Semester in Review. SEPTEMBER.

 It’s odd to be back in the swing of school after being out of the system for a two years. And it’s even more challenging to be on the teacher’s side of things. You hear that kids? School is the cake-walk part of life. The past semester has been a blur, and I regret I have not been better at posting or sharing the happenings of it as they have come. But here comes the overview...

SEPTEMBER. This was the beginning of a big learning experience for a bunch of Moldovan students in Ciorescu, Moldova and one hardheaded, stubborn Americanca. I spent the first few weeks in a whirlwind of names (they all have the same 10 to 20 names, but they have such distinct accents I feel doomed to always mispronounce them), disciplinary trials and errors, funny miscommunications, patient partner teachers, and cultural adaptations. I jumped in with both feet and arms wide open. Each week, I introduced something new to my students (and myself as well really).

           The first week, I introduced myself. They snickered at (but I think quite enjoyed) my attempts at speaking Romanian. I am in a continual learning process of how to best communicate with, encourage, and challenge them. I feel appreciated, and am quite fulfilled in the work I am able to do with my students. They like having a native English speaker to learn from, or in some cases a noob of a new teacher they can take advantage of.

The second week, I started an English club. Attendance continues to be anywhere from 12 to 20 students and I am always drawing from my own language learning experiences, youth group games played, and a handful of resources provided by Peace Corps. The club runs for an hour and a half, and my kids are always up for one more activity (this keeps me on my toes, but I work well on the fly). My favorite games so far have been telephone and telepictionary. On e game of telephone began with “The cat was so fat it could not move” and ended with “the cat”. Nice try kids. Telepictionary consists of a series of sentences written and pictures drawn and passed around a circle. The end results were similar to telephone with “the kat” bleh bleh.

One thing that students seem to lack in Moldova is critical thinking skills. Their system is set up to create direct input and output machines. So the ability fill in the blanks, ask questions for clarification, or think outside the box are often missing. However, they have all the potential in the world to gain these skills and I am already seeing progress in this direction.

The week after English Club began, I (with the help of my partner teacher) rallied and gathered 17 of our students to bus over to another village to take the FLEX test. FLEX is a student exchange program sponsored by the U.S. that gives high schoolers the opportunity to study in the States for a year. They are chosen not on academic standing (though they must have some basic English communication skills), but on their ability to display cultural adaptability and the desire to better themselves and the world around them through education. I was elated to be sitting on that bus with a bunch of excited high school students looking to big things for their futures.

 
While some of them were only there to miss a day of school, and only a few of them passed the basic English exam and still more were not moved on to the next round because they were caught cheating (cheating on an essay where they were asked to write about themselves mind you), I was still happy to have been a part of providing them with a new opportunity to improve their education.

            The final week in September, I introduced a business project to my students called the Diamond Challenge. This project gives students the opportunity to idealize, create, and present an idea for a business and then compete for a cash prize and trip to the states where they will present their project idea on an international level. It uses a new business model, called the lean canvas business model, rather than a business plan. The idea behind this lean canvas is to encourage entrepreneurs to test their products on customers before investing big bucks into a plan they have only idealized. I continue to learn just as much as I am teaching here. My mind is spinning with my own ideas as well as how I can be a part of other's success. My students came up with some fantastic ideas, but the execution seems to be the biggest challenge (makes sense). The models are due in January. It’s go time team!