Teaching "Englsh" and Other Happenings...

I am going to Bakuriani (about 20 minutes outside of Borjomi...I mention this because it's famous for its water and because you might have better luck finding on the map) tomorrow for a small getaway with some other trainees. We are going to just relax on Saturday I think and then do some hiking in the mountains surrounding the town on Sunday. The hiking should be excellent since Bakuriani is primarily known as a ski resort. Peace Corps gave us 100 lari for the trip, and transportation plus lodging is only 20 lari, so I think there will be much left over for future travels, which is nice.

I taught English (or "Englsh" as one of the 7th form textbooks says...in big bold letters on the cover) for the first time this past week. It went pretty well, although planning was a bit difficult. I had no idea as to how long each activity would take or about the level the students were at. But both of those should easily be remedied with experience. The kids are great though - or at least they are so far. I've taught 5th, 6th, and 7th forms (form = grade, basically) and have generally been successful in getting the students to participate. Most Georgian schools still operate on a Soviet learning system, which means that the students memorize long passages in English and recite them but can pretty much only speak from those particular passages that they have memorized verbatim. So, consequently, when I ask a student how they are doing today, every single one of them responds "I am fine, thank you." I doubt that they even know what it means. So enacting a more participatory learning style is very challenging, but really necessary because I don't want to spend my two years here talking to human textbooks.

So, getting students to participate is pretty tough. They can read English (even aloud) well enough, but they don't speak it in class. Old teaching methods just didn't put any value whatsoever in being able to hold an actual conversation. But even in one week I have seen a lot of improvement in this area, so hopefully I can draw out the students in my permanent school as well in a few months.

I'm still eating a lot. Usually four meals per day, sometimes five if I'm lucky. And I still haven't found appropriate ways to exercise, so I should be gaining much weight. But, alas, I'm not. So that's the update there. And still no diarrhea (or any medical problem, for that matter).

I am an idiot and forgot my flash drive, so no pictures today, even though I have tons of time (as evidenced by being able to write this long post on the ridiculously slow computers). I might be able to send out some emails on Sunday, so maybe be on the lookout for that. And email me, or write comments, or whatever, I really enjoy them. Ok, time to try and access the news...


Tim