What Do You Do When There Are No Students?

As a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in the Peace Corps, I am often asked by family and friends back home, “What do you do” when there’s no school?” I always reply that “there’s always a school but sometimes there are no students in attendance at the school.” They will then, in a somewhat annoyed manner which I can’t understand, rephrase the question, “OK, what do you do at the school that is always there when the students are not in attendance, a#$@%*e?”

Well, the key word here is “you” because each Volunteer’s experience is different. Some Volunteers take their vacation time and travel throughout the Balkans. Some will go back home to America for a brief respite. Some will visit other Volunteers throughout Macedonia. Others will sleep all day and party all-night. However, most of the TEFLs are involved in secondary projects within their community and keep somewhat busy with community based projects all year round.

Unlike America where teachers traditionally are on vacation for several months in the heat of the summer and when school is not in session, teachers in Macedonia have only a four week summer vacation. They are required to be physically present at the school even though the students are away on their summer vacation from June 15th until September 1st. This year the teachers were required to be at the school until July 8th and expected to return on the 10th of August and in some cases, even sooner. Since there is no in-service training or professional development activities during this time frame, and once their administrative duties have been completed, they do little but hang around, socialize and drink coffee for a couple of hours until they depart for home to escape the summer heat. So technically, a TEFL has only four weeks of “summer vacation.”

One of the best investments I made was an inexpensive Epson printer/copier/ scanner which enables me to crank out all sorts of projects, lesson plans, letters, and downloaded reference materials that I can share with my counterpart and with whomever else I am working. I labor with my tutor Jasmina and translate materials into Macedonian. The fact that David’s counterpart is the Mayor’s chief-of-staff, enables me to have plenty of opportunities to casually share my observations with the powers-to-be. And quite rewardingly to my ego, they are very open to my suggestions (age and experience are respected in Macedonia).

So without going into too much detail, the following are some of the primary and secondary activities I have initiated or have pushed along this summer (keep in mind the time distance between initiating and completing a project in Macedonia is much longer than in the States): bank-sign-repair project; town beautification project; safety and evacuation project for the schools and movie theater; Why Students Need Dictionaries Power Point Presentation; International Horseshoe Pitching Tournament; Knock Hockey game board; Independence Day Parade consultation; Physical Education booklet for primary grade teachers; student behavior project; Frisbee lessons at the park; English conversation group; Ask Why, Ask Who project; Photo Contest; English for Police Project; Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) club; Children's Nutrition Power Point Presentation; mini-lesson plans for class; and A Model TEFL Classroom Power Point Presentation.

This summer has also provided me with the opportunity to sit at the outdoor cafes and talk with my fellow Probistipians as well as the Japanese engineers from the dam, the Indian managers from the mine, and Americans visiting their relatives or just passing through (when someone from America is in town, my neighbors always insist they come and meet “Michael”). I also had a nice visit with a woman from Taiwan, Carol, who was visiting a friend in Probistip.

Since I did not want to end my Peace Corps service in the middle of the school year, I extended my tour for an additional six months (my wife suggested I extend for two more years - what’s with that?). Twelve of the thirty-five MAK13’s extended for a year which is an unusually high extension rate. Anyway, near the end of a Volunteer’s tour, the Peace Corps hosts a Close of Service (COS) seminar (this year in Ohrid) during which PCV’s are briefed on many topics which have to do with returning to the USA and readjusting to a new way of life. They cover such topics as opportunities to work in the Federal Government, college fellowships, resume writing, completing COS paperwork, health insurance, and the psychological issues confronting a returned Volunteer. Our counterparts were invited for two days to receive some recognition for putting up with us Volunteers.

But most importantly, it was the last time all of the MAK13’s would meet together as a group where we could share stories, compare notes and complain to each other one last time. The first MAK13’s depart for home in early November, their 27 months of service completed.

The MAK 15’s arrive in-country on the 13th of September, as fresh and as eager as we were at what seems like a very short time ago.

Summer Jaunting

On July 8th the teachers were officially unchained from the mandate of having to show up at the student-less school. The students had been on vacation since the middle of June so the teachers socialized and hung out for a couple of hours each day until emancipated from such a requirement. My daily routine has changed to some degree but the days still seem to fly by.

On the Fourth of July, Americans visiting or living in Macedonia were invited to attend a celebration on the grounds of the Embassy in Skopje. About 10 PCV’s took advantage of the opportunity and it was well worth the trip to Skopje. So Michael F., David, Phil and I paid 300 denar (well worth it) to get a chance to mingle with other Americans, visit our Embassy, and partake in a July 4th picnic.

The buildings and grounds of the Embassy are beautiful. However, for such a small country, the American Embassy is somewhat gargantuan and much too ”in-your-face”. It sits upon hill overlooking Skopje and looks more like a fortress with its fencing, barriers and guards (Yes, I know all about terrorists). Getting onto the grounds was similar to boarding an aircraft with all its security checks but once you got through security, all was forgotten. The “picnic” itself was super. We had beef hamburgers on Wonder Bread hamburger rolls from America, beef hotdogs on Wonder Bread hot dog rolls, all the beer you needed, and plenty of side dishes and desserts. It was a pleasant day. Phil and I celebrated our one-year anniversary commemorating our arrest for photographing the President’s motorcade (see blog of July 2009 – You Are Under Arrest).

The weather has been reasonable. We seem to get wicked thunderstorms several times a week which hasn’t helped the vineyards. Too much rain is not good and I’ve heard that 30% of the crop has already been ruined. The temperatures get into the 90’s on most days but there is limited humidity so the heat is very tolerable for me. The mosquitoes come out at about 7PM and they are intolerable, especially if you forget to apply repellent. It’s impossible to sit at a café and enjoy a beer. However, the mosquitoes must be afraid of heights, because they are non-existent in my third floor apartment (aka 2nd floor in Macedonia) where I keep all my screen-less doors and windows open all summer.

In my neighborhood, during the dog days of summer, few adults venture outside until 6PM. Then everyone appears, sitting on their steps conversing, walking the little ones in their strollers, or setting out to do errands or visit friends. Children play outdoors until 11’ish, apparently not affected by the mosquitoes.

With time-off during the week, I have been able to attend a festival in the small town of Pechevo with my friend Slavche where traditional Macedonian songs and dances were performed; tour the village of Lesnevo and its monastery with David and my friend Goran; visit my host family (Kocho, Slavitsa, and Violeta) in Negotino; attend a mega “na goste” on Iliden Day at Alexandra’s beautiful home in Zletevo; and hike out to the many surrounding villages with David where we always seem to connect with the world’s most hospitable people.

The usual slow pace of initiating or completing projects in Macedonia is made even slower during the summer when everyone is on vacation. There is no delegation of authority so one must wait until “The Decision Maker” returns to work. So the Independence Day Parade (8 September), Photo Contest, Emergency Evacuation, and Town Beautification planning that we are involved in has crawled to a standstill for the time being.

I have had the time to create a few Power Point that I will present to the School Director, the Superintendent of Schools and the Parent Council. These include such diverse topics as “Why Students Should Have Dictionaries When Learning English”, “Are Our Children Eating Well?”, “Modifying School-Wide Student Behaviors”, and “Classroom Management and Effective Teaching”. Translating them into Macedonian is the difficult part and I spend many hours attempting to do so. Jasmina, my tutor, works with me to arrive at the understandable final Macedonian version.

I also have a bunch of other projects, both school and town related, that are in the working stages. I can’t really do much with them until September when everyone is renewed after a long summer vacation. I’ll talk about them in a future blog.