28 and 29 September 2013

28 and 29 September 2013

Yesterday, I got up early, as I needed to take an early bus to Petrovski, the neighboring village where Obukhiv 2 is based. I had a breakfast of Kasha, and left for the bust stop. My cluster and I took bus #4. A current PCV (who was in Obukhiv 1 exactly a year ago, his host family is one of my cluster-mate’s host family) was in town for a few days.

At Obukhiv School number 4, Petrovski, we met Obukhiv 2, and went into the English classroom. There, we had our Tech session, where we went over some success stories and looked for why they were successful. We noticed a trend: in all the stories, the PCV worked closely with the local community to promote their project. After that, we learned about the Peace Corps Niche, which is the overlap of the host country’s national resources and priorities, our site’s community resources and assets, and our own skills and experiences. It’s a small niche, but it works.

Then, we learned about PACA: Participatory Analysis for Community Action. PACA are a set of tools that will help us as teachers, as community members, as Americans in Ukraine, as, well, everything. The four PACA tools that we went over were Needs Assessment and Priority Ranking, Community Mapping, Daily Activity Schedule, and Seasonal Calendar. We read over them, and then explained why they were valuable and how to apply them.

We went over the challenges of being a TEFL in Ukraine, as well as the opportunities. While we came up with more challenges, the opportunities were more important (IMHO). The challenges were things like lack of resources, lack of interest, cultural differences, and trying to do too much as PCVs, and the opportunities were that we can build community capacity, create a spirit of volunteerism, and showing that we are interested in learning and teaching, which in return promotes an interest in learning. We also went over strategies to help us get over some of our challenges. We should work closely with our counterpart and the local hierarchy, promote effective communication, use our tools, and remember that we can’t do everything at once, so we really shouldn’t try. We then gave our week debrief.

Petrovski is a small, cute, agricultural community, with winding roads and farms. One of the PCTs has an outdoor toilet and no internet, and another’s host family has apple and pear trees and a cow. Their school has 3 English teachers, one of whom is also the principal. In comparison, all of Obukhiv 1 have indoor plumbing and internet, and our school has 20 English teachers.

The PCV who is in Group 44 (September 2012, TEFL) spoke for a few minutes. He explained that he runs three clubs – English, Spanish, and adult English. He told us that our needs assessment would help us with our community project – the administration at his school asked him to do a Spanish club, as he majored in Spanish.

He told us that the PC language teaching is the best – you learn enough to survive at your site. Also said that the PC pays for a language tutor, which he highly recommends. He reminded us that the feeling of being overwhelmed is normal, and that the cluster needs to support its members. 

He spoke about English club, and how he does what the students want. He also uses the same topics in his English classes, and he can usually stretch out the material for at least 2 classes, if not three or four. He suggested that we help other PCVs with summer camps, as it gets us away from our site, but doesn’t use any of our vacation days.

He was also in the Russian group, and has experienced very little problems as a result. Some people have asked him why he’s speaking Russian, but he did say that most people know that we are Americans, and therefore won’t judge us too harshly for speaking Russian.

After that, we had a brief break, followed by our X/C session. As we were in Petrovski, Obukhiv 2’s LCF, R., led this lesson. We looked at things that define culture, and then compared the US to Ukraine. The two countries are mostly opposites, which can make for misunderstandings, and difficulty integrating. We need to remember TSCOUT: to use our Tools, to Suspend judgment, to Collect data, to Organize information, to Utilize our resources, and to Test our results. This will help us navigate and integrate into Ukraine.

After that, Obukhiv 1 took Bus 4 back. My host-sister and I had lunch – soup! She was making a salad

for dinner, which is very interesting, yet very good. It is a cold salad, and it has sea legs, cucumber, cooked rice, canned corn, something else, and mayonnaise. I had a relatively lazy afternoon, which was nice. Host-Mom was out most of the day picking mushrooms – she returned with enough to fill the bathtub as she washed them! Host-sister went to a concert in Kiev, and returned early this morning. Host-Mom and I had dinner (more soup, mashed potatoes, and sausage), and she started cleaning and processing the mushrooms. She was still processing them when I went to bed.

This morning I was able to sleep in until close to 1030. Won’t be able to do that until next Sunday… I got up and dressed and went into the amazing smelling kitchen. Breakfast today was a little.. unusual, but it was very good. Host-Mom told me to wait a few minutes, as she finished cooking some mushrooms, and then sliced up 3 small potatoes and fried them. That was about half of breakfast. She then gave me 2 stuffed peppers. The peppers came from her garden, and were stuffed with rice and beef, with a cheese sauce. They were quite lovely. I also had coffee. A bit after breakfast, host-Mom left to go somewhere, and I was able to finish some TCF assignments, mainly copy a community map into my TEFL workbook. I also read a few chapters in our main textbook, More Than a Native Speaker, which is about how we are wanted to be more than just a native speaker – we are wanted to teach and explain our culture.

Host-sister got up, and I had coffee with her as she had breakfast. She started working on translation homework, and I started reading over this weeks vocabulary for LCF class. The next-door neighbor came over, and we had tea. After that, I was able to video chat with my parents, which was awesome. I was also able to help Dad find the apartment complex, the school, and the store. After that, host-sister and I went to the grocery store, where I bought a weeks worth of lunches. When we got back to the apartment, host-sister went back out, and I started a budget, to help me figure out my PC allowance. When host-sister came back, we had dinner – more of those awesome stuffed peppers and cold salad. We had tea and chatted over dessert, which was a Turkish dessert called Halva. It’s a mixture of sunflower paste and other mixed nuts. It’s very good. Host-Mom came home, and started getting ready for tomorrow. I was able to finish my chat with my parents, and iron some clothes for next week.

I had a very nice, relaxing couple of days, which is very important, as I have a busy week scheduled.