USM students analyze content for Peace Journalism. 

Fulbright Update:
University classes, students off
to excellent start 
(Chisinau, Moldova)-When teaching abroad, as I have done now in person in 32 countries, I’m often skeptical when I’m told that audiences, especially students, speak English fluently. I come by this skepticism honestly, having been disappointed on several occasions to learn, much to my chagrin, that my students really speak little or no English. I found this out the hard way at my last overseas university teaching assignment in Ethiopia in 2018.

This week at the State University of Moldova (USM), however, has been chagrin-free.

My USM journalism students speak excellent English, and fluently conversed with me abut peace journalism. They were intellectually curious about not only my subject matter, but about my impressions of Moldova. I got asked to analyze and critique Moldova media. I begged off, responding by noting that I’ve been here less than two weeks. Perhaps I’ll have a better answer in a few months.

At any rate, it looks like I’m going to really enjoy my interactions with students at USM. We are off to an excellent start.

Moldova Journalism School
I will also be working with a cohort of 15 professionals who are attending a journalism course through the Moldova Journalism School, which offers something like a certificate program but not a degree like a university. This is more of a vocational training course for those older learners interested in journalism or perhaps in changing careers. This 6-month course will be taught by a number of professional journalists. I will be teaching several units on peace journalism, and mentoring the students as well.

We launched the course this week with an ice-breaker wherein participants interviewed one another, then made a brief presentation about their interviewee. I participated as well, interviewing Ion, who just returned from working for 5 years in France. The whole thing was done in Romanian, which I understand well but am still struggling to speak as fluently as I would like. I don’t think I embarrassed myself, though my Moldovan colleagues are too polite to say if I sounded like a moron.

Presenting a classmate at the 
Moldova Journalism School.