I am an English teacher in a small rural town in Ontario. My Grade 11 English class will be studying Khaled Hossenin's novel "The Kite Runner". I am looking for a group of students that we can learn about Afghanistan and it's people from. We would prefer to correspond by email if possible.
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I am an English teacher in North Carolina (www.rowancabarrus.edu) and would like to discuss extending this effort via service-learning and research projects already in place with the RCCC Rotaract Club, which I advise. Please feel free to contact me. My email is lanita.kirby@gmail.com .
I am a final year undergraduate Business Administration students in Peshawar, Pakistan. As more than 3 million Afghan refugees migrated to Pakistan during the Soviet union's war in Afghanistan. Pakistanis and specially the people of Peshawar know most of the things about Afghans and their life style. I can help you in this regard.
Hi Karen,
Afghan students in Jalalabad are active on a Ning site here: http://gceafghanistan.ning.com/. You are welcome to start a discussion there if you like. But if this is difficult, perhaps you can send me some questions and I can ask the students to respond. It would be best to send me the questions via my personal email: anna.mussman@gmail.com . The Afghan students love Skype conversations, too, but sending questions in advance makes these conversations run more smoothly.
You might want to check out the Ning group GCE Afghanistan. They have a strong network of connections and collaborations between Afghan students and US students.
Realize that there are few schools in Afghanistan, little electricity in the country, not a lot of internet connections, other than in Kabul....you may do better searching for Afghan refugees who are in places like the UK where there is likely to be email. Or try for classes in Pakistan or Bangladesh, neighboring areas, which also have refugees and limited email access.
The ePals global community has one member who is trying to help some Afghan schools with collaboration. If you join the ePals community (no fee) you can contact her directly. She writes:
+++
Posted On: September 15, 2009
Project Description
VUSAF Education Centre is based in North West Afghanistan. It is funded by a German NGO called Afghanistan-Schulen. I am the head of this NGO. As access to internet is only limited through mobile telephone connection and because we are worried about security, we would like to forward questions only via me. At the VUSAF EC we have 12 groups of students studying English at various levels from beginners to advance. They are very interested in having contacts with the outside world, however, their ability in English and general letter writing is limited.
Location: Andkhoi, Faryab/Afghanistan, Afghanistan
Language: English
Number of participants: 100+
Age range: 13-18
+++
In the ePals community you could also search for classrooms in Pakistan or Bangladesh, etc. but they also have limited schools, limited Internet access.
Alternatively, you might try to contact the Afghan ambassador to Canada (or the education officer) and see what he might be able to provide. But the reality is that you will be extremely challenged to communicate with children inside Afghanistan because of the general lack of education, low attendance rates in school, and internet access.
If you were in the United States, I'd suggest trying to find a Peace Corps volunteer returned from Afghanistan.
Here are some people who are now in academia, who lived in Afghanistan as Peace Corps volunteers, who might be helpful to you as scholars who care about Afghanistan and were there pre-Taliban:
* Thomas Gouttierre, dean of International Studies and Programs and director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies, University of Nebraska-Omaha (Afghanistan 1965-67)
* John E. Greisberger, director, University of Michigan International Center (Afghanistan 1973-75)
* Dr. John Sumser, professor of Communications at California State University, Stanislaus (Afghanistan, unknown years)
You might search for scholars at other places (Indiana University would be a good bet) or in Canadian universities, etc. who might provide first person insights for your students.
Or it might be interesting to have them read a nonfiction account of Afghanistan in an earlier era, pre-Taliban takeover, and do comparison/contrast with the time that Amir is growing up in The Kite Runner, in this nonfiction book by John Sumser: A Land Without Time: A Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan
Maybe someone else can recommend a movie or documentary to give some visual sense of the place.
Good luck in your quest to engage and enlighten your students and to go beyond the book!
Karen Whattam > Dr. Rita OatesMarch 28, 2010 at 10:48am
Wow! Thanks for all the advice. I have tried to contact this very person through epals - so hopefully something will work out. I also have made contact with an American who has served in Afghanistan for three years - he will probably be a great asset as well.
Replies
I am an English teacher in North Carolina (www.rowancabarrus.edu) and would like to discuss extending this effort via service-learning and research projects already in place with the RCCC Rotaract Club, which I advise. Please feel free to contact me. My email is lanita.kirby@gmail.com .
I am a final year undergraduate Business Administration students in Peshawar, Pakistan. As more than 3 million Afghan refugees migrated to Pakistan during the Soviet union's war in Afghanistan. Pakistanis and specially the people of Peshawar know most of the things about Afghans and their life style. I can help you in this regard.
Regards,
Sheraz
sherazmkhan@yahoo.com
Afghan students in Jalalabad are active on a Ning site here: http://gceafghanistan.ning.com/. You are welcome to start a discussion there if you like. But if this is difficult, perhaps you can send me some questions and I can ask the students to respond. It would be best to send me the questions via my personal email: anna.mussman@gmail.com . The Afghan students love Skype conversations, too, but sending questions in advance makes these conversations run more smoothly.
Thanks,
Anna
Thanks Jonah !
The ePals global community has one member who is trying to help some Afghan schools with collaboration. If you join the ePals community (no fee) you can contact her directly. She writes:
+++
Posted On: September 15, 2009
Project Description
VUSAF Education Centre is based in North West Afghanistan. It is funded by a German NGO called Afghanistan-Schulen. I am the head of this NGO. As access to internet is only limited through mobile telephone connection and because we are worried about security, we would like to forward questions only via me. At the VUSAF EC we have 12 groups of students studying English at various levels from beginners to advance. They are very interested in having contacts with the outside world, however, their ability in English and general letter writing is limited.
Location: Andkhoi, Faryab/Afghanistan, Afghanistan
Language: English
Number of participants: 100+
Age range: 13-18
+++
In the ePals community you could also search for classrooms in Pakistan or Bangladesh, etc. but they also have limited schools, limited Internet access.
Alternatively, you might try to contact the Afghan ambassador to Canada (or the education officer) and see what he might be able to provide. But the reality is that you will be extremely challenged to communicate with children inside Afghanistan because of the general lack of education, low attendance rates in school, and internet access.
If you were in the United States, I'd suggest trying to find a Peace Corps volunteer returned from Afghanistan.
Here are some people who are now in academia, who lived in Afghanistan as Peace Corps volunteers, who might be helpful to you as scholars who care about Afghanistan and were there pre-Taliban:
* Thomas Gouttierre, dean of International Studies and Programs and director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies, University of Nebraska-Omaha (Afghanistan 1965-67)
* John E. Greisberger, director, University of Michigan International Center (Afghanistan 1973-75)
* Dr. John Sumser, professor of Communications at California State University, Stanislaus (Afghanistan, unknown years)
You might search for scholars at other places (Indiana University would be a good bet) or in Canadian universities, etc. who might provide first person insights for your students.
Or it might be interesting to have them read a nonfiction account of Afghanistan in an earlier era, pre-Taliban takeover, and do comparison/contrast with the time that Amir is growing up in The Kite Runner, in this nonfiction book by John Sumser:
A Land Without Time: A Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan
A terrific source of data about the country is available from the CIA World Fact Book. Here's the link to Afghanistan, with lots of data and comparisons with other countries: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af...
Maybe someone else can recommend a movie or documentary to give some visual sense of the place.
Good luck in your quest to engage and enlighten your students and to go beyond the book!