First course

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

At eleven, we went to see Peggy Wilson, our PDS (Professional Development Schools) coordinator to ask her about the  possibility to observe different classes and teachers at MLK Middle School.

Today was the first day of my Literary Criticism course, Zita Nunes was the teacher, this was just an overview of the course and the topics that will be covered during the semester.

MLK Middle School

Monday, August 30, 2010

First day of the week, as today there were no activities or courses planned, I decided to see the possible transportation to Martin Luther King, the Middle School where I was assigned to. The way to MLK was not difficult but we took two Metro buses to get there, the combination of both buses sometimes is not convenient because you have to walk a lot between two bus stops. We visited the school informally and I was introduced to Ms. Joyce Jennings, the teacher who will assist me at school. To come back home we took the 86 Metro bus which has a stop on Powder Mill Road and Ammendale Road, not very near the school but as it is direct no combination was required.

Walking far.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

This morning, as I was up very early I decided to go to walk and I reached College Park, after two hours walking I came back home but I did not do anything in particular, just sleeping and completing weekly assignments, I finished my UTN task and send it to Marcela Santa Fe y Soriano, my Argentine tutor. I also wrote some mails, the weather is humid and very hot so the pool looks very attractive.

Saturday

Saturday, August 28, 2010

After a long and exhausting week we had a quiet meeting at Mikko`s.

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Friday, August 27, 2010

Friday was the last day of our second orientation program at UMD. In the morning we got our ID UMD cards so that we could use them to be able to take the University shuttle and  use the library. Our status is Faculty/staff. Next, we had a meeting with American and international graduate students who told us about their experiences as international students in the U.S. and how they were able to overcome that situation when they first arrived. After an individual meeting with Jim we departed. Two hours later we returned to campus to attend a welcome reception at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, there, we meet a lot of people from different parts of the world and all the people involved in the program, University staff, AED and Fulbright leaders.

First contact with American Schools

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Today we had a meeting in Benjamin again. We were introduced to the coordinators of PDS, Professional Developing Schools and we went on a tour of the schools that later on we will be assigned to for the semester. After the visits, I met Dr. Jim to ask him to be able to be assigned to a Middle School instead of a High school. In the evening Sergio and I took the 86 metro bus to College Park and Greenbelt  which are the nearest Metro rail stations. We recharged our cards to be able to use the Metro. You have to scan your card and insert money into the slot, that`s all.
Peggy Wilson sent a message to me saying that I had been assigned to Martin Luther King Middle School.

Annapolis, Capital of the state of Maryland

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Cloudy, we are planning to go to Annapolis, Capital of the state of Maryland. It is not very far from Washington. The tour of the State Capital Building and other historical sites was great. In the afternoon we had a boat tour of the Annapolis harbor and free time to enjoy the wonderful and picturesque streets in the port neighborhood.

Annapolis

U.S, Argentina, Finland, Mexico

Long day

Tuesday, 24 August, 2010

It was a long day for me today.
First of all we took the shuttle to the campus and we opened a bank account at Chavy Chase Bank, we deposited 100 dollars and we were all given a T-shirt. (I got two). After that we had the first official meeting with Roberta Lavine our mentor and adviser, she told us about the course she would be delivering the next week about Methodology. After this meeting we were taken to McKeldin library to see how it works and to learn how effectively use library resources at the university, we have not obtained the UMD card yet, which will be useful to consult online bibliography for our projects.
This evening, I spent the whole night trying to find a course that could suit me and finally I sent a mail to Roberta asking her to be admitted in her course.

First day on campus

Monday,23 August, 2010

UMD

General meeting with University staff , on this opportunity we had an official meeting with Donna Wiseman, Steve Koziol, Saul Sosnowsky and James Grenberg all members of the university staff in charge of our program at UMD. Every Fulbright teacher spoke about their expectations, I spoke after Lindi (the South African )about my postgraduate studies, to be in contact with a native South African would be of great help to prepare my UTN dissertation. Besides I thanked the involvement of the staff in the program and their hospitality. All teachers spoke about their projects which are very creative. Then we had a tour of the campus to learn more about the layout of the place and some hints about the university history. At 4 pm we had a welcome reception for all international students at university where we met students from all over the world.

Washington Nationals vs. Chicago Cubs

  That night we were given a Metro card to be able to travel around Washington and finally we took the green line to get to the Washington stadium to see a baseball game. (Washington Nationals vs. Chicago Cubs, the local team lost the match).

New places

One of the buildings on campus

Sunday, 22 August, 2010

This morning Dr. Jim Greenberg, the head of our coordinators at Uiversity of Maryland, took us to have lunch at a farmer´s fair, there we tried some traditional meals  from many places including Argentine empanadas. This afternoon we visited the University of Maryland campus for the first time and we had an informal visit to Benjamin, one of the many huge buildings that you can find on the campus. This night we had a wonderful walk at Silver Spring where there is a pedestrian walk and finally we had dinner at Macaroni Grill.

 

Bye Rennaisance, hello Mazza Grandmarc

Leaving from Washington

Saturday, 21 August, 2010

Today we left the hotel and went to Mazza Granmarc apartments, a huge and brand new building. Adam was waiting for us with a big banner to welcome the people from Fulbright. That afternoon we went to Target on Greenbelt Street to get the necessary items to furnish our rooms, we bought some linen, bath curtains and many domestic things more.

Mazza Grandmarc

Dinner was at Mosaic Café, a nice place where they serve Arabian food.

Before leaving

With the experts

Friday, August 20,2010

Today we met in small groups with academic and content area experts from different universities who discussed with us the aim of our project and advised us how to prepare it.
After lunch the members of ASPE gave us an overview of the health and benefits that teachers will receive during their stay. After this speech former Fulbright participants spoke about their experiences in South Africa, Singapore and Finland. Later one of  the members of the Fulbright staff gave us a  farewell speech.

Having dinner at 6

Finally we went to have dinner at Sam and Harry´s restaurant where the salmon was excellent.

TESOL and The Kennedy Center for performing Arts

Thursday, August19,2010

This morning we had a meeting with University of Maryland specialists and  Dr. Roberta Lavine showed us a model of a capstone project to be presented in December. After that we had an official luncheon were people from the government spoke about our grants. That evening those teachers who  were interested in  Language Teaching departed to TESOL headquarters.(A worlwide known entity among English teachers.)
That night we were taken to The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts to see Shear Madness, an interactive play where people participated  providing information, in this case, to discover the murderer of a crime.

 TESOL

Outside KCPA

Official presentation

Wednesday, August18,2010


This was the first day of official presentations of all  participants, the staff from the AED (Academy of Educational Development) and people from the University of Maryland who are administering our program.

The first speaker we listened to was Dr. Gary Weaver who spoke about the impact of being in contact with other cultures and the necessity to understand each other features and customs. He referred to the different things we talk about when introducing ourselves, family or job and the difference between “What you DO and what you are, (BE)”

We were together with the American Fulbrighters travelling to our country and other parts of the world, we separated into two groups and we were given information about the administration of the Fulbright grant.

After that the whole group departed for a tour of the Capitol building in Washington DC.

The whole international group. The Capitol behind.

Welcome party

   


That night we had a welcome party where we were invited to present something related to typical things  of our own country. We presented a video about Argentina and a song by Leon Gieco plus some information about our  mate as a representative feature of our culture. The South African teacher performed a native  dance and invited us to participate.

At the hotel

At the hotel

At the hotel, Lamese, Holly, Meredith and Maggie, wonderful Fulbright people, welcomed us, they were very friendly.  I went up to room 436 on the fourth floor, the room was very comfortable. That day we did not have anything arranged for the day so I went for a walk with Sergio, Aurelia and Lala, also members of the Argentine team. We saw the White House and the Lincoln Monument which is similar to our "obelisco"  but much  taller. When we came back we could have dinner at the hotel because there was a special room meal prepared for us.

First day in Washington DC

Leaving Ezeiza

Today we departed from Ezeiza,  Edith, Magali and Anaclara came by taxi, I was very excited. We met Aurelia there and  the plane departed at 8.30 pm. The flight was nice but I could not sleep well, Aurelia was some rows behind and we saw each other only twice while flying. The plane landed in Atlanta as scheduled at 9.30, we went through the Customs after a long queue,  unfortunately we missed the flight connection to Washington but at Delta it was easy to reschedule the flight for two hours later. The second plane we took  was much smaller but the flight to our destination was pleasant too.

Dulles Airport, Washington DC

There were people waiting for us at the airport, they were holding signs for us to recognize them. The taxi driver was a guy from Jordan and he told us about the main characteristics of American people. We spoke about our first impressions in the U.S.