Sunday, January 20, 2013

School #3


This is where is all happens. School #3. Consuming the bulk of my time, money and energy. Conveniently located right across the street from my apartment allowing me to get from my front door to my classroom in less than 5 minutes. Great thing when it's time for 1st lesson on Monday morning. 


English Club for 5th and 6th grade got a grand surprise early in the year via a shipment of reading and lesson materials. They get to enjoy pictures and learn new phrases while I get to read aloud some of my favorite childhood stories. Oh, we also got a ton of candy too! 




6B has learned quite a bit about transport and related vocabulary. Taking a cue from PC training, I simulated a train or bus in my classroom, assigned jobs to a few students and had the rest buying tickets from the ticket office staff, buying snacks or drinks from the grannies sitting around, and finding their seats through questioning a giggling conductor. Writing a few key phrases on the board during lesson one helped a great deal. By the end of week, the board was blank and my seats were tracking down train schedules from Kyiv to Kentucky or an express bus to Australia.  


Ukraine has an array of holidays that cause the nation to constantly celebrate and constantly hold programs. The military students at my school celebrated something similar to Veterans Day by determining their fitness and battle readiness. I'm proud to say my language kids won each contest with ease against the sections of our school. Not only can they express their thoughts about the weather and their future careers trilingually, they can take you to the floor in an wrist lock or arm wrestle you out of your chair. The're pretty cool kids. 




Once December arrived and the holiday season began full swing it was hard to focus on grading papers and/or studying for exams. But we did. After all that, we got to enjoy ourselves. Each class performed a holiday program with singing, gifts, and dancing for parents to attend. My 6B hosted a grand event with a disco, English songs, dressed up and gifts all around. The older students always help out as Father Frost and his granddaughter, the Snowflake Princess. 

 You know you work at a school when the decorations are made out of the same paper as math assignments. 

Forms 9 to 11, presenting a couple contest. One guy and girl of each class was selected to complete for Mr and Miss of the school. Through trivia, a dance contest, timed food preparation, the best couple was selected. Although, everyone went home with a medal and lots of candy so the winner wasn't as important. My favorite part was watching my kids use their manic energy and non-stop chatter to win medals. 



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