First Day of School

Today is my first day of teaching English in Georgia as a TLG Volunteer! 

I have been assigned to the Batumi Public School N6.  I officially have two co-teachers because I am only supposed to go up to the 6th grade but there is another English Teacher.  My co-teachers are Nino and Nat'o.  I am free to help the other teacher, Nana, when I am free.  She teachers the older students (High School).  When I arrived at the school, I could not remember where the Teachers Lounge was.  After the introduction meeting on Thursday, I was given a VERY quick tour of the school.  There were several times this morning when I was attempting to find the Teachers Lounge that I would open a door to a classroom instead. OOPS! Luckily, I found my co-teacher, Nino, in the hallway shortly after that.

I think today was observing day, which I liked because I did not get a lot of prep time with my co-teachers.  I introduced myself at the beginning of each class (4B, 4A, and 3) and the most common question was "Is she married?"  I got more questions about my martial status from the children than from my host family!  In 4A& B, the students had memorized a part of a letter and we read that several times out loud.  Repetition is a strong element of the Georgian School system.  Then, I read the next part of the letter out loud.  I mainly helped with pronunciation.  Nino, double checked with me on several words to make sure that she was saying them correctly.  I really appreciate the fact that Nino is easing me into teaching.  I know that I will be comfortable soon, but it's a little difficult since I don't know the Georgian language, but I am still learning.  During orientation, they stressed that the management of classrooms is not the greatest.  I found that the 4th graders seem very attentive and there was a girl that looked like she was about to cry because I did not call on her first to read the letter.  She relaxed once I called on her later on in the session.  However, the 3rd grades are not very attentive nor do they participate as much.  They has recently learned the body parts and now love to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes".  After that, it was a struggle to get them to take notes from the board.  When the children became unfocused, Nino would take a marker and tap it on the desk many times until they were all quite.  She only had to do it a few times.  I believe that she has her classes pretty well managed.  I think that having 2 teachers circulating in that class will help the children focus more.  I have some ideas in mind and I'm excited to try them out!

I will spend my Sunday prepping for classroom ideas! However tomorrow, I will be having lunch with a fellow TLG Volunteer from my session who is visiting Batumi for the day.  Also, I am meeting up with a TLG Volunteer,Charolette, who I met today.  Charolette was apart of the first group who came to Teach in Georgia, she taught at my school for a year, and now she teaches full-time at Batumi University.  I am excited to brainstorm ideas, and to know another American who is living close by. :)

Pictures of the school are coming soon!
Until next time!
Adventure is out there!