Part of the reason I have been a bit quiet on the blogging front, is that I have been consumed with putting together a two full day report writing seminar for the staff of HimRights and the BBC (Beyond Beijing Committee for those of you who might be coming just now to this blog).
It was actually rather enjoyable to put together a powerpoint and present for two days - glad to know that Theater BA isn't going to waste.
I reviewed most of the staffs past reports to identify and repair common mistakes during my presentation, and I think the staff appreciated it. My favorite part of the presentation was, of course, a role play. The director wanted the staff to begin practicing putting together grant proposals (as it is I believe she does most of the grant submitting, and the rest of the staff runs the projects and reports on them as they are being implemented). So I developed a fake call for grant applications, and they drew names out of a hat to determine who were donors and who were grant applicants. The applicants got put in groups and had about 25 minutes to put together a proposal. They then presented it to the board of three donors (all women, which was an exciting luck of the draw). It was quite lively and hilarious - the winning group wanted to build a community center, specially for children and the elderly. When questioned further about what activities there would be for the younger kids, the 'applicant' replied that there would be a nice playground. When asked about activities for the older folks, he stuttered, then regained his confidence, and explained that there would be a 'temple in the corner' for them to pray. Maybe you had to be there...
Anyway, one thing I have LOVED about working with HimRights and BBC is that every staff member I work with is really appreciative of feedback and constructive criticism. I know I haven't been in THAT many working environments, but generally it seems that people (myself included) think they know how to do it BEST and that prevents them from even listening to what the other person has to say or suggest. However, I have found that almost every time I have worked with a staff person, they have been eager to learn more and correct their mistakes. It makes for a pretty stellar working environment.
Moment of the Mundane
In my preparation for the report writing presentation, I had to investigate the difference between an indefinite and definite article. Perhaps one failure of my public school education, or maybe it is a failure of American education in general...or my memory, I was never taught the difference. But when asked to describe articles to people whose native language doesn't even have articles, it's a bit difficult. Anyway before researching the true definitions, I was working with someone individually and turns out my intuitive definition (about the specificity of the article determining whether it was an 'a/an' or 'the') made me a little too happy.
