Today was an exciting day at school as the students got to replace not only the teachers but the administrative staff as well. From 4th to 12th grade students volunteered or were chosen to teach their classes by the teachers (this is if teachers wanted to participate). The 10th-12th graders were able to try and become part of the administrative staff if they so wished. I know this is not something that is done across Bulgaria but it was an interesting change of events for not only our students but the staff as well. It’s something I would love to do with students in the states as I think it’s a great learning experience for all people involved (as long as there’s a lesson plan that is).
During my 6th grade class, two of the girls taught the class. There were not a lot of volunteers so we didn’t have to go through an interview process at all. Though they could have been much more confident and loud, they did a decent job. They had the task of revising how to use “will” in a sentence. As in, "I'll go to the movie with you tomorrow." Or, "He will cook dinner if he has time." Here are a few photos to prove they did it:
During the 5th grade class, a girl and boy taught. There were a lot of students who wanted to teach; therefore, last week I took them all out into the hallway and asked them questions (in English of course) to determine who would be able to speak and communicate the best in front of the class. It was close between four of the students but as I could only choose 2 students, the students below were the lucky ones. They were able to teach their classmates about “relationships”. Essentially the lesson was focused on four short readings by 2 boys and 2 girls. There was quite a bit of new vocab and phrases for them to go over. For example, “ask her out”, “got all red” (from embarrassment), “give him my number”, and “I’m interested in her”. It was a fun lesson and would have been even better had the class behaved for them.
After school, I gave a presentation to the staff and some of the 5 - 11 grade students on “The U.S. Education System” (I presented in English, my counterpart translated into Bulgarian). This presentation was originally going to be a different week however that didn’t happen so I gave the presentation today. I stuck to facts and basics of school in the U.S. as this is a huge topic and unable to be covered in one short session. Some of the teachers were very interested in how things are done in the U.S. compared to here in Bulgaria. They were tough questions for me to answer for a variety of reasons however I gave them the best answer I could have. Some of the problems that arise when it comes to me comparing schools there and here include:
First of all, the U.S. is much bigger than Bulgaria not only in geographic size but in population and many other factors. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons we have different types of education (charter, magnet, Montessori, etc.) in the United States. Though there is some choice available here in Bulgaria it is mainly when it comes to high schools as most high schools have some type of focus here. For example, here in Sliven the high schools include Maths, Language, Arts, Business & Economics, Humanitarian, Sports, Tourism & Culinary, and a few others. There are also private and public schools here in Bulgaria.
Secondly, here in Bulgaria textbooks are approved by the Ministry of Education and schools decide which of these textbooks they will use. From these books, teachers create a yearly plan before school starts in September which includes which topic will be taught during which class for the entire year. The teachers then teach these topics throughout the year, writing down the topics each day in the “Materials Book” which is located in the teacher’s lounge. The topic in the book must match the topic in the yearly plan or problems may arise with why a teacher is deterring from his/her plan. All of this was and still is a learning process for me. Most of my experience in schools has been centered around literature or topics rather than a specific textbook which just leads to a very different learning environment (all in my opinion of course). While we (in the U.S.) have national and state standards, it is up to the district and/or administration to decide what teachers need to be accomplishing with their students on a day-to-day basis and I feel teachers have a bit more freedom in what they are teaching back in the states (again, all my opinion and my experiences in schools). I know there are schools which use textbooks for every subject and are very traditional in practice. I am simply led to those schools which are more liberal and have trust in their teachers to accomplish the job at hand.
Third, I am here to teach English and that is about the only subject area I am a part of; therefore, I’m not sure what goes on in other subjects and how the teaching is done. Being here has strengthened my belief in integrated learning even further. Our English textbooks are full of other subjects and it is hard for me to teach just the “English” part of it, especially when I love social studies so much. Since I only see my students for so much time each week it is essential for me to attempt to weed out the essentials and focus on those. This unfortunately can lead to lessons which are not as exciting and it gets tough to “spice up” a textbook sometimes. Basically, teaching English as a foreign language is teaching me a lot about not only the curriculum and my students but about separated vs. integrated learning.
Essentially, the U.S. and Bulgarian systems of education are very different and therefore very hard to compare. All in all the presentation went well and good questions were asked. I was continually saying “in my experience” or “in Minnesota” or other phrases in order to try not to make overwhelming remarks about “the U.S.” I was also trying to to pain the U.S. in an extremely good or bad picture but just present the information I know. Here is the PowerPoint I created for the presentation:
Tomorrow is my day to have coffee with a few of the high school students who want to improve their English and I get to pick up a package! This weekend I will be traveling to visit my host family as Friday is a national holiday and I’ve wanted to get back to their place sometime before June. I probably won’t blog again until after Sunday so….
Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, grandma, aunts, cousins, friends, and all the other amazing moms out there!
Peace, love, literacy, and reckless curiosity.
