Is the week already almost half over?! Our group had an Elementary lesson yesterday- the only problem was, it was a national holiday (the fall of Communism, I believe) and we only had one student show up! (who was far more elementary than we had expected.) So the first three girls had to seriously modify their plans, and I ended up teaching them, pretending to be students! (all of this observed to count towards our certification.) Were we ever ready for that day to be over! Today I had my last one-on-one tutoring session (I'm going to miss her! She is so sweet.) and now I'm finishing up some lesson plans with some people at the coffee shop... We found a place that sells burcak (sweet, partially fermented wine that tastes like juice) just across from us in the mall here (yes, we're in a huge mall.. Prague is way more "modern" than you might expect!)
Anyhow, so burcak + lesson planning in coffee shop and I'm hoping to get some gnocchi in a bit when we meet up w/ the rest of the TEFLers at the pub. That's life right now... not terribly exciting, but everyday we chat about all the weekend trips we're going to take when this is over! And we're qualified! Not sure if I mentioned this yet, but I'm signing a lease on my apartment here through June! I find it slightly ironic that I haven't even signed a lease this long in my real life (since college, ha, you know.."real" life!) and I'm doing it in a foreign country. C'est la vie!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
my head is full of verbs...
Prague!! You are one of the most beautiful, mysterious, magical cities in the world, and I want to spend all day every day exploring everything you have to offer! Instead, I must savor the snippets of time we have together as I spend my days within the walls of TEFL, learning about auxilaries and modal verbs, present perfect continuous and eliminating that ever-present "teacher talk time." While the city lies patiently in wait, us TEFLers have had some pretty good time to bond in the classroom, learning all we can from our two British teachers, who have informed us that the one area we Americans generally lack in proficiency is correction. "The British... are great at correcting. Students make a mistake, and they're right on it. You Americans, you think everything's awesome, just AWESOME! The student can't speak a word but you think they're just awesome!"
Speaking of cultural differences, I have had some time (running from school, to tutoring, to the coffee shop to work some more) to interact with and observe the Czech culture. While I generally run around smiling (even feeling haggard after a long day and lugging around laptop + school bag..I'm in Prague, for goodness sakes! of course I'm smiling!) ... Czech people don't smile on the street, or generally make eye contact, or put up a front of niceties. Which is different, but almost refreshing in a way, because you get the sense that people are real; there's no b.s.-ing around here! The grocery store clerk doesn't flash a wide fake smile and ask how your day is going. They just get things done, and you know what? It's easier for me, because I can get by on a few words Czech and (maybe) nobody knows the wiser :) Also, there are SO many dogs here! I mean, everywhere. And they don't use leashes. Or pooper scoopers. Going running is like dodging bombs on the ground.
Off to bed; this has been the longest week in history, and I speak for my entire class when I say that we are completely wiped out!! We're having a party at our apartment tomorrow- celebrating our roommate's birthday that was on Wednesday, and inviting all the TEFLers over because we deserve a celebration for making it HALfWAY to teacher-dom! in just 2 more weeks I will be a real teacher AND finally have time to travel...watch out world!
Speaking of cultural differences, I have had some time (running from school, to tutoring, to the coffee shop to work some more) to interact with and observe the Czech culture. While I generally run around smiling (even feeling haggard after a long day and lugging around laptop + school bag..I'm in Prague, for goodness sakes! of course I'm smiling!) ... Czech people don't smile on the street, or generally make eye contact, or put up a front of niceties. Which is different, but almost refreshing in a way, because you get the sense that people are real; there's no b.s.-ing around here! The grocery store clerk doesn't flash a wide fake smile and ask how your day is going. They just get things done, and you know what? It's easier for me, because I can get by on a few words Czech and (maybe) nobody knows the wiser :) Also, there are SO many dogs here! I mean, everywhere. And they don't use leashes. Or pooper scoopers. Going running is like dodging bombs on the ground.
Off to bed; this has been the longest week in history, and I speak for my entire class when I say that we are completely wiped out!! We're having a party at our apartment tomorrow- celebrating our roommate's birthday that was on Wednesday, and inviting all the TEFLers over because we deserve a celebration for making it HALfWAY to teacher-dom! in just 2 more weeks I will be a real teacher AND finally have time to travel...watch out world!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Back to school!
Well, I've made it to Prague, and has it ever been a whirlwind since touchdown! Last Thursday, I landed with no idea what to expect. Another TEFL girl I met on the plane and I got a ride to our school/hotel (they are next door) and met a few other TEFLers who had arrived early. Soon though, I was told I would not be staying at the hotel, but in an apartment quite a ways away. This seemed a little disappointing at first... before I reached the place and found a quaint, old-fashioned apartment with huge bedrooms, a cozy living area and 3 other roommates.
And close to the center! Bingo. The metro system here is fabulous; it's set up so that it's probably less convenient to drive
than it is not to drive. The first weekend here, the TEFL students trickled in, and we explored the city at our leisure. Daytime walks through all of the squares, a tour of the castle, and a big group dinner at a Czech restaurant on Sunday night. Then.... Monday!! The first day of school! I'm not going to lie, I was so excited. I mean, I've been wanting to go back to school since... well, I graduated. So our big group of 30 was divided into 2 classes, and from 10-1:30 everyday we have a variety of lessons; from 2:30-6 we teach. This course is already exceeding the expectations I had for its workload- in addition to planning 2 45-min lessons a week (and I mean planning as in 7-8 page lesson plans), we have a one-to-one student (3 sessions) with a 10 page paper, 3 other papers about our Czech lessons, and of course teaching the class of Czech students twice a week! That's not to mention the fact that we're at school from 10-6 most everyday. Yesterday was our first long lesson, and it went fantastically :) The students are great, and the classroom environment is so fun and engaging. Many of these students have been coming to TEFL Worldwide for years to take our "practice" class
es, so I imagine they have a good handle on us beginning teachers :) I'm looking forward to the next 3 weeks; even though it's going to be a TON of work, the group has already gotten very close, and we're having fun while working our behinds off! Last night, we all went out on a (somewhat disorganized) pub crawl. I'm still getting used to the fact that all the bars here are super smoky, but it's all part of the European culture, I suppose. I have yet to see one of these famed European dance clubs- there's a 5 story club that get a lot of talk around here... sure that will be checked out in the near future. It's almost frustrating that there is SO much to see around here, but this course is going to keep everyone pretty busy for the next 4 weeks. I'll be spending my weekends poking around the shops and markets, but I'll probably save the really tourist stuff-museums and guided tours- for after we're done with this. Might take a trip to Ikea though... the idea of furnishing my new room in Prague is just too tempting :)
The roommates and I are heading over to the annual Prague Wine Festival in an hour or so... should be a good, cultural experience! (and, we like wine!) I'm hoping they have some good Czech food there as well- it's been growing on me! I was so sure that all the meat and gravy etc. would totally gross me out- turns out, goulash isn't half bad, and fried cheese sandwiches? Yes please. Also, they have KFC and Starbucks here- probably not going to hit up the colonel, but I do see pumpkin spice in my future. ALSO- they have real Italian gelato! Okay, it must be lunchtime, I've got a one track mind! :) More pictures later!
And close to the center! Bingo. The metro system here is fabulous; it's set up so that it's probably less convenient to drive
than it is not to drive. The first weekend here, the TEFL students trickled in, and we explored the city at our leisure. Daytime walks through all of the squares, a tour of the castle, and a big group dinner at a Czech restaurant on Sunday night. Then.... Monday!! The first day of school! I'm not going to lie, I was so excited. I mean, I've been wanting to go back to school since... well, I graduated. So our big group of 30 was divided into 2 classes, and from 10-1:30 everyday we have a variety of lessons; from 2:30-6 we teach. This course is already exceeding the expectations I had for its workload- in addition to planning 2 45-min lessons a week (and I mean planning as in 7-8 page lesson plans), we have a one-to-one student (3 sessions) with a 10 page paper, 3 other papers about our Czech lessons, and of course teaching the class of Czech students twice a week! That's not to mention the fact that we're at school from 10-6 most everyday. Yesterday was our first long lesson, and it went fantastically :) The students are great, and the classroom environment is so fun and engaging. Many of these students have been coming to TEFL Worldwide for years to take our "practice" class
es, so I imagine they have a good handle on us beginning teachers :) I'm looking forward to the next 3 weeks; even though it's going to be a TON of work, the group has already gotten very close, and we're having fun while working our behinds off! Last night, we all went out on a (somewhat disorganized) pub crawl. I'm still getting used to the fact that all the bars here are super smoky, but it's all part of the European culture, I suppose. I have yet to see one of these famed European dance clubs- there's a 5 story club that get a lot of talk around here... sure that will be checked out in the near future. It's almost frustrating that there is SO much to see around here, but this course is going to keep everyone pretty busy for the next 4 weeks. I'll be spending my weekends poking around the shops and markets, but I'll probably save the really tourist stuff-museums and guided tours- for after we're done with this. Might take a trip to Ikea though... the idea of furnishing my new room in Prague is just too tempting :)The roommates and I are heading over to the annual Prague Wine Festival in an hour or so... should be a good, cultural experience! (and, we like wine!) I'm hoping they have some good Czech food there as well- it's been growing on me! I was so sure that all the meat and gravy etc. would totally gross me out- turns out, goulash isn't half bad, and fried cheese sandwiches? Yes please. Also, they have KFC and Starbucks here- probably not going to hit up the colonel, but I do see pumpkin spice in my future. ALSO- they have real Italian gelato! Okay, it must be lunchtime, I've got a one track mind! :) More pictures later!
Monday, September 6, 2010
48 hours
So here it is, the months of dreaming, weeks of actual preparation and days of soaking up my friends and family have come down to the last 48 hours...until I get on that plane to Prague with no set plans to return. Sinking in at last? A bit. Saying the last goodbyes to my friends has made everything real for me. Even though it's not really "goodbye" but just "see ya later!", change is inevitable and nothing will ever really be like it is now, today, in this snapshot of life. But that's why I'm doing this. It's hard to leave people and places that feel so comfortable and familiar, and enter that weird, empty transition period between old and new. I'm sure there now, and I can't wait to get to Prague and venture forth into the new.
So I've definitely still got to figure out how to pack my life into 2 suitcases, bid my family farewell (friends were hard enough...) and hop 3 planes to Prague to meet a group of aspiring English teachers whose wanderlust also caused them to uproot their lives and do this crazy thing. I'm not going to lie, it's pumpkin spice season and that's the time of year when I love, love, love Starbucks. So this whole "venti" life thing is about just going for it, and living life VENTI sized! Sometimes your dreams and ambitions don't match some idea of a "real world" or "beaten path", and that's when it's time to live your life in a big girl cup :) Now I know that "venti" doesn't actually mean "large", but it does mean "twenty", and I'm smack in the middle of my twenties and determined to make the most of them. So overall, venti/large/twenties life, in Prague, in 2 days! READYSETGO!!
So I've definitely still got to figure out how to pack my life into 2 suitcases, bid my family farewell (friends were hard enough...) and hop 3 planes to Prague to meet a group of aspiring English teachers whose wanderlust also caused them to uproot their lives and do this crazy thing. I'm not going to lie, it's pumpkin spice season and that's the time of year when I love, love, love Starbucks. So this whole "venti" life thing is about just going for it, and living life VENTI sized! Sometimes your dreams and ambitions don't match some idea of a "real world" or "beaten path", and that's when it's time to live your life in a big girl cup :) Now I know that "venti" doesn't actually mean "large", but it does mean "twenty", and I'm smack in the middle of my twenties and determined to make the most of them. So overall, venti/large/twenties life, in Prague, in 2 days! READYSETGO!!
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