They had some kids reading things in English. I thought the little girl on the left had some very big and beautiful eyes.
One of my assignments of the my Fellowship in Baku is working with AzETA (the Azerbaijani English Teachers' Association). They completed their 4th International Conference this past weekend. It is actually pretty interesting as there are teachers coming from the UK, Turkey, Georgia, Iran and throughout Azerbaijan for the conference. It gave me the chance to meet more teachers here and have most invite me to speak in their cities. I am one of those people who hates to say no to work, because I like to do stuff. Still, looking at things, I have only had one day off in the past month and I was very sick then. So many people want to go here or there to speak and while i want to, it is just not possible right now.
I presented both days of the conference.
Workshops, workshops, workshops. Boy-o-boy, talk about excitement!
On Saturday, my topic was using DVDs and film to further develop communicative and reading skills in ESL students. I actually had a lot of fun, but most of the locals had that look on their face like they could not understand the words coming out of my mouth. On Sunday, my topic was using recorded music to develope communicative and composition skills in ESL students. I had a lot of fun with that one as I got to play some great music by Sun Kil Moon, Joel R.L. Phelps and the Downer Trio and Rocky Votolato. Unfortunately, i am still trying to devise a way to use music from the bands like Napalm Death in my classes. (FYI, for those unfamiliar with Napalm Death, they sound like they have a very angry Cookie Monster singing lead for them and in all honesty I would never use them in my class, but I do like their music.) I was smart enough to bring my camera with me so I had an excuse to not sit through most of the workshops.
Overall, not a bad weekend, but it has made for an extremely long work week.
