Ahh today was a much better day in headland! Migraine was gone, hopefully never to return, and I felt well enough to involve myself in my classrooms to a degree that I'm happy with. My second grade kiddos were rambunctious but awesome as always (there's a six year old that was moved up to the 7 year old class and he's almost surpassing everyone in his third day... its incredible to see!); some of these kids have thought processes and minds that amaze me! After working with them on reading and math, they went to lunch and I had my Kazakh quesadilla (the school lunch for the day... more like a strange vegetable and cheese burrito wrapped in a non-sweet crepe. I loved it though! First time I've seen broccoli since coming here!) and discussed my new host family with Keri and her mentor teacher who teaches the youngest. Wasn't intending to be gossip, just as it isn't now, we were just trying to get a feel for what's going on at home.
The situation is somewhat strange as we're learning more about their home life; dad is in New Orleans and referred to by first name by the kids, but mom still refers to him as her husband... the teachers don't know what's going on and how that affects the kids, so its kind of a mystery. Also, we learned of their coming to the school and what took place. The mom alerted the school of her eldest's arrival and his need for special education, so the school hired a specialist to work with him. On the first day of school, she arrived with both boys and said that her youngest was ready for his 5th grade class. She said he never had an IEP back in New Orleans and was almost offended by their questions. I mean this in no slight whatsoever, but her youngest is quite noticeably severely developmentally delayed and in need of special services, especially speech therapy, but it seems as if their mother is almost in a little denial of that fact. I can imagine having two sons with special needs, no spouse (we think) and a very high-paying, powerful job must be taxing and not as she expected... I don't know, we're speculating quite a bit as to how that plays into Alexander's education.
After lunch I went to English and helped students write descriptive paragraphs on the animal of their choice. Also I spoke to the teacher about standards since I heard a lot of conversations about Environmental standards during yesterday's staff meeting. He handed me a huge book about QSI's standards as an institution and explained that it was very prescriptive. It tells you exactly what you need to teach, how they want you to teach it, what materials to use down to the edition of the text, and even which problems in the text are to be done. I was shocked at how constrictive it was. Mr. Cloyed said that the experienced teachers (who know how they like to teach and what they spend time on) complain about this curriculum, while the younger teachers are thankful for the framework seeing as they haven't begun to build a routine and curriculum of their own. I find this interesting because I began to think; I wonder if QSI does this intentionally. They probably expect more novice teachers to be younger and more willing to move and travel internationally, while they probably expect more expert teachers to be happily settled into a comfortable school district where their families and themselves have no want or need to go abroad. This may be speculation, but it makes sense; although it is not typical here. Some of the teachers are relatively young but most have teaching experience and spouse, not to mention children that have been moving with them between countries. Anyway, the curriculum is very set-in-stone and emphasizes rote learning; lots of out of book work and worksheets provided by texts. Leaves very little room for creativity. I started asking myself when I got here: could I work in an international school like this in another country?! For these kids, absolutely. The different cultural dynamics and learning based on that are incredible and I've fallen in love with it. But do I want to be under this curriculum umbrella with little to no room for my own ideas? And can I be that far away from my family and feel somewhat isolated from my host society? I don't think so... I kind of want to explore possible international schools in the U.S., if they exist. Either that or I'll just find a very culturally diverse city to teach in in the Pacific Northwest :)
Grading is also different at QSI. Students either meet A mastery, B mastery, or are P "in progress". Their rubric basically says that any student receiving a P is not failing but the teacher will focus on that subject with the student until they reach at least B level. Those are the only three grades, besides W for withdrawal. Quite interesting, not sure how I feel about it yet...
After English came science with my middle school/high school class. It once again reemphasized their importance on rote learning. The students every day have a section of the text to read, write down the vocabulary words and define them, answer the section review questions and fill out a worksheet. Yup. Awesome. They have a chapter review assignment on Friday that I'm hoping won't take too long because I want to plan a fun review game... can anyone say Jeopardy?! :) it was fine, I wanted to discuss the chapter in greater detail and discussed how the students learned best at the beginning of the class (asking if they preferred to read alone as they have been or if they preferred to popcorn or group read and discuss the work; they chose working alone) but ran out of time for class discussion. Boo.
Anyway, I was taught numbers one through ten in Russian by a 7 year old American today :) and finally learned a word in Russian I've been wanting to know and struggling to keep in my head since I got here: I'm sorry! Very important since I mess up constantly here... well, and in the U.S., nothing's changed much it's just amplified!
Keri sent you some questions we both had about our portfolio assignments, let me know if you didn't get them and I can send them along! Thanks
Chels
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Day 9: Crab Chips
Why hi! Sorry this might not be the most eloquent email, I didn't get a ton out of today sadly due to my first migraine ever (not so much fun)... and it was a real bummer because I was asked to be the substitute for middle/high school science starting today through the rest of the week and there was a staff meeting we attended, not to mention my 2nd graders and all of that craziness. I'm feeling a little better now and getting situated in our new host home. It's a mansion apartment! We have the entire second floor (yes, this apartment has two floors) to ourselves. It should be a very interesting experience (as this all has been already), our host mom is Russian and lived in Louisiana... she is also a single mother to two severely developmentally delayed boys (her 16 year old reads at a low 1st grade level) and holds a very prestigious job (I believe as the manager of this region) at Conoco-Philips Oil. Eeek! Anyway, we're getting nicely settled in and are slowly integrating into our school.
My mentor teacher is still wonderful. She is unendingly patient (as you need to be with that age group) and pays attention to every student when they speak, regardless of whether it's related. She just has such a way of imparting value to students, its no wonder they love her, especially when most of these kiddos have hard-working parents that are likely not home as often as they would like to be. She places a lot of trust and responsibility on her kids, taking time to teach them the skills to solve their own problems and reiterates when necessary. She employs repetition beautifully as a way of learning (of course different varieties of questioning and such but a lot of repetition of the same rules) and has a very calming, confident persona. I know I'll learn a lot from her while I work with her. We haven't really discussed my lesson in the class yet, but we will soon; I'll be going over to her and her husband's apartment for dinner sometime at the end of this week or this weekend and will discuss it then along with an interview :)
I think Keri and I are kind of sad to say goodbye to the home we've held since we've been here, the Krugers' apartment. Its not ours and we have no title over it, but it's been our refuge and the one piece of consistency this whole trip. That and the family has been a blast! We know we'll do fine here and that everything will be great in a few days, but it kind of feels like the beginning all over again. Oh well, it shall pass!
I'm trying to see if I can integrate anything into the science class near the end of the week, just into one of the class periods, but the teacher's lesson plans that he left are pretty strict, necessary, and time consuming. Hopefully if I motivate well I can slip something in in the last 15 minutes of class, but we'll see. The kids were awesome and extremely diverse! Out of 8 students, we had students from Kazakshtan, the U.S., Japan, Pakistan, Korea, Poland and France. Bah. I thought it would be an insurmountable challenge on Migraine Day, but they were extremely self-motivated and knew what was expected of them while their teacher was gone. At the end of the class I held an impromptu discussion of the lesson, asking some questions that applied the content to Astana, and then allowed them to grill me like I knew they wanted to :) they ended up asking me my age (of course), where I was from in America, and if it was as cold there as it is here. They were great, I can't wait to head over to the high school building each afternoon to talk a little science with them.
On another bright and happy note, I was taught how to use QSI's very own dysfunctional copy machine! Yay! I helped my mentor teacher by making some book packets and guiding questions/worksheets for tomorrow's reading groups. I've been working with two kiddos during this time; one of them is a Kazakhstan native and about where she needs to be, the other just got moved up to the 2nd grade from the preschool/kindergarten classroom and almost seems at the top of the class in reading and math already. Smart kid! But also a little socially immature and has a lot of energy. It's quite the test of patience, especially since the Kazakh girl is known for being passive-aggressive and inciting some mischief... should be fun to see how this plays out.
Anyway, I'd better get to sleep or I'll be one heap of miserable tomorrow. Keri and I both have had a bit of a hard time acclimating our bodies to this change the last few days, hope it doesn't last long... oh, and some of the kids think we're sisters; we think it's pretty funny and it kinda feels that way :)
Peace,
Chels
My mentor teacher is still wonderful. She is unendingly patient (as you need to be with that age group) and pays attention to every student when they speak, regardless of whether it's related. She just has such a way of imparting value to students, its no wonder they love her, especially when most of these kiddos have hard-working parents that are likely not home as often as they would like to be. She places a lot of trust and responsibility on her kids, taking time to teach them the skills to solve their own problems and reiterates when necessary. She employs repetition beautifully as a way of learning (of course different varieties of questioning and such but a lot of repetition of the same rules) and has a very calming, confident persona. I know I'll learn a lot from her while I work with her. We haven't really discussed my lesson in the class yet, but we will soon; I'll be going over to her and her husband's apartment for dinner sometime at the end of this week or this weekend and will discuss it then along with an interview :)
I think Keri and I are kind of sad to say goodbye to the home we've held since we've been here, the Krugers' apartment. Its not ours and we have no title over it, but it's been our refuge and the one piece of consistency this whole trip. That and the family has been a blast! We know we'll do fine here and that everything will be great in a few days, but it kind of feels like the beginning all over again. Oh well, it shall pass!
I'm trying to see if I can integrate anything into the science class near the end of the week, just into one of the class periods, but the teacher's lesson plans that he left are pretty strict, necessary, and time consuming. Hopefully if I motivate well I can slip something in in the last 15 minutes of class, but we'll see. The kids were awesome and extremely diverse! Out of 8 students, we had students from Kazakshtan, the U.S., Japan, Pakistan, Korea, Poland and France. Bah. I thought it would be an insurmountable challenge on Migraine Day, but they were extremely self-motivated and knew what was expected of them while their teacher was gone. At the end of the class I held an impromptu discussion of the lesson, asking some questions that applied the content to Astana, and then allowed them to grill me like I knew they wanted to :) they ended up asking me my age (of course), where I was from in America, and if it was as cold there as it is here. They were great, I can't wait to head over to the high school building each afternoon to talk a little science with them.
On another bright and happy note, I was taught how to use QSI's very own dysfunctional copy machine! Yay! I helped my mentor teacher by making some book packets and guiding questions/worksheets for tomorrow's reading groups. I've been working with two kiddos during this time; one of them is a Kazakhstan native and about where she needs to be, the other just got moved up to the 2nd grade from the preschool/kindergarten classroom and almost seems at the top of the class in reading and math already. Smart kid! But also a little socially immature and has a lot of energy. It's quite the test of patience, especially since the Kazakh girl is known for being passive-aggressive and inciting some mischief... should be fun to see how this plays out.
Anyway, I'd better get to sleep or I'll be one heap of miserable tomorrow. Keri and I both have had a bit of a hard time acclimating our bodies to this change the last few days, hope it doesn't last long... oh, and some of the kids think we're sisters; we think it's pretty funny and it kinda feels that way :)
Peace,
Chels
Monday, January 10, 2011
Day 8: Fantastic Mr. Fox
First day in the classroom: awesome. My teacher is wonderful, her kids are awesome and so cute I almost cried, the school is so friendly and the staff/aids were a huge part of my feeling welcome, and all other good praises! The kids call me Ms. C and are asking if I'll come teach them here in Kazakhstan when I graduate (typical friendliness of 2nd graders I think :) ) and the classroom management I've seen in Ms. B's class has been a great model as to how I can mold my own classroom. She has basically given me the choice of how I want this experience to look; she said I could observe, interact with students, teach, whichever I wanted! So I talked about how the first day or two I want to do a little more observing than usual in seeing how elementary education works (you know how secondary and elementary are two very different monsters) and get to know names... not to mention phase into the classroom so it's not too much of a shock for the kiddos. I circulated the room and knew everyone's name by the end of the day (only 16 of them in her class total and 13 were present... 3 were still on vacation) and want to next learn where they are from. I know that we have some students from Korea, India, Finland, America, and Kazakhstan but want to make sure I know the rest. I spent the first half of the day with them, had a small pull-out group for reading and circulated during math, had some lunch, went upstairs for an Intensive English class (basically ELL) and finished with art with my kids! My mentor teacher, Ms. B, has a 2 year old (funny enough, her husband was the ELL teacher I was with!) and goes home right after lunch to relieve their nanny, so Tim and I are trying to figure out what would be a best use of my time for the remainder of the day. I'll keep you posted!
Something that was huge for me today was getting to know one of the aids in Ms. B's class. Her name is Ireena, she's a 23 year old Kazakh with a degree in translation and interpretation. She was unbelievably friendly and engaging, asking questions and always making sure I felt comfortable and knew what was going on. I guess it just kind of reiterated the importance of being that friendly face and in being interested in newcomers, it goes a LONG way in making them feel welcomed. In all, everyone at the school was very friendly and I got to meet a lot of teachers and hear their stories. The strength it must take to move your whole family to another country! It's incredible to me. And the kids in my class are so smart and so want to be in school, its almost an idealic setting. I know it won't be like this for long or for me particularly, but its been nice to have this whirlwind of culture shock and change staved by a good school experience. Tomorrow is the day Keri and I (hopefully) move into our new host family's place with them and is also a staff meeting where we will be meeting all the teachers and sitting in on some good 'ole administration junk :) also, Friday may be an interesting day for us. The U.S. Embassy did a Toys for Tots drive through the school and wanted some teachers to help distribute the toys to villages around 80km outside Astana during school hours this Friday, so naturally Tim thought maybe we'd be interested! I truly hope it works out, we've only been in cities in Kazakhstan and there's a whole other culture in the nomadic villages that I know Keri and I would love to experience. Here's to hoping it becomes a reality!
Anyway, off to bed with me. I can't believe it's almost 9:40 and I haven't passed out! Bye bye jetlag! Unfortunately, I'll meet you again in two weeks... blurgh.
Hope you're well :)
Chels
Something that was huge for me today was getting to know one of the aids in Ms. B's class. Her name is Ireena, she's a 23 year old Kazakh with a degree in translation and interpretation. She was unbelievably friendly and engaging, asking questions and always making sure I felt comfortable and knew what was going on. I guess it just kind of reiterated the importance of being that friendly face and in being interested in newcomers, it goes a LONG way in making them feel welcomed. In all, everyone at the school was very friendly and I got to meet a lot of teachers and hear their stories. The strength it must take to move your whole family to another country! It's incredible to me. And the kids in my class are so smart and so want to be in school, its almost an idealic setting. I know it won't be like this for long or for me particularly, but its been nice to have this whirlwind of culture shock and change staved by a good school experience. Tomorrow is the day Keri and I (hopefully) move into our new host family's place with them and is also a staff meeting where we will be meeting all the teachers and sitting in on some good 'ole administration junk :) also, Friday may be an interesting day for us. The U.S. Embassy did a Toys for Tots drive through the school and wanted some teachers to help distribute the toys to villages around 80km outside Astana during school hours this Friday, so naturally Tim thought maybe we'd be interested! I truly hope it works out, we've only been in cities in Kazakhstan and there's a whole other culture in the nomadic villages that I know Keri and I would love to experience. Here's to hoping it becomes a reality!
Anyway, off to bed with me. I can't believe it's almost 9:40 and I haven't passed out! Bye bye jetlag! Unfortunately, I'll meet you again in two weeks... blurgh.
Hope you're well :)
Chels
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Days 5-7: French Fries
Hello Suzie! Wow, what a weekend, where to begin... I guess I could list off all the stuff we did and all the things we saw, but this trip was truly eye opening in a bigger way. It was incredible to be on our own in a city where every sign was unreadable and where almost every word was unknown to us. I felt like this weekend was like culture shock on steroids; it truly helped me to appreciate how welcomed we were in Astana and how hard everyone here is working to make us as comfortable as possible in an uncomfortable situation.
We got lost a lot in Almaty and had a hard time getting directions from our map (in Russian) and the locals (Russian speakers). We became very creative in our ways of asking questions and pointing out distinctive buildings on our map when speaking to shop owners and taxi drivers, but it was really stressful. We had no clue if the information they gave us was what we were asking; there was some very carefully placed trust involved. A few times we were jipped by a taxi driver (he drove us literally two blocks to our hotel, insisting we couldn't walk it after we'd mimed walking to the "Astra 'Otel" as we were told by Anastasia it was pronounced in Russian, and he charged us 400 tenge for the ride which was worth around 50 if that) and misled by a shop owner (we asked where we were in relation to the river... you can imagine the miming here... and we were pointed in the wrong direction. I don't think it was intentional, but still very confusing and a little disencouraging), but we felt extremely empowered to be living it out on our own. We worked together to read city and bus maps, talk to Russian-speakers, attempt to translate signs and writing based on our small understanding of the Russian alphabet, etc. Many of the attractions that were suggested to us we stumbled upon by chance, such as this beautiful orthodox church (we wish we could have entered, but it was their Christmas and it was crowded... that and we didn't want to disrespect anyone), a huge World War I and II memorial, some old Soviet buildings as well as some cool newer ones, the Guns and Roses Pub and Grill (??? apparently it's a chain... wonder if the band knows about it at all...), a market-bazaar type place with shops and a costco-size room with hanging meets and cow heads unlike you would believe, and lots of other things. We saw a Kazakh wedding, a Kazakh policeman pulling over and yelling with a citizen, old babushkas begging for money outside the church, kiddos sledding on nearly impassable ice, all sorts of things. It was an incredible two days... sadly, the food and different smells here began to play kickball with my stomach the day we left and continually throughout the trip, and the sleeping situation on night trains aren't the easiest (and I slept on the floor in the hotel room). I wasn't feeling my best, but there was so much to do and so many places to explore I hardly noticed. We had a free traditional Kazakh breakfast at the hotel both mornings and were all feeling as though we needed a taste of home, so we dined American. This helped all of our stomachs a bit, I think :) nothing quite like pizza and french fries to set things right! Although, it does make people usually feel wrong when had at home... funny how that works.
I again, but more extensively, felt frightened and intimidated about immersing in the culture but am so glad I did so. This trip was huge in shaping my view of newcomers' emotions and struggles, in our communities and in our classrooms. The fear of not knowing the area or the language or even the different foods can cause these kids to not communicate or explore or even eat. Throughout my time here, my heart leapt when people spoke even a little English and when they respected my attempts at their language; this just reiterated the importance of embracing the cultures of our incoming students and how crucial it is to take the time and learn as much about them as they are attempting to learn about us. Learning how to properly pronounce their names, basic phrases, holidays, all of those things will help them feel welcome and valued.
Long weekend, long hard lessons, good learning :) until tomorrow! Starting in my second grade classroom, SO stoked! And won't be meeting our host family until Tuesday, a pipe burst in their apartment while they were on vacation and they're now in a hotel so we'll be with the wonderful Kruger family.
Hope all is well in Spokanistan!
Chels
P.S. To family and friends- I've been posting pictures to Facebook if you'd like to take a looksy... not many though, you'll have to see me when I get back to see them all and get the full story :)
We got lost a lot in Almaty and had a hard time getting directions from our map (in Russian) and the locals (Russian speakers). We became very creative in our ways of asking questions and pointing out distinctive buildings on our map when speaking to shop owners and taxi drivers, but it was really stressful. We had no clue if the information they gave us was what we were asking; there was some very carefully placed trust involved. A few times we were jipped by a taxi driver (he drove us literally two blocks to our hotel, insisting we couldn't walk it after we'd mimed walking to the "Astra 'Otel" as we were told by Anastasia it was pronounced in Russian, and he charged us 400 tenge for the ride which was worth around 50 if that) and misled by a shop owner (we asked where we were in relation to the river... you can imagine the miming here... and we were pointed in the wrong direction. I don't think it was intentional, but still very confusing and a little disencouraging), but we felt extremely empowered to be living it out on our own. We worked together to read city and bus maps, talk to Russian-speakers, attempt to translate signs and writing based on our small understanding of the Russian alphabet, etc. Many of the attractions that were suggested to us we stumbled upon by chance, such as this beautiful orthodox church (we wish we could have entered, but it was their Christmas and it was crowded... that and we didn't want to disrespect anyone), a huge World War I and II memorial, some old Soviet buildings as well as some cool newer ones, the Guns and Roses Pub and Grill (??? apparently it's a chain... wonder if the band knows about it at all...), a market-bazaar type place with shops and a costco-size room with hanging meets and cow heads unlike you would believe, and lots of other things. We saw a Kazakh wedding, a Kazakh policeman pulling over and yelling with a citizen, old babushkas begging for money outside the church, kiddos sledding on nearly impassable ice, all sorts of things. It was an incredible two days... sadly, the food and different smells here began to play kickball with my stomach the day we left and continually throughout the trip, and the sleeping situation on night trains aren't the easiest (and I slept on the floor in the hotel room). I wasn't feeling my best, but there was so much to do and so many places to explore I hardly noticed. We had a free traditional Kazakh breakfast at the hotel both mornings and were all feeling as though we needed a taste of home, so we dined American. This helped all of our stomachs a bit, I think :) nothing quite like pizza and french fries to set things right! Although, it does make people usually feel wrong when had at home... funny how that works.
I again, but more extensively, felt frightened and intimidated about immersing in the culture but am so glad I did so. This trip was huge in shaping my view of newcomers' emotions and struggles, in our communities and in our classrooms. The fear of not knowing the area or the language or even the different foods can cause these kids to not communicate or explore or even eat. Throughout my time here, my heart leapt when people spoke even a little English and when they respected my attempts at their language; this just reiterated the importance of embracing the cultures of our incoming students and how crucial it is to take the time and learn as much about them as they are attempting to learn about us. Learning how to properly pronounce their names, basic phrases, holidays, all of those things will help them feel welcome and valued.
Long weekend, long hard lessons, good learning :) until tomorrow! Starting in my second grade classroom, SO stoked! And won't be meeting our host family until Tuesday, a pipe burst in their apartment while they were on vacation and they're now in a hotel so we'll be with the wonderful Kruger family.
Hope all is well in Spokanistan!
Chels
P.S. To family and friends- I've been posting pictures to Facebook if you'd like to take a looksy... not many though, you'll have to see me when I get back to see them all and get the full story :)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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 :)
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 :)
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Day 3: Horse Sausage
Why hello :)
First off, sorry if my titles for my journals don't make sense... they're kind of fun ways for me to remember the little, funny experiences and the small cultural differences I've encountered :)
Today was fantastic, very nerve wracking but very good. The Kazakh preschool was incredible, the kiddos were so stinking cute and incredibly well behaved! This Kazakh preschool, or kindergarten as they call it, costs 7000 tenge to attend (which equals out to around $50 USD) and goes from 8am to around 6pm depending on when parents get off work; they provide three meals a day to these kids, and use china to eat food in! Just thought that was interesting, in America most wouldn't dream of giving a 6-year-old a china plate and bowl to feast out of, it's disposable or plastic all the way. But these kids are so well behaved, their craft time we planned was so organized and each child had a job. Kids even put out place settings for lunch for their fellow classmates! Anyway, we taught them "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and also taught them "I'm a Little Teapot". They then sang us a song, in English, that was ten times more complicated! Never underestimate children :) they could also count to 25 in English and we helped them learn words for colors and shapes during art (they made a snowman). Some of the kids were shy, possibly because they didn't understand what we were saying, but they were all very sweet and kind-hearted. Full of energy, too! Especially during one of the books we read to them (Anastasia translated, poor girl hardly had a voice because of a cold too...) about finding circles and triangles in the world.
I'm beginning to realize how scary it must be for students to be in a place where they don't speak the language. Keri and I successfully communicated to a store clerk, "what time does your store close?", but it took a lot of time, patience, gesturing and writing. I'm trying to encourage myself so that I'll speak the little bit of language I know, like speciva or rakmiet (thank you), prujalista (please/you're welcome), salaam (hello), priviet (how are you?/hello) and dasvidanye (goodbye). I've had some native Kazakhs laugh when I turned around, or they've replied in English... this can be a little discouraging, it's scary to put yourself out there and risk embarrassment to learn the language. But I quickly realized that by withdrawing I won't get anywhere; it may be strange and seem awkward, but attempting communication through multiple means and a new language is the best place to start. I can only imagine how intimidating it is for our ELL kids, and I think experiencing it has been more helpful than any study or assumption can be. I'll keep trying to immerse myself in the language, as frightening as it is, and hope that I continue to catch on. I'm beginning to learn their alphabet, and can read some things! It's really exciting :)
After preschool, we went back to Anastasia's apartment where she lives with her parents (both very very nice) and her mother cooked us a traditional Russian lunch: borsch, boiled chicken with spices, mashed potatos, bread, cucumbers and tomatos, followed by tea and numerous cookie types that have me salivating as I'm thinking about it :) we talked with her mother (through Anastasia of course) and had a great time. Then Keri and I made the stupidest decision of our life: went for a walk outside our house. We first went to the market in our apartment building and the staff have been very nice so it's good practice in interacting with Kazakhs and Russian-speaking people in a less-stressful situation. It was bitterly cold today, I had hand warmers on my face. Not smart. But we are relatively frostbiteless and I think I'm getting over my jetlag finally! Keri maybe not as much... it's been so nice having the two of us here, thank you for that insight. It's made reflecting on this experience and debriefing very fruitful, and also fun :)
In all, great day for preschool. Can't wait to go back tomorrow! Thanks for answering all my questions, everything sounds great. Prayers would be appreciated for our trip to Almaty, we're all realizing how hard it will be without a translator on our trip and are now very nervous. I'm sure it will be fine... I'm sure there'll be plenty of stories from that as well :)
Well, До завтpа (or do zavtra which means "see you tomorrow" in Russian... learned that in preschool today :) ), hope all is well for you!
Chels
First off, sorry if my titles for my journals don't make sense... they're kind of fun ways for me to remember the little, funny experiences and the small cultural differences I've encountered :)
Today was fantastic, very nerve wracking but very good. The Kazakh preschool was incredible, the kiddos were so stinking cute and incredibly well behaved! This Kazakh preschool, or kindergarten as they call it, costs 7000 tenge to attend (which equals out to around $50 USD) and goes from 8am to around 6pm depending on when parents get off work; they provide three meals a day to these kids, and use china to eat food in! Just thought that was interesting, in America most wouldn't dream of giving a 6-year-old a china plate and bowl to feast out of, it's disposable or plastic all the way. But these kids are so well behaved, their craft time we planned was so organized and each child had a job. Kids even put out place settings for lunch for their fellow classmates! Anyway, we taught them "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and also taught them "I'm a Little Teapot". They then sang us a song, in English, that was ten times more complicated! Never underestimate children :) they could also count to 25 in English and we helped them learn words for colors and shapes during art (they made a snowman). Some of the kids were shy, possibly because they didn't understand what we were saying, but they were all very sweet and kind-hearted. Full of energy, too! Especially during one of the books we read to them (Anastasia translated, poor girl hardly had a voice because of a cold too...) about finding circles and triangles in the world.
I'm beginning to realize how scary it must be for students to be in a place where they don't speak the language. Keri and I successfully communicated to a store clerk, "what time does your store close?", but it took a lot of time, patience, gesturing and writing. I'm trying to encourage myself so that I'll speak the little bit of language I know, like speciva or rakmiet (thank you), prujalista (please/you're welcome), salaam (hello), priviet (how are you?/hello) and dasvidanye (goodbye). I've had some native Kazakhs laugh when I turned around, or they've replied in English... this can be a little discouraging, it's scary to put yourself out there and risk embarrassment to learn the language. But I quickly realized that by withdrawing I won't get anywhere; it may be strange and seem awkward, but attempting communication through multiple means and a new language is the best place to start. I can only imagine how intimidating it is for our ELL kids, and I think experiencing it has been more helpful than any study or assumption can be. I'll keep trying to immerse myself in the language, as frightening as it is, and hope that I continue to catch on. I'm beginning to learn their alphabet, and can read some things! It's really exciting :)
After preschool, we went back to Anastasia's apartment where she lives with her parents (both very very nice) and her mother cooked us a traditional Russian lunch: borsch, boiled chicken with spices, mashed potatos, bread, cucumbers and tomatos, followed by tea and numerous cookie types that have me salivating as I'm thinking about it :) we talked with her mother (through Anastasia of course) and had a great time. Then Keri and I made the stupidest decision of our life: went for a walk outside our house. We first went to the market in our apartment building and the staff have been very nice so it's good practice in interacting with Kazakhs and Russian-speaking people in a less-stressful situation. It was bitterly cold today, I had hand warmers on my face. Not smart. But we are relatively frostbiteless and I think I'm getting over my jetlag finally! Keri maybe not as much... it's been so nice having the two of us here, thank you for that insight. It's made reflecting on this experience and debriefing very fruitful, and also fun :)
In all, great day for preschool. Can't wait to go back tomorrow! Thanks for answering all my questions, everything sounds great. Prayers would be appreciated for our trip to Almaty, we're all realizing how hard it will be without a translator on our trip and are now very nervous. I'm sure it will be fine... I'm sure there'll be plenty of stories from that as well :)
Well, До завтpа (or do zavtra which means "see you tomorrow" in Russian... learned that in preschool today :) ), hope all is well for you!
Chels
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Day 2: Spongebob Squarepants
Hey there!
Today we stopped by the school and planned for our lesson at the preschool. Sounds like we'll be teaching a full three hours tomorrow and are in charge of planning it! Question that Keri and I had: can this be one of our lesson plans? We're also planning a lesson for Thursday, can that also be one? Or should we split them up? Totally up to you :) after that we had a Russian lunch and went to the Oceanarium to see the Fish of Kazakhstan. And yes, we saw Lindsay today for the first time and spent some time with her! Sounds like her Polish family is great and she's attempting to beat jetlag like the rest of us :/
These experiences have already molded how I will approach new students. It's shown me what it feels like, not just helped me to assume it. I was realizing today how much patience Anastasia has with the three of us in understanding us and working with us. That and simple functioning is ten times harder when she isn't around. I hope to always be patient and always offer endless support to my kiddos so that they are less likely to feel these insecurities in the school setting. I'm beginning to realize how we put our most difficult foot forward in going to the Kazakh (completely Russian-speaking) preschool first followed by a weekend in another city without our translator... it'll be growing for sure. The preschool tomorrow will be quite the experience, and planning for it was truly unique. We had to consider every tiny detail, moreso than usual, because of our language barrier. What would be best for the kids? What songs could we teach them that have minimal, easy English? Would reading this book confuse them more than entertain them? A lot goes into planning for these things, I'm so thankful to be getting hands on practice.
I really wish my reflections made more sense, I apologize if they don't... jetlag still has a hold on my brain. But it's now 8pm my time, off to bed! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be full of insight and stories from the day ahead :)
Chels
Today we stopped by the school and planned for our lesson at the preschool. Sounds like we'll be teaching a full three hours tomorrow and are in charge of planning it! Question that Keri and I had: can this be one of our lesson plans? We're also planning a lesson for Thursday, can that also be one? Or should we split them up? Totally up to you :) after that we had a Russian lunch and went to the Oceanarium to see the Fish of Kazakhstan. And yes, we saw Lindsay today for the first time and spent some time with her! Sounds like her Polish family is great and she's attempting to beat jetlag like the rest of us :/
These experiences have already molded how I will approach new students. It's shown me what it feels like, not just helped me to assume it. I was realizing today how much patience Anastasia has with the three of us in understanding us and working with us. That and simple functioning is ten times harder when she isn't around. I hope to always be patient and always offer endless support to my kiddos so that they are less likely to feel these insecurities in the school setting. I'm beginning to realize how we put our most difficult foot forward in going to the Kazakh (completely Russian-speaking) preschool first followed by a weekend in another city without our translator... it'll be growing for sure. The preschool tomorrow will be quite the experience, and planning for it was truly unique. We had to consider every tiny detail, moreso than usual, because of our language barrier. What would be best for the kids? What songs could we teach them that have minimal, easy English? Would reading this book confuse them more than entertain them? A lot goes into planning for these things, I'm so thankful to be getting hands on practice.
I really wish my reflections made more sense, I apologize if they don't... jetlag still has a hold on my brain. But it's now 8pm my time, off to bed! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be full of insight and stories from the day ahead :)
Chels
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