23 September 2013

23 September 2013

Today, I got up, and got dressed for class. My cluster had a technical session at 9am, so I had to get up in time. Host-Mom made Kasha for me, which tastes exactly like an oat version of cream of wheat. Only a bit lumpier. It’s very good. I learned that host-Mom works during the day, at a factory, so she left before I did. The granddaughter and I left at the same time, me for my cluster, and her for the bus to Kyiv.

Cluster G’s technical sessions are held in the apartment across the hall from V.’s, so we were all there together. We had icebreakers, so we would know each other’s strengths as an educator. I was the only one without teaching “experience” (no solo classroom teaching), but I was the only one with any experience with adults. S., our TCF (technical and cross-cultural facilitator), said that my experience with adults would come in handy, as PC Ukraine is all about sustainability. We went over the TEFL goals, and the objectives within those goals. We went over how our Tech sessions were going to work, and how we were going to learn how to teach.

We were told what books we would need to read, most of which are available electronically. The other one was given to us – Not Only a Native Speaker. We were told that teachers in Ukraine get little help, supply-wise, as they have to print/copy teaching materials on their own money.

We went over the practical lesson, which S explained as the classes she would teach, how many classes we all needed to teach, and then let us choose the classes we wanted. I’m helping co-teach the “teaching vocabulary,” “teaching grammar,” and “teaching NEST/NNEST (native English speaking teacher/non-native English speaking teacher)” units. We also learned that Ukraine uses British English, so we will have to remember that as we teach.

We then talked about our Administrative meeting, tomorrow. We would meet at S.’s apartment, and take the bus to the center stop. As this was an official meeting, we had to dress formally and professionally. We will also have a school visit on Thursday, and our C/X-Tech session will be at Obukhiv 2 on Saturday.

After our technical session, we went across the hall to V.’s apartment, where we had our Russian class. We worked on phonetic sounds for a long time. We also learned how to ask “how are you doing?” in Russian, and how to answer. After that, we put together what we needed to say at the Admin meeting. We needed to say where we are from (North is a complicated word in Russian), what our major was (I chose French instead of Global Studies, as GS was very hard to pronounce in Russian), and that we are currently PCVs in Ukraine.

We broke for lunch, and then went back to our practicing. We had community mapping that afternoon, so we spent some time learning how to ask for directions. We practiced the words a lot, as after we finished, we went out and asked Ukrainians where something was. I learned where a bank, a pharmacy, and an internet café are (all in the same area, about a 10-15 min walk from V.’s apartment. After we had our locations, it started to rain, so V called us and told us to not worry about meeting back up as a cluster and debriefing, but that we were done for the day. I stopped at the supermarket on the way home, and bought some lunch for tomorrow.

Once back at my host-apartment, I put my groceries in the fridge, changed into comfortable clothes, and waited for host-Mom to come home from her job. I asked yesterday, and learned that her routine is to cook dinner when she gets home, so I waited. We had soup for dinner, along with some bread. After dinner, the granddaughter called, so host-Mom and her chatted for a bit. Host-mom then handed me the phone, and the granddaughter and I chatted. She asked about my Russian homework, and said that she’d text the next-door neighbor, to see if she wanted to help me with my Russian.

Host-mom made a dessert of some kind, by mixing raspberry jam with farmers cheese and sour cream. Tastes excellent. We had tea with our cheese. The next-door neighbor came over, and I spent a long time working on my pronunciation and new words. She left to practice the piano, and I was able to ask host-Mom some questions, learn when my breakfast would be ready, and read a bit before bed.