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!