Pani Ucitelka Day Two

Thursday December 15, 2011

Today was my second day of teaching at school.  Again, Katerina had a wonderful schedule planned for me and I was more than happy to meet with the students and talk with them.

The first class I met with I actually have met some of them before.  I met with the V3G and V4G students who are 12 and 13 years old.  Last year when the one group was V2G they performed the Thanksgiving skit for me and I spoke with them about Culture in America.  A lot of the students remembered me from last year so I was welcomed with huge smiles as I entered the room.  I talked with them about Washington State and American Christmas traditions as well.  They had some good questions to ask me when I was done talking.

The second group I met with was 1C. I had met them yesterday and I was not actually teaching them today.  They were performing their Landlady skits.  Katerina had created an amazing lesson where the students read the short story, The Landlady, by Roald Dahl.  My American students also read that story so it was a common topic that our international students could communicate about.  After the Czech students had read the story, Katerina had them get into groups from 4-7 students.  They had to create a skit based off of one of the scenes from the story and also do it in another genre.  The students were very excited to perform their skits for me and I was excited to see them.

They were such great listeners to each other and showed interest in the skits performed by others in their class. You could also tell how natural Katerina is in teaching and also with working with drama.  I think she must have been a director in another life because she has a keen eye and a wonderful presence with the students.  It was an honor to be in her classroom and watching her interact with the students.

I am excited to do the skits with my students next year.  The kids looked like they were having fun turning the Landlady into a melodrama, horror, or sci fi movie scene.  It was hilarious to see that aliens were incorporated into the Landlady and a little romance as well.  Students used technology along with props and they paid close attention to detail, so much so, that I felt like I was actually in the Landlady's living room.  One student was even the "stuffed dog" by the fire place.

After that class, I got to meet with my former class V7G, now V8G.  They had a worksheet to fill out as I talked about American holidays.  They asked questions about what we eat, what we do, how we celebrate each holiday.  Again time went by too fast.

After V8G, I was done with my teaching.  Katerina offered for me to come to her V1G class to just watch, which I eagerly jumped on.  It was great watching her teach English to 11 year olds.  They did very well in their pronunciations and sentence structure. It was interesting to see the differences in British and American English too.  The English books were teaching phrases like, "empty the rubbish bins," and "have a shower," whereas in American English we say, "take out the garbage," and "take a shower."

After school I got to meet with some of my former students for coffee and catch up with what is going on in their lives. They are what we would call "seniors" this year and they were talking about how nervous they are for their maturita exams.

It was a very busy day but a FABULOUS day as well!

Learned today:  the lead fortune telling superstition and that if you want to be a Kindergarten teacher in the Czech Republic you have to pass an artistic exam.  You have to demonstrate a talent in either singing, painting, or something like that...just to be a kindergarten teacher.