I.S.L.I

International Student Leadership Institute

Quite simply, this is the BEST event for young people that I know about. Perhaps there are others that I'm not aware of...but they would have to be very, very good to beat this.
150 students - made up of 75 Americans (from US Bases in Europe) and 75 Europeans (from such countries as Belgium, Holland, Italy, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, and Czech Republic!) - being split up into 10 groups of 15 each, working on the theme of Leadership - which is presented to them by a group of around 14/15 young people (known as Regents) who were elected from the previous year. (With some help from some Adult Regents)

Having heard a lecture on a point of leadership, the group then has about 15-25 minutes to present a sketch,song,poem,rap,mime,poster etc on a question set to them by the Regents. It is not a competition - which makes it refreshing! No marks given - just the freedom to express yourselves as a group.

The only competitive parts are the Ice-Breaker Activities - which are done on the first evening - and which my team, the Green King Bears won! (What a feeling that was! To be part of a winning team - this was new to me at ISLI) The other competition was the Olympics, which involved 4 games in which all team members worked together. This was won by the Lime Unicorns :-)

Other than the lectures (4 times a day) - there was Open Stage - an opportunity, after lunch, for students to show their talents - anything from singing, playing an instrument, dancing (ballet too!), monologues etc...and what talent there was! Awesome is a cliche, but it surely was at least that!
The morning lectures end with 'Newsbreak', which quickly becomes the most awaited moment of the day - some fun (with Drew & Tyler), and then the moment that everyone has been waiting for (except for most of those who will be punished...!) 'You lost it - we found it - and you're screwed!' Basically, if you lose anything, you end up on stage, in front of everyone, and have to do something embarrassing - such as French Push Ups (as done by Klara K!), or miming a different topic to the one the audience has been told, or the wheelbarrow race...and other things! Great fun...but I was very nervous as 3 times I'd left my fleece lying around...the first time, I found out just in time as Holly H (CGL) had handed it in! The 3rd time I returned to find my fleece in Holly's hand, as she was off to do the dirty deed! Yes, even CGL's can be punished!

There were Interest Groups on 2 evenings (an opportunity to try 3 different activities) - the subjects ranged from Speed Dating and learning Finnish to Ballroom Dancing and Improvisational Acting...and many more!

There was also the Myers-Briggs Test - a very useful exercise to discover what kind of leader/team member you are. And the Issues Forum - a controversial topic - Abortion. I have to say that this highly sensitive topic was handled extremely well, and intelligently by all students.

And all of this builds up to the last night - the voting ceremony for the next year's Regents. For the first time, the Czechs had two candidates (and we'd had to narrow this down from 5 earlier in the week!) - Mia & Lucy. Both of them gave a great speech (in front of around 180 people), and Mia was elected! (Well done, Mia! Great effort, Lucy!) However, the toughest competition was surely for the US Regents - only 3 could be chosen from 19 candidates!! :-o I have to say that the standard this year among the Americans was the best that I have heard/seen...in the past, I've seen some students having their hair shaved off, throwing out sweets to the audience (with NO speech), a 'sexy-dance' which failed miserably...But this year was excellent, and I think the majority of those who did not succeed should not be ashamed.

The last morning is the closing ceremony...a little subdued, the flags are rolled away silently...goodbyes and tears and photographing is all around...
But what a week!!
Personally (I am loathe to use superlatives ;-)) - this was the BEST year so far!! I had a marvellous and very talented Colour Group - from the first evening, I knew it was going to be special...and it was! They were easy to direct, and to work with, and a joy to watch...like watching a symphony come together, everyone playing their part...At times like that, there surely can be no better job than being a teacher :-) I came home exhausted and in need of sleep. Today is Weds and I'm still catching up! But it was worth it, and I look forward to many more happy years with ISLI.

A special note for the Regents - this year's group was exceptional, and you should ALL be very proud.
Colour Group Leaders - a terrific and encouraging and supportive group of people I have not worked with so often! :-)
Adult Regents - I admire your energy, enthusiasm and tireless work with so many things behind the scenes...and you get the least sleep of all!
THANK YOU, ISLI!!! :-)

Crime & Punishment

A few weeks ago I set my Weds seminar group an assignment - they had to write me an essay describing a crime and a suitable punishment for it. After I'd collected their essays, we were to debate some of the issues which they'd looked at...
However, 3 students hadn't done the homework :-(
In a moment of inspiration, I decided that we would enact a courtroom scene - the 3 students were charged with not doing their homework - two said that they were too busy and had forgotten about it - the other one said that he was probably lazy and couldn't even remember it.
I was the prosecutor and one of the remaining students volunteered to be the defence - the rest of the class (about 9-10) were to be the jury.
The students gave their testimonies...then I opened my case and asked some questions - the one with the bad memory came very close to being charged with crimes against English, as some of his grammar was a bit dodgy!
Then the defence made some closing remarks & the jury was sent out.
I expected that all 3 would be found 'not guilty'...and quickly. But time passed and in the end I had to ask the jury to come back in (so we could move the lesson along). They came back, nominated a spokesman, and said that the one with the bad memory was 'stupid' and therefore could not possibly be guilty. He protested against being called 'stupid' - I suggested he could be found 'guilty' if he wished, and he dropped the protest ;-)
However, the other 2 were found 'guilty' as charged, and their punishment was to write a poem about me, and to read it to the class in the next seminar...which I think is due to happen next week...and I'm looking forward to it!
On reflection, this was a great way to role play a topic, and is something that I could use creatively in future for such offenders of not doing homework, and using mobile phones in the lesson ;-)