Schuyler

Joanie Andruss, 2013-2014, Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Montenegro, and her students present The Zavjestanje Project at the American Corner in Podgorica, Montenegro

Have you met Michael Jackson? Is America dangerous? How many times have you been to Las Vegas? These were some of the questions Montenegrins asked when I arrived as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA). Perhaps my answers were surprising as they represented a different American view from what was expected. I grew up in the rural Pacific Northwest, where nature was another parent and teacher, and these early experiences significantly shaped my perspective. In my role as an ETA, I was motivated to spark new questions about my particular American lifestyle within my Montenegrin community.

While assistant teaching at the University of Montenegro, I infused my communication and Academic English courses with stories representing the diversity of the American experience. I sought to provide an alternative picture from what is often presented through mainstream media as “THE American Lifestyle” with examples from my own rural upbringing. Throughout the year, my parents sent copies of my hometown weekly paper, the Hells Canyon Journal, and I thought: “What a great resource to engage students in a meaningful exploration of a rural American community!” Providing small groups of students with their own copy of the Journal, I asked them to select stories which they would use to prepare a short news broadcast. The students were particularly taken with the cover story of the drunken songbirds that ate fermented berries outside of the town library one winter day, and the inside stories of cowboy antics certainly drew lots of questions and laughter. Students later created their own scripts and newscasts that featured real and imagined events in Montenegro.

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