Opportunity

On Saturday, I had an interesting opportunity. I had been contacted by our local textbook representative and asked to speak at a teachers' conference here in our city. The topic was "Beyond Our Borders" and dealt specifically with how different countries teach English to non-native English speakers. I said, "But...but...but...I don't teach this." He replied, "It doesn't matter. I want you to speak."

So, I agreed to come and bring two colleagues with me. My talk was a general overview of our school and its philosophy of teaching ESL. I also gave some teaching tips that could be applied to the English as a Second Language classroom.

Mostly I was thankful for the opportunity because I was able to publicly thank Turks for being so welcoming to us, as we are the guests in this country. Also, the conference was held at the school right behind my house. I hope that through this, they came away with a positive view of our little international school just down the street. There are many misconceptions about us. In fact, before we even opened our doors, one of the city's newspapers printed an article about us. It was completely false, perhaps designed to stir people up. As one friend has reminded me, every positive interaction with us is one more step in the right direction.