He Is At It Again

One of my students, who I am reasonably sure likes me, creates videos, which include something about my teaching. Funny, he asked me if I lived a particular pastry, which I thought he had intended to make and share with me. However, I told him I had to watch my sugar intake, so this video arrived instead.

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Something From Nothing

Over 3 years ago we made friends with Chris Dietz who was managing EDS Corporation Hungary at the time. One night over dinner, I was moaning about the lack of computers at the university while stating that if I had some, I wanted to create a Peer to Peer Writing Center. Chris managed to get EDS to donate 10 computers and monitors. These were IBM computers and Dell flat screen monitors. I thought I had died and went to heaven. 


My department head had a vision of having a journalism program. It would be the first journalism program in English, in Hungary. Guess who became responsible for it? Well, a journalism program was born. It was a challenge, but I loved it.


BA students enter the specialization in their 2nd year. In their 3rd semester of the program, they have to do an internship after I have made contacts with the local English newspapers and magazines. Many where resistant to interns, but some places I was able to twist an arm here and there. Sometimes being a Frommer's author has a bit of power. 


One of my students from the 1st group to go through the program, Gabriel Mero Santucci, landed an internship with Time Out Budapest magazine. Time Out is published in over twenty-two cities around the world. At the end of his internship, he was given a monthly column of his own. Each month, he writes about dance performances or interviews choreographers. As the first star of the program, I held him up as the example for others.


Yesterday, I received this note.


Dr. James,
Just to catch up with you very quickly; I finished my internship at Where this month and I got paid to write the feature article for the June issue, which you can also read online here:

http://www.wheretraveler.com/classic/intl/hu/budapest/fe/feature.html?dest=FE0000010463/article.html

I had a great time at the magazine and Nick said that I am part of the team now. I can pitch up ideas for feature articles in the future and write them as a freelance writer. My next one will probably appear in the November issue. He also said that he would really like to have a new intern next year so if you could urge the second year students to apply, it would be great.

Have a nice summer, 

Peter Mészáros


I don't need kids of my own. I have had hundreds in my 25+ years of teaching and never had to pay for braces for any of them. 

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My Students' Blogs

In my journalism program, I teach a Blogging and Website course. The goal is to get students somewhat exposed to 21st century journalism. One would guess this generation is beyond blogging; however, it is not true here. This is a new experience for many of them at least writing in English. As such, I would like to post their sites here and encourage any and all to visit them, share them, but most importantly COMMENT. Comments will give them the boost to improve knowing there are others reading the blog besides their classmates, friends, and family. With that knowledge, they will take the blog more seriously and hopefully continue beyond this semester. Even if you only visit each one once, a few minutes of your time will be an immeasurable help.

Hungarian cooking: http://sprinkleofhungary.blogspot.com

Modern Art reviews: http://artrecycler.blogspot.com

Stories about a town: http://truthaboutquiver.blogspot.com

Pub Reviews: http://barfly-pubreviews.blogspot.com

Gay and Lesbian Europe News: http://grayrightsineurope.blogspot.com

Unclassified: http://brainscrapstories.blogspot.com

Biology: http://kickassmicrobes.blogspot.com

Literature: http://lithiumeaters.blogspot.com

Sports for the Blind: http://runningoutsight.blogspot.com

Rock and Roll Review Budapest: http://rockinandrollinthroughbudapest.blogspot.com

Film Reviews: http://35mmfilm-threadoflife.blogspot.com

Related articles

• Blogging: Journalism Tool of the 21st Century (journalistjan.wordpress.com)
• Metamorphs Journal: To Twitter or to Blog ? (metamorphs.blogspot.com)

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Another Intern Gets Her Time in the Spotlight

Hi Dr. James! I hope you are very well and enjoying the summer sun! I have had my first review published on Xpatloop, you can read it here: http://www.xpatloop.com/news/61727 I have been to another event since, to celebrate the Queen's birthday at the English Ambassador's residence- very nice, was a bit nervous though! Having a lot of fun going to these events though, so looking forward to being an intern!! Hope to see you sometime during the summer, all the best, Anna

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My Pride in My Students

One of my journalism students started his internship early. He secured a position at Time Out magazine, a tourism publication that is produced in all major cities in the US and Europe. His first work, a listing of cultural events, appeared in the June issue and he e-mailed me. I am so very proud of him. Next month, he will have a full article to his credit. What could make a teacher more excited than to see their prodigy achieve and succeed?

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Hungarian Birthdays

The kiddies in my Journalism minor had their Creative Writing class today. I am forever impressed with the undeveloped talent that is taking shape as the semester continues. At the end of the class, one of the students, had brought a cake to share, but had not said a thing. When another student asked why she was carrying around a cake, she said it was her birthday. We gathered in my office, sang Happy Birthday, and shared the cake. I was a little surprised as I have been told numerous times that birthday celebrations are usually for families and close friends. When I mentioned it to her, she said she felt our group was so tight, she wanted to include all of us. I have been working on finding these students internships with English media for next semester. The Budapest Times may be interested, but wanted some of their writing samples. In their Blogging class tomorrow, I will have them proofread their blogs and then send the link to the editor for review. My fingers are crossed.

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Bragging Time

I have used blogs with students for a few years now with great results. This semester, I am teaching a new program within the department that I created. It is Journalism, Creative Writing, and Academic Writing. For three classes, I am using blogs. Students have to post weekly. For the Introduction to Journalism class, I handed out a list of twenty questions. They had to find someone they did not know and interview the person using at least six of the questions. My Critical Thinking and Analysis class had to read the full book Ella Minnow Peas by Mark Dunn. It is a fantastic book that is adaptable to many classroom situations stimulating metaphoric thinking. After they finished the book, they had to write a letter to the author sharing their thoughts and feelings. The Race and Ethnicity in the US class had read three articles of White Privilege. For their first blog assignment, they had to take one article and compare it to the class discussion. Now I may be prejudiced, but I think that for new university students whose native tongue is not English, they did an exceptional job. I am very proud of them. Each class can post until the Monday at 5:00 pm after their last class. The hourglass in each signifies that they missed their deadline. If you would like to check out their blogs they are here. Journalism - http://elteintrojournalism.blogspot.com Critical Thinking - http://criticalthinkinganalysis.blogspot.com Race and Ethnicity - http://raceethnicityjourmalism.blogspot.com Any comments will be posted on the respective blog for students to view.

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First Week of the University

Well the title of this post is a misnomer. Last week was 'registration week, where all staff is supposed to show up, but now that students are able to register via the Internet, they don't need to. However, I was there, after carting a suitcase on wheels with CDs for students, books for academic purposes and many for give-aways, self-esteem posters I printed in color and then laminated to cover some bare spots on the walls, and my school laptop. I found plenty to do to keep me busy and three of my thesis advisees came in for advice, filling the empty moments. As of Thursday, the computer room, which I had secured a grant to create, was still a room with tables and chairs, but not computers. I was dreading what I would find today, but there was a pleasant shock when I unlocked the door and found ten Dell computers with ten IBM monitors set up and ready to go. This was the typical 'we will keep you guessing whether or not the work will be done on time', last minute Hungarian planning. Six of the computers were supposed to be hooked up to the Internet and though they had the cables, the Internet was not working. Minor problem. The greater problem now is that the entire minor program that I developed for the BA students that was supposedly approved, was not coded properly. Ten of them managed to get in, but 35 MA students were at the door wanting to join the Intro to Journalism course. Keeping them out was like stopping a stampede of gerbils. This problem seems to be in the resolution stage, but may not be resolved before the students are dropped and then have to register yet again. There is always something to bring out the black cloud regardless how much preparing one does. However, I do learn from each semester. Today, I used the laptop and projector. Projecting the syllabus on the wall, we could review it together. Student copies are on their CD rom. Three of my classes will be responsible for blogging, but each class will blog for different reasons. With the computer and projector going, I was able to display the journalism blog, explain what they were to do, and show them the goodies I have added to the sidebar. Besides academic sources, I included an online game, and a fortune telling cookie add-on. The thinking is that these may entice them to return to the blog other than when they are required to be writing on it. An experient for this semester. Today was also the beginning of my new tutor and advising program. I have three tutors who will have two students each. The tutors are tops in their writing abilities and I created MLA booklets for each of them. They met their charges today and I will supervise them in the Writing Center. I am charged, hoping this is a success story. Live and learn, teach and learn.

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