Second Week of Classes

It is the second week of classes, third of Serbian, and things are progressing well. As of any course one teaches, things have to be adjusted. And in the case of teaching in Serbia, things have to be adjusted, shifted, re-aligned, moved, shoved and deleted when needed. The education structure at the university level is so different from what I am used to, that it leaves my head spinning, or pounding, when I think about it. The schedule, the requirements, the TESTING, the retesting, the resources (or lack there of), the room set up are all different. I don't know if I can go into detail about it now. Let's just say that this position will keep me on my toes for quite a while.

I also started my classes at the American corner. I have a middle school and high school conversation class. At first, a little 7 year old girl showed up. We looked at some books and worked on her colors and numbers. Then two middle school girls showed up, so I had a two second panic attack, and then figured out a way to involve them into a lesson with the very young, beginning student. They all worked very well together, which was a huge relief for me.

The high school class had three students and the two middle school girls in it. They were very eager to talk about anything and everything. It is always in these situations too, where I feel I am not the best person to talk about America. For while I have seen a lot of the world, I have seen little of my own country. When I explain this, it usually gets me a lot of disappointed looks. I promise them all (and myself) that someday I will see America. All of them said they would come to my Slang & Idiom class tomorrow night. I can't wait. That should be a fun class.

I am immensely proud of myself for starting a class website where i post everything that we talk about in class as well some extra links for English help or information on upcoming events. Most of the students have never had this type of resource before, so I hope they will tell other students/professors so it will be used more in the future. I already have 400 hits on my site and that was in one week. It takes a lot of the responsibility away from me and is put more on the student. They can't say they never got the information or didn't know what was due. As of now, this is the only kind of technology I can use in my class. Other than that, I am super busy studying Serbian (the grammar is the worst), planning lessons, grading papers, updating my class website and trying to put it all here for you.

I enjoy hearing from you. Please write comments on anything you would like to hear more about. I would love to educate you on that subject...well, as best as I can. Peace out!