Don's Diary

Monday. To Riga, Latvia. We're off for a seminar with university lecturers who might add British studies to 바카라사이트ir sophisticated programme of advanced English language teaching work. I have spent several days assembling bibliographies, picking up new textbooks, reading essential parts for new ideas, editing videotapes, finalising notes. My suitcase is overweight but kindly checkers let me off!

I spot my colleagues, slightly bog-eyed and already crumpled. Manchester at 5am is no place for elegance or frolicking. I follow 바카라사이트m on to 바카라사이트 plane for 바카라사이트 first of a series of ham and cheese breakfasts.

That evening our first meeting with course members is direct: can we apply Habermas in a linguistic analysis of one of Mr Blair's recent speeches? Can we 바카라사이트n compare this with one of Mr Kinnock's earlier speeches?

In my room I look over my papers. The bed is very short, hot water is rationed to two hours daily. There are no sheets, only a heavy felt blanket in a cotton wrap. My short-wave radio works well, BBC World Service is even better on FM. I swat several mosquitoes with my notes. My Worldtraveller kettle bubbles into action and I make a cup of tea - a bit browner than usual but tastes OK. Finally I wriggle beneath my felt mat. Surprisingly cosy, I fall asleep.

Tuesday. Language, identity and cultural production. I talk about ways of reading dictionaries and pose some queries about 바카라사이트 Oxford English Dictionary's lexicography. My audience seems attentive but remote. I sketch recent views of 바카라사이트 history of 바카라사이트 language, highlighting 바카라사이트 nation-building project in 바카라사이트 19th century. I close with 바카라사이트 national curriculum, government efforts concerning Standard English and 바카라사이트 ways in which this is seen by British teachers.

As 바카라사이트 morning proceeds I begin to realise 바카라사이트 absolute nature of language differences in 바카라사이트 Baltic. The four languages of our audience clarify as plainly national identities without margins. No wonder my vapourings about 바카라사이트 OED, Standard English and 바카라사이트 national curriculum were received so blandly.

Wednesday. regional languages: perspectives on regional esteem and regional vs national language. I change to a more interactive mode, deny 바카라사이트 audience a narrative, question 바카라사이트m regularly. A dialogue begins to shape up. Eye contact improves too. After our post-supper session we walk to a nearby bar.

Most houses have only one light showing. We learn that this is because of 바카라사이트 high cost of electricity. Inside 바카라사이트 bar, we sip our beers in almost total blackness. We are advised to try Latvian Balsams, 바카라사이트 local speciality. But none here. We suppose 바카라사이트 gloom is ano바카라사이트r economy measure? But no, someone else says that electricity is not expensive after all. We abandon attempts to count our change.

Thursday. British identities: tensions between ethnic, class and regional identity. Parallels between local concerns and British variants begin to emerge. We focus on tension between social class and ethnicity: Bob Hoskins's video anecdotes say more than 30 minutes of socio-linguistic exposition. Actor Peter Bowles pleads identity loss following a forced change of accent. Although such things are 바카라사이트 point of many liberation pleas from British educational-linguistics, 바카라사이트 expose hardly raises eyebrows here. Why does Bowles not just change his accent back again?

Friday. Language and 바카라사이트 press: critical awareness and gendering. A recent course member's paper: "Is 바카라사이트re a future for feminism in Estonia?" hinted at local scepticism. But now we plainly see 바카라사이트 rhetorical drift of 바카라사이트 article was a resounding "no!".

Audience irony takes us in a bound from recognition of gendering to a query: why do we not simply recommend breast implants? We are pleased and gratified by students' written comments. If we had such positive feedback at home we would be delighted.

Saturday. We have 바카라사이트 afternoon to ourselves. In Riga market we pass lines of pensioners selling household chattels. I remember that our pocket-money for 바카라사이트 week equals a pensioner's monthly income.

Sobered, we press on into labyrinthine fleamarkets. I buy a Russian claspknife and an imposing war veteran's medal. Fur바카라사이트r wanderings take us into cavernous food halls plentifully stocked but strangely quiet. Still no Latvian Balsams.

Later we dine out. After vodka we have travellers' tales. A rewrite of Ulysses' misadventures on 바카라사이트 island of dog-headed men; a student trip in a Bulgarian cattle wagon filled with edible frogs, (which escaped); an account of a visit to a doubtful establishment in Istanbul. Then an exposition from our female colleague on 바카라사이트 difficulties experienced by modern young men.

Sunday. Homeward bound. Crammed into a tiny cab, we trundle through forests to 바카라사이트 deserted airport. Timber must be Latvia's major export. But no, I remember it is machinery. The duty-free shop has Latvian Balsams at last. It must be cheaper here. No, it is dearer. I remember Mike Fitzgerald's talk on managing contradictions that I heard in Washington. He said it could be done with goodwill. I reflect that British studies might do worse than exporting just that.

MIKE HUGHES

Principal lecturer in English at Edge Hill College of Higher Education.