Skip to main content

Ulyanovsk

On Monday, February 26th, I will be going to Ulyanovsk, which is relatively close to Samara compared to the previous two cities I've visited--Orenburg and Saratov.

For those not familiar with Russia, Ulyanovsk is most famous for being the birthplace of Lenin. When he was born, the city was known as Simbirsk. I found a website with some pictures of the city at http://graysite.bicada.com/phototown1.htm. Ulyanovsk has roughly the same number of people as the city of Baltimore, and is located in a region roughly the same size as Maryland. Other than that, I don't expect to many similarities with the city where I once lived.

What will I do there? I will be conducting teacher training seminars the first day to teacher trainers, who will hopefully disseminate the information to teachers through the Ulyanovsk region. On the second day, I will be conducting a teacher training workshop for pre-service teachers about cooperative learning activities. In recognition of the 200th anniversary of US-Russian relations, I will also be presenting some materials on American Studies.

Unfortunately my wife, Jenevieve Nelson, who usually comes with me to regions outside of Samara, will not be coming with me this time. Ulyanovsk will be the second time I will be traveling alone. Nonetheless, I look forward to meeting new people in a new city.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is Wikipedia Too Difficult to Read?

Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afghan_man_reading_Wikipedia_article_in_Kandahar.jpg The short answer via statistical analysis is yes .  For more information, read  Lucassen, T., Dijkstra, R., & Schraagen, J. M. (2012). Readability of Wikipedia.  First Monday at   http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3916/3297 .  Wikipedians are aware that the open online encyclopedia may be too difficult, and there is a discussion of its reading level at  https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reading_level . Much of this discussion took place over a decade ago, but the gist is that many contributors write at or for the college level. What appeals to me most is at the end of the page, where Wikipedians are discussing accessibility and what it means to be open to all. Here's my screenshot (in case it gets edited later). What does this mean for English language teachers? I was interested in seeing how selected Wikipedi...

The Horror! A Listening Curriculum for English Language Learning

I've been inspired by Clare Maas' blog post , which was inspired by Dr. John Field's TEASIG/CRELLA talks, to share my shock at the listening curriculum of an intensive English program where I previously worked. To be fair, this listening curriculum was designed twenty years prior and my job was to lead faculty efforts to revise it. Unfortunately, the program went through financial difficulties and leadership changes, resulting in the "non-renewal" of most of the curriculum committee members. Upper-Level (EAP) Listening (B2-C1) Listening was relatively equally integrated with speaking and reading skills in one course set apart from another course that focused much more on writing. This was the case for the two highest levels for students who intended to matriculate into the university as undergraduates. The highest level was not dependent on any one coursebook, so all of the listening material had to be collected by the instructors. When I was the curriculum ...

I Left My Heart in Brazil

The loveliness of Iowa seems somehow sadly gray The glory that was Chicago now makes me ill I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Carbondale I'd love to go down south and teach in Brazil I haven't been blogging that much because over the past month I have been dedicating most of my professional life to the leaders of several Binational Centers in Brazil. This opportunity came to me through a grant I worked on with partners at Global Ties, World Chicago, and CIVIC (Council for International Visitors to Iowa Cities). Purpose & Goals The purpose of this program is to support a faculty exchange program for supervisors, coordinators, and teachers from the Brazilian Binational Centers. These participants have been chosen to make a lasting impact on the Brazilian ESL education system. Our program specifically focuses on English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Language Learner (ELL) programs. By the end of our program, participants will understan...