Going from teaching 0 hours to 18 has been a big adjustment, to say the least. Days seem to be filled with teaching, grading, lesson planning. As I listen to my co-volunteers doing so many projects I just pretty much get through the days. Although to be fair to myself many of them aren't teachers, they work on community projects.
When I started teaching my partner had not yet been assigned
2nd and 4th grade so I was assigned 5-9 two sections of
each. However she sometimes teaches 2 and 4 in between our classes so I sit in
the back at a table working on lesson planning.
2nd - From the moment they walk in the door they wrap themselves around me and line up for hugs. With their little black and white dresses and bows in their hair and the boys in suits and sweater vests (imagine THAT in USA!) they are ADORABLE! They also wrap themselves around Maria’s waist, which is tiny, they only make it around my legs. I love to watch them being taught, 1 clap 2 clap clap 3 clap clap clap…..
Now the 4th? They aren’t so different than the 2nd
only they have the ability to say in English “Hello Miss Sandra how are you?”
And I swear, they do a better job at it than the older kids. They too wrap themselves
around me though they are taller. The only way I can move is to shuffle. After
class I had an adorable girl hanging on tight to my hand and I pointed to the
door telling her “class” which sounds the same in Russian meaning “go to next
class”. She just looked at me and shook her head “Nyet”. Huh… now what do I do…….
I walked her to the door and nicely pushed her out and said “class” and looking
dejected she marched on down the hall.
Now we move on to the 5th. Each time they walk in
I am surprised at just how small and young they are, I just forget sometimes. Once
as I sat at the desk I felt something in my hair. Imagine my surprise when I reached
up I found a little hand stroking my hair as I turned the little girl said “Miss
Sandra you are so beautiful” (OH MY GOD HOW CUTE IS THAT) I love this age, when
I went for a certificate to learn how to teach English this is the age I chose
for my class to be during practicums.
On Teacher's Day a little girl left me a note on my desk "Mrs Sandra I wish you happiness and love that you will never hurt! I congratulate you with all my heart! Happy Holidays By Tony". I brought it home and hung it next to my mirror to read every day so when the going gets tough, and oh it does, it will remind me that its for kids like this that I'm here.
On Teacher's Day a little girl left me a note on my desk "Mrs Sandra I wish you happiness and love that you will never hurt! I congratulate you with all my heart! Happy Holidays By Tony". I brought it home and hung it next to my mirror to read every day so when the going gets tough, and oh it does, it will remind me that its for kids like this that I'm here.
6th, still doing great, not so different than the 5th. One of the fun things about this age, and the 5th , is they are easy to entertain and they laugh at anything. Maria and I love to be silly acting out vocabulary words and putting on little skits using new vocab words, to make a long story short… I pulled a little ghost out of a box that Maria had made out of a ball and cloth (yes that was a vocab word!). I threw it to them and yelled AAAHHH GHOST!!! Their faces as they watched that thing fly across the room, that is an image I will always treasure, very very funny. Here is a word “lizard” – I don’t think I’ll ever get the image of Maria out of my head trying to get across “lizard” without words, pretending she had a tail, then picking it up between 2 fingers making “ick” faces. She finally had to give in and draw it on the board. I stood there just watching her as amused as the children were.
Yup still pretty cute at this age...
These kids are great, that young man in the green sweater is by far one of our best students. Yup still pretty cute at this age...
Uh huh... isn't she just so innocent and sweet? This young gall is the trouble maker of her group. sweet as pie outside of school NON-STOP with me saying "STOP IT TURN AROUND"
And this one... he is one of my favorites (oops did I say that? Am I not supposed to pick favorites?) , excellent at English and so polite, sweat and friendly
Now we move on to 7. I was going to say they're still doing pretty good, but I changed my mind after today. Now the
troublemakers are starting to show their true colors. But they’re manageable…. mostly
they still respond to reprimand. But lordy I wish I had a dollar for every time
I yelled STOP TALKING TURN AROUND. I think of this as the “middle class”
because next comes 8….
8th - And NOW the troublemakers really show their true colors. Now
in addition to yelling STOP TALKING TURN AROUND I have to add in STOP CHEATING
GIVE ME THAT CELL PHONE!! Exhausting. One day we had enough. Maria marched them
to the director’s office (principle). When they came back Maria made an announcement
to the class and up marched 8 girls to the front, some of our best students. Then the 2 groups were off, Maria and I stood
watching as the girls scolded them, we let THEM yell at them. And they had to
remain standing until they gave an acceptable “I’m sorry”. NOW THAT is some awesome class management…
peer pressure.
Let me introduce Nakita. He is probably my number 1 problem, sort of. I've developed a bit of a liking for this dude.... he's smart, hard working, he has so much potential, it's hard to watch a kid like this, he is caught up in the "pack". I spend a lot of one on one time with the hopes it will make some kind of impact, who knows.... I think what makes him different is that despite him being a "problem child" unlike the others he does his homework! And he participates in class. We selected 4 kids to create a charity to present to class, then the class would choose which one they would donate to if they were a millionaire (the name of the lesson is " Millionaire" the next is "Lots of Zeros" and covers rich people, game shows, money money money. THIS to the poorest country in Europe, teachers can not figure what the board of education was thinking making these books) . Well his face when I picked him well THAT was worth a million dollars. But sure enough, he did it. He named it "Happy" a charity to make people HAPPY! How can you not love a kid like that....
Let me introduce Nakita. He is probably my number 1 problem, sort of. I've developed a bit of a liking for this dude.... he's smart, hard working, he has so much potential, it's hard to watch a kid like this, he is caught up in the "pack". I spend a lot of one on one time with the hopes it will make some kind of impact, who knows.... I think what makes him different is that despite him being a "problem child" unlike the others he does his homework! And he participates in class. We selected 4 kids to create a charity to present to class, then the class would choose which one they would donate to if they were a millionaire (the name of the lesson is " Millionaire" the next is "Lots of Zeros" and covers rich people, game shows, money money money. THIS to the poorest country in Europe, teachers can not figure what the board of education was thinking making these books) . Well his face when I picked him well THAT was worth a million dollars. But sure enough, he did it. He named it "Happy" a charity to make people HAPPY! How can you not love a kid like that....
The girls working hard....
Let me tell you what I did for 10 min. in class with that tall sweet looking child in the stripes. As he continuously smacked the kids in front of him, I wrote him a note, drew a picture of a birthday cake. I told him to translate as he pretended he didn't know what I was asking, 8th grade, didn't understand 'how old are you?" REALLY? MISS SANDRA AIN'T STUPID. They pull this "I don't understand" all the time. I finally got across to him my message "what are you 10 years old? No you're fifteen? Really? Because you act like a 10 year old ACT YOUR AGE". One of the first things I learned to say is ты меня понимаешь (do you UNDERSTAND ME). classroom management - pull the "grow up" card.
Don't get me started on this one.... sure is nice to me outside of class.. but oh... in class.....
And then here they come… the 9th…. What can I say…..
well I’ll tell you what I say over and over and over…. STOP IT TURN AROUND STOP
CHEATING GIVE THAT CELLPHONE TO ME NOW MOVE TO THAT DESK…. It goes on and on…. They
snicker, they laugh at me, they are disrespectful, I especially love the
mimicking, if I cough one will “cough” under his breath. If I clear my throat…
on and on it goes. They ruin every class for the students that want to learn. One
made kissy noise at me so I stopped the class and said, pretending I was
confused, “Maria, what does KISSKISS (noises) mean in Russian?” “what?” she
said. I said “ this boy is saying KISSKISS (noises) what does that mean in
Russian he’s trying to tell me something, can you translate?” his response “oh
it wasn’t for her I was just making it”. Classroom management – embarrass them.
NO PHOTOS - NO WAY WOULD I PULL A CAMERA OUT.
I started a new rule, I take your cellphone and if you want
it back you apologize “REPEAT AFTER ME… I AM SORRY” “(I am sorry)” “LOUDER I
CAN’T HEAR YOU” (“I AM SORRY”) “FOR INTERRUPTING THE CLASS (FOR INTERRUPTING
THE CLASS)”. J One day I made a chart in the corner of the board,
each time I grabbed a cell phone I
marched up to the front loudly whooping and marked the board saying “ONE FOR
MISS SANDRA….” this went on until I hit 4. At the end of the class I said “MISS
SANDRA WINS STUDENTS LOSE” classroom management… make them look like idiots (or me, not sure which)
Today, Maria took a cell phone, what did the class do ? They announced "NUMBER ONE!" Gotta laugh at these kids sometimes though. Interestingly enough, still trying to figure this one out - a child called me to his desk and HANDED ME HIS CELL PHONE! WTF??? Pardon my language but HUH? He wanted me to take it before class??? WHAT does that mean, anyone???? ideas?
Today, Maria took a cell phone, what did the class do ? They announced "NUMBER ONE!" Gotta laugh at these kids sometimes though. Interestingly enough, still trying to figure this one out - a child called me to his desk and HANDED ME HIS CELL PHONE! WTF??? Pardon my language but HUH? He wanted me to take it before class??? WHAT does that mean, anyone???? ideas?
This week? I will stop the class each time I find one, they will
stand up (and they are taller than me I try not to let them see me shaking in
my shoes) and apologize on the spot to
the other students, new classroom management - triple whammy - embarrass them, make them look like idiots,
peer pressure… all at the same time. Yahoo… Miss Sandra winner, student loser.
But seriously, I had enough this week, I told Maria “THAT IS
IT I’M DONE WITH THEM and I want OUT I want to go to the 4th”. “What will I tell them” she said. “Tell them truth I don’t care” I said. I reminded
her I’m a volunteer, I came to help kids that want help. I gave up too much and
came too far to deal with this. This is not fair to the kids who CARE, but that's it, I also don't need to get upset every day for the next 2 years. I agreed to one more week as a trial. Maria called them all to come for a meeting today after school. She is talking to them about good ol' Miss Sandra, "she wants to transfer to 4th grade because she's tired of wasting her time with you do you want her to stay or not?" so we'll see what they said.
Funny side note. Maria was standing at the front and I mumbled quietly "they will drive me to drink" she said "what did you say" "The will drive me to drink!" well did she think that was the funniest thing!!! I also used "they are driving me nuts" and she got a kick out of that one too. Now we say she'll bring the nuts I'll bring the drinks. Maybe that will get us through some of these classes. I have said it before I will say it again, I have the VERY BEST PARTNER in the world. I think we sometimes have the same brain split into two. The things we come out with at the same time...
She's beautiful right? All the woman are.... you want to have low self-esteem? Move to Moldova....
She's beautiful right? All the woman are.... you want to have low self-esteem? Move to Moldova....
When I walk into town, especially through the
park, I am swamped with kids around me “HELLO MISS SANDRA” and they follow me
around, 3 followed me home yesterday and questioned me all the way. SIDENOTE:
Every bag is extremely thin and you can see through them. I thought I’d splurge
and buy “heave duty” trash bags, black… well they are so thin you can see
through them, so gray is a better description. In fact, I talked to a friend on
skype THROUGH one to show her. And yes, she could see what I was saying. Point
is… no secrets as to what is in your bags. I tell you, I can’t make a move in this town
without someone seeing me. A child came to me in school “miss Sandra you like
M&Ms?” “yes” I said thinking “huh…how did she know that”. “I saw you eating
them yesterday”…. YIKES…. where I don’t know, I was eating them on the way
home. And another “Miss Sandra you like ice cream?” Ugh… “yes” I said, where did she see me? Even walking home they are
knocking on their windows looking out and waving to me. I won’t be doing drugs
or drinking in town for sure. God help me if I get a boyfriend….
Today I had a group of 7th and 8th grade
BOYS (ugh) around me in the park, and funny, often it’s the kids that are the
trouble makers in class that are the nicest. Ugh.. kids figure them out…. they
were circled around me I had to PUSH them back so I could breathe all talking
at once! The other day, what a nightmare, I cut through the park and immediately
saw a line of 9th graders sitting along a wall, though I stopped in
my tracks I though “SH#! I can’t let them see me turn around” I held my head high,
cranked up my music on my IPod and looked down and marched along. “HELLO MISS SANDRA” I heard, I turned and yes,
they were all smiling and waving “HOW ARE YOU TODAY MISS SANDRA”? HUH?? Where they laughing at me? I don’t know…. I would
rather not know…. but I will NEVER take that short cut again.
Did I ever think it would be cute to be "Miss Sandra" all over town? REALLY? no matter where I go... side street thought no one would be there, 4 4th graders "MISS SANDRA"!!! walking with me, playing with my ipod shaking their behinds dancing, ok, that was cute....
But ok, at home? knock on the door, a student, bringing MISS SANDRA flowers! :-) And asking, "will you start an English club after school???" Holy cannoli... this is tiring.
Today a girl asked me if I had a BIG house at home. I
explained that not all American’s have big houses you only see them on TV and
in films. She insisted “yes American’s
all have big houses”. I THINK I got across to her the facts, before
she left she said “Miss Sandra (everything she said started with “Miss Sandra”)
are there poor people in America?” “Yes there are” I said. “Miss Sandra, are
there hungry people in America?” “yes there are” I said. Well I
hated to burst her little bubble but it is part of my job as a Peace Corps member
to teach them about who Americans are, and yes, there are poor and hungry people
in America.
As usual, thanks to any of you reading about my experiences. Some good some not so... there are still many days of struggle but I am truly blessed to have been placed in Taraclia, Moldova ("Miss Sandra, do you like Taraclia?" Yes I say - Я люблю Тараклия)
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