Turkish Students and On Line Teaching

 Before I leave the blog for a few days...I'm going to be buried in grading and planning the rest of the week...I want to give a shout out to all my teacher friends and family who are on line teaching.  What a worm hole it is!  A true test of will to accomplish.  So, to all my teacher friends and family, I am now with you. You deserve a mountain of money to compensate for the headaches and learning curves you have had to maneuver.

That being said, I am managing on-line learning.    I am in awe of the technical support at Enka .  I have a number of people to call with problems. We "meet" on Google Meet and they show me, through the wonder of split screen and screen sharing, how to go about fixing or doing whatever I need to do.  I'm not doing anything "fancy," but I can show a Powerpoint, a Video, or blank page where students can watch me write as they brainstorm (I like to do on the white/black board in the classroom).  This week I successfully set up separate groups to meet  in their own Google Meet while I popped in and out to answer questions.  But, I tried to give a quiz on line and it was not successful.  I'm not going to go into all the reasons, but I won't try it like I did again.  Utter fail.  And I'll spare you (for now) how I feel about grading on line.

As a seasoned teacher, I know the beginning of school is the "honeymoon" period.  All students try to be, polite and cooperative.  I've just finished week two and my Turkish students speak good English, are attentive, polite - they say "good morning" and actually wave good-bye and say thank you when class is over!  They are smart!  I read some impressive Paper 1s yesterday from the IB seniors.  Now, they are not perfect.  There were 4 students who did not turn in this assignment!  They have received an email from their teacher :-)

I hope to capture some of what the students say and do in this blog. First, the ugly.  At the beginning of class, one of my 9th grader asked:  "Ms. Phyllis, did you know that Mr. Trump and China are getting together to put Muslims in concentration camps?"  My stomach sank and I had to catch my breath.  I told Kerim, I truly believed that was not true, although there had been some reports of Muslims being mistreated in China.  I told them I taught Muslim students in the United States.  There are many Muslims in America and this would be impossible to happen in America. (Right? Then I remember the Japanese interment camps...)   That this student thought this true of America, sickened me.  I should tell you, my students are all culturally Muslim.  But, this is a secular school. The girls do not wear hijabs and there is no stopping for prayer.  

On a lighter note - the funny.  I am insecure about grading on line.  So, I asked my class if everyone saw their grade and my comments on line.  They all affirmed they did.  One student turned on his mic and said:  "I did, but all your comments are in English!" All the students laughed and I'm sure if we were in a classroom someone would have bopped him on the head.  This is an English class!  And Google translate is your friend.