So Far / So Close

 I returned from Azerbaijan just in time to conduct end of the year assessments and write report cards.  In this flurry of educational paper work in the forefront of brain, my experiences in Azerbaijan truly felt like a dream.  But thanks to social networking and Azerbaijan winnining the Eurovision Song Competition I was able to keep my time in the Land of Fire fresh in my thoughts.

Since I returned from Azerbaijan I think often about my time in the schools there, my time with Halima and her mother and sister and all the interesting and eye opening experiences I had.  I believe that my time in Ganja will influence my work, my students and my career by focusing on aspects of language learning that are essential to thinking and living in another language. This was something I saw that was lacking in the English classrooms I visited in public schools there, but something that flourished in the private lessons I observed with Halima.  While understanding the language needs of my students is at the core of my profession, I believe my time spent with students learning English in Azerbaijan has refreshed my sense of purpose and understanding of meaningful pedagogy for language students.

A more specific result of my time in Azerbaijan has been a frustrating search for how to create a forum for exchange of ideas, experiences and langauge learning with Halimas students. This has been and continues to be a difficult task since both Halima and I have had unsuccessful bouts with pen pal programs. So we are now trying to collaborate on how to best get our students to connect and stay connected despite a large difference in access to technology and more importantly age......I teach elementary school and she works with middle and high school students. We have been thinking about a  mix of letter writing, tweeting, skyping, journaling etc, but are trying to figure out the best way to deal with the age difference.  This is a work in progress but I look to where we might go with this.

Last Day in Ganja

Today is my last day in Ganja. I am excited to explore Baku some more, but I will defintitely miss the quiantness of this smaller city.  After one week I feel very comfortable walking around Ganja, I even showed my friend Aynur who to get to Halima's office yesterday.  Yesterday and today I spent visiting classes.  Today I was able to model a lesson for teachers at School #24.  It was with the group of students I have seen the most since I have been here, but this time the two boys in the class actually showed up.  These two boys, like many boys in schools all over the world, completely threw off the class dynamics.  So today was the first time since I have been here that I had to get into "real" teacher mode and beef up my classroom management.  It was fun.  I am leaving Ganja filled with ideas about what I want to do with my students, how I want to improve as a teacher and where I want my careers as an educator to go.  This has been like a mini sebatical for me, an experience I wish all teachers could have. I especially appreciate the international perspecitive towards education I have recieved during my time here.  I believe that teachers here are fortunte to have visitors from the US and other parts of the world, mainly Europe visit their schools and provide workshops.  They are looking to countries around the world with seemingly "good" education and asking for ways to improve their teachers, schools and overall education. I wish the US or DCPS would invite teacher trainers from Finland or Japan or Singapore to run professional development courses.  Why are we not learning from the best? While there would be some cultural adjustments needed to be made for anytype of PD for US teachers, I guarantee US teachers would learn a lot or at least it would broaden their perspective of education.

Working with Teachers

On Sunday I conducted some more teacher training sessions for both public and private school teachers here in Ganja.  Through visiting schools in Ganja I have learned a lot about how English as a foreign language is taught here.  There is a heavy emphasis on learning and perfecting grammar which prepares students for the national exam, but does not always prepare them for communicating in a real world context.  Through my trainings I have tried to deonstrate pracitcal strategies and activities for teachers to use that focus on comprehension and speaking, but that will not diverage too much from their current nationalized English curriculum.  This has been a great challenge for me, along with desining tools and techniques that require no technology (computer, copy machine etc).  Basically I took their English books and highlighted ways to supplement them (games, graphic organizers etc). using only paper, pens, markers and  a chalboard. All the teachers I have worked with have been very open to trying new techniques, but I wish I had the opportunity to model them with students in their class.  Some teachers have taken trainings on student centered and communicative language learning, but many have not so it would be more beneficial if these strategies were demonstrated with acutal students. 

Sheki

On Saturday I traveled with Halima and a bunch of students to one of Azerbaijan's oldest towns, Sheki.  Sheki is situated about three hours from Ganja in the middle of the Caucus mountains, close to the Russian and Georgian border.  The first part of the drive is not particularly noteworthy, but after about an hour and a half we begin our approach to the Caucus mountains. This is a spectacular sight. The mountains are first are more like large rock formations, with not much grass. As we drive deeper into the mountains they become greener and are intermittently dotted with houses.  Sheki is an ancient town that was used as a stopping point along the Silk Road for traders from the east who often traveled by camels (there are no camels in Azerbaijan).  Sheki is over 2,700 years old and you feel it when you enter the city.  Our first stop was the "Karavansaray" which is an ancient inn that is still used for that purpose, although it has been fabulously modernized.  We ate in the inn's cozy restaurant which included an impressive spread of kebab, sauces, bread, veggies and soup.
We then headed to visit the "Sheki Khan Sarayi" (Sheki Khan's Palace).  This is a fortified palace that was started by Chalibi Khan who led a revolt against the Persian Empire in 1743. His palace was passed on to his son, but then in 1805 the "khanate" signed a treaty with Alexander I of Russia making it a Russian Vassal State.  Soon there after the Russians stole the ornate flooring of the palace which is now in the Hermitage.  The palace have beautiful stained glass windows and was supposedly built without the use of nails.  
After the palace we headed to a beautiful mountain park and lake which was followed by a hike to an another ancient sight.  We walked through a very old mountain village and arrived at an "Albanian Church", which after much questioning on my part was declared a "Roman" church.  The sight was studied by archeologists from Norway along with Azeris and was restored about 10 years ago. I had an amazing time learning about Azerbaijan's rich history, it left me awe struck and wanting to learn more.

English in Azerbaijan

Today I started out my day by going to School #24 to see their English performance.  The students have been preparing for this event which just happened to coincide with my visit.  The performance included a translated version of the Azerbaijani national anthem, along with other songs, poems and skits, all in English.  It was great.  The students were very excited and I consider them to be extremely brave to perform in front of their peers in a foreign language. My favorite part of the performance was when a group of students sang an "ode" to their English teachers thanking them for teaching them English. That is going to be my first project when I get home, make my students write and sing a song thanking me for all the hard work I do.

I also visited another school in a more well off area.  It was obvious when I walked into the 3rd grade classroom that these students had a more advantageous situation. Their classroom was beautifully decorated and had shelves full of books and binders, something I have yet to see in a classroom here in Ganja. The students were not shy to ask me questions about my family, pets and favorite ice cream flavor.  The spoke English with an ease that which is definitely a result of their age as well as their good educational foundation.

Later we met with Halima's private university students, who gave me a tour of a local art museum. They translated everything for me and were excellent tour guides.  The university students I have met since I have been here are all very eager to travel outside of Azerbaijan and there are surprisingly a fair amount of opportunities to do so. A couple students are turning in their applications today for a U.S. State Dept. funded program called SUSI which will bring Azeri students to the University of Alabama for 6 weeks. Others are sorting out summer travel opportunities to Turkey, Poland and France which are funded by European NGO's.  NGO's play a huge role in education outreach and community development in Ganja and from what I gather Azerbaijan.  Check out my interview with Halima's student about his thoughts on learning English.

Training Day

Today was my first workshop for English teachers.  I was very excited because Halima organized for me to go to a school that serves poor children and the teachers there rarely get any opportunities for professional development.  The school orginally was a boarding school as many of the students did not have parents or families to take care of them.  After 1992, the school stopped taking boarders because they had to use the living quarters for refugees from Azerbaijan's war with Armenia.  When I arrived, it was nice to see that they were renovating the facilities. It seems as though most of the schools in Ganja were built in the 1960s, but look they look much older than that.  Halima's school which does not serve a poor population is not getting renovated but this one is.  The teachers are waiting for me in a small classroom, there are only 4.  I am actually happy there is a small number of teachers, it makes me feel more relaxed and confident.  In preperation for this trip I spent countless hours speaking with Halima over skype, figuring out the general needs of English teachers in her town. In total I put together about 8 hours worth of trainings on various topics related to English language learning.  Upon arriving here it was clear that I needed to modify some of my trainings, like the one I gave today.  With this group I focused on previewing text and vocab building strategies which I presented in a very simple format. No bells or whistles, just one piece of chart paper, a couple handouts and their own English text books.  It was great, well focused and direct and from the feedback I recieved extremely applicable to their classroom settings.  Mission accomplished. My next training will be on Sunday with a larger group of teachers and a little more formal, powerpoint and all.  

 After my workshop today I met with a class of extremely friendly students.  I spoke to them about Washington, DC and they had a ton of questions for me. Like many of my classroom visits the students here gave Halima a confused look when she told them I am from the U.S.  Their next question to Halima always includes the word, "Hindustani".  I am very used to this when I travel abroad. I always had my explaniation ready in Chile, Brazil, Turkey, Tunisia....where ever.  I may not be the most "Indian" person, but when I am abroad I always try to have my "go-to" list of history/geography, Bollywood info and food to share with curious people. This list has not always been sufficient in places like Tunisia and Turkey since people there are well versed in Bollywood movies and therefore certian commonalities of Indian culture, Azerbaijan is the same, I am dealing with some expert India-philes. 

A is for Azerbaijan, E is for Education

We woke up today and went to school via the mini-van/public transport that takes Halima to school everyday.  In less than 30 minutes we are at School #24.  The school is not known by any other nomenclature, ala New York City's school naming system.  Today we meet with the same group of girls we met with yesterday along with a quick visit to an elementary classroom.  After about two hours at school Halima explained that we are done for the day and the afternoon will be spent giving private English lessons to students from private schools and universities.  Giving private lessons allows Halima to live, working in a public school alone would not provide her enough income.

The school system is Azerbaijan is centrally/federally controlled by the Ministry of Education in Baku.  They mandate the text books and exams that are given to the children.  Students attend public school from Kindergarten to 11th Grade.  By law they must complete at least 9th grade.  This made me think about the high trauncy and drop out rate we have specifically in DCPS.  According to Halima, most students complete 11th grade and only a few chose to stop at 9th grade. She very matter - a - factly stated, "There are no opportunities for students who do not finish at least 9th grade."   Ahh, yes,  we too give our students in the U.S. the "No Opportunites" speech, I remember it well from my days at MacFarland.  Both 9th and 11th graders are given an exam to pass/graduate, which is what many students are studying for at this moment. After 11th grade students either go to University or College (college is to learn a trade).

One fun fact for the day, although the Ministry of Education manages curriculum and testing, the local government does have their say in some interesting "aspects" of education.  For example, the mayor of Ganja decided just this Monday that female teachers at schools in his city should wear only skirts to school and women who use a head scarf can no longer do so. 

Back to School

I am now in Ganja after traveling for 6 hours with the Caucus mountains on my right  and a very friendly Azeri English teacher on my left.  I arrived in Ganja and finally met Halima and her family and today I accompanied her to school.  Like in many parts of the world, the students here go to school for half a day.  They begin around 8:30am and finish at 1:00pm, another group of students then study from 1:00pm-6:00pm.  Halima's school has around 1,000 students and includes grades 1-12.  She works with grades 6-12.  Students wear a uniform and enter the school in a far more orderally and quiet manner than the students at most American schools.  I am introduced to the Principal, a couple teachers and then we make our way to Halima's first class.  Her first class is small, only 8 students, all girls. I wondered if classes were gender segregated, but Halima informed me that there are two boys in this class but they are not here today.  We are in a history classroom so there are pictures of war heros from Azerbaijan's recent war with Armenia (early 1990's), along with historic artifacts like water jugs, spinning wheels etc.  The students stay in this classroom for all their classes and the teachers move from room to room. The students are in 9th grade, around 15-16 yrs old.  The have a very basic level of English which they have been learning using a book heavily focused on grammar and vocab.  I have brought a book of pictures about Washington, DC which I share with the class. I talk about monuments, important buildings and a little history.  They let me know they know of two US presidents, George Bush and Barack Obama. 
After my mini-presentation they begin to ask me very typical questions for 15 year old girls, "Are you married or single?", "Can we see pictures of your child?"  I was just happy they felt comfortable enough to ask me questions in English.  They promised me that the next time I come to their class they will tell me the history about Ganja.....and their favorite Brazilian soap opera (this was a randomn piece of information I found out during our 40 minutes together, they like to watch Brazilian soap operas, having just finished watching Caminho das Indias, I am intrigued by this).

The second class I visited was that of another English teacher who was preparing students from grades 1-7 to participate in an English presentation on Friday. The students will be reciting poems, singing and acting in front of the entire school.  I liked that these students were doing a mixed age/grade presentation. It made for an interesting dyanmic between the students and the material they were presenting.  I helped a couple girls with their pronunciation and watched all the students rehearse for their big show. 

I love how easy it is for a teacher to feel right at home in a school on the other side of a planet.  It is that inate desire to teach, share and learn that allow educators to work anywhere with any student. 

Protests, Gentrification & Food - Day 1

I arrived in Baku around 7pm and was picked up by Halima's sister, Nushaba.  Nushaba was a little late which resulted in about 5 minutes of panic on my part.  Once she arrived she wisked me off into an awaiting taxi and we were off. Nushaba explained to me that she was late because she was busy editing film from the day's protests.  Nushaba is a photo/video journalist for "Radio Liberty" / "Radio Free Europe".  She spent the day covering the Freedom protests, which resulted in mass arrests in one part of the city, with police even arresting passerbys not only protesters.  While the protest was not on a grand scale like those in many other parts of the Muslim world, they have been quite signigicant for the people of Azerbaijan.  They have had the same family (father then son) ruling their country since the break up of the Soviet Union.  Nushaba feels as though not much will come of these protests at the moment because there is not viable alternative to the those currently in power. 

While she was describing her busy day I was looking out the window and admiring row after row of beautiful, ornate buildings that lined the highway. Everything looked new and very clean. These buildings had intricate stone work on the facade and were well lit so to empasize their grandness.  I commented to Nushaba about these buildings and she proceeded to tell me about a report she recenlty completed about them.  She explained to me that these buildings replaced older buildings so that foreigners traveling from the airport would have a great impression of Baku/Azerbaijan.  The previous inhabitants were vacated and more affluent residents have now moved into these buildings.  Gentrification - Central Asian Style.  Once we turned off the highway the buildings were older, not so pretty, kind of run-down.  Nonetheless, Baku seemed like a city in the middle of big changes. There was obviously money to fund such big modern projects but there is still an old feel to the city. 

Like all good hosts, once we arrived at her apartment Nushaba offered me some food. She had a type of cherry jam.  Basically it was as if  you made jam with the whole fruit and didn't mash it. Sweet and yummy. Later for dinner we had Dolma, stuffed peppers, a yogurt drink and bread. A great first meal for my first day in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan, Here I Come!

My visa just arrived, so now I know I am definitely on my way to Azerbaijan.  I applied for the TEA program a year and a half ago, so my upcoming departure has felt like distant almost fictional event to me.  Since I found out that I would be traveling to Azerbaijan instead of Jordan in November,  I have spent countless quick minutes on Google looking up the map of Azerbaijan, the Wikipedia history, the CIA factbook info, Lonely Planet touristy info, Azerbaijani food, culture and dress.  I even managed to find out about a famous Azerbaijani Jazz singer, Ella Leya who has a new album, “The Secret Lives of Women.” 

What I feel completely clueless about is Azerbaijani education, which is the reason I am going to Azerbaijan.  I have no idea about their system of education. Is it vastly different from the Russian system (which I am also clueless about)?  Do they stress standards and testing like we do over here? How are their teachers trained, Are they unionized? Are they respected?  What are class sizes like? How do they deal with differences in their student population? I am filled with questions.  I love being filled with questions, that’s why I love to travel.  I will try not to bombard my wonderful host Halima with all my questions at once. 

Halima is a bright and exciting person who has clued me in on some small details about education in Azerbaijan, which has helped me put together the workshops I will be doing with the teachers over there.  Halima spent five weeks in Nebraska last year, which for a long time East Coaster seems as remote and unfamiliar as Azerbaijan.  I look forward to meeting with her and staying with her family. Halima’s enthusiasm about her country, her students, her profession is intoxicating.  Every time we have Skyped  I have felt more invigorated about my own teaching & students.  I know this trip will be amazing!