Teacher of expat teens ’lands’ en NASA institute
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Damaris Kremida
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 06, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - A historian and social anthropologist by training who has spent a quarter of her life as an expat, Sema Alpayta is this year's only Turkish participant in NASA's Aerospace Institute taking place later this month. She hopes to use her experience to help enrich the lives of the expatriate teenagers she teaches in Istanbul as well as the community.
She might not be the first Turkish woman to land on the moon, but for one Turkish language teacher to expatriate kids in Istanbul the chance to learn about space science at NASA’s Aerospace Institute next week is close enough.
Sema Alpaytaç spends most of her time teaching 7th through 10th graders the finer mysteries of Turkish culture, history and language at the Istanbul International Community School. But when earlier this school year an email calling participants to NASA and the University of Central Florida’s summer post-graduate level Aerospace Institute for teachers, she didn’t think twice.
"Ironically that week I was teaching the kids about the history of Galata Tower and how Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi flew from the Galata Tower to Üsküdar," she said describing how she filled in the application form. "I was teaching my kids about the people who have tried flying and what NASA is doing must be important because they’re going all the way to the moon."The program she said, although geared more towards scientists, aims to raise awareness of NASA activities among teachers around the world. "They are contributing to science," said Alpaytaç. "We hear in ads about beds that have been tested by NASA, but they probably don’t only do that! So we will get to hear and see it and experience it there and share our experiences with our communities back at school."
Alpaytaç is the only Turk selected for the 10-day program sponsored by the U.S. State Department and held at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Florida this year. The program is so rigorous that participants can opt for post-graduate credits and during the program there will be no time for sight seeing."But you know, when you think how often does one get a chance to spend 10 days in the Kennedy Space CenterÉ it’s once in a lifetime if that," she said. "They’ll be teaching me somethingÉ I’ll be adding to my teaching skills and my experience things I can share with the kids. It’s very important I think."
An expatriate Turk
Alpaytaç, a historian and social anthropologist by training, has spent a quarter of her life away from Turkey. When she was a teenager her family moved to northern Cyprus and later she lived in England, adding up to 10 years living abroad as well as trotting around the globe from Paraguay to China. She said these experiences help her to sympathize with and be a better teacher to her expatriate teenaged students living in Turkey.
"An international community school is like a melting pot of many different nationalities and cultures, so you have to understand them in order to be able to help," she said. "Think of a 14-year-old kid from anywhere in the world being brought to Istanbul for whatever reason and expected to adaptÉ I see myself as a bridge between them and their surrounding so we can make their initial stages smoother."
Alpaytaç also freelances as an educational consultant for Turks who want to travel abroad to study. She said the key to young students successfully acclimating in a new environment and culture is to help them feel that they have a unique opportunity and the role of teachers is invaluable in the process.
"They have to make new friends, adapt to a new culture and school, and it’s not easy for them; especially teenagers," she said. "So in that sense teaching them Turkish culture and language, being there to help them adapt to this culture, is an important task. The more they know, the more they understand the more likely that they’ll integrate into this culture."
From her personal experience, she said the best skill for acclimating to a new culture is the ability to be like a chameleon being willing to shed off your own or previous "color" and take on the one of your new environment. "If you are resistant to change and ignorant of social surrounding I don’t think it’s easy to be part of the community and be happy in that surrounding I think," she said. In her case, as a participant in the NASA program, Alpaytaç said she hopes she can take on as much information as she can to also share it with her science co-workers at IICS so together they can inform their science teaching. "They were happy about it," she said of IICS’ science teachers. "Obviously we couldn’t all make it so I’ll try to absorb everything and utilize it when I come back to the school."Alpaytaç chuckled a little with the thought of the timing of her trip what with a feared global swine flu epidemic and a plane gone missing over the Atlantic. "I’ll find out at NASA what’s going on and I’ll tell you when I’m back," she said jokingly.
Sema Alpaytaç spends most of her time teaching 7th through 10th graders the finer mysteries of Turkish culture, history and language at the Istanbul International Community School. But when earlier this school year an email calling participants to NASA and the University of Central Florida’s summer post-graduate level Aerospace Institute for teachers, she didn’t think twice.
"Ironically that week I was teaching the kids about the history of Galata Tower and how Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi flew from the Galata Tower to Üsküdar," she said describing how she filled in the application form. "I was teaching my kids about the people who have tried flying and what NASA is doing must be important because they’re going all the way to the moon."The program she said, although geared more towards scientists, aims to raise awareness of NASA activities among teachers around the world. "They are contributing to science," said Alpaytaç. "We hear in ads about beds that have been tested by NASA, but they probably don’t only do that! So we will get to hear and see it and experience it there and share our experiences with our communities back at school."
Alpaytaç is the only Turk selected for the 10-day program sponsored by the U.S. State Department and held at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Florida this year. The program is so rigorous that participants can opt for post-graduate credits and during the program there will be no time for sight seeing."But you know, when you think how often does one get a chance to spend 10 days in the Kennedy Space CenterÉ it’s once in a lifetime if that," she said. "They’ll be teaching me somethingÉ I’ll be adding to my teaching skills and my experience things I can share with the kids. It’s very important I think."
An expatriate Turk
Alpaytaç, a historian and social anthropologist by training, has spent a quarter of her life away from Turkey. When she was a teenager her family moved to northern Cyprus and later she lived in England, adding up to 10 years living abroad as well as trotting around the globe from Paraguay to China. She said these experiences help her to sympathize with and be a better teacher to her expatriate teenaged students living in Turkey.
"An international community school is like a melting pot of many different nationalities and cultures, so you have to understand them in order to be able to help," she said. "Think of a 14-year-old kid from anywhere in the world being brought to Istanbul for whatever reason and expected to adaptÉ I see myself as a bridge between them and their surrounding so we can make their initial stages smoother."
Alpaytaç also freelances as an educational consultant for Turks who want to travel abroad to study. She said the key to young students successfully acclimating in a new environment and culture is to help them feel that they have a unique opportunity and the role of teachers is invaluable in the process.
"They have to make new friends, adapt to a new culture and school, and it’s not easy for them; especially teenagers," she said. "So in that sense teaching them Turkish culture and language, being there to help them adapt to this culture, is an important task. The more they know, the more they understand the more likely that they’ll integrate into this culture."
From her personal experience, she said the best skill for acclimating to a new culture is the ability to be like a chameleon being willing to shed off your own or previous "color" and take on the one of your new environment. "If you are resistant to change and ignorant of social surrounding I don’t think it’s easy to be part of the community and be happy in that surrounding I think," she said. In her case, as a participant in the NASA program, Alpaytaç said she hopes she can take on as much information as she can to also share it with her science co-workers at IICS so together they can inform their science teaching. "They were happy about it," she said of IICS’ science teachers. "Obviously we couldn’t all make it so I’ll try to absorb everything and utilize it when I come back to the school."Alpaytaç chuckled a little with the thought of the timing of her trip what with a feared global swine flu epidemic and a plane gone missing over the Atlantic. "I’ll find out at NASA what’s going on and I’ll tell you when I’m back," she said jokingly.