View Recording
System & Device Check
About the Class
This time is dedicated to any areas of English you wish to work on. Like a study hall in school you can bring other assignments in and work with fellow students or a teacher. There is no curriculum, you can bring anything into to work on, music, movie script, web page,etc. This is your place to hang out and play with your English.. No Rules!
Why call it, Young Turks ESL Cafe?
First and foremost it (the name) sounded cool and fun. Secondly, Young Turks has a historical context.
In the late 1800''s, about the time of Lincoln''s assassination, our world in the US was violently redefining itself. Half a world away change was also taking place. The Ottoman empire was receding, rotting from the inside. The Caliphate and a totally corrupt dynasty of Sultans were driving a once proud nation to ruin. There arose, about this time, a new group of dissatisfied Turks. They had been exposed to new Western ideas and political thought. They were not a part of the power structure. Their ideas and ways of viewing the world was totally rejected by the older, enfranchised establishment. They became known as the "Young Turks".
But, the existing power in Constantinople (Istanbul) were without their own viable ideas. Finally (around WW1), after years of growing and living underground, the Young Turks movement succeeded in redeeming their ideas and new ways by saving their country from corruption within and aggression from without. Today we still use the term "Young Turks" to describe people (who are usually young) that don''t fit in and have radical ideas. We usually
forget that the original term also referred to the then largely peaceful reorienting of an old paradigm society into a new world reality (the 20th Century).
We at "Young Turks ESL Cafe" embrace the full historical significance of that term and movement. We will strive to provide and open and expressive environment of mutual respect for ideas. We will provide a fun and encouraging place for ESL
students to find their own voice and hopes for tomorrow within a new online learning environment called WIZIQ.
Language of instruction:
Keywords: esl, english, english