29 October - 03 November 2013

29 October – 03 November 2013: another long update

29 October

Schools in Ukraine had last week off, so Tuesday started with a Technical Session, where we talked about classroom management. We talked about some issues in the classroom, some possible reasons behind those issues, and some possible solutions. We also went over tips and things to remember about classroom management. Then, we went over Self-Assessment (for the PC), before we moved on to our Community Project. We creates goals and objectives, and started filling in what we needed to fill in. A member of the cluster is coordinating what we need to write, and when he needs to email it in. After that, we had individual meetings with our TCF, where we went over our TEFL organizer and got to learn how she thought we did during her observations. After that, we had lunch and Russian class.

Russian class started with some new phrases of agreement and disagreement. We had to agree or disagree and then explain why we felt that way about a sentence. Then, we went over what we’d written the previous night – a text on new subject. I drew “Show Business,” so I wrote a society page paragraph about a musician and his career. We read our paragraphs to the class, pretending to be on TV. I got fussed at for using too many new words when I was writing. We then went back over the verbs of motion, and talked about the type of transport. We learned what they’re called, and discussed what we thought about them and how expensive/popular they are. After that, class was over. I had 30 min of pair tutoring and an hour of individual tutoring after class.

L and I spent more than 20 minutes trying to hold a conversation in Russian, me as the neighbour of a new PCV in a very small village. I got a very emphatic thumbs up when I asked if the new PCV knew President Obama. We then discussed our mistakes and L went home. I had an hour more tutoring, where I read my various written assignments, and we went over my mistakes. I seem to be inaccurate, but precise – I make the same mistake repeatedly. But, once it’s pointed out, I don’t make it as much.

After that, P walked with me up to the flat, as he wanted to meet my host-family. I showed him around the small flat, and he had dinner with my host-family. After that, I did some home task, finished and emailed the Self-assessment to the PC, and some more home task (translation) before giving up at past 1130pm. I went to bed shortly thereafter, to repeat the next day.

30 October 2013

On Wednesday, we started with a link tech session, where I helped to co-facilitate a session on NEST/NNEST and co-teaching. We learned what the advantages and disadvantages for teachers and students, and why a NEST/NNEST pair can be very useful. After that, we had a short review session, and then left to go to the Children’s Creativity Centre, which is where children can go to do various arts. We got to participate in a few minutes of a painting class, and observe an award-winning dance group. They demonstrated their warm-up and the song that they’d won with – Chubby Checker’s “The Twist.” After that, we had to leave, as Obukhiv 2 had to return to Petrovski, and we had Russian to get to.

First, we had went to the store, and then we had lunch. In class we went over all that we had learned in the past few days. We went over types of transport, locations in town, everything. I don’t remember all of the activities, but I know we went over the transport questions from home task, and talked about the types of transport. We also learned the words necessary to talk to a bus driver and went over them. “Stop here, please.” “Where is this bus going?” “What is the next stop?” “Are you getting off?” “May I pass?” and many more. We then got our home task – who are you portraying for Hallowe’en? as we needed to be in costume. I walked back to the flat, did some home task, had dinner, and did some more home task, before going to bed.

31 October 2013: Hallowe’en

Thursday, we had a community project check-in, so we all covered our costumes and applied make-up before Russian. During the Community project check-in, we finished filling in what we needed to fill in, and decided on what needed to be done by when. After that, we walked across the hall to P’s flat, where we changed (if need be) some of us applied lots of make-up. Because of the limited contents of our wardrobes, we were all fairly simple costumes. I was Lestat, as it was the only costume I had enough parts of. Plus, with the right movements and attitude, anyone can play Lestat. We had to share the little things we’d written about our characters, after which we asked questions about the character and about any words that we didn’t know. After that, we practiced our verbs of motion and directions using public transport to direct a clustermate around a town. We had to ask them were they were, why they were there, why they wanted to go there, and then tell them how to get there. After that, talked about where we’ve travelled, and how we’ve travelled where we’ve travelled. We had a break for lunch.

After lunch, we learned how to navigate a train station, and how to buy a ticket. We practiced “buying” tickets to various locations, taking various types of tickets. We practiced some more and got our home task assignments. We needed to do more bookwork and write up a story about a past Hallowe’en and a news story. I drew Opinion Piece. After class, I walked back to the flat, finished the previous nights home task, and had dinner with my host-family, and wrote my Hallowe’en story and my opinion piece. I read a bit before going to be.

01 November 2013

Friday started with new vocab, where learned how to ask the name of something. We then went over our Hallowe’en stories, and talked about them in. After that, we went over our news piece. For each of our pieces, we wrote new words on the board (with translation), and read the story in Russian. Then, our clustermates had to explain what happened in English.

After that, we went back over the train station words, and practiced them some more. After practicing the words, we got to look at a train ticket in our workbooks, which we went over and learned where to look for various information. After that, we got to look at some of P’s train tickets, and we asked our clustermates questions about “their” train. We then got to ask questions about an imaginary train – we were given a schedule, but it only had one train on it; we had to ask about the other trains. We learned and practiced some new words. After that, we were done for the day, with Russian, anyway.

Next, we had our Progress-Assessment interviews, where we talked to the training director about how we feel about our progress towards integration, being an effective teacher, etc. She said that some of our answers were answered usually expected from COSing (close of service) PCVs, not mid-PST PCTs. I think we’re all doing well in those respects. After that, we had a brief SAS session, where we looked at sexual harassment of female volunteers and discussed what should have been done differently, or what could have happened to prevent the situation from happening in the first place. After that, we watched Interview with the Vampire, as it’s one of P’s favourite films, and two of our cluster hadn’t seen it. We got started pretty late, so we were done late. I was walked back to my flat (Ukrainian tradition – men walk women back after dark), which we don’t normally do, just when it’s pushing 1030 at night. I watched a bit of “Everybody Dances,” read for a bit, and went to bed

02 November 2013: Football in Petrovski 

On Saturday, I scared my host mother – she didn’t know I had a Saturday class, in Petrovski. So, I walked out to brush my teeth, etc, she saw me and asked when I was leaving, and quickly made me Kasha. I got dressed and had breakfast, remembering that we needed to bring biscuits (it’s still think that biscuits should come with gravy…) to the meeting, as we were going to another person’s house. While texting my clustermates, my mobile told me to plug it in, so I did (the 10 minute charge got me to Petrovski) while I was eating breakfast. Then, I walked quickly to the store to get the biscuits. When we got to Petrovski, I asked their LCF if I could charge my mobile during the session (of course; motioned towards power strip). Saturday’s X/C session was on Gender “issues” in Ukraine, because gender-roles are very strongly defined and almost enforced. We talked about the fishbowl effect on PCVs, and other important things to know.

After our X/C session, we had a tea/coffee break, and then played football. Well, I photographed my friends playing football. I got some great photos. While I was taking them, I filled up my card, and had to delete the previous pictures before I could keep shooting. I left after I had almost refilled the card, and my fingers were freezing. I took the bus back, repaired my jacket (some of the inside shoulder seams had torn), and edited the pictures, which I then posted to Facebook. After that, I worked on a dialogue for our Community project, and we chose a topic for English Club on Monday. I had a lazy evening – had dinner with my host-family, watched a bit of X-Factor Ukraine, had a long video-chat with my Mom, and read for a bit before going to bed.

03 November 2013

Sunday, I slept in a bit, but was up in time to help make a salad. I peeled and sliced cooked potatoes, beets, carrots, and pickled eggplant. All before breakfast. Then, I had a perfect “brunch” – kasha (breakfast) and a rice and duck dish (lunch). All with coffee. Host-Mom had a big pot of borshch on the stove for dinner. The rice and duck dish was very good. The duck tasted like chicken, but juicier. It was very fresh; I think it was caught and killed a few days before. After that, I washed some clothes by hand and went to the store with my host-sister. After that, I did a lot of home task. Most of it was translation (transportation), but some of it was finding what we were going to do for English club. We had some technical difficulties, so we changed what we were going to do. I was able to do half of my home-task before I had a snack and tea with my host-sister. I then went back to my home-task, almost finished it, and had dinner with my host-mom when she got home. I then finished it, and was able to video-chat with my dad. I read a bit before going to bed.