May 5, 2010

Istanbul—FMV Ayazaga Isik Lisesi

I had the good fortune to return to for a second visit to FMV Ayazaga Isik Lisesi, a Turkish school, which provides instruction on many subjects in English, for twenty plus hours each week. 

Working with this group is challenging and exciting for me as many participants are not native English speakers and for some their English skills do not extend to the kind of language used in the kind of classes I teach or the level of reading that is required. This forces me to be creative! I need to think carefully about the language I use and to be really clear and succinct with my words. It is exciting to see my words instantly translated and to hear conversations taking place in another language based in directions I have given.

This school has embraced the concept of Professional Learning Communities with enthusiasm and fun. They have developed a school blog were groups record their meetings and share outcomes and after just 2 visits the work is both going strong and headed in the right direction. Currently they have 6 cross-curricular CFGs and 5 CFGs for: specific language teachers happening on a regular basis.

A big thank you to Betti Delevi and Heather Erguvanli for championing this work.

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