Siberian Seminar - 2003
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In March 2003, I was notified that a grant proposal submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, Fulbright- Hays Group Projects Abroad, in October 2002, had been awarded. The grant funded a Short-term Seminar that enabled me to take twelve individuals to Siberian Russia. I had previously been funded (1999 and 2001) to take teachers to European Russia (Ryazan') where they studied for five weeks. This grant permitted me to take some of those teachers into Siberian Russia so that they would have a broadened understanding of Russian culture. During the Siberian Seminar, the group spent five days in Moscow, traveled by train from Moscow to Yekaterinburg, spent four days in Yekaterinburg, traveled by train from Yekaterinburg to Novosibirsk, spent four days in Novosibirsk, traveled by train from Novosibirsk to Irkutsk, spent four days in Irkutsk, traveled by plane back to Moscow, then spent five days in Ryazan' before returning to the United States. In each city, our Russian hosts led the group on a variety of excursions, presented lectures on the history and geography of the local area, and participated with us in group discussions regarding educational issues in Russia and the United States. The Short-term Seminar was designed to enhance the area studies and foreign language programs of the schools in which the teachers worked. The lectures in each city and Russian language classes during the Seminar were the focul point of the Short-term Seminar. This site is devoted to activities experienced during the Siberian Seminar. |
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| The group of educators included (from left to right): Nadia - a young women who worked in the Foreign Relations Department at Moscow State Pedagogical University; Natasha - a friend of Nadia's (they did not travel with us, but guided us to various campus sites in Moscow); Mary; Kathleen; Gail; Paul (a geographer at the Univeristy of Central Arkansas); Mike; Todd (a Russian language professor at the University of Central Arkansas); Cody; Paula; Phyllis; Connie; and Karen. | Each teacher had several tasks to complete while participating in the Siberian Seminar. Amount those tasks were building a web page and developing one lesson or three lesson plans. The one lesson had to be developed in PowerPoint. Todd Marshall provided Russian language instruction. Paul Butt provided geography instruction. And Kathleen Green provided the technology training in PowerPoint and DreamWeaver. Each of the lessons and lesson plans can be viewed by clicking on the names of the teachers above. |
| During our Siberian Seminar, we visited Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, and Ryazan'. Moscow, of course, is the capital of Russia and contains about 10 million people. Yekaterinburg is the 3rd or 4th largest city with about 1.8 million. Novosibirsk is the 3rd or 4th largest city with about 1.8 million people. Irkutsk has about 600,000 people and is the provincial capital of the Irkutsk Oblast. And, Ryazan' is the provinical capital of the Ryazan' Oblast and it has 535,000 people. If you are interested in our experiences in each of these cities, click on the links below. |