A is for Vashli

Thursday 6^th October 2011

According to the calendar it is only 3 whole weeks that I have been teaching and one of those was spent coaching year 11s for the American Exchange program.  I find it hard to believe it is so little time, in fact I checked the calendar again to make sure, as it seems at least 3 months.  What is it about time perception?!  In a previous post I said that I had been given a timetable that changed as soon as I had been given it and that the teachers wanted me to be in all of their classes.  The teachers also wanted to learn English.  But I also have my own agenda.  My school is a small school with only 8 class rooms.  This means that the older students come to school from 9 until 2 and the younger students come to school from 2 until 5:30.  This means that if you are teaching a wide range of ages, your day can be 9 to 5:30.  In Martin’s school there are enough classes, so regardless, his day is 9 to 2 as all students can be accommodated during this time.  So for me, it was a bit tricksy sorting out a timetable where I wasn’t teaching 9 lessons a day 5 days a week.

I spent the first week mainly with Juliet.  She teaches years, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11.  She wants me to work in classes 3 to 6 but also 11 because they have an exam in June.  Juliet’s classes are typically small, between 8 and 15 students.  I found out that the birth rate was much lower during the war years of 2005 to 2008 which accounts for the small numbers apparently.  They are well behaved but there are “Many lazy boys who know nothing.”  She should try teaching in England.  The teaching approach is depressing.  I am trying not to be overly critical, this is a method by which they were taught themselves and one that was advocated  by  the Russian system but it is frustrating to say the least.

This is what happens in a typical Juliet class. 

“Good morning Teacher”

Points to a good student “Stand up, what is your name?”

Student stand “My name is Giorgi”

Teacher says “How old are you?”

Student says “I am 15 years old”

Teacher says “And do you have a brother?”

Student says “Yes”

Teacher says “Sit down, and now over to you Jennifer”  No prep just follow the book.

This is what happens with a good student.  The students who do not get an answer right or are too slow get shouted out and told to sit down.  These are usually the “lazy boys” who know nothing.  The lesson strictly follows the book.  The pupil’s book that is – a series of tedious exercises without the benefit of the teacher’s book.   This is ignored; so any possibility of straying outside the book or extending the book doesn’t get a look in.  In the lesson, only 3 or 4 students participate.  The same students (the good ones) are the ones who are told to stand and read aloud, or answer a question; the other students are ignored.  The teacher has no clue as to whether they understand anything or in fact cares.  It would seem that the attitude is that we must follow the book and it is the student’s fault if they are not able to understand the book.  Strangely the students take this in good heart, they don’t riot or slap each other or run around the classroom as they do in England (well my classes anyhow) they are fairly compliant.  They get shouted at a lot though.  This depressingly is how it is in all classes.  In the smaller classes it is easy to keep a firm grip on the students but they just appear more compliant, they don’t actually understand and as the teacher only asks the good students any questions they are fairly safe to sit back and do nothing.  The finger of blame points clearly at the students not at the teacher.

Keti teaches the youngest 2 classes and the more challenging larger classes of 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12.  She lacks confidence and her English is not that great and is not respected like the older and more authoritative Juliet.  I went into her classes to see what they were like.  Her year 9s were revolting.  The problem is clear to see however (always is when it isn’t your class haha) There are 23 in the class with only 3 students who are at the level of the text book, with another 8 who would be reasonably compliant and there are 12 lazy boys who know nothing who do run around a bit and give each other a slap now and again.  They sit on infant sized chairs many of which don’t have a back to them on a range of tables of varying heights.  They are ignored and are completely unable to access any of the work.  Where is the work at their level?  Where is the work that is relevant?  What are the lesson objectives and learning outcomes?  It is always the same, just follow the exercises in the book.  These boys can’t even read the English Alphabet, can’t pronounce anything – clearly not used to hearing or being asked to speak English.

Of course I should say here that there is more Georgian spoken than English in the English lesson.  The teacher asks the question in Georgian and then says it in English. The children answer in Georgian and then she says in Georgian “In English” and then the student says “Yes”.  There is no teaching at all going on.  I am not exaggerating at all here.  If there is a word in the book that is new it is translated.  Given that many of the students do not have a book in the first place and when I suggested that we moved students without books next to a student who did have a book so that they could take part in the lesson the teacher was surprised that this was a possibility.  Often, I do not have any idea what is going on in a lesson because it is mostly in Georgian.  There is chalk and a blackboard but students do not have an exercise book for English.  They just jot things down informally which means there is nothing for them to refer back to.  Translation and memorisation are key here.  Writing is limited to fill in the gap exercises.  Teachers make some mistakes but the complexity level of the language they use is quite low and so mistakes are few.

Do I sound frustrated?  Well yes I am.  Peeling grey walls are not the learning environment children need but the lack of paper and pens I can do something about.  We brought resources from England and have bought a colour printer and coloured paper in Georgia, so we will be able to make some resources to use in the classrooms; but it is the attitude of the teachers which is actually the most frustrating.  They do not see the problem with the current system as their mind-set is that the children have to fit the system and there is no need to adapt the system in any way to fit the needs of the students.  The government have issued all schools with new text books for English for students in grades 1 to 6.  The pupils have to buy their own books but the poor children and the teacher’s book are issued by the Government.  The situation is that the government issued books have not turned up yet.  The teachers don’t know how to teach the material in the book because they do not have the teacher’s book.  OK there is no CD to learn the tunes to the songs but there is no power in the classrooms or even a cd player so it doesn’t matter anyhow.  They don’t follow the teacher’s books anyway!  Many of the younger classes are “colouring lessons”.

Most of the volunteers who come here are not experienced teachers.  Many have an education degree of some kind and are looking for work experience abroad before continuing with a career in education but most volunteer teachers are graduates from a variety of disciplines and may or may not have a TEFL certificate.  Maybe they are less frustrated and are happy to play games and sing a few songs and that is fine.  We are there to teach the children, to model good teaching practice and to act as ambassadors for the English speaking countries.  “We plant trees that we will never sit under” is a lovely quote which I think will sum up our role in Georgia.  Not known for my patience, this is going to be a struggle for me as I want to dive in and do all I can.  Change is never easy for anyone and I think it will be a case of slowly, slowly with the teachers in my school.  They just don’t get it yet.

So anyway, I worked late into the night and produced a fantastic set of 3 lessons for the troublesome year 9s and with the lazy boys in mind chose “Formula 1” as the topic.  Divided into groups (yes we actually moved tables) I set up a range of differentiated tasks where the students were reading and speaking English most of the time.  The teacher was to move around the other groups monitoring their progress.  I worked with the challenging students using images to stimulate discussion and managed to explain the reason why Lewis Hamilton was in trouble in this formula 1 in English (something to do with DERS). The teacher predicted that they wouldn’t speak and they wouldn’t write but I had them writing sentences and answering questions and in the plenary they were the ones who I asked and they came up trumps for me.  Yes!!! Given that the previous lesson, the teacher had run out in tears and there was a near riot I thought it was a great success.  “Yes it was very good, so much better” she said in the staffroom as we debriefed “But we must go back to book for next lesson.” My little heart sank. “But only 3 of the students can keep up with the book”.  I said “Yes” she replied.