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| In Inna's office readying for our lesson |
With the exception of a quick one hour lesson about American
life last year with the same class I was about to teach, it’d been nearly four
years since I’d stepped off the computer screen and into a real live 3D
classroom. I enjoy online teaching, but it’s always fun to return to the real
classroom from time to time.
My hostess Inna Viktrovna, the Deputy Director for FEFU (Far
Eastern Federal University) pre-university study, had a big day in store for
me. First up in the order of events would be my teaching a lesson to the
students about articles (as in “a, an, the”), then I’d help them prepare for
the national exam the ЕГЭ (Unified
State Exam), and finally we’d wrap things up with a “tea ceremony”.
We arrived in her office to discuss the day and review what
the students were studying. Inna though had one big question for me regarding a
prompt in the middle of the book, which showed a simple black and white picture
of Big Ben and London with the directions “describe what is going on in the
picture”. Usually the words “what’s going on” queues you into the fact there
must be an action occurring. However there was nothing happening at all, no
action, just a picture of Big Ben and The Thames. She was stumped to what to
say, as was I, answering maybe it’d be best just to make something up. In
general I found the textbook to be poorly written with ambiguous directions and
poorly worded questions.
While we were discussing the ins and outs of the state exam
and the meaning of usage of articles, one of Inna’s English colleagues walked
into her office to return a book (nice indefinite article there) when she heard
us talking. She kind of stopped for a second, looked at us and said, “Can I
have him tomorrow morning to teach the same lesson, at 8 AM”. Inna looked at me
and I said I’d love to. Inna was very kind and asked me if I was sure I wanted
to teach a lesson since after all I was on holiday. I said yes that it’d fun to
teach in another classroom. As I indicated in my last article I’m not one to
like to sit around on the couch when I’m on the road!
The first bell rang and it was action time! I picked up my
laptop and we walked down the hallway into her classroom. As we walked in the
students all stood up like a judge was entering the room! In Russia the
students always stand when the teachers enter the room, which is a nice
gesture! In the United States students usually are too busy to be bothered or
interrupted by something as important as their teacher walking in the room. And
rightfully so when you have important texting to take care of or gaming to
master!
As soon as I walked into the classroom there was a big smile
on everyone’s face like an old friend had just returned. The students were
expecting me, ready to dive head first into articles, which is no doubt the
bane of Russian’s existence. I had prepared a power point presentation but due
to technical difficulties with the TV and file format I’d have to improvise and
wing it with my laptop. Luckily there were no problems, the students were
great, unlike when I used to substitute in the public school back home where any
technical glitch was like blood in the water for these hormonal sharks.
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| Our tea ceremony/roundtable |
Thankfully the power point presentation in its diminished
form went off without a hitch and I felt good about the students’ understanding.
Now that we were pau hana (done with work in Hawaiian) it was time for us to
enjoy each others company with a “tea ceremony.” The last time I took part in
anything related to tea I was in a small house in old Shanghai being presented with
a 400 RMB/$61 bill for a two hour “tea festival” with two Chinese scammers. So
you can understand my connotation wasn’t the best!
Inna and I went back to her office for a bit to put away our
books and take a quick rest. When we returned to the classroom the students had
put all the tables together, put out a nice tablecloth out with tea, locally
made sweets and other Russian chocolates. I was beyond humbled that these kids
would be kind enough to organize an event for me.
During our tea ceremony round table we discussed their
personal goals, introduced ourselves, talked about their post-high school,
where I had visited in the world, my impressions of their city and anything
else that came to their brilliant young minds. It was a lot of fun to listen to
the students talk about who they were, their goals and interests. Much like
their peers back home they all had different goals. Some wanted to be lawyers,
another wanted to be a teacher of Russian as a Foreign Language, another a
translator, a few expressed a desire to continue their athletic careers beyond
high school, one wanted to continue her dancing and many others were not that
sure.
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| The class and guest teacher for the day, Stepan Richardovich |
As soon as we finished it was time for us to return to
Inna’s office for me to meet my tour guide for the day, Kristina, one of Inna’s
English all-star students! Last year I had been matched up with Victoria, who
you can read about in these two article entries, “Triple Header” and
“Sightseeing with An English All-Star”. The plan was to show me some of the sights
of Vladivostok, but due to bad weather we decided it’d be better to go out to a
coffee house and talk story (chat in Hawaiian pidgen) there instead of dodging
the cold pelting mid-spring rain.
We spent a good two hours talking in both Russian and English
about everything. Considering Kristina had only studied English for a year and
a half it was amazing how well she spoke!! Her primary foreign language was
Chinese. Due to Vladivostok’s proximity to China, a great many students prefer
to study Chinese as their second language. It’s no wonder as Chinese investment
and tourism in Vladivostok is increasing at a rapid pace.
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| Kristina and me |
Last year when I visited Vladivostok I saw Chinese tourists
and a few scattered signs in Chinese, however this year on the other hand was
starkly different!! This year Chinese were everywhere, on the streets shopping,
at all the tourist attractions and at my hotel who just recently joined the
international association called “World Without Borders” which certifies
companies, hotels and tourist sights as “Chinese friendly” meaning the quality
is what they would expect if they were traveling domestically in China.
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