With Copenhagen last week, Ms Aucoin thought it could be very interesting for students to share what they think about the idea of wealthier countries taking more responsibility for climate change than the developing countries. Please read this article:
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/un-environment-chief-calls-on-china-us-to-raise-offers/
Here are some questions to keep in mind while reading:
1. Why have developing countries argued that wealthier, industrialized nations should sacrifice more to fight climate change? Do you agree?
2. China is now the world's largest polluter, surpassing the United States. Should she continue to claim status as a developing country?
3. To what extent have business interests hindered progress?
It's possible the Martinican students will be too busy with their final exams to add their ideas to the exchange. Nevertheless, I wanted to add this piece to discussions on climate change:
http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=120498442&m=121353021
If projections are correct is seems as if Florida will be greatly affected by global warming. What about the small island of Martinique? Are you worried? What should we do to protect land surrounded by the sea? Listening to the specifics of what will happen to Florida made me shudder to think about Martinique. However, on a more positive note I listened to Edouard Glissant at the Prix Carbet awards ceremony. He says that small political entities will have a greater ability to confront moments of crisis because they can tap into indigenous sources of knowledge. Is that a viable idea? Can the Martinican students explain this resevoir of talent and knowledge that Glissant was referring to?
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Healthcare debate
This week's article is by Paul Krugman (Nobel Peace Prize Winner for Economics in 2008):
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/opinion/04krugman.html?hp
He argues (convincingly in my opinion) that we absolutely must enact universal health care coverage for all Americans. Do you agree with his point of view? If it's as obvious as he makes it seem than why is there such difficulty getting the bill passed? What are the ideological and practical issues that prevent the bill from being embraced by all?
Here's some additional information if you need it:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/how-to-control-rising-health-care-costs/
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/what-happened-to-a-public-health-plan/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/opinion/04krugman.html?hp
He argues (convincingly in my opinion) that we absolutely must enact universal health care coverage for all Americans. Do you agree with his point of view? If it's as obvious as he makes it seem than why is there such difficulty getting the bill passed? What are the ideological and practical issues that prevent the bill from being embraced by all?
Here's some additional information if you need it:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/how-to-control-rising-health-care-costs/
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/what-happened-to-a-public-health-plan/
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
I'm incredibly grateful to all the Martinican students who answered the question, "What does it mean to be Martinican?" I think just reading a few of your posts gave me a deeper appreciation for the life and culture of this irrefutably beautiful island.
In attempt to have some grounding in our discussion as to what it might be like to be American I'd like you to read the prologue to The Audacity of Hope: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2008-01-15-The-Audacity-of-Hope_N.htm
Oceane was right when she said that the Fort Hood article was too long. The entire book by Obama is, in my opinion, interesting and worth reading. For class, however, I am only asking you to read paragraphs 18-25 of this excerpt, from "But whether I was meeting with..." to the end of the paragraph that begins, "My argument, however,..."
To guide your reading you might consider these two questions: What are the common themes that Obama finds in most Americans regardless of their age, ethnicity, political party or religion? Does his view match with what you see and read in the media? You may answer those questions in this blog or you may continue with the previous blog questions on carbon tax and Martinican identity. Remember some of you are behind in your blogging and need to do two posts.
Cindy has volunteered to present Obama's ideas outlined here. If you'd like to present another aspect of Obama's book or another aspect of American identity (it is a crucial question for all of you reading Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography!) please let me know.
I know I'm a little late in posting and I deeply apologize if I've caused any of you inconvenience. Sorry!
In attempt to have some grounding in our discussion as to what it might be like to be American I'd like you to read the prologue to The Audacity of Hope: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2008-01-15-The-Audacity-of-Hope_N.htm
Oceane was right when she said that the Fort Hood article was too long. The entire book by Obama is, in my opinion, interesting and worth reading. For class, however, I am only asking you to read paragraphs 18-25 of this excerpt, from "But whether I was meeting with..." to the end of the paragraph that begins, "My argument, however,..."
To guide your reading you might consider these two questions: What are the common themes that Obama finds in most Americans regardless of their age, ethnicity, political party or religion? Does his view match with what you see and read in the media? You may answer those questions in this blog or you may continue with the previous blog questions on carbon tax and Martinican identity. Remember some of you are behind in your blogging and need to do two posts.
Cindy has volunteered to present Obama's ideas outlined here. If you'd like to present another aspect of Obama's book or another aspect of American identity (it is a crucial question for all of you reading Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography!) please let me know.
I know I'm a little late in posting and I deeply apologize if I've caused any of you inconvenience. Sorry!
Friday, November 20, 2009
A vous de choisir - Your choice
Once again I'd like to thank all the people who took the time to post their answers to the questions last week. Last week in Martinique I was introduced to the two other Americans who live on the island. I mention this to highlight the fact that Martinique is not the center of many divergent cultures and I think we all gained a lot from the various views on what it might mean to be Muslim in America. I also found it interesting to see the diversity of opinion regarding our need to balance our desire for security in the face of increasingly common acts of terrorism and our desire to hold on to our civil liberties. It certainly animated our class discussion considerably. Thank you.
This week you have a choice as to what you'd like to post.
1. Ms. Aucoin thought it would be interesting if the students at QHSS explained a little bit about their research projects. I think it might indeed be very beneficial for the students at Bellevue to read about a variety of topics because they never know what type of article they might get on the day of their final exam.
2. In our literture class we are beginning to study Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. He is writing partially in response to a French immigrant farmer Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur
http://www.civics-online.org/library/formatted/texts/crevecoeur.html
who lived in New England and describes what it's like to be an American in 1781. What does Crevecoeur think it means to be an American? What do you think it means to be an American? Is the self-made man concept a myth? What does it mean to be Martinican? To what degree is the desire to work hard, educate yourself and better your life and that of your fellow citizens true of all humans and certainly not reserved to any particular nationality? Are their certain structures needed to make sure everyone is able to realize his/her desires? To be clear, you might say that free quality education is necessary in order to capitalize on inherent qualities, yet Franklin only went to school for one year. Are their particular aspects of American society that promote or inhibit the realization of the self-made human being?
3. The article I've chosen for the week is about the current debate on carbon tax. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/opinion/18friedman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22thomas%20friedman%22%20carbon%20tax&st=cse
How would the system work? Is it fair and why does Friedman think it is crucial?
This week you have a choice as to what you'd like to post.
1. Ms. Aucoin thought it would be interesting if the students at QHSS explained a little bit about their research projects. I think it might indeed be very beneficial for the students at Bellevue to read about a variety of topics because they never know what type of article they might get on the day of their final exam.
2. In our literture class we are beginning to study Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. He is writing partially in response to a French immigrant farmer Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur
http://www.civics-online.org/library/formatted/texts/crevecoeur.html
who lived in New England and describes what it's like to be an American in 1781. What does Crevecoeur think it means to be an American? What do you think it means to be an American? Is the self-made man concept a myth? What does it mean to be Martinican? To what degree is the desire to work hard, educate yourself and better your life and that of your fellow citizens true of all humans and certainly not reserved to any particular nationality? Are their certain structures needed to make sure everyone is able to realize his/her desires? To be clear, you might say that free quality education is necessary in order to capitalize on inherent qualities, yet Franklin only went to school for one year. Are their particular aspects of American society that promote or inhibit the realization of the self-made human being?
3. The article I've chosen for the week is about the current debate on carbon tax. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/opinion/18friedman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22thomas%20friedman%22%20carbon%20tax&st=cse
How would the system work? Is it fair and why does Friedman think it is crucial?
Friday, November 13, 2009
"Fort Hood Killer"
Please read the following article from Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1938415,00.html
Some things to consider:
1. What does it mean to be a Muslim in the U.S.? The article suggests that some of the values of Islam are incompatible with being an American and upholding the Constitution. Is that indeed true and if so should Muslims be questioned more than other religions if they want to work in the military or other branches of the government? (Just for the record I find this idea completely anathema to all our American ideals.)
2. What is your response to this tragedy? We studied another article in class http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/29/gun-violence-death-us in which Jenny Price states that in a country with 283 million fire arms it is hypocritical to be shocked by these mass killings. Do we need more gun control? Is it realistic to think it might pass through Congress despite the power of the NRA (National Rifle Association)?
Are we victims of powerful interest groups as much as we are of mass killers?
3. The article suggests that perhaps the tragedy occured because our military resources are overstretched due to our trying to fight the wars in Iraq qnd Afghanistan simultaneously. Do you agree and if so what is the solution?
4. I certainly appreciated all the posts that reaffirmed our need to uphold our civil liberties in general and the 4th Amendment in particular. How can we properly balance our need for security in the face of increasingly common acts of terrorism and our desire to hold on to our civil liberties?
Some things to consider:
1. What does it mean to be a Muslim in the U.S.? The article suggests that some of the values of Islam are incompatible with being an American and upholding the Constitution. Is that indeed true and if so should Muslims be questioned more than other religions if they want to work in the military or other branches of the government? (Just for the record I find this idea completely anathema to all our American ideals.)
2. What is your response to this tragedy? We studied another article in class http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/29/gun-violence-death-us in which Jenny Price states that in a country with 283 million fire arms it is hypocritical to be shocked by these mass killings. Do we need more gun control? Is it realistic to think it might pass through Congress despite the power of the NRA (National Rifle Association)?
Are we victims of powerful interest groups as much as we are of mass killers?
3. The article suggests that perhaps the tragedy occured because our military resources are overstretched due to our trying to fight the wars in Iraq qnd Afghanistan simultaneously. Do you agree and if so what is the solution?
4. I certainly appreciated all the posts that reaffirmed our need to uphold our civil liberties in general and the 4th Amendment in particular. How can we properly balance our need for security in the face of increasingly common acts of terrorism and our desire to hold on to our civil liberties?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Savannah Redding and the Fourth Amendment
First I'd like to thank Ms. Aucoin and all of her fabulous students who posted their ideas on the blog. We ran into some technical glitches in Martinique but our participation should increase greatly. We really benefited from your many viewpoints and ideas and our class on the press was much livlier and significantly better informed than usual. I am extremely grateful to all of you.
This week's article is about Savana Redding and the Fourth Amendment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/us/24savana.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=Savana%20Redding&st=cse&scp=1
Here are some questions I came up with to guide your postings:
1. How important is the Fourth Amendment? Should it apply equally in and out of schools? Should it apply equally to minors and adults?
2. What role should schools play in enforcing the law? What values do you want to promote in schools and to what extent are we willing to do so? What behavior do we want to condemn and how much of the school's responsability is it to enforce the law and eradicate bad behavior? (In brainstorming together Ms. Aucoin and I thought this might be a good opportunity for you to exchange ideas on school culture. Lycee Bellevue is VERY DIFFERENT from Queens High School for the Sciences. For example there's No Spirit Week no Halloween Parades, few cultural and extracurricular trips or dances. I find those differences interesting and worth comparing.)
3. Should Savana Redding be awarded a lot of money for her humiliation and to act as a deterent for having schools violate students's rights? Many Americans believe that we need to have dramatic tort reform because lawsuits have become excessive and harmful to our society. My friend, a lawyer, argues that lawsuits often serve to make our world safer and better. Recently the cafeteria at lycee Bellevue was closed because it was considered unsafe. There is a lot of debate in Fort de France about closing le lycee Schoelcher (http://www.alfred-mariejeanne.com/spip.php?article30) because it is really falling apart and is considered to be very dangerous for the students and staff who go there. My immediate reaction was that in the U. S. no school district would have allowed students to go into these unsafe places. What is your opinion on lawsuits?
4. When you read the facts in this case do you think the school was justified in their suspicions of Redding? To what extent should schools police student behavior? When QHSS first opened I know there was a debate about allowing students to eat at the York College Cafeteria and that some students allegedly went onto campus to smoke. Is it the school's responsability to watch over students and make sure they aren't doing what they shouldn't be? In contrast, lycee Bellevue has a very open campus where students can go anywhere and do anything for their 2 hour ( a little more than the 48 minutes QHSS students have ) lunchbreak. Is it a good idea to allow students this freedom? If they leave campus should the school still be held responsible?
My thanks again for your amazing participation and an extra special thanks to Shavita for her French!
Mme
This week's article is about Savana Redding and the Fourth Amendment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/us/24savana.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=Savana%20Redding&st=cse&scp=1
Here are some questions I came up with to guide your postings:
1. How important is the Fourth Amendment? Should it apply equally in and out of schools? Should it apply equally to minors and adults?
2. What role should schools play in enforcing the law? What values do you want to promote in schools and to what extent are we willing to do so? What behavior do we want to condemn and how much of the school's responsability is it to enforce the law and eradicate bad behavior? (In brainstorming together Ms. Aucoin and I thought this might be a good opportunity for you to exchange ideas on school culture. Lycee Bellevue is VERY DIFFERENT from Queens High School for the Sciences. For example there's No Spirit Week no Halloween Parades, few cultural and extracurricular trips or dances. I find those differences interesting and worth comparing.)
3. Should Savana Redding be awarded a lot of money for her humiliation and to act as a deterent for having schools violate students's rights? Many Americans believe that we need to have dramatic tort reform because lawsuits have become excessive and harmful to our society. My friend, a lawyer, argues that lawsuits often serve to make our world safer and better. Recently the cafeteria at lycee Bellevue was closed because it was considered unsafe. There is a lot of debate in Fort de France about closing le lycee Schoelcher (http://www.alfred-mariejeanne.com/spip.php?article30) because it is really falling apart and is considered to be very dangerous for the students and staff who go there. My immediate reaction was that in the U. S. no school district would have allowed students to go into these unsafe places. What is your opinion on lawsuits?
4. When you read the facts in this case do you think the school was justified in their suspicions of Redding? To what extent should schools police student behavior? When QHSS first opened I know there was a debate about allowing students to eat at the York College Cafeteria and that some students allegedly went onto campus to smoke. Is it the school's responsability to watch over students and make sure they aren't doing what they shouldn't be? In contrast, lycee Bellevue has a very open campus where students can go anywhere and do anything for their 2 hour ( a little more than the 48 minutes QHSS students have ) lunchbreak. Is it a good idea to allow students this freedom? If they leave campus should the school still be held responsible?
My thanks again for your amazing participation and an extra special thanks to Shavita for her French!
Mme
Friday, October 16, 2009
Beware the cult of interaction
Here's this week's article, "Beware the Cult of Interaction" and some questions to consider when posting:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/02/interactivity-cultish-blogging-twitter
If you're a QHSS student you might explain why Twitter is so popular. Unfortunately, I don't really see the interest so I had great difficulty explaining it to my students. Help us out!
As cited in the article Thoreau wrote, We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas, but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing to communicate." If that's true than maybe people in Queens and Fort de France have nothing to communicate either! What would you like to know about each other and what might you hope to get from this exchange?
According to Malone a lot of the communication that occurs on the blogosphere and on social network sites are meaningless. Do you agree? Why are people so attracted to sites like Facebook? Why might someone be interested in "Facebook stalking"? What if anything do we learn about ourselves and our society? Or is learning besides the point?
Is Malone right that in all areas beyond family and friends all we want is to be treated fairly and thus impersonally and anonymously?
Is it possible that being bombarded with too much information can hurt democracy?
What are your reactions to this article?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/02/interactivity-cultish-blogging-twitter
If you're a QHSS student you might explain why Twitter is so popular. Unfortunately, I don't really see the interest so I had great difficulty explaining it to my students. Help us out!
As cited in the article Thoreau wrote, We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas, but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing to communicate." If that's true than maybe people in Queens and Fort de France have nothing to communicate either! What would you like to know about each other and what might you hope to get from this exchange?
According to Malone a lot of the communication that occurs on the blogosphere and on social network sites are meaningless. Do you agree? Why are people so attracted to sites like Facebook? Why might someone be interested in "Facebook stalking"? What if anything do we learn about ourselves and our society? Or is learning besides the point?
Is Malone right that in all areas beyond family and friends all we want is to be treated fairly and thus impersonally and anonymously?
Is it possible that being bombarded with too much information can hurt democracy?
What are your reactions to this article?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Race in The Age of Obama
Today we finished talking about this article from The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/books/review/Patterson-t.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=race%20in%20the%20age%20of%20obama&st=cse
My students would like to know how rampanent is racism in America?
We you read in the article that 25% of blacks in America live in poverty it is a shockingly high number but you can't walk around Jamaica for long without seeing that there it is not pure hyperbole.
Odile asked what is racism like in NY? If you have an answer or a part of an answer I'd be so grateful for your ideas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/books/review/Patterson-t.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=race%20in%20the%20age%20of%20obama&st=cse
My students would like to know how rampanent is racism in America?
We you read in the article that 25% of blacks in America live in poverty it is a shockingly high number but you can't walk around Jamaica for long without seeing that there it is not pure hyperbole.
Odile asked what is racism like in NY? If you have an answer or a part of an answer I'd be so grateful for your ideas.
Are we Americans a bunch of gun packing Nazis?
When I went to Paris I read this article from Le Monde perhaps the best French newspaper. I can't seem to find a copy online but here is a similar article from Le Figaro
http://www.lefigaro.fr/elections-americaines-2008/2008/11/10/01017-20081110ARTFIG00279-la-victoire-d-obama-dope-les-ventes-d-armes-personnelles-.php
Last week a kind colleague showed me an article about a tv show examining the gun use of Americans.
If you read and watch mainstream media you might think every American has a gun. No one I know owns a gun so it seemed to be a complete distortion of the reality I know. After having watched Romeo+Juliet (1996) by Luhrmann we discussed gun violence in America. We are studying the following article in class next week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/29/gun-violence-death-us
I would like those of you living in America to read the article and post your opinion. Am I the one who has a distorted view of America? Are guns really as prevalent as these articles make them seem?
http://www.lefigaro.fr/elections-americaines-2008/2008/11/10/01017-20081110ARTFIG00279-la-victoire-d-obama-dope-les-ventes-d-armes-personnelles-.php
Last week a kind colleague showed me an article about a tv show examining the gun use of Americans.
If you read and watch mainstream media you might think every American has a gun. No one I know owns a gun so it seemed to be a complete distortion of the reality I know. After having watched Romeo+Juliet (1996) by Luhrmann we discussed gun violence in America. We are studying the following article in class next week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/29/gun-violence-death-us
I would like those of you living in America to read the article and post your opinion. Am I the one who has a distorted view of America? Are guns really as prevalent as these articles make them seem?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
So maybe I'm just a big complainer
Or maybe not.
I've spent more time than I'd like to admit wondering how Mme Sureau could live in Martinique and then knowing how it's hotter than hades how she could propose someone take her place. I've spent a lot of time asking how the people in the Fulbright organization could send me to a place where it's too hot to think much less do anything else. And then I remember Montesquieu's Lettres persanes (1721) and the letter where someone asks Usbek who has newly arrived in Paris,"Comment peut-on etre persan?" The point of the letter is that the Parisians are so ignorant about other cultures they cannot even conceive of being a Persian. I mentally chide myself and figure I'm obviously displaying the same ignorance and lack of sensitivity towards this new culture that I've yet to figure out.
Alex said that the people who made the sidewalks (that are only about 6 inches wide in some parts) are mean and cruel and stupid. In our world stupid is an 's' word that isn't supposed to be used but I couldn't think of admonishing him when he was so clearly speaking the truth. Why make a sidewalk if a 3 year old's feet don't even fit on one part of a high traffic road. But along with all these questions my mind readily supplies the answer. If I had to build a sidewalk in 105 degree heat than I too would have made it as narrow as possible. And this is, of course, just one of hundreds of indications that the infrastructure in Martinique seems to be completely lacking or falling apart.
And today it all became clear. I'm not a complainer. Ok well I am but it's justified. Mme Sureau is not a torturer. It's just the hottest September Martinique has ever experienced. Theo's principal said it was the hottest Sept she's known in her 60 years and indeed 60 is the number. Today I was reading Meteo France and it has never been this hot since 1946. What's most noticeable for the meteorologists is that even at night it doesn't get any cooler. On Sept 28 it never got cooler than 28 degrees which has only happened once before. http://www.meteo.fr/temps/domtom/antilles/pack-public/alaune/cmp_ma_oct09.pdf
Eureka! I am a complainer but it's not just complaining for the sake of complaining. We're not just suffering because we're used to NY where it's cooler. We're suffering because it is hotter than ever before.
One last rumination. I'm reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. I would never claim to be as influential as the people who made Hush Puppies popular in the late 1990's but let me share these ideas and have you wonder what if it were always, everywhere getting hotter and hotter? At what point do we realize that we are ruining our planet and it's time to stop?
I've spent more time than I'd like to admit wondering how Mme Sureau could live in Martinique and then knowing how it's hotter than hades how she could propose someone take her place. I've spent a lot of time asking how the people in the Fulbright organization could send me to a place where it's too hot to think much less do anything else. And then I remember Montesquieu's Lettres persanes (1721) and the letter where someone asks Usbek who has newly arrived in Paris,"Comment peut-on etre persan?" The point of the letter is that the Parisians are so ignorant about other cultures they cannot even conceive of being a Persian. I mentally chide myself and figure I'm obviously displaying the same ignorance and lack of sensitivity towards this new culture that I've yet to figure out.
Alex said that the people who made the sidewalks (that are only about 6 inches wide in some parts) are mean and cruel and stupid. In our world stupid is an 's' word that isn't supposed to be used but I couldn't think of admonishing him when he was so clearly speaking the truth. Why make a sidewalk if a 3 year old's feet don't even fit on one part of a high traffic road. But along with all these questions my mind readily supplies the answer. If I had to build a sidewalk in 105 degree heat than I too would have made it as narrow as possible. And this is, of course, just one of hundreds of indications that the infrastructure in Martinique seems to be completely lacking or falling apart.
And today it all became clear. I'm not a complainer. Ok well I am but it's justified. Mme Sureau is not a torturer. It's just the hottest September Martinique has ever experienced. Theo's principal said it was the hottest Sept she's known in her 60 years and indeed 60 is the number. Today I was reading Meteo France and it has never been this hot since 1946. What's most noticeable for the meteorologists is that even at night it doesn't get any cooler. On Sept 28 it never got cooler than 28 degrees which has only happened once before. http://www.meteo.fr/temps/domtom/antilles/pack-public/alaune/cmp_ma_oct09.pdf
Eureka! I am a complainer but it's not just complaining for the sake of complaining. We're not just suffering because we're used to NY where it's cooler. We're suffering because it is hotter than ever before.
One last rumination. I'm reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. I would never claim to be as influential as the people who made Hush Puppies popular in the late 1990's but let me share these ideas and have you wonder what if it were always, everywhere getting hotter and hotter? At what point do we realize that we are ruining our planet and it's time to stop?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Fun
In Martinique we have a lot of fun. We play football otherwise known as soccer. I play it a lot. Sometimes I play with my friend Alec. Last week we played a big game against his sister and another teenage girl who is our neighbor. The score for the first game was 4-10 we lost. The second game was 2-6. We only played half a game because the sun sets at 6pm and by 6:30 we couldn't see the ball anymore. We lost but the girls were twice our size.
My dad just bought me a new basketball. It was on sale so it only cost $15! Last week I went to the park and played basketball with my friend Manau. It was fun! Good thing because in order to amortize such an expense my dad did an excel spreadsheet and figured that we'll have to play another 256 times. Only kidding!
You can also have a lot of fun making new friends at the beach and swimming.
![]()
There are a lot of tropical fish that you can see with a snorkel. But you better watch out for the sea urchins. If you come I can guide you around them and show you how to stay away from the rocks because that's where they grow.
And one final warning - beware of con artists even if they are beautiful and only four years old. A few weeks ago we went to the beach in St. Anne. It was your typical turquoise Caribbean sea but strangely you could swim for a very far distance and never be in deeper than your waist. After a swim we were resting on the beach and this young tatoo artist came by with her machine that made the most beautiful invisible tatoos in either green or purple. Then for her arduous labors she asked for a euro. Alex and Theo each got two invisible tatoos and I offered her the .50 that I had in my pocket. I figured she well earned her money in resourcefulness and in the halarity of the situation.
![]()
My dad just bought me a new basketball. It was on sale so it only cost $15! Last week I went to the park and played basketball with my friend Manau. It was fun! Good thing because in order to amortize such an expense my dad did an excel spreadsheet and figured that we'll have to play another 256 times. Only kidding!
You can also have a lot of fun making new friends at the beach and swimming.
And one final warning - beware of con artists even if they are beautiful and only four years old. A few weeks ago we went to the beach in St. Anne. It was your typical turquoise Caribbean sea but strangely you could swim for a very far distance and never be in deeper than your waist. After a swim we were resting on the beach and this young tatoo artist came by with her machine that made the most beautiful invisible tatoos in either green or purple. Then for her arduous labors she asked for a euro. Alex and Theo each got two invisible tatoos and I offered her the .50 that I had in my pocket. I figured she well earned her money in resourcefulness and in the halarity of the situation.
Sunset at the beach
Vacation
In Martinique there are a lot of strikes. When we just arrived there was a gas strike where no one could buy gas. There's no self-service gas pumping in Martinique. It has to be pumped for you by a professional pompiste. The crazy thing about this strike was that it was a preventitive strike. What that means is that the pompistes weren't striking because their work conditions were so bad - they had already done that for 6 weeks last Febuary - they were striking because they anticipated that maybe some of the things they won in the last strike wouldn't be respected. They were striking just for the pure pleasure of flexing their muscles!
Then I went to school and in the middle of the second week there was another strike. The school tried to call home but the only person home to answer the phone was my grandmother who (no offense Grandma) doesn't speak that great French or at least doesn't have the cultural background that would allow her to deduce that of course schools might close at any moment because there was a strike. (It's kind of like Maureen's college level students who may or may not have understood when she said, "Stand up and talk to someone else in the classroom." The idea of standing and talking and not just passively sitting and taking notes made them think they couldn't possibly have understood what this crazy teacher from NY was saying). So I went to school for a little while but not for too long, not too long at all and then once upon a time the lunch ladies decided to strike. My dad fortunately met my friend's very nice father who picked me up and brought me home.
And then yesterday, I thought the cafeteria and after-school people were going on strike but I later discovered that all the aids and the custodians were also going on strike so the school could not fuction. No school today. It's like a having a weekend in the middle of the week because of course tomorrow, Wednesday, there's no school - except for my swimming and sailing lessons :)
Maybe there will be a long strike. Now's the time because in less than three weeks we have two and a half weeks off for vacation. So I hope that this school strike lasts for about two and a half weeks. Then my All Saint's Day vacation could become a summer vacation for me.
It's ok though because my learning in French is exponential. Yesterday, my new teacher told a girl that I had better handwriting than she did. That's quite the insult her for her because I'm still learning script but French students start learning it in kindergarten.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Theo's First Week of School
School is great. I love it. I have a great teacher and great friends.
School starts early so we get up early, eat our breakfast, play a little video games (if dad allows it and mom’s not around) and go to school. We walk to school and sometimes we meet a couple of friends along the way. Then you go into school – but not before 7:50. The principal talks about discipline and what your day is going to be about. When you go into class and you say hello to your friends. Next, you do a little tiny bit of work and you have mini-recess. It’s awesome. After that, you go back in and do work: history, math, french etc. Then you have more lunch and recess. You go back into the classroom and do some more work. Tired and hungry it’s then time for the afternoon snack and recess. On Fridays, if you are good and don’t waste too much time, then you do sports. Then you go home. You say to yourself, “My day at school, I guess, it wasn’t that bad at all.” I know it sounds like there is a lot of time spent in recess and eating but that’s what happens when you stay in school until 4:30 pm.
My teacher is great but a little strict. Her name is Madame Thomas but sometimes people call her Madame Tomate (Ms. Tomato). She has given les lignes, lines to copy over and over, to punish the bad students. The principal is also great. She’s also very, very strict and she talks about discipline every morning. Her goal for the school is to make it a place where everyone succeeds. She mentioned including handicap students or learning disabled students but I think she also means those of us who might not speak or read French perfectly!
There are many differences with school in the U.S. Did I mention we are working on this on Wednesday morning? No school on Wednesday!
Aime Cesaire is the most famous person who ever lived in Martinique. He was a poet. He wrote Retour au pays natal. This is what I had to memorize. (When you read it imagine in your head adorable Theo reciting it in his amazingly authentic French accent.)
Et le temps passait vite, tres vite.
Passe aout ou les manguiers pavoisent de toutes leurs lunules.
Septembre l’accoucheur de cyclons
Octobre le flambeur de cannes
Novembre qui ronronne aux distilleries
C’était Noel qui commencait.
Here’s our admittedly free translation:
And time went by fast, very fast.
Good bye August when the mango trees displayed their moon shaped fruit
September giving birth to hurricanes
October the lighter of fires in the cane fields
November that makes the distilleries purr
Christmas was beginning
Stayed tune because the second part of the poem is coming next week!
French students learn how to take beautiful notes in calligraphy-like script. Script is a little hard for me but now I’m doing fun activity sheets learning how to read French script so it makes me a little happy but it also makes me sad that I’m a little bit behind other kids.
As you probably noticed we have recess three times a day! We play duck duck goose after lunch sometimes. I tried to explain it to everyone in French. While I was in the middle of my explanation people said to me, “Is this le facteur (the mailman)? Then when I was done explaining it everyone said, “Yeah it is le facteur!” But the teacher said, “Don’t sing the song.” Some children sang it softly so they didn’t get into too much trouble. One day we were playing le facteur and the teacher didn’t realize what time it was so then we had to run to the bathroom, vite, vite vite! drink some water vite, vite vite! and run back to class vite, vite vite! and then it turned out that even the teacher was a little bit late. So it was fine. Some days now we do arts and crafts but some of the students get to play le facteur. I don’t think that’s totally fair because the groups aren’t well thought out.
On Fridays we have a different teacher and we play sports at the end of the day after snack. One day I taught them a new game but the teacher said, “That’s a little too noisy.” She didn’t want to be too mean but we had to stop playing. So then we played, Steal the bacon. I forget what it’s called in French but it’s similar something like Steal the Sausage. It was very fun and I got to be number 1 and every time I won. The big girl who was calling the number called a second number then two other people came in so there were 4 people. Mathieu grabbed it quickly but I ran so quickly that I touched him. I almost fell but I saved myself and our team won the point.
School starts early so we get up early, eat our breakfast, play a little video games (if dad allows it and mom’s not around) and go to school. We walk to school and sometimes we meet a couple of friends along the way. Then you go into school – but not before 7:50. The principal talks about discipline and what your day is going to be about. When you go into class and you say hello to your friends. Next, you do a little tiny bit of work and you have mini-recess. It’s awesome. After that, you go back in and do work: history, math, french etc. Then you have more lunch and recess. You go back into the classroom and do some more work. Tired and hungry it’s then time for the afternoon snack and recess. On Fridays, if you are good and don’t waste too much time, then you do sports. Then you go home. You say to yourself, “My day at school, I guess, it wasn’t that bad at all.” I know it sounds like there is a lot of time spent in recess and eating but that’s what happens when you stay in school until 4:30 pm.
My teacher is great but a little strict. Her name is Madame Thomas but sometimes people call her Madame Tomate (Ms. Tomato). She has given les lignes, lines to copy over and over, to punish the bad students. The principal is also great. She’s also very, very strict and she talks about discipline every morning. Her goal for the school is to make it a place where everyone succeeds. She mentioned including handicap students or learning disabled students but I think she also means those of us who might not speak or read French perfectly!
There are many differences with school in the U.S. Did I mention we are working on this on Wednesday morning? No school on Wednesday!
Aime Cesaire is the most famous person who ever lived in Martinique. He was a poet. He wrote Retour au pays natal. This is what I had to memorize. (When you read it imagine in your head adorable Theo reciting it in his amazingly authentic French accent.)
Et le temps passait vite, tres vite.
Passe aout ou les manguiers pavoisent de toutes leurs lunules.
Septembre l’accoucheur de cyclons
Octobre le flambeur de cannes
Novembre qui ronronne aux distilleries
C’était Noel qui commencait.
Here’s our admittedly free translation:
And time went by fast, very fast.
Good bye August when the mango trees displayed their moon shaped fruit
September giving birth to hurricanes
October the lighter of fires in the cane fields
November that makes the distilleries purr
Christmas was beginning
Stayed tune because the second part of the poem is coming next week!
French students learn how to take beautiful notes in calligraphy-like script. Script is a little hard for me but now I’m doing fun activity sheets learning how to read French script so it makes me a little happy but it also makes me sad that I’m a little bit behind other kids.
As you probably noticed we have recess three times a day! We play duck duck goose after lunch sometimes. I tried to explain it to everyone in French. While I was in the middle of my explanation people said to me, “Is this le facteur (the mailman)? Then when I was done explaining it everyone said, “Yeah it is le facteur!” But the teacher said, “Don’t sing the song.” Some children sang it softly so they didn’t get into too much trouble. One day we were playing le facteur and the teacher didn’t realize what time it was so then we had to run to the bathroom, vite, vite vite! drink some water vite, vite vite! and run back to class vite, vite vite! and then it turned out that even the teacher was a little bit late. So it was fine. Some days now we do arts and crafts but some of the students get to play le facteur. I don’t think that’s totally fair because the groups aren’t well thought out.
On Fridays we have a different teacher and we play sports at the end of the day after snack. One day I taught them a new game but the teacher said, “That’s a little too noisy.” She didn’t want to be too mean but we had to stop playing. So then we played, Steal the bacon. I forget what it’s called in French but it’s similar something like Steal the Sausage. It was very fun and I got to be number 1 and every time I won. The big girl who was calling the number called a second number then two other people came in so there were 4 people. Mathieu grabbed it quickly but I ran so quickly that I touched him. I almost fell but I saved myself and our team won the point.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
