Wednesday, July 19, 2006
And Miles to Go Before I Sleep....
Training so far has proved to be very thorough and...exhausting! Our days pretty much go from 7:00am to 9:15pm with few breaks in between. I find myself scheduling things like showers and trips to the mailbox far in advance. We have two big sessions each day with multiple "split" sessions in smaller groups. Most of the topics so far have covered language acquisition, lesson planning, classroom management, and culture-specific information for CZ. Each night we have Practicum where we travel to various locations around town to teach the local non-native speakers, which I will be doing tonight for the first time.
I'm really enjoying getting to know my Central Europe teammates. Many have teaching backgrounds, but most of us don't and are hesitant to get our feet wet. But everyone is encouraging and supportive, so it makes the whole experience much more tolerable.
Today was quite interesting as we learned some differences between Czech and American schools. In CZ, the teacher is much more of an authoritative figure. They do not enter the classroom until the bell has rung, and students stand when the teacher enters. Teachers commonly yell at students, call them stupid, and just belittle them in general. Obviously, this is not a role we are to assume, but it opened my eyes a bit to the cultural variations and expectations. I also learned that, traditionally, Czechs could only give their children certain names, and had to fill out applications to use a name that wasn't on the "list." Although this is changing, most of my students will have the same name as someone else.
Please continue to pray for my time here as the Lord leads you. Things are going well but I have definitley had my share of doubt and concern, even in the last few days. Pray for my relationships with my teammates, for good rest at night and energy during the day. Also continue to pray for my support raising.
Thank you so much for your prayers, love, and encouragement! I miss you all so much!
I'm really enjoying getting to know my Central Europe teammates. Many have teaching backgrounds, but most of us don't and are hesitant to get our feet wet. But everyone is encouraging and supportive, so it makes the whole experience much more tolerable.
Today was quite interesting as we learned some differences between Czech and American schools. In CZ, the teacher is much more of an authoritative figure. They do not enter the classroom until the bell has rung, and students stand when the teacher enters. Teachers commonly yell at students, call them stupid, and just belittle them in general. Obviously, this is not a role we are to assume, but it opened my eyes a bit to the cultural variations and expectations. I also learned that, traditionally, Czechs could only give their children certain names, and had to fill out applications to use a name that wasn't on the "list." Although this is changing, most of my students will have the same name as someone else.
Please continue to pray for my time here as the Lord leads you. Things are going well but I have definitley had my share of doubt and concern, even in the last few days. Pray for my relationships with my teammates, for good rest at night and energy during the day. Also continue to pray for my support raising.
Thank you so much for your prayers, love, and encouragement! I miss you all so much!
# posted by Jessica @ 1:00 PM 
