06-16 November 2013 - I've had a long couple of weeks.

06 – 16 November 2013

The last few weeks have been very busy. 06, 07, and 08 November were spend in PST University, where we learned how to be better teachers in Ukraine. We learned how current PCVs have adapted to the limited resources in their town, how to hold/gain the attention of our students, and some classroom management strategies. We stayed at the same hotel as the arrival retreat, which is a very nice hotel. Not that expensive, either, from what I’ve heard. On Friday, 08 November, I had my Site Placement Interview, which determines where I am going as a PCV.

Saturday and Sunday (09 and 10 November) was full of trying to catch up on any work I needed to do for the next week, which included having a community project and lesson debrief meeting. I also got to help cook a bit – I made cabbage vareniki. My clustermate, M, came over to hang out with my host-sister, and met the whole gang. The uncle of my host-sister’s uncle was there, and he insisted that we all drink some vodka. As a woman, I was able to sip mine, but M took his the Ukrainian way – as shots. We all had dinner as well – borshch.

On Monday (11 November), it was the official end of Rotation, so our original LCF, V, was back. We had 3 hours of Russian, most of which was taken up by our mock-LPIs, which are a version of the test that we will have to take in less than a month. While our clustermates were taking their mock-LPI, we did various activities for V. After that, we had our final English club meeting, where we showed a powerpoint and talked about various English speaking countries. I did my home task, and had dinner with my host-family. I can now hold a several minute conversation with my host-mother.

On Tuesday (12 November), we taught. I observed the first half of the double lesson, and then taught the second. I was observed by a person from the PC, who was impressed that I managed to teach modal verbs to 7th forms, without running screaming (her words, yes). I was told what I did right, and then told what I needed to do better. We had a Tech Session, where we learned some tips for how to manage large classes. We then had 3 hours of Russian. I did my home task, and spent some time hanging out with my host-family during dinner.

On Wednesday (13 November), we had our usual three hours of Russian. I then had an hour of pair tutoring, and an hour of individual tutoring. No matter how much the PC insists that pair tutoring works, it doesn’t. I only learn what I don’t know, not what I do know. Most of my individual tutoring was taken up by (another) mock LPI, but I was able to ask some questions about the imperfective/perfective aspect of the verbs. After that, we had a community project check-in, where we decided how we were going to hold our workshop, and our teaching/observation schedule for the next week. We also decided on a time to come to my host-family’s flat, to work on our project. I did my home task, hung out with my host-family and read before bed.

On Thursday (14 November), we were flying solo at the school, as our LCF was in Petrovski, with Obukhov 2. I think my lesson went pretty well – there are some things that I would do differently, if I had to teach the same lesson again. While I was teaching, a large white bin bag (one of the large ones that fits in a large kitchen bin, and has a red pull-tie) floated past the window like an absurd kite. It kept getting drawn past the window, much to the amusement of myself, my 3 students, and my counterpart. After class, I was told that I was doing much better. We then had our 3 hours of Russian, after which I walked back to the flat, and did my home task. I hung out with my host-family during dinner, and I read before bed.

On Friday (15 November), class started an hour early, as V wanted to go home for the weekend, and therefore needed to be in Kyiv for the train. We had our three hours of Russian, and then had a quick X/C session on humour and slang in Ukraine. After that, I went to Kasheniya (the grocery store), where I checked my account balance, and got biscuits for the next day, when my clustermates would be coming over to work on our Community project. I also refilled my mobile with money for minutes. I had dinner with my host-family, and read before bed.

Today, Saturday (16 November 2013), I got up and had borshch for breakfast. A bowl of borshch is actually a well balanced breakfast – a soup with meat, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets, beans, and sour cream. I then helped a bit with cleaning before my clustermates came over. They came over at 1pm, and were pretty much herded into the kitchen to have tea. They brought biscuits and juice, so we had a biscuit break before work. My host-mother reminded me (at least twice) to feed my clustermates – she’d made borshch and galupsi. We worked on our project for a few hours, going over the lesson plans and dialogues for spelling and grammar errors. We took a tea break in the middle, where we had tea/coffee and galupsi. After that, we finished proofing our project parts, and set a time for when they needed to be done by. Then, we recorded the dialogues. After everyone went back to their flats, I sent in my dialogues and shot the comics, which I then edited and converted to pdf files. I had dinner with my host-sister(s) and the next-door neighbour. I’m probably going to watch some X-Factor Ukraine before going to bed.