The American Times

A newspaper club from American Highschool

Quote of the Month:

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time ”

-Leo Tolstoy

Information about Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

Overview of Anna karenina

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian novelist, a short story writer, and an essayist. Tolstoy is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. He had huge moral and religious influence all over the world. He was born in the beginning of the 19th century into an old Russian nobility. He started studying law but later on dropped out and went to join the army. There he discovered his thirst for writing. He dedicated his every free minute to creating his most renowned works. When he came back he discovered that he’d already been famous in St.Petersburg. He later on found the love of his life Sofya Andreyevna and married her. It is said that on the foundations of his relationship with Sofya he wrote one of his most famous and In my opinion one of his greatest works Anna Karenina. Tolstoy flawlessly explores the social and personal lives of mid nineteenth century families and people in general. He shows us their perspectives and truly conveys the exact mindsets and day to day firsthand experiences of the Russian aristocracy. Tolstoy makes the readers part of the story by deeply explaining and depicting the thoughts, the emotions, the ideologies, and overall the pain of all characters. The novel depicts many kinds of marriages and families and all of their misfortunes and unhappiness. The novel brings unbearable pain not only to the main characters of the story like Anna, Karenin, Vronsky, Levin, and others but the readers themselves. It teaches us and tries to open our eyes to the eternal truth that encompasses the ultimate tests of time- that even the most desirable things in life can sometimes not be acquired and even if they are they might bring intolerable pain to us. Even though the novel itself might be slightly biased because of the strict views of Tolstoy the magic of literature always allows us to interpret and accept the endings to our favorite stories the way we see and want it. The novel from one perspective can be seen as a filthy and unfaithful desire that can only be called a sin rather than love and from another perspective which can see and fall in love with all the unique and extraordinary types of love that are depicted throughout the story. In Anna Karenina’s words “I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” I believe that even though the society at that time expected Tolstoy to depict an unfaithful affair of a woman as something shameful he still believed that the relationship between the two protagonists of the story, Anna and Count Vronsky, was truly and undoubtedly love. But even the purest and the most desirable things in life can’t be achieved, not because they are wrong but because people may not be capable of giving or receiving such gifts. Gifts such as love. But why? Well, “You can’t ask why about love”.

Coping with the Coronavirus

Covid-19 has come to be a great part of our lives for some time now. From the beginning of the outbreak in early 2020 till almost a year later we all have been dealing with the deadly virus every day of our lives. Even though coronavirus has affected almost 63 million people around the world it may be surprising how easily avoided it can be. The only measurements people need to take is to constantly wash their hands, cover coughs and sneezes with their elbows, wear masks, keep a distance of 5 feet away from one another and at least try to self-isolate. Before we even notice, a vaccine will be on the way to our local vaccination centers and our lives will be back to normal in no time, only if we follow the recommendations mentioned above. Our country has been dealing with the novel coronavirus since late February and it has been rapidly increasing these past few months. Now that lockdown has been officially announced, students, employees, families, and everyone in general is having a rough time. Everyone is having trouble adjusting to this new long-term lifestyle. We have some suggestions for the people who are finding it hard to get through days because of boredom, isolation, loneliness or other reasons. Here are a few suggestions for what to do during the day to make it more entertaining and productive:

● Plan your day’s work.

● Meditate

● Work out

● Read classic novels (we have recommendations in each of our newspaper release)

● Bake

● Write letters

● Watch 100 highest rated movies of all time

● Acquire a new skill (use youtube)

● But most importantly do not forget to finish your mandatory studies for the day.

Even though a lot of workplaces and schools have had trouble adapting to this new lifestyle, American High School is dealing with it just fine.

From the beginning of quarantine, we immediately switched to monitored online school which has been working quite effectively. Our students show no lack of motivation for studying and even better, the amount of extracurricular activities and productiveness has rapidly increased since the start of online lessons. Each lesson is being monitored and teachers always make sure that everyone is participating during the lesson and as always if the teachers notice that someone is struggling they will willingly take their time to help their students and make sure they understand the concepts of their subjects. In all, the amazing staff at American High School made sure that during times as tough as these, our school and lessons bring great productivity to each student, teacher, and staff members.

Coping with the Coronavirus

The impact of the coronavirus is rippling through Georgian economy, but it might take a few months to fully see the fallout in data that track economic performance in Georgia. The recent depreciation of the lari exchange rate is linked to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak that has been transmitted to the financial markets throughout the channel of expectation. Main task of NBG (National Bank of Georgia) is to maintain price stability in Georgia and a low rate of inflation. Tourism is also a great problem for Georgia. The government suspended flights with most of the countries out there.

Authorities have introduced restrictions for most of the economic activities, but these restrictions don’t apply to certain ones, such as:

Public and private construction-repair activities;
Banking and financial activities;
Operation of food, animal feed, pharmacies, veterinary pharmacies, household chemicals and hygiene stores and press booths;
Delivery and withdrawal services;
Work in beauty salons and aesthetic medicine centers;
Car maintenance and technical inspection services;
Home appliance repair services;
Agrarian market operation
It’s not restricted to travel by car (including taxi).

In addition, employees in shops, malls and markets will receive financial assistance, as well as they will be able to defer the loan.

The government has decided to help Various businesses and employees in these times of adversity.

According to the Prime Minister,

"This will be a two-month plan that should result in stabilizing the spread of infection in the country, which should maintain the potential for rapid economic growth that we had in the spring, and even today, all international organizations confirm that Georgia has potential for rapid post-crisis economic recovery."

The restaurant business, which has a bank loan obligation, will be subsidized by the government. In addition, employees in shops, malls and markets will receive financial assistance, as well as they will be able to defer the loan. According to the First Minister, the portfolio of targeted assistance to businesses and the population, which became known today, will cost the state budget GEL 1.1 billion. As the Premier noted, this is the minimum that can be done today. As stated by the Prime minister, the legal basis of the restrictions announced is until January 1, depending on the validity of the relevant law.

Interviews with The English Teacher

1) As a teacher with the experience of teaching multiple subjects, how do you think your Academic Writing curriculum prepares students for success in your Research class?

A: Academic writing is useful as it helps students attain certain skills, such as critical thinking and reasoning skills. Students learn to consider evidence, appreciate nuances and details; they start questioning the credibility of the source and presenting information in the most convincing and approachable manner. Of course, you need strong grammar, academic vocabulary and if developing English skills, there is no better way than learning academic writing. Accordingly, for the Research course, grammar and mechanics are the key elements in the assessment. if we talk a little bit about the Research Paper itself, we should mention its components that are the following: introduction and the literature review, discussion of the method section, analysis of the results, and conclusion. So, the Research Paper is a longer essay with solid arguments and a narrow thesis statement; we should not forget about citation styles that are taught during this course as well. Our curriculum explores each component separately and thus helps the students be much more confident, ensuring they are prepared for further experiments in various fields. All of the essay topics I give to my students are thought-provoking and compelling, even when some topics may seem less exciting for some kids. :) I strongly believe that academic writing is an imperative course for those students who want to write with purpose and diligence.

2) What is your English Language Arts curriculum based on? Is it ever updated based on feedback from your past students?

A: Our English Language Arts curriculum is based on Common Core Standards that consist of clear guidelines regarding skills that our students should attain at the end of the academic year. The standards were drafted by experts and teachers from different countries, and they mainly focus on developing critical and analytical skills that students need for future success. According to those standards, we, teachers measure students' progress. Our curriculum is reviewed at the end of every academic year. Of course, we try to define if the educational experience with a certain book is effective or not and, accordingly, we make changes. This year, I have replaced several short stories of O. Henry by Dave Egger and Alice Walker's work. To be honest, teaching the same thing every year becomes boring even for us, so this is how we add alacrity to the process of teaching. There is a nice saying "if you dare to teach, never stop learning" :); I do not remember whose words these are, but it is very true :)

-Interview by Mariam Chakhnashvili

School yearbook

As you may already know our school is the first in Georgia to create an online and hardcopy yearbook!! We now need your help to make this dream come true. In the following weeks you will all be receiving an email asking for a picture of yourself. This is so that we can add you into the yearbook and help share memories with each one of you! In this yearbook we will have separate pages for clubs, teams, and even for grade 12 graduates. We have many surprises which await you all. We will not spill any more information on this topic so that you can have a pleasant surprise at the end of the year. The yearbook will help us remember our high school years and look back at them to appreciate what we had. We are hoping that you will all agree to participate!!

Look forward to an email coming your way!!

-Mariam Jakhua