yah spring term!

Today is the first day of the new term. I've spent the last two weeks reflecting on methodology , creative ideas for presenting material, content, and assessment. I've cut and cut again the texts on my syllabuses, and I still think it's too much. The funny thing about the literature students I'm teaching is they don't seem to like reading much. I have come up with a lot of ideas to cajole, trick, tempt, and force them into engaging with literature, and I was looking forward to trying them out.

My approach for the first class of the term- this morning, Monday, 8am- was to use a clip from "Apocalypse Now" as a lead-in to Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," which was the loose basis for the film. In TEFL terms, this is known as "generating interest." My mistake last term was to assume that an interest in literature is already present in my students' hearts and minds. But a few weeks was enough to alert me that this is not the case.

In secondary education in Turkey, students and teachers dwell in the dark shadow of a standard university entrance exam of massive significance. Students must choose the subject questions they will answer on the exam, which generally means the ones they can get the highest scores in. Students list the universities they would like to attend, and the subjects they would like to study; this is based on what is presumed feasible for them, with lots of direction from their secondary school teachers and parents. If students have the potential to score high enough to study the prestigious subjects like science and engineering, you can be sure this is where their future lies. Incidentally, English and Literature subjects are at the low end of the scale.

Test results determine where they go and what they study. Thus, questions like "Why did you choose to come to this university?" or "Why did you choose to study this subject?" usually generate the standard reply, "Because my test scores were enough to come here."

Add to this the "mixed" nature of the degree program at this university- a heady blend of linguistics, teaching methodology, language skills, and literature, plus a moderate dose of Turkish history, and you get my students, who just want to pass the degree so they can be teachers, and seem to resent the intrusion of dense texts like "Heart of Darkness" in their already heavy hearts.

But these reflections have all been spurred on by the unexpected denoument of this, my first class of the term. I set up the projector, arranged my notes, and was feeling positive. I looked out over the empty seats in front of me, just arranged in neat rows, like a freshly-dug seed bed. I cued the film clip. I had a sip of water. I looked over my notes again. And the students did not come. I sat in the empty classroom for half an hour, going over possible explanations in my mind. I decided they had mutinied.

I questioned one of my colleagues, who assured me that this is normal. Students have gone to their home towns for the month-long winter break. And they usually don't come back until Tuesday. Another example of what is proving to be a common theme to life in Turkey- you get information when it comes up- why would you need it before?