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There are pictures of the Azerbaijan Writing Olympics in Shirvan. This from the informational mailout:
Highlights
Started in Georgia in 2003 by a PCV to give students the opportunity to express themselves creatively in English
Azerbaijan joined the contest in 2005. 600 Azerbaijani students participated in the 2008 contest
A pilot program for undergraduate students was added in 2007, with 81 Azerbaijani students participating
This year, the competition is national, not Trans-Caucasus. Next year, hopefully, it will once again return to normal
Students are given one hour to write in English on a given topic. These topics are not given in advance and students may not use dictionaries or other resources. Creativity and originality are the primary judging criteria and students are not penalized for grammar or spelling mistakes unless they prevent judges from understanding the essay. There will be regional and national winners. The first place winners will be printed in a small book.
Linda, Denney, and Jessie promoted the Writing Olympics through their Conversation Clubs and Linda’s school. We had 12 participants. Linda and her counterpart conducted the session at the Central Library in Shirvan. Linda and Denney will take the essays to Baku sometime in the near future. The essays from all over Azerbaijan will be compiled and judged. Awards will be given in September at the beginning of the school year.
Linda served on the committee for this year’s competition. The reason for national rather than international competition was the invasion of Georgia by Russian troops last year. When the invasion took place all volunteers were evacuated. The staff stayed intact, and hopefully new trainees will return this June. Without Georgia, the volunteers of Armenia and Azerbaijan thought it best not to compete head to head. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still technically at war, and emotions run very deep.
The participants are given three topics from which to choose. Different topics are assigned for the different grade levels. An example of the topics are:
6th
Would you rather be a dog or a cat? Why?
If I had three wishes, I would wish for…
7th
If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
How would your life be different if you were born a boy rather than a girl, or a girl rather than a boy?
8th
What event has made you the most happy?
A good friend is someone who…
9th
What if there was no music?
Who is the person you most admire?
10th
What would happen if women governed the world?
My favorite Azerbaijani tradition is…
11th
What makes a teacher great?
School would be better if…
1st year
Who or what makes you laugh?
What are three things you want to do before you die?
2nd year
What is your favorite book? Describe it.
Write about why you are proud of your country.
3rd year
Who do you think has been the greatest person in history?
Is it better to have a large family or a small family?
4th year
Why do you think people are prejudice?
If you could speak to U.S. President Barack Obama, what would you say?
The other picture is of Denney painting the Library trees. What in the world? Shirvan has many parks and public areas. During the week there are street sweepers and others who work in these public areas. But, we noticed that on Saturdays there seem to be many more people and much younger people working on cleaning parts of the city. Through Conversation Clubs and Library staff we found out that people from different companies and organizations do the cleaning on Saturday.
So, 2 weeks ago Denney showed up and helped the Library’s Saturday staff sweep the area around the library. A great experience. The next week, Denney showed up to do the same, but was asked to go home by the man who directs the cleanup. The Director explained to Denney this week that he did not want Denney sweeping with the women because he was a guest.
I explained to the Director that Linda and I felt that Shirvan is our home. We do not want to be guests, but part of the Shirvan family. If anyone in Shirvan cleans, we want to clean.
Now to explain the painting of the trees, in Shirvan all the public trees are painted for about a meter from the roots. The paint is a whitewash right out of Tom Sawyer. I had seen other people painting the trees. So, I asked the Director instead of sweeping could I paint the trees. Note the man looking on is the foreman of the cleanup crew. The ladies are the cleanup crew, and they all enjoyed seeing Denney paint about 15 trees.
There is a picture of 2 volunteers, from left to right, Jon and Jordyn. They are both TEFL with Jon in Bilasuvar and Jordyn is in Neftjala. They dropped in as they were on their way to a committee meeting in Ujar.
Finally, there is a picture of 4 boys in a Conversation Club playing Concentration. The object is to match Azerbaijan and English words. If they match then the English word is exposed. The team with the most word coverings is the winner.
Highlights
Started in Georgia in 2003 by a PCV to give students the opportunity to express themselves creatively in English
Azerbaijan joined the contest in 2005. 600 Azerbaijani students participated in the 2008 contest
A pilot program for undergraduate students was added in 2007, with 81 Azerbaijani students participating
This year, the competition is national, not Trans-Caucasus. Next year, hopefully, it will once again return to normal
Students are given one hour to write in English on a given topic. These topics are not given in advance and students may not use dictionaries or other resources. Creativity and originality are the primary judging criteria and students are not penalized for grammar or spelling mistakes unless they prevent judges from understanding the essay. There will be regional and national winners. The first place winners will be printed in a small book.
Linda, Denney, and Jessie promoted the Writing Olympics through their Conversation Clubs and Linda’s school. We had 12 participants. Linda and her counterpart conducted the session at the Central Library in Shirvan. Linda and Denney will take the essays to Baku sometime in the near future. The essays from all over Azerbaijan will be compiled and judged. Awards will be given in September at the beginning of the school year.
Linda served on the committee for this year’s competition. The reason for national rather than international competition was the invasion of Georgia by Russian troops last year. When the invasion took place all volunteers were evacuated. The staff stayed intact, and hopefully new trainees will return this June. Without Georgia, the volunteers of Armenia and Azerbaijan thought it best not to compete head to head. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still technically at war, and emotions run very deep.
The participants are given three topics from which to choose. Different topics are assigned for the different grade levels. An example of the topics are:
6th
Would you rather be a dog or a cat? Why?
If I had three wishes, I would wish for…
7th
If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
How would your life be different if you were born a boy rather than a girl, or a girl rather than a boy?
8th
What event has made you the most happy?
A good friend is someone who…
9th
What if there was no music?
Who is the person you most admire?
10th
What would happen if women governed the world?
My favorite Azerbaijani tradition is…
11th
What makes a teacher great?
School would be better if…
1st year
Who or what makes you laugh?
What are three things you want to do before you die?
2nd year
What is your favorite book? Describe it.
Write about why you are proud of your country.
3rd year
Who do you think has been the greatest person in history?
Is it better to have a large family or a small family?
4th year
Why do you think people are prejudice?
If you could speak to U.S. President Barack Obama, what would you say?
The other picture is of Denney painting the Library trees. What in the world? Shirvan has many parks and public areas. During the week there are street sweepers and others who work in these public areas. But, we noticed that on Saturdays there seem to be many more people and much younger people working on cleaning parts of the city. Through Conversation Clubs and Library staff we found out that people from different companies and organizations do the cleaning on Saturday.
So, 2 weeks ago Denney showed up and helped the Library’s Saturday staff sweep the area around the library. A great experience. The next week, Denney showed up to do the same, but was asked to go home by the man who directs the cleanup. The Director explained to Denney this week that he did not want Denney sweeping with the women because he was a guest.
I explained to the Director that Linda and I felt that Shirvan is our home. We do not want to be guests, but part of the Shirvan family. If anyone in Shirvan cleans, we want to clean.
Now to explain the painting of the trees, in Shirvan all the public trees are painted for about a meter from the roots. The paint is a whitewash right out of Tom Sawyer. I had seen other people painting the trees. So, I asked the Director instead of sweeping could I paint the trees. Note the man looking on is the foreman of the cleanup crew. The ladies are the cleanup crew, and they all enjoyed seeing Denney paint about 15 trees.
There is a picture of 2 volunteers, from left to right, Jon and Jordyn. They are both TEFL with Jon in Bilasuvar and Jordyn is in Neftjala. They dropped in as they were on their way to a committee meeting in Ujar.
Finally, there is a picture of 4 boys in a Conversation Club playing Concentration. The object is to match Azerbaijan and English words. If they match then the English word is exposed. The team with the most word coverings is the winner.
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