Two Weeks Away!

Boy -- time just flies when you're waiting to have fun! With two weeks left before the big flight south, Karen and I met with Wayne Selcher and Carol Ouimet, two essential friends who have connections to Salvador. Carol is an administrative assistant at Elizabethtown College, and is originally from Salvador, while Wayne is associated with Partners of the Americas (the non-profit organization through which I was granted this residency), and though he's semi-retired, still teaches in the Political Science dept. at Elizabethtown College, and has travelled to Brazil more than 30 times in many different academic and governmental capacities. We three -- including Wayne's wife, Susan -- discussed everything from cuisine to buses to clothing to weather. They've been indispensible these past few months in helping me adjust to the new teaching and cultural experiences in Salvador, and Karen and I are grateful to have them as friends.

As these last few weeks wind down, I'm putting the finishing touches on five presentations I'll be delivering while in Brazil. They range from composition strategies to technical writing curricula to creative writing exercises. The titles are, "A Third Language: Lingua Franca, and Composition Strategies, Technical Writing and Curricula Design"; "Voice and Verisimilitude: Information Control and Authenticity in Personal, Investigative and Argumentative Essays"; "Finding My Way through the Invisible: Mind, Heart and Power in Poems and Short Fiction"; "Oils and Waters: Teaching and Workshop Strategies for the Composition and Creative Writing Experience" and "Culture, Compassion and Creativity: Education and the Doors to a Future Heart and Mind." Funny how academic papers and presentations so often wind up as colon phrases!

Stay tuned!

Four weeks away from departure!

Well, the VISA application goes out today, and we (Karen and I) depart on June 28th. She'll stay with me in Salvador for a full week's worth of site-seeing, eating Brazilian foods, walking around and meeting everyone associated with the experience. We can't wait!

It looks as if I'll be presenting composition and creative writing seminars/in-services about ten times (!) during the month I'm there, in addition to the workshops at the ACBEU ESL/EFL Conference, giving readings, and spreading the good word about Elizabethtown College, the local Elizabethtown chapter of Partners of the Americas, and the Teacher-in-Residence programs accessible to folks in Salvador. Having "cut my teeth" running restaurant kitchens, I'll even be speaking to an academic group of cooks and waiters, and will try to show my cooking flair for Northern Italian pasta -- really looking forward to it all!

Boas Vindas!

Oi! Welcome to 'Teaching in Brazil,' a collection of my current experiences working and teaching in Salvador, Brazil through a teacher-in-residence program sponsored by Partners of the Americas. During this July, I'll be reporting daily on my voyages throughout the academic and cultural landscape of northern central Brazil, specifically Salvador, Brazil, Bahia region.

Aprecia!