Happenings at School

As is the case in most schools in America, the students sense the end of the school year and learning (and teaching) has slowed down considerably as the talk of the class trip, sleeping-in, visits to their grandparents’ villages, and the lazy summer days ahead permeate throughout their conversations. Everyone will be promoted and will spend their next school year together with the same classmates.

This last month has seen the acquisition of Macedonian/English dictionaries (a donation from one of my sons and one of my sisters) which are invaluable asset in helping us teach. The students become empowered when they can find new words when working on their exercises without having to continuously ask the teacher the meaning of words when trying to write a sentence or paragraph. They now have the confidence to attempt to read English language materials from our English resource classroom library and the dictionaries give Alexandra a resource to accommodate all the students in this multi-level classroom. There are incalculable ways in which to incorporate them into our lesson plans and have the students more self-involved. Sadly, we are one of the few, if not the only, English language classroom in the country, that has a Macedonian/English dictionary for each student to use during class time (everyone does have useless non-functioning computers though).

We now have new curtains in the classroom that Alexandra purchased with the profits from our bake sale. After much discussion, the students voted that the curtains would be a wise, immediate and longtime investment to help brighten up their classroom.

The geography teacher is working on the World Map Project that I introduced to Alexandra. He has done a wonderful job working with some of the eighth grade boys to tackle the task. It was very rewarding to me to be able to suggest the project, give him the plans and then just sit back and watch another teacher other than Alexandra, take over the task. The World Map Project should be completed by the end of the school year.

There are so many proficient students in our English classes. They are far ahead of what is being taught in the textbook and for the most part are very bored. Fortunately our classroom has the resources to challenge them. Some of the students are translating a book of activities and games into Macedonian. The compilation will be used by the First through Fourth Grade teachers who must teach physical education (as well as music and art) to their students but have little training in that area. Another student translated a booklet I found on the internet (English For Police) into Macedonian for use by the police department. I’ll spend some time over the summer coming up with additional projects for next year.

My new tattoo is a big hit with the students. Many of them now have a self-made, drawn in ink tattoo on their arm. Some of them have the fake tattoos that come with a purchase of gum. I’m sure the parents appreciate that I’m such a positive influence on their child.

Class trips are coming up in the next few weeks so the class treasurers are collecting and securing the class trip monies. As I’ve mentioned in other blogs, teachers aren’t allowed to collect money so the total responsibility for carrying and safeguarding the collections is placed upon 7-13 year olds.

Earlier in the year, I had shown some of the classes a few of the “Traditional American Dances” that were popular in our country, namely The Chicken Dance, The Macarena, YMCA, and a few others. The students loved them. So this year at the student talent show which is held at the old movie theater, in addition to the performances by the mandolin orchestra, the school chorus, and the folk dancers, Alexandra had several of the groups perform these “Traditional American Dances” in front of the school body and their parents and friends. The dancers were a big hit, especially the boys who dressed as The Village People. The student emcees actually gave me (Michael from the Peace Corps) the credit for introducing these American dances to the students. And as usual, Alexandra was responsible for recruiting the students, holding the practices and designing the costumes. (Be sure to check out the pictures of the event in My Albums.)

All the teachers received a laptop computer to use in conjunction with the useless computers in the classroom (Do you sense my distaste for the “Computer on Every Student Desk Initiative”?). Alexandra, I believe, may be the only teacher who is actually using her laptop now. The teachers have yet to receive their training on its use, but Alexandra is very computer savvy. She found English lessons on the Internet, downloaded them and with the Principal’s In-Focus projector which she borrowed, supplemented the textbook lessons.

Tragically, the $160 plus shipping projector bulb burned out last week, putting an end to that initiative. But we will overcome this setback. Somehow.

Class Picture Day

Unbeknownst to me, today was picture day at school. As Alexandra’s class was leaving to get their photo, they pleaded with me to be in their class photo. One of the students said to me, “Michael, please be in our class picture. When I am older, I want to be able to show my children a picture of you with us when I tell them how you came to our country from America to help us to learn English and what a good person you are.”

To the cheers of all, I humbly went.

Lovely Lee B.

For the month of April, my companion for the last 39 years paid me a visit. It was her third trip to Macedonia and, as was the case the previous two visits, we had a wonderful time hanging out in Probistip for most of the time, but also visiting other volunteers in Ohrid and Skopje.

She accompanied me to Ohrid where I facilitated two TEFL sessions for the MAK 14’s who were assembled there for their In-Service Training with their counterparts. We extended our stay for one day and were able to tour the beautiful city of Ohrid. The eight-hour buses rides to Ohrid from Probistip afforded us the opportunity to take in the breathtaking scenery of Macedonia in the spring. Farmers were plowing, winery workers were pruning and burning last seasons growth, wildflowers were blossoming, streams and rivers were roiling and the winter wheat, still in its infancy, greenified much of the landscape.

We also had the opportunity to visit Michael F. and Phil, two other PCV’s in Skopje. Besides the usual dining and cafe-ing , we, along with Michael F., went on a day trip to Lake Matka. The man-made lake, about 20 minutes outside the city, was formed when they built a dam for hydro-electric production. It provides a beautiful recreational area for city residents who want to get away from the excessive summer heat or who just want to relax in a naturally beautiful surrounding. A short boat ride on the lake took us to some awesome caves that have been developed as a tourist attraction and were well worth viewing.

The highlight of the trip to Skopje was my initiation into the world of tattooing. Najstar (the Oldest) Michael, Phil and I agreed to get a tattoo sometime during our Peace Corps experience. Najstar had gotten his the previous week and so as agreed upon, I decided to get mine with my wife’s blessing (Phil was off to some foreign land and will get his later). The tattoo artist did a great job on both Michael’s and my tattoos. The children at school are totally impressed, while at first not believing it is a real one, while the adult Macedonians cannot comprehend why a 63 year old American would get a tattoo which displays a Macedonian flag. And while they can’t figure out the why, their faces light up in appreciation when they see it.

At home in Probistip, Lee B. went to the school and worked with the advanced English students in each class, affording them the opportunity to experience more challenging work . They really seemed to enjoy the sessions. Lee B. also spent some time with Michael on Skype and in person, discussing his proposal to revitalize Macedonia’s dying garment industry, and searching for ways to interest non-governmental investors.

We also spent time at many "na gostes" (visits to friends and neighbors) where we drank liters of rakija, along with the standard salads, coffee and sweets. We idled away time at the outdoor cafes, people watching and conversing on occasion with individuals who wanted to practice their English. We walked around town, bombarded (in a wonderful way) with “Hi Michael, Hi Lee” from the children and the friendly smiles and “hellos” from the townsfolk.We celebrated Orthodox Easter and Worker’s Day, the first of May, with our Macedonian friends. It was a relaxing, yet busy, time.

She’ll be leaving the country on the 6th of May and we’ll both be looking forward to her October return. My time in Macedonia is flying by but it seemed to fly-by exceptionally fast the month of April 2010.