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| photo courtesy William Little |
William
Little is a Senior Instructor at Georgetown
University Adana , Turkey
Between the protests in Turkey and the violence in Syria
Adana is in
the southeast, about a hundred miles from Syria. When I traveled to schools close to the
border, I always felt more welcome than threatened. I think they were happy to see that someone
made the effort to go to the border to work with those students.
During the
revolt, I could see teargas in the streets from my apartment window. And some of my Turkish friends told me of
their friends who had been detained for sending anti-government tweets. But I never felt personally endangered or
like I represented anything to the protesters as an American. It was their revolt, their message to their
own government.
Believe it
or not, the only thing that was really scary was simply trying to cross the
street. The drivers in Adana
What’s it like to be an English
Language Fellow? Do you recommend it?
I had a
great experience, so I would definitely recommend it. It’s a really good program that gives you a
lot of responsibility. That can benefit
you either in going back to your current job or in applying for a new one. From what I’ve seen, schools look at a resume
and think “if you were able to do all this in a different country, then you’re
going to be a pretty reliable person for our faculty.”
But it might
not be everybody’s cup of tea. You have
to be very good about getting a photo and writing a summary of everything you
do. The State Department is paying for
your fellowship, and they want to be able to show what you’ve been doing.
You need to
be patient with bureaucracy, and you need to be very flexible, in any situation
that might come up at work or in the community. It’s also important that you enjoy meeting
people and having new experiences. It
can be pretty lonely otherwise.
American English is a useful site to know what
resources are available and to get more information from the
Dept. of State’s Office of English Language Programs.
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| photo courtesy William Little |
You also taught in Turkey
Ironically,
it’s both more modern now and in many cases more conservative, both of which
are attributable to the current government.
The infrastructure has improved greatly (for example, it’s much easier
to travel by plane), but otherwise it doesn’t seem very different. The people are just as friendly as before.
For me
personally, a big difference is that this time I was with my family. Between my height and my younger son’s blond
hair, we clearly stood out as the only foreign family in the neighborhood. The boys got a lot of attention (sometimes
too much!), and they had a great time playing soccer and basketball with the
local kids.
My wife and
I decided to teach them at home rather than enroll them in a Turkish school
because back home the boys were in a Spanish Immersion program and my wife’s a
native Spanish speaker. Before we left,
we met with their teachers to plan what we needed to go over and get the
materials we needed. The boys liked
writing reports about the interesting places we visited, and they really
enjoyed going to school in pajamas.
What does “mindful teaching” mean to
you? Do you have a mindfulness practice,
and if so, how does it help you in your work?
I run, swim,
and do yoga, all of which help me to stay in shape physically. But what really helps me to stay in shape
mentally is walking, especially when I can go to the forest with my dog. I need that quiet time to clear my head.
To me,
“mindful teaching” sits at the intersection of sound pedagogy and self
awareness. Try to reflect and see if
what you’re doing is effective and useful for the students, not just from an
academic point of view, but also in their lives. Just as important as knowing what you’re
doing and what’s good for the students, is realizing what you’re good at, and
who you are.
If you’re
able to do all of that successfully, I think you’ll be successful not just in
the classroom but also in terms of keeping your own sanity and not getting
burnt out.
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related posts:
English Language Teaching in Central Asia
Teaching English in Brazil
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