Annette, How about making your field trip an observation of children in marketplaces? You could observe the children of those who are selling produce, crafts, etc., and compare to children of those who come to the market to buy (including tourists).
For example, I remember in Rome seeing a Gypsy mother begging and holding an inert toddler. I went to a store nearby, bought a large sandwich and returned with it. I gave it to her and she promptly took the whole thing and put it behind her. When I passed her again a short time later, they looked the same: hungry-looking madonna scene. Of course that's an extreme scenario, but in many cultures, of course, the children are expected to play their parts as hunter-gatherers, in various ways. Even the role of older siblings caring for younger ones while parents run the stalls in the market could be observable. I'll bet you'll have a glorious time. They're lucky to have you as an instructor. What a blast!! Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Annette Taylor <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > My ship sets sail on Monday for semester at sea. > > If any of you have taught in similar situations or abroad for a whole > semester and have some last minute advice, I would love to hear it. > > I am a nervous WRECK today! > > I think the schedule is extremely demanding--3 courses, 2 of which were new > preps for me, but not a stretch. The biggest challenge is a special topics > course: Culture in Personality Development. When I was first given a > previous syllabus it was just a stock child development course. So I built > from there. But the dean is an English prof and I can't seem to get through > to him that this is not a standard course offering. They want the global > aspect (culture in...) for a course that combines two areas, personality and > development. I think I have it handled nicely now. At least I feel confident > about it. But I have felt challenged--in a good way! > > The biggest added challenge: each course has 2 mandatory field trips in > foreign ports. I have to lead students on assignments I have never used > before (I never do field trips in my classes except for intro psych), in > places I have never been before, where people speak languages I don't speak! > Have I mentioned that I am nervous wreck today in thinking about all of > this? I finally came up with ideas that are not ideal but don't require any > oral communication with residents, etc. Of course, I did get grief from > the UVa IRB because we are going to do observations of children's attachment > and temperament behaviors, strictly as a classroom exercise, but they wanted > to run me through the IRB wringer--I successfully convinced them we are not > doing "research." > > On top of that all of the faculty must lead small groups on global common > readings--things I personally have minimal interest in, and readings I > disagree with completely after reading them. Boy, oh, boy. Should be fun ;) > > Anyway, I look forward to snorkeling in Dominca in a few days :) Yeah! > Spending several days at an ecoresort in the Amazon in two weeks...I'll keep > you all posted on teaching-related topics. You'll have to friend > me on facebook to know more. > > Annette > > ps: And then there was packing to live on board ship for 15 weeks and > fitting it into two suitcases (I never had the experience of living on > campus and moving in and out every 15 weeks), getting all the visas (10), > vaccinations/immunizations (can we say pin cushion/basic training?), money > exchange, closing down the house, suspending utilities and deliveries, > filing income tax extension, paying property taxes due in April, getting my > medical forms completed which got rejected 3 times, filling prescriptions > for 120 days (my health plan won't cover that long). Oh my! Have I mentioned > that all of this has made me a tad nervous--I've been practicing being > seasick (read that as nervous/upset stomach, big time!). On the plus side, > only about half of what could go wrong did go wrong (e.g., big time rash > from yellow fever shot; 5 months advance HOA condo fees lost in the mail)), > so that's a plus :) haha, cup half full. > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > Professor, Psychological Sciences > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > [email protected] > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72&n=T&l=tips&o=15313 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-15313-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > > > > > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=15316 or send a blank email to leave-15316-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
