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.