I started going to the Conversation Circle sessions at the American Corner last week, and it has been awesome. The American Corner is an independently run library and cultural center sponsored by the US Embassy and Amideast, and happens to be located in the building right next to my office. Here is a link to their blog if you want to check it out:
http://americancornertunis.blogspot.com/
The center reminds me a lot of the Mills International Center where I previously worked as the Program Manager at the University of Oregon. In a similar fashion, the Center is a space for students, staff, and faculty to come and lounge as well as learn about a different culture. With an Amideast Library card, visitors can check out any of the books, magazines, CDs, and DVDS from America. The American Corner puts on various events throughout the year geared toward the Amideast students to engage their English skills in discussions, workshops, and through presentations by community members and study abroad advisors.
I was invited to join in on the sessions this week by the intern who runs the Conversation Circles because they are always looking for more native English speakers to interact with the students. The topic of the day was "Aliens: are they real?", and was presented with a news article documenting mysterious lights that thousands of people saw over China a few years ago. Each student receives a copy of the discussion article with a list of key vocabulary words and a copy of the discussion questions. The level of English that these students showed was intermediate to high with good use of the vocabulary, which impressed me. I figured that the group would be split in half over the issue of the actual existance of aliens with one side agreeing that some form of extra-terrestrial life could exist, and the other half not believing in anything that they could not see. That is my experience with the issue divide in America.
However, the majority of the students said that they did not believe in the existance of aliens because they were not mentioned in the Qur'an. I thought this interpretation was interesting considering I saw no immediate religious connection, so I asked a few of the more talkative students what they thought about the existance of angels. "Perhaps angels could be aliens," I suggested. "Nope", they said, "that is completely different". Other students chimed in to say, "Perhaps the existance of other life was possible because God was so infinite in his wisdom that he could have created things that we do not yet understand." These same students were quick to add, "this does not mean that these hypothetical beings are 'god-like' in any sense". Again, a completely different take on the issue that I had never thought to explore. The overall conversation was very interesting to follow, and it gave me a good chance to see who the better speakers were in the group of about 20, and who were the quieter ones that I could seek out after the discussion to speak with in a smaller group. I remember what is was like to be in a foreign language conversation group and not quiet catch everything that was said. I remember wanting to participate, if only people would speak a little slower. s-l-o-w-e-r. It can be quite intimidating for some people, especailly with native speakers, so Im glad to help out in any way that I can. I plan on going back to the Conversation Cirlce at least once a week to join in on the discussions. I have already made a few friends who will come in handy as i begin to explore the city further.
One American Corner event that I thought was a great success was the monthly Karaoke Session that was started this fall. I attended the first session on Friday October 1, and the energy in the room was fantastic. Over 70 middle school and high school students crowded into the small library/study space to participate. Students signed up to sing their favorite American pop songs in front of their friends while the lyrics were projected onto the wall for everyone to sing along with. Those same students from the Conversation Circle were there singing along to many of the songs. Groups of students were allowed to sign up together, so at times there were three or four students crowded around the microphone enjoying their stage time as their friends cheered them on and sang to "Hotel California", "Hey Jude", and "Wild Thing" among many others. One kid, Mohammad, even got up and volunteered his dancing skills as he showed off to the crowd singing "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson. Imagine a room full of screaming teenage Tunisian girls that ensued. Yep, that was it. Mohammad must have thought he was the coolest 16 year old as he attempted to moonwalk across the stage. And at that moment, he probably was.
More to come soon. So much to catch up on from this week. Thanks for all the facebook messages of encouragement!
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