This first week back after my trip to Greece was good and busy. I think that helped with the transition not to mention going to a place that we both had to travel too, knowing that we would be returning to different locations afterwards.
I am sorry to say that I do not have any interesting and adventure stories this week. This week was all about getting back to the normal routine, which was kind of hard to do at school since the ministry came for 3 days to observe and look around. The teachers have been stressed for weeks in preparation for them coming and this week it was even worse. The teachers were putting together last minute posters to decorate their walls, even though all of their classrooms already looked great and they were trying to add more interactive elements, like the computers, to their already short, 40 min, lessons. This plus constantly wondering when someone would be coming to watch their lessons really made the week crazy. These poor teachers were stressing themselves and the students out for no reason. They had been preparing for weeks and when the ministry people did come into their classrooms they only stayed for 5 mins, literally. The first day they visited 10 classrooms in 2 periods, each being only 40mins long. How can you get a good idea of what the teacher can do in 5 mins? You can't. I mostly stuck with Irena this week, since we have a good routine and system down when we teach together and I wanted to stay out of the other teachers way. By the end of the inspection/observations all of the teachers had been visited by the ministry, all except Irena. The days they visited the older students, she was teaching the younger ones, and the days they were visiting the younger students, she was teaching the older ones. So she was able to slide under the radar all week. Irena seems a little disappointed that they never came to watch her teach, since she had prepared for them to come, but she was not heart broken. In the end the school was given a 3 on the grading scale. That is average and good for the schools in Resen, since the other 2 schools in Resen both got 1s. The grading scale is from 1-5 and Irena said that they do not give out 4 or 5s because if they do then they would have to raise the teachers salary. So really a 3 is very good. Our director told Irena that it is a good thing for the ministry that they did not watch Irena teach because then they would have had to give the school a 4 or a 5, because she is such a good teacher. For Irena that compliment made up for the fact that they did not watch her.
On Friday, I did Kid Club at the corner and the topic was St. Patty's Day, of course. I wore green and had Irish music playing as the kids came in. We talked about St. Patrick and some of the Irish legions and what people in American do to celebrate. Then I danced, of course I had to dance, and the kids each made their own leprechaun. Afterward, myself, some other volunteers, and 2 of the ladies that work at the corner went to one of the bars in Bitola because they were "celebrating" St. Patty's Day. Now I say "celebrating" in quotes because they had green and orange balloons up and a big paper shamrock on the door and Irish music playing but that was it. No green beer, no Irish car-bombs, and the only people wearing green were the volunteers and the bartenders. I think some people know or at least have heard about St. Patrick's Day over here, but they have not adapted the full concept of celebration like what happens back in the states. I guess that is just another thing that I will have to add to my to-do list of things to teach/show people over here in Macedonia. A Peace Corps volunteer's job is never done.
I am sorry to say that I do not have any interesting and adventure stories this week. This week was all about getting back to the normal routine, which was kind of hard to do at school since the ministry came for 3 days to observe and look around. The teachers have been stressed for weeks in preparation for them coming and this week it was even worse. The teachers were putting together last minute posters to decorate their walls, even though all of their classrooms already looked great and they were trying to add more interactive elements, like the computers, to their already short, 40 min, lessons. This plus constantly wondering when someone would be coming to watch their lessons really made the week crazy. These poor teachers were stressing themselves and the students out for no reason. They had been preparing for weeks and when the ministry people did come into their classrooms they only stayed for 5 mins, literally. The first day they visited 10 classrooms in 2 periods, each being only 40mins long. How can you get a good idea of what the teacher can do in 5 mins? You can't. I mostly stuck with Irena this week, since we have a good routine and system down when we teach together and I wanted to stay out of the other teachers way. By the end of the inspection/observations all of the teachers had been visited by the ministry, all except Irena. The days they visited the older students, she was teaching the younger ones, and the days they were visiting the younger students, she was teaching the older ones. So she was able to slide under the radar all week. Irena seems a little disappointed that they never came to watch her teach, since she had prepared for them to come, but she was not heart broken. In the end the school was given a 3 on the grading scale. That is average and good for the schools in Resen, since the other 2 schools in Resen both got 1s. The grading scale is from 1-5 and Irena said that they do not give out 4 or 5s because if they do then they would have to raise the teachers salary. So really a 3 is very good. Our director told Irena that it is a good thing for the ministry that they did not watch Irena teach because then they would have had to give the school a 4 or a 5, because she is such a good teacher. For Irena that compliment made up for the fact that they did not watch her.
On Friday, I did Kid Club at the corner and the topic was St. Patty's Day, of course. I wore green and had Irish music playing as the kids came in. We talked about St. Patrick and some of the Irish legions and what people in American do to celebrate. Then I danced, of course I had to dance, and the kids each made their own leprechaun. Afterward, myself, some other volunteers, and 2 of the ladies that work at the corner went to one of the bars in Bitola because they were "celebrating" St. Patty's Day. Now I say "celebrating" in quotes because they had green and orange balloons up and a big paper shamrock on the door and Irish music playing but that was it. No green beer, no Irish car-bombs, and the only people wearing green were the volunteers and the bartenders. I think some people know or at least have heard about St. Patrick's Day over here, but they have not adapted the full concept of celebration like what happens back in the states. I guess that is just another thing that I will have to add to my to-do list of things to teach/show people over here in Macedonia. A Peace Corps volunteer's job is never done.
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