Joining the blogging craze

Hey folks! Following the recommendation of a friend, and knowing how much I love to write, I have decided to write a blog. As most of you know, I'm going to Russia next week to study abroad, live with a host family and begin research and writing my Master's thesis on the subject of teaching Russian through the medium of fairy tales. My idea is to read lots of skazki and try to find some common grammatical/syntactical structures and use them as a basis for teaching Russian. I think one idea might be to find examples of grammar for an introductory Russian class and then find more complex grammar that might be taught in a more advanced class. I'm sort of tossing ideas around, but I do want to combine grammar and pedagogy somehow since I want to teach Russian one day. My thesis probably won't be solidified until I start reading and writing, so I'm not too worried about it at the moment.

Anyways, in addition to my work inside the classroom I will be catching up with friends from Language Link, and continuning to maintain an active spiritual life by joining the choir at St. Andrew's and the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy (both groups meet at St. Andrew's). Even if I cannot play the piano as often as I might like, I will still be able to sing and pray, which for me is very important.

Before I wrap up, I want to recommend a powerful film that I posted on facebook. It's called "Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go" and focuses on a few children who go to the Mulberry Bush school in Oxford, England. It is a powerful, highly thought-provoking film which proves that truly dedicated teachers never give up on a student, no matter what. These teachers are particularly heroic, considering that some of these students are abused emotionally and physically and don't know how to properly channel their feelings other than violent responses. If you are involved in education, particularly early childhood, you must see this film. Here is the link, you can also find it on pbs.org.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/holdmetight/watch_the_film.php

In general you willl find me reflecting on education, on writing, on humor (and the neccesity of having a sense of humor) as well as other completely random topics. You may also find me quoting from poetry, literature, and other sources. I myself don't know where this blog will be going and don't expect to have any overarching themse, but hope that people will be curious to read about and respond to my reactions to the zagadochnaya russkaya dusha (mysterious Russian soul) and my life in Russia. I look forward to beginning another new phase of my lifelong journey to learn, to compose, to laugh, to cry, to eat lots of pel'meni and blini. I close with the wonderful poem by Robert Frost, which I think accurately describes my overall desire to study Russian and return for the third time to the Motherland...

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20