#REVERB12 (Day 5): What was your dream destination in 2012? For me, it was connecting meaningfully with my students...

GETTING TO THE HEART OF MATTERS IN TEACHING.

What was your dream destination in 2012 and why? It can be a town, city, country or region -- real or imaginary -- and doesn't matter if you actually got there or not!

A DREAM DESTINATION for me in 2012 and all of my teaching career has been to connect in a meaningful way with my students, striding past the content and jumping right into relationship of a trusting give-and-take! YES, that is a magnificent DREAM DESTINATION for any teacher, and I arrived there in that juicy connection with my international students this year because of a new course I taught at the Georgia Tech Language Institute--IMPROVISATION!

After taking an improvisation class (improv for short) on-and-off since 2009, my director Karen Tucker, gave me the opportunity to teach improv for the first time in the Spring 2 Session. I had the good fortune to have my improv teacher, Lesly Fredman, help me develop the course, and come to several classes to help launch and instruct these "novel" classes for our English as a Second Language program.

THE FIRST IMPROV ESL CLASS. In the spring of 2012, I arrived at the beginning of my DREAM DESTINATION-- teaching accent enhancement and fluency to internationals at Georgia Tech's Language Institute by doing improvisation. They were an amazing group of students who took to the rules of improv like ducks to water! (photo by Ruth Schowalter)

Improv comes rich with a box of teaching tools and practices for expanding confidence and developing social CONNECTIONS. One of them is that we eliminate the barrier of the desk. To do improv, students must leave their chairs, get on their feet, and interact in close proximity with EVEN the teacher. 

One of the rules of improv is "make your partner look good," and that requires teamwork! Many of the exercises that we ESL improv "actors" do in my class focus on team building--working compassionately together with one another as a group. Whether it be playing "red ball, green ball" or "counting to twenty, or "building a machine," students discover physical and verbal clues to work together. As the teacher, I AM RIGHT THERE WITH THE STUDENTS doing the improv exercises--it has taken more than 20 years to arrive to this DREAM DESTINATION!

To TEACH improv, one must DO improv. And when the teacher DOES what she is TEACHING, the dynamics in the classroom are electric, and the results rewardingly surprising! The TEACHER, ME, LEARNS too! I become a coach, engaged with the team, and the classroom is our field of exploration, connection, and--COMMUNICATION! The target language is being used every day during the entire class period!

And I have discovered in a very short time that improv class gives students more than language skills, it gives them SKILLS FOR LIFE. On the morning of Thanksgiving 2012, this email (the student shall remain anonymous) greeted me: 

"I am X, a student from the Improv class. Wish you a happy Thanksgiving Day! I am writing to express my thankfulness in this special holiday.

I really enjoy the Improv class and I really appreciate your teaching.You have changed my life in this course This is the best class I have ever took. The most important skill in the class is "never be afraid to make mistakes." I used to be a shy boy and are afraid to make mistakes. But then I learned the improv rules and I am more willing to participate in the class activities. That is a big change for me ! I am more risk-taking in communication. I am more confident in communicating with strangers. I hope more and more people can make their life different after taking the improv class. Thank you for teaching us the improv rules. It is not only useful in English, but also helpful in life. Thank you, you are a brilliant teacher!"

WOW! This student email announced that I had truly arrived at my DREAM DESTINATION! Thank you any and every student who takes time to let his or her teacher know they have had an impact!

BUILDING TEAM SPIRIT. A wonderful aspect of the improv classroom is that students must learn to work together in order to "play off" of one another, saying "yes" to their partner, and striving to make their partner look good! I am pictured on the far left in white, and Lesly Fredman, my improv teacher is behind the woman dressed in purple on the left. (photo taken by one of the improv students, who for privacy reasons did not want to be pictured.)

VOWEL MACHINE. An excellent team building exercise! Here the students chose one of the 15 vowel sounds and built a machine which could run efficiently or slow down and collapse! It certainly was noisy! (photo by Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth)

ELEVATOR. To develop strategies for interacting with different people, students get lessons in building an array of characters. In this exercise, students get on and off an imaginary elevator. The new character getting on the elevator establishes the scene and all of the other students must follow the behavior. (photo by Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth)

HIGH STATUS-LOW STATUS. What does your body language look like when you feel powerful? And the reverse, when you don't? Using high status body language can empower and give you confidence even when you lack it. (photo by Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth)

THE PROFESSIONAL LOOK! As a result of using improvisation with these international students enrolled in an intensive English course before beginning their 2-year MBA course at Emory's Goizueta Business School, they willingly respond to a variety of prompts when posing for a class photo! The prompt for this photo was, "Look Professional"!  See the blog entry I wrote about teaching improv to this class in 2012.(photo by Harriet Ruskin)

IMPROV CLASS FALL I 2012. Improv class is fun. And, I have arrived at having fun teaching! Another great destination! This group was my second improv group. Lesly Fredman continued to assist me with some of my classes.(photo by Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth)

IMPROV CLASS FALL II 2012. To practice intonation and lengthening the vowel in the stressed words, students are reading Taylor Mali's poem, "I Could Be A Poet."  Afterwards, they were given five random nouns to create their own impromptu poem and demonstrating the language skills! (photo by Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth)

IMPROV HOMEWORK. Homework for improv class takes them outside the classroom to practice their improv skills with native speakers and other internationals! They are asked to extend the "scene" or interaction for as long as they can using the rules of improv.  (photo by Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth)

IMPROV WISDOM. To find out more about the rules of improv, check out Patricia Ryan Madson's book, Improv Wisdom. She made a career of teaching college students improv because of the important rules that it teaches for life. Here we were playing low status! (photo taken by one of the improv students, who for privacy reasons did not want to be pictured.)

THANKS TO KAT MCNALLY for HOSTING REVERB12 Hurray for Kat who lives in Melbourne, Australia, and blogs at "I Saw You Dancing." and is hosting Reverb12. Pilgrims, I suggest you go there and sign up to blog with others from around the world!

BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY #27) SAVOURY SATURDAY: EXPRESSING GRATITUDE FOR ALL THAT IS IN MY LIFE!

Hallelujah for LIFE and ALL of LIFE's ABUNDANCE. For Kat's 27th day of her Blogtoberfest #12 being hosted on her blog, "I Saw You Dancing," she asked us to write about the gratitude we experience in our lives. She calls her post "Savoury Saturday," and here is her post for today (You'll find a really delicious recipe for mango, avocado, and feta cheese salad there!).

ATLANTA BELTLINE ART, EASTSIDE TRAIL. I continue to be immensely grateful for the ART that Atlanta is providing now for the public in such a beautiful arena--a path that cuts right through the city's heart! In addition to being in the presence of city skyscrapers, cyclers, joggers, and pedestrians, we all get to pause to view explosive expressions from local Artists. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

THE EXPRESSIVENESS OF GRAFFITI.  I am grateful for the spontaneous beauty that explodes randomly on the wall spaces along the Atlanta BeltLine's Eastside Trail. I am grateful for individuals who possess the boldness to express themselves in a way that we can all see what is in their hearts and on their minds. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

HALLELUJAH FOR COMMUNITY AND COLLABORATION! I am thankful how each and everyone of us has a unique vision and ability to express that vision. How exciting it is when we join together, and our voices are heard as if  united in one symphony. Here along the Atlanta BeltLine, I see a song here created by the visual expression of several graffiti artists and nature. How about you? (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

SMART COMPANIONSHIP OF A GEOLOGICAL SPOUSE.  I am grateful the exquisite companionship of my brilliant geologist husband, Chiboogamoo. I appreciate his love for all things geological and for speaking the language of rocks! It was such a pleasure to walk along with him on the Eastside Trail of the Atlanta BeltLine and see him hear local rocks calling out to him. "Some of these are probably granodirorite from Stone Mountain. Some are also looking like gneiss and amphibolite!" Thank you honey! (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

LONGTERM FRIENDSHIP.  I am thankful for these women in my life. As an army brat who moved constantly and did not have the opportunity to establish longterm friendships when I was a child, this group of friends that formed around 1994 constitute some of the longest lasting relationships I have had in my life other than my family. I am in the front row, far right. (photo by Robert Glickman)

INSTRUCTOR TO ENTHUSIASTIC INTERNATIONALS.  I am so grateful to the Language Institute at Georgia Tech and the intense, ambitious, and friendly students that attend my classes. This is a photo of the very first Improvisation-ESL class that I taught in collaboration with Lesly Fredman in the Spring 2012. I am now teaching the course for the third time! Hallelujah! (photo by an LI student) 

FELINE FAMILY MEMBERS.  Hurray for cats! Our two cat children bring us endless hours of fun and love. I am especially grateful that Sapelo and Tao love each other and keep each other company while we are gone during the day. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! What are you grateful for right now, right here, in your life? Soul Blog with me and tell me!

TOTEMS FROM MY LIFE: HALLELUJAH FOR COLOR AND SYMBOL!

Hallelujah for COLORS! Hallelujah Pilgrims for RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, BLUE, BLACK AND GREEN! On the last day of my creative writing class for spring session one at the Georgia Tech Language Institute, my students decided they wanted to write one more blog entry using a "group-selected" topic (See the previousgroup  blog they selected the topics for.) Since no one had a "working" idea, I suggested a "color-themed" one, and they happily chose the following colors with the exception of the color GREEN, which I added because they chose to post on St. Patrick's Day, 3/17 at 3:17 pm  (The use of the simultaneous numbers came from the writer of the blog, Pitch Your Guts.)

Below is my response to this blog entry prompt. But first, you may want to take a look at a few of my students' responses (Footprint of Water, Blueberry Cellophane, and Butterflying to Infinity) . The totems you see below dwell in the household I share with my darling Chiboogamoo.

RED DEVIL OF GLUTTONY

RED DEVIL OF GLUTTONY reminds me in a humorous way of the primal energy in all of us that hungers endlessly for the THINGS of this EARTH.



 


 

ORANGE MAGICAL JAGUAR

ORANGE JAGUAR is powerfully magic. This totem reminds me of all that is unknown to me. Present in my life as a mask, I continue to feel invited to "try" a new way of being on.



YELLOW ANGEL OF TRUTH

 YELLOW ANGEL OF TRUTH, watches me as I sleep. As a teenager studying at a Catholic high school in Columbus, Georgia, one of my teachers, a priest, advised me to always "search for the truth." He struck his breast right below his white collar with his hand on his heart. Since then, I have grown into RUTHTRUTH and HALLELUJAH TRUTH on my pilgrim's sojourn.

BLUE EVIL EYE

Oh BLUE EVIL EYE! How I love YOU watching ME! Hallelujah thanks the Turkish student who brought you into my life! You remind me that LIFE's FORTUNES can be perceived from different perspectives. I feel protected!

BLACK PETITIONING ANGEL

Save Us All! Thank you Georgia Folk Artist who made you BLACK PETITIONING ANGEL! As I write this blog, the Japanese suffering from both natural and manmade disasters are in my thoughts. I am also thinking of the Libyan rebels dying for their freedom. LORD SAVE US ALL.

GREEN DANCING ALLIGATOR WOMAN

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! GREEN DANCING ALLIGATOR WOMAN brings me joy every day as I look at the exuberance in her BEINGNESS! Some might say she is physically ugly, but who could ignore her inner beauty!

Acknowledgments: Hallelujah for ART, ARTISTS, COLOR, and SYMBOL. Hallelujah for MEANING and the ability to engage in a discussion of that meaning with all my FELLOW SOJOURNERS!  Thank you to the artists who made these totems. Thank you to my sincere and energetic creative writing students who wanted to keep on connecting through their blogs. Thank you to my Chiboogamoo, who is infinitely patient as he helps me with our camera, photoshop, and new computer!

LIBYAN VIGIL at the GT LANGUAGE INSTITUTE: PLEASE LET PEACEFUL CHANGE OCCUR

LIBYA. I sit next to women from your cities who have come to study English at Georgia Tech. They are keeping daily vigils in our Language Institute hallways with their laptop computers flashing live news of your protests. Their computers are emitting steady streams of shouting and gunfire.

Today, I sit next to two LIBYAN women. One LIBYAN student, who I have only gotten to know in the last week because of LIBYA’s civilian uprising and her persistent vigil, looks at me. “My whole body is sore,” she says. “It hurts if you touch it.” She takes one hand and touches her arm. She shakes her body trying to free it from the horrors of the killing going on in her country. She generously accepts my concern and scoops me into the experience of her pain. There seems to be strength in unanimously acknowledging the inhumanity of Gadhafi’s response to the LIBYAN people’s protests.

I am familiar with the other student sitting next to her. She is taking my intermediate writing class. She nestles close to the woman with the computer, saying nothing only leaning into the face of the computer. “Right now, Gadhafi’s army is attacking her city,” explains the other woman. “Mine was attacked three days ago.” We pause. The noise and confusion continue to blare from the computer. And we just sit there with nothing to say. My writing student, an obstetrician with four children, peers into the computer. Her silky brown hijab and long black coat seem to engulf her. There is too much suffering. Too much worry. Too much unknown. Too much shooting. We cannot make eye contact. Then it is time for all of us to go to class. We disperse.

“How was your day,” my Chiboogamoo greets me in the evening. I cannot shake away the hallway vigils of my LIBYAN students. I cannot forget their sense of helplessness. “I feel lost,” I tell my patient husband, “What are we supposed to do in the face of evil?”  Earlier in the day, the LIBYAN woman had quietly said to me, “In my religion, we are told that we can only do our small part. We cannot change the large picture.”

After failing to get CNN’s attention here in Atlanta, some of our Language Institute LIBYAN students left for Washington, DC. I haven’t heard or seen if these LIBYANS succeeded in capturing US media attention.

 

Hallelujah asks for what is right and true to triumph. LIBYA listen to your citizens. My country, the UNITED STATES of AMERICA listen to LIBYA’s cry for help. WORLD assist the LIBYANS who are asking for change. Let change occur peacefully without mothers sacrificing themselves as explained to me: “Mothers are going out with their sons,” one LIBYAN student told me. “ ’If you are going to die, we are going to die with you,’ these mothers tell their sons.” 

I NEVER THOUGHT THE BURKA WOULD SEDUCE ME: UNDERSTANDING AND CREATING METAPHOR

Hallelujah for abstract thought and ways to make those thoughts concrete through the use of imagery. Hallelujah for my international students speaking my language, English, and for bringing me, their teacher, new ways of thinking about this glorious world! Especially when it comes to writing metaphors in a creative writing class! Hallelujah!

 

As a way to jump in writing metaphors (a comparison between two seemingly unlike things), I asked my students to “pull” an abstract word like faith, hope, anger, or courage out of an envelope and to compose a 3-lined poem based on the following guidelines (taken from Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, by Janet Burroway).

• The first line is an abstract word, plus a verb, plus a place.
• The second line clothes the abstraction.
• The third line summarizes the action in the poem.

At first, the oxygen left the room. No one knew what to do, where to go, what to write. After all, this kind of writing is a challenge even in one’s own native language! After a pause and some composing in pursuit of “active” verbs and leaving behind the verb “to be” (Language teachers will understand this quest!), there were some jubilant moments. My students were nailing down their abstract words with meaningful and active images! See some examples in the following blogs: Pitch Your Guts writes about sorrow; The Green Mountain about courage; and Blueberry Cellophane about faith.

In my earnestness to get students excited about metaphor, we watched excerpts from a 1991 Star Trek episode about their encounter with an “enigmatic” race called Tamarians (See the beginning of the episode.). As the episode progresses, the Star Trek crew figures out that the Tamarians are speaking in metaphors, ones that can be understood only if one knows the cultural and geographical references being made (See the excerpt where they figure this out.)!

Success! My brilliant class of diligent students “got it.” For homework, I asked them to bring in metaphors from their language and cultures. These were the results:

I’m sincerely saying it to you with my heart in my hand. (Spanish)

A leaking drop can penetrate a stone. (Chinese)

A pearl in the mud. (Korean)

I never knew that the burka would seduce me. (Arabic)

 

Yes! Hallelujah! We discussed what each one meant to us. If you are stymied at all by the last metaphor, you are not alone! First, we had to clarify for the entire class what exactly a “burka” is—much to the amusement of the Arabic speaking students in the class. Luckily, a female student from Spain was wearing a large scarf secured around her neck! Thus using her as a model, we were able to show the distinctions between a “hijab” –a scarf covering the hair, ears, and neck— and a “burka” –a scarf concealing everything but the eyes.

 

After class ended, because I wanted a better understanding of this burka metaphor than our class discussion had offered, I pursued the Arabic speaking student, who had translated this metaphor from a contemporary song (Listen to the mesmerizing music from the Middle East and its Arabic lyrics). Here is my student’s translation of the song into English:

I never thought the burkas would ever seduce me
Until I saw Al Nofood Mountains wearing them.
All mighty God when these eyes looked at me
Charming, sleepy, magical....
In their magic, Saad how they put me to my knees!
My time was wasted in loving those eyes.
If they hurt me and also heal me
I'm sure I'll die soon.
Saad tell those charming mountains
If they want me to live longer,

If they see me,

I am just thinking about their magic
Even when I am asleep

I am still thinking about the burkas…

Translated by Meshari Alabdulkrim (See his blog, Smoking Hookah.)

 

I am smiling right now because I am remembering the Star Trek episode with the Tamarians and their geographical and cultural references. To better understand this burka metaphor, we have to understand the Saudis’ feeling for Al Nofood Mountains and much, much more.

To be honest, I am far from completely understanding this metaphor, but I like struggling with the image, its meaning, and the complex culture it comes from! I believe this comparison of a burka to a mountain will “haunt” me for some time.

Already, I have spent time in the last week drawing and painting women in headscarves. One woman is wearing a flowered hijab and the other a green burka. I’m intrigued by this cultural difference of  “the headscarf” that my Muslim students bring to my classroom. One might say, “I never thought the burkas would ever seduce me,” but they have!

In my search to SEE and UNDERSTAND and to CREATE, I looked on the Web to find images of women in burkas and found an amazing “girl band” from Afghanistan, the Burka Blues! If you want to increase your experiences of seeing women wear burkas, watch this video! The rhythm of the drums, guitar and kitschy lyrics has been with me all day!

Hallelujah for LIFE and LEARNING and CREATING! SOUL BLOG with me! Let me know your feelings and understanding of the burka metaphor! Share a metaphor with me!