It’s Saturday! Othello in Slovenian & House of Cards

I knew that the Netflix TV series “House of Cards” was based on a book by a British author named Michael Dobbs. We’ve almost finished watching the second season.

No, I haven’t read the book.

What I hadn’t realized was that the real inspiration for “House of Cards” is Shakespeare’s “Othello”. There are so many parallels. Iago, who didn’t get the post he thought he deserved (Frank not being appointed as Secretary of State), manipulating others, planting suspicions and downright lies, all in a bid for power and revenge. Toying with other people’s lives.

Sitting in the theatre watching the play,  I found myself comparing the two again and again. Despite having to keep one eye on a screen translating the dialogue from Slovenian.

While I’ve heard many-a-time that Shakespeare is all about the language, this production of Othello by the Ljubljana City Theatre (visiting here!) is a superb production. The acting is first-rate and the variety of ways in which a minimalist selection of props were used so expressively blew me away. Well worth the slight discomfort of depending on subtitles to follow the dialogue.

The play trumped “House of Cards” in one respect, as far as I’m concerned. Watching the play there were moments when I smiled. I even chuckled. This does not happen when watching the TV show. I have a great many positive superlatives to say about it (really!!) but there are no touches of humor. Nothing to smile about. That’s a shame.

Visualising School – A “post-rain” Photo Pause

A teacher gets “new eyes” with camera in hand!

Unusual amounts of rain came down this week.  Driving to school Wednesday morning was quite difficult, even though I don’t live very far from the school.

This was the view from my classroom window yesterday. The students came in during the breaks to admire the “lake”:

Classroom by the lake Naomi's photos
Classroom by the lake
Naomi’s photos

 

On the way back to the car it stopped raining long enough for me to find this gem in front of my parking spot:

Naomi's photos
Naomi’s photos

The first indication that today would be brighter came not from the sky but from the hallways! Haven’t discovered who was celebrating yet…

DSCF4446

And then the sun came out! Color and life in the front school yard!

Brilliance in the school yard
Brilliance in the school yard

 

Naomi's photos
Are the sparrows enjoying the reflections?

 

 

Note: This is an educator’s blog, so only school related pictured are posted here. To see what this teacher comes up with when pounding the pavement of her hometown, see here:

Pounding The Pavement in Kiryat-Ono

Saturday’s Book: “Goodbye Columbus” by Philip Roth

Not the Japanese Garden you might think it to be  (Naomi's Photos)
Not the Japanese Garden you might think it to be
(Naomi’s Photos)

I made a mental note back in June, after having a conversation with Marjorie Rosenberg, that I needed to fill the hole in my education and read this classic book.

I’m really glad I did. There’s the main novella, which shares the title of the book and short stories. I actually enjoyed the short stories the most. In Goodbye Columbus the descriptions really moved me the ( the scenes that take place in the Newark Public library, and outside of it, are great!), while in the short stories the characters delivered the punch.

As I once mentioned, I tried reading Philp Roth when I was in my late teens and didn’t understand or relate to the books. I feel differently now that I’m older. I don’t think that the “young me” understood the nuances and subtleties, or what things represented at all. I can now see how skillful the author is at getting his message across.

On the other hand, I didn’t understand Roth’s book  “Exit Ghost” and that was last June! I can’t blame that on youth!

Excuse Me, George Elliot!

 

Naomi's photos
Naomi’s photos

 

 

 

As part of our literature program I’m about to teach the poem “Count That Day Lost”, by George Elliot, to very weak high-school students. Many of these students have learning disabilities in addition to their hearing problems. Others have other “issues”, such as difficulties at home.

My approach is to do a lot of pre-reading activities before the students lay their eyes on the poem itself.

I don’t usually post activities on my blog before I’ve tried them and tweaked them as neeeded, following the results. However, embarking on the literature program with these students promises to be quite a ride, so I’ve decided to post what I do as I go along.

The word “sun” and its connotations are very important in this poem so I plan to begin with a brainstorming session on that. I prepared a simple written worksheet for the activity, because having a discussion on the board requires a follow up activity in writing.  That is if I want them to pay attention to vocabulary in English! Here’s the worksheet.

Count lost sun map

Next I plan to move on to the concept of counting and to the fact that this poem relates to actions done in a day. . Thanks to Leo Selivan  for introducing me to the video this worksheet relates to.

Time to Count wrong side

I think it’s pretty clear what I want to achieve with the following slideshow. It looks so simple but it took me hours to figure out how to keep the message simple, use vocabulary from the poem and explain concepts with suitable images.

I hope I succeeded, I’ll know pretty soon!

 

 

Visualising School – A RAINY Photo Pause

A teacher gets “new eyes” with camera in hand!

 

It rained buckets this morning!

The courtyard (Naomi's photos)
The courtyard
(Naomi’s photos)

 

The Teachers' Room
The Teachers’ Room

 

View from my classrooom
View from my classroom

 

Note: This is an educator’s blog, so only school related pictured are posted here. To see what this teacher comes up with when pounding the pavement of her hometown, see here:

Pounding The Pavement in Kiryat-Ono

Saturday’s Book: Phew! They AREN’T Throwing Apples & Zebras Down The Drain

Throwing Apples & Zebras down the drain (Naomi's photos)
Throwing Apples & Zebras down the drain
(Naomi’s photos)

This isn’t a regular “Saturday’s Book” post. But it is about a book that for two days this week I thought had ceased to exist.

And I was very upset.

On Tuesday I got a phone call notifying me that the last copy of my program for teaching deaf and hard of hearing children (and other struggling learners) how to read in English as a foreign language, “Apples and Zebras”,  had been sold and there would be no more copies. Effectively, the book no longer existed.

I only have one copy at home.

I tried to tell myself that is the way of the world and coursebooks come and go.

Except there aren’t any coursebook writers fighting to write new materials for deaf children who need a fun program that won’t be based on the oral/aural approach, won’t compare minimal pairs of letters (the difference between n/t/d can’t be seen on the lips) and will have the children reading meaningful sentences early on. And there are certainly aren’t publishers fighting to publish for a population of approx 1000 books a year.

Obedient tree suffers quietly
Obedient tree suffers quietly

Nor are publishers interested in publishing self-explanatory, complete programs that can be taught by lovely  teachers who have never seen a deaf person in their life, and may not even be English teachers (sometimes they are special ed teachers), but agreed to teach a class of deaf children to completer their hours or “get a foot in the door”. We mustn’t forget the teacher’s aide who takes the struggling hard of hearing child out of the regular classroom which is busy chanting and merrily stomping their feet as they sing. What is she to do with the child who has learned all the body movements related to the songs but not the English in them? The child needs to learn to read quickly so he/she can have the text which will enable participation. What will guide her?

But to put all that aside, simply put – the book is “my baby” too. I worked very hard on writing it and on getting it published. Full disclosure, my second book for older struggling learners did not do well, but this one has been doing very well for over 20 years. Material writing is part of my identity. I’m in the midst of writing materials for my students for the new literature program and I love it.

Having the book disappear really hurt.

Thank goodness I was misinformed. The last book was sold and they have axed all the other publications for our population, but an additional 500 Apples and Zebras books have been ordered. When money is tight, why give up on something that actually sells well?

I needed to write about it because I still haven’t gotten over my feelings this week, even though I know its not true. For me, writing helps.

 

Saturday’s Book: “The Garlic Ballads” by Mo Yan

There are a lot of parakeets in this book! (Naomi's photos)
There are a lot of parakeets in this book!
(Naomi’s photos)

Sometimes the smells in this book are absolutely overpowering.

I don’t recall ever saying that about a book. The writing here is so beautiful, the descriptions so vivid that I was utterly drawn in. And with everything so realistic the smells are too. Or mostly the stink.

And a lot stinks. Rotting garlic is just the beginning. Frankly, everything about being a poor garlic farmer in rural China stinks, physically and metaphorically. There’s a lot of misery in this book. I couldn’t leave it but some passages were so hard to stomach that I skipped a page here and there. But I had to see it through.

He deserved the Nobel Prize.

It reminds me a bit of when I read books by Toni Morrison. A lot of misery there too. Yet I am completely hooked. Hmmm, she was awarded the Nobel Prize too.

By the way, according to the translators note, Yan is actually the author’s first name. I have to admit when I first saw the book in the library I didn’t remember who he was. I even thought the author may be a woman, because the cover said: acclaimed author of “Big Breasts & Wide Hips”. But then, would a woman choose such a title? Who knows!

Mourning the Loss of a Student

I'll do my crying in the rain (taken from classroom window)
I’ll do my crying in the rain
(taken from classroom window)

On the first day of the new school year, last year, he walked in and examined the name I had written on his classroom folder. Then he flashed me that incredible smile of his and said: “I’ll be perfectly happy if you want to treat me like a famous Italian artist, but I spell my name Rafael”.

His friends called him Rafa.

Rafael did get celebrity treatment. When he opened the classroom door he would pause a minute, so the students and I could all celebrate his arrival for a moment. He would flash that smile of his and everyone wanted him to sit next to them. It would take him a few minutes to settle down because he had to joke with everyone first.

Because you never knew when he would come to class. The days (or weeks) when he was absent were spent in the hospital, undergoing cancer therapy. Or spent at home, being too weak to school. Or perhaps being protected from all those germs floating around a school.

The amazing thing was that Rafael easily made up material he had missed. He was one of those rare students you only encounter once every few years, who are intellectually in a class of their own. He was doing extremely well studying with hearing students, despite his hearing problem. The only reason he transferred to the special classes such as mine, in the 12 grade, was his need for flexible support, caused by his absences. In my EFL class he was studying at the highest level.

Rafael was a high-achiever and a perfectionist. During the last few months of school the frequency of his absences grew, but he continued to study at home. We corresponded a lot by email and he sent me his work for comments. He refused to skip anything, he wanted the highest grades. Rafael sat for all of his exams (some were administered at home by an examiner) and the results were spectacular.

I was told that all he talked about during his last days were how to calculate his grade average and which university choices were now open to him.

Rafael passed away this week at the age of 19.

It is difficult to comprehend.

 

Visualising School – Photo Pause

A teacher gets “new eyes” with camera in hand!

Water at school

View from my classroom window - right after the rain. Water dripping from trees.
View from my classroom window – right after the rain. Water dripping from trees.

 

 reflection of recycling bin in front yard puddles
reflection of recycling bin in front yard puddles

 

Flooding from one of the toilets - not nice but caused delightful reflections in the hallway
Flooding from one of the toilets – not nice but caused delightful reflections in the hallway

 

Note: This is an educator’s blog, so only school related pictured are posted here. To see what this teacher comes up with when pounding the pavement of her hometown, see here:

Pounding The Pavement in Kiryat-Ono

 

Saturday’s Book: “Kaplan’s Quest” by Steinitz

As this is the second book I have read by Richard Steinitz (the first was “Murder over the Border”) I was prepared for an intriguing story, whose plot I could not guess.

I was not disappointed!

Steinitz had me join a quest traversing several countries – Israel, Germany France and Canada, and a travel back into time. World War Two in both Germany and Occupied France. I had never given any thought to the fact that there were Jewish athletes in pre-war Germany. And that some vanished inexplicably? “Inexplicably” as in “not in the manner you imagine for that time and place at all”? Slowly, with true detective work, the young hero uncovers and connects the puzzle pieces explaining his great uncle’s disappearance so many years ago.

Historic detective work of this kind requires patience and I found that sometimes the book required some patience as well. There are parts where Steinitz gets bogged down in too many details and explanations. But my patience was well rewarded and I’m glad I read the book .

Oh – I did guess that the boy gets the girl! And that’s not a spoiler, that’s a heartwarming pleasure!