ktravula – a travelogue!

Three Degrees Centigrade

I think today is the coldest I’ve experienced so far in Illinois. Looking at the weather temperature gauge, I am horrified by what I see and feel: it’s three degrees Centigrade! America uses the Fahrenheit system, and that would translate to something like forty. In Lagos today, it’s 86 degrees F (or 30 degrees C), yet as far as Illinois temperature is concerned, this is not even cold yet, but just the beginning. We’re still in the fall, heading towards the winter with almost zero degrees Fahrenheit. I still have plenty more days of sunlight before daylight savings time which comes with longer nights and shorter days.IMG_0001

Yesterday while looking through the photo album of a fellow FLTA in Colorado, I saw snow, and wondered aloud how this came to be. A little more inquiry tells me that I should indeed count my blessings. For right now, in October, the rocky mountain state of Colorado is already covered in snow. I can only imagine what it would be like over there in December, and February. Yes, I am counting my blessings even as I lay here freezing within a four-piece clothing that marks me out like a Soviet spy, and with smoke coming out of my mouth as I speak.

Lying in bed, I wonder why I no longer find warmth within its soft embrace. It used to be where to go and hide when everywhere else got cold. Now the cold bites more even from within the folds of the bed spread. One thing is sure now: I’d most likely spend more time in the hot shower now than I’ve done before. And sad but inevitably, the days of my bike riding are coming slowly to an end.

Three Degrees Centigrade was published on October 11th, 2009, with the tags , , under the Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

In Class, Last Wednesday

In preparation for the coming mid-term tests on Monday, the class last Wednesday was mainly a session of revisions and reviews. Students got a chance to ask questions, make requests, and clarify the things that bothered them. It was a surprise to all of them that this teacher from Nigeria was not familiar with (or at least not open to) giving students “review materials” ahead of their test.

IMG_0248“In Nigeria,” I said, half in jest, “students are not given to this much indulgence as you American students.” Back home, teachers take it upon themselves to surprise students in whichever possible way. Students would go into class one day just to discover a surprise test, with no way of knowing what to expect from the teacher. Do not get me wrong, this is not always a good thing. But here in America, not only did I have to give them the “areas of concentration” as we called it back home, with details of how I expect them to answer the questions, multiple choice or not, I was also made to promise that there would be at least a few more “extra credit” questions, set to help everyone get a chance to come out in good grades. To be clear, I do not have any problem with this. The students have worked so hard to overcome all linguistic and phonetic obstacles of learning Yoruba. It is only fair that the examination be made to test their knowledge, and not to punish their ignorance. Therefore, there would be multiple choice questions. There would also be fill-in-the-blanks, as well as questions requiring long and short sentences.

The students’ boldness and the willingness to ask questions at all times is one of the pleasures of teaching.

In Class, Last Wednesday was published on October 11th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the Academic category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Here’s a Joke!

A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along, when all of a sudden, a cat attacks them.

The mother mouse goes, “BARK!” and the cat runs away.

“See?” says the mother mouse to her baby. “Now do you see why it’s important to learn a foreign language?”

Here’s a Joke! was published on October 9th, 2009, with the tags , under the Fun category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

The Danger of A Single Story

We shall be seeing this in class…

For balance, you may also want to read this review, The Balance of Stories.

What do you think?

The Danger of A Single Story was published on October 9th, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , under the Academic category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

What Can We Do With Language?

A recurring question in my mind every day I go to class to teach my students Yoruba is “What exactly can they do with this knowledge?” Surely, like Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “there is no knowledge that is not power,”  but when I look at these young students – the youngest of them being nineteen years – and look at the Yoruba language, I can’t help but wonder if there is anything particularly useful that they can do with their knowledge of it. The last few classes have featured questions and answers mainly about the people and cultural practices, as well as about language. So assuming that by the end of this semester, I am able to give them a basic knowledge, as well as give them sufficient motivation to learn more about the language, culture and people, then what?

Language is a medium of thought, but it’s also an abstract wealth, mostly without tangible value. An African language might be viewed with even more skepticism, especially from an American perspective. Besides the possibility of ending up like Austrian Suzanne Wenger in a Yoruba town with enormous artistic influence on a people’s belief, or as British Karin Barber in a University as a European authority on the language and grammar, what else is there to do with these little snippets of knowledge that we share every week in class? I cannot answer the question, and I would not be asking the students to do so.Yet.

We have learnt about Suzanne Wenger, Wole Soyinka, Karin Barber, Toyin Falola, and a few other literary figures. In the last class, I tried to dispel some more common genralizations about the people and perceptions. Students seem always to have new questions each time, and I love it. Had I seen that video of Chimamanda speaking at a Ted.com event, I might brought it along to class. I definitely will consider doing so in the next class, just after our test on Monday. I hope that in the long run, there is something of value being exchanged between us every time we gather in class to discuss.

What Can We Do With Language? was published on October 9th, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , under the Academic, adventures, Art category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.