It's been a while since my last post, so I'll explain why. One large reason why I've not had as much time to post is that my work schedule has gotten quite intense. In addition to starting work full time, the Australian guy I was living with started having issues with Polish Border Control and had to stop working, leaving the rest of his shifts to be picked up by everyone. This has resulted in quite a bit of craziness. For example, my schedule for last Monday:
Bus to a Business: 630-720
Classes at a Business: 730-930
Bus back to school: 935-1040
Paperwork for Classes: 1040-11
Polish Class: 11-1200
Home for Lunch: 12-1
Bus to another Business: 1-150
Business Classes: 2-4
One-on-one: 4-450
Normal Classes: 450-910
As you can see that is quite a full schedule, but most of my days the last two or three weeks have been around 8-9 hours not including transportation times.
The second excuse is much more exciting, as I now have a Polish Host Family! The house is only three blocks from the school, so I'm able to go home during slow periods and relax. The housing costs the same as my other place but my room is much bigger and I get homemade food every day :P
My family is comprised of Richard, Maggie, Ellie, and Karolina Dyduch. Richard and Maggie are both retired and spend their time on projects around the house, cooking amazing food :-P and doing crosswords. Ellie is 22 and studies Business in the regional Capitol. Karolina is 18 and is finishing studies at the high school (Polish school system normally runs until age 18 or 19). I've only been staying with them for three weeks or so, but I must admit that it has been fantastic so far. My host parents and I have about an equal knowledge of each other's languages so it has really been a great way to improve my Polish. I'll get some photos of everyone up once I get them taken. I'll get some bios up too.
My house itself has an interesting history. The street I live on (Mickiewicza: Poland's most prolific writer) was originally the Main Street for the Jewish population, which was about 30% of the total town population. My house originally belonged to a local Rabbi and his family. During WWII, the town was taken by the Nazi's and the house was commandeered by the Gestapo and used as their local headquarters. After the war, Maggie's father acquired the house and it's remained in the family ever since. My room itself is enormous. It's hard for me to quantify the size. (For Omak kids it's a bit bigger than the OHS Choir room. For UW kids it's about the size of 4 dorm rooms. For Family, it's about the size of the living room of Grandma Kathy's place in Portland) I don't spend too much time in my room though as it's a bit cold and I prefer hanging out in the Kitchen. It's quite a small kitchen, but it's very cozy and has an oven and gas range. So much better than my old apartment. It leads out onto a balcony that is closed for the winter but promises amazing people-watching opportunities come Spring-time (it's right above a larger bus stop) There's a living room with some amazing vintage furniture, but it's rather cold in there. Thankfully there's also two bathrooms so I don't really have to worry about scheduling everything in.
It's about a 3 minute walk from my school. The school itself is in the former residence of a local Jewish architect who designed most of the classic buildings in the area. The school takes up the main floor while there are residences on the upper floors. There's also a nice bar in the basement which is admittedly quite convenient. My school, The Speed School of English, was founded in 1997 as a local affiliate of the Callan School in London. We now use a modified Callan program called the Avalon Method. This method relies mainly on asking different questions in English repeatedly. All new words and concepts are introduced in English and we discourage use of Polish as much as possible in class. This is quite a bit different than how I was taught to teach, but I see quite a bit of merit in it. Though it's not the most pedagogically popular method in the world, the "Direct Method" is useful in that it allows more time with different groups and it allows groups the privilege of learning from a succession of nationalities of English teachers and allows them to understand and speak using vocabulary and formations depending on the country. It teaches them to understand the language as it's actually spoken not by what a grammar says is actually correct.
The students are great for the most part. Most of my students are high-schoolers or young adults but I've taught people from the age of 7 to about 65. This actually presents an interesting dilemma when teaching. If a class is entirely adults or entirely teens it makes it fairly easy to tailor the questions or environment a bit. But with a mix (like most of my classes)it's hard to keep the adults challenged while keeping the younger ones engaged. It's also difficult to have a set teaching style with such a varied crowd. It's actually quite beneficial as it allows me to concentrate on how to manage a classroom and maintain a conducive learning environment without having to worry about lesson preparation. It's a great way to test the waters of ESL instruction.
Anyway, that's where I am today. Hopefully more to come soon.
