How the teaching is going...

I’ve been having people ask me how the teaching is going here in Russia. Here’s the funny thing, and the other teachers agree with me on this…we kind of forgot for a while that we were coming here to teach. Seriously, we got all excited about being in Russia that we spaced the whole point. So once we started teaching it was like getting hit by a bus; it was a lot to handle at once! Imagine jet lag from a ten hour time difference, culture shock, living with a new family, and teaching a bunch of little kids how to speak English. I’ll elaborate now. For one hour everyday for the past two weeks I have spent time with 6-8 energetic Russian children ranging from 3-5 years old. There are some very cute ones who raise their hand, repeat what they’re told to, and act very sweet. Then there’s Vanya. The devil. He ignores what we say, distracts the other kids, picks fights, and talks back. He’s super smart so he gets a little bored with the other kids. Oh dear, he is my challenge!

After I finish with those little “sweethearts,” two days a week I spend two and a half hours teaching six kids that are 7-9 years old. They are also trying, but in a different way. They get bored very easily because sometimes I will say things that they just don’t understand. So I’m trying to find ways to teach them and challenge them but still keep them engaged. Last time I had two of the boys misbehave…a lot!! By the end of class they were so annoyed with me that they literally ignored everything I said. But it was okay because I was really annoyed with them as well. I asked one of them to pop a balloon and he just turned around and walked away. That was not a fun day.

I do have a favorite student though. His name is Gregory. On the first day, during their break, he came up to me with an equation written on a paper, 10^6 X 3. Then he asked me what the answer was. I had to think for a minute (or two) and then I said very hesitantly, “Three million?” To which he replied, “Correct!” He then continued to tell me that the sixth meant that was the degree. Holy heck! Smart kid! He totally goes off into his own world sometimes, but he is just a doll when he’s listening! One time we were playing hangman and I asked him to choose a word. His word? Squirrel. Have you ever heard a Russian kid say the word squirrel? It’s pretty funny and cute. So yeah, this kid is awesome. And those are my teaching adventures so far. I’ll update when there is more to say!