A Turkish Shepherd Calling His Own Sheep (and someone else's!)

  About a month ago, one of the most interesting videos I've seen came into the news here in Turkey (news article about it). It had been preceded 8 years earlier by the first video which is below. I have transcribed and translated what I thought were the most interesting parts of both videos (except for the shepherd's call itself, which didn't seem to need translation).  

First video: The Shepherd Calls Another Shepherd's Sheep (Youtube)

The interviewer from TRT news channel is welcomed by a shepherd, İlhan Orak. He asks his occupation and how long he has been shepherding, 40-50 years, since he was a child.

The interviewer says (0:33), “And your sheep are here.” The shepherd responds, “These aren’t mine. They are a friend’s. Mine are way down there.”

Interviewer (0:38): The sheep, if you called them, they’d come?
Shepherd (0:40): If we went over there – they’d come right away!
Interviewer (0:42): Then, let’s call these.
Shepherd (0:43): These won’t come.
Interviewer (0:45): Why wouldn’t they come?
Shepherd (0:46): These don’t know me. Mine know me.
Interviewer (0:48): You’ve been a shepherd for 50 years…!
Shepherd (0:49): Mine know me!
Interviewer (0:51): Let’s try and see if they’ll come?

The shepherd demonstrates how he calls his sheep. 

The presenter laughs, “There’s no movement among the sheep. They didn’t even blink.” The shepherd responds, “Vallahi, they aren’t mine! They didn’t look.” Then, the presenter asks whether the shepherd’s own sheep would have come if he’d called them. The answer is yes, if they went over that way. The presenter asks how the shepherd reaches an understanding with the animals. Finally, they begin discussing the shepherd himself.

Second Video: The Shepherd Calls His Own Sheep (Youtube)

In the second video, the same interviewer visits the shepherd again, 8 years later. The shepherd says (0:37), “I’m 63 years old now, and the TRT interviewer came before. Those weren’t my sheep. They didn’t know me. Mine know me." 

The interviewer asks (0:45), If we call yours, will they come?
Shepherd (0:47): Now? ... (calls)
Shepherd (1:05): Look how they are coming. Do you know it? … Last time, those weren’t mine. See, these are actually mine. They know me.

Watch it happen!

  The shepherd is not expressing this out of knowledge of Jesus' words in the gospel of John: in the later parts of the second video, he expresses his Islamic faith. But for those of us who have not grown up around sheep or shepherds, this is a really beautiful way to understand the words of Jesus more deeply. (Incidentally, the shepherd, like most believers in Islam, would probably say that he believed in the gospels, the İncil. Thus, I trust that he would not be bothered by my making this connection.)

John 10:2–4, 14-16, 27

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 

(ESV)

Key Resources on Academic Writing - Canagarajah and Hinkel

  In over 13 years of blogging, the 3+ months since my last post is the longest I have ever gone without a post. Then again, I've never written a master's thesis before. Since the final version of my thesis got submitted last night, I can now begin sharing some of my thoughts here again.

  My thesis was on academic writing, and I developed a curriculum and the accompanying materials for a course that can take learners from the earliest stages of learning English writing up to being ready to start university in English. My studies ranged all over, but two books proved particularly critical to my understanding and expression of academic writing - Eli Hinkel's Effective Curriculum for Teaching L2 Writing and Suresh Canagarajah's Critical Academic Writing for Multilingual Students. Neither of them sounds like much fun, but they are both fantastic - if you are interested in academic writing!

 Hinkel has written a number of other books, but Effective Curriculum is a masterpiece. It is packed with the practical resources that any English academic writing teacher can use, but especially those who teach English as an additional language for the learners. Not only does she show the research behind her assertions, Hinkel also supplies the details that are needed to implement it. As a minute example, we learn not only about the importance of the passive voice in academic writing, but we are also given the particular passive verbs that are most commonly used. This is an extraordinary resource!

 Canagarajah, on the other hand, designed a masterpiece on how to think about academic writing. Critical Academic Writing provides a philosophy of teaching and of writing that is mindful of the competing needs of respecting and preserving cultural diversity and individuality while also integrating learners into academic conventions to give them maximum opportunities for success. Again, extraordinary!