These volcanoes are made of mud!

This excursion was the most fun I’ve had getting dirty in a good while. The drive there was both beautiful and exciting. We drove up on a mountain and down dusty unpaved roads to arrive at our destination. At the pinnacle of this mountain, we found some great piles of dirt. However these, were no ordinary piles of dirt—they were explosive. Unlike what one would normally expect after hearing the word “volcano,” the mud erupting from these tiny mountains was actually painfully cold. Knowing that there was no real danger here, most of us reverted into small children and began running around playing in it. Upon hearing that people actually sought out this mud for medicinal purposes, Katelyn and I promptly covered our hands and faces in it. Here are some pictures of the fun we had:

Gobustan

Art is the basis of our modern knowledge of ancient civilizations. Before the paintings and sculptures of ancient Rome and Greece, there were cave paintings and rock carvings in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and, yes, Azerbaijan. On Saturday we visited Gobustan, http://resources.net.az/gob/index.htm , ancient caves that were inhabited by the native people of Azerbaijan several thousand years before Christ.

Gobustan is still naturally in tact; the carvings may have begun to disintegrate and the living spaces may be overgrown with plant life, but the overall structure is picturesque. There are dirt walkways and stone seats, fire pits contained by rock, water reservoirs carved in stone, drums made out of hollow stone, and natural shelter from the boulders. Each living space has images carved into the stonewalls such as stick figures, bulls, horses, boats, and dancing rituals. The scenes held meaning at one time, depicting a battle or a revered animal. This is an exciting location to visit, but tourists should beware of the current inhabitants of the caves: lizards and colorful snakes. Gobustan has evidence of different periods in history of Azerbaijan including some of the earliest human settlements, visits by legions of the Roman army, Arabic invasions, and more.

TISA: The International School of Azerbaijan

TISA

On Friday we went to The International School of Azerbaijan. TISA is a private international school of 600+ students ranging from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. A typical classroom has students from all parts of the globe with many different accents. The student body is 34% UK, 18%USA, 15% Azeri, and 33% from 46 other nationalities. The teachers at TISA are just as diverse as the students; they come from different 16 countries. One of the best parts of the mixture of nationalities was watching the different senses of humor play out in the classroom.

I immediately felt at home in this IB World Literature class at TISA. The classroom was very similar to the way my IB classes functioned in high school. I should first explain the distinction between an IB class and a normal class. In IB classes the teacher-student relationship is more personal, because the teacher and students are on an exploration of literature together. The literature classes tend to be conversational, and the teacher is like a guide toward scholarly conversation. In this class I got the feeling of the teacher and students being a team and working toward one goal, which is how my IB classes felt. The students in this class were preparing for their IB final exams, which happen in two installments. They went over a short text individually and made any notes on the paper. Then, they talked about questions to ask themselves when analyzing a text. Next, they listened to a recording of a student analyzing a text like they will have to do for one of the exams. The students were very comfortable with each other because the class only had six students. They all had different accents, and only two girls seemed to have English as their first language. The classroom was decorated with posters about authors and literary terms. The student teacher interaction is very different in these classrooms than the Azeri classrooms I have observed. This may be because of the difference in coursework, but some are not. The students do not stand when they speak, and the class seems less formal overall. The teacher is more interested in the students opinions and perceptions.

Drama Class
This is the first drama class I have ever observed in a high school, so I did not have any prior experience. It was a great reflection of the unique opportunities available at an international school. The students were practicing a one-act play that they will perform for Pakistani refugee women. The students wrote the play about personal hygiene in a comedy style to entertain the audience. The relationship between the students and the teacher was very friendly, and on an equal playing field. The teacher acted as the director, but was continually asking for the students input. They were all working together to get the play in a good condition to perform, and seemed to be having a great time doing it. The students were close friends and casually joked with their teacher about their characters in the play. One of the most interesting aspects of the play was that they had translated it into two other languages other than English. With the collective knowledge of languages in the classroom, they were able to help each other with any language that was not their native tongue.

Humanities Middle School 6th
After visiting this classroom, I remember why I want to teach middle school. The students had the enthusiasm of a young student, but the creative ability of an older student. The assignment of the day was to give a prepared presentation about a day in ancient Rome as an assigned character. I have never seen such creative and dramatic students! The presentations were absolutely entertaining because each student put on a small production, which made every character easy to remember. I wish I had a video camera this day, so that everyone could see what great actors these students were. The girl who was presenting as the Cyclops wore a mask with one big eye, and was surrounded by sheep cutouts. During her presentation she screamed and jumped on desks in order to be the angry Cyclops that had recently been blinded. An assignment like this will be something that students will remember and be talking about for a long time. I liked this tactic for teaching because it uses many different skills. Students practiced speaking skills, creativity, acting skills, historical knowledge, and research skills. The biggest impression that I took from this class was that they were having a great time learning. I wanted to be a part of this class.

Private School in Baku, Heydər Əliyev Adına Müasir Təhsil Kompleksi

The main school in which we are working in Baku City, the private school, is absolutely beautiful. "The floors were clean. The children were polite, engaged, and active. The teachers we met seemed passionate about the subjects they teach. Even the cafeteria food was delicious, and that is definitely a rare occurrence anywhere." (Beech, J., May 13, 2009) It is even more grandiose than the private schools in America that I have seen. There are several buildings, including a separate one for kindergarten and one for the administration. This school seems to focus more on the needs of the students; the kindergarten has playground equipment and separate nap time space, there are tennis courts and soccer fields for when the older kids get a break from school, and students can run in the hallways. It is a much more relaxed setting, aside from in the actual classroom which seems to be just strict enough that the students are very well-behaved and respectful of instructional time. The teachers were a great deal younger than I was expecting and everyone was genuinely helpful. I hope if Azeri teachers visit our schools we could show the same courtesy. "I feel a little funny because most people know all about American culture, but I do not know much about Azerbaijan. Luckily, many of the teachers seemed excited to meet us." (Manci, C., May 13, 2009) They all made us feel very welcome, which is comforting in a large new city. "Gulya, the head of the department of language, was asking me about my opinions on education theories about learning foreign language"...Gulya was interested in "some innovative teaching strategies, so I hope I have something to bring." (Manci, C., May 13, 2009) The director of the school specifically asked us to give constructive criticism and feedback at the end of our stay here; he seemed to truly respect our opinions and wants their school to be the best it can be.

My peers and I each observed five different classes today. Here I will provide a composite portrait of a typical classroom at Heydər Əliyev Adına Müasir Təhsil Kompleksi. "Some of the differences I noted in the school were that the students were allowed to run from class to class, but were very behaved in the classroom. Since the students stay at school all day, they do many extracurricular activities in the school such as dance, music, and art." (Manci, C., May 13, 2009) Classes began and ended with a traditional greeting in which the students stood up and greeted the teacher and the teacher greeted the students and asked of their well being, and then the students responded. "Since classes were very small students got a lot of individual attention. The classrooms were spacious and the windows were open. The walls had a few posters and a picture of the president. I noticed that every time a student answered a question the student would stand to speak." (Manci, C., May 13, 2009)

The classes were very lively and there was a high level of interaction between teachers and students. Teachers used many different interactive activities during the lessons, such as picture association activities, greetings, rhymes, and songs. "All of the students were eager to answer, and raised their hands every time there was a question posed. They were practically falling out of their seats to be noticed, so that they would be called on. The lesson was very interactive, and the format allowed them to speak a lot. They started by reading three useless inventions that they made up for homework, which was silly so they had a good time. Then, they watched a video about the way people lived in the past. The video included a sing-along song, and the second time the students sang with it. I thought that this was a great way for them to practice pronunciation, because they were mimicking the singer of the song. Finally, they played a game like Taboo. They drew a word from a hat and had to explain it, and they got a point for a correct answer. The class was pleasurable to observe because the students were so excited about learning." (Manci, C., May 13, 2009) I enjoyed watching these engaging lessons; I believe when students interact with each other and their teachers, it allows more to be learned. "I was very impressed with this school and really look forward to meeting more of the teachers and students who experience this place in their lives daily." (Beech, J., May 13, 2009)

First Impressions

Visiting a new country is always exciting. There are things to learn, places to see, and people to meet. Even though I've only been here for one full day, I've already learned that Baku is full of interesting people, sites, and surprises. Riding into the city from the airport, I noticed the distinct lack of traffic lanes. To someone who is not used to people moving their cars about wherever they please, this kind of driving induces a lot of white-knuckling. Once you learn to trust the person that you're riding with, the next thing you notice is the buildings. This city is enormous and sprawling, but not as tall as most cities of this size. "I'm still shocked at the size of Baku City. Many people in the states have not heard of Baku City, so the general assumption is that it is not an urban area. This is not true." (Manci, C. May 13, 2009) There is a great contrast throughout the city. Historic twelfth-century buildings contrast the more modern architecture of buildings built for the twenty-first century. Dilapidated buildings of the Soviet era sit across the street from polished glass store-fronts. Even the cars in the street portrays these contrasts: shiny new BMWs honk and speed past dirty Ladas on their last set of tires.
"Baku city is undoubtedly beautiful and has culture and history included in absolutely everything, which incorporates some western European and traditional Eastern style." (Knapp, K. May 13, 2009)

"People themselves are very curious. Everyone we met had a lot of questions to ask us about how we like everything, and they truly seemed concerned about our responses. Their concern did not seem like simple small talk, but instead people were interested in our opinions and perspectives." (Knapp, K. May 13, 2009)
"The clothing is an aspect of the culture that I find very interesting. Most of the people are formal most of the time. For example, I have not seen any person in shorts or sweatpants on the street. The women wear a lot of black and high heels, while men wear suits. Women's clothing tends to have a Western silhouette with Eastern influences, such as jewelry, make-up, and embellishments. People seem to take time on their appearance, and I really enjoy this aspect of the culture. I am interested in the difference in the perception of beauty here in Baku." (Manci, C. May 13, 2009)

"So far it has been a fascinating experience, one very different from American life. I did not know what to expect coming here because it is not exactly a tourist destination and I did not know anyone who had ever been in Baku so there was no one I could question. It is much more full of culture, history, and beauty than I had imagined. I am looking forward to memorable adventures." (Knapp, K. May 13, 2009)
"I am most curious about what people value the most here, and I hope I can have an open mind." (Manci, C. May 13, 2009)

Accommodations for Participants

We are sharing pictures to show you living conditions of our participants during this Study Abroad Program. There are one or two students in each bedroom. They share full kitchen, dining room, living room, and bathrooms. They have Internet access and cable TV with wide selection of international channels. Enjoy this small selection of pictures of the apartment that our participants share.

Our Program Info

Hi all,
Please feel free to check our web site for additional information about our program.
http://people.clemson.edu/~amaniza/Study_abroad_website/index_SAP.htm
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