Les Hannah, day 45, part 1

I awoke unusually early, even for me, this morning and simply could not go back to sleep. I was working (mentally) on presentations and other academic situations, trying to resolve them mentally before my body even knew what was happening. It did not take long for me to realize that it was hopeless in trying to go back to sleep, so I got up and actually did begin work on several of the projects. I had a full day of classes today, so this morning and this evening, after class, was the only time I had to work on things today. The presentation for the Handelsskoles’ English teachers is becoming more pressing. What was once a distant speaking engagement is now a pressing event. It is next week, and I work on the accompanying PowerPoint every chance I get.

But today I had a heavy day of classes, three of the four periods – the final two periods of the day I was on my own. The first class of the morning, I had only been with them once before, so this class got to see the artifacts I brought with me and watch some videos. The artifacts have been generating good discussions in previous classes, and this class was no different. I had the second period off, so I worked on scheduling for the remaining days of my time here. Seems hard to believe that the end is now quickly approaching. As I write this I have only fourteen classroom days left. Some of the students vie for my time, for me to come back to their classes. And I wish I could; they are actually very eager to learn – I have no doubt of that. One of the teachers also told me today that the students really like my teaching style; they say it is so different from what they are accustomed to. I think they see me as entertaining, which is good, but I hope I am also informing.

In the final class of the day, I gave these student some literature. We read a selection aloud in class, a short interview titled “Women and War” conducted with a Crow woman named Prettyshield. It is collected in the short anthology called Voice of the Turtle edited by Paula Gunn Allen. For the work I had several of the students take turns reading aloud; their English reading skills were quite good, dare I say some have better reading skills than some American university students I have had in the past. I can say that and provide this evidence to support it. These students at least try to read, though English is not their first language, they try to read it. So many of my students at universities where I have been would not read. A person who will not read holds no advantage over a person who cannot read. I also gave these students “The Witch of Goingsnake” for discussion on Thursday. I’ll see how they like a little Robert Conley.