At Stephen Trimble’s recommendation, our ESL instructor Kiri Manookin and some of her Level 6 students (Spring 2017) were invited by Tom Williams, host of Access Utah on Utah Public Radio, to participate in a conversation about how young people are responding to land and nature through writing. The April 20th broadcast in honor of Earth Day coincided perfectly with the class trip to Capitol Reef National Park during which Oswaldo Gonzalez (Mexico), Tetiana Novikova (Ukraine), Erk Tshimpe (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Aynana Grey Volf-Gurueva (Russia) shared their personal experiences of writing in and about nature.
In addition to the radio show, all students participated in the Wilderness Writing Workshop held every trip. Their writing can be viewed in a book in the department waiting area.
Kiri Manookin
Kiri Manookin has worked with students of all ages from nearly 50 countries, encouraging excellent, effective communication and an understanding of the importance and power of language. She has taught academic writing at UVU since 2011 and specializes in content-based instruction, project-based learning, and a genre-based approach to curriculum and instruction. She has also taught at The American School in Switzerland, Berhan Language Institute in Taiwan, Oxford Seminars and Selnate International School in Utah, and Inlingua and Experiment in International Living in Ecuador. Last winter, she volunteered in a refugee camp in Greece. The best part of UVU, she says, is engaged learning.