This week started off with Tullo and I entering all the pretreatment data into an excel spreadsheet so that I will have less work to do at the end of my data collection phase. We also prepped some activities to use in the classes this week. For the Reading courses we found a Mad Lib based on the Gettysburg Address which we thought would be a fun activities for the students. We printed out copies of the actual Gettysburg Address to use in class along with the Mad Lib. Mad Libs are a fun way to practice grammar and vocabulary with students and I have to admit that doing them brings me back to my childhood. In elementary school I had a long bus ride home after school and somedays a few friends and I would be lucky to have a book of Mad Libs to entertain ourselves. I still love doing them.
We also prepared a lyrics sheet for the song Love Yourself by Justin Bieber to use with the students in the Speaking & Listening classes on Friday.Last week one of the teachers in one of the speaking classes had the students sing along with a song from the moive Titanic, which many of the students knew. After that activity we told all the classes that we would prepare a song-related activity for them. Tullo found the lyrics online and them systematically removed key words or phrases and replaced them with blanks for the students to fill in as they listened.
Thursday morning we were all set to go to class. Before I could send my customary text to the Dean’s assistant asking for the room assignments for the day, she messaged me to say that there would be no classes today. I didn’t fully understand what happened, but she said they had to close campus and cancel classes because they had to “disinfect” the building. I’m hoping that was a translation issue and not that they really had some kind of issue. In any case, I missed an entire day of my treatment phase because of this.
By Friday they were back to business as usual and we were able to do the Reading activity along with the planned midnfulness or study skills treatments in the classes. We saved the song for Saturday, which was good because niether of the Speaking teachers showed up for their classes again, just like last week. We ended up teaching about 45 minutes of each 80 minute session and then just allowed the students to work on other things for the remainder of the period.
This is my 4th project here in Uzbekistan in as many years and I have to say that this has been by far the most challenging. The research itself is A LOT that I am managing between all the data collection and the interventions I am exhausted by the end of each day, as is my research assistant. Having to figure out every day which classroom to go to and then also having unpredictable teachers, it has been a lot to manage, almost too much. Honestly, if I did not have such a reliable and knowledgeable research assistant helping me manage everything, there is really no way I could get this all accomplished. I’m so grateful to him and also the other friends that I have here who are all pitching in to help me be successful. From helping me get copies made at the last minute because schedules changed, to taking me to the bazaar to buy strawberries just to perk up my mood, or inviting me over for dinner so I can have a delicious home cooked meal. I’m grateful for it all.
Of course my family back home has also been amazingly supportive, both by talking with me when I’m struggling and also understanding when I’m so exhuasted that I can’t even manage a video call some days.
Only one more week of the treatment phase and then I will do my post-treatment data collection. I’m so much looking forward to wrapping this up and just being able to analyze my data and see what it shows.
Experience Fulbright 