Thursday, October 31, 2013

My kids

Russian kids know how to party
 
Last night, for Level 1, we had a small Halloween party. They knew what Halloween was, and were fully prepared with a costumes. After doing some spelling and writing, we jumped into it...drawing pumpkins on orange balloons, showing their costumes to the class, taking pictures, talking about Halloween, and eating candy.
 
From left to right: Ellya, Lera, Violit, Artium, Maxim, Seva, & Vlad
 

 
My host brother, Maxim, knows how to kick butt.
(Literally. He learned "Tae Kwon Do" in Thailand.
My host family lived there for 14 months)
 
 
 
Here is my "home group" from Primary (1 of the 3 groups I get)!
From left to right: Gleb, Alisia, Sonya, Mark,
Dionna, & Alisa
 
 
Of course we can't forget Private 1! Recently we got a bunch
of new little kids at this school, but pictured below
are 3 of the 5 older students we have.
From right to left: Maxim, Motivey, Vlad,
and some American
Playing with lightsabers with teacher Lauren
 
Aren't they all just too cute? Don't be deceived by their adorableness--they can be a handful sometimes! ;) I enjoy teaching them though. My favorite classes would go in this order: Level 1, Private 1, & then Primary.
 
Progress with the kids is slow but good. This program has a way of gently and secretly introducing English into the kids vocabulary; so overnight they, obviously, won't turn into fluent speakers. But, with time, they do come close to it...
 
...On Tuesday night we had a parents meeting at the Kindergarten. All of us girls had to get up and tell about each individual child we teach. Because some of the parents don't speak English themselves, kids from Level 6 were brought to translate. And they did, perfectly! It was awesome to see 12-13 year olds translating English to Russian to an entire audience. And it helped me to understand that, yes, with time and patience my kids from Primary, and all the way to Level 1, can get to that point.
 
Along with the parents meeting, we also had "open classes" in our Level/Elementary program. For an hour two Monday's ago, in my Level 1 class parents came to see how their kid was doing, how class goes, and decide whether to continue their child in the program (not intimidating at all....) Tonight I have an open class for Primary.
 
We also have to plan a "Spectacular", which will be a day before I leave St Pete's (December 17th), at the Kindergarten. This is for Primary and Level's 1-4. We will have skits, songs, ect., for the kids to preform in front of their parents. 
 
Anyway! That's about it when it comes to the kids. Lots of things going on, and lots of work to do!
 
And because us volunteers are so busy and work so hard, we get vacation time! Tomorrow night we'll be leaving on a bus to Lithuania, and our trip will continue through Latvia, Estonia, & Finland. Nov 1st - 10th. I'm excited! We are having to plan out and write down a lot of details, directions, and the like. Hopefully things will go over well! Can't wait to get some more stamps on my passport.
 
Talk to you all later!
-Maegan

5 comments:

  1. Oh what fun!!! It's great to see a Halloween party in Russia, and today is Halloween here! (I'm sure you timed it like that on purpose) And I know more fun posts will be coming after your incredible trip to all those countries! What an adventure!!

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  2. Dear Maegan, Tell us about the Level 1 Open class you had when the parents were invited to observe your class. Was there anyone in the room to translate for the parents? Did you get any feedback from your supervisor about what the parents thought about the class later? Right now I bet you do a lot of reading the facial expressions and body language. The children are so cute. So in about 4-5 years they will be fairly fluent in English if they keep the classes up right? Are you still getting Russian classes to help you? Love Grandma Rogers

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  3. Hey Maeg!
    We have some request offs at the end of December and we know you get back the 18th! So we were just wondering when you were planning on starting work again? Just let us know so we can figure something out!

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  4. Hello! Well yes I am getting back on the 18th! And I am planning on taking a week to rest, spend time with my family, and enjoy Christmas. So starting work again on the 27th or sometime after would be ideal. Let me know what you think! Thx

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    Replies
    1. Sounds great, thanks!
      Hope youre having a great time, cant wait for you to be back at work!

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