Beat Nomad
ESL Teaching
From Strangers to Friends: Making Peace with Madagascar’s Swarms of Small Children
From a city with more dogs than kids Before coming to the Peace Corps, I lived in Seattle. I will forever think it’s one of the best places on earth, but it is also one of the most childless. Of all the American cities, it has the highest percentage of single adults and one of … Continue reading
Peace Corps: Year Two
I wrote this blog post back in October at the beginning of the school year, but somewhere along the way failed to post it. It may have lost some of its relevancy, but seeing as how tomorrow is the end of Christmas vacation and the beginning of our second trimester, I thought I would go … Continue reading
Where Christmas Snow is Only Ever Made of Paper
{Teaching Malagasy students about American Christmas traditions} I taught my 7th grade (5eme) students how to make paper snowflakes and sing Christmas carols this week. When we started the activity, one student held up the test I had just passed back, jokingly suggesting that he would use that to make his paper snowflake. I shrugged … Continue reading
My House is a Middle School
In the late night cover of darkness, I wander out to the naked goal post in the school’s field. The gates are locked up, the lights turned off, and blissfully, all the schoolchildren have gone home. The grounds have become nothing more than a cluster of sealed off, dark and empty buildings. I jump up … Continue reading
Madagascar: Life as an Education Volunteer for the Peace Corps
In the midst of a looming thunderstorm I discovered the pink and purple postcard of a sunset in Seattle. Once the initial excitement of receiving mail (real, actual, physical mail!!) from a friend subsided, I read it. “How do you fill your days?” she asked. Although I joke about the endless hours spent eating peanuts … Continue reading
Should Teachers Use an International Standard of English?
Beat Nomad’s latest ESL food-for-thought is hot off the press on GoOverseas.com. With an expanding population of non-native English speakers, academics are asking if teachers should use an international standard of English. And if so, how? What do you think? Read the full article here… I have to thank my friend Manuel on this one, … Continue reading
The Guilt Complex of Teaching English Abroad
3/1/11 Update: Read the expanded version of this post on GoOversas.com! Imperialism is dead, right? We certainly aren’t grabbing land in the way our colonialist forefathers were, but I still can’t make this statement with absolute certainty. And it’s just this thought that inspired a discussion with other English language teachers and students about whether our … Continue reading
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