No Russian, Only English!

We are exhausted, and we've only taught two days...but we're having so much fun!! What a job this is; the kids arrived Monday morning in droves. I will let Haley tell about her teaching experience, but here's how the day went for me: We started out all together in "The Pink Hall" which is a cute room painted all pink. We met with the Ukrainian teachers and the kids were introduced to us. We did some last minute prep, talking with some of the directors to make sure we were all on the same page, then went to lunch and met with our kids! I am in the older kid rotation; we have four groups of about ten students each. Haley is in the younger rotation; there are five groups with about ten each. The older kids meet seperately from the younger kids for "opening," so I don't see Haley too much during the first part of the day. We usually teach from 10am to 2pm, but on Monday, since the kids arrived around 8am, we started at 2pm and ended at 6pm. It was a little crazy starting out, getting our "home groups" together and singing some songs and laying down the rules. We split after opening and took our home groups to our classrooms where we each did an activity/discussion with them. In my room we made name tags and just got to know each other a little bit. After thirty minutes, we rotate so we each get all four classes once every day. Never again will I use glitter with forty children. Or two. Or any. Except maybe my nephews. I am still finding glitter in random places, and the kids were covered in it all day. After four rotations, we all met together with our classes to play games. We had a whole hour to fill, so it got a little crazy...we played a huge game of down by the banks and fruit basket. By the time we were done for the day, we were all so overwhelmed and exhausted. Today was lots of fun; it was nice to have class in the morning. Opening was a little disorganized, but still fun. Lots of songs. We're doing a theme for each session (we have three two-week sessions), and this session is Under the Sea. My group is the Sting Rays! They are so great. There aren't too many problem children in my group. I have five boys and five girls, ages eight and nine. Zhenna, Julia, Maria, Ann, Ann, Dima, Kostia, Vlad, Dima, and Yuriy. I LOVE my boys. They are so sweet and so smart. Yuriy struggles with his English, but the other boys and even some of the girls help him out. A lot of the kids (in general, not just my group) will try to help each other using Russian, which is against the rules, but my kids usually just help them with really simple English. It's fun to see their teamwork. Kostia is always telling them, "No Russian, no Russian!" Russian is against the rules. Dima, Kostia's twin brother, is very smart and very sweet. I love their little accents and to see them trying so hard to use their English. Most of my group is really smart and surprisingly good and English for their age. There are a couple of older boys, Roman and Zhenia, who are practically fluent. They are hilarious. It's fun to be able to really talk to them. They are...thirteen? Roman's cute, Sammy. They both are. Sometimes its reeaally hard to get the kids to pay attention and participate (The Killer Whales had a hard time focusing today) but in general things are going really well. I'm having a lot of fun. It's definately challenging to accomodate all different levels of English learners in planning and executing lessons. The kids are so cute, and I've gotten more hugs in the past two days than in who knows how long. I love it when the kids say my name. Soooo cute. It's hard to believe we've already finished two days of teaching...we only have eight more lessons with these kids! I will miss a lot of them, but there are a few I will certainly not miss. I will miss my boys, but Maria...I will probably be able to let her go without much of a fuss. Zhenna too will leave with few tears on my part. This is SUCH an experience. It is so fascinating to learn about the culture and the people here. The funny things that happen on a daily basis, like trying to shop for groceries when everything looks so different and everything is written in Russian, are so fun to enjoy with Haley (and the other girls). I've been yelled at in Russian a few times, and the cute cute ladies that clean the school will talk to us in Russian even though they know we don't understand. They are generally smiling, but who knows what they are saying! The cooks are also great. They are so good about putting up with us. I brought three big groups of kids in from playing outside to get drinks and they were so sweet about the little-person invasion I forced on them. I heard a lot before I came that the people here aren't friendly and generally don't like American much. No one on the street will smile at us, but the cooks and the cleaning ladies, who at first seemed really unfriendly and annoyed with us have turned out to be so sweet. They smile at us (and laugh at us, but as far as I can tell its all good natured) and it is SUCH a welcome sight. It is so different from home here, but I am starting to really love it. I know I will be happy to come home, but I know when I am home I will miss Ukraine. One thing I KNOW I will miss is our bedding--it is covered in Disney Princesses.