The Cliche Good-bye Post

Shannon and I overlooking Kutaisi

Of course, the last two weeks I'm here things have to get super busy. I've had a great deal of intriguing adventures to write about and no time to do so. I went to Kutaisi to see some fossils and a cool cave. There are new volunteers in Poti. I wrote and then re-wrote some final exams about five times per grade level. But, you'll just have to ask me about them when I get home if you want more details. (I still don't have my ticket home, so who knows if I'll actually get home. Just kidding, Mom, I'll get there somehow!) For now I'm going to discuss the ending of my Georgian adventure.Be forewarned, you are about to read many a cliche. (I think, after reading other volunteer blogs, this post is required. I hope that the pictures of me with EXTREMELY frizzy hair will entertain you if you don't like reading about me changing and Georgia changing and yadda yadda)

My 4th Graders: i.e. the Cutest Kids Ever!

I knew that saying good-bye to my classes and teachers would be difficult in some ways and a relief in others. We only have a couple more days of school left. I've already had my last lesson with most of my classes. I told students how much I enjoyed teaching them. I explained that I hoped they would continue to study. Most students have already zoned out and didn't seem to be paying attention. Then I told them that I wouldn't be back in the Fall. A surprisingly heartfelt groan was issued by every single class I had. It made me realize that despite my many frustrations in trying to bridge the cultural and educational gaps, I had actually made some sort of impact. That was my goal but somewhere in the last 2 1/2 months I lost hope for that to be accomplished. You certainly won't see my co-teachers actually writing out lesson plans. There are still many students who refuse to participate most days and can't answer the question "how are you?". Cheating still occurs in most of the classes, too. Yet, students do have better pronunciation. My 4th graders have an almost perfect mid-west accent. They no longer call each other stupid (at least not in school, I'm not that naive). The most exciting change I've seen is their growing courage and confidence. On the street or in a shop students will initiate conversations with me. They don't mind making mistakes, even in front of their parents, because they know that I'll reward their initiative and gently correct without yelling or tattling to their parents. These are good changes that their Georgian and future TLG teachers can improve upon.

Some of my 11th Graders

I'm sure that Georgia has impacted me as well. Besides developing a perfect "teacher look", you know that look teachers give you when you are in trouble that makes you feel more guilty than if you had robbed a bank, I have a better handle on classroom management. If I can keep Georgian kids quiet, I can keep anyone quiet! I'm more patient than I every used to be. I still have some work to do on that front, but I've made some noticeable progress. I'll never be entirely comfortable at a supra, but I've learned the important cultural lesson of how to relax and to just go with the flow. I can now make Katchapuri, which will be quite useful when I get home. I've been told by many Georgians that I would make a fortune if I opened a shop selling Katchapuri in America; they're probably right. I'm not sure this next one is an accomplishment or a sign of a deteriorating character, but I can hold my ChaCha pretty well for an American. Maybe it's a sign I'm more fun? Eh, probably not, I'm still pretty nerdy!

10B: A Class I've Only Had for a Couple Months

Traveling has always been a dream of mine. My passport finally has a stamp in it. A large part of me would like to just continue on traveling and teaching. There are plenty of programs that would satisfy my travel bug and give me some money to make it happen. But most of those programs require a college degree. So, I'll keep my promise and come home to finish my degree. I think I'm ready to focus again. I still don't know if I'm transferring to Madison in the Fall. I won't be going back to Creighton. If need be I'll start working or just taking some basic classes to fill out some general requirements at MATC or something. It doesn't bother me as much as it once did that I didn't know what I'm doing in the next couple months. I'm sure it will all work out. I need to stop trying to do everything at once. The first step is just getting my Bachelor's in physics, in whatever University allows me to do this with the right combination of support and opportunities.
I'll be home in about a week. . . so, Good-bye Georgia. I'm starting the next chapter of my adventure.

Sunshine and Sneezes

Whew! It has been a very busy month. The end of the school year is approaching. This means students are, surprise surprise, even crazier than they have been the last five months. Teachers are working on preparing students for final exams. Classes are going on excursions now that the weather is nice. And, of course, I finally have reached some great levels of communication with my co-teachers inspiring more activities and lessons being led by me. So much to do!

I remember being a student in middle and high school and looking forward to those last few weeks of school. The weather was always really nice. Friends and I would hang out around town after school or after a softball game. I didn't seem to have as much homework. We would just be reviewing for finals. But now I am on the other side of the educational fence. I now hope for rainy days because I know the students will be less likely to shout in class or just want to goof off. Discipline isn't a problem so much as noise level and keeping students focused. The short attention spans of my students have just gotten shorter, which I thought was impossible! lol

I'm helping my co-teachers to also prepare final exams. I'm really excited to be involved with this. Georgian teachers are being asked to find new ways of evaluating students and to be more open to western educational practices. Tests are often just focused on one issues and don't allow for multiple learning styles. I'm hoping that my additions to the finals will allow for a broader assessments (listening, comprehension, writing, grammar, creativity). We'll see how the students do in a couple of weeks.

I've been asked to go on many excursions or field trips. I'm trying to go on as many as possible not just because it's a free trip but because it gives my students a chance to interact with me outside of the classroom and use English in a more practical environment. The problem is that on GMT, Georgian Maybe Time, you never know when you are really leaving or other important details. It's frustrating that tomorrow's trip has been canceled. I said no to another class because my 7th graders asked me first. Now they aren't going until next weekend. Ah well, live and learn, I guess.

The weather is fabulous. It's sunny most of the time. We get a nice breeze off the sea to keep the high 70 to 80 degree weather from becoming overwhelming. I love my walks around Poti even more now. However, it seems that their is some flowering tree somewhere that makes my allergies crazy. I'm taking some Russian Allergy tablets but they don't seem to be working. This new pollen has extended my usual spring misery into a much longer ordeal. I am looking forward to the end of spring here. I'm told summer is only a week or two away. I should be out of the pollen by then. At the same time that's about when I'll be going back to America, too.

Stay safe all my American friends who are dealing with the crazy storms there!

Oh, If Only I had a Calendar!

I'm going to share a quick funny story that happened today. I must first though explain that Thursday we did not have school because it was St. Andrew's Day. On Friday, I also did not have school due to my changed schedule resulting from not working with one teacher anymore. This means that I had a four day weekend.

Now, on to the story.
I woke up late this morning, feeling kinda lazy. It wasn't a big deal since I don't have classes on Monday until 12:20pm. I proceed to take a shower and get dressed. Than I go downstairs and quickly eat lunch before heading off to school. I walk almost all the way to school before I spot a 7th grader who is walking about in street clothes not his uniform when he should be in class. I think that maybe he's skipping for some other event. I don't stop him or talk to him. At the corner street of the school I see a 6th grader helping this elderly woman with some bags. He also should be in class or at least his uniform. He is not. I get to school and realize as I walk through the doors that it's a big quite. I go to my first classroom and realize that it is empty. I'm very confused at this point.
I text my co-teacher and receive no response. I text a fellow volunteer, Shannon, and receive no response. I decide to walk home and see if I can't get a hold of my co-teacher before the lesson for 4th grade are supposed to begin. Maybe the first set of lessons were shortened again? As I'm walking through the market I spot my co-teacher. I ask her if classes have been canceled. She looks a little confused and replied that of course there wasn't class today.

And then it dawned on me. . . Today is Sunday.

That's right folks I went to school on a Sunday for no other reason than I am obviously not intelligent enough to look at a calendar. I guess this just shows how excited I am to be teaching. I just want to teach everyday. lol

A Growing Bookshelf

If you know me personally, you know that I have a severe love obsession with books. The first thing I fretted over when packing for my first year of college was how many books I could fit into our tiny car. Half of my belongings packed up before I left for Georgia was just books. I have to keep a tight grip on the part of my budget for books or else I can easily get carried away.

Now, I'm in a new country with its own language and its own books. I, of course, had to buy a big dictionary for my class work and lesson plans. Then I bought a small children's book to help me learn Georgian. Just last week, I found a cook book of traditional dishes in Georgian I can translate. My Georgian bookshelf is growing.

There are wonderful little book sellers at the Poti market. Some have books in English as well as Georgians. The problem for me is that I see these sellers everyday walking home from school. When I go back to the US I won't be able to get books that are written in Georgian, especially at these prices. The cook book I got would be $30 in the states. Here it was only 19 GEL which is closer to $12. I could buy Harry Potter or even The Hobbit in Georgian and spend less than in the states. The temptation is almost endless here.

At the same time, some of my students can't get their English books for class. Students are required to find and buy all their books outside of the school. It isn't like attending college where you can just use a number of websites like Abebooks.com or amazon.com to find a cheap copy. Textbooks here are limited to mostly used books sold back and forth between the different markets in many of the cities. You can't always find the version you want or a book with all the pages. I don't know how families are able to find the books that they do. I certainly can't find all the books I need for class at the market. I had the Resource Center help me order them.

The Minister of Education is well aware of this problem. He has worked hard this past year to work out a deal for better English books at a cheaper price for all schools. At the meeting we had in Zugdidi where we, TLG volunteers, met him, he explained the new changes. Teachers will get a free pack of books and resources. This is great because teachers spend even more money on books than students and often can't get all of the resources like test booklets. The books for students will also be a low price of 10 GEL. Hopefully, the books will be lacking in the errors found in the current books.

Books aren't the only changes happening in the educational system here. Teachers are growing through a new certification process. Schools are being renovated. Students are receiving computers if they do well. National exams are also being instituted for University admittance. Vocational schools are also being updated and expanded. I could go on with more details. However, the important part to stress is that this is a lot of change. From my outside perspective, great and needed changes. Natives seem mixed. Many teachers and parents I talk to think it's great, too. Some teachers feel like it's too much change and not enough training and support. Either way, it's an exciting time to be here. I wish I could stay longer and see it all come to fruition.

Where Danni Rants on the Philisophical Differences between Soviet Education and American Progressivism and the Misfortunes of Monday Mornings

I have a difficult teacher. We don't see eye to eye on a lot of issues. Mainly, we don't agree on a basic philosophy about education. Today that difference became the focal point for yet another communication conflict.
A student was having problems spelling a word on the board. I was helping him sound out his mistakes when the difficult teacher started screaming at him in Georgian. When she finished, I asked her why she was screaming at him. She told me that the homework was for these simple past forms of the verbs to be memorized. She then had another student come up to the board and finish the work.
I would like to blame my next actions on it being Monday morning and not being entirely awake yet. But, in reality, it was more I couldn't stand not saying something directly about this issue to her. I've gently hinted and pushed at it before. My patience only lasts for so long. I should have waited till after class to bring it up. I was just afraid that she would once again ignore me in the hall or teacher's lounge because she was "busy" or it was too "noisy" to talk.
I told her flat out that I didn't think we should yell at students for making simple mistakes. It was our job as teachers to guide students into discovering knowledge and help them gain confidence in their language skills. She was shocked. She didn't understand why I wouldn't yell at a student. "It's the rule" that students are punished when they don't do the work. I explained my philosophy that all children can learn and our talented class just needed some positive reinforcement to fulfill their potential. Screaming at children is not, in anyway, positive. Of course, my co-teacher just turned around saying she didn't understand my problem so it wasn't important.
I'm frustrated when I work with this co-teacher. I don't know how to help her see that her actions make students fear or mock her. I don't know how to help her be open to learning new material. I don't know how to help her students when she refuses to allow me any room to show by example what the class is really capable of.
The students understood far more of our conversation than I think my co-teacher realizes. They were smiling and laughing at us. (Frankly, even I knew how ridiculous having the conversation in the middle of class was. Not one of my best moves.) They work hard when I get to do a lesson. The shy students actually participate when I get to do an activity. We could do so much for these students if she'd just be willing to compromise a little.  


There is a very evil part of me that hopes she doesn't pass her teacher exams (part of the new educational reforms) by 2014. Then no other student or co-teacher will have to deal with her attitude.

"We have gathered here today to mourn our good English grades. . . "

(Who can name the person who said the quote of my title? It's a fellow East Troy alumni)
Today my 10th grade class had a test. This wasn't my first Georgian test. However, it was the first one not with my Difficult Teacher. I had thought that all my problems with test taking here were due to my communication and philosophy problems I have with my Difficult Teacher. That theory was proven wrong today, terribly wrong.

Classrooms are already fairly crowed. When you pack thirty students into a medium-sized classroom it becomes very difficult to spread them out during a test. The desks are crunched together. A certain amount of looking over shoulders is bound to happen just because of the limited space. Somehow, the classrooms seem even more crowed to me during a test. It is impossible to give students enough space so that they aren't staring at their neighbors test. The staring isn't subtle either. Students lean over the aisles to look at another test. Sometimes, they will even hold up their test for their friends to see.

Of course, this isn't the only way students cheat. The classroom is just as noisy during a test as it is during a regular lesson which by American standards is just about at the yelling level. Students ask each other for answers or talk about what they are going to do after school. It doesn't matter what they are saying or how loud they say it. It never crosses their mind to stop talking during an important exam.

Finally, two methods of cheating just about blew my mind. I asked the co-teacher before we started what her rules were. She said "No books, no notes, to be quiet, a regular test." When students couldn't be find inspiration for the writing section she had them get out their books. The rule basically meant nothing. Well, not nothing, I guess. I certainly enforced the rule and took three books away from students before I saw my co-teacher look right over another student who had his book out. More shocking was the instance of one boy physically handing his test book over to another boy to finish. At that point I didn't really care what the co-teacher did or didn't do. That was too blatant of cheating for me. I took both of their tests away before they had finished. It won't hurt their score much since they were already basically done. I wish it would have, though.

I discussed all the cheating with my co-teacher after the test. I can't understand how cheating could be allowed in any way. If the students don't understand a topic but cheat off someone who does know, how will the teacher know she needs to review the topic again. Tests are just as important for teachers as students. They help show where weaknesses are during instruction time. They help show whether the class is successfully navigating the year-long schedule to be prepared for the next year. My co-teacher just said, "They couldn't survive without cheating." Well, maybe it's about time they tried. I know that many of the students who were cheating are more than capable of being successful without help. They need to have the confidence to do that.

I  know their are differences in the cultural mindset surrounding education for Georgians and Americans. This difference is just too much for me to bend for. I can't stand their and watch students and teachers rob themselves of a great opportunity to really asses their strengths and then improve. What to do, what to do?

House Slippers and Other Reasons I am Sick

Despite the reasons I might believe I am sick such as I work at a germy school that doesn't have soap in the bathroom or the maid, Dalika, doesn't cover her mouth when she coughs, really this is what the Georgians keep telling me.
I am sick because . . .
1. I don't wear my house slippers all the time. You are supposed to get home, take off your shoes and put on your slippers. Sometimes I forget and walk around in my socks. If I'm just in my bedroom I might even be barefoot. My host family will all look at me like I'm crazy when they see my naked feet and immediately demand I put slippers on.
2. I wear short sleeved sweaters. I have a couple sweaters that I wear on sunny days or when I know the school will be heated. For some reason this is not a good idea even though the outside temperature is usually in the 30s and even low 40s on those days. It always makes me giggle to think of what they'd say if they saw all the Wisconsin kids wearing flip-flops in six inches of snow. That surely makes you more cold than wearing short sleeves.
3. I take a shower in the morning. I don't really understand the reasoning behind this because I've only gotten the comment once. Shannon, the other Poti, volunteer says her family harps about it a lot. I guess having wet hair in the morning allows germs to infect you easier. I would like to point out that most Georgians don't have curly hair. They have no idea what trials I go through to tame my hair even a little while living next to the sea and in the humid air here.


The cold that I currently have seems to be the same one that everyone has been passing around for the last three weeks. The sinus pressure was bad enough for me that on Thursday I stayed home from school. When I arrived at school on Friday for my two lessons, my co-teacher first demanded to know where I was yesterday. I had texted her the morning before school started. The school was also contacted. I don't think this teacher has ever missed a day of school even when she was terribly ill. This teacher was also one of the first to get the cold earlier this month, perhaps it's her germs that got me sick. I told her that I was felling better and didn't want to miss school. Since I wasn't coughing anymore, I figured the potential for me passing germs had become more limited. Telling her I was still sick was a mistake. She kept telling me to go home and sleep and feel better. I couldn't tell if she just didn't want me in class with her or she really thought I looked sick and miserable.
I will continue to drink tea and orange juice and plenty of fluids (happy mom?). I didn't go traveling this weekend like planned so I could rest and recuperate. I think I'll be able to beat this nasty bug soon. All I'll have to do is buy some soap for the school.

Mast'! Mast'! Mast'!

Mast'savlebeli means teacher in Georgian. And that is what I am here in Georgia. An English Teacher. (Cue song from Bye Bye Birdie. . .) I am working with 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 11th grades. I have about 21 lessons each week and work with three different teachers.

Despite the age differences, there are many similarities throughout all of my classes. The first being Georgian students are noisy! They whisper to each other. They practice the material "silently" to themselves. They check answers with each other. They even say "Mast'! Mast'! Mast'!" while trying to get the teacher to call on them. All thirty some of them do this at the same time. My ears are still protesting the sound. I'm sure in a couple more weeks I'll be used to it. Right now, though, I want to cover my ears in most classes. The noise, though, is just a sign of one of the best attributes of Georgian students. They are so excited to learn English. I can't speak about other lessons, but they seem to really want to be in school. They take their education more seriously than many of the Americans I know. These students also have a high tolerance level. The school is often without electricity and therefore heat. They only have chalkboards in the classrooms. No extra books or supplies in the rooms. There is a tiny library and a computer room that seem to rarely be used. There is also only one severely outdated science laboratory for the whole school. Yet, students think their school is beautiful. They appreciate the large classrooms and the things they do have.

The best part of getting to know my students is seeing their confidence emerge. I walk to and from school. That way I get to see more of Poti and burn off some of those calories they keep stuffing down my throat (seriously, Georgians never seem to stop offering me food!). This week I've had four different students approach me on these walks and speak in English with me. The fourth grader only got as far as "Hello, how are you?" but the smile on her face when I responded was resplendent. A seventh grader had a whole conversation with me about my computer. They are timid when conversing, but I take the signs of initiative outside of the classroom as beacons of emerging understanding and retention. 

Obviously, It isn't all or even most of my work. I've only been here for three weeks. There was a past volunteer here last semester, and their teachers have been here for years (one has been teaching for over 40 years). These people get the credit for giving students the opportunity to learn the basics of English. I'm just trying to give students another reason to be excited about the material and teachers the opportunity to improve their English with a native speaker. Two of my teachers have been exceptional to work with. They let me read a lot and are open to my suggestions of games and activities that get students speaking aloud. One, however, is difficult to communicate with. She doesn't seem to understand my accent. I have an even harder time understanding her's. She also has a teaching philosophy that is very difficult for me to understand. She yells at students all the time. Sometimes, it seems like for no reason at all. She corrects students in the middle of their attempts to sound out words. When students make a mistake, she screams that they should know it already. A topic is introduced and then reviewed a little the next day. No activities are given to practice or to use the new information in a practical way. The students are just supposed to memorize texts. I try to gently add my suggestions to class. We are still communicating with each other, however, slowly and painfully at times. I think her classes will be the best opportunity for me to challenge my own teaching style. I feel like I can offer those students more, more laughter and more interesting material. I also feel like I can really help this teacher improve her own English. She's obviously been studying a for a long time. She understands the basics but has had little opportunity to use it outside of regurgitating for a classroom. This is the challenge that I wanted. Let's see what happens in the next five months, shall we?