Some photos

Worries

WORRIES!

Our stay at Saint Mike's is so nice!

The courses we are taking are so interesting!

The people we are meeting with are so nice!

The activities we are doing are really exciting.

The places we are visiting are simply beautiful.

The cultural differences we are learning are helpful.

However, many of us have great worries!

We're worried not about how to pay our dowries,

But we are concerned about our host universities.

We just hope these worries won't become pities!

We don't know how the learning environment will look like.

We've just little idea about our housing conditions,

But we hope they won't be something too lifelike.

We wonder about our courses options,

We strongly wish things will be easier,

Because we all desire to remain simpler.

We find Saint Mike's so integrative!

That we really don't want to leave!

Aboudou Hamidou BERTHE Fulbright Scholar from Mali.

   Class: IEP510A, Prof: Maggie Gordon

Saint Michael’s College, Colchester, Vermont, USA.

July 31, 2013, 01: 11 am, Townhouse 412, Room A.

Dedicated to my Lovely Wife and our future Baby!

      

Learning the American Culture

Last Thursday, July 18 and Monday, 22, 2013, our class was honored to receive two guest speakers, namely Professor Patty Delaney and Professor Dave Landers.

During the first talk, we debated about the American cultural values. According to Professor Patty Delaney, if you leave your culture, you will certainly feel uncomfortable with a situation one day, you'll go through that moment of confusion, during which you are not really at ease, because you are facing a new situation that your culture may consider as incorrect. That is what is referred as “culture shock”! The Professor told us that it is normal to live this uncomfortable situation. When you accept it, the next thing is to share your own culture with people you deal with every day. Also, adjustment is necessary. Everyone thinks that his/her culture is perfect. So it is necessary to accept other people's culture as they are. 

Furthermore, the professor argued that when you go back to your country, certain things you were probably doing before leaving will become weird to you because you experienced another culture. This is called “reversed cultural shock”. What happens is that you unconsciously reassess your own culture.

Besides, the professor informed us that we will certainly be going through three stages which are: the honeymoon stage, the irritation stage and the adjustment stage.

To sum, these are among many others, the different points we talked about. I assert that all this information was very important for us and I personally enjoyed the conversation with her. For, it will better equip us with the cultural understanding of the USA and the strength necessary for adjustment during our stay in the USA.

The second talk was with Professor Dave Landers. His talk addressed the greatest concern that most of us have, namely, Gender Issues and Sexual Harassment.

The main point I appreciated in his talk was about the notion of social construction. According to him, our environment, our parents, our religion, our friends the media, etc. contribute to shape our world view and perspective. That’s why we may find certain things wrong while the same things are totally accepted elsewhere. This difference is due to our social construction. 

We also discussed about the legal definitions of sexual harassment and rape. These norms are very different in my country. For example, it is acceptable to stare at a girl for a long time, or to insist on inviting her everyday... As long as you don't touch her body, you are fine. In contrast, none of these actions I have mentioned above is accepted in the USA. Again and again, these were very important things to know, because due to cultural differences, one may have trouble with another person or with the police without knowing that he/she is doing something wrong.

In conclusion, I have really understood many aspects of the American culture through these two talks and I still hope that the remaining guest speakers will provide us further important information. May I be permitted to acknowledge not only my Professor Maggie, who did her best to arrange all these talks, but also all the guest speakers who, although very busy, allowed their time and effort to meet us. May everyone receive here, my profound and sincere gratitude!

Aboudou H BERTHE, from Mali.

Some photos

Personal Understanding of Academic Expectations

As a new student in the US educational system, it is important to know the academic expectation. What I am supposed to do in order to achieve my academic goal? What are some difficulties I may face? What kind of relationship must I have with my professors? These are among many others, questions the answers of which are significant in completing a graduate program.
Last week, our class was honored to received Tim Mackin, PhD, Director of the Writing Center of Saint Michael's College. According to him, we are expected to be to school on time, to participate fully in all the class projects, to ask question what we don't understand inside or outside the class. He also told us that we must really be confident. We all went through a challenging competition to get our scholarships. So, according to him, being selected means that we can overcome any challenge we 'll face as long as we remain confident and hard-working. We also discussed about may aspects of the American culture, among them befriending with people. I really enjoyed the conversation with him. His relaxed style, his simplicity attracted me so much that i paid him a visit in his office to ask him further questions about group works in the graduate program.
I hope that the remaining guest speakers will further help us know more about the US culture and our academic needs.
I am really enjoying my classes and it incredible all the things I learned from my arrival up to now.

Already a week!!!

Already one week since I came! I arrived here in Colchester on June 29, 2013. I've already started the classes and I think that I am doing great. The learning environment is obviously different but in a positive way. I feel really honored to have had two great teachers: Maggie and Harold. As a teacher, I deeply acknowledge what they are doing with us. For use teaching in a class like ours is really challenging because there are may different cultural backgrounds, many different education needs and many majors. But surprisingly enough, these two great professors are thriving to meet our needs. Also, the A.L.D department is very open to us for any concerns we might have while here at Saint Micheal's College. To sum all this up, I am really very happy to to be here and once again, I hope I will be able to give the best of myself so as to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity I have been given by the Fulbright Scholarship Program.

A Malian at Saint Michael's College

It is a dream coming true to see myself here at Saint Micheal's College, Colchester, Vermont for my pre-academic courses.It is such a nice place with very friendly people. I expect to strengthen all my four language skills before the end of this summer. This will surely help me tackle the difficulties and challenges that I may face with during my graduate studies as a second language speaker of English. I hope that my stay here will be full of improvement and good souvenirs.