Ziel in Sicht

At the end of a journey, there always seems to be some sort of emotional upheaval for me. Getting to know new places and people is thrilling, but most of the reflection and growth comes after the trip. The flashbacks to meaningful moments, the realizations and comparisons between what is new and what is old. Re-entry into "normal" with the addition of all that was learned and experienced during the travel.

Re-entry has always been the most difficult part for me. One can say I am not very good at it. I left Germany after studying in the States, and lost my heart in Spain several years later. I get used to a new place. And I want to stay. That tucks at my heart. It's a blessing to be comfortable in several worlds, but it does feel like a curse at times too.

I am very interested how my re-entry after taking this journey into more of the tech culture will go for me in the classroom. At this point, being tired from travel and work done is at the forefront of my thinking. But ideas and thoughts linger, waiting to be mulled over and adapted into my new normal.

When I get over my "jet-lag", rested and ready to gear up for the semester, I am excited to see how these new impressions and tools will work their way into my teaching.

That will be another journey worth taking :)

Wer bist du?

People watching is one of my favorite things to do when I am traveling. Be it in airports, at train stations, or in cafes around the world: taking a look at those around you and making guesses as to who they are is very entertaining. 

This week, we took a look at how to present ourselves in the online world. In a face-to-face class, we make deliberate choices about wardrobe, hairstyle, tone of voice and so much more. At first glance, the online world would be much easier to navigate that way: thanks to photo editing and other software, it seems as if we can, at least visually, be anyone we want to be. And yet, so much in our course design, word choice, and set up determines what our students think of us. I had never really thought of course design online that way. I was worried about "losing" my personality strengths in the cold and black and white online world. Turns out, it doesn't have to be that way! Being deliberate about images and sound, including videos accenting my personality and setting materials up deliberately to make students feel known go a long way in allowing my students not just to learn the content, but to people watch at the same time. 

That makes me excited. Creativity and diversity are some of God's gifts I love the most, and this week showed to me that the online world of teaching does not have to be void of them.

Reiseleiter und Mitreisende

As I reflect on this mid-point of our learning, I am very excited about new tools to make this journey run more efficiently, but am still missing my fellow travelers. I can get a sense of my traveling guide Dave through the screen, and would love to engage in deeper conversations with my fellow travelers, but up to this point, I feel like I have been traveling alone. That will change this week.

We finally will get to sit next to each other...both in a face-to-face meeting and in exploring how to establish relationships with each other in this new environment. Can I be just as witty online as I think I am in person? What about my accent? In the classroom, it helps me put my students at ease: my English deficiencies allow for them to trust me enough to risk not being perfect in Spanish. Travelers or foreigners are somewhat cuter when they have that accent. But in writing, on paper, or with the lack of the accompanying smile, I might come across as dumb, pretentious, or uneducated. I wonder how that will work out. I also have to be careful which videos I create: not being a native speaker puts me in a double-edged situation. On one hand, I am better at helping students learn since I had to learn Spanish first and understand the struggle. On the other, I am not perfect at it, and broadcasting videos that are not perfect makes me nervous. 

Let's see how that will play out...

Aufholjagd

Aufholjagd...the chase to catch up (I love that German lets me express that in one word).

I am back from Germany, still jet lagged and though physically here, not quite yet mentally and emotionally. After trying to get my hours straight this weekend, I am now trying to catch up with a deadline tonight. I wonder how many of my students will take this same journey: getting behind for whatever reason, and then trying to catch up, reading the assignments for each module and classifying, like I am right now, what to do first in order to "pass" the class.

I don't like being in this boat, and yet, there wasn't a whole lot I could have done to change it. I emailed my instructor as any dutiful and guilt-ridden student would, and my instructor, being the kind and understanding individual he is, showed empathy and allowed me to catch up later. I thanked him and promised to get back to it as soon as possible. And I am doing that right now. And yet, the instructor in me also knows that that is not what this is all about! Learning takes time to ponder, and write, and mull things over. The modules are structured to span over a week for a reason, not to be crammed into an afternoon of frantic catch up.

Just as a journey can't merely be summarized in quick photos of the most important sights, learning can't be "done" by checking things off a list. Sigh. And yet, here I go...

Connections

I have prepared for my travel, read the itinerary (chapter), and am hoping to make connections to reach my destination. But, as is true for most travels, I am not making all my connections. And I m frustrated. I didn't count on slow internet connections that would make me waste 30 minutes to upload a 1 minute video. With the time difference, I can only work on things when my fellow travelers are either already done with their contributions, or haven't started yet. Though the online travel is supposed to be more user friendly due to some time and space differences, I am finding those very frustrating right now.

I am also missing the company of my fellow travelers face to face. In a way, it feels like the joy I get from seeing smiles and getting to know strangers along the way is gone. Reading contributions is not as wonderful as sharing shared time in a cramped space. Complaining or dealing with delays is more enjoyable when you can share a shared cup of coffee at the gate.

And yet, knowing that this travel is different than my previous journeys makes me want to figure out how to do this well. Most memorable journeys come with detours. I am hoping I can keep that in mind.

Aufbruch

Aufbruch is the German word for departure. As I am packing for an early morning flight to Berlin with my 2 year old to surprise my dad for his 75th birthday, I am also looking at Bolt 101 as a departure point to new ideas and impulses to keep rethinking how to teach better and evolve in my thinking about technologies in Spanish instruction. 

There are a lot of content pieces available that claim to teach Spanish in "just a few minutes" a day (Rosetta Stone, I am looking at you). Colleagues are "learning German" using duolingo and other online tools, and yet, they seldom get past the vocab list-like memorization and recitation of grammar rules. But language is more than that. So much more than that. Language is a tool for communication between human beings, involving sounds and rules and words, yes: but also involving culture and history and art and wit and humor and gestures and touch and emotions. 

As I prepare for departure both in the very real sense of putting things into my suitcase and checking items necessary for travel off the list, I am looking forward to getting help packing my suitcase for the journey of including technologies to make my students' language journey a worthwhile one.