Coffee Talk/Debate Night

Coffee Talk this week was debate. As usual, I put the program in the hands of the students. They decided that the topic would be Cell Phones Should be Banned on the University Campus. To be honest, it started out a bit on the boring side. The law students wanted to have a "real" debate, but the rest of us wanted to have fun! Thankfully, things got more interesting when we broke the rules and started going off task. The "against" students claimed that they needed cell phones in case they wanted to meet their girlfriends. "How can I kiss my girlfriend if I can't find her?" Another student claimed that sex was the 4th basic need of human beings. The opposing team claimed that since they are students and depend on their families for income, they should be studying instead of spending time and money on girlfriends and cell phone. Things got hot after that as students became more animated and, of course, started to speak English!

Up and Running

In the English Language Improvement Center, we have 10 computers, but they mostly sat and collected dust. So we finally got around to formatting all of those virus-ridden things and started loading stuff. Clarity Software donated 5 educational English software programs such as Clear Pronunciation, Study Skills, Mind Games, Tense Buster. In addition, the American series Crossroads Cafe, about a group of immigrants who work in a small restaurant, was next. Music videos with the English lyrics has already proven to be popular so we will continue to add to our collection. Mind Your Language, a Britsh comedy series, will also be downloaded on the computers. Some students are coming to practice word processing. Since we have Microsoft Office, some students are coming in to practice their word processing skills.  These computers are a new phenomenon in the ELIC so now the hard work begins...how to attract students to use them. That will be a job for second semester. More on that later!

Film Night/Crossroads Cafe/Movie Night

Every other Wednesday we have Film Night. We might show a comedy (Mind Your Language), a documentary (Media That Matters), a music video (Michael Jackson). This past Wednesday we showed an episode of Crossroads Cafe, which is a series for ESL students in the U.S.. The stories take place in a restaurant owned by a Romanian immigrant named Mr. Brashov. Almost all of Mr. Bradshov's employees are immigrants from various countries and the show reflects their lives.

 

In addition,every month or so we show an English language film on the Debre Markos University campus. This week we featured Teeken, an action movie that the students loved. Not much to learn about American culture or even valuable English, but purely entertainment. The problem is the low level of English of the students. If we show a film with "substance", such as The Help, the students understand so little of the English that they walk out. Not surprizingly, more than 200 students attended Teeken, a movie about fighting. A student explained the storyine in Amharic, but mostly the students just loved the action. Our last movie was Hip Hop Nation, not as well attended, but full of dancing with minimal plot. I hope to find ways to download movies with English subtitles so at least students can get something out of a movie tat I see as educational.

Coffee Talk for Females: Boasting Night

The crowd was small but we had fun dancing, singing, and boasting. We made a list of famous females on the board. Then participants had to choose from them and pretend they were that woman. For example, I was Hillary Clinton, and I bragged about how famous I was and what I had accomplished as Secretary of State. Fasika imitated Asteer Awake, a famous Ethiopian singer. She even sang one of her songs with her silklike voice. Bubuu was Azeb, the wife of the late prime minister Meles Zenawi. Because there were only 10 women there, they all had a chance to practice their English in front of an audience.

Ordering Night

CoffeeTalk this week was called Ordering Night. Within reason, any member of the audience could "order" the person on the floor what to do. If he/she did not comply, she had to kneel on the floor for 5 minutes, just like we used to shame students in the past. Of course, this was all in fun. The contestant also had to answer questions and speak in English about the order he was asked to do. Some of the orders were ordinary such as "bark like a dog that is in love", but others were more unusual. For instance, one female student had to take off her shoes and stand on the floor in her stocking feet. Then she had to kiss her shoe and tell the audience about the shoes.

Debre Markos University Idol Talent Show

Can you read this? It says DMU English Language Talent Show

 Fellow English teacher Meseret and ELIC coordinator, Zelalem, who is totaling the judges' scores.

                                                    Habtamu singing in the competition.

Blindfold Cake Eating contest. The girl on the right won a 25 birr phone card.

Meaza and Fasika. Meaza is our DJ.

Last night at Debre Markos University, the ELIC (English Language Improvement Center) hosted the Debre Markos University Idol Talent Show. There were four categories they competed in: Music, drama, debate and literary arts. We put out an announcement about this competition several months ago and students have been preparing in their dorms. Three days before the competition, we had the tryouts, where four judges eliminated about one third of the contestants. On the day of the Talent Show, everything went as planned, except that our audience only included 4 university instructors and no one from the administration. It was not even well attended by the students. This was a bit disappointing. The best thing was that about 15 students from the two high schools we have been doing outreach with showed up to watch and participate. The Preparatory School (grades 11 and 12) even prepared dance, debate, and literary arts performances. I admit, these kids made our day. They were more enthusiastic than the university students and participated in most of the games we had prepared like the Blindfold Cake Eating Contest and the Bottle Shoot. The winners of the talent show will go to Bahir Dar on an experience sharing trip to compete with, no surprise, students at  private high school. The ELIC will host at least one more talent show in which we hope to attract more university students and staff to come and watch.

Sing Along Night

For our weekly Wednesday night program the English Language Improvement Center hosted Sing Along Night. Students were given the lyrics to Enrique Iglesia's song "Hero" to see what they thought the meaning of the words were and the message the songwriter was trying to send. A few of the idioms such as "you take my breath away" were explained, but mostly these young adults were right on about the meaning. After discussing the message, we watched the music video a couple of times, singing along. Then several of the students got up in front of the class and sang the lyrics for the group. It was more successful than I thought it would be, as most Ethiopians tend to be a bit on the shy side. There were only about 10 participants but I think it worked in our favor because they felt more comfortable in front of our intimate group. Since the feedback was positive, I'm sure we will host another Sing Along program in the future.