Last Friday my main co-teacher looked even worse than I
felt. On Sunday night, she texted me to
say she was too sick to come to school.
I was not bothered. However,
between her absence and the absence of many other teachers at school this week
(because we’re all sick, I assume), I’ve taught every single lesson alone. My 3rd grade class has driven me
crazy. I have yelled a whole lot, since
my Monday experiment in not yelling meant I got practically nothing
accomplished in 3rd and 5th grade. So, Tuesday, I had more of a voice, and I
used it. I also have thrown a few kids
out of class, which works well unless they’re a certain 3rd grader
who enjoys getting thrown out of class so he can annoy me from outside the
door.
Still, it hasn’t been all that bad. Yes, there’s a language barrier, but I know
most commands, and I honestly don’t care to understand the silly things kids
try to explain to me when they aren’t doing what they’re supposed to. No excuse makes not doing their work OK. I enjoy the autonomy (shock to most of you, I
am sure). I feel more like a real
teacher and feel like I’m contributing.
The best part has been my students showering me with love
and affection. A few of my 3rd
grade girls had already started shaking my hand and then giving me hugs or
kisses. They did that a lot this
week. Yesterday I had several of them
jumping up and down and tugging on my coat to try to get me to tell them my
phone number. I walked into that class
with a note on the board saying that they loved me. I walked out to another note with the same
meaning. One of my 3rd
graders gave me a pair of earrings. I
was awed, even if a jewel is missing from one of them. It was still so sweet. I have a collection of
drawings that I have not confiscated but been given by kids.
My 4th grade girls gave me a bracelet. I felt so guilty when one girl gave me a
hand-made bracelet that was made for a 4th grade hand so it was too
small. The poor girl was so upset. One of her friends then produced another seed
bead bracelet that did fit. I’ve gotten
several compliments on it, because it is pretty (except the string is starting
to break).
My 5th graders have this silly game with
cardboard pieces. On one side are
points. On the other is some
figure. I confiscated several of them,
but lately they’ve just been giving them to me.
The first one they gave me was Hannah Montana, appropriate enough. It has progressed from there. I have been given probably every Disney
princess. Now even the boys have given
me some, so I have cars. Plus, today, 2
boys gave me Spider-man stickers. The
girls also gave wrote me a note that said “Hana ticha you have nice”. Clearly I have work to do, but the thought
was what made me smile. Even when these
kids drive me crazy and I don’t feel respected, they actually do like me and
are sad to hear I won’t be hear next year.
I even had a breakthrough teaching moment today. Some days I don’t mind the book we have, but
others it drives me crazy. The book,
although made for teaching English to non-native speakers, sometimes seems very
British. It isn’t just the British
voices, but also the parts of life that don’t jive with the cultural realities
of Georgia. We’re currently on a chapter talking about
possession. The book teachers a weird
British form of “I have got” and “Have you got…?” I’ve gotten over that well enough, but we
talk about rooms and I realize how the normal childhood bedroom does not fit
the Georgian lifestyle. Especially now
when families are limited to a few heated rooms in winter, Georgian kids don’t
have their own bedrooms. They certainly
don’t have bedrooms with computers and TVs in them, unless that bedroom is
shared by other members of the family.
Still, I stumbled upon a way to make this lesson applicable. We had been talking about having family
members and dogs and cats. I asked if
anyone had a cow and drew a bad picture of the cow on the board. Since more of my kids have cows than cats, that
got 75% of my class screaming at me. One
of the kids even remembered talking about a “hen” to tell me how many hens
(chickens) he had. Several kids chimed
in. When I asked about rabbits, my class
went crazy. The word had been introduced
as part of dialogue about a magic trick in a toy shop. My kids all have them because they make tasty
shish kebabs.
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