What can I say about our class? I don't think that I could tell you all everything I want to say or discuss with you about. From the start, I felt this class was very strange, very different. I loved it, and I was very content with my decision to transfer out of my other DSP class (My army class), even though it did seem very interesting. :p You all made the class worthwhile, and so did our teachers. I felt like I could be open with each one of you, and that I could talk to you all about just about anything. Our teachers were also very understanding and showed us they cared about us daily by asking questions like 'How are you?' and saying things like 'Take care.' The projects were all fun and very...intense, Hahah. They came at us very fast. There was a lot of information to acquire and to learn. The SL project really showed me that I needed to step-up my game because our teachers grade hard, lol. But that's a good thing. It showed me that I needed to be thinking on a deeper level, and the only way to see on a different level is to expose yourself to different viewpoints. By intensive observation and research, they attempted to show us this. I always thought that I would be terrible at observation projects and that they would be impossible for me. I was surprised to find I could hold my own, with guidance from our teachers, of course. I feel that the projects were also very intriguing, and led us to questions that we could continue to solve throughout our years here at UK.
As Rupert mentioned, I have also advanced technology-wise by taking this class. This was the first time I had ever made a blog, or played an online sim (extensively). I enjoyed learning these things immensely, and I plan to keep my SL account and go in-world whenever I get bored and have nothing else to do, or I'm not facebooking, haha. (I just got one of those after coming here, too.) ~.~"
I like how we continued to follow-up on the readings. I feel like this has also given me a deeper understanding of the concepts presented in them. I haven't been used to doing this, and I like seeing the application of concepts that I have learned. For instance, Appiah's goals for cosmopolitan interaction (Which he insists is something we owe to others) to not only tolerate one another, but to genuinely seek to know and understand what others value despite our fears of looking ridiculous have been an integral part of the way I behaved in our class. And this was continuously brought up by group projects. I wonder how different it would have been if we had been assigned groups? Maybe we would have felt too forced to exhibit this behavior? How does that tie in with my UK project thesis that language classes should enforce cross-language social experience? O.o
I think this concept of being obligated to understand difference will also come in handy when I go to Japan, hopefully this summer.
Everyone, please keep in touch!! ^.^
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Showcase!
I was surprised by how large our showcase group turned out to be (Raito, Reecie, Rasay, Rupert, Elle, Azriquel, Maekeo and Phoolendu). I thought that we would have three or four men squads like we did with our SL groups. But I'm glad that we have such a large group. I feel that because our group is so large, we will be able to make the showcase a lot more interesting and to show off a lot more.
We all got together and organized the powerpoint over the weekend, taking slides from our various SL group projects and adding some reflective information. This powerpoint will be running continously in the background on one computer while we guide visitors to our display through various places in SL, their possible 'virtual reincarnation' if they choose to represent themselves the same as they would out-of-world, on another. Thus, our name, which our group developed with difficulty together: Team SL; Guiding You Through Your Virtual Reincarnation. I really need to work on my SL skills before the showcase so that I can be able to show people how to walk around and use the camera controls. One of my cameras disappeared and I never could figure out how to get it back.
I guess we will just let people talk and walk around. I don't think we'll let them mess with the appearance of our avatars. I don't really know what to show people...I guess I'll just see what about SL they would be interested in. I think we are dependent on SL to get people interested in the class, and then the powerpoint is in charge of telling them what we learned. But it should be a lot of fun, and hopefully our attitudes will be contagious and represent the class well.
We all got together and organized the powerpoint over the weekend, taking slides from our various SL group projects and adding some reflective information. This powerpoint will be running continously in the background on one computer while we guide visitors to our display through various places in SL, their possible 'virtual reincarnation' if they choose to represent themselves the same as they would out-of-world, on another. Thus, our name, which our group developed with difficulty together: Team SL; Guiding You Through Your Virtual Reincarnation. I really need to work on my SL skills before the showcase so that I can be able to show people how to walk around and use the camera controls. One of my cameras disappeared and I never could figure out how to get it back.
I guess we will just let people talk and walk around. I don't think we'll let them mess with the appearance of our avatars. I don't really know what to show people...I guess I'll just see what about SL they would be interested in. I think we are dependent on SL to get people interested in the class, and then the powerpoint is in charge of telling them what we learned. But it should be a lot of fun, and hopefully our attitudes will be contagious and represent the class well.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Late Post...~.~"
Yeah so, I didn't read the list of blog outlines in the wiki before I wrote this week, and I think that this post is totally overdue! ESL script should have been written on monday, because it better covers the requested material. I just redid my analysis a little while ago, and I feel a little better about it now, but I would still love to get feedback on it. I feel like I'm getting closer to beign on track, but I don't want to jinx it. ~.~" I know I still need to find some background information and write my visual sweep, and I also need to do my annotations. I'm so ready for Christmas!! @.@
I feel like Tuesday's class helped a lot. I think I may just see if I can find something on one of the sites that we were given in class for my background info. I emailed a librarian tonight and went and talked to some people at the circ desk who told me where I needed to call to reach the ref. desk because my last two emails went unanswered. >.<"
Hopefully I can just stay on track this last big week!! ^.^"
I feel like Tuesday's class helped a lot. I think I may just see if I can find something on one of the sites that we were given in class for my background info. I emailed a librarian tonight and went and talked to some people at the circ desk who told me where I needed to call to reach the ref. desk because my last two emails went unanswered. >.<"
Hopefully I can just stay on track this last big week!! ^.^"
Newest Version of Analysis, Please Comment!! ~.~"
The sitting area in the back of Patterson Office Tower is a small space which falls in-between the classrooms in which meet the English as a Second Language classes, as well as other foreign language classes, like Japanese 101. Since foreign language classes tend to encourage conversation among students not only in the language being learned but in the speakers’ native tongue, I wondered if the space outside of the classrooms was a cosmopolitan canopy or just an extension of the relationships formed in the foreign language classes. Elijah Anderson, author of “The Cosmopolitan Canopy,” informs us that a canopy is a place where “folk ethnography” takes place. Folk Ethnography is when people learn about the values and beliefs of others and use what they’ve learned to shape their own.
I feel that my hypothesis about the back of Patterson being a cosmopolitan canopy was disproved. Elijah Anderson described a canopy as a ‘nuetral’ place, and in many ways, the sitting area is ‘nuetral.’ The students who sit in the back of Patterson tend to be understanding and tolerant of one another, as well as curious. This can be seen by their habit of eavesdropping (See interview 002). However, the students don’t act upon this curiosity by initiating social interaction. Anderson’s canopy is neutral in the fact that people treat each other civilly, but it is not neutral in the way people receive the beliefs and behaviors of others, by passivity to social experimentation. In Patterson, people acknowledge each other civilly and tolerantly, but don’t make an attempt to truly understand or learn about others’ viewpoints spontaneously. For instance, in Interview 002, another person sitting in the area, as well as myself, came into contact with some extremely noisy visitors to the back of the building, but neither of us reprimanded or scolded them for being agitators to the silence between us.
Interview 002
I was sitting in the back of Patterson with one other girl and we were both on our computers, when this guy comes in yelling on his cell phone. He lingers a minute at the door, then goes outside to find someone, continues to yell outside, fails to find the person he is looking for, comes back in, and sits down on the bench huffing and puffing. He then leaves and walks through again later. Another guy sings extremely loud while on his way to get on an elevator. She turns her head to look at him, but the elevator door closes, and we exchange looks of curiosity. Then I asked her a few questions.
Did he have earphones in?
I don’t know, I couldn’t see…
I couldn’t either…
Here my interview was rather choppy, because then I mentioned the yelling guy…
If someone called you in here and there were a bunch of people, would you answer your phone and talk in here, or would you leave?
Is it quiet or loud?
Good question…
I don’t answer my phone in quiet places. I might answer it in here if there were a few people, but not if there were a lot.
What if that yelling guy had talked in here?
I would have listened to his conversation…
Were you going to tell him to be quiet (Elevator guy)?
No, I think it’s entertaining…
At this point, I began to wonder if the type of conversation had anything to do with whether or not the area was suitable to carry it out…
What if you were having a conversation like that yelling guy, where you were having a confrontation on the phone?
I would definitely go outside because I know that if I’m listening to other people’s conversations, other people are too. I don’t want to make a fool of myself.
Many of my informants believed in the possibility of communication with members of what the Japanese would call the “Out-group,” or members not within their circles (The circles being, in this case, certain sections of a Japanese class) or, as Kwame Appiah, the writer of Cosmopolitan would put it, with “Imaginary strangers” (Appiah, Cosmopolitanism page 87). But most of them admitted to staying within their own social circles formed in class and to not starting conversations with people they didn’t know from class. For example, in interview 6, my informant claimed “No, it’s mostly people we already know.” None of the other informants seemed to take advantage of the rich variety of different viewpoints from people of different ethnicities by practicing the language they were learning or by simply starting a conversation with someone of a different race.
Part of the complication seemed to be that they were afraid to seem the fool, as stated in interview 002. This fear leads them to wait for the more socially adept and curious to come to them. Informant 6 also insists that “They’ve got to be the starter” and informant 4 mentions, “So I sit here and listen to people talk and then maybe someone will talk to me.” In some cases, they stand with their classmates and don’t sit down at all. A Cosmopolitan Canopy is a place of action and reaction, where people enlighten each other and discuss values, beliefs and other ways of life through spontaneous face-to-face conversations as well as through listening and observing. How could the back of Patterson Office Tower be a canopy if everyone is waiting unproductively for an exchange of words that more than likely isn’t going to occur because everyone else is waiting, too? By embracing their fears of “looking the fool,” the visitors to Patterson could become so much more knowledgeable.
It would seem that most visitors to the waiting area expect some noise (Though few expect it at the level in which it occurred above; this was a rare occurrence throughout my investigations) even if they don’t come to interact. Some do come for the interaction (See interview 4), however, many wouldn’t come if they didn’t have a class, or were waiting for a class and had something else to do. Over and over again in my interviews I heard the answer “I have nothing better to do,” when I asked the question “Why do you come here so early?” or made a remark about how early my informants were (See interviews 1 and 3). A few people study when they come, but people usually don’t come just to do so. As seen by the frequency they occur in my interviews, study groups are actually quite rare in the foreign language classes, though some of the other classes that meet in the area seem to be more dependent on them. Availability of the English as a Second Language students may also be an inhibitor to cosmopolitan behavior, since the ESL classes are held early in the morning and the Japanese classes in the middle of the afternoon. The fact that few people take advantage of the variety of different viewpoints in the sitting area in the back of Patterson can be seen by how people position themselves within the space, which is separated into two halves because of a large open hallway opposite the exit doors. People from different sections of the same class tend to sit on different halves of the room, and they don’t typically sit with people they don’t know unless the benches are full.
In the words of my informant from interview 4, “Conversation it itself is study.” The ESL teachers are always welcoming native English speakers interested in attending their classes, in the hopes that they may help their students learn English by interacting with the English-speaking students. If foreign language classes made it mandatory to attend at least one ESL class, or vice-versa, it would open up possibilities for both groups to learn more in their respective language studies, as well as encourage each other to initiate conversation. Also, since the two Japanese classes meet so close, and at a time interval that doesn’t seem to be too far apart for most students, who often arrive early to class, it might be beneficial to encourage students to hold one conversation with someone from another section of the class so that they might practice their Japanese. I feel that if the teachers of the Japanese and ESL classes were to require some social interaction between classes or sections of the same class, it would bring students closer together and influence them to initiate conversation with one another more often by making them feel more comfortable and by breaking the ice.
I feel that my hypothesis about the back of Patterson being a cosmopolitan canopy was disproved. Elijah Anderson described a canopy as a ‘nuetral’ place, and in many ways, the sitting area is ‘nuetral.’ The students who sit in the back of Patterson tend to be understanding and tolerant of one another, as well as curious. This can be seen by their habit of eavesdropping (See interview 002). However, the students don’t act upon this curiosity by initiating social interaction. Anderson’s canopy is neutral in the fact that people treat each other civilly, but it is not neutral in the way people receive the beliefs and behaviors of others, by passivity to social experimentation. In Patterson, people acknowledge each other civilly and tolerantly, but don’t make an attempt to truly understand or learn about others’ viewpoints spontaneously. For instance, in Interview 002, another person sitting in the area, as well as myself, came into contact with some extremely noisy visitors to the back of the building, but neither of us reprimanded or scolded them for being agitators to the silence between us.
Interview 002
I was sitting in the back of Patterson with one other girl and we were both on our computers, when this guy comes in yelling on his cell phone. He lingers a minute at the door, then goes outside to find someone, continues to yell outside, fails to find the person he is looking for, comes back in, and sits down on the bench huffing and puffing. He then leaves and walks through again later. Another guy sings extremely loud while on his way to get on an elevator. She turns her head to look at him, but the elevator door closes, and we exchange looks of curiosity. Then I asked her a few questions.
Did he have earphones in?
I don’t know, I couldn’t see…
I couldn’t either…
Here my interview was rather choppy, because then I mentioned the yelling guy…
If someone called you in here and there were a bunch of people, would you answer your phone and talk in here, or would you leave?
Is it quiet or loud?
Good question…
I don’t answer my phone in quiet places. I might answer it in here if there were a few people, but not if there were a lot.
What if that yelling guy had talked in here?
I would have listened to his conversation…
Were you going to tell him to be quiet (Elevator guy)?
No, I think it’s entertaining…
At this point, I began to wonder if the type of conversation had anything to do with whether or not the area was suitable to carry it out…
What if you were having a conversation like that yelling guy, where you were having a confrontation on the phone?
I would definitely go outside because I know that if I’m listening to other people’s conversations, other people are too. I don’t want to make a fool of myself.
Many of my informants believed in the possibility of communication with members of what the Japanese would call the “Out-group,” or members not within their circles (The circles being, in this case, certain sections of a Japanese class) or, as Kwame Appiah, the writer of Cosmopolitan would put it, with “Imaginary strangers” (Appiah, Cosmopolitanism page 87). But most of them admitted to staying within their own social circles formed in class and to not starting conversations with people they didn’t know from class. For example, in interview 6, my informant claimed “No, it’s mostly people we already know.” None of the other informants seemed to take advantage of the rich variety of different viewpoints from people of different ethnicities by practicing the language they were learning or by simply starting a conversation with someone of a different race.
Part of the complication seemed to be that they were afraid to seem the fool, as stated in interview 002. This fear leads them to wait for the more socially adept and curious to come to them. Informant 6 also insists that “They’ve got to be the starter” and informant 4 mentions, “So I sit here and listen to people talk and then maybe someone will talk to me.” In some cases, they stand with their classmates and don’t sit down at all. A Cosmopolitan Canopy is a place of action and reaction, where people enlighten each other and discuss values, beliefs and other ways of life through spontaneous face-to-face conversations as well as through listening and observing. How could the back of Patterson Office Tower be a canopy if everyone is waiting unproductively for an exchange of words that more than likely isn’t going to occur because everyone else is waiting, too? By embracing their fears of “looking the fool,” the visitors to Patterson could become so much more knowledgeable.
It would seem that most visitors to the waiting area expect some noise (Though few expect it at the level in which it occurred above; this was a rare occurrence throughout my investigations) even if they don’t come to interact. Some do come for the interaction (See interview 4), however, many wouldn’t come if they didn’t have a class, or were waiting for a class and had something else to do. Over and over again in my interviews I heard the answer “I have nothing better to do,” when I asked the question “Why do you come here so early?” or made a remark about how early my informants were (See interviews 1 and 3). A few people study when they come, but people usually don’t come just to do so. As seen by the frequency they occur in my interviews, study groups are actually quite rare in the foreign language classes, though some of the other classes that meet in the area seem to be more dependent on them. Availability of the English as a Second Language students may also be an inhibitor to cosmopolitan behavior, since the ESL classes are held early in the morning and the Japanese classes in the middle of the afternoon. The fact that few people take advantage of the variety of different viewpoints in the sitting area in the back of Patterson can be seen by how people position themselves within the space, which is separated into two halves because of a large open hallway opposite the exit doors. People from different sections of the same class tend to sit on different halves of the room, and they don’t typically sit with people they don’t know unless the benches are full.
In the words of my informant from interview 4, “Conversation it itself is study.” The ESL teachers are always welcoming native English speakers interested in attending their classes, in the hopes that they may help their students learn English by interacting with the English-speaking students. If foreign language classes made it mandatory to attend at least one ESL class, or vice-versa, it would open up possibilities for both groups to learn more in their respective language studies, as well as encourage each other to initiate conversation. Also, since the two Japanese classes meet so close, and at a time interval that doesn’t seem to be too far apart for most students, who often arrive early to class, it might be beneficial to encourage students to hold one conversation with someone from another section of the class so that they might practice their Japanese. I feel that if the teachers of the Japanese and ESL classes were to require some social interaction between classes or sections of the same class, it would bring students closer together and influence them to initiate conversation with one another more often by making them feel more comfortable and by breaking the ice.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Analysis...Please Help!!! @.@
If anyone doesn't mind, would you please read and critique or comment on this?? I was having some real issues trying to write it and I could really use your help!!
Just some things to think about...
if you think of other problems, please let me know!!
>Am I writing on the right level? Are my connections deep enough or too short? Or too much?
Analysis
The sitting area in the back of Patterson Office Tower is a small space which falls in-between the classrooms in which meet the English as a Second Language classes, as well as other language classes, such as Japanese. Since foreign language classes tend to encourage conversation not only in the language being learned but in the speakers’ native tongue, I wondered if the space outside the classrooms was a cosmopolitan canopy or just an extension of the relationships formed in the classrooms. Elijah Anderson, author of “The Cosmopolitan Canopy,” informs us that a canopy is a place where “folk ethnography” takes place. Folk Ethnography is when people learn about the values and beliefs of others and use what they’ve learned to shape their own.
I feel that my hypothesis was disproved, and that my site was actually what Elijah Anderson, writer of “The Cosmopolitan Canopy,’ would describe as a ‘neutral’ place. In this type of place, people acknowledge each other civilly, but don’t make an attempt to truly understand others’ viewpoints. Though many of my informants believed in the possibility of communication with members of what the Japanese would call the “Out-group,” or members not within their circle (The circle being, in this case, a certain section of a Japanese class) or, as Kwame Appiah, the writer of Cosmopolitan would put it, the “imaginary stranger”(people we have an idea about but don’t really know), many of them admitted to staying within their own social circles formed in class and to not starting conversations with people they didn’t know from class. For example, in interview 6, my informant claims “No, it’s mostly people we already know.” None of the other informants claimed to take advantage of the rich variety of different viewpoints from people of different ethnicities by practicing the language they were learning or by simply starting a conversation with someone of a different race. Informant 6 also insists that “They’ve got to be the starter” and informant 4 mentions, “So I sit here and listen to people talk and then maybe someone will talk to me.” The fact that few people take advantage of the variety of different viewpoints in the sitting area in the back of Patterson can also be seen by how people position themselves within the space, which is separated into two halves because of a large open hallway opposite the exit doors. People from different sections of the same class tend to sit on different halves of the room, and they don’t typically sit with people they don’t know unless the benches are full. In some cases, they stand with their classmates and don’t sit down at all. A Cosmopolitan Canopy is a place of action and reaction, where people enlighten each other and discuss values, beliefs and other ways of life face-to-face as well as through listening and observing. How could the back of Patterson Office Tower be a canopy if everyone is waiting unproductively for an exchange of words that more than likely isn’t going to occur because everyone else is waiting, too? By embracing their fears of “looking the fool,” (Interview 6) the visitors to Patterson could become so much more knowledgeable. More than likely, if they tried speaking more to the international students, they would be treated with understanding and civility as well.
Interview 6
1) Do you come early or late to class? (You can say neither.)
Early-to interact
2) You’re a freshman, right?
Yes.
3) How would you describe the people that meet in this area?
Outgoing; social
4) Do people introduce themselves?
No, its mostly people we already know.
5) Why not? Is it because of the atmosphere or the people?
Probably the people; It’s not a fun place to be and it’s not comfortable because the doors open and they don’t close and it’s cold.
6) Would you introduce yourself to someone from a different class?
No, probably not.
7) Why?
I’m scared…
8) How full would you let a bench get before you wouldn’t sit there?
3 people is full…
9) Would you sit by someone from another class?
If there were no seats left.
10) Would you talk to them?
No.
11) What if they started talking to you?
I would talk. They’ve got to be the starter.
12) Have you noticed people standing when the benches are full?
Yes.
13) How do people on the other side respond to people on this side?
They react to our conversations.
14) And yet nobody talks to them…why?
Maybe other people don’t care what they think.
Despite this distancing, both groups are actually quite wary of each other. In interview six, my informant mentioned that the other class tends to “react to our conversations.” It’s just as Anderson mentions in his paper about the Reading Terminal Market, which he supports as a cosmopolitan canopy: “Simply put, cosmopolitan canopies are interesting places to engage in the fine art of “people watching,” for “all kinds” of folk are represented(Anderson 21). Mostly people react to others in a civil and benign way:
Interview 002
I was sitting in the back of Patterson with one other girl and we were both on our computers, when this guy comes in yelling on his cell phone. He lingers a minute at the door, then goes outside to find someone, continues to yell outside, fails to find the person he is looking for, comes back in, and sits down on the bench huffing and puffing. He then leaves and walks through again later. Another guy sings extremely loud while on his way to get on an elevator. She turns her head to look at him, but the elevator door closes, and we exchange looks of curiosity. Then I asked her a few questions.
Did he have earphones in?
I don’t know, I couldn’t see…
I couldn’t either…
Here my interview was rather choppy, because then I mentioned the yelling guy…
If someone called you in here and there were a bunch of people, would you answer your phone and talk in here, or would you leave?
Is it quiet or loud?
Good question…
I don’t answer my phone in quiet places. I might answer it in here if there were a few people, but not if there were a lot.
What if that yelling guy had talked in here?
I would have listened to his conversation…
Were you going to tell him to be quiet (Elevator guy)?
No, I think it’s entertaining…
At this point, I began to wonder if the type of conversation had anything to do with whether or not the area was suitable to carry it out…
What if you were having a conversation like that yelling guy, where you were having a confrontation on the phone?
I would definitely go outside because I know that if I’m listening to other people’s conversations, other people are too. I don’t want to make a fool of myself.
As seen by interview 002, people notice each other and react with curiosity, but they do not usually tend to reprimand each other. Instead, they practice tolerance. It would seem that most visitors to the waiting area expect some noise even if they don’t come to interact. Some do come for the interaction (See interview 4), however, many wouldn’t come if they didn’t have a class, or were waiting for a class and had something else to do. Over and over again in my interviews I heard the answer “I have nothing better to do,” when I asked the question “Why do you come here so early?” or made a remark about how early to class my informants were (See interviews 1 and 3). A few people study when they come, but people usually don’t come just to do so. As seen by the frequency they occur in my interviews, study groups are actually quite rare.
Just some things to think about...
if you think of other problems, please let me know!!
>Am I writing on the right level? Are my connections deep enough or too short? Or too much?
Analysis
The sitting area in the back of Patterson Office Tower is a small space which falls in-between the classrooms in which meet the English as a Second Language classes, as well as other language classes, such as Japanese. Since foreign language classes tend to encourage conversation not only in the language being learned but in the speakers’ native tongue, I wondered if the space outside the classrooms was a cosmopolitan canopy or just an extension of the relationships formed in the classrooms. Elijah Anderson, author of “The Cosmopolitan Canopy,” informs us that a canopy is a place where “folk ethnography” takes place. Folk Ethnography is when people learn about the values and beliefs of others and use what they’ve learned to shape their own.
I feel that my hypothesis was disproved, and that my site was actually what Elijah Anderson, writer of “The Cosmopolitan Canopy,’ would describe as a ‘neutral’ place. In this type of place, people acknowledge each other civilly, but don’t make an attempt to truly understand others’ viewpoints. Though many of my informants believed in the possibility of communication with members of what the Japanese would call the “Out-group,” or members not within their circle (The circle being, in this case, a certain section of a Japanese class) or, as Kwame Appiah, the writer of Cosmopolitan would put it, the “imaginary stranger”(people we have an idea about but don’t really know), many of them admitted to staying within their own social circles formed in class and to not starting conversations with people they didn’t know from class. For example, in interview 6, my informant claims “No, it’s mostly people we already know.” None of the other informants claimed to take advantage of the rich variety of different viewpoints from people of different ethnicities by practicing the language they were learning or by simply starting a conversation with someone of a different race. Informant 6 also insists that “They’ve got to be the starter” and informant 4 mentions, “So I sit here and listen to people talk and then maybe someone will talk to me.” The fact that few people take advantage of the variety of different viewpoints in the sitting area in the back of Patterson can also be seen by how people position themselves within the space, which is separated into two halves because of a large open hallway opposite the exit doors. People from different sections of the same class tend to sit on different halves of the room, and they don’t typically sit with people they don’t know unless the benches are full. In some cases, they stand with their classmates and don’t sit down at all. A Cosmopolitan Canopy is a place of action and reaction, where people enlighten each other and discuss values, beliefs and other ways of life face-to-face as well as through listening and observing. How could the back of Patterson Office Tower be a canopy if everyone is waiting unproductively for an exchange of words that more than likely isn’t going to occur because everyone else is waiting, too? By embracing their fears of “looking the fool,” (Interview 6) the visitors to Patterson could become so much more knowledgeable. More than likely, if they tried speaking more to the international students, they would be treated with understanding and civility as well.
Interview 6
1) Do you come early or late to class? (You can say neither.)
Early-to interact
2) You’re a freshman, right?
Yes.
3) How would you describe the people that meet in this area?
Outgoing; social
4) Do people introduce themselves?
No, its mostly people we already know.
5) Why not? Is it because of the atmosphere or the people?
Probably the people; It’s not a fun place to be and it’s not comfortable because the doors open and they don’t close and it’s cold.
6) Would you introduce yourself to someone from a different class?
No, probably not.
7) Why?
I’m scared…
8) How full would you let a bench get before you wouldn’t sit there?
3 people is full…
9) Would you sit by someone from another class?
If there were no seats left.
10) Would you talk to them?
No.
11) What if they started talking to you?
I would talk. They’ve got to be the starter.
12) Have you noticed people standing when the benches are full?
Yes.
13) How do people on the other side respond to people on this side?
They react to our conversations.
14) And yet nobody talks to them…why?
Maybe other people don’t care what they think.
Despite this distancing, both groups are actually quite wary of each other. In interview six, my informant mentioned that the other class tends to “react to our conversations.” It’s just as Anderson mentions in his paper about the Reading Terminal Market, which he supports as a cosmopolitan canopy: “Simply put, cosmopolitan canopies are interesting places to engage in the fine art of “people watching,” for “all kinds” of folk are represented(Anderson 21). Mostly people react to others in a civil and benign way:
Interview 002
I was sitting in the back of Patterson with one other girl and we were both on our computers, when this guy comes in yelling on his cell phone. He lingers a minute at the door, then goes outside to find someone, continues to yell outside, fails to find the person he is looking for, comes back in, and sits down on the bench huffing and puffing. He then leaves and walks through again later. Another guy sings extremely loud while on his way to get on an elevator. She turns her head to look at him, but the elevator door closes, and we exchange looks of curiosity. Then I asked her a few questions.
Did he have earphones in?
I don’t know, I couldn’t see…
I couldn’t either…
Here my interview was rather choppy, because then I mentioned the yelling guy…
If someone called you in here and there were a bunch of people, would you answer your phone and talk in here, or would you leave?
Is it quiet or loud?
Good question…
I don’t answer my phone in quiet places. I might answer it in here if there were a few people, but not if there were a lot.
What if that yelling guy had talked in here?
I would have listened to his conversation…
Were you going to tell him to be quiet (Elevator guy)?
No, I think it’s entertaining…
At this point, I began to wonder if the type of conversation had anything to do with whether or not the area was suitable to carry it out…
What if you were having a conversation like that yelling guy, where you were having a confrontation on the phone?
I would definitely go outside because I know that if I’m listening to other people’s conversations, other people are too. I don’t want to make a fool of myself.
As seen by interview 002, people notice each other and react with curiosity, but they do not usually tend to reprimand each other. Instead, they practice tolerance. It would seem that most visitors to the waiting area expect some noise even if they don’t come to interact. Some do come for the interaction (See interview 4), however, many wouldn’t come if they didn’t have a class, or were waiting for a class and had something else to do. Over and over again in my interviews I heard the answer “I have nothing better to do,” when I asked the question “Why do you come here so early?” or made a remark about how early to class my informants were (See interviews 1 and 3). A few people study when they come, but people usually don’t come just to do so. As seen by the frequency they occur in my interviews, study groups are actually quite rare.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Yeah, so, I didn't read the list of blog outlines in the wiki before I wrote this week, and I think that this post is totally overdue! ESL script should have been written on monday, because it better covers the requested material. I just redid my analyses a little while ago, and I feel a little better about it now, but I would still love to get some feedback on it. I feel like I'm getting on track, but I don't want to jinx it. ~.~" I know I still have to find some bg info. and I also need to do my annotations. I'm so ready for Christmas!! @.@
I feel like Tuesday's class helped a lot. I think I may just see if I can find something on one of the sites that we were given for my background info. I emailed a librarian tonight and went and talked to some people at the circ desk who helped show me where I needed to call to reach the ref. desk because my last two emails went unanswered. >.<"
Hopefully I can just stay on track this last big week!! ^.^'
Hopefully I can just stay on track this last big week!! ^.^'
ESL Script and Pics~!!! ^_^
So, I feel like I should have at least one interview from a teacher in the ESL program. I'm not sure if my paper would be complete without it. I plan on doing the extra interview tomorrow morning, but here's the script if anyone is on tonight and or tomorrow morning and has any suggestions. ^_^
ESL Informant Script
1) Why did you want to become an ESL teacher? When did you decide you wanted to do so?
2) Was there any certain reason you came to UK?
3) How long have you been an ESL teacher?
4) How would you describe students in the ESL program?
5) Why would you say they participate in ESL?
6) How have you noticed them interact with each other? Do they seem friendly or hostile? Why do you think so?
7) How do English-speaking students in this area respond to them? Do they shy away or embrace non-native speakers? How so?
8) What are some common behaviors you have seen with students in your classes? Are they outgoing or shy?
9) Describe your current students.
10) Do you hear them speak about hanging out together or alone?
11) Do they linger outside the door?
12) Why do you believe they do so or do not do so?
13) Have you ever noticed them using English outside of class?
And here are the pics of the back of POT that I promised!!! : )
This is a bad picture because of the lighting, but this is one of the benches by the "ghost" doors that open just because of the wind and make the room cooler. It's on the side that my classmates used to sit on, as opposed to the side where the other class sits. If you'll notice also, there are the tall windows that let in natural lighting. As many of us have found, lighting seems to be an important lure because it creates ambiance. Maybe people find it more natural to revert to the basic practice of socialization here partly because of the natural lighting? It could also brighten the mood if it's clear skies or sunny out.
ESL Informant Script
1) Why did you want to become an ESL teacher? When did you decide you wanted to do so?
2) Was there any certain reason you came to UK?
3) How long have you been an ESL teacher?
4) How would you describe students in the ESL program?
5) Why would you say they participate in ESL?
6) How have you noticed them interact with each other? Do they seem friendly or hostile? Why do you think so?
7) How do English-speaking students in this area respond to them? Do they shy away or embrace non-native speakers? How so?
8) What are some common behaviors you have seen with students in your classes? Are they outgoing or shy?
9) Describe your current students.
10) Do you hear them speak about hanging out together or alone?
11) Do they linger outside the door?
12) Why do you believe they do so or do not do so?
13) Have you ever noticed them using English outside of class?
And here are the pics of the back of POT that I promised!!! : )
This is a bad picture because of the lighting, but this is one of the benches by the "ghost" doors that open just because of the wind and make the room cooler. It's on the side that my classmates used to sit on, as opposed to the side where the other class sits. If you'll notice also, there are the tall windows that let in natural lighting. As many of us have found, lighting seems to be an important lure because it creates ambiance. Maybe people find it more natural to revert to the basic practice of socialization here partly because of the natural lighting? It could also brighten the mood if it's clear skies or sunny out.
A more inclusive picture of "Our" side...
The "Other" side...
More to come... : ) Thanks for viewing!! Please comment on the script if you can think of anything, or even just to tell me you enjoyed the pictures...or how much the camera angle or flash sucked because I'm not a prophotographer...hahah.
OH! BTW!! I'd really like to thank the guy who has continuosly let me rent out a camera...he was very kind and helpful! You should definitely go talk to him in Patterson in the Writing Dep. and rent out a camera!!! Yay, pics!! *.*
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