The last two weeks of lessons

Where to start? In the 14 days since I wrote my last post, I taught 22 classes (an hour and twenty minutes each), held two English clubs and a Halloween party, went on many long walks around town (getting lost only once) and sat through a few important meetings that will help to determine some of my activities this year in Ukhta.

So, first: classes. I am based out of the international language department at Ukhta's university. In the teacher's room, the language teachers (all female) speak to me in English and Russia. And, sometimes in French. Unfortunately, I'm usually limited to greetings with the francophones. German is also taught at the university. It's in this teacher's room that I try to design my schedules for the coming weeks. First, I sit and hope teachers will invite me to their classes. Then, if I'm running low on scheduled groups, I seek out the teachers. Whose class can I come to? What are the students' English proficiency level? What topic do you want me to teach? When and where do I need to be?  With this method, I've been able to pretty much fill my weeks.

The teachers have all been very kind and inviting. Some come to me excited about certain topics of discussion. My repertoire includes: American versus British English (a topic that has been popular every week); opportunities to get jobs in America;  me, my life and my family; university life and American education; youth problems in America; free time. Today, prompted by student interest, I gave a whole lesson on names of American towns. They students thought the Los Angeles might mean Lost Angels, and that name Detroit might come from the verb "to destroy." Nope. As of yesterday, I am well versed in the name history of Los Angeles, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Horseheads. It was actually a great lesson, for me and the students, in realizing how many names in the United States are adopted from other languages: French, Spanish, Native American languages. Each lesson that I give is sprinkled with new vocabulary for students, but rarely do I give full out grammar lessons. Today was a great exception, though. I gave a whole lesson on command forms. Positive, negative, impersonal, polite...everything. I was so happy to test my grammar-teaching skills, and so happy to do it with this group of students in their 2nd year of Public Relations. I've been to their class several times, met with some students outside of class and have now etched out a time-slot every Tuesday to teach them an interactive grammar lesson. Sweet! Who ever thought I'd be so excited about grammar. As my schedule develops and I start finding more classes like this that I can teach consistently, I will be able to focus more on practicing certain grammar and vocabulary skills with students. But for now, I'm the king of practicing general conversation skills. I often say, "Don't be scared to talk to me. I just want you to feel comfortable talking. It's okay if you make mistakes. I also make many mistakes when I speak Russian." Sometimes, I prove this by speaking a little bit of Russian in class.

Classes can sometimes be great, and can sometimes be difficult. Partly, I think this is because I don't know what to expect with each new class: the size, the language ability, the interest. But, with each variant, I'm slowly learning how to get more and more students to interact with me. It's when they interact that I feel good.