Eurovision Win

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/world/asia/16azerbaijan.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

The day I left, Azerbaijan won Eurovision. This article explains what a big deal that is. Congratulations, Azerbaijan!

Global Perspective

Here we see the Caspian Sea with a view of Baku. One question I am to answer in this blog is: How does the experience of this trip inspire a global perspective in my classroom and school? I have to answer with another question: How could it not? Especially as a journalism teacher, I can see how my future discussions of free speech and the relationship of the press to our government will be drawn in sharper relief for me. But I have also seen how average citizens everywhere can work toward improving their lives, becoming more educated, setting goals, following dreams in different ways, with small steps that can add up over time. The college students in the Intelligent Citizen center, my host teacher Halima and her newsletter students, the young people taking extra English lessons, the journalists at the Media Centre, the Azeri English teachers spending their free time getting more training are all part of a world picture that will stay in my mind when I'm back at Cypress Bay High teaching my own students to ask questions, think critically, and look beyond our classroom to the world.

Music School

On my last day in Ganja, I took a van/bus to Yeni Ganja (New Ganja) and visited a music school there. I saw a dance class, where the students practiced to live music (you can see the musicians at the back on a small stage), and peeked in on some one-on-one lessons where students learned to play the national instruments. I was surprised to find that this music school is a free public school. Students go to their regular education school either from 9-1 or 1-5 and have the other section of their day to have music lessons (or not). The first picture is of the front of the music school.

At Halima's School

The children at Halima's school were absolutely delightful! They were friendly and curious. I told them about my school and about myself and then we did the interviewing lesson. In these photos you see me teaching, then a view from the lobby out to the schoolyard, a hallway of classrooms, me sharing the Silly Bandz I brought as gifts, and then children in the schoolyard drawing with sidewalk chalk. Halima said this is the first time she's seen them play with chalk, but I felt a strong connection to it since at Cypress Bay there are always different chalk drawings in our courtyard. To me, it was such a simple toy making a strong tieback to home. And what are they drawing here? Mickey Mouse, of course!

An Afternoon Out and About

Here are a few of my favorite images from our outing after my session with the college students. The food in the first photo is perojki, which is fried dough with potato inside. We bought some at this walk-up window. We also visited a farmers' market and a shopping area that reminded me a little bit of Chinatown in New York. I've included this photo of an apartment building because it shows how satellite dishes are everywhere. And, we also walked through a small amusement park complete with rides, popcorn (popkorn) machines and bumper cars.

Presentation with the College Students

Today I used my Powerpoint presentation on "Tips for Student Journalists" for a session with the college students at the Intelligent Citizen center. We talked about brainstorming story ideas and how to choose stories that will interest their audience. One of the trends they brought up was gender issues. Although there are certain restaurants and other places women don't go, the students said it is not because it is forbidden. It is more of a cultural discomfort, the feeling of how others view the women when they go to such places. The young men, the college students, think that the women can and should go to these places, but it can be difficult. There are women who need to be the first ones to go and break this negative view. We discussed how this can be an excellent topic for an opinion piece or feature story. The students had wonderful ideas and I enjoyed this session very much.

City Life, Country Life

Halima and I walked through a commercial area of Ganja to take a van like the one marked with the number 2 to visit her friend Leyla who lives in a more rural area. These vans are a form of mass transit. (The one pictured here is behind a sign for Lotto.) The first three pictures are from Ganja, and then the other two are at Leyla's. The pet dog does not come inside the house, and neither do the shoes. When we enter homes here, we put on slippers or just wear socks. We enjoyed tea outside while Leyla's mother prepared dinner inside the house. While the roads and sidewalks in the more visible parts of Ganja have been paved and renovated, most side streets are bumpy with potholes. Some of the roads we took to Leyla's house were not paved. As Halima and I took the van back to Ganja, it was raining, so the ride was bumpy and splashy. Both in the city and in the countryside, one can see chickens. Outside the city there are other farm animals walking around on the side of the roads: cows, donkeys, horses, sheep. I have seen shepherds at work with their flocks. There is a mixture of old and new, city and country. As we sat having tea at Leyla's, she brought out her laptop so I could show them a video of Cypress Bay!

Schoolday Schedules and Responsibilities

Halima and I discussed the way the Azerbaijani students' day works in comparison to ours in the U.S. The students stay in the same classroom all day, while the teachers rotate. Even so, the teachers have one set of students who are considered "their" students. In my mind, it is like having a homeroom. The teacher is only responsible for dealing with the concerns regarding her homeroom students. If there is an academic or behavior issue that a student has with another teacher, that teacher will tell the homeroom teacher who will deal with it. That also means that if I were to have a problem with a student who is not in my homeroom, I would not be the one to have a conference with the parents, the homeroom teacher would.

Of these two differences, I like the U.S. way better for one, and the Azerbaijani better way for one. I like that our teachers stay in one classroom while the students rotate. But I like their idea of having one manageable quantity of students for which each teacher is responsible in a more detailed, personal way. Halima said the homeroom teacher is like the mother of her set of students.

Videos from Flower Day

I had trouble getting these videos to post the other day, but they seem to have worked now. The people waving hello are the students who went with us to Goygol. I wanted you to be able to hear the music in order to get a better feel of the atmosphere. The video below is one of the performances that were going on at the event. This was just like in the U.S. when we have proud parents watching our adorable children perform. :)

Out in the Countryside

Now I have more time to write about our outing to Goygol two days ago. The architecture there is different than the houses in the rest of Azerbaijan and Halima explained it is in the German style. We visited a beautiful, new park that had views of what I considered to be mountains, but Halima scoffed at my use of that term because they are "small." Halima's students built a fire to have a picnic and roast sausages. Nearby, there was a group of boys who had also built a fire, and one of Halima's students asked to borrow a kebob stick, which we had forgotten to bring. The boys obliged, and later our students offered the boys sausages, which we ate on big hunks of fresh bread. I admired the friendliness and sense of cooperation between the two groups.

Feeling Humble

Today I held a session on interviewing at Halima's office with teachers of English and then we went to an organization called Intelligent Citizens where I spoke to college students about my school. After my presentation there, student visitors presented information about study abroad opportunities. Our last stop was back at Halima's office where I met with some of her newsletter students. While I discussed interviewing techniques with them, one of the students said she would like to be thought of as humble. This made me think about how we view that quality in the U.S. Do we value the concept of humble? (I am sorry to say the first image that came to my head was Donald Trump.) No, we do not value being humble. We like to be the best, to be the winners, to be "No. 1." We like confidence, and, to an extent, bragging. This made for a very interesting cultural discussion. There is a certain connection to the idea of moving up in the world, to competing, and to voting in a Democracy -- and to boasting. This thought was humbling, indeed.

Flower Day

Today was a national holiday in Azerbaijan: Flower Day. In the main square in front of the government building in Ganja, there were dance performances, music, booths with books and traditional objects, and, of course, flowers. Halima's students showed me around the city in the morning and then we went to Goygol, which is a more pastoral town outside of the city. I will post more about Goygol later.

I had time to reflect on my meetings with the teachers yesterday and found one point of difference that was particularly interesting. When I explained that my subject area, journalism, is an elective, I found that schools here do not have electives. All of the courses the students take are mandatory. Everyone goes through school until 9th grade. At that point, students will then study skills for a job or continue with 10th and 11th grade studies toward going to a university. There is no 12th grade. The teachers seemed to like the idea of elective classes so students could choose subjects they enjoy, making them more motivated in school in general. I explained it is also very nice for the teachers of electives who then have only students who want to be in that class. I explained that I enjoy teaching my students so much because they are very interested in the subject.

A Tale of Two Schools

Today I did teacher training at two different schools. The first school had some access to computers and a projector, though no Internet. The second school (in the first and third pictures)was formerly a boarding school/orphanage and had a sparely decorated classroom without any type of chalkboard or whiteboard. You can see in the first picture that I have taped my lesson information to the back of a chair that we placed on top of a table. This school is large with a spacious play area but needs repairs, some of which were going on as I visited. The children you see are playing in the schoolyard, with a water fountain/spigot to their right. The local TV station filmed some of my lesson at the first school and interviewed me. Halima said it should be on TV tonight. I very much enjoyed being at both schools and found the teachers to be interested and involved. In the next few days, I will be working with students -- some high school age and some college age. I am looking forward to it!

Very Busy (Flexible) Day

Today I put the new, flexible, go-with-the-flow Rhonda to work. We started out heading to a school for me to do a teacher training, but hit a bureaucratic wall and had to change all our plans. Instead, I met a couple of Halima's private students, first in her classroom and then out and about in the city. The images here are of the government building (last night), and then of some kiosks on the street, and men playing Backgammon. While there is mostly a modern attitude toward women here, there are still some areas where only men sit to gather, like this park area near the Puppet Theater, or certain restaurants. At the very end of the day I met with local TV journalists. They will be coming to film my lesson tomorrow when I train teachers (Boy, this lesson had better be good!), and they will also interview me. The journalists were very interested in looking through the issues of The Circuit that I brought here. They were very impressed with our ability to generate advertising revenue. This was an unplanned visit that has now turned into a plan to be on TV. I'd say that's pretty FLEXIBLE!

The View from the Top

My first day in Baku! This picture was taken from the top of Maiden Tower with a beautiful view of the city. It was a perfect spring day, though there was a little fog, especially over the Caspian Sea. The modern structures in the distance are new buildings being constructed to look like flames. Fire is a symbol of Azerbaijan. I only had a few hours in Baku this morning, because then I got on a bus to Ganja. The ride took five hours, but now I am in my final destination. I will post much more tomorrow!

Tomorrow!

I'm leaving for Azerbaijan tomorrow! (This is the world's shortest blog post but packed with excitement!)

Almost Time to Go

Today is my last day at my home school before going to Azerbaijan. Tomorrow through Saturday I will be chaperoning my students to a state journalism convention in Orlando. Then on Monday I leave for Azerbaijan! Hectic day today!

My Home School

It's less than two weeks until I take my trip. I'm excited to see what Halima's school will look like. I'm guessing that it will be much smaller than the high school where I teach. We have about 4,100 students at Cypress Bay High this year. Here are a couple of images of what it looks like at dismissal on a typical day. The school was built in 2002, and the architecture suits the subtropical climate

Three Weeks from Today

I just got an email from the visa expediter that my visa arrived and they are sending it along to me. This was a new process for me as I have never traveled to a country that requires a visa. Putting my passport in a FedEx envelope and sending it off without me was a bit disconcerting. ("Goodbye, passport! Promise you'll be back soon!") But it's on its way back. This is another indicator that the trip is getting closer -- just three weeks from today!

Getting There

It will take three flights to get me to Azerbaijan. I will fly from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, from Newark to Frankfurt, and from Frankfurt to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. There my host teacher Halima will meet me at the airport along with her sister who is a radio journalist in Baku. What must it be like to be a radio journalist in Baku? I can't wait to ask her all about it. At that point, however, my travels are still not quite done. Halima and I will take either a train or bus overnight to Ganja, the second largest city in Azerbaijan and my final destination. Ganja is where Halima lives and teaches, and that is where I will be spending my two weeks in Azerbaijan.

Little Pieces of Culture

The program is not a literal exchange in that Halima will not be coming to my school even though I am going to hers. All international teachers spend six weeks hosted by a U.S. university before becoming hosts themselves. Halima visited Nebraska, Indiana, and Washington, D.C. when she spent her time here. When I first heard that those were the places she had visited, my reaction was that she had not seen a true representation of the United States. What about New York? What about California? What about Texas? It all goes back to that unanswerable question of what the "real America" is. And, of course, what about Florida, the state in which I reside? How can I as one individual properly represent the whole diverse state of (often wacky) Florida, not to mention the whole extraordinarily diverse United States? It's clearly not going to be possible. There is no easy way to sum up American culture. I will just have to use as a starting point a couple of the (somewhat wacky) gifts I plan on bringing: an "Art Deco of South Beach" calendar and a canvas alligator-and-flamingo print tote bag.

So, what's the dress code?

I first saw a picture of my host teacher Halima on Facebook. In her profile picture she is wearing jeans and a T-shirt that says in English, "Rock on." That taught me something right away, but I still didn't know what typical dress in Azerbaijan is. Halima has since told me that I can wear whatever I want. (Even so, it is probably a good thing that I do not want to dress like Lady Gaga.) We have also Skyped a couple of times, and Halima was dressed the way any U.S. teacher would be. I am now confident that my usual Florida teacher garb of cotton pants and a polo shirt is fine.

Preparing and Planning

My trip is just one month away! My visa is in progress. I've organized and reorganized my lesson plans, handouts and Powerpoints. Halima, my host teacher, and Elaine, her American friend from the Peace Corps who has been in Azerbaijan for six months, have given me information and tips. I am thinking about what and how to pack. Elaine, without knowing me, said it is best to not be too rigid in planning as Azerbaijanis tend to be flexible in their schedules. I must work on turning off my Type A-ness! (This is an ongoing life goal.)

About the Program

The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) and the International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP) are funded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and are implemented by International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).

IREX is an international nonprofit organization providing leadership and innovative programs to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development.