new thinking in old Moscow

Teachers everywhere say the same thing ~ each student in their class is different.

Schools are, too.

For example, it might be easy to bunch all the international schools around the world into one kettle and say they are the same. Wrong. Take one category ~ the bilingual schools ~ and they, too, come in different sizes and shapes.

The ideal bilingual school (or multilingual ~ why stop at two languages?) would offer half the curriculum in one language and the other half in a second. There would be a bilingual environment at the school with students and adults conversing easily in several languages.

I’ve came across yet another variation earlier this month in Moscow where the education ministry still likes to keep close control on the curriculum. This is a school that is making every effort to be bilingual despite the government’s strict rule of eight hours per week for English and four hours for a third language.

The school’s strategy to overcome this limitation is to offer a supplementary curriculum via e-learning. Depending on their age level, students can take an additional 12 hours of English on top of the already loaded Russia syllabus. Now, that’s heavy lifting for most students but they are hungry to learn and gladly embrace this e-learning option. Their e-coursework is being monitored in England and America by teachers half a world away.

This clever school is using the internet’s full power to help create a bilingual environment ~ right under the very noses of the bureaucrats.

Dancing with the Tsars

Earlier this month the travel gods took me to Moscow. Actually Turkish Airways flight #1415 from Istanbul deposited me at Sheremetyevo International Airport where my Russian host plucked me out of the invading hordes.

Everyone is going to Moscow. The Russians are now free to travel as are the many citizens of the former Soviet Republics. The city is one big construction site as people rush to get jobs or – for the monied class – invest while the investing is good.

An article in the Moscow Times revealed that a British syndicate was about to invest 2 billion euros in an upscale St. Petersburg’s project because it was cheaper than what it would have cost in Moscow. Whew.

There are tall construction cranes around the Kremlin area which, of course, is the heart of Moscow. Here the Russian Tsars ~ and the newer incarnations ~ have ruled for centuries including the fabled House of Romanov. The Kremlin itself is a hodgepodge of museums, armories, cathedrals, a medieval fortress and a modern glass and concrete conference hall. All this a true maze of architecture and certainly an amazing experience to walk around the former nexus of communist power.

Below the Kremlin Walls, the bunched onion domes of St. Basil Cathedral is a dramatic exclamation point to the whole area. It is a beautiful structure with swirling colors and red brick towers.

Close your eyes and go back a few hundred years and you could be Dancing with the Tsars.

Euro-Buzz: football/soccer

Buzz is the word this month in Europe as 16 nations battle for football (we say soccer) supremacy.

Buzz, cheer, chant, cajole, applaud, coax, encourage, harangue ~ whatever. The gloves are off for the Euro 2008 championship. I was there for first few games ~ both Russia and Turkey lost their opening matches but have bounced back to advance to the quarterfinals (quite remarkably in the case of the Turks who scored an amazing 3 goals in 14 minutes the other day).

Football is the common language around the continent this month. Whether you are in a bar, pub, café, publikacji, bistro, gastehaus, lokantasi or taverna, millions of fans are watching the same matches each evening.

It makes for compelling drama as many teams have a fairly even shot at the title. The preliminary round ended yesterday and 8 teams now advance in the quarter finals. Due to the playoff structure it is possible that my two adopted countries (20 years in total) could make it to the championship on June 29: Turkey and the Netherlands. Let’s see!

The Sublime Porte in 3.6 Hours

[written on June 6]

Flying across Europe the other morning ~ grey clouds stretched from Ireland to the Alps. Ugh.

However, south of Lake Balaton the Mediterranean begins to affect the weather. Ahead in the clear blue sky ~ white puffy fair weather clouds rise up above the Turkish straights. Then a big turn over the Marmara Sea and down into the orderly chaos of Istanbul.

Home again. Nine years is a long time to spend in one place ~ an interesting job ~ good friends and the unfailing hospitality of the people. Even a brief stop of a few days is a treat.

I visited last in 2006 and already the skyline on the Europe side of the city has changed. More buildings ~ taller buildings ~ interspersed with an equal number of minarets. Old and new ~ side by side, comfortable with each other.

Over on the Asian shore the pace remains ~ as always ~ more calm. It is a place of 100 neighborhoods and 1,000 shops. Or is it 1,000 "köys" with 100,000 shops? No one could ever count but in the warm June weather you can buy watermelon or get your hair cut at 10:30 pm

Out on the Bosphorus an old rust-bucket of the Balcon Line, headed up to the Black Sea, strains and shudders against the powerful current. In the distance an oil-tanker ~ twenty times the size of the freighter ~ glides by in the opposite direction pushed effortlessly forward by the southerly flow. In any other place this would seem a mirage but it is a daily tableau here in Istanbul ~ or the Sublime Port as the European diplomats called the center of the Ottoman Empire a few hundred years ago.

Where's @ at?

I've missed my regular postings this past week because I couldn't find @.

That's right - I'm travelling in foreign parts where the English keyboard is not always used (makes sense, of course) but when you need to send the odd email or have a desire to do a blogpost ~ you cannot pass "go" without our friend @.

In Turkey I had the choice of "shift" + 2. Another keyboard option was "alt" and "control" + 7. Here in Russia I have "shift" + 4 = @. Seems like an old Algebra problem in grade 9 that would have sent shivers up my spine.

Anyway it is good to be posting again. I now know where I'm @.