Thursday, January 28, 2010
Today is Army Day in Armenia, a national holiday. However, they were having some activities at the local army base, so the schools were taking the boys to see that. It’s a way to get interest in the army as a career. There is mandatory two year army service for all boys once they turn 18. But it seems that less and less are making the army a career.
Well winter seems to have finally arrived in southern Armenia. This week has been cold and snowy. On Tuesday we had snow all morning, but then it rained for a while. However, it turned to snow agaityping this I’m sitting in my house with a hat on to help keep me warm. I haven’t lit my wood burning stove yet today and am relying on my fan for heat. My wood supply has run low and I’m not sure when I’ll be getting more. I haven’t seen my wood man in a few days, so I don’t want to take any chances of running out. I just bring the fan with me as I move from room to room. I’ll light my stove tonight. Since I didn’t make arrangements for the wood until the middle of November, I’m not sure how much I’ll actually get this winter. Rest assured that I will make arrangements for wood for next winter in plenty of time. I’ll also try to get a meter and a half for each month. I am a spoiled American used to a good heating system and it’s hard to get used to a chilly house. And I refuse to wear my coat in my house, the hat is one thing, but I draw the line at the coat. Besides this, my geyser, hot water heater, isn’t working either. It seems that in the cold the water pressure decreases and there isn’t enough pressure for the geyser to work. Oh well, I’m used to bucket baths anyway.
At school we have been having extra classes every day. Not only do we have to make up for the 3 weeks we missed in December, but my counterpart and I will be out all next week. We will be going to a conference on grant writing. Luckily the school is small and it’s fairly easy to change the schedule and make up the classes. In fact, it’s rare that the schedule isn’t changed at least once a week. With the snow on Wednesday, I had to go in early Thursday morning because the teachers who live down in the town (11 out of 14) were having a problem getting up the mountain. The buses weren’t running and they couldn’t find a taxi either. This also meant that some of our students couldn’t get to school. The teachers were finally able to get a ride most of the way up the mountain and classes were juggled to accommodate all. Flexibility is a needed asset here.
Our computer teacher is out on mandatory maternity leave since Dec. 1. We finally hired a part time replacement, who works Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This means that since she is trying to make up for the whole month of Dec., the three days she’s in the computers are never free. So my access to the internet is severely limited. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is generally at least one class using the computer/faculty room for a class. So for the next 2 months I will be lucky to get online once a week, unless I go to town on Saturdays and use the computers down there.
I finally started some clubs after school. I have one on Tuesday afternoons in which we are part of a pen pal program with other former Soviet Union countries that also have Peace Corps volunteers. Eleven of the students showed up for our first meeting and I think most of them will stick with it. We will be writing to students in Romania, Macedonia, and the Ukraine. There is also a project as part of this. Each group will put together a packet of information about their village/town and share it with the others. It’ll be a great learning experience for the students.
On Thursday afternoons I have a tutorial club for the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. It’s kind of a wide range of students, but they all expressed an interest so I’ll see how it works. Yesterday I gave them a placement test of sorts to help me see what they’re having trouble with. I plan to use a lot of different approaches, including games, in order to keep their interest and make it enjoyable for them. Since I am doing these clubs by myself, I’m hoping that my Armenian will improve. I told the students that I will help them with their English and they need to help me with my Armenian. We’ll see how this works.
Thanks to some very generous family members I have started a library of sorts in our English room. I have received a lot of pre-readers and readers, as well as some picture dictionaries on various subjects. When we started back after the holidays, I decided that the upper grades would start journaling and the 4th and 5th graders would start reading at the beginning of each class. Both ideas have been very well received by the students, especially the reading. Most of the books, both school and reading, in Armenia are primarily text, with little or no pictures, and very small print. Once they saw the illustrations and size of the print in these new books, they were excited to read them. We give them at least 5 minutes at the beginning of class and sometimes we extend it because they are so engaged in their books. At the end of the club on Tuesday I mentioned to those students that they could also take the books. It’s like I’m giving them money or candy, they can’t have enough of it. Each of the older students took a book. I just told them that they had to return the book when their done with it.
The journaling is also going quite well. It was hard at first for them to just write, even though we supplied them with a topic. They’re just not used to thinking in English. But after a few classes, they are doing very well. I told them their journals will not be graded, but I will look at them every now and then to see how they’re doing and correct mistakes. Some of the students are so serious about it that they go home and continue writing. Of course some of the other teachers are complaining that all the students want to do is their English homework.
Friday, January 29, 2010
I had to get a new gas bubble for my stove. Somehow I broke the on/off nozzle, luckily in the on position so I could at least heat up the kettle in the morning for my tea/coffee. However, I was a little worried that some gas might be leaking. So someone from Peace Corps drove down to Vachagan today and switched the gas bubbles.
I also went to visit my wood man this afternoon and explained that I needed more wood. I also asked if he could deliver more at one time. I think he understood, I’ll soon find out. Just as I was leaving, his wife came out and invited me in for a cup of tea. She also admired my Yaktrax and asked if I had gotten them in Armenia. I explained, as best I could, that the Peace Corps handed them out to all the volunteers. They’ve really come in handy this week. I know that by visiting people I will have to speak Armenian more, so it’s good for me to do this. And I do enjoy getting to know my neighbors.