With the students on their way, work life has become a whole lot more demanding again. Fortunately I am not teaching many different courses this semester, which cuts down a whole lot on meetings, mastering different materials and the like. Not to mention the drama! Several of my colleagues have already been hit by the tumult of disagreement about syllabus interpretations. The same course description means different things to different people, and of course, we all want to have it our way. People who are strong enough to take on teaching in a foreign country tend to have very strong personalities, and meetings have been known to get explosive. In the end, we all just want to do our job the best we can- but the jury is still out on how that should be done.
I spent a fair bit of time today getting the classroom where I will have my Language Through Arts course ready, mostly making space and creating an environment where students will feel right at home. On a paper sign in the next room, some students had written their complaints about the learning environment. “This class looks like a graveyard.” Cheeky, yes, but similes in English! This is a huge milestone, seeing that students are expressing their rebellion in the language they are there to learn. Holliday (2005) would be over the moon. In fact, his reference to “the third space” rather inspired me in my morning reading. This “Third space” is a kind of free zone between language learners and the new language, where learners can establish their own new identity free from the colonial baggage English is reputed to carry. (“The Third Space”, incidentally, became a buzzword in business thanks to the Starbucks franchise, which provides patrons with a space that is neither home nor work- a contribution far more significant than their coffee.) Back to the classroom, though, I am hoping my class will not in any way resemble a graveyard, though I am realistic about the fact that these students are in the very taxing final semester of their studies. The proof of the proverbial pudding will be in the eating, but I do have some pretty nifty tricks up my sleeve, and it is a truly inspiring course. Well, insha’allah, as they say around here: God willing.
Except for my pre-dawn rendez-vous with Professor Holliday, I wasn’t able to stay focused on much other assigned reading today. I did, however, come across some potentially relevant material in my preparation for the course I teach. There is no shortage of material for reading: the question is when to read it all, how to make sense of it, retain it and make it into a meaningful whole that has application to my teaching context. Perhaps that is the question I should begin with … what has my teaching context taught me, and how does that relate to the material…?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Researcher's Guide to Eye Yoga
According to Csikszentmihalyi (1997:30, quoted in the lecture notes for Leeds University MA TESOL Oman- we must be accurate now ;) ), the relationship between the level of challenge and the level of skill in learners will determine their response. If the challenge is high but the skill is low, for example, the result will be anxiety, while low challenge and moderate skill will lead to boredom. Does any of this sound familiar? The good news is that when both challenge and skill are high, the result is ‘flow’, which is when “time flies while you’re having fun”. Not sure my skill level is all that high, but I find hours slipping away while I am reading and taking notes. While the flow is great, this is not good for eyesight, and I am suddenly realizing how many of the academics I know wear glasses… coincidence? Perhaps not. (Incidentally, I’ve always been drawn to the option of wearing glasses, but certainly not to the obligation!)
During my recent stay at Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Thiruvananthapuram, in India’s gorgeous Kerala province, we were taught a series of “eye yoga” exercises handed down from the ancient yogis. It is interesting to note that these self-same exercises show up in modern optometrists’ offices. The exercises are especially recommended between sessions of reading or computer work, where the eyes are focused at short range on a small area. What makes the exercises effective is that they re-engage the muscles involved in peripheral and long distance vision. And if you have been wondering why this is at all relevant to researchers, this last matter is key: peripheral and long-distance vision.
Because I have been reading recommended books at a pace, (students are allowed the loan of one book for one week by Majan’s library- and that’s generous considering the general book shortage), I have become quite deeply ensconced in the world of each book of the moment. Since our course covers such a vast spectrum of information (from the development of language teaching approaches to the most recent bones of contention in TESOL), each book zooms in on a tiny area. That wonderful saying about not seeing the forest for the trees puts it so well. Just like my eyes need a break from the reading to re-engage my peripheral and long-distance vision, so does my mind. After finishing Doing Teacher Research (Freeman, 1998) this evening, I stepped back to look over the big fat file for this module and regained valuable perspective. Eye yoga for the researcher’s vision is as important as the researcher’s sight- even more so.
Course preparation is going swimmingly, and I’ve decided to write out my lesson plans, since the Language Through Arts course has never been taught before. The existing materials are minimal and it will be very important to show students that the course is substantial and to be taken seriously, even though they are bound to be more interested in the fun part- and graduating at the end of semester. In my Debating and Communication course, it was such a delight to fall back on the lesson plans I had created before the semester even started, and the second time I taught the course, to have the annotated lesson plans for even more insight. Yes, the seasoned teachers snicker, but once the semester starts to roll I won’t regret this little bit of forward planning. All six of the classes (three groups with two sessions of two hours each) are in the same room, and I’m hoping my colleagues will agree to grouping the desks rather than keeping them in rows. If not, we may be doing a lot of furniture moving. The prospect of having storage space (the class is a converted dorm room with six built-in cupboards!) and letting our projects line the walls of our very own classroom studio is thrilling. I have very high hopes for this course, despite the knowledge that smaller hopes than these have been dashed before. No illusions there, but I won’t let that bring me down.
During my recent stay at Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Thiruvananthapuram, in India’s gorgeous Kerala province, we were taught a series of “eye yoga” exercises handed down from the ancient yogis. It is interesting to note that these self-same exercises show up in modern optometrists’ offices. The exercises are especially recommended between sessions of reading or computer work, where the eyes are focused at short range on a small area. What makes the exercises effective is that they re-engage the muscles involved in peripheral and long distance vision. And if you have been wondering why this is at all relevant to researchers, this last matter is key: peripheral and long-distance vision.
Because I have been reading recommended books at a pace, (students are allowed the loan of one book for one week by Majan’s library- and that’s generous considering the general book shortage), I have become quite deeply ensconced in the world of each book of the moment. Since our course covers such a vast spectrum of information (from the development of language teaching approaches to the most recent bones of contention in TESOL), each book zooms in on a tiny area. That wonderful saying about not seeing the forest for the trees puts it so well. Just like my eyes need a break from the reading to re-engage my peripheral and long-distance vision, so does my mind. After finishing Doing Teacher Research (Freeman, 1998) this evening, I stepped back to look over the big fat file for this module and regained valuable perspective. Eye yoga for the researcher’s vision is as important as the researcher’s sight- even more so.
Course preparation is going swimmingly, and I’ve decided to write out my lesson plans, since the Language Through Arts course has never been taught before. The existing materials are minimal and it will be very important to show students that the course is substantial and to be taken seriously, even though they are bound to be more interested in the fun part- and graduating at the end of semester. In my Debating and Communication course, it was such a delight to fall back on the lesson plans I had created before the semester even started, and the second time I taught the course, to have the annotated lesson plans for even more insight. Yes, the seasoned teachers snicker, but once the semester starts to roll I won’t regret this little bit of forward planning. All six of the classes (three groups with two sessions of two hours each) are in the same room, and I’m hoping my colleagues will agree to grouping the desks rather than keeping them in rows. If not, we may be doing a lot of furniture moving. The prospect of having storage space (the class is a converted dorm room with six built-in cupboards!) and letting our projects line the walls of our very own classroom studio is thrilling. I have very high hopes for this course, despite the knowledge that smaller hopes than these have been dashed before. No illusions there, but I won’t let that bring me down.
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Writer Writes. And Reads.
Two weeks ago, when I was footloose, fancy-free and not a student, I had plenty of time to kill. Not that I didn’t have goals, mind. In fact, I had just taken up the courageous discipline of rising at five in the morning and sitting down to an hour of writing some weeks before. My first article was on the verge of completion when suddenly the world turned upside down and I became a student again. Even as recently as yesterday, I was telling a colleague that I was still writing every morning. But later the same day, my realization of the utter enormity of this task- just the reading, not even to mention the writing- forced me to change tack. This morning, my morning call was for reading and note-taking. In fact, this is the perfect time for me to work, when my mind is fresh and undistracted.
This morning’s reading (and this afternoon and evening’s reading too) was from Doing Teacher Research by Donald Freeman (published in 1998 by Heinle & Heinle: I can’t find the city, but I’ll annotate it properly as soon as I do.) The format is reader-friendly in that it brings in teachers’ perspectives and questions for the reader alongside the facts, but this interrupts the flow of my reading somewhat. I am acutely aware that my reading techniques are going to need stepping up. Tricky, because at the moment I’m still not sure what needs deep reading and where skimming is enough. I’ve been getting into the habit of deconstructing what I read, just to get a better grip on it, and then taking notes in outline form. When the whole book is done, I’ll make a master mindmap. Only trouble is, how do I do this before my library deadline on Wednesday afternoon? I could renew my book loan, but other students are also waiting for books. Then again, they, too, may renew their loans. Aye me…
For some variation, and also to start getting my research ideas together, I’ve been going over my old journals and tabbing points related to teaching. Still looking for an intersection of the material we are focusing on (contexts and approaches in TESOL), my own interest and what is academically and practically meaningful. But I have found at least thirty meaty references to teaching and students in the four years’ worth of general (not-teaching-focused) journals I have covered. There are another three years’ worth in paper and electronic journals that I haven’t checked yet. Quite surprising that without intending to, I have been collecting data for seven years… maybe I’m not so far behind on this after all.
This morning’s reading (and this afternoon and evening’s reading too) was from Doing Teacher Research by Donald Freeman (published in 1998 by Heinle & Heinle: I can’t find the city, but I’ll annotate it properly as soon as I do.) The format is reader-friendly in that it brings in teachers’ perspectives and questions for the reader alongside the facts, but this interrupts the flow of my reading somewhat. I am acutely aware that my reading techniques are going to need stepping up. Tricky, because at the moment I’m still not sure what needs deep reading and where skimming is enough. I’ve been getting into the habit of deconstructing what I read, just to get a better grip on it, and then taking notes in outline form. When the whole book is done, I’ll make a master mindmap. Only trouble is, how do I do this before my library deadline on Wednesday afternoon? I could renew my book loan, but other students are also waiting for books. Then again, they, too, may renew their loans. Aye me…
For some variation, and also to start getting my research ideas together, I’ve been going over my old journals and tabbing points related to teaching. Still looking for an intersection of the material we are focusing on (contexts and approaches in TESOL), my own interest and what is academically and practically meaningful. But I have found at least thirty meaty references to teaching and students in the four years’ worth of general (not-teaching-focused) journals I have covered. There are another three years’ worth in paper and electronic journals that I haven’t checked yet. Quite surprising that without intending to, I have been collecting data for seven years… maybe I’m not so far behind on this after all.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Back In The Saddle Again
The first day back at work was extremely positive. The difference from past years, when conflicts poisoned the air, was tangible. It really is fortunate to have such a motivated, forward-looking staff to work with. Though I have to ask myself: is it simply people’s temperaments that are so sunny, or has the department reached a tipping point where positive people have taken over? It does comfort me to think that this is not just a twist of fate, but fashioned by conscious design. The staff meeting was extremely friendly, light and constructive. I received my final schedule, and the benefits far outweigh the drawback of slightly inconvenient (read afternoon) timings. For one thing, I teach all my Language Through Arts groups in the same classroom, which means we have quite a bit of say in arranging, and maybe even decorating, the room. Just what we need in a course like this. There are also vast cupboards for storing all the goodies we’ll need for the lessons…
And then the studies. Tonight the weight of the decision I made has finally dawned on me. Because I joined the class late, I hadn’t the time to read all my documentation thoroughly last week. As a warm-up to studying, I read the handbook this afternoon. The list of Recommended Reading is just daunting- and reading those books is not even enough: then you have to base original research on all that stuff! Not to mention the fact that many of the books are not available in Oman (or there are only single copies in the library), so we’re all more or less between a rock and a hard place: order the books from abroad, or risk not having read them. Another thing is that none of the books are really descriptive overviews: they all seem to be radically opposing points of view in some of the most heated debates in Applied Linguistics of our day. Placing things in perspective is one of the biggest challenges I’m facing. (It was all so daunting that I resorted to reading some of my old teaching diaries in pursuit of ideas for my assignment, which naturally swallowed an hour.) It won’t be easy. But I simply can’t resign myself to thinking that an overall pass grade will be enough. I really need to establish for myself what I am truly capable of in this international academic context I have flung myself into so willy-nilly… (how utterly un-academic of me!)
And then the studies. Tonight the weight of the decision I made has finally dawned on me. Because I joined the class late, I hadn’t the time to read all my documentation thoroughly last week. As a warm-up to studying, I read the handbook this afternoon. The list of Recommended Reading is just daunting- and reading those books is not even enough: then you have to base original research on all that stuff! Not to mention the fact that many of the books are not available in Oman (or there are only single copies in the library), so we’re all more or less between a rock and a hard place: order the books from abroad, or risk not having read them. Another thing is that none of the books are really descriptive overviews: they all seem to be radically opposing points of view in some of the most heated debates in Applied Linguistics of our day. Placing things in perspective is one of the biggest challenges I’m facing. (It was all so daunting that I resorted to reading some of my old teaching diaries in pursuit of ideas for my assignment, which naturally swallowed an hour.) It won’t be easy. But I simply can’t resign myself to thinking that an overall pass grade will be enough. I really need to establish for myself what I am truly capable of in this international academic context I have flung myself into so willy-nilly… (how utterly un-academic of me!)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Clean and Green
Back to work again tomorrow, and I really am looking forward to it. The best part is that there is a whole week to prepare before the students arrive for the second semester.
Very grateful to have had a day of R&R- didn’t touch the books, but just refreshed my mind before going back to the salt mines. Finally watched the Live Earth DVD that has been sitting on the shelf for so long. That really is a reminder that when people work together, big things can happen. It also pertains to teaching, especially for those of us who work abroad. In many cases we are hired to bring English, but along with it we bring so much negative baggage of the First World Empire. Do we not then have an obligation to bring some good with it too? In both the countries where I have lived as a teacher, and most of those I have visited, there is very little awareness of environmental (and other) issues. Most definitely there are areas where “we” have a great deal to learn form “them”, and the local way of thinking should be respected. By no means am I advocating some kind of cultural imperialist evangelism where West knows best. But when it comes to the planet that we- the true “We” of humanity- all share, we are speaking of an emergency. Educating people about this is far more important than perfect grammar.
My small beginning has been to reduce unnecessary paper wastage by providing paper for re-use near office printers and photocopiers and information on how to make double-sided copies in the office. The next step is to arrange screenings of An Inconvenient Truth with the college’s Environment Club. Inviting other staff, including the administrative and janitorial staff… Really getting the students involved and passionate… Finding some simple action steps that can be implemented on campus, and allowing students to ignite each other’s commitment. This is too important to overlook.
Very grateful to have had a day of R&R- didn’t touch the books, but just refreshed my mind before going back to the salt mines. Finally watched the Live Earth DVD that has been sitting on the shelf for so long. That really is a reminder that when people work together, big things can happen. It also pertains to teaching, especially for those of us who work abroad. In many cases we are hired to bring English, but along with it we bring so much negative baggage of the First World Empire. Do we not then have an obligation to bring some good with it too? In both the countries where I have lived as a teacher, and most of those I have visited, there is very little awareness of environmental (and other) issues. Most definitely there are areas where “we” have a great deal to learn form “them”, and the local way of thinking should be respected. By no means am I advocating some kind of cultural imperialist evangelism where West knows best. But when it comes to the planet that we- the true “We” of humanity- all share, we are speaking of an emergency. Educating people about this is far more important than perfect grammar.
My small beginning has been to reduce unnecessary paper wastage by providing paper for re-use near office printers and photocopiers and information on how to make double-sided copies in the office. The next step is to arrange screenings of An Inconvenient Truth with the college’s Environment Club. Inviting other staff, including the administrative and janitorial staff… Really getting the students involved and passionate… Finding some simple action steps that can be implemented on campus, and allowing students to ignite each other’s commitment. This is too important to overlook.
Friday, January 25, 2008
No Place Like Home
Back home at last. It’s just impossibly good to be snuggled up in my very own bed again after almost two weeks in an anonymous rented room in the capital. And yet I feel I am a very different person from even two weeks ago, when I left my humble home for the big bad city. Things have taken shape tremendously in what seems a deceptively short time. There were ups and downs within the course, but ultimately I see great hope within this course but also in the ripples of its effects outside, for myself and others. It also looks as if the student group will be very supportive.
One big thing to look forward to is the possibility of actually going to Leeds next summer to prepare our dissertations. Imagine that! Finally getting to see Europe! I’m also reading the Times Educational Supplement and thinking this might mean a job in the UK within a year from graduation- if that is what seems important then. So... by January 2010 we’re looking at graduating and having the option of working in a whole new place…
One big thing to look forward to is the possibility of actually going to Leeds next summer to prepare our dissertations. Imagine that! Finally getting to see Europe! I’m also reading the Times Educational Supplement and thinking this might mean a job in the UK within a year from graduation- if that is what seems important then. So... by January 2010 we’re looking at graduating and having the option of working in a whole new place…
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Staying In With Noble Minds
I hear the faraway rhythm of someone else’s music that I am not part of. There is a world out there, a night-time seafront world where I can go, nothing stops me, but other things are important now. So I’d rather stay in.
But staying in has been great recently, in the company of noble minds. I feel enriched and edified by the very fact of my study. My whole frame of reference has been shaken a bit by the lectures, but completely dismantled by the readings. The main culprit is Adrian Holliday, who is at times critical to the point of being reactionary. Reading him, I certainly do not agree with the extremity of his views, but I have scrutinized some of my assumptions about what I do. This will be central to my first assignment, and maybe to where I am going with all this.
But staying in has been great recently, in the company of noble minds. I feel enriched and edified by the very fact of my study. My whole frame of reference has been shaken a bit by the lectures, but completely dismantled by the readings. The main culprit is Adrian Holliday, who is at times critical to the point of being reactionary. Reading him, I certainly do not agree with the extremity of his views, but I have scrutinized some of my assumptions about what I do. This will be central to my first assignment, and maybe to where I am going with all this.
Monday, January 21, 2008
A Unified Purpose
There was always one problem with the way I saw my work as and English teacher. It was always just a day job, a stepping stone, a means to an end… and a distraction from what I deemed to be my “life’s work”.
Well, I still do not think this is, ultimately, where my “life’s work” will end. But this new pursuit- Mastery- has put it in a new light, a privileged position. It us now the thing I fight for. There us something very fortifying about (suddenly) being unified in my purpose. Can a little piece of paper with the letters “MA” on it really make me more of a profession? I doubt it. It is a journey, not a destination, and this degree s like a trip to the airport: the journey is not even yet begun, nor will it soon end. It is important to me to know that TODAY matters, and that is a very new approach for me, professionally. Think I’ll try that thought on for size…
Well, I still do not think this is, ultimately, where my “life’s work” will end. But this new pursuit- Mastery- has put it in a new light, a privileged position. It us now the thing I fight for. There us something very fortifying about (suddenly) being unified in my purpose. Can a little piece of paper with the letters “MA” on it really make me more of a profession? I doubt it. It is a journey, not a destination, and this degree s like a trip to the airport: the journey is not even yet begun, nor will it soon end. It is important to me to know that TODAY matters, and that is a very new approach for me, professionally. Think I’ll try that thought on for size…
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Together We Stand; Divided...?
All things considered, today went remarkably well. I nobly elected to go to college on foot and by taxi, and was soon reminded why, in Oman, one really does need a car.
Class started well enough, with the morning rituals, but then we had group review, which sparked big doubts for me. I have never felt very comfortable with group work, and my partners were under a lot of outside pressure from work and family. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a holiday from work during these sessions, as I am. I didn’t quite know how to handle this, and wound up doing too much of the work myself, and maybe robbing them of the opportunity to digest the information. This is a weakness of mine that often arises: and the truth is that it doesn’t help anyone. I was distracted by worrying about this for the next hour, and unable to focus on the new material. It really highlighted to me how central the general class understanding is to our collective progress, since we are already behind schedule. Dialogue is all good and well, but I am concerned that it might hold us back as a group. Then again, the whole group is there to support each other, and outside of the intensive sessions in January and June we will be doing a great deal on our own as well. Does it really matter that much? As for myself, having missed eight days of classes, I am well aware that I myself am behind the group in many respects!
Class started well enough, with the morning rituals, but then we had group review, which sparked big doubts for me. I have never felt very comfortable with group work, and my partners were under a lot of outside pressure from work and family. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a holiday from work during these sessions, as I am. I didn’t quite know how to handle this, and wound up doing too much of the work myself, and maybe robbing them of the opportunity to digest the information. This is a weakness of mine that often arises: and the truth is that it doesn’t help anyone. I was distracted by worrying about this for the next hour, and unable to focus on the new material. It really highlighted to me how central the general class understanding is to our collective progress, since we are already behind schedule. Dialogue is all good and well, but I am concerned that it might hold us back as a group. Then again, the whole group is there to support each other, and outside of the intensive sessions in January and June we will be doing a great deal on our own as well. Does it really matter that much? As for myself, having missed eight days of classes, I am well aware that I myself am behind the group in many respects!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Beginnings
Today began a new chapter in my life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was remarkably good. My first day as a postgraduate started at 4:00AM, when I flew out of bed grateful that a night of fitful sleep was over, and this day would begin. I was in front of Majan University College’s campus at 6:45 AM. This left more than enough time for exploration and psyching up. I know myself well enough to leave plenty of time on the first day. But there was no time for panic or even to calm down from it: the day just swept me up like Dorothy’s tornado. And we’re a long way from Kansas, Toto. What intellectual delight to suddenly have all this hyper-stimulation. The staff are just so supportive, and the group dynamics (the tutor’s pet topic) are stunning, But with mountains of reading to be done and such a multiplicity of subjects, which I find foreign to conceptualise, there is no shortage of challenges. Speaking of which, I should get a printout of my application essay, written under the influence of Nescafe. Heady stuff.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Job... Career... Vocation
A few nights back I woke up from a dream where the highway drove me straight ninety degrees up to where a city awaited. A whole new city in a whole new dimension where I was the first inhabitant. My officemate, a literature buff with a penchant for Jungian psychoanalysis, surmised this to mean that potential is about to be fulfilled in a whole new paradigm.This seemed valid, but applicable to my life in general and my writing. But today it took on a whole new meaning.At 11.30 this morning my head of department told me I had one hour to report back if I wanted to join the Leeds University MA TESOL course hosted by Majan University College in Muscat. I had considered this course last year and decided against it- would I change my mind? I remained lukewarm, until I realised that destiny has never knocked gently on my door: it has always barged right in. As it has once again. And has it ever let me down before?
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