KHARKIV STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

190^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

From October 8-13, 2001, Kharkiv State Pedagogical University celebrated its 190^th anniversary. As part of this celebration, students and staff staged numerous performances and seminars. Friday and Saturday were official school holidays.

On Tuesday the 9th, I was asked to vacate my regularly scheduled classroom at 2:40 so that another teacher could have a seminar there. She told me (half in English, half in Russian through a student translator) she had received approval from the Dean’s office for the move. I had to take my 4^th year English French students down to the 4^th floor, and put up a sign on the regular door for any students who came late. I have to say that classroom and schedule changes occur so frequently that I don’t even go to class anymore without first checking the timetable posted in the hallway. But even then sometimes changes like this happen. At least the room I was moved into had a blackboard. At the end of the day I was invited to attend a seminar being staged on Wednesday at 2:30 by various students in the Foreign Languages department where I teach. Students were presenting discussions in a foreign language, to be translated into Russian by another student in the same language field. At first I thought the student wanted me to “judge” the competition. Then I understood I was just being invited to watch.

At about 1:00 on Wednesday the 10^th I showed up at the university to see Igor, who had a list of Internet Web sites for me. I had been asked to make my own special presentation on using the Internet on Thursday afternoon after my regular classes. What he gave me were copies of pages of Dave Sperling’s ESL Web Guide. I had seen this Web guide at the British Council and looked through it before. We went into the classroom where I would probably be making my presentation. The first time I used this room I called it “The Cadillac Room” because it has two multisystem VCRs, individual listening centers at each desk, a computer with Internet access which can be projected onto a movie screen, and a camcorder. The student who works the equipment in that room, (one of my 5^th year students when he has time or interest in showing up), was upset when I arrived because the connection was slow—1 KB a second. I had gone the other day to a café where it was .2-.4KB second, so 1KB was looking pretty good to me. But the student was upset. Igor and Leysla (the assistant dean) went to see about another computer in another department, but it turned out that computer would be slower, so we stuck with what we had. I stayed in the room with the student and Igor, testing out Web sites and bookmarking the ones that seemed important. Igor suggested that I include a brief discussion of the history of the Internet. I said I didn’t know much and I wasn’t sure if it would be interesting. But then I did a search on ‘The History of the Internet’ online and found a Web site that said the Internet began in 1957 when the USSR launched Sputnik—the U.S. Army developed ARPA in response and then developed ARPANet, which became the basis of the Internet we know today. Sitting in a former SSR classroom and reading in English that the Internet began because of the USSR was just too funny. So I decided I would use it in my presentation.

At 2:30 I went into room 506, the Chinese language seminar class, for the foreign language speech presentation. Of course I didn’t really understand any of it. I knew two of my English-Persian students were talking about Iran, and I knew two of my English-Turkish students were talking about Istanbul, and I knew that two of my English-Hebrew students were talking about the Jewish calendar because I understood the Hebrew word for “year” and the Russian word for “months.” I knew a Japanese teacher was talking about a Japanese hotel and fish, but it took the Turkish teacher next to me to explain she was talking about her actual trip to Japan, not a visit to a Japanese hotel and restaurant in Kiev. And nobody explained the things she said that made everyone laugh. But I got a nice image of my students standing in front of a mural of Chinese geography and culture at a lectern with flowers. And the Chinese group did a really good job of singing songs and performing skits in Chinese. One pair of girls performed some kind of love story skit. One girl wore a kimono with a black wig, and the other wore a wicker hat. There was a fake kiss at the end, hidden by the hat. It was really cute. I’m sorry I didn’t take pictures. I also got a red origami swan.

Thursday the 11^th, many of my students were absent or asking to be excused because they had to rehearse their performance for Friday, which would be the main day of the celebration. One of my best 5^th year English-Japanese students was running around with a kimono that was obviously made by a local seamstress. I thought it was pretty but she thought it was too dark. I only had six English-Japanese students in that class; usually I have 15. My 5^th year English-Chinese class didn’t show up at all, though at least one student told me beforehand that he wouldn’t be coming and met up with me after normal class time to discuss his presentation. My presentation was okay. The audience consisted completely of 4^th year students—no one from the administration came as I expected. Most of the students had never used the Internet before. The connection was even slower than the day before. I made jokes about it and tried to do other things to keep students occupied while I was waiting for pages to load. I showed them how I didn’t know the history of the Internet, so I searched for the “History of the Internet” with Google and re-found the information about the USSR and Sputnik. I showed them Dave’s ESL Café; they really liked that. I showed them the Merriam Webster Dictionary and asked for a word to search on. One student said “fornication.” Cheeky monkey. In yourdictionary.com, a student wanted to know the Russian equivalent of the word “gerbil”. I tried three online sites but no luck. Some students were falling asleep, but others seemed to be having fun. After the presentation, I went to the department office where I was given an invitation to the concert on Friday at 12:30. There was another part of the ceremony at 10:00, but Igor said the morning session was just going to be speeches. Leysla warned me to be on time since the Ministry of Education would be there.

Friday the 12^th I put on a nice grey suit and got to the school right about 12:30. There were a lot of people, a lot of signs and posters. I ran into a colleague and we went together to the auditorium. One of our faculty members was working the front door. It turned out they were still having a press conference in there, and the performance probably wouldn’t start until 1:30. We stood outside waiting. I saw posters that were made by each department. Our department, the Foreign Languages department, had pictures and articles of faculty members and students who had traveled to foreign countries. At a little after 1:00 we were allowed to go inside. I was given a pin with the Ukrainian flag colors (blue and yellow) and a picture of the philosopher Skovoroda for whom the university is named. My colleague and I and Igor had seats in the first row near the speakers; eventually we were able to change seats for better ones higher up. My colleague told me that 5 years ago the auditorium looked like “a shed”; since then it had received new wall tiles, a new floor, and new chairs.

The spectacle started at 1:30 with the alumni orchestra playing “Strangers in the Night”. It’s the first time I’d ever seen an orchestra with an accordion and an accordion soloist. There were a couple of opera arias as well. There was Ukrainian folk music (on stringed instruments called Banderas), and Spanish guitar, and folk dancing. There were comedy skits. One couple did the tango. Another did a Latin dance to the tune “Twist and Shout”. Two girls did a circus act with hula hoops. The 1^st and 2^nd year English students performed the hip hop song “Everything’s Gonna Be All Right”. Choirs here tend to wear black pants and white blouses. Many other men and women had gorgeous suits, dresses (like an American prom), and costumes. Of course, the most moving event was the one I didn’t take a picture of. A group of men and women did a dance my colleague called “Fate”. It started with six women wearing white scarves around their heads (Muslim style) and long lavender gowns dancing slowly to the music. Then six men entered wearing beige peasant tops and pants. The music became more upbeat and hip-hop. Then the bells started ringing, and all the men ran off stage as the women swayed their arms back and forth to the sounds of a clock chiming—fate had struck. I had read earlier this morning about the threat of another terrorist attack, so to me this dance represented perhaps the fate of America. The spectacle went for an hour and a half. At the end students from the Foreign Languages department, in traditional costumes for the country they represented, said greetings and goodbyes in a foreign tongue. Some of my students were in this group. After the concert, I congratulated my students who participated. Some of them asked me about a presentation assignment for next week. I haven’t decided if their concern at the moment meant they care about their studies, or I have been too vague with my explanations and they weren’t sure what they were supposed to do. People asked if I liked the concert, and I assured them I did. They asked what was my favorite act, and I said it was impossible to choose. And I was telling the truth.

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