Sorry. Been pretty busy in the last few weeks. In case I forgot to tell you last time, I have a SCHEDULE, that is right ladies and gentlemen, and actual schedule that has been (relatively) stable over the last 2 weeks. I am feeling more comfortable in the English classes now, kids recognize me at least, and are no longer intimidated by the fact that I am there. Got to sit in on a class today that was taking a 'test'. I put test in quotations because it would by no stretch of the imagination qualify as a test in the good ole U S of A. The teacher began by translating all of the questions for the children, then whenever they asked a question, she gave them the answer. At no point in time was the room silent, and the kids quite openly shared answers with one another. It was all basic stuff, like your name, age, address, and telephone number, but the kids had really no idea. I am for sure going to work in some practical work along with the ridiculous book the kids are expected to memorize. I have a BINGO game planned for Thursday (our next class) and am going to try to get the kids to participate in some dialogues. They do dialogues now, but they read and memorize and repeat, with very little actual understanding of what is going on. To the point that if 2 girls are reciting the dialogue, they won't even know to change the boy's names in the dialogue to their own. Sadness. But, something I have to work on.
The Sunchild things are going pretty well. I finally harassed a schedule and copy of the Ecology program from them, which is very helpful. The classes that I have taught have gone pretty well, and the kids really enjoy the games that I have brought for them. The first lesson started with a bang when I made a ghetto enviroscape for the kids to use. I used an old cardboard box, some Styrofoam, and a cut up plastic bag. The 'town' had one river and one lake, and the kids had to build (read: draw) their town on it. We talked about things that every town needed, and decided to include:
one school
one factory
houses
gardens
a dump
garbage cans
streets
a farm
They also drew in some other things, and made the town 'pretty'. Afterwards, I told them that I did not think their town was realistic. Something was missing. That is when i added fertilizers (cinnamon)to their gardens, garbage (cut up paper) to their dump and garbage bins, and industrial wastes (curry) to their factory. Then, it rained. To their dismay, although many had anticipated the outcome, all of their pollution ended up in their river and their lake. It was a sad story. We then talked about ways of cleaning it up, or preventing it in the first place. They had a great time drawing on my crazy little enviroscape, and I think the message got across.
During the last class, we talked about water consumption and played a match up game where they had to pair normal household uses of water to the average amount of water used every time. I think some of them were shocked to learn that it takes 170,000 liters of water to make just one Kg of wool. Insanity. They had fun with it though.
As far as the English classes are going, UNO on Saturday was a blast, but I now have 30 children who want to play UNO all the time. And I do mean all the time, I now use it as a reward if they sit and listen to my stammering Armenian long enough for me to get a bit of a lesson across. It was a good time though, and on some days it doesn't take much to convince me to break out the cards. Since I want to make it sort of educational, all colors and numbers have to been said in English, and if someone says a color or number in Armenian, they have to take 2 cards. Unfortunately for me, I am very used to saying things like that in Armenian now, especially when the rest of my sentence is Armenian. It has backfired a few times. The kids are crazy strict with it to, and they will resort to trying to trick people into slipping up and speaking Armenian. There are lots of laughs every game at least.
David came up last weekend, and we went for a mini-hike. I call it 'mini' because it turned into old building exploration with a little bit of hill climbing in between. It was still fantastic though. It was a pretty freezing day, I had at least 4 layers on, but it was nice to just be outside. We found, and explored, an old sanatorium..some of the pics are up on Facebook, but more will be up tomorrow. Some of the old rooms are now used to house animals, and we found old shoes, elevator shafts, and children's drawings on the walls. The light, since it was overcast, was great that day, and I got some really cool pictures which made me pretty happy. We also found a sweet horavats place up on a mountain, the new bank building site, and an old hospital. It was cool. We turned around when we reached the top of the mountain, it was very cold, and the leftover lasagna was drawing us home.
Oh yea, made lasagna, french onion soup, and an apple pie (all from scratch thank you very much) the night before. Despite the lasagna exploding and the French Onion soup boiling, it all came out really well. It was delicious. The apple pie was surprisingly fantastic, something I will definitely make again.
Snuck in a visit to Karenis, my old village, last weekend. It was great. I was traveling to Yerevan for a Green Camp meeting on Friday, which was pretty productive I think. I am going to help write grants in the next few months, and then will hopefully help out with the planning and everything at a few camps this summer. After the meeting, I bumped off to Karenis. It was great to see the family again. Everyone was doing well, and it was a really relaxing weekend. Brought UNO, played with Taron(14), Narineh(24), and Ghor(5). Monay(2) became unpleased with the fact that she couldn't participate and stole Narineh's cards, refusing for quite some time, to give them back. She would then randomly put them down on our pile, causing more laughter as Narineh attempted to see her cards and convince Monay to place the right one on the pile at the correct time. Finally, she grew bored, and we got on with it. A great time all around, and my host mum gave me 2 jars of homemade jam, a kilo of shelled walnuts, and a grocery bag of apples to take home. I was in heaven.
Well, I am pretty sleepy, I think I am going to cut it off here. I miss you all and love you tons!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Oh the Excitement!
Well, things have progressed fantastically (my new favorite word) here since I have been back. The first few days were rough, but I am coming along just fine, especially since I have been so busy. Let's all knock on wood so it stays that way! A quick rundown on things I have going now:
I am teaching 8 classes a week of English at one of the local schools. Each class is about 45 minutes long, and when I say teaching I mean I sit in the class and jump in with an activity on the board, or little piece of native-English-speaker knowledge whenever I am moved to do so. Not to shabby. This will help me get to know some of the people in the community outside of the Art School and other circles I run in here.
I FINALLY had a meeting with the Biologist I will be teaching SunChild classes with. It went fantastically (see, told you) and I have a copy (in Armenian, anyway) of what we will be talking about next month (or the end of this month, we haven't quite decided). Although he has no English, we used my dictionary and were able to figure out what most of the subjects where. We also decided on how the classes would run. Because of the language barrier, he is going to do most of the talking and 'teaching' teaching, and then I will step in for the last 20 or 30 minutes and run a relevant activity or game. Oh, and our first month worth of classes are about WATER and soil quality. I am excited!
On the topic of SunChild, I am teaching English to the kids along with participating in the Environmental classes. We had our first class in a while today, and I think it went pretty well. It was mostly a big review of Hellos, Present tense, numbers, and colors. I had some worksheets for them, and we played the ever-popular 'run and touch', which is always a hit. Tomorrow I will make paper with them, and on Saturday another English lesson. The entire lesson will consist of playing UNO and Barrel of Monkeys. UNO will help them work on colors and numbers, and is just a great time.
I am also working on a grant with my director at the Art School. We want to open a community center in some of the spare rooms in the school, complete with ceramics studio (we have a big art community here), computers, and a projector/screen for showing movies. I am working on making the idea coherent now, and then the Peace Corps hosts a 3 day conference in February to help us hash out the details and final plan before we apply for the grant. I will let you all know how that goes.
I was also invited to participate (in a support role) at an international training conference that one of the Youth in Action NGO is hosting in February for a week. It is themed 'Think Locally, Act Europeanly' and kids from all over Europe will be there. I am pretty stoked for it, to be honest. Oh, and the leader of the NGO here also asked me if I would start and English discussion club. We would meet once or twice a month and it would allow all of the English speakers in the Dilijan area to come together and practice. Sounds like fun, something that I will start next month probably.
It is still in the planning stages, but myself and another volunteer are planning to run computer classes here in Dilijan. We want to offer work-related courses to adults, and fun (please come back again!) courses to the kids in the community. Other volunteers are planning them all over the country, and when it pulls together it should be pretty great.
In the next few weeks, once my final schedule at the school hashes itself out, I also want to look into forming some type of Environmental something at the Youth Club that just opened up. It will probably turn into an Environmental English club, but we will see.
I am also going to start working with the Youth Bank group in Dilijan. Youth Bank is a group of young adults that were trained to read and rate grant projects and applications. Historically, grants in Armenia (jobs, even.) are rewarded based on who your friend or cousin or sister is. So the NGO trains the participants to rate the project on a number of different criteria, and the top rated are given small grants. They recently awarded 5 (or 6) small grants ranging from a garbage barrel project to a batik (silk scarf dying) project. They are moving into the monitoring phase of the program know, and hopefully I will help them to monitor one or more of the projects. I know a few of the young adults already, and it should be interesting.
I am also looking forward to start working on Green Camp stuff. Green Camps are Environmental camps that are run all over Armenia during the summer time. It is officially through the Green Tavush NGO, but Peace Corps volunteers plan and host them everywhere. Kids come for about a week, either as a day or overnight camp, and learn about different issues affecting the environment around them. Of course, as it is a camp, lots and lots of games and activities are involved, and the camps are a fantastic (there it is again) time. Right before Halloween I caught the tail end of one my friend Beth was hosting. The kids had a blast, and it was fun for the counselors as well.
Well, I have to finish finding the right words to describe our idea for the community center (the conference application is due the 18th!), so I am going to head out.
Oh, before I go. One thing that Armenia is really lacking is a Staples or an Office Max. School and office supplies here are seriously lacking (quantity and quality wise) , so if anyone is looking to send out a package, here are a few things that would help me out a ton:
sticky tack
construction paper
colored chalk
whiteboard markers
scotch tape (on the dispenser kind)
flip charts
also, if anyone has any lower level books they no longer use (children's books), I want to start a small library that the kids can use to practice their English.
There are a few other things, but they escape me now...
More in a couple of days, I love you all and miss you lots!
I am teaching 8 classes a week of English at one of the local schools. Each class is about 45 minutes long, and when I say teaching I mean I sit in the class and jump in with an activity on the board, or little piece of native-English-speaker knowledge whenever I am moved to do so. Not to shabby. This will help me get to know some of the people in the community outside of the Art School and other circles I run in here.
I FINALLY had a meeting with the Biologist I will be teaching SunChild classes with. It went fantastically (see, told you) and I have a copy (in Armenian, anyway) of what we will be talking about next month (or the end of this month, we haven't quite decided). Although he has no English, we used my dictionary and were able to figure out what most of the subjects where. We also decided on how the classes would run. Because of the language barrier, he is going to do most of the talking and 'teaching' teaching, and then I will step in for the last 20 or 30 minutes and run a relevant activity or game. Oh, and our first month worth of classes are about WATER and soil quality. I am excited!
On the topic of SunChild, I am teaching English to the kids along with participating in the Environmental classes. We had our first class in a while today, and I think it went pretty well. It was mostly a big review of Hellos, Present tense, numbers, and colors. I had some worksheets for them, and we played the ever-popular 'run and touch', which is always a hit. Tomorrow I will make paper with them, and on Saturday another English lesson. The entire lesson will consist of playing UNO and Barrel of Monkeys. UNO will help them work on colors and numbers, and is just a great time.
I am also working on a grant with my director at the Art School. We want to open a community center in some of the spare rooms in the school, complete with ceramics studio (we have a big art community here), computers, and a projector/screen for showing movies. I am working on making the idea coherent now, and then the Peace Corps hosts a 3 day conference in February to help us hash out the details and final plan before we apply for the grant. I will let you all know how that goes.
I was also invited to participate (in a support role) at an international training conference that one of the Youth in Action NGO is hosting in February for a week. It is themed 'Think Locally, Act Europeanly' and kids from all over Europe will be there. I am pretty stoked for it, to be honest. Oh, and the leader of the NGO here also asked me if I would start and English discussion club. We would meet once or twice a month and it would allow all of the English speakers in the Dilijan area to come together and practice. Sounds like fun, something that I will start next month probably.
It is still in the planning stages, but myself and another volunteer are planning to run computer classes here in Dilijan. We want to offer work-related courses to adults, and fun (please come back again!) courses to the kids in the community. Other volunteers are planning them all over the country, and when it pulls together it should be pretty great.
In the next few weeks, once my final schedule at the school hashes itself out, I also want to look into forming some type of Environmental something at the Youth Club that just opened up. It will probably turn into an Environmental English club, but we will see.
I am also going to start working with the Youth Bank group in Dilijan. Youth Bank is a group of young adults that were trained to read and rate grant projects and applications. Historically, grants in Armenia (jobs, even.) are rewarded based on who your friend or cousin or sister is. So the NGO trains the participants to rate the project on a number of different criteria, and the top rated are given small grants. They recently awarded 5 (or 6) small grants ranging from a garbage barrel project to a batik (silk scarf dying) project. They are moving into the monitoring phase of the program know, and hopefully I will help them to monitor one or more of the projects. I know a few of the young adults already, and it should be interesting.
I am also looking forward to start working on Green Camp stuff. Green Camps are Environmental camps that are run all over Armenia during the summer time. It is officially through the Green Tavush NGO, but Peace Corps volunteers plan and host them everywhere. Kids come for about a week, either as a day or overnight camp, and learn about different issues affecting the environment around them. Of course, as it is a camp, lots and lots of games and activities are involved, and the camps are a fantastic (there it is again) time. Right before Halloween I caught the tail end of one my friend Beth was hosting. The kids had a blast, and it was fun for the counselors as well.
Well, I have to finish finding the right words to describe our idea for the community center (the conference application is due the 18th!), so I am going to head out.
Oh, before I go. One thing that Armenia is really lacking is a Staples or an Office Max. School and office supplies here are seriously lacking (quantity and quality wise) , so if anyone is looking to send out a package, here are a few things that would help me out a ton:
sticky tack
construction paper
colored chalk
whiteboard markers
scotch tape (on the dispenser kind)
flip charts
also, if anyone has any lower level books they no longer use (children's books), I want to start a small library that the kids can use to practice their English.
There are a few other things, but they escape me now...
More in a couple of days, I love you all and miss you lots!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
End of Nor Tari
Well, let's start with the fact that I am doing a bit better then I was when I was sitting all lonely like in that overpriced airport cafe.
Yesterday I decided to reorganize my room while I was unpacking. We all know how much that helps me out when I am all discombobulated. Went to the store and bought them out of hangers, and came home for a few intense hours of getting my life back together-ish.
Today, my host mum came in to wake me up at 12:30. Give me a break, my times are all off again. I had to catch the bus at 1:30 to go to a last minute holiday party. Jack, my site mate, met me on the bus, and we got to the house around 2. The family is a Mum, Dad, 2 daughters, and a son. I have worked with one of the daughters many times, but this was my first time meeting the rest of the family. The daughter, thankfully, is pretty fluent in English, so she helped translate for me and Jack. Dinner was delicious, and the conversation was really interesting. Kind of a debate.
Some background. The mum is a doctor and the dad an engineer. The older daughter works as a medical representative, the younger daughter as an accountant, and the son is still at University. The mother asked about differences between American and Armenian students and education. I explained that there are 2 very different types of learning. Armenia, coming from a Soviet background, focuses on rote memorization of facts, while in America the focus is put more on critical thinking and problem solving. The discussion then went on to which method is more effective, learning English, and the problems that are seen in Armenian schools today. Boiling it down, it was agreed that there definitely needed to be more hands-on stuff and critical thinking in the classrooms here. It was also agreed that the education system was probably a little bit better under the Soviet system then it is now.
There was a big difference in opinion when it came to learning English and other languages though. Here, grammar is the focus of teaching. This means that while most Armenians probably know English grammar better then myself, they couldn't speak it to save their life. The family argued that grammar was focused on because speaking is easy and can be picked up whenever. Jack and I threw down the yellow flag on that and argued that while grammar is important, it is harder to learn to listen and to speak, and that grammar gives you nothing unless you can actively participate in a conversation. Pretty sure we never found middle ground on that one, and the debate was ended with a toast to the children.
The conversation about problems in the Education system today was a little less heated. It was agreed that something definitely needs to change, because education in Armenia now is not cutting the mustard. Before I go on, I want to say that what we talked about does not happen in every classroom in Armenia, and that there are some fantastic teachers out there that really and truly care for their children. I am just giving examples of practices that are widespread enough that they have been noticed by more then one volunteer. One problem that is seen is the way children are ridiculed or embarrassed in class when they don't know things, a throwback to Soviet times. Also, only a few of the brightest children are focused on while the rest of the children are left behind. Clearly, you can see where we would have a problem with either of those methods. I talked to the family about how in most classrooms in America (not all, teachers still have favorites) that does not happen and is not acceptable. Children are not ridiculed in class, and are encouraged when they do know an answer or correctly perform an activity.
Cutting to the chase, it was really interesting to hear the Armenian version of the problems of the Education System and their possible solutions. Normally, these subjects are discussed among volunteers, where we all come from the same educational background. It was enlightening to hear another point of view.
Oh, and all of these discussions were interspersed with toasts; to children, parents, health, the future, etc. Despite disagreement, the night ended on a cheerful note. As the Nor Tari (New Year) celebrations come to a close, tomorrow is the first work day since the 1st, everyone seems hopeful for good things in the year to come.
Yesterday I decided to reorganize my room while I was unpacking. We all know how much that helps me out when I am all discombobulated. Went to the store and bought them out of hangers, and came home for a few intense hours of getting my life back together-ish.
Today, my host mum came in to wake me up at 12:30. Give me a break, my times are all off again. I had to catch the bus at 1:30 to go to a last minute holiday party. Jack, my site mate, met me on the bus, and we got to the house around 2. The family is a Mum, Dad, 2 daughters, and a son. I have worked with one of the daughters many times, but this was my first time meeting the rest of the family. The daughter, thankfully, is pretty fluent in English, so she helped translate for me and Jack. Dinner was delicious, and the conversation was really interesting. Kind of a debate.
Some background. The mum is a doctor and the dad an engineer. The older daughter works as a medical representative, the younger daughter as an accountant, and the son is still at University. The mother asked about differences between American and Armenian students and education. I explained that there are 2 very different types of learning. Armenia, coming from a Soviet background, focuses on rote memorization of facts, while in America the focus is put more on critical thinking and problem solving. The discussion then went on to which method is more effective, learning English, and the problems that are seen in Armenian schools today. Boiling it down, it was agreed that there definitely needed to be more hands-on stuff and critical thinking in the classrooms here. It was also agreed that the education system was probably a little bit better under the Soviet system then it is now.
There was a big difference in opinion when it came to learning English and other languages though. Here, grammar is the focus of teaching. This means that while most Armenians probably know English grammar better then myself, they couldn't speak it to save their life. The family argued that grammar was focused on because speaking is easy and can be picked up whenever. Jack and I threw down the yellow flag on that and argued that while grammar is important, it is harder to learn to listen and to speak, and that grammar gives you nothing unless you can actively participate in a conversation. Pretty sure we never found middle ground on that one, and the debate was ended with a toast to the children.
The conversation about problems in the Education system today was a little less heated. It was agreed that something definitely needs to change, because education in Armenia now is not cutting the mustard. Before I go on, I want to say that what we talked about does not happen in every classroom in Armenia, and that there are some fantastic teachers out there that really and truly care for their children. I am just giving examples of practices that are widespread enough that they have been noticed by more then one volunteer. One problem that is seen is the way children are ridiculed or embarrassed in class when they don't know things, a throwback to Soviet times. Also, only a few of the brightest children are focused on while the rest of the children are left behind. Clearly, you can see where we would have a problem with either of those methods. I talked to the family about how in most classrooms in America (not all, teachers still have favorites) that does not happen and is not acceptable. Children are not ridiculed in class, and are encouraged when they do know an answer or correctly perform an activity.
Cutting to the chase, it was really interesting to hear the Armenian version of the problems of the Education System and their possible solutions. Normally, these subjects are discussed among volunteers, where we all come from the same educational background. It was enlightening to hear another point of view.
Oh, and all of these discussions were interspersed with toasts; to children, parents, health, the future, etc. Despite disagreement, the night ended on a cheerful note. As the Nor Tari (New Year) celebrations come to a close, tomorrow is the first work day since the 1st, everyone seems hopeful for good things in the year to come.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Sitting in Paris
So, I am sitting in a cafe in Paris. Not what you are thinking though, it is an overpriced (4 dollars for a bottle of juice) airport cafe. I hate Paris, well, the airport at least. I would like to say that in my crazy long layover (7 hours) I was able to travel out and see a little bit of France, but no. I could barely find my way to my gate, and security here is obnoxious. Not impressed. And, I want another bottle of juice.
My flight from Boston to Paris was alright. I was a bit of a mess, and had a hard time falling asleep. For those of you who know me, even a little bit, you know that falling asleep is usually not a problem for me, staying awake is. Leaving home (again) was hard, really hard.
Had a going away dinner last night with some of the family and friends at the Pasta House. It was nice, and I was proud of myself for only getting teary once. In my defense it was the last time I was seeing all of those amazing people for 20 months, which right now seems like an awfully long time.
This morning a bunch of us (mum, Kel, Joey, DP, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle) came to IHOP to join me for one last, normal breakfast before I left. I ordered a side of bacon, surprise surprise. It was great to see everyone and spend some time together.
Had a nap when I got home (sleep eluded me last night to), and then some last minute repacking when Danny declared that my suitcase was too heavy.
The ride to the airport was fine, but when we got there I got stalling. I really did not want to get back on that plane. I got away with putting it off for a bit longer then expected (thanks to a delay) but finally I had to go.
Now I am sitting in Paris with all this time to think. Probably not a good plan, but it's whats happening. While I know I am lucky to be doing what I am doing, it still hurts to be away from everyone. I am stopping now though, before I lose it in this overpriced airport cafe and make a fool of myself.
Maybe I will treat myself to that second 4 dollar juice.
I miss you all and love you lots. Don't forget about me guys.
My flight from Boston to Paris was alright. I was a bit of a mess, and had a hard time falling asleep. For those of you who know me, even a little bit, you know that falling asleep is usually not a problem for me, staying awake is. Leaving home (again) was hard, really hard.
Had a going away dinner last night with some of the family and friends at the Pasta House. It was nice, and I was proud of myself for only getting teary once. In my defense it was the last time I was seeing all of those amazing people for 20 months, which right now seems like an awfully long time.
This morning a bunch of us (mum, Kel, Joey, DP, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle) came to IHOP to join me for one last, normal breakfast before I left. I ordered a side of bacon, surprise surprise. It was great to see everyone and spend some time together.
Had a nap when I got home (sleep eluded me last night to), and then some last minute repacking when Danny declared that my suitcase was too heavy.
The ride to the airport was fine, but when we got there I got stalling. I really did not want to get back on that plane. I got away with putting it off for a bit longer then expected (thanks to a delay) but finally I had to go.
Now I am sitting in Paris with all this time to think. Probably not a good plan, but it's whats happening. While I know I am lucky to be doing what I am doing, it still hurts to be away from everyone. I am stopping now though, before I lose it in this overpriced airport cafe and make a fool of myself.
Maybe I will treat myself to that second 4 dollar juice.
I miss you all and love you lots. Don't forget about me guys.
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