15 October 2013

15 October 2013

Today, I got up, got dressed, had breakfast (Kasha and coffee), and walked to School #5 to observe a double lesson. Last week, I’d observed only half of the double lesson, so I wasn’t sure how Y (my counterpart) runs them. I saw today.

Y started her double lesson by having her students review terms for the weather, then had the students present an animal. She gave them cards, and had them describe the animal on the card. She then went over what they’d done for home task, which was to write a 4 paragraph essay on why you should get a cat. She had one student read their essay for the class. She reviewed how to frame a 4 paragraph essay, and then had to students come up with reasons why you should adopt a dog. They came up with several positive and negative viewpoints and the reasons for those viewpoints, before going over their linking words. They went over how to start the essay, how to add viewpoints, how to add reasons, how to add contrasting viewpoints and reasons, and how to conclude their essay. Then it was their break.

During the break, I got what I need to teach on Thursday, and talked Y about my learning of Russian. She was quite impressed that I have Russian for 4 hours… a day (most students study a foreign language for 3 hours a week). The second half of the lesson was spent with the students writing an in-class essay, which Y collected at the end of the class. Y went around the room to check work. At the end of the class, she went back over pronouns and assigned home task.

After observation, I walked to my tech session, where we went over the system of evaluation in Ukraine. The grading system is completely different – there are no failing notes. All notes come from the national curriculum, which are very high and very strict. Teachers will often gives notes in public, there is often no concrete reason as to why a student gets a certain note, and the students are very competitive about their notes. There are multiple types of evaluations, from a daily grade, to the national tests at the end of 9th and 11th forms. All grades are recorded in the Class Register, which is a document that is kept for ten years after a student has left, and is a gradebook mixed with transcript for each student. We went over the types of tests students have per semester, as they are graded on a daily basis, at the end of the unit, at the end of the semester, and at the end of the year, with the 9th and 11th forms taking national tests. We then worked to create our own grading systems – how would we evaluate our students, on the four skills. Part of our job as teachers is to help prepare students for their national exams. We went over ways to help make better tests, and then came up with how we would test the unit we were currently on. After that, we walked to V’s flat, where we had lunch and then 4 hours of Russian.

Today, we went over what we did in our classes this morning, went over a very complicated grammatical split-hair (which I still don’t get…), and then played a rapid-fire response game, where we had to ask our cluster mates questions. We learned about adverbs, and a few useful phrases, such as “it’s not important,” before taking a break. As it was getting late, we all made tea or coffee, to try to stay awake during class.

After our break, we went over our furniture and locative case. We practiced saying “I have a ________ in my room/kitchen/hallway,” with each of our new furniture words, before going over some new/irregular “in/on” forms. Most rooms/objects take the same ending when used in locative case (where is the blank? it’s there), but some don’t follow the pattern. We then covered where we live, as the unabbreviated form is in locative case. We also learned that addresses are written very differently in Ukraine. If you are sending a letter, you need to put the country first, followed by the city, street, building, and flat (if applicable). We then quickly covered what we need to bring with us when we go to Kyiv tomorrow, and got home task.

It was dark, but we all walked back separately. The streets in Obukhiv are very dark, with very few streetlights. However, I had my torch in my purse, and I used that whenever I couldn’t see the cracks in the pavement. I made it back safely, if a little late. My host-mom insisted that I have dinner before I did anything else, but I was able to change out of my dress pants first. Dinner was cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice, as well as a small bowl of soup. It was all very good. My host-mom left to go somewhere, but made sure to tell me that the hot water was back. I got a shower before I started in on my home task.

I copied several tables and conjugations into my home task book, to remember them later, went back over and corrected several assignments from yesterday (we covered what was assigned yesterday today), finished today’s assignments, and then finished a take-home test that was also open book. I had to write two dialogues that went along with a picture. After I finished that, I was able to spend some time online. Class tomorrow starts earlier than usual, as V wants us to have several hours of Russian before we go to Kyiv tomorrow.