September was full of transition and reunion. I found myself very happy to be back at the lyceum, and loving having a whole year's worth of lesson plans and ideas already done! Planning DOES get easier and it is great to have time to focus on pulling in more ideas and beefing up some ideas from last year. Thanks to people like Jill and Mary who taught me about after teaching notes!!
This year, I am teaching fourth year British Literature and first year Reading and Writing (the same as last year), but I also teach one second year class of Conversation and Composition. My fourth year students are very bright, opinionated, and curious, so class moves quickly and has been really great so far. My first year students are very sweet, and very different from last year. They have very functional English, but are very shy to use it and have more difficulty finding the words to express themselves. One of my first year classes (the A group) has really opened up, and are very motivated to speak; there is one kid whose favorite line is "speak in English," which he uses about ten times each class and I love him for it: it is sooo much better if they remind themselves, rather than me reminding them! The other group (the B group) is silent. If they have speaking time with each other, they use whispers, and if I ask a question, I get blank stares. Where my first year students last year were totally confident and ready for any challenge I would give them, these students are more shy and I find myself looking for creative ways to "trick" them into speaking English, such as five minute games at the end of class, or having them look up or translate Chuck Norris Jokes (they LOVE him) to share with the class. I have been very proud of them so far, silences aside, and am excited to see their confidence and knowledge of English grow!
The other class I teach is a group of students that I taught last year! They are in their second year now, and our class is reading, writing, and conversation based. I only see them twice a week, but it is an amazing class. Our first novel of the year was the book Night, but Elie Wiesel which is a memoir of his experiences at Auschwitz during World War II. I tis an amazing story of survival, and we spent class time discussing Jewish traditions and customs, conditions in the concentration camps, faith, people who don't believe in the holocaust, etc. One day in class, the students compared the German occupation of a town in the book to the stories they have heard their parents and grandparents tell of the Russian occupation in Slovakia during communism. It was amazing to hear some of their history, and it prompted me to ask the students if they knew of anyone who would come and talk to our class about World War II. A student came up after class, and said that she had a friend who was a military historian, who might be able to put her in touch with a holocaust survivor who could come to our school. A week later, she phoned me and said said "Professor, I am very sorry that this is so late, but I have talked to a man who survived a concentration camp in Austria, and he would like to come to our class tomorrow....oh, and he only speaks Slovak. Is this okay?" OKAY?? YES!! The next day, Oto Wagner, now 85, spoke to about fifty students and six teachers about his experience in Mauthausen. I didn't understand very much of what he said, but after school that day, I sat down with the student who arranged everything, and she translated his story for me. He escaped death many times, but the climax of his story was about the gas chambers: this guy walked out of a gas chamber. Oto was a translator for a doctor in the camp - cause he spoke four languages at that time.. One morning, the SS came to their barrack and told all 60 of them that they were going to "take a shower." The all got inside, and he was the last person to go in. When they were shutting the doors, the doctor came looking for him, saw him, and pulled him out. He watched the other 59 people's bodies be removed about 20 minutes later. Wow. His statement was that "I am probably the only Slovak, maybe the only person, who walked out of a gas chamber alive." What an incredible experience. I am so blessed to have been in the presence of a survivor, gotten to hear his story, and I was also blessed by the respect that my students showed towards him and his story, and the initiative my one student put into having him come to our class. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience!
Other than school, life has been full of change and moving forward. One interesting story is that I recently got a chance to use my tour guiding skills! Last Saturday, I came back early from a BBQ with my co-workers, and one other lady came with me. We were talking on the bus in normal voices, which means that we were the loudest people on the bus. (Slovak uses more consonants than vowels, so their language is softer. For example, the word for ice cream is "zmrzlina.") A lady came up to me, and said "Hello! Where are you from?" After telling her, she said that her and her five friends were from Detroit. They were backpacking around Europe - having recently been in Germany for Oktoberfest and Austria for parasailing - and were in Bratislava for two days. She showed me a map of her hostel location and asked me where to get off the bus. We had the same stop, so I got off with them. When trying to give directions to their hostel, I realized it was too difficult and proceeded to guide them through the old city, narrating on various sights as we went, and took them to their hostel. My epiphany: I could speak English loudly on the busses and other public locations, and make some money taking people on walking tours of the city. I would have to make up some good stories on the various buildings and such, but feel that it would only further cultivate my creativity and sense of adventure. :) New back-up job plan? I think yes.
I hope that everyone is well, and I send you all blessings and greetings from Slovakia!
:0) Maika
