UNICEF...

How would I explain to my children and students that it's OK to kill for revenge?

Since childhood, we are taught to respect and obey the law. The law is there to protect and serve us. We are led to believe that the law exists for the people by the people. Is that right?
In some developing countries, it is well known that the legal system protects constitutions rather than individuals. The citizens of these countries are mostly undereducated or undernourished, so they are not able to see or fight with the abusiveness of their governments or corporates. Those countries are recommended to look up to the advanced democracy of Europe or the USA. Certainly when I was growing up, I thought there was nothing European and American governments could do wrong. I thought they treated all their citizens and the citizens of other countries with respect. Sadly, the time and events showed me otherwise. Particularly witnessing USA and UK attack Iraq, left many people in shock and caused more hatred. I could not believe that to catch a terrorist group they would sacrifice so many innocent lives. After so many years of victims, suffering and pain, we heard that USA caught Osama in Pakistan. Yes, but why did they attack Iraq and Afghanistan without being exactly certain? No one can explain that clearly. There are rumours such as their will to control Middle East and the oil..
I honestly wanted to believe the opposite but then when the conflict in Yugoslavia started, America stood back. Women and children were begging for help. They claimed that they were being raped and murdered but none of the European and American governments moved a finger to help them. Some said this was because there was no petrol in Yugoslavia. I still wanted to see this as the governments not wanting to interfere with Yugoslavia's internal business. In the meantime, many innocent lives were lost.
I asked my children what they thought about America killing Osama Bin Laden. Their reply was that it was right and he deserved to die. How about law, justice, fairness, democracy and all of the above? I had to tell them that an unarmed man who did not resist to soldiers would not deserve to die even if this man was the most dangerous terrorist. What he would deserve is to be arrested and to stand trial before being brought to justice. Otherwise, this would be called murder. And what makes us better than a murderer, if we don't follow the law?

Have you ever given up on a student?

As teachers, we talk about students in the staff room. These chats are good for communicating and getting to know about students.

I know that I am able to talk in depth about EAL new arrivals in the school because I interview and meet them on their first day. This gives me a great opportunity to get detailed information about their background and level of education. In addition, I learn about their hobbies, likes and dislikes before anyone else. When I discuss a particular EAL student with teachers, unless it’s confidential, I am able to give more inside information about an EAL student than anybody else.

 'Every child matters’ and ‘every child has a gift waiting to come out’ but there are times when I feel hopeless and say ‘No, s/he will not make it’. This feeling of hopelessness bothers me immensely. I don’t like this negative feeling inside me. So I start asking other teachers about the student to find out if s/he is better in other subjects. My feelings have changed so many times about a student after listening to her/his side of story or other teachers telling me about how great this student in their subject is.

I also think about my teaching style to find out if I need to make adjustments for this student’s preferred way of learning. If s/he is good at music, homework would be to write lyrics for a song from a topic we learn or if the better subject is physical education, homework maybe to find some pictures of sport actions related to the topic etc.

Many years of living but not so many years of teaching (7 years) taught me that no matter what I think about a student in my mind, I never really lose hope for her/him in my heart. If s/he makes the slightest effort, I am prepared to forgive and forget whatever happened in the past and accept that as a bad patch or phase we went through...I feel so lucky to be part of the teaching profession which teaches me patience and inspires me to become a better person, day after day...

My blog as a word cloud...

I did it Mr. Dogdson...Here is mine...

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3374442/EAL_Teachers_Blog

Edusolidarity...Feeling the power and strength!

Meaning of union..coming together, co-mixture, compound, conciliation, concord, concurrence, confluence,congregation, conjunction, consolidation, corporation, correlation, family, fellowship, fusion, harmony, identification, incorporation, joint, meeting, merging, synthesis, tie-in, tie-up,unanimity, unification, unison, uniting, unity...


Which words would you like to leave out by giving up your union and solidarity? I think, our lives would be pretty limited and lonely without our unions!

Whenever I feel worried or suspect of an unjust, I know my union will protect and defend me. It gives me an enormous  power and strength knowing that 'I am not alone and I don't have to go through all the obstacles on my own'.

Life is about making choices; what clothes you'll wear, where you'll go for holiday, who you'll vote, who you'll marry, how many children you'll have and which Union you'll belong to...It's an indispensable  part of democracy..If you can't decide about all of these, it means that you live in a dictatorship..And look what's happening to dictatorships!    

Please support The Edusolidarity Action in US because we are all connected and even if one person gets hurt, eventually we all bleed and hurt...

                                            http://www.edusolidarity.us/

School chatter daily...

• T- "Right Kids! 21st Feb is the International mother language day. What does your mother language mean to you?" - "Normality" -Okeeeey:) "Let's expand this a little bit" - But I can't say this in any other language! :)) 

• When walking in the school's corridor with one of my important visitors whose first time in the school...“Hi Miss"- "Hi" -"I was just wondering"- "Yes?" - "Ooh, do we have a psychiatrist in the school? I think I need one :))) 

• "So Miss, during meet the tutor evening, will my parents only see you?" "Yes" -" Good then, cause I'm good with you. I don't have to worry :) "But I will have comments from other teachers as well, to feedback your parents" -"Ooh pls Miss, don't tell everything?":))) 

• -' Miss, this lady teacher threw me out'- 'What did you do?' -Nothing, just sprayed myself in class, the others complained. -Why? I smelt. T- go and apologize, then she'll take you back. S-I didn't do anything wrong, I won't apologize. 

• My Yr 11 group: "Miss, you know that boy loves this girl?" Teacher: "Do you know14th Feb's coming, write a card and give it to her":))) Teacher: "Please, stop flirting in the class. Focus on the topic. Leave the matter outside." Embarrassed laughs from students :)) 

• Just another manic Monday :) Std-Miss, this room stinks, I don't want to get in T-We don't have any other room to go.. Std-Miss, I will faint from this smell! Teacher- Ok, then stay at the door, say you're here when I take the register Std- Oh thanks, Miss :)) 

• Teacher: -Can you put your blazer on? St: -Don't like it! T-But it is part of your school uniform St: - Yeah, so? Teacher-The green hair band with the huge flower you are wearing is not part of the school uniform. Student -But all the other teachers tell me that it suits me, what's wrong with you? 

• Teacher's rushing to the staff meeting...Knock knock...the door doesn't get opened... teacher opens the door to find one of the students hiding on the other side... S-Hi Miiiiiiiiissss! T-..Hi? S- You look stressed out! T- I need to run to the meeting. S- Oh, I thought something was wrong with you :) 
• S (knocks the office door)-Miss, do you have chocolate rolls? T-No, why? Should I have them?S-No reason Miss. I just felt like eating them. T: Ok, next time I will have some S: Thanks Miss:))

• T-Right kids. I'd like to give you lots of praise vouchers today. All you need to do is to read your favourite book quietly for 10 minutes..As it is quiet reading morning ..SA-But Miss I can’t read quietly, is it OK if I read out loud? SB- Miss, I don’t have a book, is it OK if I just keep quiet? SC- Miss, can I go to toilet? SD- Miss, can I go to drink water? SE- Miss, how was your break? SF-Miss, shall I help you with register? beeeep! beeeeep! beeep! T- Right, it's going to have to be quiet reading afternoon then..See you at pm register! Ss-Oooh, Miss:)

My musings on life...and Twitter...

• I never imagined life like this. The life I imagined was just fantasy. Real life's a blade of a knife in between nightmares and smiles!
• When I woke up this morning, I saw words on my shoulders! One said Smile, the other said Cry! I picked up 'Smile'. Looked around some more; I saw 'Peace' and 'War', picked up 'Peace' because it looked calm! Suddenly, I heard some others shouting; War :( I turned my head around and tried to find the words I liked. I saw 'Love' and 'Friendship' and showed the others; said "I don't have 'War' ‘Compassion’,'Empathy' and 'Honesty' are the words I have. I offered them and asked them to choose. They thought I was crazy :) So just to make me happy, they chose 'Empathy' and let me go :) 

• Lookout twitter-bazaar, words are flying around you; chose them wisely to express your thoughts and wishes! Think twice before using negatives; thrice before breaking a heart. Follow to encourage, unfollow to disagree... 

• If your children want to talk to you; switch off the TV, turn off the radio, put away your drink, have eye contact, look face to face... Switch off everything, just listen, don't interrupt, don't judge, don't give advice, don't undermine, don't humiliate, just listen!!! If your children want to hug you; you're lucky :) Just drop everything in your hands on the floor and give them a big hug :) If your children want to cry, make sure your shoulder is free, have the paper tissues and cry together. Every minute is worth it! 

• Good morning and gunaydin to all the members of twitter-globe. Have a fantastic day:) smile, cause everybody smiles in same language:-) 

• If everybody was able to take a stand against bullying, the world would be a fantastic place to live. 

• Twitter is like yelling from a mountain cliff; your voice echoes right back at you like a boomerang. =) 

• I imagine living in a society where I can hear all the languages of the world. When it rains, all the smiles and greetings would be my umbrella. All the warm thoughts and different ideas would be my richness. I want to hear children laughing and playing in all the different languages in the world where they are not afraid to speak up! 

• I am just a human with eyes and a heart. I try to feel before I see, so I sometimes close my eyes and open my heart. Sometimes I open my eyes and close my heart:( I have places to see, other humans to meet. I have obstacles to overcome. I need time to grow! I cry when no one is looking. I speak when no one is listening. I give my hand when no one needs it. I take it back when there is a need! I am just a human like any other. Thinking small, dreaming big. I am a mirror showing humans themselves. So they don't like me a lot! 

• Languages in the world are like colours of the rainbow. When we lose one language, our rainbow fades away! 

• Let your followers free, if they stay, they're yours. İf they don't, they weren't interested in your ideas in the first place anyway :)) 

• Multiculturalism is to be able to accept and respect each other with all the different race, religion, sexual orientation and age... And live together in peace and harmony under the same law of international human rights. 

• I'm a real person. I have high hopes and small steps. I see people like me. I hear voices of despair and fear but I keep my hopes high! 

• If you want your children to speak your language, never hesitate to speak to them in first language but make sure you are consistent. 

• If you are hungry, the last thing you care is your education! If you live in poverty, the last thing you care is the anatomy of a frog! Unless you get to eat the frog! If you want to educate all the children in the world, first feed them well! 

• If there were a nation called People of Sun, I would've loved to be one of them! Good morning from sunny London! Sun gives me positive energy.One thing for sure if I was an Eskimo, I would have been in depression all the time and in need of psychological help :) Me no like snow :)) 

• Thinking in two languages needs twice the size of normal brain but most importantly twice the size of normal heart! It is a tiring process :) 

• Does language mean identity really? If you can't speak your native language, what part of your identity you lose? Part of your soul maybe! 
• Sometimes life becomes so tiring that it makes you feel depressed and unmotivated to carry on. In these moments, little precious things come along and make you want to see the next day. I wish you to have the little precious things all the time and never let go of them..look around you they exist.

• Smile to feel good..Laugh to feel better..Help someone to feel great!
• The definition of human: a bipedal primate mammal (homo sapiens). Human nature: the fundamental dispositions and traits of humans. That's it! If there's no heart involved,definition of humans is no different than any other species in the world! Add a little bit of feelings to it!Mix it up with some tears because the salt in them gives us some taste, laughter is the sugar we put, then what you get is a human being!

• Essential tools to teach English to foreign students in England...1: welcome them and smile 2: learn to pronounce their names correctly..3: make them feel safe 4: provide them with lots of visuals 5: activate prior knowledge. 6: allow 1st language use 7: give them at least 30 seconds of thinking time before they answer questions. 8: celebrate the correct answers, encourage for more 9: if they don't want to talk at first let it..10: celebrate their cultural and religious festivals in school 11: keep contact with the parents. 12: just relax, they are just like any other kid:)

• Ok back to 'learning the foreign students names correctly', I witnessed this conversation many times "What's your name" "Jire, Miss." "I'll never remember this name. I'll call you Gerry, Ok?" :))) No, not OK! Who wants to change their names for the sake of a teacher?:) My daughter has 2names and one is Turkish which is written as Yasemin. It is pronounced as Yaa-sa-meen. When my uncle asked her once if he can call her Yasmin, she said "No, my name is Yasemin, not Yasmin" only at 5 yrs old:) Your first name is connected with your identity. It's Tuuba not Tube, thank you very much:) 

• If you are in a room, the details you notice are the ones no one else notices, what is your job then? If you can't think about anything else but organizing your ideas, according to a timeline. Dreaming about a character night and day..If only you know how the story begins, continues and ends...Your job is to write until they call you a writer!
• There is no use to ask 'Why the strong will of democracy now?' because it should have been yesterday! Humans deserve to vote their leader! I feel so lucky to witness and support this awakening while I'm still alive! Democracy, not now but forever!

• I've learnt to wait and think before saying or doing things for the events or people that upset me, avoided catastrophes and chaos.
• Twitter taught me to fit my imagination into 140 characters. I never thought it would be possible...

• On BBC1 There was a debate about if feminism led to more violent women. What nonsense! Only more violent men led to more feminism everywhere.

• It sometimes shocks me how some people easily use swear words on twitter:( Manners still exist in cyber-world, don't they?

• Sometimes you find the right people, sometimes they come and find you:) Don't ever give up searching...