Day 4: Simon Says

Today was certainly interesting! There were only 12 preschoolers today (yesterday was 16 and we had planned for 40 for these two days based on their enrollment... but many Kazakhs celebrate Christmas on January 7th so there are still quite a few of them on vacation) but they sure were a handful! It was a nice surprise to walk up to the classroom and find one of the girls at her locker; she took one look at us, her eyes got wide and she spoke (in Russian) with great excitement. Anastasia translated after she had traipsed away, saying the little girl said "thank goodness you are finally here!" I think the kids were more comfortable with us today, which may have been the source of rowdiness. Also, a boy who was sick yesterday was back in class and he proved to be quite the handful. He wrestled and hit other boys and when out of games he would slam his fast against the bench he sat on; it was quite alarming, he seemed to have strength beyond his years. When told to stop he would immediately continue, and it took his teacher coming over and pulling him to her side to keep him somewhat tame. I felt so helpless, he would be hitting a boy next to me and all I could do was pull him off and say nyete or "no", but he would go right back to it, usually fight away from my grasp. Not only was it not my classroom (so I was unsure if I could participate in classroom management) I had a hard time figuring out how what to do with this situation. I couldn't communicate how his actions were affecting others, and that was discouraging. But thankfully, the resources I had available (Anastasia) were extremely helpful. She jumped right in and repeatedly talked to the boys. I wish I knew more about the school and its students, such as if this boy was thought to have some sort of behavioral disorder or difficult home life or something else, but I guess the best I can do is care while I'm there.

The first thing we did as a class was put together a puzzle I'd brought from the States; it was my gift to them and it seemed like it would be a good activity, especially since we'd exhausted many of our ideas in the three hours of instruction yesterday. The puzzle was a puzzle of the United States and each state was a piece. This made for a very uniquely shaped array of puzzle pieces, we thought it would take them a while. They were so quick and seemed so excited to do it, I was very happy :) They worked together so well for their age and we were able to practice creative nonverbal cues with them. The box had a picture of the puzzle and sections of the puzzle were color-coded, so we would point to the picture on the box, the particular piece they were "puzzled" over (ha! puns...), back to the box and the color-coded area it belonged to and then to the puzzle strewn about the floor. It seemed to work pretty well! And for those particularly hard pieces, we had Anastasia :)

After some stories, some games (we taught them "Musical Chairs", "Simon Says" and "Hot Potato"), they started their art project (a fold-up penguin we'd found in a book) and finished just in time for us to leave! Jetlag seems to be off and on for me; yesterday was great and I felt that I had finally conquered it, but today I was tired and sluggish again. Good insight to remember that my students, especially ones who have just moved to the country, have more than just social adjustments to make. Yes, the language barrier and differing customs can be awkward and scary, but they aren't the only things to worry about! Keri and I have basically been on our own for two out of three meals a day. Thankfully it's not been a big problem for us, we figure things out pretty well and know we have help from Anastasia if we need it. But for students new to the United States, their families may still be figuring out how the appliances work, or how to buy food, or how to get their sleep patterns on the right schedule. People might go without eating or sleeping in figuring these things out, and it's important as a teacher to remember the importance and potential confusion caused by basic physical needs.

So I now sit, writing my journal, in Tim's apartment waiting for him and his family to come home from vacation in Malaysia. An hour or so after their arrival, our car will come to take us to the train station where we will board the train for Almaty. We're excited and talked a lot to Anastasia about public transit in Kazakhstan, but we're also nervous about what experiences this trip may bring. If it's okay with you Suzie, we won't really have Internet access when we're there and I would rather leave my hunky clunky laptop in Astana since we may be carrying our luggage around with us for a long time. Would it be alright to reflect on our trip to Almaty when we return? You would probably hear from me late Saturday night or early Sunday morning your time. If not, I'll try my best to find an Internet cafe. I will be taking notes of key experiences throughout the weekend as well :)

Okey dokey, this is where I sign off. Dasvidanye, talk to you soon!

Chels

P.S. I'm super excited, putting myself out there in language is paying off! I'm learning some basic Russian, it's been really helpful in navigating around :) fun fact, in Russian "Astana, Kazakhstan" is written ACTAHA, KA3AXCTAH... I love learning :)