It’s officially that time of year. Children are standing at their respective corners, awaiting the approach of the giant, yellow, school bus. Office Max and Wal-Mart are swarming with families buying new notebooks stamped with whatever superhero is popular at the moment….NOT!
So school started on Wednesday, September 15th, and thus far nothing really has been going on. The first day of school consisted of everyone meeting out in the school yard while my school Director (aka Principle) passed out new computers for the great students, gave out certificates for the good students, and introduced me to the entire student body, teachers, and numerous parents (roughly around 500 people). So I know you’re just waiting for me to divulge my horror story beginning with clammy palms, cotton mouth, and sweat dripping from my forehead, and ending with me hurling all over my director, but surprisingly I did well. The only thing I can claim to be unhappy about was the bad translation, but beings that I can’t speak Georgian fluently, I can’t very well step in and correct, now can I?!?
The rest of last week consisted of me trying to convince my counterpart to switch books because the current books they are using right now, are pretty god awful. SUCCESS! We are now using some bright, fun, and interesting books that I think the kids will actually be excited to learn from.
I also had a meeting with my Director to discuss working with 2 counterparts. They just made the old German teacher an English teacher. She understands very little English, so I'm hoping that I can help her improve her English and help her kids too!
Now onto the troubles. First, I’d like to preface this by saying that I know not all teachers in Georgia are like this. I’ve been lucky enough to have experienced some of the great teachers in this country and those teachers are EXCELLENT, but from conversations I’ve had with my host family, students, and teachers, there are some MAJOR issues with the Education system here. A lot of teachers here don’t really teach what they should or the amount they school in schools in order for the students to pass the national exams when they graduate. Therefore, most students take private tutoring lessons where they are instructed on the topics they should be learning in school. Not only does this leave a lot of students behind (those who don’t have money to pay), but it also wastes everyone’s time at school. I’m not 100% for standardized tests, but I think that perhaps in Georgia’s case, it might help.
The teachers are now being required to pass tests in both their subjects and on their teaching ability. Apparently, if they don’t pass within the next 4 years, they get fired. Good thing?! Perhaps…
Students throw trash out the windows! It’s insane. I can’t believe it when I see it, and every time I see it, I yell! My first project is going to be to add boxes in my classroom, and hopefully throughout the school. We shall see what happens.
That’s all for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment