50th Anniversary Part II

After a check in visit from my program manager, a periodic visit all PCVs receive, my school director got excited about holding an assembly to celebrate Peace Corps, as well as tying in the coming Novruz and Women’s Day holidays. It was decided that students would perform dances and sing songs about Novruz and Women’s Day, and after a failed attempt to encourage skit-writing, my students decided to give short presentations on several topics, including Azerbaijan, Novruz, Women’s Day, and England/the World. I was also asked to get in on the action, speaking about Peace Corps.

The day was generally a success. It started with two kids MC-ing, and gave short presentations on Azerbaijan and “My Dreamworld.” Then it was my turn to speak about Peace Corps. One of the teachers, Humay, was kind enough to translate. I spoke briefly about Peace Corps and its 50th anniversary, and then ended by encouraging all the students and teachers to come to me with their ideas. I don’t know if they really understood the message, but time will tell. Afterwards, I introduced my students for their presentations.

The only downside was that two of my student groups dropped out. This was partly my fault, as they didn’t have as much time to prepare. Due to weather there was a few days of poor attendance, which made planning harder.

The kids took a little encouragement to really project their voices, and we weren’t quite there on volume, but the kids wrote their own words and I helped with the translations, but they seemed to enjoy the applause afterwards. They were just as excited that I brought my camera, and wanted tons of pictures of them performing.

A group of elementary age students performed a Novruz dance, which almost was derailed when the CD player stopped. A student singing from the side of the stage saved the moment. The show must go on!

The Pictures are:
1. Me talking about Peace Corps.
2. Group 1: Women's Day
3. Group 2: Novruz
4. Children's dance saved by offstage singing.