How Corrupt is Your Country?

Transparency International releases an annual report on the levels of corruption in the countries of the world. This year's report just came out. Here are the best and worst and here's the complete list.

For comparison purposes, here's last year's list.

This list is always big news here in Tecwil, because, while we may not rank near the top in too many things, we're always really near the top (or the bottom, depending on your point of view) in the corruption scale. Yes, this country is very corrupt. Don't even try to compete.

Back to School

Tomorrow, after quite a long break for the 1st and 2nd of November (big holidays here in Tecwil and in many other countries too), it's back to school. I wish I could muster a little more enthusiasm about it. I'm ready, with some lessons that I'm looking forward to, but I would like a few more days off instead.

Short Story

My eighth graders are doing a short story genre study right now, and as well as reading a bunch of them, we're all writing one. Yes, we. I'm writing one too.

Whew, it isn't easy.

Right now I'm at the slogging my way through getting it down first draft stage. Of course, lots of student writing never really gets past that stage. I'm hoping mine will.

Theme Day at the DP Blogs

On the first of every month, lots of the DP blogs participate in a theme day. Today's topic is "something that will disappear soon." You can see a list of all the participants, with links to look at their photos, here, along with a photo of something that's going to disappear soon in France. I didn't know about it and I am very surprised!

Electricity

It's amazing the positive effect of electricity on my mood. We've been having transformer problems in our electricity zone. We didn't have any city power at all on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. (Well, we did get about half an hour on Saturday afternoon.) Then yesterday afternoon it came on again, and we got probably eight hours.

My whole outlook on life improves when the power comes back on. It's funny, because we now have a couple of backups, and we weren't actually sitting in the dark, the way we used to when we first came to Tecwil. (We'd grade papers by candlelight, which isn't much fun. I know, it worked for Abraham Lincoln, but it doesn't work for me.) But it's so much work keeping the backups going. When I got home yesterday, I was handed a piece that had fallen off the generator. The generator isn't even ours; it belongs to our landlady. We've put enough money into it to buy a new one, I think.

But now, city power again! (Well, not NOW - it's been off for several hours. But the potential is there that it will come on again. The transformer is fixed!) Hooray!

Poetry site

Here's a poetry site I hadn't seen before.

And here's an essay on high school students as poetry critics. I love this teacher's point of view, and will keep it in mind the next time my students dismiss a poem I read with them.

Nadine Gordimer

I was sad to read this story about one of my favorite writers, Nadine Gordimer, being attacked in her home in Johannesburg.

Nigerians Face Tough Times with Laughter

I loved this essay about how Nigerians, in spite of all their problems, consider themselves "the happiest country in Africa."

Is Vegemite Banned?

In case this question has been keeping you up at night, Slate magazine has the answer. My Dad sent me this article, and ever since I read it I've had Men at Work's song "Down Under" running through my head. That's the first song you'll find at that link. I also found this funny site that lists various ways people have misheard the lyrics, followed by the correct version.

And yes, I like Vegemite. And Marmite too. So there.

Scott Adams Hacks His Brain

Very interesting article courtesy of the ads on my Gmail account.

Boat People

Debbie Woodmansey writes about the boat people who arrive every day in her small village in the Canary Islands. I find it hard to imagine putting to sea in one of these boats, in search of a better life which may or may not materialize.

There are boats, equally unseaworthy, that leave Tecwil, too, full of people who want more than what they can find here. Will they find what they are looking for? Some, maybe. Many will be repatriated. Some will drown.

Literary Mama

Here's a blog I just discovered, and here's the magazine that goes with it.

Doctors and Writing

One of my fellow teachers sent me this interesting article, from here.

Creative writing may make doctors better

By Amy Norton Fri Oct 20, 12:27 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Some doctors might improve their bedside manner by honing their creative writing skills, a small study suggests.

Yale University researchers found that medical residents who completed a creative writing workshop felt the experience helped them better view their patients as people, and not just medical cases.

The effect, according to the researchers, seems to stem from the fact that the residents not only reflected on their own emotions and the experiences of their patients, but also wrote it down as a story.

Many residency programs have support groups where young doctors can discuss their concerns, lead study author Dr. Anna Reisman noted in an interview. However, the process of writing a narrative may help residents examine their experiences in a more thoughtful way, according to Reisman, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the Yale School of Medicine.

"Focusing on the craft of writing, in other words, provides a means of increasing one's powers of observation and improving one's understanding of both self and others," she and her colleagues write in the Journal of General of Internal Medicine.

Their study included 15 residents at Yale-New Haven Medical Center who took part in a 2.5-day writing workshop with well-known doctor/author Abraham Verghese.

No residency program had ever offered a creative writing course before, Reisman noted, and "no one knew what to expect."

In focus groups held after the workshop, residents said that writing helped them process their own emotions and better understand those of their patients. Their stories' themes included their own insecurity and feelings of powerlessness, breaking bad news, burnout and awareness of "how little physicians know their patients."

In the focus groups, Reisman's team notes, one resident said, "I didn't realize some of the emotions I was feeling until writing it down." Another said, "The act of writing changes the way you look at patients."

One of the goals in starting the writing workshop, Reisman said, was to help residents "cultivate a curiosity about patients beyond their disease."

Though the study couldn't assess whether the workshop changed participants' medical practice, one of the hopes, Reisman said, is that it will help them better communicate with patients.

"Ultimately, the hope is to make them better doctors," she said.

SOURCE: Journal of General Internal Medicine, October 2006.

Radio, by A.S.J. Tessimond

Though lots of Tessimond's poems are available on the web, I couldn't find this one. Ever since I quoted it the other day, I have been thinking about it. I thought I had written it down somewhere, and I just found it in a book I've been writing down poems in since high school. I hope I'm not violating copyright, but here it is.


Radio

Here is another dream, another forgetting, another doorway:
Sound, to drown the sting of the rain on the pane and the sough of the wind
And the sound of the sea:
Sound, like feathers, to muffle the sound of silence
And the beat of the heart:

Sound to go with you, through the valley of the shadow in the dashboard of the shining car:

The comfortable voice of the announcer purring the ruin of kingdoms,
The fall of cities and the fall of wickets,
The random dead and the New Year knights:

Sound like a sea to conceal the bone, the broken shell, the broken ship.

Uh oh

Now David Banda's father says he didn't understand that adoption was permanent.

BBC Correspondent Visits the Sahara

I just read this fascinating article about camel trains crossing the Sahara. I am always amazed by all the things in the world that I know nothing at all about. When I was a child I loved a poem that said, "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Sometimes I still feel that way!

Still More On Madonna

Here's an article about the children's home where Madonna found David Banda. The statistic quoted in this article is 48 million children in Africa who are vulnerable. "Vulnerable" is a pretty vague term, and I'm sure it includes all kinds of categories. But the people interviewed seem united in a belief that Madonna has done a very good thing for this one child, and that her contributions to Malawi will be a very good thing for many, many, many children. The article concludes, quoting the editor of a Lilongwe newspaper: "I don't know why she picked Malawi, but thank God she did."

In my comments, Jenny (my borrowed view) left a link to an NPR story that was written in response to the hoopla over Madonna's adoption. I very much enjoyed it and so thought I'd repost it for anybody who didn't see it in the comments. Here it is.

Book Buddies

I have a Book Buddies program with my middle schoolers. My seventh graders read every other week with Pre-K and Kindergarten students. My eighth graders read one week with first graders and the next with second graders.

In the way of students their age, some of my kids sometimes complain about this. They have to walk across the campus. They have to read with kids who squirm a lot or goof around or don't listen. (Uh, guys? Welcome to my world!)

Last year I had heard quite a bit of complaining from my eighth graders, and I asked them if they enjoyed Book Buddies time. Mmm, sort of, it's OK, we don't care. So I suggested taking a break from it. No, that's OK, it's all right, we like it OK. They aren't going to be enthusiastic, oh, no - but they like it.

Of course there are lots of reasons to spend my precious class time this way. The younger children get one-on-one time with a more proficient reader, a role-model. We all get a break from our regular routine. Sometimes we do writing activities together or play games that would be hard for one teacher to do with a room full of young children. The kids go through piles and piles of books (selected by the younger Book Buddy) that the teacher wouldn't have time to read aloud. Once the younger ones can read, sometimes they read to the older ones.

But probably the greatest benefit to me as a teacher is that I get to see my kids with new eyes. Sometimes, you may be astonished to learn, middle schoolers can be a bit trying. They are great kids, but do you remember being thirteen? Then you know what I mean. They're a bit self-absorbed sometimes, and they don't listen, and they lose their stuff and leave papers all over my floor. They constantly say things aren't fair and they make rude comments to each other and they come to class without their books and they don't turn their work in. They don't think about consequences, but just do whatever fool thing comes into their heads.

So it's really refreshing watching my kids be the responsible, caring mentors. I love the way they ask their younger Buddies questions, talk about the pictures with them, and rap the stories to them. (OK, that last one gets kind of old, but I try to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, because the kids enjoy it so much.)

I enjoy seeing them deal with behavior problems. Like the time when J grabbed a book from another child. I watched to see if I should intervene, but my eighth grader, M, took care of it just fine. He sternly but kindly told J to give back the book. J did. Later I mentioned to M how well he handled it, and he walked a little taller.

On our way back to our classroom, my kids morph back into their regular selves, but for a few minutes, I have had a glimpse of the wonderful adults they are going to be, the responsible citizens, and the fine parents.

That'll sustain me until next week.

They're Lying to Us

Have you seen this film? It shows a rather ordinary-looking girl being transformed into a supermodel with makeup, hair, and lighting. And then it shows the technicians playing with the photo to turn her into a goddess who then appears on a billboard.

When my 9-year-old watched it, she gasped and said, "So basically they are just lying to us in ads?"

Bingo, sweetie. I'm glad you learned it young.

Forgiveness and the Amish

Forgiving is woven into the life of the Amish.

What if the Amish were in Charge of the War on Terror?

Today was World Food Day

Take this quiz to see how much you know about world hunger.

Still Another Madonna Article

After my panegyric to the BBC yesterday, you'd think I would have posted their article first. Of course, it is the best so far, don't you think?

And here's a comment page.

More on the Madonna Adoption

Here's an article from the Guardian, which includes a quote from David Banda's father. (David Banda is the little boy Madonna wants to adopt. So apparently he isn't even an orphan. His two siblings died of malaria and his mother died in childbirth, and he was living in a children's home.)

This article reports on Madonna's purchase of a $9000 toy for the little boy.

And this one says that Malawian law requires potential adoptive parents to live in the country for 18 months. Now THAT I can't wait to see.

(I spared you the link to Boy George saying Madonna is a vile human being, but should you care to read about it, you can follow the link at the end of that last article. I mean, as long as I'm writing about aging pop stars who were shocking people when I was in high school and apparently are still around!)

This whole story promises to become quite interesting. I just hope this child benefits in the end.

Three Beautiful Things

Blogger introduced me to this "Blog of Note": Three Beautiful Things. Every day Clare blogs three things from that day that she found beautiful.

OK, so I'll try it.

1. Right at my eye level on my bathroom mirror is a note on red paper written by my 9-year-old. It says "I love you." And she means me. (And her dad.)

2. I have fresh flowers on my dining room table. We bought them from a street merchant and they make me happy.

3. At church we sang, "All Creatures of Our God and King," which is one of my favorites. St. Francis of Assisi wrote the words. Here they are. (We didn't sing all those verses. Only five. Our hymnbook left out the one about mother earth and the one about death. So I guess that's another beautiful thing - singing five verses instead of seven!)

I Love the BBC

I grew up in a former British colony in Africa. One of my most vivid childhood memories is coming down the stairs every morning at precisely 7:30 for breakfast - we were a punctual family, living in a country where punctuality wasn't much valued - and hearing the words: "Na, huu" on the radio. When I was very small I thought those words meant, "It's time for breakfast." But they didn't. They meant, "And now..." and they were the words used every morning to introduce the BBC World Service News.

That was my first experience of listening to the news. It was read calmly, clearly, in received pronunciation. It was really world news, as in, stories about the whole world. The newsreader gave the impression that he (it was usually a he) had seen everything, and wasn't too worried about any of it, so I didn't need to worry either. History would sort it all out. The BBC could make news of genocide and horror sound almost reassuring. A.S.J. Tessimond, in a poem called "Radio," writes of an announcer chronicling fallen wickets and fallen governments in the same voice. I don't think Tessimond is being complimentary, but I loved that about the BBC.

We were a family of shortwave enthusiasts, and when I was a teenager one of my prized possessions was my boombox that included a shortwave. I remember listening to the BBC World Service late at night in my room. I loved the music request show whose name I can't even remember now, and once they played something I had requested - and I also don't remember what it was! (Sometimes I listened to Voice of America, too, but it seemed more like propaganda. And yes, I knew that word as a teenager. Sometimes I listened to Radio Moscow, but in those days (early to mid 1980s), that was nothing but propaganda.)

I lived for four years in England, and there got acquainted with the home version of the BBC. I loved Radio One, as did everyone my age in the country, and would sneak upstairs in the dorm during lunchtime on - I think it was - Thursdays to listen to the newest charts. I especially loved "Mike Read, Mike Read, 275 and 285, Mike Read, Mike Read, National Radio One!" I watched BBC TV, too - no commercials! How civilized is that?

These days, when I listen to the radio, it's usually the local radio where I live, or NPR, which we listen to online. But you may have noticed, if you're a regular reader, that when I write about world news I generally reference the BBC's stories. To me, the BBC is news. I imagine, as I read, the measured tones of the newsreader on the radio. I have even noticed that I am more likely to believe something is true if it is said in a British accent (I know this is irrational, and an American I said it to once found it downright offensive). I sometimes read CNN but I find its voice rather hysterical and alarmist in comparison to the BBC. I'll always remember those days after 9/11 when their reporters and guests sat around and discussed all the ideas that the terrorists might not have had yet, but which really wouldn't be difficult to do - here's how. If the BBC's message is, "Here are some things we think you should know about, but it will all be all right," CNN's is "Here are some things we're all worked up about and we hope you will panic as well." CNN also focuses on the United States. Even the international edition is definitely geared that way, it seems to me.

In any case, nobody can compare with the BBC. I love their website. I love their helps for learning English. I just love the BBC.

Things that made me smile

It's unusual to find anything in the news that can be posted under that title, but here are two.

First of all, after tragedy, there is forgiveness and mercy. The wife of the man who killed those Amish schoolchildren thanks the community for the grace they have extended to her family.

This next one isn't in the same category at all, but it did make me smile, too. There's a town in India that has lots of problems (actually, probably all the towns in India have lots of problems, but that's another story.) They were trying to decide what they could do about the situation, and then it hit them - they could paint their town pink! So they did. Hey folks, I hope it works out for you.

African Mum

Eric, at Paris Daily Photo, posted a wonderful picture on Thursday of an African woman in Paris carrying her baby on her back. Take a look. There was some discussion in the comments, including the obligatory remark about how uncomfortable the baby looks. I always got that when I would carry my babies in a sling or front pack. Honestly, my babies were quite capable of letting me know if they were uncomfortable. And if they were perfectly happy, calm, and contented, I assumed they were comfortable. I share the commenters' amazement at the way African women fling their babies onto their backs. I've seen it hundreds of times, and never seen one fall! But I never tried it myself, since I was pretty sure I would drop my child on the floor.

OK, Adoption Experts...

What do you think of this story?

I'm back...

I haven't posted in a while, partly because it's almost the end of the marking period and I have been grading an endless supply of student drafts, and partly because we have been suffering some fairly serious computer problems. I've been trying to keep up with email on my classroom computer but Blogger is so slow on that connection and I don't have lots of time when I'm at work, for obvious reasons. Finally things seem to be working again, though I hesitate to say that too loudly.

In any case, I'm trying to catch up on the blogs and other sites I read regularly, and as I do so I'll post some things that catch my attention.

Below is a great excerpt from an interview with Lemony Snicket. You can read the full text here.

Begin Quote:

AC: Obviously you have a sarcastic nature. The children who are reading your books are at an age bracket at which they're beginning to understand and grapple with irony, the fact that you can say something that's different from what you actually mean. Do you find that when children are talking to you that they really respond to that?

LS: I think that the demarcation of whether or not you're going to be able to understand irony -- the beginning of irony -- happens for people at different ages, for sure, and sometimes never happens, so in some ways, if you want to see whether your child has a healthy sense of irony, give them my book (laughing).

Irony is just one part of it, but I think that as you grow up you begin to look critically at the world and you note the disparity between what people are saying and how it goes. The way the books run is contrary to what everyone says all the time. In many children's books good people are rewarded and bad people are punished, and you see when you are very young that the world just doesn't go that way. I think that's something akin to irony, though it's not a textbook definition of irony. The idea that bad behavior is always punished will begin to ring false if you're actually in a schoolyard.

End Quote.

Ooh, look, there are lots of beautiful new doors over at Doorways Around the World since the last time I checked!

Jenny in Sharon, CT has been posting some fall pictures, ideal for me here in the steamy tropics, with no cool weather in sight.

Hooray for Kigali, Rwanda, which recently got its first public trash cans (or poubelles - sounds so much more appealing in French). We have lovely ones in the city where I live, helpfully installed by a foreign body, but sadly they are not emptied frequently, which somewhat limits their usefulness. Don't you love the caption on the photo of the rubbish heap? "Kigali is reported to be cleaner than other African cities." (There's nothing like being able to compare yourself to others who are doing much worse than you are.)

And finally, to end my gushing post, aren't you thrilled by the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize? I think it's terrific that the committee has chosen to honor someone who has helped make life better in a tangible way for so many people around the world. The "microcredit movement," as the article calls it, is truly a wonderful thing.

Teacher Encouragement

This year is getting off to a slow start. Five weeks into the semester, kids are still having trouble with my basic procedures. They aren't turning their work in, and their grades show it. I work all the time and am barely keeping up. I just feel discouraged.

So I really needed to read this.

Thanks, RedKudu.

School Shooting

I've been reading this wrenching story about the school shooting today. At the end of the article there's a mention of the other two widely publicized shootings just in the past week.

I remember reading a comment made by one of the moms from Columbine. Someone told her that her daughter had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her reply was, "No, being in the school library during school time was not the wrong place." One of the articles I read on this story, which I can't find now, made the point that there are no safe places. Really, if an elementary school on a Monday morning isn't a safe place, it's hard to imagine what might be.

I'm praying for those families, for those teachers and that school, and for the family of the man who did this terrible thing.

An Understanding Heart

Cynthia Carbone Ward, in her introduction to her book, How Writers Grow: A Guide for Middle School Teachers, quotes Carl Jung:

"An understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."

A good reminder while writing progress reports.

Nothing to Write

Or rather, plenty to write, but too busy grading what others have written.

Ant Season

A couple of years ago I came to the conclusion that there are four seasons in Tecwil: mouse season, tick season, mosquito season, and ant season. These aren't in any predictable pattern, but it does seem that when we are dealing with an infestation of one kind of obnoxious beast, we don't have problems with the other three. This may just be because we are so obsessed with finding ways to get rid of one that we don't notice the others.

It's hard to know which I hate the most. Obviously, mosquitoes carry disease, so they are easy to hate. But you can keep them away, mostly, with screens and bug spray and burning coils. And if you wave your hand at them, they fly away. (Mosquitoes in the States seem to be slower and lazier. Often they'll just go right on drinking your blood as you try to swipe them away.) In our eleven years in Tecwil, we've had only two cases of malaria and one case of dengue fever among us, so that's not so bad.

Ticks are irredeemably nasty and they killed one of our dogs, so we don't like them either. I can't write much more about them because I start feeling physically sick.

Mice aren't really such a big deal. We use those glue traps and then I refuse to know any more about what happens. This is one of those things that gets dealt with out of my sight. (Yes, we do have an occasional rat issue and the rats make mice seem hardly worth getting upset over. I fear and hate rats. Again, I have to stop writing about them.)

Right now it's ant season. These critters are biting ants that leave big red welts in their wake. They get into everything. This evening I opened up the water bottle with clean water in it to brush my teeth, and found that ants had gotten inside the lid. Over the weekend they got in a basket of unfolded laundry and I had to go through every piece of clothing and shake out the ants (this is great fun because some of them inevitably end up on your feet and bite you). The tiniest scrap of anything edible brings them in enormous hordes, but often it's hard to figure out what attracted them; suddenly there will be a giant batallion of them sweeping across the kitchen floor, or the living room floor, or ... well, anywhere, really. We've tried everything we know to try, and it's all temporary. They always come back. The only thing that worked long-term was when we called in the professionals (to get rid of the aforementioned ticks). Apparently whatever noxious poisons they used also killed off the ants. We didn't see any for a really, really long time. Of course, who knows what effects all those poisons had on us? Again, let's not think about it.

I really do love living in the tropics. Sometimes I can't remember exactly why, but I know I do.

I have to go now. Piles to grade before I sleep...

Advice for Teachers

Lately several people have been posting some great advice for new teachers, but lots of it is applicable to ALL teachers. Take a look and see what you think.

Amy's advice is as beautifully expressed as everything she writes.

English Language Arts Methods and Madness is a new blog for people learning to be Language Arts teachers. On September 14th there was a wonderful article posted there on teaching. And from that site too, there's a link to this comprehensive list of helpful hints.

Teaching is just about the most rewarding job there is, but it's also one of the hardest and most thankless on some days. We need all the encouragement and practical help we can get!

Non-Aligned Summit

You have to love the Non-Aligned Movement. It's made up of, as this article points out, 118 nations representing two-thirds of the population of the planet.

"Who or what are you not aligned with?" Roger Hearing of the BBC reports asking various people at the conference. What it all boils down to, apparently, is that these countries feel the US and Europe (code name "great powers") have an awfully strong influence in this world. (And you know what? They're right!) The Non-Aligned Movement would like a chance to have a voice too. That's pretty easy to understand.

It's kind of funny that there are way more "non-aligned" countries than there are of the others, but I hope they are able to do some good.

The President's Reading List

Matsu and I recently had an entertaining conversation in the comments of this post (entertaining to me, at least) about President Bush's reading list.

Last night I read an article in the New Yorker by Adam Gopnik on the same topic, and here it is online.

I like his conclusion particularly. Regarding Bush's reading choices of Camus (The Stranger), a book about Oppenheimer and the bomb, and a biography of Lincoln, Gopnik writes that "it is encouraging to think that he has spent the summer reflecting on the inscrutable origins of human violence and on the unimaginable destructive powers now available through American science, while contemplating the achievements of a great man who hated wars, made a necessary one, and wandered the halls of the White House agonized by the consequences. It sounds almost like the beginnings of wisdom, or, at least, a compulsory fall reading list for us all."

War Keeps Kids from School

Along with all the other terrible costs of war to a society, it keeps kids from going to school. This new report from Save the Children says that more than 43 million children worldwide can't attend school because of armed conflict. Here's the PDF of the report itself.

And a country doesn't have to be involved in a full-blown war in order to have this problem. Here in Tecwil we know that, since many children here aren't able to go to school due to the violence in their neighborhoods. Here are the countries, according to the report, where this kind of educational disruption is taking place right now: Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Timor Leste, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe.

Whew. I don't know about you, but I feel pretty overwhelmed by that list.

Forty-three million children who won't get another chance at a childhood.

Read-alouds

This year I am reading a book aloud to my 7th and 8th graders. I've already finished the first novel with my 8th graders and am now reading a few essays aloud before starting on another novel. With my 7th graders I've almost finished the first book.

I have often read things aloud to my middle schoolers in the past, and when I taught younger children I always had a read-aloud going, but this is the first time I have made reading aloud a regular part of every day. I take about ten minutes each day out of my precious class time and read a chapter of a novel.

I am completely sold on this activity for the following reasons:

1. They like to be read to. This helps reinforce the Reading = Pleasure equation.

2. We have something we've all read/heard that we can use as a basis for discussion. This supposedly happens when they are asked to read something on their own, and of course I still do require reading, but when I read it to them I know they all heard it. Reading assignments don't always get done. (Sorry if this is a shock to you.)

3. The students get to hear what good prose sounds like when it is read well. I work hard at reading the book clearly and with expression. Some of my students haven't been read to much at home, and the experience of hearing good sentences is very helpful to them when they start writing their own.

Correspondence with Desmond Tutu

Here's an interesting letter about a young girl who wrote to Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the 1980s.

9/11

If you haven't read/heard/seen enough today about 9/11, here's the BBC's coverage. Take a look at the Global Voices feature for some perspectives from other places.

Some people reported trouble getting to the list of participants in Project 2996 because of all the traffic. Here's a link that should work.

Here's a multimedia presentation that, for me, brought back a lot of the sadness I felt that day. I was especially glad to see this since I haven't seen any of the TV coverage, and I won't. It's probably good that I won't, because I tend to get obsessive about it - after 9/11 we were living in a place with cable TV and I became a CNN-junkie, almost as if I had some kind of moral obligation to keep up with every little development in the whole panicked, terrorist-filled, anthrax-ridden, fear-driven world. Now we don't have cable, and that's a good thing. But still, I needed to see some of those images again. Not too many, but some.

9/11 Memorials

Tomorrow, as everyone knows, is the fifth anniversary of September 11th, 2001.

Here is a link to the list of participants in 2,996, a project to have a blogger post a memorial to each one of the people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks. Some of the tributes are already up, and the rest should be there tomorrow.

When 9/11 happened, I was recovering from a miscarriage. I had lost my second child at eight weeks gestation three months before and I was grieving. The recent loss I'd experienced made me more sensitive to loss than usual - I was overwhelmed with the sadness and suffering of so many families all at once. And the realization that every single person was someone's baby, loved and treasured and missed forever.

I think it is wonderful to remember each one of these people so personally. I wish the same would be done for those who died in conflicts and senseless violence everywhere. Because no matter where someone was born, people matter and they are precious.

Perhaps this is a start.

Teacher Blogs

I really enjoy reading teacher blogs. Here are a couple I just discovered, via blogrolls of others I discovered a while ago:

Se Hace Camino Al Andar
The Science of Teaching Writing
RedKudu

Traumatized Children

This article about the trauma suffered by the children of New York on September 11th was sad reading. I can only imagine how terrible that day must have been for kids whose schools were right there in that neighborhood. I vividly remember watching what happened on TV that day, and I'm sure everyone reading this does, too. I'm glad the kids are getting some help and a chance to express how they feel.

And yet, this also made me think about other children around the world. Who is helping the kids who have been traumatized by a lifetime of war, bombings, and fear in other, poorer countries? Here in Tecwil, who is debriefing slum children who live in fear of gangs? In Darfur, what kind of mental health services are there for children? What kind of help is there for child soldiers? And what about street children? Or children forced into prostitution?

I know there are people working with children like these. Word Made Flesh, for example. And I'm sure there are many others.

I wish no children would suffer horrifying experiences. Failing that, I wish every child had someone to talk to, to draw pictures with. I wish every kid had help going back to school. I wish every child could go to school in the first place.

I just feel sad.

Check out the Education Carnival

I've been browsing over at the latest Education Carnival.

I definitely want to file away this idea for future reference. I'm not in the mountains but I do work with a population who tend to hear negative stereotypes about themselves.

Lots of other interesting stuff too.

But Officer, There Weren't Any Goats!

I've heard of creative excuses (I'm a teacher - I hear them every day!), but this one is in a class of its own.

Borrowed View

I've been reading about the gardening concept from China and Japan called "shakkei," or "borrowed view." A gardener takes advantage of the neighboring scenery to create a beautiful vista and add to a garden that is small or cramped.

The view from my window is of a wall with barbed wire on top. A once-luxuriant ficus tree has been pruned back until it looks like a stick with a few leaves on it. There is a streetlight outside - dark now, because the city power is not on.

Boy, do I need a borrowed view.

Of all the Daily Photo sites, the one I find myself clicking on most often is one that isn't very exotic at all, considering that my passport does say I'm an American. I find it tranquil and beautiful, though. It's this one: the Sharon, Connecticut Daily Photo Blog. Somehow it's just the ticket when the tropics are getting to me.

Summer Reading

My students turned in their summer reading assignments the first day of school. At least, lots of them did. They had to read three books and fill out a short form about each one, answering questions like: would they recommend this book to someone else? Did any of the characters remind them of anyone they knew?

Some of the kids said that the summer reading ruined their whole summer. Now, remember, we're dealing with middle schoolers here, and they are prone to hyperbole. But still, I've been thinking about the whole issue of summer reading assignments. I just found two interesting blog posts on the subject.

This teacher's daughter read a lot more when the school district didn't require summer reading. And here the same teacher writes about how sad it is that we send the message to our kids that reading is such an onerous activity that we have to check up on them (in the form of book reports or the kind of questionnaires we gave our kids) to "prove" that they did it.

What do you guys think? I want my students to read, but more importantly I want them to read for the rest of their lives, not just when I'm standing over them. That's why I gave them loads and loads of choices, and accepted any alternative titles they suggested, and tried to make the forms they filled out easy to do. Three books over the whole summer - come on! That is not such a horrible thing to ask, is it?

Sad Story

Here's a tragic story from New York.

More details here.

More Doorways

Today is theme day for the Daily Photo blogs, and the theme this time is Doorways. You can start at the Paris Daily Photo site and you'll find links there to the other forty or so blogs participating. (Eric at PDP says it's 42 others, but other sites list different numbers. Yes, I looked at all of the ones Eric listed.)

There are many wonderful photos but I think I have to go with Sainte Maxime and Jakarta as my favorites today.

Teacher Flies Foreign Flags

I can't believe this story. This geography teacher was suspended for flying foreign flags in his classroom.

He's teaching geography. That's the study of the earth. Which has lots of different countries in it.

Yeah, it seems obvious to me.

Flight 5191

I have been reading these profiles of people who died on Flight 5191 and crying. Such a sudden, unexpected death. So many bereaved family members and friends.

Quit Looking at Me!

I come from a culture where it's rude to stare. I live in a culture where it isn't. Not only that, but I have a different skin color from the majority of the people who live here and I behave oddly - not on purpose, but just by virtue of my foreign-ness.

Once, I was walking down the street carrying my baby, and a car full of young men pulled to a halt so that the passengers could stare at me, slack-jawed, until I had walked past. Often, as I emerge from my gate, groups of schoolchildren or even adults stop and gaze.

I assure you that the reason that I draw all this attention is not my great beauty. Sometimes I feel as though I was put on this earth to entertain passers-by by my very existence.

When I'm in the States, I enjoy just walking along, blending in, not being noticed.

Just Some Random Links

Here are some things that caught my eye today.

The Norwegian police found those Munch paintings that had been stolen two years ago. Don't you get the feeling that this would be a great story if we could hear all the details? I hope some day we'll get to know more about this operation.

Deb says, "Get behind me, Mr. Clean!"

And now that I'm teaching a French class again, here's a useful site I found yesterday through an ad in my Gmail account.

First Day of School

There were some glitches in the high school schedule, and the high school class I was supposed to teach didn't happen at all, but I had a good time with my middle schoolers. It was great to see those I already know and to meet the new ones.

I always forget that by the end of the year I had them trained to do things the way I like them done. Now that I'm starting from scratch with a new batch of 7th graders, there's a lot I can't take for granted.

Prayer Before an Operation

from the Book of Common Prayer

Strengthen your servant M., O God, to do what she has to do and bear what she has to bear; that, accepting your healing gifts through the skill of surgeons and nurses, she may be restored to usefulness in your world with a thankful heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Simplicity

Here's a blog I found recently called Simplicity.

There's Just No Job Security Any More

It's a sad world where even a planet can be demoted. Poor old Pluto.

Well, I say that being a dwarf planet is every bit as good. So there.

Here's a Q&A in case you want to know more about Pluto's disgrace.

Happier Person?

In the in-flight magazine for American Airlines, American Way, I read about a flight attendant who has founded a charity in Central and South America. (You can read more about it at her website.) It sounds like wonderful work she is doing.

I was struck by this quote: "Traveling from areas of relative wealth to the desperate poverty of children living and begging in the streets changes you. You become a more grateful, happy person."

I've been thinking about this quote for a couple of days now. Definitely this experience changes you. Definitely it makes you appreciate the amazing bounty you have, in comparison with so many in this world. But does it make you happier?

In some ways, I can see that this may be true. Being a thankful person is a good way to be a happy person in the sense of contentment, not constantly thinking you need more and more. But I think I would be a happier person, a more carefree person, if I didn't know some of what I know about the suffering on this planet. I don't think being happy in that way is necessarily a good goal to have - a sort of "ignorance is bliss" way of living - but I can certainly see the appeal of it some days. Wouldn't it be relaxing never to think about anything beyond your own comfort? Not good morally, but somehow restful.

What do you think? Many of my readers (not that "many" is really the word to describe my readership) have spent time in developing countries. Do you find you are happier as a result?

Horrifying Ordeal Involving Chocolate

This headline is one I just had to click on. I'm sure it was very unpleasant for the poor guy, but I have to admit it made me snicker a little.

#100

I've only been blogging four months, and this is already my hundredth post. It seems as though I should have something profound to say, but hey, why start now?

Home again, home again

Here I am, back in Tecwil. I'm trying to get things unpacked and organized at home, and next comes my first foray into my classroom of the new school year. I'm going to try to put that off until Monday. I'm very excited about starting to get the new books into my classroom library. Hooray! I love having my life organized around the school year. Who but students and teachers get to start again every August?

School Memories

I enjoyed reading this post at HuffEnglish.com. Donna is sharing the school memories of her great-great-grandmother, through a letter written in 1935.

Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Take a look at this link about the world's wildest Shakespeare Festival. Hamlet in a bouncy castle?

More on Blogging in Lebanon

In this post, I wrote that I was looking for some of the Lebanese blogs mentioned in the AP story I read. What I found was mostly in Arabic, which I can't understand.

Yesterday I found this blog, courtesy of Blogger, which lists "Blogs of Note." The author of this one was in Lebanon for a class, left on a boat during the evacuation, and then felt he had made a huge mistake and found a way to get back in to Beirut.

He's not Lebanese, but he's there, and he's posting in English. I couldn't stop reading it.

Doorways

Here's another blog I just found, Doorways Around the World. Beautiful photos! There is a link to submit some of your own photos, if you have a great doorway picture you'd like to show off.

More on Buying Clothes for Children

Well, not surprisingly, some people have rather different ideas on buying children's clothes from the way I do it.

Just point me to those people's yard sales! (Though I wouldn't buy cashmere for an infant or toddler even if it were second hand!)

Air Conditioning

The greatest risk in an American summer is of freezing to death. Air conditioners everywhere keep the temperature indoors at painful levels. I breathe a sigh of relief when I leave church, stores, or offices and feel my body begin to thaw.

Here's an interesting article on the American obsession with air conditioning.

Blog from Japan

I wanted to share this blog that I just found on a teacher site (Adventures in Educational Blogging, a blog by a woman working at an international school in Singapore). It is a fascinating look at little details about Japan and what you see and hear and experience there. It's billed as "a blog for kids about life in Japan."

Lebanese Bloggers

Here's an article about bloggers in Lebanon. I've been trying to find some of the blogs mentioned in the article (none are linked) but almost everything I've found so far has been in Arabic, which I unfortunately can't read.

I feel so sad for both sides in this conflict. Most of the people getting hurt, as always, are people who aren't political at all - they just want to live their lives, raise their children, be at peace. That's true in conflicts around the world.

Yesterday at the church I was attending, someone said, "We need to be sure to pray for Israel." I waited for him to add "...and Lebanon" but he didn't. (This wasn't the pastor - it was someone giving prayer requests during the time allotted for that.) I don't understand this. Ten times as many people have died in Lebanon. PEOPLE. What difference does it make what their nationality is? They are human beings.

Clothes with a History

I enjoy shopping at yard sales, thrift stores, and Goodwill. Sure, you have to hunt for quality, and you have to wash stuff well when you get it home, but you can't beat the prices. With my babies, I pretty well dressed them that way. Why should I spend $25 for the outfit new when I can get it for $1 after another baby drooled on it a few times? It's harder to do with older children, who have more defined tastes, but I still find something here and there. And I even find things for myself sometimes. Some of the clothes I get the most compliments on are things I picked up second-hand. Often the tags are still on the clothes.

One benefit of buying used clothes is that you get the better brands that way. The clothes that survive long enough to make it to hand-me-down status are often the better quality ones to start with. Cheaper clothes wear out on the first kid.

Some of my friends think this is nasty. One used the word "disgusting" about the maternity clothes stash that I maintain at my house and loan out to pregnant women I know. But maternity clothes are expensive, and as I told my friend, "We wash them first." I really don't see the problem.

In Tecwil, most of the people you see on the street are dressed in second-hand clothes that are imported into the country in huge bundles and bought by street merchants. This often leads to interesting sights as people wear T-shirts with English on them that they can't read or understand. But it's a cheap and easy way to get dressed.

I've been collecting links on this subject for a while, and here are some of them:

Some people think that sending used clothes to Africa is actually harming African economies. They argue that the local textile industries have been severely damaged by this practice. Here's another point of view, written by a woman who sells second-hand clothes. And here's what Oxfam's report has to say about it.

Here's a thought-provoking post on Osama bin Laden in Burkina Faso. Where do these clothes come from, and what can we conclude about the people wearing them?

And here's something on Kennedy clothes in Haiti.

Workmares

This is the time of year when teachers start having workmares. (Look at the posts for July 31st and August 1st - for some reason I'm having trouble linking directly to those.)

I had one last night about the internet connection at school being completely destroyed. Whew, that was a bad one.

Why the First Week of August?

Why is World Breastfeeding Week the first week of August?

Here's an answer from La Leche League International:

"Sixteen years ago, during the first week of August, there was a meeting of WHO/UNICEF policymakers in Florence, Italy, where the important Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding was produced. The Declaration, adopted by all WHO and UNICEF Member States, has been a key strategy on improving health of infants and young children through optimal nutrition. Many places around the world now use August 1-7 as an opportunity to raise awareness about breastfeeding."

Happy Planet Index

One more thing in the "how did I miss this?" category, and then I have to get off the computer!

Vanuatu is the happiest place in the world, according to a new index. (I got this information while browsing Porta Vila Today, a Daily Photo blog from Porta Vila, Vanuatu's largest city.)

Here's the full list. This whole site is well worth a visit - it's a fascinating way to measure the success of a country - it uses three factors, ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life-expectancy. By this measure, no country does fantastically well, but the happiest people are not the ones you'd expect. The United States is in 150th place out of 178!

And this is interesting, if rather idealistic: "Island nations score well above average in the Index: They have higher life satisfaction, higher life expectancy and marginally lower Footprints than other states. Yet incomes (by GDP per capita) are roughly equal to the world average. Even within regions, islands do well. Malta tops the Western world with Cyprus in seventh place (out of 24); the top five HPI nations in Africa are all islands; as well as two of the top four in Asia. Perhaps a more acute awareness of environmental limits has sometimes helped their societies to bond better and to adapt to get more from less. Combined with the enhanced well-being that stems from close contact with nature, the world as a whole stands to learn much from the experience of islands." (From What the Happy Planet Index Reveals.)

The enhanced well-being that stems from close contact with nature? Hmm.

Obviously this organization has some ecological axes to grind. But I have to say it is kind of nice to see Tecwil listed as happier than so many other countries, even if I can't quite believe it's true. If people there are so very happy, it's hard to understand why they are constantly trying to emigrate.

Saddest of all is poor Zimbabwe, in last place.

Don't Know Much About Current Events

You know, I really try to keep up on the news. But somehow, I can never do well on the BBC's weekly quiz.

Here, you try it.

The Code

Here's a link to The Code itself. No, not the Da Vinci Code - the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week.

Brits in Florida

I'm fascinated by stories about people living in a culture different from their own, and this one is interesting. You wouldn't think there would be a big cultural divide between two countries like the UK and the US, but I know from experience that the differences are there, and perhaps more difficult for being a bit unexpected.

My favorite comment was the one from the Englishman who complained that you can't get a decent cup of tea in Florida. Too true!

Breastfeeding Reduces Anxiety

Just in time for WBW, here's an article about how breastfeeding reduces anxiety in the breastfed child - even years after weaning.

Breastfeeding reduces anxiety in the mother, too, though this article doesn't go into that. Once you get past the stressful early weeks, it's very soothing to know that you have everything your baby needs nutritionally for the first six months. And then there's the hormonal cocktail of prolactin and oxytocin, which has been shown to calm down the breastfeeding mother.

World Breastfeeding Week

It's World Breastfeeding Week! This year the theme is a very activist one, Code Watch: 25 Years of Protecting Breastfeeding.

"The Code" is the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. (Here's some information.) That's just what formula is, a breastmilk substitute, meant for those rather rare cases when a mother can't breastfeed. But have you looked at a baby magazine lately? They are all stuffed with formula ads. Doesn't look as though formula is rarely used, but instead as though every baby has to have it. Here are some ways breastfeeding is undermined by marketing.

Today, most women in this country are sent home from the hospital with a bag full of formula samples "in case breastfeeding doesn't work out." The message is that formula is just as good as breastmilk, and also that it's fairly likely breastfeeding won't work out. With encouragement like that, it's no wonder that breastfeeding rates drop off quickly. Because it CAN be very tough at first. You're exhausted. You just produced a new human being! You and your baby both have a lot of learning to do in those early weeks.

Call La Leche League! (1-800-LALECHE to find a Leader near you in the United States, or check out this list to find groups and Leaders around the world.) There's also lots of great breastfeeding information on the web now. Here are some of my favorite links. Talk to someone who breastfed successfully and ignore the horror stories. Why do people want to tell you their terrible labor tales right before you give birth and regale you with dreadful breastfeeding anecdotes when you're desperately trying to latch on your newborn? Surround yourself with encouraging people!

Tulip Girl posted a list of people blogging about WBW yesterday. I'm a day late and a dollar short on this one.

August - already?

All the teacher blogs are talking about back-to-school plans. My curriculum guide is all ready to go. Only just under four weeks until the first day of school.

A recent discussion on a mailing list I read became heated when someone asked, "Why do people only care about the Middle East? What about crises everywhere else?" While I don't think anyone could accuse me of only caring about one part of the globe (check out my archives for evidence), here are a few other things going on.

"Don't kill Harry Potter!" beg John Irving and Stephen King.

There is a crisis in Britain over people's inability to boil eggs.

And a real crisis to end my flippancy, elections in Congo.

Refugees Taught How to Eat American Food

from BBC News

In a classroom on Chicago's north side, nutritionist Bindi Desai points at a sign of an obese man holding a hamburger with a pained expression on his face.

"This guy is overweight," she says, explaining that this is because he eats too much fast food and drinks cola.

"And guess what happens?" she asks. "Inside his body there are lots of problems."

At a table, a dozen or so refugees - most of them from Africa - sit and nod. Some smile and chat among themselves. They appear to get the picture.

This workshop on how to eat American food responsibly is part of an Illinois state-funded programme to improve the nutrition of refugees who are being re-settled in the land of plenty.

"First we are most concerned about whether they will understand how to eat American food," says Shana Willis, with the non-profit refugee resettlement agency Heartland, one of the project co-ordinators.

"They did not only not understand how to eat American food, but they went immediately to the junk food and it was then that we realised, this is going to have a much more important impact than we anticipated."

Culture shock

One of the major challenges for organisers is to change the way the refugees think about food. Many of the new arrivals suffered from malnutrition and came from places where food was scarce.

Some want to make up for a lifetime in which they were denied meat. Others gravitate towards the fizzy orange drink and crisps, believing they are a great source of vitamins.

And there is plain culture shock.

"I have been here just a few months and its very disorientating," says one man through a translator. "Where will I find dates to break my Ramadan fasting? And, where do I get halal goat meat?"

In mid-western Chicago, the answer is not obvious.

During the workshop Ms Desai holds up a plastic prop of a piece of broccoli.

"How many vegetables do you eat in the day?" she asks the class.

One man says something quietly.

"He eats nothing!" exclaims one woman, giggling - "He eats no vegetables!"

"Oh-oh," says Ms Desai.

Shopping tips

She asks the class how much pasta is in a serving. One man puts out his whole arm and points to his wrist.

"No," she says, "one serving is a cupped hand."

"If you only eat one time, maybe the arm is okay."

Aside from presenting the workshops, Ms Desai pays home visits to help steer the refugees towards smart shopping.

"When they first come, there is a lot of hoarding," she says. "More than they need."

"So I tell them it won't run out - in fact it will spoil," she explains.

Ms Desai weeds through their cupboards, encouraging the beans, pasta and vegetables and discouraging the junk food.

But teaching shopping tips sometimes is not enough. Many of the refugees are living in Chicago's poorer neighbourhoods and they can have difficulty finding healthy food. So Ms Desai also organises grocery store tours.

She says she sees evidence in the cupboards that her lessons are making a difference.

Learning

Organisers say the project has been so successful with African populations arriving in the United States, that it will be expanded to incorporate other refugee groups, with renewed funding from the state.

Back at the workshop, Ms Desai is wrapping up.

"Did you learn anything?" she asks.

One man raises his hand. "Eat too much food and you get fat," he says.

"That's right," says Ms Desai.

Another man joins in and says: "Salt not good. Sugar not good. Oil not good. Fat not good. Blood pressure, heart problems. Yup, Yup."

Ms Desai laughs and says: "Very good. You're learning our slang."

Article on PDP

I've posted lots of plugs here for various Daily Photo blogs. Today the original, PDP (Paris Daily Photo), has posted an article from The Blog Reader about his site. Here it is.

I agree with the commenter who wrote that "cultural understanding has been heightened as a result" of the Daily Photo blogs. For me, they are a constant reminder of what a huge world this is and how little I know about most of it.

Take a look at the PDP site if you haven't already, and check out the list of links in the sidebar to DP blogs from around the world.

It's a Japanese Thing - You Wouldn't Understand

from the Japan Times

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

BEHIND AMBIGUITY
When muzukashii means more than 'difficult'

By ROGER PULVERS
Special to The Japan Times

I wish I had a share of Google stock for every time I have heard a Japanese person tell me that their language is "aimai na gengo (an ambiguous language)." How did this bizarre notion originate, and why do many Japanese entertain it? And what's more, can a language itself be ambiguous, apart from the people who use it?

Consider the following situations in which seemingly ambiguous words or phrases are used.

You, a non-Japanese, are at a party with your spouse. A Japanese acquaintance is there too, and you approach and greet him. Then you ask, "Okusama wa? (Where is your wife?)."

"Aa, kanai wa chotto (Oh, my wife is a bit . . .)" he replies, nodding knowingly.

A bit what? A Japanese might tell you that there is a definite aimaisa in this answer, making it difficult for a non-Japanese to understand. Undaunted by vague replies, you persist.

"I understand that you like Canadian films," you say. "Why is that?"

"Ma, suki desu ne. Nantonaku (Well, I do like them. Somehow.)"

Somehow? Now how would that be? Still not prepared to give up on what appears to be an exceedingly blurry-worded individual, you home in on him for the kill with a final question, determined to get at least one concrete answer out of him.

"So," you say, squinting piercingly at him, "how about that job for me? Are you going to hire me as your eikaiwa no sensei (English conversation teacher)?"

"Ya (Hmm)," he says, scratching the nape of his neck, "muzukashii desu ne (It's difficult, I think)."

What's difficult? Is English too difficult for him? Now you are so hopelessly in a gorimuchu (fog) that you throw up your arms in despair, smile (which is always a vague way to get out of sticky situation) and make a beeline for the kappamaki (a roll of cucumber-stuffed sushi) on the buffet table.

Now, not a few Japanese will tell you that you have come up against traditional, garden-party variety Japanese ambiguity. They will aver that any Japanese would understand implicitly that the man simply does not want to commit himself as to why his wife is indisposed; that his preference for Canadian cinema is a natural liking, the reason for which he cannot put his finger on; and that muzukashii doesn't really mean "difficult" in that context, it means "No way, Jose."

Be all that as it may, in the above cases it is not the language itself but rather its user that is being equivocal.

I am frequently told that Japanese people share ishin denshin, or a kind of telepathic silent communication. A wink here, a smile there, a bit of tongue sucking thrown in and you've got all the information you need to write "War and Peace." Actually, this facility exists in many cultures.

If there is a difference between Japanese and, say, most Westerners, the Japanese may be more apt to pause and remain silent. A Japanese person may typically shy away from making vehement statements of like and dislike, particularly if they think it might offend someone.

Instead of telling you that you are not going to be hired to teach English conversation, the person uses muzukashii to soften the answer.

Actually, Japanese is by no means an ambiguous language; and furthermore, when two people understand each other, no matter how vague-sounding their words may be, they are communicating in a totally concrete fashion. If non-Japanese do not pick up on the meanings, it is not because the language is ambiguous, but probably because they are unfamiliar with the customs and social conventions of Japan, where enryo (restraint) and kikubari (sensitivity to the feelings of others) are virtually considered national virtues.

A Japanese who answers like the man at the party is no doubt speaking "ambiguously" for a very solid reason. Whether you can guess that reason or not depends not primarily on your linguistic abilities but on how profoundly you understand the speaker's culture, personality and psychology.

Naomi Shihab Nye

I have been reading this wonderful Arab-American poet. I love the poem she wrote about her Palestinian grandmother, called "Stain." It ends with these words:

"What was the thing she never gave up?
The simple love of her difficult place."

Here's something else Nye wrote: a Letter from Naomi Shihab Nye to Any Would-Be Terrorists. I especially love these words:

"Sometimes I wish everyone could have parents from different countries or ethnic groups so they would be forced to cross boundaries, to believe in mixtures, every day of their lives. Because this is what the world calls us to do."

I'm not making political comments on the situation in the Middle East. I'm just saying - human beings on both sides are having their lives torn apart. And it makes me very sad.

As someone else who has a "simple love of her difficult place," I'm crying today for those people.

Americans Stuck in Lebanon Get No Sympathy

In this article, Kevin Sites tells about some Lebanese-Americans who are trapped in Lebanon. I thought it was a heart-rending story.

Then I read the comments.

I don't know if the people commenting on this story are a cross-section of Americans, but I was very surprised by some of the reactions. Many say that those people shouldn't have been in Lebanon anyway. Why not? The country has been at peace for six years. Beirut was an up-and-coming tourist destination - by all accounts a gorgeous city. (See the Beirut Daily Photo Blog for some evidence. You'll have to look back a few days because the recent photos aren't so lovely.) Some comments claim that the State Department has been telling people for years to stay out of the whole Middle East, so whatever happens to those people they just deserve.

The other thing that surprised me was the way many of these commenters assume that to visit Lebanon is to fraternize with terrorists. Some say that these people went to Lebanon, supported terrorists, and now expect the US to save them.

Few of the commenters understand that the people in the article have Lebanese heritage and they are visiting family members. That doesn't seem difficult to grasp. But apparently it is.

As someone who lives in a country often described as dangerous, and a country for which the State Department has a travel advisory, and a place from which Americans have in the past been evacuated, I find these attitudes quite interesting. People have many different reasons to visit and/or live in difficult places. (One comment said, "If these are Americans why the *&^% would they want to live there?") Sometimes people feel that there is work to be done that justifies the choice to live in a place that may not be 100% safe. (Oh, and by the way, a place that is 100% safe doesn't exist on this earth.) Others have family there. Many people were in Lebanon studying Arabic - it was considered a safe, Western-friendly place to do that.

I guess it just amazes me that people have so little imagination and empathy. They see an international tragedy unfolding, and they sit and type snide little comments blaming people caught in the crossfire. This week a child died in a Wal Mart in Indianapolis when a mirror fell on him - immediately people started blaming his mother. Last year when an American family had their children kidnapped, I remember reading a comment from someone who suggested that the children's father should have remained celibate - as though by having children and living in a place where kidnappings happen, he was pretty much asking for whatever he got. Why is people's first instinct to blame the victim?

Actually, I have a pretty good answer to that last question. I've come to believe that many people want to fool themselves into thinking that in their lives they are invulnerable. When bad things happen to others, they like to figure out the reason it happened and reassure themselves that that would never apply to them. That way they can know that they and theirs will be fine.

Come on, people.

Ancient Book of Psalms Found in Irish Bog

This is a great story.

Terminology Drift

I went to a teacher supply store today and didn't find much of what I was looking for. Much of what I saw made me think of this quote from the Harvey Daniels book I'm reading, Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups.

"In education, we have a recurrent problem that might be called 'terminology drift.' Here's what happens. First, a new pedagogical practice - take 'writing workshop,' for example - is invented, described, and introduced to the profession. There are originators, there are definitions, there is literature specifically describing the practice. In 'writing workshop' the innovation was outlined back in the 1980s by authors like Nancie Atwell, Don Graves, and Lucy Calkins. They identified the key, defining features of a workshop: student choice of topics, a big chunk of writing practice time, teacher as mentor and coach, a process approach featuring formative conferences, using peers as editors and collaborators, helping kids develop a portfolio of ongoing work, and so forth.

Then the idea of 'writing workshop' starts to spread around the country. It gets popular. The term 'writing workshop' just trips off the tongue. It sounds good, current, with-it. Suddenly, there are teachers who call it 'writing workshop' when they assign kids to write a five-paragraph theme on the color symbolism in The Scarlet Letter or a story titled 'How It Would Feel to Be a Butterfly.' All the essential, defining ingredients of true writing workshop - student choice and responsibility, teacher mentoring - are absent; the only ingredient of writing workshop that's present is the name.

Now, I'm not saying that the above writing assignments are evil, wicked, sinful, or even wrong. But they are not writing workshop. And the same thing has happened to literature circles, big time. Today, it seems that any time you gather a group of students together for any activity involving reading, you can go right ahead and call it a literature circle. . . . I try to remember to count to ten when I see the advertisement for another thirty-dollar compendium of handy-dandy role sheets. I bite my tongue during the workshop on 'Infusing Punctuation Skills into Literature Circles.' But while letting everyone have their own meritorious adaptations and second-generation versions, I'm going to oppose severe terminology drift. If people don't know what the thing really is, they can never try the real thing."

He goes on to define, very clearly and appealingly, what the real thing is.

Lots of terminology drift at the teacher store. Lots of worksheets on the writing process and literature circles. And everything costs a fortune!

St. George Offensive?

This is old news, but I just found out about it. Apparently the Church of England is considering replacing St. George as the patron saint of England. He is too aggressive and warlike and because he fought in the crusades, he could offend Muslims. He'd be replaced by St. Alban. Read all about it here. And by the way, shouldn't that be slain, not slayed? ("Will George be slayed as England's patron saint?")

Like most people, I imagine, all I know about St. George is that he slew (slayed?!) a dragon. So I visited Wikipedia and found out more. Interestingly, Muslims have a figure associated with him called al-Khadr. I'm not quite sure what it means to be "associated with him" in this context, since clearly these two men lived in totally different times and places. I've cut and pasted the relevant section from Wikipedia below.

"In Islamic cultures, the figure of al-Khadr (or al-Khidr; according to the Qur'an a companion of the prophet Moses), is associated with St.George, who is also venerated under that name by Christians among mainly Muslim people, especially Palestinian people, and mainly around Jerusalem, where according to tradition he lived and often prayed near the Temple Mount, and is venerated as a protector in times of crisis. His main monument is the elongated mosque Qubbat al-Khadr ('The Dome of al-Khadr') which stands isolated from any close neighbors on the northwest corner of the Dome of the Rock terrace in Jerusalem."

Read the comments on the Daily Mail article and you'll see that plenty of people are not at all happy with the idea of jettisoning St. George. And it also looks as though St. Alban was a soldier as well (Roman). Won't the people fought by the Romans be offended?

Electricity Problems

Oh, guys, I know what you're going through. No fun. And at least in Tecwil, we're used to the power cuts and know how to deal with them. You folks don't have any kind of backup. I hope your electricity is fixed soon.

Reading Harvey Daniels

I experimented with Literature Circles at the end of last year and while they went pretty well, I was interested in learning more effective ways of handling things. So I'm reading Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs & Reading Groups, by Harvey Daniels. It's a great book, and it has sparked many ideas for how I'm going to do this next year. I'm only in the 5th chapter, so I may have more to post about it when I'm further on.

Here's a quote from the first chapter: "For the schools with the lowest test scores, the test results ensure that the kids will never get what they need, which is books, experiences, conversations, ideas, interaction, and learning."

Thankfully we aren't driven by test scores in the same way as US schools, but I was struck by the list of things kids need. "Books, experiences, conversations, ideas, interaction, and learning." That's what I need to grow as a person and a reader and a thinker, and of course those are the things my kids need too.

For All Sorts and Conditions of Men

from The Book of Common Prayer

O God, the creator and preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for thy holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; [especially those for whom our prayers are desired]; that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

Too many bloggers? There are only 12 million!

Information Week has an interesting article about bloggers. Turns out that only 8% of adult internet users post a blog, but 39% read them. The vast majority of bloggers write about their daily lives and don't consider what they do journalism.

Salaam, Mumbai

Back in June I filed away an article I read about Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) protesting being named the world's rudest city. People in Mumbai aren't rude, the residents said. (Here's the full list of the cities surveyed.)

Since then, of course, Mumbai has been in the news for a much more tragic reason, and all the news stories I read after the bombings talked at length about how people rallied around the injured and took care of things. The next day, according to the Mumbai Daily Photo Blog, life was back to normal. July 12th's posting refers to the "spirit of Bombay."

Today, a week after the bombings, Mumbai observed two minutes of silence in honor of those who died in yet another senseless act of terrorism.

I've never been to Mumbai but my heart goes out to the people there today. And so do my prayers.

Working on my curriculum...

The spellcheck suggests that for "minilessons" I substitute "mindlessness."

Um...I hope not?

Finally! An African Daily Photo Blog!

There's now a Daily Photo Blog from Accra, Ghana. I'm hoping more will appear soon.

No McDonald's?

This link popped up in my gmail account and I had to read it. Are there any countries in the world without McDonald's? Of course, I know the answer to that, since I live in such a country, but I was fascinated to see how long the list was. I've cut and pasted it at the end of this post.

See what a large percentage of the world's population is living without McDonald's? Kind of refreshing, isn't it? Just when you thought we were living in one big McWorld.

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, the Holy See, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, the Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Summer

Our summer has been busy so far; my dad has been in the hospital and we have been rushing back and forth to see him. My husband is traveling. I haven't made as much progress as I had hoped with my curriculum guide, my big project for the summer, but I have done some on it. I have been thinking about it a great deal and much of what I need to do is already thought through - now to put it on paper.

Meanwhile I'm getting updates from Tecwil on sick people and political unrest.

I always thought it sounded really cool when an author was described on a book jacket as dividing her time between two places. You know: "Ms. X. spends half the year in Cape Cod and the other half on the French Riviera." I realized a couple of years ago that I divide my time between two places as well. They aren't as impressive as those places, maybe, but it could be said of me: "Ms. H. spends the majority of her time in a developing country and several weeks each summer in mid-America." Or: "Ms. H. divides her time between the third world and the first." Or: "Ms. H. lives on one planet during the school year and another one in the summer."

In any case, I hope all of my readers (all half dozen of you, as they say on National Public Radio) have not abandoned me because of my failure to post. Stay tuned.

Fourth of July

There's nothing like the fourth of July in a small town in mid-America. We watched a wonderful parade this morning, had burgers and hot dogs at the camp ground next to the town to the accompaniment of an assortment of musical performers, and are now at home resting up for the fireworks tonight.

Songs

This morning in church we sang two songs I love. One was Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus, which the congregation sang at our wedding. The other was "How Great is Your Love." I tried to link you to those words, but every site I found says, "Lyrics can not be displayed for copyright reasons." They are good, though.

Breastfeeding Links

I'm moving my breastfeeding links from my sidebar. Here are the ones I already have there:

Common Sense
La Leche League


...and here are some more great ones:

Kellymom
Dr. Newman