make a full cup, and still have that second cup taste like a good cup of coffee. Ah well, at least it kept me going.

The students are still not able to get simple information from the reading passages. Our present pace is not going to be able to be maintained for the remainder of the semester because we now can not go on unless a majority of the class gets it...this is a good thing; I just hope that I am not going to be blamed for them not being able to get it...though I wish I could find a way to make it easier for them to grasp.

I did go back to the doctor's, and he said that I have too many red blood cells (not really an issue, just means I don't have anemia) and that there is nothing to worry about. All I need to do is make sure I eat throughout the day and practice some sort of stress relief activities. I am pretty sure that is something I would be glad to do no matter what. I am happy that all is well, and I can move on with my life with a clean bill of health!

It's Official

So it is official, I am definitely thinking too much ahead about what needs to be done. I have to start not really caring what happens from day to day as long as I am told what I need to know at least an hour ahead of time. Actually, I am not sure I even know what I am talking about.

It seems that today I may be teaching the Vets, or I may not. We are splitting them into 3 classes, but I was told yesterday that only one of them is coming today. I am not sure how they are split, who is in which, nor when they are coming. I thought two of them were coming today, but I was told last night that only one of them was, though not which one. I guess I have to wait until later today to find out
what I should have prepared for.

I had my blood tests done yesterday. The guy had to stick me twice and left a nasty bruise the first time, but at least it was clean and the people friendly. Interestingly enough though, it took longer to get the invoice so I could pay than it did to actually get the blood drawn. The results will be ready today, and then I have to go see the doctor tomorrow in order to go over them. Ahhhh, the realities of life when you can go see the doctor.

When I got back from getting blood taken, I wanted to eat the candy bar that one of my students had given me earlier in the day. After not having eaten since around 8pm the previous night, I was starving!! However, when I got there, I found that my computer had been turned off, my candy bar was gone, and they had cleaned my office. I was extremely irritable and very upset! I almost went and told them to not let anyone ever clean my office again! Luckily the other teacher had pistachioes to help me through. Not as good as the coconut I was looking forward two, but probably better for me.

Now I am looking forward to the rest of the day to see if everything is going to work out as well as it is supposed to. I am pretty sure it won't, but it will be interesting to see why not.

Slow days

As you may have noticed, I had taken a couple of days off from the posting of a blog. This had two main reasons. One: there was nothing happening, and 2) I was tired and didn't feel like posting. Today I still don't feel like posting, but I don't want a lot of people worried about me.

I went to another doctor, and he told me that I need to have blood tests done. One is a fasting sugar test, the other a vitamin B12 test, and one to test for anemia. It will be interesting to see if they find anything. I have been told before that I may have low blood sugar, but no one has ever really tested me for it. I guess that is why I am not too upset about having to get these tests done. Of course the administration doesn't want me to take time off work to go get the tests, so they want me to get them done after 3pm! This means that I am not allowed to eat ALL day! I don't think they realize that is exactly why they normally do them in the mornings; to prevent people from going all day without eating! I guess I will have to have a late supper and hope it helps.

Other than that, the days have been fine. I corrected tests and found that most people are just not getting the information in a useful way. Some of them are not even getting the information in a way in which they can define terms, which is a bit unusual for them. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised, but I sort of am.

We were finally given a brief introduction to the SABIS system today; they will demonstrate it for us next week. It is good to finally do that now that we are nearing the end of this school year! I didn't do my reports yet, and I really should. We are supposed to get a new teacher tomorrow, but I am not sure if she will show up or not; I have learned that nothing is certain until it happens. I hope so though, we really need another teacher.

Well, enough from me for now. Hopefully all will start returning to normal soon.

Illness and the world!!

I have decided that if there is anything that is more stressful than going to work, it is being forced to stay home! I found this out because I was not allowed to go to work today; I hope they let me go tomorrow, but they may not.

Yesterday, I became angry with my students as they were being disrespectful and talking and doing other things while I was trying to explain something to them. I actually ended up kicking one student out of class. In the class after that, I was teaching, and I started feeling very week. My fingers wouldn't work right, and I had to sit down. I ended up going to the doctors after class.

The doctor took my blood pressure and said that I had nothing to worry about. The pressure was low, but there was no tachycardia...so he prescribed me an analgesic, and sent me on my way. He also said that I probably don't have a microbe because I have no fever...though how he could tell this by taking my blood pressure, I am not certain. He said I must rest for two days, and that every six hours or so, I need to put my legs up for around 10 minutes. He said that the figures didn't work well because of a spasm caused by too much writing and erasing on the board....I didn't think teaching had such occupational hazards!

I am not sure I trust this doctor, of course. But today work told me I was to stay home. It was a good thing though. I did feel week and tired today as well. I still feel numbness in the arm and leg of my right side...I am thinking of getting a second opinion, just to be on the safe side. Hopefully things are alright and I can go back to work tomorrow!!

More pics from last picnic

I am finally able to post pics from the wedding that we crashed last weekend (or the weekend before or whatever). I thought you may want to see another shot of the scenery as well. This is a beautiful place. If it weren't for the strange way of doing things, I would consider staying here out in the country somewhere.

Stress, but not word stress ;P

Today was another day with the vets and engineers. I felt particularly stressed because today the other teacher and I were going to switch classes. I had no idea really of what to expect, and it is difficult for me to do new things and be in front of new people. As I waited to go to class, some of my class asked why I wasn't teaching them today. I had to explain the whole switching thing to them, which wasn't an easy task, though not for language reasons. One of them was really disappointed because she wanted me to go over stress with them in class today. So, there was stress today, just not this stress.

The other class was not quite friendly at first, though they warmed up quite quickly. At first someone from the Ministry of Agriculture came in and gave them all papers to sign, and they started to have a heated argument. They quickly decided to discuss it after the lesson, which I was grateful for. Then came the actual teaching portion.

I started the lesson and we answered the first few questions, and then it was time to put them into groups. They were very noisy in doing this, and they didn't quite get four and five into a group, but I straightened them out! (I really should have had a plan as to how the groups would be formed, but I didn't know how many people there would be, and I wanted to see how good they were at it.) I had them discuss reasons people travel. They discussed it for five minutes and then they switched groups and told the others what they had come up with. We them talked about them a little out loud.

We did this type of thing throughout the lesson...I think the desk arrangement should be changed to make this type of work easier, but we will see what comes of this. After class, many of these students came up to me and said they liked the way I taught. They liked that there was some outside information brought in, they liked that they were forced to speak in groups, and they liked that my speech was clear and understandable to them. My original students also came in and said they liked my teaching and wanted me back. I never know whether to trust what people say about me, but I have been told by many people that they like my teaching. This makes me feel good, but I do take it with a grain of salt.

Now for the more stressful portions of the day. The university classes were good, but they are still having problems understanding that sometimes things have more than one answer, and when they are asked their opinion, they are supposed to give reasons. They also seem to have problems listening and not talking. I am not sure how an inaction like not talking is difficult, but it is horribly so for them. And they are having a hard time taking what I say and telling me definitions....for example "the press of the day didn't cover this significant, very important, situation. " I then ask what significant means, and they have no clue..then I tell them, and ask again..no clue. Then on the third time, they got it!!

Today I also talked with the dean again about the mothers class. They had figured out which students to take from the vets and engineers classes, and they would let them know. I told him that I wouldn't teach a class that was segregated based on gender, and he told me not to go there as that would create many problems. I left and was not very happy. Then later we find out that this separate class may not happen at all. It seems that the mothers will not accept being part of this class as well. Apparently they just want to be by themselves! I had to laugh about this. One of these days I am going to break
down in tears because of all of this.

On a happier note, I did find out that summer school is going to be shorter than first planned; it may only go until the end of July instead of the end of August, so I may have the opportunity to travel a little after all! We shall see what happens though....I am so hoping to make this the schedule so I can get planes set up and tell people when and where I will meet them...and when I will be able to get home...I also need to find out how much all of this will cost me..where will I go? I guess we shall figure it out as the days get closer.

More Changes!

Yesterday was a tough day in the information department as well as the teaching. First of all I was exhausted from not sleeping at all the previous night, and to top it off, I had try to get my students to stop asking about the test from last week and to focus on the lesson at hand.

The lessons are now very difficult, and they are struggling a lot. They have to start to become comfortable with guessing and not relying on me as the teacher for the answer. They also have to start giving their opinion; this is something that is even part of the books that we use (not just what I think they should do). For example, one of the exercises was about the punk style. They were shown a picture with the caption: This style is called punk (which they all immediately wanted to go look up). It was popular during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Question 1: Have you ever heard of punk?
Question 2: What do you think of the punk style?

We talked about the questions for a few minutes. Then the students wanted me to write the answer on the board. I tried to explain to them that I couldn't because it came from them. So, I just gave in. I wrote in big letters YES/NO!! and told them they needed to choose one...some of them got it, many didn't!

Then came the news that there is a test already produced for the vets class (after we had put about an hour into making one). This was good news it meant we didn't have to worry about it anymore. There was also a listening portion for the test for the university students! No more worries about that part anyway!

Then we got the news that they want to split the two vets classes into three and add in the mothers class that I was previously teaching. This low level class with the lowest students from these two classes and the seven or so mothers (who are much lower than those). We will have the same problem we were having when we decided to integrate them into the other mothers class; only there will be more of them...making it so much more fun...

Of course we can't just look at scores of the students; we need to look at gender as well. The students must all be female as this is what the mothers want. This is going to make the split even worse! Of course, I am going to ask if I have to teach them; I am actually thinking that I will outright refuse to teach them. How are they supposed to think I am going to feel if I have to teach a class that is made up specifically to exclude men? Especially since I am not married and of marrying age. It seems to me that it would be uncomfortable for them as well (though they may not feel that way). I am very upset that they are even thinking about doing this, anyway. They need to have a set policy and follow it. Either t they are going to do segregated classes or they are not. People say we have to follow the culture here, but we already teach integrated classes at the adult level, so it is no longer a matter of culture. AND we are teaching them to start thinking for themselves, which is also a matter of changing a culture. IF they are willing to change culture in this way, then to say that "at our school you must agree to attend integrated classes" does not seem too far of a stretch. There is no such thing as "value free education".

At least I was finally able to sleep last night...so I feel a little better today. I am going to talk to the dean again about some of these things, as well as the whole purpose thing which I have not mentioned here yet. Perhaps I will write again and complain about that as well!

Globalization (with a twist?)

You know you are experiencing globalization when you are sitting in a Lebanese restaurant listening to Kenny Rogers in Kurdistan, Iraq while speaking to a Lebanese-Albanian who speaks 5 languages about his cousin's experiences in Russia and Ukraine. This just happens to be what I was doing yesterday afternoon, though I have once again gotten ahead of myself (and they said I was prone to losing my head).

Let us go back to the beginning. I awoke as usual, had my morning cup of coffee and watermelon (shifty if you will), and chatted with my sanity keeper from the states. I went to work where I had to teach the Agricultural engineers. It seems that I need to start writing everything down as I forgot that I needed to tell them there is a test on Wednesday, and on Monday the other teacher would be coming in to show them a short documentary. I am sure they will be quite upset with me about that. At least I didn't have to do a retake test for the university students.

I finally was able to reconnect with a former professor and get information about such things as lesson plan ideas and publishing articles and such. The dean returned, and we talked about what is going to be happening and the changes that are going to be made as well.

It seems that starting next Saturday, they are finally going to train us to use the company's system in the classroom. Imagine working at a company for almost two months and only now learning how things are supposed to be done. Imagine my surprise when the dean told us that the head office informed him that we were not doing things the company way! Not being trained probably goes a long way toward explaining that one :P

In the evening, I went out to a local coffee shop and had what they call a milkshake (actually just whipped milk). I had the cinnamon flavor which was actually pretty good. I didn't get home until about midnight, but couldn't sleep all night...now I am tired and I have to teach today!! AHHHHHHH..I want to sleep...Oh well. I am sure it will be exciting nonetheless.

An early Friday morning!

So it is Friday, my big day off, and I get up at 5:15am! Of course there really isn't any reason to get up, and there really isn't much to do, so I get online and start chatting with friends back home and checking emails and such. At about 7:15am or so, the power goes out, so I decide to take a shower before going to turn on the generator. As it turns out, however, I do not need to turn on the generator because the power came back on just as i was finishing getting dressed! Oh, the timing of things can be so perfect sometimes.

Yesterday, I neglected my blog writing duties. It seems that after going off to trivia night Wednesday, my brain was too drained to do anything else. That night was great, though. I came in second place (with almost no help from my team :P ), and then we spent time talking with some of the teachers from the primary school. It was actually quite a relaxing evening.

Yesterday was test day at school. I gave them the test in the first class, in the second class they complained about it and didn't to work, and in the third class it was almost the same. So, we read two more pages in the Wright Brothers book and then talked about lullabies and nursery rhymes as well as wedding traditions of Kurdistan. I told them that we could bring a bride in for my Russian Teddy Bear Mishka and have a wedding for him. We could plan it and have it in the cafeteria (all done in English of course). I have to type up a planning sheet...this will help me learn a little about Kurdish culture, as well as teach them something of American culture. I am sure my company will not like the idea as "classrooms are for education only! Students are not allowed to have parties at anytime!" Who says parties can't be educational?

I corrected the tests and only four got above 50%! They are still not getting the whole using words thing. They don't like to read, so when they see a blank, they just freak out and right anything in the line. Even giving them a word bank doesn't seem to work....the thing is, they know all the definitions! It can be quite frustrating. We are going to work on it more, but the test was obviously too difficult. I should ask if I can add 10 points or so to every test :)

I also had to invigilate a test for the dean's class. The other teacher was supposed to be going to the lab (though she didn't actually leave until almost 3:00pm and the class ended at 1:00!), so I had to do it instead of her. It was a lot of fun actually. The dean said it was an oral class, but the test was a written one, and they are only doing the class for personal development purposes. This and coming from a system where "group work" is encouraged, the cheating was rampant. I decided that stopping it wasn't in the students' best interest, so I decided to make it a controlled cheating. I let the students ask me questions about what they were supposed to do, and even the answers. I found that they didn't always understand the questions, but when they talked it out, they could answer them. I didn't tell them the answers, but I did help describe what they were saying. I will be interested to know what format for dates the dean is teaching them DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY. There was a question about this, and I saw both used by different students. Technically both are correct in the English speaking world, so I am guessing he said as much. I am curious as to how the students did. I can see why the dean has so much fun with that class (it is laid back; the students, who are all women, are there for something to do while their husbands and children are away; and it is a time people just want to enjoy themselves!).

Last night, I went with the dean's wife and another teacher (who is originally from here but has been living in Canada for 15 years or so and has returned leaving her husband and two kids behind) to a local restaurant. We spent way too much money, but we had a good time. We went back to the teacher's house and watched a DVD of the primary school Fun Day that was shown on television here for three days. It was great to hang out for a change. I came home, did a little work and went to bed as there was nobody home.

All in all it has been very enjoyable. I just need to get a hobby. I am working on that right now, but it may take some time. I didn't realize how much of a problem not having Windows on my computer would be, so I have to find a way to set it up so I have it. It hasn't been going so well so far. Then I will attempt to do some learning of Kurdish and/or Arabic. (I was given an audio program for Kurdish yesterday...one of the first phrases they try to teach you is "Stop or I will shoot." This sort of puts into context what they thought would be important at the time the recording was made.)

Illness is sooo inconvenient!!

It started off like every other day that I teach the vets: with dread and anxiety. I knew that they were going to ask questions I couldn't answer, and that whatever I did would be a waste of time. Ok, so sometimes I get a little insecure about my teaching.

I get to school, start to get things in order, and go to my first class. This seems to go fairly well, and then I have a little 10 minute break and go to my next class. This class was also alright, though the students were acting a bit stranger and louder than usual. Then came my time with the vets. This may have not been a bad time either except my group was getting 4 new students and the other group was getting 3 new students. This was still not the worst of it! Approximately one minute before the start of class, the other teacher gets sick. As the dean is away for the week meeting with the owners of the company in Lebanon, we have no other teachers to substitute; we also are unable to send them home and have them make it up another day.

The final decision was for me to teach all 50 + students at the same time. It doesn't matter that while the material that we are teaching them is the same, we were not at the same spot at this point (I was supposed to get us there today). I ended up doing the lesson that the other teacher had planned for her class with both of them. It wasn't the best, but it worked out nice enough. We took the students to the cafeteria, which echoes very badly. I had to yell to be heard by everyone, and I still had someone say that I needed to speak louder (I think he is hard of hearing). As I was walking around the class (very difficult with so many students), I found myself being rained upon. It seems that the air conditioning vent lets in water droplets. The students then had to move the desks to another location during class, which helped in wasting a little more time for them, though did nothing for the other students. Luckily the worksheet was long enough to keep most of them busy for almost an hour and 10 minutes or so. We left a little before the hour and a half was up, but not enough to make a huge difference in things.

The experience was one I did not want to repeat again. So when it came time to do the afternoon class, I had one of the students take the other teachers class. I gave him the answer key to the worksheet they were supposed to have finished and told him to write down any questions people had that he couldn't answer, and to bring them over after at least half an hour of the class had passed. He did come over a couple of times, but it seems that they didn't have a lot of questions. My class was a madhouse! They didn't bring me the recipes I asked for. They want to be able to bring them on Sunday. I told them that I was willing to starve for the weekend in order for them to have a little more time. I explained again what a recipe was because they didn't seem to understand the previous time.

I am glad the day is over; I can relax and do nothing for just a little bit. Tomorrow is another day. I will give an exam to a class that is not mine in addition to the teaching that I have to do. Ahhhhhhh!! It won't be difficult, but I really am sick of work; I don't want to do it anymore. I want to just hang out with them individually and tutor. Like at lunch time today. Me and a group of them sat around and ate sunflower seeds while I helped them with their English part of the time, and the rest I listened to them chatter away in Kurdish.

STOP the sand!!

I woke up this morning and the sky was ominously dark. Not the black dark of night, or the gray dark of an approaching thunderstorm, but the low glowing orange darkness of the sun being blocked out by dust so heavy that your eyes water and your lungs scream out in pain as you try to inhale the thickness. This mess knocked out the generator a couple of times, so trying to do anything that took electricity was a little difficult to say the least.

I managed to make it to school with minimal difficulty, but upon arriving, I found that, unsurprisingly, there was no internet. I also had to attempt to figure out what else to do with my students today because I was sure that they would finish what I had planned, and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do what I was thinking about doing initially. I decided I would just stick to the plan and went to class.

The storm became worse, and the students were all complaining about it. The power in the classroom shut off, so there was no air conditioning, and we couldn't open the windows because of the sand. The temperature rose steadily into at least the mid 80s, and the students were fanning themselves and complaining about the heat instead of doing what we really should have been doing.

The second class wasn't much better, and then I had to supervise the students in the computer lab. This wasn't really much fun, but I suppose one has to do what one has to do. After that was lunch, a typically uneventful time for me. Today, however, it was anything but. I sat with a group of students and they started asking questions about whether or not I was married and what kind of person I wanted to marry, and things such as that. As we neared the end, they had me getting married to the other teacher and to one of the students as well. And, since I am allowed to marry four women here, I am still considered free to look around for another wife. It is an amazingly odd culture I have landed in.

At the end of my afternoon class, we were talking about food and what people can cook. For homework I am having them bring in recipes for their favorite Kurdish dish. They tried to describe some for me, but it didn't work...hopefully some of them will get confused and think I actually want them to make something, and I will have lunch tomorrow, but I guess I shouldn't hold my breath (but I will definitely let you know if it does happen).

When I arrived home, I just rested a little and then visited the Bangladeshi who works helping to clean and keep things running in the houses here. He gave me food (rice and chicken and some vegetables) which he gets from his friend who works at a restaurant. There was too much for him to eat, so he made me come join him so he didn't have to through it out. As it turns out, his friend also brought him a 50 pound bag of rice!! What is one small Bangladeshi boy who doesn't eat much going to do with 50 pounds of rice?

I finally was able to get online. I received a response from my email that I sent to the dean who is away in Lebanon on a business trip. It seems that my concerns are the same that are coming from the one who is supposed to be writing the curriculum. I am glad we are on the same page. I would hate to see my students miss out on an opportunity that others get to have because they came through our foundation program. The dean reassured me that this wouldn't happen, so I am happy about that.

That is all for now. I hope all is going well wherever you may be.

Another tiring day!

It seems that my students lack common sense and logical thinking skills. They also tend to forget things. Most of this, while frustrating, I can understand and "explain away" as cultural or educational. Some of it is just not understandable to me. For example, the best student in my class taught me this morning that "watermelon" in Kurdish is "shifty". I found this to be very good information as I am quite fond of watermelon. However, this afternoon, this same student found it necessary to ask me what "watermelon" was in order to put it in the correct column. It would have been alright if this was a sort of test, but she honestly didn't have any idea what it was. I know that I have lapses in memory sometimes, but this was a bit odd.

I also had to deal with upset students this afternoon. It seems that some of the students (those getting below 50%) received a letter stating that they needed to improve their grades. They also had to speak with the dean about this. The dean said something along the lines of "I know some of you have been studying hard, but you have to work harder." Two of the students in my class were so upset by this that they refused to do their work. With tears in their eyes, they said that they were going to go to the Administrative Assistant and give back the books and stay at home; they weren't going to come to college anymore.

I managed to get them to do their work. I talked with three of the students after class. It was one of the previous two, and two others. They all travel together, so it was easy to do. They couldn't understand why they were being told they were lazy. It seems that they had the wrong impression of what the letter was and what the dean had meant. They thought he was saying they were just lazy and weren't trying and weren't learning. I had to reassure them that it wasn't true. I had to explain that all was important was that they were not scoring as well as they needed to and that they would have until the next periodic to bring up these test scores. I also reminded them that they could come see me after class for any help that they need. They thanked me and left... I just hope they do come to see me for help. They work so hard; it would be a shame for them to not go on because of not asking for help. When they started, they knew no English at all, and now they can communicate (though with difficulty). They are using complete sentences, even!! It is so exciting to see....I don't want to be part of the reason this is snuffed out.

I am having questions about how my classes, tests, and and such is effecting their future in the school. Am I doing the right things? Will they be able to go on? Will it be my fault if they can't? I know that some of them will not go on because they are not really there to learn. But some, like these three, really want to be there, and I think can do it. I hope I am able to help them through.

I just don't understand

Today was very stressful! My students were just all over the place and did not want to do anything I told them. I felt as if I was babysitting three year olds. We went over the test, and a couple of them tried to get me to give them points for answers they changed. I was not too happy about that, but not totally surprised either.

I dread tomorrow. Not only do I have to teach my normal university students, but I have to deal with the adults as well. They are a good class, but I just don't know what to do with them outside of the book. There are so many activities, but I haven't found anything that would really interest them. Maybe I will just try something and see if it works....the worse that can happen is that it doesn't work and they hate me for the rest of the class period. Not a huge deal.

I am very tired, so even though it is only 6pm; I just may go to sleep and see what tomorrow brings.

Pics from Picnic!!

How cute is she? And she is very smart too (just look at who she wants to be like...how can you not think that is smart?)



Canyons apparently abound here in Kurdish Iraq!






This cave is small here, but it continues inside and is fed by some sort of underground spring...very cold water!














This is a small waterfall...there was a much bigger one that I hope to be able to show you later.

A Sleepy Saturday!

Saturdays are not meant for work, yet here I am working on Saturdays! We were given hope that we would no longer have to actually teach on Saturday, but that has been eliminated as a possibility :( This Saturday was especially tiring because it is the first one where I had to teach, and the picnic last night kept me out until 10pm!

The students mostly didn't do their homework, but that is alright. I don't even know if I care if they do it or not. I think one of them complained about me to the dean this afternoon, but I am really not quite sure. I hope they don't think I am doing a bad job. Though it would be better if I knew if it is something they would actually tell me... They have no problem telling my coworker, but I am not sure if that is the personality of the people or something about her or what.

When I got home this afternoon, I took a nap for a couple of hours, and then I corrected the tests that I have. My coworker has some of the others, so I can't get the scores of them all, but it looks like most of them are improvements over the previous ones. This is good, but I am worried about when we finally start getting the ones that the company makes. They will have little chance for the partial points that we give them...though it will all be bubbles, so there won't be the possibility anyway'

Picnic for May Day!!

Have you ever rolled a ball back and forth with a two year old in the darkness of night? How about during this event having them look up at the moon, point, and say something that you can't understand? This is just one of the amazing events I did today on my day long picnic in Kurdistan. The conversation lasted quite some time. I am not exactly sure what she was trying to say, but we discussed the moon, and she picked some flowers and gave them to me, and she tried to throw the soccer ball to the crescent moon. She then went to her father while we ate kebab. One has to marvel at the curiosity of youth, and the wonder of their ability to hold conversations without worrying that no one else really understands.

The day started when I awoke at about 5:15am. I was not very happy about waking as such an hour as I wasn't planing on getting up until about 7am because I didn't have to be ready until 8:00am. I took my shower, chatted online, and was just getting ready to go get my cup of coffee when the dean knocked on the door. It turned out that they had changed the time to 7:30am, so I didn't have time for my coffee :(

The trip took about two - two and a half hours. We saw waterfalls and beautiful greenery and canyons. I hope to have pics of this later, so cross your fingers. We arrived at the location, and it was a place built for people to come picnic. There were small stores to get anything you could want, a cold river coming out of a cave in the mountain, and a set of stairs for the water to run down. There were others who had music, so the dancing came about yet again (they love their dancing here).

After three or so hours, and a lot of food, we went on to a small amusement park called Pank. I walked around with the dean, his wife, one of the Kurdish teachers, and the other university teacher. Some random person came and asked if she could take our picture with her son! Of course we did, and then we moved on to sit and watch the others race a little car that they went off to ride. While we were watching, three girls came up; one of them wanted her picture with me, so I had my picture taken...AGAIN! I really don't like to get my picture taken, but it seems to make people happy. The Kurdish teacher said that I should start charging. Perhaps she is right; I could probably make enough money to live off from just from getting my picture taken with people...and I would have the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life!!

Finally it was time to leave and go to the famous waterfall that is on the back of their 5000 Dinar note. It was gorgeous! We stopped for a few minutes so people could take pictures and we were on our way again. We were going to another place to have the "second part" of the picnic. Along the way we saw someone having a wedding. They were all dressed in their traditional Kurdish outfits and there was much dancing. The driver then did something that I would never have thought possible: he stopped! We got out and went to watch the people dance. The father of the groom came over and invited us to come sit with him; and to get our picture taken with the groom. Now one can not crash a wedding and then refuse to get you picture taken with the bridal couple when asked to do so, so I got my picture taken yet again...This one was also taken on my coworkers camera so I will get it as soon as I can. They then gave us a pop and a little cake, and we were on our way again.

We stopped at a random place along side the road and spent about an hour talking, dancing, and eating. After we packed up, one group of people went off to ride go carts, and the rest of us went home to get some sleep. Most of the people don't have to work in the morning, but unfortunately I do. I have to teach one class and give a retake of the test from last week. Then I have to do all kinds of administrative tasks as well....I really hate this part of the job..