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.
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.