I've Done It!

   Today I attended the ceremony to celebrate completing my Masters degree in Education. Although I have to wait until October to receive the fancy-shmansy certificate, I can officially add some more letters after my name! I am now Nora ------- BSc MEd.
   It's taken just over 3 years of hard work, great colleagues, too little sleep and too much food to earn this baby, and I'm so happy it's done!
 

 

An Ode To English Plurals.

I was sent this poem from a colleague today and I had to share. What a crazy language we speak, no wonder the kids we teach get confused!
Thanks Wendy!

AN ODE TO ENGLISH PLURALS

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and
Get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out, and
In which an alarm goes off by going on.

And in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

To Question Authority or Not To Question Authority?

   Over the last few weeks stories have been spreading through Egypt at the speed it takes to press 'send' on a mobile phone. These stories always start the same way; "Confirmed news" or "True story" and end with "plz spread" and the like.

   All this coupled with people's reactions to television news (I'm thinking specifically of state-run television here) has made me wonder why Egyptians are so ready to believe what they're told without question. In my opinion, the blame lies with the education system. The Egyptian national education system is very old-fashioned in one vital aspect; it relies on rote learning and not the understanding of concepts to achieve high grades. Year after year, regardless of the subject, students cram the facts into their heads then extract it all in the exam and wipe the slate clean for the following year. This continues all the way up through to university. The only time it doesn't happen is when children go to international schools which follow a foreign system or one of the private universities where grades can also depend on research papers.

   My point is, if for the major formative years of one's life the only way to succeed is to blindly and deafly repeat what a higher authority(teachers, lectures, textbooks) has said then surely this will have an effect on one's ability to think critically? If that authority is thought to have all the answers, surely one learns not to question that authority for fear of failure? And when the authority behind that comes out with statements about the state of the country one has become so conditioned that once again, no one questions it.

  Yes, things are dangerous here in Egypt, but my question is this; is it more dangerous or a different kind of danger? I'm not saying that all these people are lying, or that the people behind these messages are not well-intentioned. Nor am I claiming that all is calm on the streets. However, what I am saying is that there is, in my opinion, a great risk of panic spreading among people. Everyone who reads these messages believes them and sends them on to their contact list. But no one seems to bother to find out where the story originated from. The cousin or friend in the message could be anyone. Please, if you get one of these, call the person who sent it and ask if they wrote it. If they didn't and are just forwarding it, please try to verify the story before sending it on.

   Mad-Eye Moody from the Harry Potter is always urging "Constant Vigilance", this is certainly the line we should be taking, just make sure vigilance doesn't turn to paranoia.

Anticipation, Excitement and a Healthy Dose of Fear

     Over the past 4 years in various classrooms I've been lucky enough to see several experienced and talented teachers at work. I've been in very different classroom environments and seen a variety of discipline systems and organizational techniques. As these classes have been across a range of age levels I have gained an idea of what children are capable of and how they behave.

    Next year I will be in charge of my own class for the first time after finishing my teaching degree. While I'm thrilled to bits and very excited to be working with my favourite age group I'm also whisper it...terrified. What's brought this on you wonder? Well it's probably down to the fact that one of my colleagues has been out for the past few days and I've taken her class. The kids have been, to put it politely, not very well behaved. I walked out of the class at the end of my lessons today convinced that I will be a failure as a teacher next year. That my plans and ideas will be good but the execution poor because I will not be able to control the students.

  So here's hoping it's all in my head and that next year I will have a class of -fairly- well behaved students who will learn, follow rules, get work done and have fun!

Define Thyself

   This post is a response, of sorts, to Nikki's post HERE. The premise is simple' how do you define yourself?' What, as well as who, are you? So this is my attempt to define myself.

   I'm British. Then again I'm also Egyptian. I'm not particularly more one than the other, there are things I love and things that annoy me about both countries and both cultures. I may be shocked or even disapproving of something in one country that I wouldn't bat an eyelid at in the other. Over the past couple of years I have realised that I'm no longer trying to fit in to one in particular culture or identity, quite simply I am what I am, which is my own combination of what I see to be the best of both.

   I'm a Muslim, but while that's a big part of what/who I am it's by no means all I am. It's just one of the building blocks, a major one, but not really the corner stone.

   Since I left university, I've had a similar dilemma to Nikki. For years I was a student, studying was the main thing I did, despite anything else I may have done on the side. Now however, if you were to ask me I would say a teacher, even though I'm technically still a student teacher and am not actually in charge of my own class. I feel closer to a teacher than a student and hope to have my own class next academic year once I'm qualified.

   I enjoy writing, but first and foremost I'm a reader. Ever since my mum got me reading Enid Blyton as a child, I've read anything that interests me whether it's classic literature, "chick-lit", bestseller or online. I read for enjoyment which is the main reason I didn't want to study English at university, I didn't want to have to read something and then analyze it. I've started doing that more now, but only for myself.

   I'm a traveler at heart, but my funds are limiting me at the moment! One day though!

So that's me according to me: British. Egyptian. Muslim. Reader. Teacher. Optimist. Friend. Traveler. 

Mini-Michelin Men

   Maybe people would be more apt than men, but I'm in the mood for alliteration.

  One of the first things you should know about Egyptians is that when it's winter, the coats go on. And stay on. All day. Inside or out. Of course under the coats there's usually a jacket (maybe two) a sweater or two and a vest. Of course this makes sense to a degree, unlike in Europe there's no central heating or insulation and all buildings are designed to stay cool and keep the heat out. Great in the summer, not so much in the winter.

   It's not the fact that people wear several layers that gets to me, it's the fact that once inside they will not take anything off! Coats or jackets stay on indoors and then people complain that they're cold when they go outside again! Of course you're cold, you've got warm inside and then gone outside without adding an extra layer!! Grrrr!!

  Nor does this look to be a generational phenomena that will die out as the next generation grows up, in class students more often than not, refuse to take off their big winter jackets 'because my mum told me not to'. The result is that they sit in class looking like mini-Michelin men and can barely move their arms!

To 'B' or to 'P'? That is the question!

  Well it is if you're an Arabic speaker learning English or a teacher tearing your hair out in despair at silly spelling mistakes.
   Despite the fact that the Arabic alphabet has 28 characters to the English alphabet's 26, there is no equivalent to the letter 'P' only 'B'. This has lead Egyptians to come up with a unique way of differentiating between the two to help with spelling, there's B khafifa ('light' B) and B tekila ('heavy' B).
   Now if you guessed that the 'light' B is 'P' and the 'heavy' B is B,well sorry you're wrong! For years I was convinced that was the right way round, because to me as a native English speaker it made more sense, and the I had to remember that it was the opposite of what made sense. The only reason I've managed to find so far for the naming is that P is light as its 'hump' is at the top, while the hump of the 'b' is at the bottom making it heavy.Get it?

 So tomorrow I'm off to change my Egybtian bounds into Pritish pounds and sign things with a plue ben!

School's Out For Summer!

  Books and artwork have been sent home. Displays have been taken down and supplies have been packed away for the summer. Rooms that have been noisy for 10 months are now silent till August when it all starts again. Yep, the school year's over and done with for another year! Summer's here and it would be difficult to say who enjoys it more, students or teachers.

So, to all my fellow teachers I wish you a summer free of planning, grading, meetings and other people's children and plenty of lie-ins, we've earned them!

Enjoy!