Basically, my old Google account was closed because it was associated with my university, which I no longer attend. Now I can't access my old blog (tied to that account) and the least complicated option was to just start again. So, here it is!
Let's catch up.
We've just be re-adjusting to the normal routine since we came back at the beginning of this month. It's cold, as expected. Fall has already settled in here and winter is coming on fast and furious.
I started back again at the university teaching three classes, like last term. I have one class from before and the other two are quite agreeable. I've decided this year, after learning just how the whole system works the hard way, that I will follow my fellow teacher Pavel's advice and just do what I want. When he first said that, I thought, well, come on. There have got to be some standards or at least a general curriculum I should be sticking to!
There isn't.
No one watches me or even checks in to see if I showed up sober. Students come when they feel like it. Sometimes teachers come only when they feel like it. And I know why. The whole system's a joke! Last semester, I worried myself into a frenzy trying to get the students to take their exams and assign them grades, only to find out that I shared a total score with three other teachers! That means that my entire class is worth 1/4 of one grade. And that is not even a letter grade, but a pass/fail. In this totally brilliant system created outside the confines of known logic, all four teachers must agree whether each student passed or failed, and then assign some % of the final grade to each teacher in a mathematical formula which would boggle rocket scientists. And this %, carefully computed, is ultimately for nothing since it only reads pass or fail on the student's report. On top of that, if a student never came to your class and did nothing, you are still required to give them another (3!) chances to take the final. Naturally, this process will cut into your summer holiday. And what teacher wants to go through this? So, you pass the little turd even though he doesn't deserve it and go off to the USA to forget it all (btw, this might be based on real events). The students here have to trying really hard to fail.
So, as with many things in Russia, I've decided to not fight it. I'm going to look at my class as an opportunity to use English in the presence of a native speaker and maybe pick up some new vocabulary. If you don't want to come regularly, your loss. I'll teach what I want to and I'll probably pass you regardless of the effort you put in, smugly knowing that karma will catch up with you in the end.
I've decided to cover topics in American history and culture, which is something that interests me and thus keeps me from dreading prep for my lessons. We've covered Prohibition, flappers and jazz so far. I think we'll continue to the more interesting parts of modern America. They seem to be enjoying it, at least.
I also started again at the private school. Their school year just started, so I haven't got any tutoring students yet, but I'm doing classes twice a week with toddlers! A Russian teacher and I basically play and sing songs with them for 90 minutes and hope it sticks. I've never taught such young ones before, so it's really interesting to watch them develop their English. Apparently, it's all in the repetition and routine. Literally say something again and again and they learn it without any charts or grammatical explainations. And with those little developing brains, it's surprisingly quick. And they're really cute.
Petr's back at work, and business as usual. The ambassador's been in and out this month, so he's had some breaks and has actually been home at a decent time.
On the weekends, we've tried taking the car out on a few trips. We're finding that Sunday (especially) is a really bad time to travel. Two weekends ago we visited a town about 180 km (110 miles) outside of Moscow called Pereslavl-Zalessky. Not the most exciting place in the world, but that's not really the story. The story is that it took 2.5 hours to get there on a major highway, and approximately 4.5 to return on the same road. Apparently, this is normal. I don't like Russian normal.
We also bought a GPS to help us navigate the crazy city roads. We used it today to go to a town 50 km outside of Moscow. I'm going to blame it on the fact that we had it on the setting "shortest route" as opposed to "fastest route" but about 2 hours later we finally arrived to our destination, having driven through gravel, slab concrete and pot-hole-ridden, one-lane roads for about 1/4 of the drive. Petr was furious and I thought it was certain death for our Garmin. Luckily, he calmed down and, after checking to see we hadn't lost a wheel in the process, proceeded to the church we had come to see. I bought a small icon of St. Ludmila, who was a Czech queen. Her saint's day is tomorrow. What I was really looking for was Mary of the Seven Sorrows, who's plight I thought relatable after that drive.
Welcome back to Russia.
Let's catch up.
We've just be re-adjusting to the normal routine since we came back at the beginning of this month. It's cold, as expected. Fall has already settled in here and winter is coming on fast and furious.
I started back again at the university teaching three classes, like last term. I have one class from before and the other two are quite agreeable. I've decided this year, after learning just how the whole system works the hard way, that I will follow my fellow teacher Pavel's advice and just do what I want. When he first said that, I thought, well, come on. There have got to be some standards or at least a general curriculum I should be sticking to!
There isn't.
No one watches me or even checks in to see if I showed up sober. Students come when they feel like it. Sometimes teachers come only when they feel like it. And I know why. The whole system's a joke! Last semester, I worried myself into a frenzy trying to get the students to take their exams and assign them grades, only to find out that I shared a total score with three other teachers! That means that my entire class is worth 1/4 of one grade. And that is not even a letter grade, but a pass/fail. In this totally brilliant system created outside the confines of known logic, all four teachers must agree whether each student passed or failed, and then assign some % of the final grade to each teacher in a mathematical formula which would boggle rocket scientists. And this %, carefully computed, is ultimately for nothing since it only reads pass or fail on the student's report. On top of that, if a student never came to your class and did nothing, you are still required to give them another (3!) chances to take the final. Naturally, this process will cut into your summer holiday. And what teacher wants to go through this? So, you pass the little turd even though he doesn't deserve it and go off to the USA to forget it all (btw, this might be based on real events). The students here have to trying really hard to fail.
So, as with many things in Russia, I've decided to not fight it. I'm going to look at my class as an opportunity to use English in the presence of a native speaker and maybe pick up some new vocabulary. If you don't want to come regularly, your loss. I'll teach what I want to and I'll probably pass you regardless of the effort you put in, smugly knowing that karma will catch up with you in the end.
I've decided to cover topics in American history and culture, which is something that interests me and thus keeps me from dreading prep for my lessons. We've covered Prohibition, flappers and jazz so far. I think we'll continue to the more interesting parts of modern America. They seem to be enjoying it, at least.
I also started again at the private school. Their school year just started, so I haven't got any tutoring students yet, but I'm doing classes twice a week with toddlers! A Russian teacher and I basically play and sing songs with them for 90 minutes and hope it sticks. I've never taught such young ones before, so it's really interesting to watch them develop their English. Apparently, it's all in the repetition and routine. Literally say something again and again and they learn it without any charts or grammatical explainations. And with those little developing brains, it's surprisingly quick. And they're really cute.
Petr's back at work, and business as usual. The ambassador's been in and out this month, so he's had some breaks and has actually been home at a decent time.
On the weekends, we've tried taking the car out on a few trips. We're finding that Sunday (especially) is a really bad time to travel. Two weekends ago we visited a town about 180 km (110 miles) outside of Moscow called Pereslavl-Zalessky. Not the most exciting place in the world, but that's not really the story. The story is that it took 2.5 hours to get there on a major highway, and approximately 4.5 to return on the same road. Apparently, this is normal. I don't like Russian normal.
We also bought a GPS to help us navigate the crazy city roads. We used it today to go to a town 50 km outside of Moscow. I'm going to blame it on the fact that we had it on the setting "shortest route" as opposed to "fastest route" but about 2 hours later we finally arrived to our destination, having driven through gravel, slab concrete and pot-hole-ridden, one-lane roads for about 1/4 of the drive. Petr was furious and I thought it was certain death for our Garmin. Luckily, he calmed down and, after checking to see we hadn't lost a wheel in the process, proceeded to the church we had come to see. I bought a small icon of St. Ludmila, who was a Czech queen. Her saint's day is tomorrow. What I was really looking for was Mary of the Seven Sorrows, who's plight I thought relatable after that drive.
Welcome back to Russia.
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