Well it's been a while since I last blogged and for good reason, the work days have definitely become more hectic and require much more forward planning. Most days I now have a morning lesson and then evening/afternoon lessons and as such have very little time to plan lessons during the day (meaning that Friday and a bit of Saturday are becoming necessary lesson planning time). When the lack of internet at the flat is factored in then the hour between lessons on Thursday morning and regular Sunday mid afternoon trip the coffee shop are the only chance I can get. The plus side is that I am definitely getting quicker at planning lesson and some of my recent assessments have brought up some very good feedback. I have a good level of being fun but firm with teenagers (I introduced them to Bombay bicycle club yesterday) and my ability to adapt at a moments notice was again brought up when I forgot a listening exercise for a business lesson.
We have managed to discover a very local and very realistic English паб that actually has darts, table football, shows football on the tv and does and English breakfast and fish and chips. although I am yet to sample these culinary delights I am hoping they will both be culinary and delightful. We first visited it on Friday when one of the other teachers and I went to watch the basketball with a couple of my pre-int students (one of whom worked at the basketball arena) Dniproazot played pretty well, however Kyiv were just a much better team.
During the rest of the weekend the other international teachers spent time introducing our newest member (neil) to Dnipro including going to the air rifle range where I managed to get the highest score (somehow) and sampling the wonders that are sharoma (a sort of kebab with chips inside that is worryingly addictive). On Monday evening I invited several of the other teachers around and we all had a very large risotto (though not quite large enough for the number of teachers that were present unfortunately). This was my attempt at bringing and element of "the well" to Dnipro and was gratefully received even if it wasn't exactly the same.
the only other news since Monday is that I have successfully managed to send a video message back to someone in England (took ages to shrink the video down to a suitable size) and I have also received my first item of post from the uk (thank you Zoe Allen). now I must dash for my next lesson.
This is Agent Wilson signing off.
Thursday 30 September 2010
Sunday 26 September 2010
Multi-Lingual blogging day.
I found out about this event recently via Lib Dem Voice and thought I would give it a go in Russian...However it has quickly become apparent that my level of Russian still has a very long way to go and so what I actually do end up posting in Russian will be very basic (and not including this pre-amble that has used such words as "pre-amble" that I simple do not know. I Could cheat and use babel fish/google translate but I feel that would defile the point of the exercise slightly.) So without further a do my Multi-lingual Blog post....
Привет из Украины, меня зовут Крис Уилсон и я живу в Украине в течение месяца сейчас. Это очень интересная страна, полная прекрасных людей. Хотя на первых людей лоскутных холодной я узнал, они очень открытые и помощь с моей плохой русский язык.Жизнь в другой стране может быть очень трудно, но очень хорошо, как хорошо, Есть всегда новые впечатления, и они лучше с хорошими друзьями. Я люблю еда здесь, но это потребуется время, чтобы привыкнуть к, и я люблю погоду (но она будет меняться).
[Translation]
Hello from the Ukraine, My name is Chris Wilson and I have been living in the Ukraine for a month now. It is a very interesting country full of wonderful people. Although at first people seamed cold I learnt they are very open and help with my bad Russian.
Living in another country can be very hard but very good as well, there are always new experiences and they are better with good friends. I love the food here, but it did take time to get use to, and I love the weather (but it will change).
Привет из Украины, меня зовут Крис Уилсон и я живу в Украине в течение месяца сейчас. Это очень интересная страна, полная прекрасных людей. Хотя на первых людей лоскутных холодной я узнал, они очень открытые и помощь с моей плохой русский язык.Жизнь в другой стране может быть очень трудно, но очень хорошо, как хорошо, Есть всегда новые впечатления, и они лучше с хорошими друзьями. Я люблю еда здесь, но это потребуется время, чтобы привыкнуть к, и я люблю погоду (но она будет меняться).
[Translation]
Hello from the Ukraine, My name is Chris Wilson and I have been living in the Ukraine for a month now. It is a very interesting country full of wonderful people. Although at first people seamed cold I learnt they are very open and help with my bad Russian.
Living in another country can be very hard but very good as well, there are always new experiences and they are better with good friends. I love the food here, but it did take time to get use to, and I love the weather (but it will change).
Monday 20 September 2010
Some pictures from outdoor Salsa next to the Dnipro
As promised I actually took some pictures from the outdoors salsa that goes on next to the Dnipro river in Dnipropetrovsk. Unfortunately I believe this is the last for the some time (I can't be certain as my Russian still isn't great) as the weather has definitely started to drop. It was a great way to go out with a live band and all the local salsa clubs there (there was definitely a noticeable increase in standard)
Sunday 19 September 2010
A revealing lesson
On Wednesday I was teaching my pre-intermediate teenagers and we were looking at hobbies and interests. One of the more interesting questions was "does anyone have a hobby that could become a profession, after all if they say yes to this then it would show that they must really be interested in this hobby and probably spend a fair bit of time doing this activity. One student revealed they were a keen swimmer and another that she was a strong dancer. When I asked what type of dancing she was interested in I at first heard "street dancing" assuming she meant urban type dancing I was quite surprised out of all the girls in my class (all around 15-17) I would have guessed that if this student was into dancing it would be more traditional dancing. However the rest of my students had switched into Russian and were clearly asking a lot of questions and it was at this point I discovered that actually she hadn't said street dancing...but strip dancing.
You never know what you will find out about your students
You never know what you will find out about your students
Ukrainian Political Posters: Aleksandr Vilkul
Globa Park
In addition to this there are also a variety of weight training equipment and gymnastic materials ranging from pull up bars up to machines that use your own weight as the resistance for using your arms of legs. There is also the highly impressive children's concert centre located next to the lake in the middle of the park. It is a very impressive building which hosts performances each weekend. Finally, perhaps the strangest item in the park is the railway that runs round the perimeter of the park. It doesn't connect to any other train service and seams to be primarily aimed at young children. It is very strange to see it at weekends running round and blowing it's whistle to move people out of the way.
I will post some more photo's of other elements of the park when I can.
Friday 17 September 2010
A few reflections on learning a language in another country
Before I came out to the Ukraine I had been following Michael Thomas' teach yourself Russian beginners course and trying to write in Cyrillic as much as possible to help myself get as firm a grip of the language as possible and so as to not be completely stranded when I arrived. In fact I had actually started to learn the language before I decided to do my CELTA course, to come to the Ukraine in stead of Russia and I had already learnt a bit of Cyrillic back at university for my module in Russian politics. However the difference between completing one of the basic teach yourself courses and actually being a proficient speaker is huge.
English).
Fortunately this wasn't the case in the Ukraine and so I have been able to come over and I am really enjoying the opportunity to improve my knowledge of the Russian language. I find it a really interesting language with the lack of prepositions and only having 3 tenses yet relying heavily on word endings to inform you of the how the word fits into the sentence (whether it is the subject, direct object, the process of the sentence etc). Having daily informal classes with the Ukrainian teachers here and with general people in shops, salsa dancing (great for learning the words for body parts) or a whole host of other situations.
I am really glad that I have had this opportunity to spend time experiencing the wonders of living in another country, learning the language (even when it means looking like a complete idiot in a shop with a shop assistant just saying the same thing louder and I still have no idea!) I just hope that people from other cultures will get that opportunity in Britain as well.
It's hard to appreciate how much language we actually use until you place yourself in an environment where everyday you have to use another language and notice all the elements of your own language that you do not know in this other language and yet want to use. Bearing this in mind it is actually very impressive the amount of language that all economic migrants (and students) require to be able to enter our country. Many of them have a much strong grasp of English than most English people will ever have of another language and yet despite this, some people still make statements like
"these foreigners coming over and taking all our jobs can't even speak our language!"The fact of the matter is that if I had wanted to come to the Ukraine and the Ukraine had the same immigration laws that we did then I would never have been able to come over. I know no Ukrainian, very little Russian, I did have a job lined up before I travelled. However I have basically "taken" this job from a Ukrainian (as there are many Ukrainians who are very proficient speakers of English and very good English teachers.) In addition I barely have any qualifications in this subject (and in fact only got a C at GCSE
English).
Fortunately this wasn't the case in the Ukraine and so I have been able to come over and I am really enjoying the opportunity to improve my knowledge of the Russian language. I find it a really interesting language with the lack of prepositions and only having 3 tenses yet relying heavily on word endings to inform you of the how the word fits into the sentence (whether it is the subject, direct object, the process of the sentence etc). Having daily informal classes with the Ukrainian teachers here and with general people in shops, salsa dancing (great for learning the words for body parts) or a whole host of other situations.
I am really glad that I have had this opportunity to spend time experiencing the wonders of living in another country, learning the language (even when it means looking like a complete idiot in a shop with a shop assistant just saying the same thing louder and I still have no idea!) I just hope that people from other cultures will get that opportunity in Britain as well.
Monday 13 September 2010
Some more salsa and fireworks
Last night Me and my fellow partner in crime manage to get one of the other teachers (hereby referred to as Scottish Chris [so as to distinguish him from myself]) to join us in some outside Salsa. I have never seen this in England yet it seams to be very common here in the Ukraine as this group does it every Sunday evening and as I walked home I came across another salsa club that was still going as I came back.
I was impressed by how quickly Scottish Chris went from making many many excuses for not being able to attend next week to starting to learn the basic steps and then even dancing with various different partners!
After a few hours of dancing the fireworks to celebrate the founding of the city started and all eyes turned to the bridge crossing the river. It was a very impressive display that had meant the bridge had been closed off all day to set up for the 15 minute display. (that's 15 minutes of fire works pretty much all along the kilometre long bridge going off.)
The result of all this was that by the end of the evening me and John and convinced Scottish Chris that not only was Salsa good fun, that he should (and would) come along to the next evening group but we had also assisted the male female balance at the salsa club. Which isn't too bad seeing as we had only been once before.
I was impressed by how quickly Scottish Chris went from making many many excuses for not being able to attend next week to starting to learn the basic steps and then even dancing with various different partners!
After a few hours of dancing the fireworks to celebrate the founding of the city started and all eyes turned to the bridge crossing the river. It was a very impressive display that had meant the bridge had been closed off all day to set up for the 15 minute display. (that's 15 minutes of fire works pretty much all along the kilometre long bridge going off.)
The result of all this was that by the end of the evening me and John and convinced Scottish Chris that not only was Salsa good fun, that he should (and would) come along to the next evening group but we had also assisted the male female balance at the salsa club. Which isn't too bad seeing as we had only been once before.
Ukrainian Political Posters
Here in Dnipropetrovsk there are some upcoming Oblast and Mayoral elections and as such I thought I'd put up some of the pictures of the different candidates posters for you to enjoy. Here is the first one playing heavily on the nationalism side.
Sunday 12 September 2010
They might not do Mexican food but they do Salsa!
Not knowing many people out here in the Ukraine and there being a lack of the typical ways to meet people that I have been use to from growing up in England can make weekends occasionally repetitive and boring, leading to the anticipation of returning to work and having lessons to teach being greater than it might otherwise be. However this weekend was different as for the first time in my life, I donned a nice shirt (that has occurred plenty of times before), headed to the riverside, and (after beating my British reserve into submission) did some salsa dancing for the first time.
When I was first invited I knew that it would take me a while to actually dance but that once I started I would really enjoy it. The fact that the whole affair began with an outdoor session really did not help things. However within an hour the sun had set, the street lights dimly lit the area and most of the passers by no longer stopped and stared but hurried by to get to whatever destination they were scurrying along to.
By the time I had been taught the basics (moving forward and backwards in time to the music) the actually dance classes were ready to begin and we had moved inside to a local bowling alley that also happened to have a sizeable dancing area next to it. At this point I was ready to start learning the part that I was most looking forward to, being able to spin my partner round and even attempting a spin myself.
There was an element of year 6 disco during the periods when it was up to the guys to go up to one of the, many, women in the room and ask them to dance. If I had been fluent in Russian and an experienced salsa dancer then I wouldn't have felt too comfortable with this, but after bucking up some pride (and being warned of the consequences of not dancing with someone by the time by fellow teacher John returned from...well the john) I had asked a fairly proficient English speaker to dance and she had helpfully guided my steps.
The absolute highlight of the evening was the instructor teaching people to do the samba. I decided not to take part as trying to understand Russian instructions and not being able to see what was going on was hard enough and I greatly appreciated this decision after witnessing the truly amazing nature of the dance (from a distance)! This obviously would not have been so had I taken part (maybe I will one day when I can understand a bit more russian...and actually dance a bit too)
The whole affair cost 40 UAH which is somewhere between £3-4 and lasted 3 hours. The outside dancing was completely free and went on for a couple of hours before hand and takes place every Sunday evening. In fact me and John are going along to it tonight and plan to then watch the fireworks that are occurring afterwards as part of the Dnipro day celebrations. I will try and get some picture and post them up.
Friday 10 September 2010
The first bite of winter
This morning winter fired its first warning shots across my bows when I woke up and faced the early morning tram journey with the cold weather having it's first bite. It is incredible how quickly the weather has gone from being so hot that sleeping was an issue, to waking up and feeling that it is just a bit too cold to get out of bed, in only a few weeks. It certainly shows signs of what is to come in the ensuing winter months.
Having spoken to one of the Ukrainian people here I have, however, been informed that there is actually a relatively short period when there is snow here in Dnipro and so my hope of enjoying a long snowey winter may have to wait for a bit longer. On the plus side I am practically guaranteed some snow this winter!
I had another Russian lesson this morning where we covered the alphabet. All 33 letters! there are so many different variants around our E and O sounds (where as in English we have several A sounds and our wonderful diphones). At times It was quite challenging (this being despite my attempts over the last year or so to use cyrillic in my day to day life and adjust to it) especially the sounds we just don't have in English and the ь, and ы for soft sounds and the very strange "iy" type sound (this really doesn't tell you the name of it though).
At last it does appear that we are going to move premises (considering we were suppose to do this before the start of the school term some ten days ago and we have told students we would have moved twice before, it is a pleasant surprise to be surrounded by bin bags with Vocabulary and text books lining their insides, preparing for their trip to the new premises. As such there is a strong chance (see near certain) that we will be helping to move all the material and furniture over to the new premises and could mean the relaxing weekend is nothing of the sort.
As for the rest of the day, well we aren't having our input sessions yet (training session for teacher that should happen every Friday) and so I have it off! I'm planning on searching Dnipro for a music shop and checking out the guitars there as I am having serious guitar withdrawal symptoms (it may have been responsible for me waking up at four this morning with a splitting headache)
Having spoken to one of the Ukrainian people here I have, however, been informed that there is actually a relatively short period when there is snow here in Dnipro and so my hope of enjoying a long snowey winter may have to wait for a bit longer. On the plus side I am practically guaranteed some snow this winter!
I had another Russian lesson this morning where we covered the alphabet. All 33 letters! there are so many different variants around our E and O sounds (where as in English we have several A sounds and our wonderful diphones). At times It was quite challenging (this being despite my attempts over the last year or so to use cyrillic in my day to day life and adjust to it) especially the sounds we just don't have in English and the ь, and ы for soft sounds and the very strange "iy" type sound (this really doesn't tell you the name of it though).
At last it does appear that we are going to move premises (considering we were suppose to do this before the start of the school term some ten days ago and we have told students we would have moved twice before, it is a pleasant surprise to be surrounded by bin bags with Vocabulary and text books lining their insides, preparing for their trip to the new premises. As such there is a strong chance (see near certain) that we will be helping to move all the material and furniture over to the new premises and could mean the relaxing weekend is nothing of the sort.
As for the rest of the day, well we aren't having our input sessions yet (training session for teacher that should happen every Friday) and so I have it off! I'm planning on searching Dnipro for a music shop and checking out the guitars there as I am having serious guitar withdrawal symptoms (it may have been responsible for me waking up at four this morning with a splitting headache)
Thursday 9 September 2010
Words on a whiteboard
I noticed something this evening whilst teaching that actually filled me with a real sense of pride and joy. I looked at my handwriting on the board (for a word I had been asked to spell) and I knew it was the right spelling, it was legible and I had helped a student progress in their knowledge of English.
Why was this such an achievement for me a now professional English as a foreign language teacher? Well I am Dyslexic and have had major problems with spelling and handwriting for a long time. I was certainly a slow starter at primary school, not helped by my glue ear and in ability to hear what people said for many months at school. After being issued with handwriting classes whilst at primary school and then being given English as a foreign language lessons before school whilst I was at secondary school (with a load of Korean students) I managed to not only achieve a C in my English Language GCSE, but then continue to take essay based subjects right up to degree level.
Admittedly my handwriting was (and can still be) shocking and I do have to use google chrome as my browser due to its in built spell checker, but I have come a long way since the days of my year 6 teacher being determined to insure that I could use paragraphs by the time I left primary school (I could, I subsequently immediately forgot this vital information when I went to secondary school). This evening I realised how far I had come in actually being able to teach English and I was so thankful for all the people who have helped me to achieve this.
Anyway, I just had another set of lessons and I can safety say they have definitely become much easier to plan and deliver, I am much more able to anticipate problems that will arise and to help students deal with them. Sometimes things don't go to plan but it doesn't seam to bother me as much any more. It really feels great to know that I can actually do this, despite what nature may have set against me. I thank God for all the people who have helped me over the years and for his assistance during all problems I have faced.
Why was this such an achievement for me a now professional English as a foreign language teacher? Well I am Dyslexic and have had major problems with spelling and handwriting for a long time. I was certainly a slow starter at primary school, not helped by my glue ear and in ability to hear what people said for many months at school. After being issued with handwriting classes whilst at primary school and then being given English as a foreign language lessons before school whilst I was at secondary school (with a load of Korean students) I managed to not only achieve a C in my English Language GCSE, but then continue to take essay based subjects right up to degree level.
Admittedly my handwriting was (and can still be) shocking and I do have to use google chrome as my browser due to its in built spell checker, but I have come a long way since the days of my year 6 teacher being determined to insure that I could use paragraphs by the time I left primary school (I could, I subsequently immediately forgot this vital information when I went to secondary school). This evening I realised how far I had come in actually being able to teach English and I was so thankful for all the people who have helped me to achieve this.
Anyway, I just had another set of lessons and I can safety say they have definitely become much easier to plan and deliver, I am much more able to anticipate problems that will arise and to help students deal with them. Sometimes things don't go to plan but it doesn't seam to bother me as much any more. It really feels great to know that I can actually do this, despite what nature may have set against me. I thank God for all the people who have helped me over the years and for his assistance during all problems I have faced.
It's Business time!
Not related to the rest of the post:
It was a very different experience from all the other classes I have taught so far for a wide variety of reason. It was off site in the company, which meant I had the pleasure experience of catching the tram in the morning (it is a very good thing that there is a universal 1 UAH [approximately 10p]) charge for the tram rather than having to say where I wanted to go and then get the right amount from the ticket person on the tram.) Then there was the time of day of the lesson...it was actually during the day rather than at night as all my other lessons have been (apart from my kids classes at 3:00. The material was also very company specific with the first session being all about vocab to describe companies. Finally having all your students turn up in very smart clothes was a quiet different experience too.
After this lesson I was practically forced to take the day off due to my cold (that's right a cold) I'm not sure if I looked horrible or they were worried about me infecting everyone else but anyway I was sent home to enjoy the wonders of Ukrainian television. On the plus side I did get to watch the film Gataca, which I had borrowed from the school, It was definitely provocative on the subject of embryology and genetics. I also loved the quote from Jude Laws character "I just gave you my body, you gave me your dreams."
Today I yet again have my 3 adult pre-intermediate groups (meaning I will finish teaching at 9:20). Luckily the subject matter I am teaching is very similar to what I had already taught my teenager pre-intermediate group. As such my prep time has been ridiculously short and I have time to prep for my business class tomorrow morning.
The school may also be moving premises this weekend to a more central location in the town. The obvious advantages of it being larger, in a more prestigious area and it is located right above TGI fridays an Italian restaurant and a Sushi bar (which will make lessons ending at 9:20 much more acceptable when there is hot food straight down stairs!)
Monday 6 September 2010
Caught in it's Greep
This weekend I came under the grip of..er...greep! That's what the Russian word for flu and after noticing the initial signs of a dry throat on Friday evening by Sunday I made a desperate attempt at ordering some cough medicine from the local pharmacist. I had done very well up, managing to use my essential TEFL skills of gestures and miming to Elicit cough, sore throat, runny nose (although my face may have revealed some of that). After being handed a bottle with some instructions I assumed that I could research any of the word lots of words that I don't understand when I got home and then work out the full instructions. After all how different can Ukrainian cough medicine really be?
Well it turns out that the instructions were in Ukrainian, which Russian as Dutch is to English/German. It turns out that I had bought some of that "add to hot water and then inhale" stuff which isn't that effective anyway! As such my Sunday wasn't really the highlight of the week but more one spend in bed/in my flat/getting "cough medicine".
On the plus side, today I was given some Tesco (in Ukraine!?!) vapour rub and some Lemsip rip off from the very helpful Oleg and my Lesson went really well! A good thing too considering one of the co-directors observedme the children to see if they were at the right lesson (I was complimented on my attempts to get the students to not use Russian.
In today's lessons I had the days of the weeks with my young kids and the new point's system had a real affect on their behaviour and then I had my teenagers do present simple Vs present continuous. Both groups really picked up their lessons and really progressed which was a real blessing consider how hard the last two had been.
The only other main thing to report from the weekend just gone was my trip to Puzata Hata a almost canteen style restaurant with tradition Ukrainian food where I had my first Borsch (I was very impressed) as well as my almost staple food of Verenykya. I had also recorded a small video update from here but, unfortunately, my computer is having some issues with loading video's from the computer and so you will have to wait.
Well it turns out that the instructions were in Ukrainian, which Russian as Dutch is to English/German. It turns out that I had bought some of that "add to hot water and then inhale" stuff which isn't that effective anyway! As such my Sunday wasn't really the highlight of the week but more one spend in bed/in my flat/getting "cough medicine".
On the plus side, today I was given some Tesco (in Ukraine!?!) vapour rub and some Lemsip rip off from the very helpful Oleg and my Lesson went really well! A good thing too considering one of the co-directors observed
In today's lessons I had the days of the weeks with my young kids and the new point's system had a real affect on their behaviour and then I had my teenagers do present simple Vs present continuous. Both groups really picked up their lessons and really progressed which was a real blessing consider how hard the last two had been.
The only other main thing to report from the weekend just gone was my trip to Puzata Hata a almost canteen style restaurant with tradition Ukrainian food where I had my first Borsch (I was very impressed) as well as my almost staple food of Verenykya. I had also recorded a small video update from here but, unfortunately, my computer is having some issues with loading video's from the computer and so you will have to wait.
Saturday 4 September 2010
The Not so English Pub
In Dnipro there is an "English Pub" called Big Ben. I had slightly high hopes for Big Ben's seeing as it advertises itself as an English pub, surely this would be a place where it might even be possible to order things in English, watch the English football team on a television and maybe even encounter other English ex-pats in Dnipro.
As soon as we walked in my suspicions that this would actually be more of a Ukrainian take on an English pub and not actually that English at all. There was a small bar area with the obligatory chairs next to the bar (got that right) then they had a load of tables that definitely belonged to a restaurant (okay maybe they were going for the gastro pub idea, not traditional English pub but certainly on the rise.) They welcomed us in Russian (okay it is a Ukrainian city I'll accept that most people should speak Ukrainian or Russian but it would have been cool to have an nice "hello" echo out as we crossed the threshold...) There was a TV (the modern staple of an English Pub) but as I turned to my left I noticed that there a stage set up for a band!
After a quick check we had the conformation, no football, just the band. There was of course only one possible choice for us in light of this. We left and set of for the Irish pub (the description "just round the corner" was definitely not accurate in this case). We were all surprisingly impressed by the Irish pub, there was a plentiful supply of many different types of whisky (although most did appear to be Scottish blends, that can be forgiven) there menu included Irish classic as well as a very tasty steak and they had Guiness on tap! They also showed the England match!
Having watched England win 4-0 we decided to leave the Irish pub and head home, stopping for a final beer at a cafe/bar we had visited recently. At this point I decided to test my Russian out (as we had lost our more fluent Russian speaker earlier in the evening). It started well and I managed to ask for two beers and was completely understood. I was then asked something which I assumed was "which beer would you like" seeing a they serve a variety. I was wrong, what I was actually asked was if I wanted something to eat and given a couple of options. As such when our beers arrived so did some pistachio nuts and what I can only assume is the Ukrainian equivalent to Jerky. Luckily this still wasn't to expensive though it has now lead to some ridicule!
I have the weekend off from teaching so aside from doing a bit of preparation for next week It should be a great chance to relax after the start of the term. (yesterdays lessons involved breaking up a couple of fights, having teenage who seamed to forget everything they had learnt in the previous lesson and other such delights! hopefully the next lessons will go better.)
As soon as we walked in my suspicions that this would actually be more of a Ukrainian take on an English pub and not actually that English at all. There was a small bar area with the obligatory chairs next to the bar (got that right) then they had a load of tables that definitely belonged to a restaurant (okay maybe they were going for the gastro pub idea, not traditional English pub but certainly on the rise.) They welcomed us in Russian (okay it is a Ukrainian city I'll accept that most people should speak Ukrainian or Russian but it would have been cool to have an nice "hello" echo out as we crossed the threshold...) There was a TV (the modern staple of an English Pub) but as I turned to my left I noticed that there a stage set up for a band!
After a quick check we had the conformation, no football, just the band. There was of course only one possible choice for us in light of this. We left and set of for the Irish pub (the description "just round the corner" was definitely not accurate in this case). We were all surprisingly impressed by the Irish pub, there was a plentiful supply of many different types of whisky (although most did appear to be Scottish blends, that can be forgiven) there menu included Irish classic as well as a very tasty steak and they had Guiness on tap! They also showed the England match!
Having watched England win 4-0 we decided to leave the Irish pub and head home, stopping for a final beer at a cafe/bar we had visited recently. At this point I decided to test my Russian out (as we had lost our more fluent Russian speaker earlier in the evening). It started well and I managed to ask for two beers and was completely understood. I was then asked something which I assumed was "which beer would you like" seeing a they serve a variety. I was wrong, what I was actually asked was if I wanted something to eat and given a couple of options. As such when our beers arrived so did some pistachio nuts and what I can only assume is the Ukrainian equivalent to Jerky. Luckily this still wasn't to expensive though it has now lead to some ridicule!
I have the weekend off from teaching so aside from doing a bit of preparation for next week It should be a great chance to relax after the start of the term. (yesterdays lessons involved breaking up a couple of fights, having teenage who seamed to forget everything they had learnt in the previous lesson and other such delights! hopefully the next lessons will go better.)
Thursday 2 September 2010
An Englishman, An Irishman, A Scotsman, An American, A Brizilian and A Ukrainian go to watch Football
One of the experiences that I was really looking forward to was going to watch a football game in the Ukraine. Having seen several games at different grounds around England I was really hoping to find out the similarities and difference between the culture. Would they have more vocal home support (let's be honest it can't be too hard), would I get to see a flare go off, would the Ultra's try and start a fight.
There was never any chance of the last one happening as I hadn't realised that the Ultra's and some other fans were boycotting the club because they had lost the last 3 games (which was an insult too far apparently, even though they were still second in the league). As such the ground was actually fairly empty and there wasn't too much singing and no flares were let of.
The football actually played was quite different to what we are use to in England and there was a much stronger focus on playing a passing game with a slow build up rather than quick counter attacking. As such many of the players moved around positions and there was a moment when the centre took the ball most of the way up the pitch.
Similarities between Arsenal could be brought with the tendency to pass the ball around the outskirts of the box looking for some option but not actually getting many shots of. Despite this as soon as Metalurg Donestk (the small brothers of the more famous Shaktar Donestk scored the game finally came to life with many more shots flying around at both ends. In the end the game finished 2-1 to Metalurg much to the joy of our Ukrainian friend who had bought the tickets for us (we hadn't realised that he didn't support Dnipro until the first goal flew into the net and then everyone near us knew).
Particular highlights about the differences included the cost (30 UAH which is somewhere around £3!!!) for a top flight match, the halftime cheerleaders (I haven't seen this at any English game yet) and in particular the moment at the end of the match where the captain and several other players went over to the Dnipro "Kop" and spoke to the fan's their to explain their poor form. Apparently this is expected (which kinda of diminished the gesture a bit) nether the less it was interesting to see the players held to account by the fans first and then the media.
All in all it was pretty enjoyable and I will definitely go to other matches.
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Warning this post may contain traces of Kids and Teenagers
I had been meaning to write a post reporting on the Dnipro football game that I experienced recently. However due to technical difficulties (read camera) I am delaying this.
Much more importantly I taught my first classes today! The first was "Kids level 2" and the second was Pre-Intermediate teenagers (12-16). The first class was certainly an experience, being my first monolingual class (where all the students spoke the same language) having students at a lower level than I had ever taught before and finally my first Kids TEFL class made for a potent cocktail. Despite many attempts to prevent the students from speaking in Russian it was always a struggle against the tide.
I am uncertain if being able to know a few basic question words of Russian was a help or a hindrance. On the one hand it allowed me to work out some of their questions and issues but on the other when they could tell guessed I could understand something they carried on saying that. I did stress later on that I didn't understand but by that point the damage may well have already been done.
The other main issue seamed to be controlling two of the young boys in their confused attempts at impressing the poor sole girl there. Although this came out in several ways the most noticeable was fighting with each other over who would get to work with her. Mean while her brother quietly stepped in. Despite all this it was great to finally get to teach a class and I really enjoyed being able to be silly with kids.
In the second class Edward Cullen managed to cause a lot of problems (He always interfering) by being loved and hated by different students with VERY strong opinions. I also learnt a bit about a Ukrainian pop due called Потап и Настя Каменских (or Potap and Natasyha Kamenskih). the main issue with the class was a change in the formate of lessons so that they now had no breaks in the middle but last slightly shorter. Although the confusion surrounding the word Impatient which sounded like Impotent to one Ukrainian students ears.
Tomorrow I have some adults to teach (3 groups all at the same level and all at the same point! meaning a lot less preparation time.) and will have doubled my total teaching English as a foreign language experience which will be a nice mile stone to achieve. Until then....good night
Much more importantly I taught my first classes today! The first was "Kids level 2" and the second was Pre-Intermediate teenagers (12-16). The first class was certainly an experience, being my first monolingual class (where all the students spoke the same language) having students at a lower level than I had ever taught before and finally my first Kids TEFL class made for a potent cocktail. Despite many attempts to prevent the students from speaking in Russian it was always a struggle against the tide.
I am uncertain if being able to know a few basic question words of Russian was a help or a hindrance. On the one hand it allowed me to work out some of their questions and issues but on the other when they could tell guessed I could understand something they carried on saying that. I did stress later on that I didn't understand but by that point the damage may well have already been done.
The other main issue seamed to be controlling two of the young boys in their confused attempts at impressing the poor sole girl there. Although this came out in several ways the most noticeable was fighting with each other over who would get to work with her. Mean while her brother quietly stepped in. Despite all this it was great to finally get to teach a class and I really enjoyed being able to be silly with kids.
In the second class Edward Cullen managed to cause a lot of problems (He always interfering) by being loved and hated by different students with VERY strong opinions. I also learnt a bit about a Ukrainian pop due called Потап и Настя Каменских (or Potap and Natasyha Kamenskih). the main issue with the class was a change in the formate of lessons so that they now had no breaks in the middle but last slightly shorter. Although the confusion surrounding the word Impatient which sounded like Impotent to one Ukrainian students ears.
Tomorrow I have some adults to teach (3 groups all at the same level and all at the same point! meaning a lot less preparation time.) and will have doubled my total teaching English as a foreign language experience which will be a nice mile stone to achieve. Until then....good night
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)