Update for October

It’s hard to believe that we have already gone through one month of the school year. In the past month we have started working at our schools, we teach English to the children at the local orphanage, and will be implementing an English club at the local college. On Friday the 29th, there was a concert at our Culture Palace in town and performances were made by different teachers from all the schools in the region. This was part of the celebration of the Day of Teachers which falls on the 1st of October. As we moved through September, the leaves changed colors, started to fall, and now we are officially in autumn. The majority of the trees in our town are either chestnut or walnut trees and there are nuts laying on the ground everywhere in town. We have a big walnut tree in our front yard and have already collected our fair share of nuts.

Scott – I have been going to the school and helping with English classes so far. The school has changed it’s curriculum a bit and thus, they had some issues settling there schedule for classes. It looks like I will be co-teaching some Information Technology classes in addition to basic Economics. I will also be assisting with classes on basic health in addition to being available to the English teachers for consultation. There is a student, Nazar, at the school who won the national singing competition and is going to Romania for a European championship and the teachers have asked that I help Nazar with his English which I am happy to do.

Beth – I am co-teaching five classes of Healthy Lifestyles at the gymnasium, to grades 7th, 10th, and 11th. The topics range from fire safety to radiation to infectious diseases to mass disorder! Each week I research the topics for new and important information to keep the students interested. I teach primarily in English, with key words translated into Ukrainian. By teaching in English I help the students improve their English and expand their vocabulary. In addition to the Healthy Lifestyles classes, I have an English club that meets once a week. We plan to cover a variety of themes during the year and are currently working on a Halloween party that we will celebrate at the end of the month.

Together we have been working with 2-10 grades at the local orphanage, two days a week. The orphanage does not have an English program, so we have been asked to start one in hopes of success. It has been challenging to start from scratch, but the children are a joy to work with each week. We have each class for a half-hour a week and have started with the ABC’s and their English names. We hope to move onto the days of the week and some simple phrases for greeting someone. The children try so hard and seem to really enjoy this new challenge. Some of the children are quite quick in learning and some take a little more time and need one on one attention. We think that it is very beneficial that we are both able to teach together, giving more attention where it is needed. The children have become used to the schedule of us coming on Mondays and Wednesdays and are waiting for us with excitement!!! It appears as though they really enjoy our lessons with them each week.

We spent our 1st anniversary in Kiev with 2 teachers and 35 students from Beth’s school. We left by train on Friday night and arrived in Kiev on Saturday morning. The excursion was organized by a guide who took us to some different sights in the city: one of the many churches, the Victory Day Memorial, the circus, Kiev Lavra, walks around the city, and other key places in the capital. We took all kinds of transportation: metro, bus, electric car, and trolley bus. Let’s just say that keeping track of 11 & 12 year olds on the Metro is not easy or fun! The Metro in Kiev is crowded, complex, and not the safest place in the city, so we had to be especially aware of where everyone was and where we were going. On Sunday we took the train back to Zalischyky and arrived in time for classes on Monday.

In next month we have some excursions planned and we will keep you updated on our work and travels.