So while still living with Oksana and family, I have the incredible opportunity to sleep with lightning McQueen. Sometimes I flip it over and sleep with more of the cast.
Sunday 13 January 2008
School 3
For two years I will be teaching English at School 3 in Kramators’k. I have been meeting with the current English teachers and we have been working out some plans for my involvement. I have also decided to establish an English Club at the school. I think this would be a wonderful way to get students away from the classroom mentality and start working more on conversation. I have also spoken with teachers and they are letting me teach about ecological issues and about health issues. Beyond that, I am not sure what additional projects I will be doing in the school, but the semester has been in action for less than a week, so I’ve some time to assess the needs and wants of the school faculty, students, and students parents.
I am excited to get started though. I will be teaching English at the 7th, 8th, 10th, and 11th forms. I am excited about this. The tenth and the eleventh forms do not seem to have main textbooks, which will give me more freedom to provide some texts that I think will be effective. The first few months will be difficult, but I assume that I will get into the mix of it all soon. The teachers have already told the students that I will be bringing a change to the classroom with different teaching methods, which is true. I am working for the communicative approach to teaching language. I am pushing for the students to speak more in the classroom and to speak more freely opposed to text memorizations. I will keep people updated on my successes and failures.
Below I have a picture of two of my fellow English teachers at School 3. Most of my classes are joint classes with Natasha, who is next to me. Natasha is also my counterpart and has helped me with my move to the new city. Daria, or Dasha, has some seventh forms that I work with as well.
The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps. With any response, please be respectful to anyone who may read this website and your responses.
Random...food
So little Vanya, my five year old Ukrainain brother in Kramators'k decided to make a new meal for me, a delicious little number. The boy is going to be a master chef. This meal was bananas, apples, and pickles...yum.
Oster Project
So before my wonderful clustermates and i left the quaint little town, we completed a final project. We worked with the students and with the faculty of the Culture House and put on a show for the parents of the students of the Gymnasium and School 2. At this event, had students perform songs, dances and give speeches in both Russian and English. We also sang ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon in Russian, a beautiful song we translated the week before. The purpose of this event was to spread the word on the need for more books in the library and also the importance of reading. In the pictures attached you can see our cluster some of the students involved in the performances. The other picture shows the books we were able to purchase for the students with the money acquired through the event.
The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps. With any response, please be respectful to anyone who may read this website and your responses.
Some Randomness
I will have some random updates, and this will be the first.
The following gloves, which are worn by my wonderful co-teacher and fellow Osterian Alex, remind me of Miss Kelly in Manhattan. If you have to ask a last name, you don’t know Kelly.
Some Friends
I know I have mentioned a few people a couple of times, and I shall now explain who they are. Amber, Alex, Bethanie, and Keith were my 'cluster mates' in Oster. They joined me on the initial three months of teacher training, language training, and the adventures that I have spoken and will speak about. They have become my best friends here in Ukraine.
Amber, the on the left (my right) in the photo, has actually been a friend of mine for a very long time. Amber an I went to grade school together in kindergarten, and were friends in jr. high and high school. The fact that both of us were sent to Ukraine with the Peace Corps was a complete surprise, as we hadn't talked since high school. What is even crazier is that we both were in Oster for training...and to continue the insanity of it all is that she is now about an hour and a half south of me in the Donets'k area. Crazy.
Alex (or Sasha in Ukraine), on my other side, is from sunny California and was my co-teacher at School 2 in Oster. I spent many evenings at her host family's house planning lessons and playing with her little Ukrainian brothers. Much fun.
Bethanie, next to Alex, is from a small town near Pittsburgh and she went to Paterno University. Bethanie's site is awesome. She is in Crimea in the town of Sevestopol. She calls me and braggs about her splendid life on the sea...it angers me every time she calls...which is every couple of days.
Keith, on the end, is from norther Indiana, near Chicago. I forget the name, but it is the town in A Christmas Story, and where Michael Jackson's family is from. That is all I can really tell you about his past. Keith is my fellow musician, he has been playing guitar for about ten years. I would go to his host fam's house and play his guitar, then borrow it on occasion. He is now well east of me, scraping the border with Russia.
There that should clear up a few questions. They will return to my tales in the future.
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