Today was the workshop for high school teachers, most of whom do not speak English, and there was a translator. This morning Mike handed me a CD of my presentation half-translated into Arabic. It was a little tricky not knowing what was on my own slides, but I had a printout to refer to, so it went OK. I went a little early and got the IT lady to help make sure the right software was installed on all the computer, and we had no technical problems today! We had about 20 participants, and the room was so crowded that I couldn't get to the back of the room to help people, which was frustrating, but OK.
My translator was a stylish 24-year-old who was eager to talk to me and had a million questions. She asked me how long I was here and what I was doing, and said, "You must be bored here! Would you like me to take you out tonight and show you around?" I said I would love that, and we made plans for her to pick me up at the hotel and take me out with her friends. She asked what I wanted to do, and I said, "Whatever you like to do for fun." She explained that on weekends they have wild crazy parties until 4am, but since it's a weeknight, things will only be open until 11:30pm and it might not be quite as much fun.
Throughout the workshop there were a lot of communication problems, and I wasn't sure how well the translator (or whoever translated my slides and handouts) was doing with the translations. She spoke English very well, but she had no background in science, and I suspect that she was misunderstanding a lot of what I was saying. She also seemed to be saying things in a rather confrontational way, because several of the teachers seemed very angry with her. There was one clicker question that every single one of the teachers got wrong, and I had trouble believing that the teachers' understanding of science was quite that bad! We had a really good discussion about it afterwards, and they all said they understood it when I was done, but I was never sure whether they had gotten it wrong due to a misunderstanding of the concept or a language problem. There was another question that most of them got wrong, and I'm quite sure that was a communication problem. At the end, when I asked them to design activities for how to use the simulations in class, the first three groups I talked to were actually designing new simulations, and again, I wondered how clear the translator's explanation had been. I had a few conversations with groups through the translator that just dragged on and on, and sometimes she got into arguing with them without translating to me. When I asked her what they were saying, she said, "They're just saying the same thing again and I'm telling them the same thing you told me before."
Aside from the communication problems, the workshop went really well. The teachers were really excited about the simulations, asked lots of questions, and designed some pretty good activities. They were frustrated that they weren't all translated into Arabic, and that there weren't enough simulations in some of their subjects, but overall they liked them.
And my theory about Saudi women speaking quietly has completely gone out the window. Over breakfast this morning, Mike told me that at lunch yesterday he sat in the men's section by himself, and there were two Saudi women dining together in the family section who were talking and guffawing so loudly that it would be considered rude in the U.S. Most of the high school teachers spoke in normal voices, the translator projected quite well, and when the high school teachers did talk too quietly, the translator chastised them and insisted they speak up. I guess female faculty members are just shy.
I never did get my tour of the women's campus. They told me that everything closes at 2, so we wouldn't be able to see anything after my workshop. They said we might be able to go during the break, but then things ran late and there wasn't enough time. I'm still hoping I can get a tour tomorrow if I get to go to the women's campus to watch Mike's talk broadcast over the videoconference system.
There is a room at the entrance to the women's campus where women put on / take off their abayas and head coverings and wait for their rides. Yesterday I was surprised that the room had windows to the outside, but today I figured out the secret... it's one-way glass, so the women can look out and see if their rides have arrived, but no one can see in.
I was feeling very excited about my night out on the town, but then had a bit of a downer when I got back to my hotel room and found a newspaper with an article about how the cloud of ash has returned over a big chunk of Europe and many flights are being canceled. At least so far, the cloud has not reached Frankfurt, and planes are still flying there, but it's very close, and I'm not excited about the prospect of getting stuck here. Then I got more bad news, a phone call from the translator saying that she can't go out tonight because her mom is sick! I was so looking forward to my night out on the town!
Sam
My translator was a stylish 24-year-old who was eager to talk to me and had a million questions. She asked me how long I was here and what I was doing, and said, "You must be bored here! Would you like me to take you out tonight and show you around?" I said I would love that, and we made plans for her to pick me up at the hotel and take me out with her friends. She asked what I wanted to do, and I said, "Whatever you like to do for fun." She explained that on weekends they have wild crazy parties until 4am, but since it's a weeknight, things will only be open until 11:30pm and it might not be quite as much fun.
Throughout the workshop there were a lot of communication problems, and I wasn't sure how well the translator (or whoever translated my slides and handouts) was doing with the translations. She spoke English very well, but she had no background in science, and I suspect that she was misunderstanding a lot of what I was saying. She also seemed to be saying things in a rather confrontational way, because several of the teachers seemed very angry with her. There was one clicker question that every single one of the teachers got wrong, and I had trouble believing that the teachers' understanding of science was quite that bad! We had a really good discussion about it afterwards, and they all said they understood it when I was done, but I was never sure whether they had gotten it wrong due to a misunderstanding of the concept or a language problem. There was another question that most of them got wrong, and I'm quite sure that was a communication problem. At the end, when I asked them to design activities for how to use the simulations in class, the first three groups I talked to were actually designing new simulations, and again, I wondered how clear the translator's explanation had been. I had a few conversations with groups through the translator that just dragged on and on, and sometimes she got into arguing with them without translating to me. When I asked her what they were saying, she said, "They're just saying the same thing again and I'm telling them the same thing you told me before."
Aside from the communication problems, the workshop went really well. The teachers were really excited about the simulations, asked lots of questions, and designed some pretty good activities. They were frustrated that they weren't all translated into Arabic, and that there weren't enough simulations in some of their subjects, but overall they liked them.
And my theory about Saudi women speaking quietly has completely gone out the window. Over breakfast this morning, Mike told me that at lunch yesterday he sat in the men's section by himself, and there were two Saudi women dining together in the family section who were talking and guffawing so loudly that it would be considered rude in the U.S. Most of the high school teachers spoke in normal voices, the translator projected quite well, and when the high school teachers did talk too quietly, the translator chastised them and insisted they speak up. I guess female faculty members are just shy.
I never did get my tour of the women's campus. They told me that everything closes at 2, so we wouldn't be able to see anything after my workshop. They said we might be able to go during the break, but then things ran late and there wasn't enough time. I'm still hoping I can get a tour tomorrow if I get to go to the women's campus to watch Mike's talk broadcast over the videoconference system.
There is a room at the entrance to the women's campus where women put on / take off their abayas and head coverings and wait for their rides. Yesterday I was surprised that the room had windows to the outside, but today I figured out the secret... it's one-way glass, so the women can look out and see if their rides have arrived, but no one can see in.
I was feeling very excited about my night out on the town, but then had a bit of a downer when I got back to my hotel room and found a newspaper with an article about how the cloud of ash has returned over a big chunk of Europe and many flights are being canceled. At least so far, the cloud has not reached Frankfurt, and planes are still flying there, but it's very close, and I'm not excited about the prospect of getting stuck here. Then I got more bad news, a phone call from the translator saying that she can't go out tonight because her mom is sick! I was so looking forward to my night out on the town!
Sam
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