Today, we arrived in Zaporizhzhya after our over night train adventure! It was fun and I learned a few new things, like how to balance to brush my teeth and spit in the sink!! It is a large city of 700,000 people and the main industry is steel production. Our cooperating teacher met us at the train station and took us to our hotel so that we could get settled in and cleaned up. Then we went to the school. We met with the Principal and other administrators, had a tour of the school, and finally got to meet some of the students in two classes.
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| Form 8 students - Marina and Olga |
The first class was a Form 8 class. The students call their teachers by their first name and their father's first name in connection to birth. So... they would call me Carol, Daughter of Douglas because that is my first name and my father's first name! We watched while the teacher taught a short lesson on singular/plural nouns, and then the students read some of your letters and wrote postcards back!!! We are going to try to get every letter answered; but, I discovered in the next class, that some of the students are not capable of writing to you! We went to the Form 1 class were they are just beginning to learn English and they could not write a letter to you. The teachers who teach English as a foreign language are going to work together to help get every letter answered. They were excited to read your letters and asked a lot of questions about them and you! If you would like to see some of the students who are answering your letters, the teacher that I am working with from Boston, Sara Krakauer, made a video of the students asking questions. You can view it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OezIQDYzec
The classrooms have very little technology. Some of the teachers have computers and there are two computer labs with 12 computers each. They do not have any iPads, mobile computer labs, or any student computers in the classroom. Most of the students that we saw have cell phones though! The schools are just not given enough money to have technology. One teacher has a smart board because a parent donated it! Boy, are we lucky!! They all seems to be very happy and successful in their learning. The principal told us that they ranked in the top 25 schools in all of Ukraine!! Tomorrow we will spend more time working with the students and will have a typical school lunch! Should I have pickled vegetables or cabbage rolls????
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Polina and
Reading your letters! |
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Form 1 students
They all wear hair bows!
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| A typical classroom |
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The computer lab
5 computers on this side and 7 on the other
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Form 4 Artwork for Green Day (Earth Day!)
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Statue of a Cossack Solider in a local park
Who is a Cossack Solider? |
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The street that our hotel is located on...
many shops and coffee houses close by! |
The Earth Day pictures are great! What do you think are the biggest differences you have noticed in the school you are visiting (as compared to our school)?
ReplyDeleteIt has been interesting! They are very much more structured in class. The students stand when the teacher comes in and grets him or her. They stand to give answers too, but the time between is less structured. they have 15 minutes between classes and hand out to socialize and talk on their phones!
ReplyDeleteFirst period wanted to know if they have tractors. :) They all miss you very much. They also asked about what kinds of animals you may have seen--pigs, dogs, turtle. Another topic they would like to know more about is the food. Is there any Chinese food or a McDonald's?
ReplyDeleteOverall first and third period thought you should eat cabbage rolls. But second period was mostly pickled vegetables.
Are girls and boys treated differently? Do girls get to play sports too?
I actually got fried eggs and a hot dog this morning. I asked for sausage and was given the hot dog. It was good though! Both boys and girls play sports and I have really not seen a difference in how they are treated. At least not in school. There are many more girls than boys at the school that we are working in but I think that it is because it has a focs on music.
DeleteThey have fast food...both McDonald's and ethnic restaurants....but I am trying to stay out of them!! Ukrainian food is delicious but very different. Many more vegetables and pickled cabbage and vegetables.