When I was ten years old, I wanted to become the Secretary of State, because I was sure that this person is extremely good at English. Many years later, I understood how wrong I was, nevertheless I was still fascinated by the English language. After I got my degree in Linguistics, Translation&Interpreting (English, Russian and German), I decided to go work at school and teach English. You know… to “have some rest” after five years of studying six days a week from 9 am to 4 pm and doing homework till 2 am. The funny thing is that I was wrong again. Teaching turned out to be not a cake walk at all. The good thing is that I got a new life fascination – Education.
I believe that learning should be an enjoyable experience, but unfortunately I’m finding out that school is the place which kills natural desire to learn something in children and teenagers. Secondly, I see that the textbooks that teachers use may not be the best source of information.
That’s why I came up with the idea of writing a book about the US, which can be used as a source of information for teaching Country Studies for ESL students. But, despite the fact, that I live in the US now, I make conclusions myself, I learn a lot about the country and its culture, the opinion of Americans about the country is what I am looking forward to hear. What would they want foreigners to know about the US?
There are several ways how you can contribute to the writing of the book:
Facebook page – “Like” it and share it with your friends. There are daily questions on the timeline which you can answer. For example, it’s always interesting to know what people eat in a different country, but what you can find on the Internet or in books, doesn’t always show the variety of what people really have as a meal. So when you have breakfast, you can take a picture of what you’re eating and post it on the timeline. We’ll have the whole diversity of American breakfasts from all over the country, that ESL students will actually see and learn about.
Leave a comment on the articles posted in this blog – I’m sharing my experience and my perception of what I see. How far is it from your perception? Do you have a different experience? Are the traditions different in your state?
Are you still not sure that I need your help in writing about the US? Check the article “American Stereotypes“. Do you want people to think that all of them are true?
I’m translating the articles for this blog, which were originally written in Russian. Full English version is coming soon!
Kidulteacher 