week one

Zdravo! (That's "hello!" for all of you non-Bosnians). Here's a little of what's been going on at my škola so far:

Andrew and I co-teach three classes, each with about a dozen students. Our first class has eight and nine year-olds, the second has ten and eleven year-olds, and the third has twelve and thirteen year-olds. This means that, in general, as the day progresses so do the English language skills of the kids we see. However, individual levels of English vary greatly, even among children of the same age. In each of our classes there are kids who know only a few words and also kids who can hold lengthy conversations.

Our lessons this week followed the theme of "people". This incorporated introductions and basic conversation (Monday), occupations (Tuesday), and emotions/characteristics (Thursday). We also had international day on Wednesday and Holiday Friday. For these days the three classrooms were different countries and holidays, and the students rotated through them. This was great for us teachers because we got to meet all of the kids at the school.

So far I am really impressed with them all. They are (mostly) very enthusiastic and have been encouraging and friendly towards each other. I was most surprised by their knowledge of geography and political history, given the lack of my own at their ages. Name any large country and even the youngest ones can probably tell you its capital.

On the other hand, their cultural knowledge seems to be largely based on what they have seen on TV, especially for the youngest kids. For example, when we asked what they knew about Malaysia, one child said that people live in the rainforest, believe in spirits and ghosts, wear traditional clothes, and eat off of banana leaves. While this is certainly true of some people in Malaysia (mainly, the communities featured by National Geographic), it is not very representative of the country.

As you may have guessed by now, for international day my classroom was Malaysia. After opening with a traditional indigenous dance, Andrew, who is from Malaysia, talked a little about the different ethnicities and religions found there. This provoked a small discussion in some of the oldest classes about the situation in Bosnia. Students said that among young people, everyone is friends with everyone else, regardless of their cultural or religious identity. Some had gone over to their friends' houses for Bajram (Eid, an Islamic holiday) and Christmas. I have heard similar things from other people I have spoken to in Zenica. While I was happy to hear this, it's hard to tell after only one week whether these opinions are held by most people and whether they are reflected in actual friendship groups.

My students haven't been the only ones learning this week. I have also been (trying to) learn a foreign language, along with a different way of life. I love the late lunches (3:00 pm) and ubiquitous coffee shops, but I still can't quite get used to the cars driving on the sidewalks.

The biggest thing I have learned is that teaching involves a lot of improvisation. We go in each day with fairly detailed plans, which we inevitably diverge from once we actually begin. As someone who delights in weekly schedules and color-coded spreadsheets, this has been a bit of a challenge for me. Luckily, Andrew is very good at thinking on his feet. I have also frequently used a list of games and activities I made earlier this summer as a cheatsheet for when our planned activity isn't going over well or doesn't take as long as we expect it to.

Another challenge has been engaging all of the students all of the time. As I mentioned earlier, we have a range of skills in every class. Additionally, as is the case everywhere, there are a few kids in our classes who have difficulty sitting still or focusing on one task for more than a few minutes. Andrew and I have therefore made sure to integrate plenty of games, skits, arts and crafts, and songs into our lessons. We try to break up instruction into small chunks, always using a fun activity or two for the kids to actively use vocabulary before we move on to the next topic or set of vocab. Of course, this has its advantages for us teachers as well!

Looking forward to week dva...