Last week, I had a scheduled appointment time with my Regional Manager, Zhanna, to visit my site. During her visit, she wanted to see me conduct a demo lesson and check out my new apartment. As I was walking to school at 7:45am last Wednesday, I was slightly nervous to have someone observe and critique my lesson. I had thought through the material, I had built my students' knowledge to this point, and I had prepared the lesson thoughtfully. My topic was Personality and Likes for my 6th grade students. The difficult part of the lesson would be teaching the grammar components: (I, you, we, etc. = Do...?) and (He, she, it = Does...?). Sounds simple enough, but repitition is key.
As my students filed into the classroom, with Zhanna sitting in the back, we began the lesson:
"Good morning," I said to gather their attention.
"Good morning," the class replied, almost in unison.
"How are you today?" I asked.
"We are well, and what about you?" the class replied - almost like excited robots.
"I am well, thank you. Please sit down," I responded.
We moved through the lesson fairly well. I did have some mistakes in my explaining, but when students were practicing the grammar, I realized my error and was able to correct it quickly. Also, some of the students continually wanted to chat with other students (sounds like a normal classroom, right?), so I was able to show Zhanna some of my classroom management techniques. All in all, the lesson went very well and Zhanna praised my lesson to my counterpart.
Then, Zhanna asked if I wanted to attend a "Site Development" meeting with her. I went with Zhanna to a nearby town to meet with the school administration, who applied for a new volunteer. The administration was extremely friendly towards me and I appreciated their eagerness to ask me questions. Because the site did not have housing available to show us during this meeting, I will travel back to this site in the next couple of weeks to look at the housing update and report to Zhanna. Should be fun getting to know the people at this new site!
On our way back to Novoukrainka from the nearby village, we stopped at the granite mine just outside my town. Apparently, many people from my town are employed by this massive granite mine! Here are some pictures of the extensive mine:
Last weekend was the semiannual softball weekend in Kirovohrad Oblast (the oblast I live in). On Saturday, volunteers meet in Kirovohrad to play some round-robin softball games. We ended up having about fifty volunteers come in from all over Ukraine, so we had four teams of volunteers. There were also two Ukrainian teams playing. We usually go to a discotech Saturday evening and spend time together. Then on Sunday, we put together one "All Star American" team to play the "All Star Ukrainian" team. Apparently, in previous years, the volunteer all-star team usually dominated the Ukrianian team, but both softball weekends I have attended, the Ukrainian team kills us! After the All-Star game, all the volunteers head to a nearby orphanage to watch some dance routines, play sports, and donate school supplies to the children.
Here's a picture of a football game:
Tug-of-War: I love how the volunteers are pretending to have a difficult time! In the end, of course the children were champions!
The running-through-the-hula-hoop contest...
The hopping-with-a-ball-between-your-legs relay...
A Hula-Hoop dance routine:
On Saturday night, Sarah, Adrian, and I were walking down the street to meet up with some other volunteers when we smelled, or at least we thought we smelled, Chinese food! It smelled so delicious! We went inside, but come to find out, sushi was the only item on the menu. We tried it and it actually tasted good - I certainly was happy after eating sushi for the first time in over a year!
Saturday night at the discotech with (from left to right): me, Lindsey, Natalie, Nastia, and Katie
This week has been extremely busy! Sasha, the student that I am very close with and her parent's own the apartment I live in, is working on her application for the FLEX program (Future Leaders Exchange Program). If selected, Sasha will have the opportunity to attend school in the U.S. for one academic year. We have been busy working on her application! Also, today, rather than having lessons, I went to the collective farm with students to pick vegetables for the school cafeteria. I had a great time with students and will be posting pictures soon. Tomorrow, again my lessons are cancelled because I will go to the forest with students. It is similar to a "field day" in the U.S., where the students eat food, play games, and have competitions. I will be posting pictures soon of these fun events!
Until then, take care.
Love Natalie
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