Well the last week of waiting finally came to an end and school has begun. But before we get there let me catch you up on all the goings on in Muganlo. (By the way I’ve also seen my village spelled Mughanlo, but I’ll stick with the non British version without the H).
I had family in this past week which meant there were 13 people here instead of the normal 8. Two of them have gone back so we’re back down to 11 and I’m thinking that’s going to last for at least a month or so. My host dad was happy to have some people his own age to play with so needless to say the wine raneth over. I avoided a few days at home by making a trip to Tbilisi on Tuesday to get my residency card and then to Bolnisi on Wednesday to visit two other volunteers who live there for the day.
Bolnisi was nice and I wanted to slap one of the volunteers when she showed me her school with its hardwood floors, air-conditioning, 40 computers, actual desks and chairs and clean white walls. The other volunteer is a business volunteer and had some high speed Internet at his office that I used to check the baseball standings. We had a good day just walking around and looking at the town. They have a couple of nice parks there, some cafés, stores and we all had a good laugh while playing on the swings. I couldn’t remember the last time I was actually on a swing set and it made me wonder how I survived elementary school because back then we would get those things as high as we could and then jump out. No way was I willing to try my luck again as an adult, but I had good fun.
I did talk to some people this week and found out that it may be worth my while to drop a little money and get better Internet access. There is a card here now that you can get and it is way faster than the 10 minute load time that you get with my family’s Internet. I’m thinking I’m going to go get it after the first of October. Those who have it have said it’s awesome and they are even able to Skype with it. Too bad I didn’t bring my web cam or else I could get on some video calls with some of you. But, if I do get this at least I can upload some videos and let you guys see what goes on over here.
Speaking of which, I did watch my first full pen to the table sheep slaughter this past Saturday. Wow. I’ll keep the descriptions to myself on that one. But, I may just have to video it and post it up because you really should see how this goes down. Sunday I relaxed and did some laundry (hand-washed), read some, and took a walk. Nothing too exciting.
Also I did make it all the way through Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. (So Patrick I hope you’re reading this) It was a good book; I only wish that I spoke some French so that portions of the dialogue would have made more sense. In fact I wish I’d had that high speed Internet because there is a lot of information in the book that would have made more since with a quick Google search. Lots of history, a little mystery and a great plot. I really enjoyed it.
The Start of School…
Day One: So school did begin on Monday. There was a lot of fanfare and not a lot of work accomplished. I got there a little before 9 and the opening ceremony started around 9:30. There was a speech from the director, some certificates handed out to top students from the previous year and the raising of the flag. I was introduced to the student body during one of the speeches and thankfully didn’t have to make a speech myself like I did in KZ.
After that all the students rushed the door and went to their classes. Why, I have no idea because there were no lessons that day just “homeroom” teachers deciding who had actually shown up and figuring out which students were going to be in which classes. This was helpful I guess to our vice-director who was still making out the class schedule for all the teachers. By the time I left on Monday she was through Wednesday and half of Thursday’s schedule.
Day Two: I observed 5 lessons and decided that I have not been assigned to a school but rather a prison with an education program. The students couldn’t care less about the lessons and teachers struggle to be heard much less actually teach. Students will just talk, curse at one another, beat on each other, get up and walk around or just simply stare off into space while waiting on their next opportunity to disrupt the lesson. During one of the 7th grade classes these two boys never shut up. One of them received a slap across the head on two separate occasions from the teacher for his efforts. It didn’t phase him any. So, towards the end I just stopped the “lesson” (since not a single thing had been accomplished) and said I would pay the two boys $10 each if together they could write on the board 10 words in English. They came up with three. Dog, boy and gel. Gel was supposed to be girl, but I gave them credit. They also had bok, which I guessed was book, but decided not to try and explain it. This wasn’t even the worst group, but depressing none the less. I did watch two 5th grade groups and have pretty much decided that there is where I’ll start since they can at least be entertained and might be able to learn something.
Note: During only one of my five classes did a piece of the ceiling fall and crash to the floor. It wasn’t even a big piece, and I felt better knowing that only 20% of the time that might happen.
My thoughts after the first day of lessons was: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. These kids are forced to sit in the middle of the lake but they would assume die of thirst rather than take a drop.
Day Three: I only observed three classes on Wednesday because the rest were repeats from the day before and I’d seen enough of them to know which groups are going to be worth the effort and which are not. I did observe both the 9th grade groups and one from the 8th grade. The 8th grade group was ok, but only 4 of the 15 total students seemed at all interested in the lesson and their classroom has some major potential for ceiling failure and mold issues. They were also only able to form one correct sentence the whole time and that was, “I drown kittens.” I’m not sure they understood it, but I had to respond with, “That is correct.” (Maybe some of them do drown kittens, who knows?)
The two 9th grade groups were better than expected, but there are still 4 or 5 students in each of those groups who are just a total disruption. In the second group two boys received slaps across the head for the efforts. Again to no effect because they went right back to doing nothing and just talking across the room. I’m just afraid that the material for the 9th grade is just way to over their heads. The first page of their book is asking them to explain compulsory education and the differences between primary and secondary education. Some of them can’t say their names. There are a few in each group that do seem interested though and both the 9th grade groups speak some Russian, so it was easier to explain things to them.
I’d pretty much decided by the end of Wednesday which groups I’m going to work with. I have to teach 15-17 classes a week, so I need to fill that many hours. I figure all three of the 5th grade groups are worth it because they are just starting and can be entertained, somewhat controlled and there isn’t any “catch-up” work to do. That’s 9 hours during the week. Then I figure both the 9th grade groups are a good challenge despite the major discipline issues because there are students in both of those groups that actually want to learn. Maybe only 25% of them want to learn, but hey better than the 7th grade monsters. So that’s 8 hours with the 9th grade for 17 total hours. My math is better than theirs since on Wednesday I saw 7+8=11 carved into the back of one of the chairs in front of me. Really?
So with those 17 hours and my 2 English classes I’m running for the community each week I should have a full plate. Then there are the Azeri and Georgian lessons I have to attend each week starting in October.
Day Four: Not much more to report. I’ve seen it, now I have to figure out how to work with it. I made out may schedule for this year and I made a change from yesterday and will drop one of the 9th grade groups and teach and 8th grade group instead. My 5th graders are funny and they should be more than entertaining throughout the year. For example today they came up with the word chable; that being a combination of chair and table. It’s all repetition with them right now. This is a chair. This is a table. This is a desk. This is a window. This is a door. Try repeating those five sentences over and over for 45 minutes. It gets old and you’re shocked when you get to the last student and he still can’t get it. I felt like yelling “You just heard it from 20 other people and me for the past half hour! How can you not get the first one?” But, my patience is still with me at this point. Only difficulty from today was the fact that it was only about 55 degrees here today and the absence of windows in more than a few areas made it rather chilly and damp in the school.
Day Five: TGIF! I hate that phrase, but it seems appropriate for this first week of what seemed like a crash course in the education system here. Today I only went to one 9th grade class and one 5th grade class and helped out with the 5th graders and their introduction to the letters A-H. Their book had the 1 little 2 little 3 little Indians song in there and I can tell you it’s twice as entertaining in their accent. I got them through 1-10 but when I did the counting backwards 10-1 it was a little much. We’ll start from there on Monday.
Well that’s it. That was my first week of school in Muganlo. I have a huge challenge in front of me, but if I can keep my sanity, then I might just make it through and I might just be able to teach them something.
Peace!
I had family in this past week which meant there were 13 people here instead of the normal 8. Two of them have gone back so we’re back down to 11 and I’m thinking that’s going to last for at least a month or so. My host dad was happy to have some people his own age to play with so needless to say the wine raneth over. I avoided a few days at home by making a trip to Tbilisi on Tuesday to get my residency card and then to Bolnisi on Wednesday to visit two other volunteers who live there for the day.
Bolnisi was nice and I wanted to slap one of the volunteers when she showed me her school with its hardwood floors, air-conditioning, 40 computers, actual desks and chairs and clean white walls. The other volunteer is a business volunteer and had some high speed Internet at his office that I used to check the baseball standings. We had a good day just walking around and looking at the town. They have a couple of nice parks there, some cafés, stores and we all had a good laugh while playing on the swings. I couldn’t remember the last time I was actually on a swing set and it made me wonder how I survived elementary school because back then we would get those things as high as we could and then jump out. No way was I willing to try my luck again as an adult, but I had good fun.
I did talk to some people this week and found out that it may be worth my while to drop a little money and get better Internet access. There is a card here now that you can get and it is way faster than the 10 minute load time that you get with my family’s Internet. I’m thinking I’m going to go get it after the first of October. Those who have it have said it’s awesome and they are even able to Skype with it. Too bad I didn’t bring my web cam or else I could get on some video calls with some of you. But, if I do get this at least I can upload some videos and let you guys see what goes on over here.
Speaking of which, I did watch my first full pen to the table sheep slaughter this past Saturday. Wow. I’ll keep the descriptions to myself on that one. But, I may just have to video it and post it up because you really should see how this goes down. Sunday I relaxed and did some laundry (hand-washed), read some, and took a walk. Nothing too exciting.
Also I did make it all the way through Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. (So Patrick I hope you’re reading this) It was a good book; I only wish that I spoke some French so that portions of the dialogue would have made more sense. In fact I wish I’d had that high speed Internet because there is a lot of information in the book that would have made more since with a quick Google search. Lots of history, a little mystery and a great plot. I really enjoyed it.
The Start of School…
Day One: So school did begin on Monday. There was a lot of fanfare and not a lot of work accomplished. I got there a little before 9 and the opening ceremony started around 9:30. There was a speech from the director, some certificates handed out to top students from the previous year and the raising of the flag. I was introduced to the student body during one of the speeches and thankfully didn’t have to make a speech myself like I did in KZ.
After that all the students rushed the door and went to their classes. Why, I have no idea because there were no lessons that day just “homeroom” teachers deciding who had actually shown up and figuring out which students were going to be in which classes. This was helpful I guess to our vice-director who was still making out the class schedule for all the teachers. By the time I left on Monday she was through Wednesday and half of Thursday’s schedule.
Day Two: I observed 5 lessons and decided that I have not been assigned to a school but rather a prison with an education program. The students couldn’t care less about the lessons and teachers struggle to be heard much less actually teach. Students will just talk, curse at one another, beat on each other, get up and walk around or just simply stare off into space while waiting on their next opportunity to disrupt the lesson. During one of the 7th grade classes these two boys never shut up. One of them received a slap across the head on two separate occasions from the teacher for his efforts. It didn’t phase him any. So, towards the end I just stopped the “lesson” (since not a single thing had been accomplished) and said I would pay the two boys $10 each if together they could write on the board 10 words in English. They came up with three. Dog, boy and gel. Gel was supposed to be girl, but I gave them credit. They also had bok, which I guessed was book, but decided not to try and explain it. This wasn’t even the worst group, but depressing none the less. I did watch two 5th grade groups and have pretty much decided that there is where I’ll start since they can at least be entertained and might be able to learn something.
Note: During only one of my five classes did a piece of the ceiling fall and crash to the floor. It wasn’t even a big piece, and I felt better knowing that only 20% of the time that might happen.
My thoughts after the first day of lessons was: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. These kids are forced to sit in the middle of the lake but they would assume die of thirst rather than take a drop.
Day Three: I only observed three classes on Wednesday because the rest were repeats from the day before and I’d seen enough of them to know which groups are going to be worth the effort and which are not. I did observe both the 9th grade groups and one from the 8th grade. The 8th grade group was ok, but only 4 of the 15 total students seemed at all interested in the lesson and their classroom has some major potential for ceiling failure and mold issues. They were also only able to form one correct sentence the whole time and that was, “I drown kittens.” I’m not sure they understood it, but I had to respond with, “That is correct.” (Maybe some of them do drown kittens, who knows?)
The two 9th grade groups were better than expected, but there are still 4 or 5 students in each of those groups who are just a total disruption. In the second group two boys received slaps across the head for the efforts. Again to no effect because they went right back to doing nothing and just talking across the room. I’m just afraid that the material for the 9th grade is just way to over their heads. The first page of their book is asking them to explain compulsory education and the differences between primary and secondary education. Some of them can’t say their names. There are a few in each group that do seem interested though and both the 9th grade groups speak some Russian, so it was easier to explain things to them.
I’d pretty much decided by the end of Wednesday which groups I’m going to work with. I have to teach 15-17 classes a week, so I need to fill that many hours. I figure all three of the 5th grade groups are worth it because they are just starting and can be entertained, somewhat controlled and there isn’t any “catch-up” work to do. That’s 9 hours during the week. Then I figure both the 9th grade groups are a good challenge despite the major discipline issues because there are students in both of those groups that actually want to learn. Maybe only 25% of them want to learn, but hey better than the 7th grade monsters. So that’s 8 hours with the 9th grade for 17 total hours. My math is better than theirs since on Wednesday I saw 7+8=11 carved into the back of one of the chairs in front of me. Really?
So with those 17 hours and my 2 English classes I’m running for the community each week I should have a full plate. Then there are the Azeri and Georgian lessons I have to attend each week starting in October.
Day Four: Not much more to report. I’ve seen it, now I have to figure out how to work with it. I made out may schedule for this year and I made a change from yesterday and will drop one of the 9th grade groups and teach and 8th grade group instead. My 5th graders are funny and they should be more than entertaining throughout the year. For example today they came up with the word chable; that being a combination of chair and table. It’s all repetition with them right now. This is a chair. This is a table. This is a desk. This is a window. This is a door. Try repeating those five sentences over and over for 45 minutes. It gets old and you’re shocked when you get to the last student and he still can’t get it. I felt like yelling “You just heard it from 20 other people and me for the past half hour! How can you not get the first one?” But, my patience is still with me at this point. Only difficulty from today was the fact that it was only about 55 degrees here today and the absence of windows in more than a few areas made it rather chilly and damp in the school.
Day Five: TGIF! I hate that phrase, but it seems appropriate for this first week of what seemed like a crash course in the education system here. Today I only went to one 9th grade class and one 5th grade class and helped out with the 5th graders and their introduction to the letters A-H. Their book had the 1 little 2 little 3 little Indians song in there and I can tell you it’s twice as entertaining in their accent. I got them through 1-10 but when I did the counting backwards 10-1 it was a little much. We’ll start from there on Monday.
Well that’s it. That was my first week of school in Muganlo. I have a huge challenge in front of me, but if I can keep my sanity, then I might just make it through and I might just be able to teach them something.
Peace!
4 comments:
Drown kittens???? That warrants more than a slap in the head in my book! To say this is a challenging situation is quite the understatement. Ironically, your quote of the day is "...'tis virtue makes the bliss where'er we dwell" (Wilkie Collins)
dang, first week of school sounds rough and you didn't even get beat up.
foucault's pendulum is a great book, and i applaud you for making it through. it can be a tough read, but it is never boring or devoid of substance. i found myself time and time again having to put the book down to look up something on the internet--then go back, pick the book up, read the next sentence, repeat....but i loved it. so much random, esoteric knowledge. thanks for reading!!
still kicking myself for not getting a phone card to talk to you...but i am downloading and saving up a stash of movies to mail you. hope is not lost!
I love the fact that the only sentence you can get them to say is I drown kittens, I didn't know all Georgians were Mike vick fans!
sounds like the brain has its work cut out, I have my first big trial getting ready to go in a few months, and I am helping on a few campaigns this year and next... good times. Oh and UGA beat Arkansas in a shootout, joe cox threw 5 td's but so did the other teams QB, we are going to be bad at some point this year!
Yay, school, yaaaay!
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