17 October 2009
What a week! If the days keep going by as fast as this week has gone, my two years will be over before I know it.
This week has been incredibly interesting. I know I didn’t write anything about the regional teacher’s meeting last Saturday, but let’s just sum it up by saying that it was complete shenanigans. I left at 8am, got back at 8pm, had a blast with my teachers, who all acted like a bunch of college students, ended up with a sprained ankle (I fell out of an outhouse… not kidding…only me, right?), a bruised rib from someone’s elbow because there were 9 adults and a baby packed It was raining and the stones were wet and I slipped… only me, right into a Lada (one of the throwback soviet cars), and my stomach and head hurt from laughing so much… it was quite a day.
This week I also threw an all out hissy fit, judged a talent show, and got my students hyped up for our Halloween Festival.
First: the hissy fit.
So, a little bit of background information: I teach 7-11 grades. I have 2 classes of 7th 8th, and 9th graders, and one each of 10th and 11th. The classes are divided into Russian and Kyrgyz classes. 7a, 8a, and 9a are Russian speakers, and the b classes are the Kyrgyz. For the most part, they all understand Kyrgyz, but a few only speak Russian. My Thursday schedule is rough. I have an 8am, a 12:20, and a 5pm class. On top of the weird schedule, the three classes that I teach are the ones that try my nerves the most- The 9b,8b, and 7b classes. It’s not that they are unintelligent… they’re just less… I guess the best word would be motivated... less motivated. It’s like when they divided my governor’s school class into two. The smart class and the dumb class, as those of us in the dumb class jokingly called them. It is like that here. The b classes just don’t care as much. I know what that’s like, having not cared at all about my physics and calculus classes at governor’s school. Thankfully, the kids here aren’t as bad and Kat and I were, at least they haven’t started doing each other’s hair and taking self-pics while I’m trying to teach. Haha I’d probably deserve it, tho. This is my karma for being so rude myself. Haha
Anyways, enough background info. The 9b class only has English on thrusday and Friday. I know that makes retention even harder having a week between classes, but I got really frustrated because I gave then a vocab quiz on irregular verbs last week and not a single student got more than one word right. I was really frustrated because they’d had a week to study and they only had seven words… So, I told them that I’d be giving the test again, and I really wanted them to study this time, second chances and all that. So, Thursday, I gave the test for the second time, which gave them two weeks to learn seven irregular verbs. The best student in the class only got 4 correct. And here came the hissy fit…. I was so frustrated! I told them that I didn’t want to teach them if they couldn’t even go to the trouble of learning seven words. I have to do work outside of class to prepare for lessons, but they can’t study seven words. They have time to talk and chat in between classes, but didn’t have time to study. My counterpart then gave them the whole she-came-from-america-to-teach-you-and-you-act-like-this-you-should-be-ashamed-of-yourselves-speech. I told them that the 6a class really wanted to learn English and I knew that they would study, so I was gonna teach them instead. We’re having a Halloween festival next Friday, and I uninvited them, telling them that going to festivals was a privilege, not a right, and classes had to prepare things for the festival and this class had showed me that they couldn’t be trusted to prepare seven words for a quiz, much less a tradition to talk about at the festival, so they couldn’t come. Then my counterpart and I left. She is equally frustrated with them. About 30 seconds after we got back to the teacher’s room, the class was knocking on the door, asking us to please teach them. I asked them if they wanted me to teach them. They said yes. I asked why. They said they wanted to learn English, it was important. I laughed. I told them not to lie to me, because if they really wanted to learn, really thought it was important, they’d have done their homework, and studied. I pulled out my grade book (I never would have done this in the states) and started telling them their grades- you’ve only done homework twice all year, you only learned two words in two weeks, etc. I told them that if I taught them, right now, they’d all be getting 2s, which is like the equivalent of a D. I asked them if they still wanted me to teach them, knowing how I grade. They said yes. So, I made a deal with them. I told them that I’d teach them that day, and that if every.single.one. of them did their homework, I’d teach them until the end of the first quarter and then, if they’d improved, I’d keep teaching them. But, if one student didn’t do their homework, the whole class wouldn’t go to the Halloween festival, and I would teach the 6a class instead. They agreed to the terms, so I taught them. (yes I’m aware of the irony of me being an English teacher, and the fact that this was practically one long run-on sentence)
Sigh. I was so frustrated when I left the class, I almost ran into one of my 7b students. I don’t teach them until 5pm, so I wondered why he was at school so early. It turns out; he came to ask for help on his homework! I’ve told every class, every single lesson, that if they had questions, to please come ask, and it was the first time that a student came to ask! Good-bye frustration, hello euphoria! The “emotional-rollercoaster” here is like that. Sometimes the up and down cycle takes a few days, or weeks, and sometimes, just a few minutes.
Yesterday, we had a holiday. The “fall ball” It was kinda like a talent show, I guess. Three different classes did songs, dances, and skits. They asked me to judge at noon, and the show started at 2. So, having nothing else to do, I judged! I was great! They’re so creative, and I found that I could understand more of the Kyrgyz than I thought I’d be able to.
Next week is our Halloween Festival! I’m so stoked! My 8 classes, from 7th-11th, are all presenting a different fall tradition that I’ve taught them about this week, and then we’re going to do the traditions- pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples, etc. There’s also going to be a costume contest, so the kids are making their own costumes. I can’t wait to see what they come up with! As a matter of fact, I’ve got to come up with my own costume… we’ll see how that goes. I’ll try to post pictures after.
We’ll I’ve written quite a bit, and need to get off to do my shopping. Guess I’ll turn of my billie holiday and try to go hitchhike, I mean, get a taxi… haha
Miss you!
Love from Kyrgyzstan!
Jess
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