What its like: at SCHOOL

My counterpart-
Teaching is going really well. My counterpart has continued to prove herself to be not only one of the best teachers in the school but has really made my time here so far a bit more comfortable. Probably since she has had two other volunteers and they have helped her understand the little things that we do, say and feel that seem so odd to most Uzbeks. But beyond that, she is an awesome person, very inspiring (more later).

The kids-
The kids are great. I'm teaching 1 6th, 5th and 4th, 2 3rd, and 5 2nd forms (grades). The 6th form is an awesome group. Really smart kids and they want to learn. They are on the "English Track" which means they are a specialized group, focusing on English (4 classes a week). Im actually only supposed to teach primary which is 1st-4th/5th and my counterpart wasn't even going to ask me to teach the older kids but what a waste, two good years with the previous teacher only to they turn them over to an English teacher who speaks way less English than they do. Needless to say, Im DEFINITELY teaching them for the next two years. Most will go to University. Hopefully hopefully a few of them will go to the Foreign Language Institute in Tashkent (one of the top Universities in UZ). All of the classes were taught by the former volunteer except the 2nd formers. My counterpart has been prepping them for me since this winter.

The conditions-
The school is in pretty sad shape. As are most of the schools here, again, especially in the rural areas. No lights in the classroom, walls and floors are falling apart. No running water. The kids are sent through out the day to fill water bottles for the classrooms. The kids and teachers clean the school grounds (they do have a cleaning staff but...) quite frequently, plant flowers, clean floors and the like. It gets supper hot now and super cold in the winter, no heat or air obviously. Just the way it is. The director that we have now is quite good. He really supports the English department, he is the one who got us an English department 'office' and our own classroom with new desks and a chalkboard that you can write on. Sorta like an English wing. Granted, I think its also just so that he has a place to eat his lunch in peace every day (the lunch that my counterpart makes for him half the time. But he lives on the other side of town and so...nevermind, Im not even going to start.). Its a really nice set up.I can actually teach, its generally quite. Generally.

How it works (or doesn't work)-
See, it works like this. Each grade is broken down into 2A, 2B, 2C and so on. And for the first few years the kids get bounced around for various reasons, skill level, how much money their parents have to bribe this guy or that guy to get them into classes they want them in, things like that. By the 3rd year Id say, things are pretty much (pretty much) set and the A classes are the 'smartest' students. It makes sense, same in the states, I already see how hard it is to teach multi-level classes with the 2nd formers. But it sucks that the bribing can screw it all up. And let me tell you the use of bribes is crazy. Its every where in this country. EVERY-WHERE. I wont even go into it, that will just take me on a whole other rant about WHY the people are forced, ok, or have chosen to live under those ethics, but trust me its everywhere. So anyways, most of my classes are the A groups, 2nd form I teach a bunch of them but that is sure not to last the full two years. School goes up to the 9th form and then the kids either go on to a prep type of school, for those that will go onto University, and the others will go to more of a technical school. Meaning, that at the age of 15-16 you have to choose what you plan on doing for the rest of your life, if you are going to a tech. school. The Univ. track kids have a bit more time.

Other teachers-
Well, this area, Im sorry to say is where I have a few problems. Now before I go to the negative, I will say that there are allot of teachers that I really like and a few I respect. Most of them are very nice to me, and want to come to English club (though my counterpart says only a few will come.) and like to chat with me and alls fine and well there. But here are the issues, but its all so twisted, nothings simple. Most of the teachers, even some that I would consider ok teachers are really quite nasty to the children. Hitting a child, telling them they are stupid, and the yelling, God. Just to yell. It makes my skin crawl. And some of them are so lazy. And I'm serious, not showing up to class, just not showing up. We have a teacher right next store who is terrible and one of these days Im going to not be able to stop myself and barge into her class and embarrass her and ask her what the hell her problem is and does she have to yell everything that comes out of her mouth and slam her book down on her desk every five seconds. Then, she comes over to my classroom when I have no class and am trying to plan or talking with my counterpart and asks if I have time to chat WHILE she has a class going on. Ok, take it down a notch. ANyways, that is all quite hard to deal with, what can I do about it, how do I ignore it. What I really need to do is start not an English club but an anger management class, Im only half joking. And now here is the flip of it all. For one, some of those teachers who don't show up for classes, they are doing so because they have second jobs elsewhere. Why you say? Well the teachers do not get their salaries on a regular basis, there will be weeks or months when they don't get paid, and when they do, they don't get paid shit. I know teachers in the US say the same thing but this is crazy. So do I blame the teacher who has 6 kids and who goes to work at her husbands Comca (Uzbek meat pie) stand instead of coming to work at school when she hasn't gotten paid in a month? In a twisted way I understand. Again, at the same time there are also those lazy teachers who just don't show or don't really put effort into their teaching because well for one, I think that in the pedagogical institutes don't address things like 'proper teacher behavior' and 'respect for the learner' and two, allot of these young teachers that teach in the same villages that they grew up in are bidding their time until the get married and leave. Which leads me to one of the biggest problems I see with my work here being able to be sustainable. The turnover for teachers, especially here in a village is crazy. Literally every young, new English teacher that we have gotten at my school in the past 4 years (since pc's have been here) has left after a year. Especially the good ones. Just right now, we have 5 teachers in our department and besides my counterpart, who has been teaching here for god years, at least 15, and on other young teacher, the other 3 are getting married and moving this summer. And one of them is great, very nice, goes to teacher conferences, shares with me her lesson plans, asks for tips and to borrow books. Oh, and she speaks English. Thats another small problem, specifically to teaching English. Ill stick to just my experience at my school but out of the 5 teachers we've got here, 2 speak English. Now hows that going to work. Anyways, I could go on but Ill stop because this is all just too negative. And Ill end with this...

So what Im I going to do about all this?
Well, Im first going to recognize I cant fix it all, not even close. But I think I will try to form a Teacher Planning club next year open for all teachers and tie English lessons into that (sort of as a bribe to get them to come. See, its everywhere.). BUT for the English teachers specifically, English Lessons. Im also going to continue to focus on the children, if I can help a few get into a good university by really helping them with their English and maybe some of them will become teachers and remember how effective it was long ago when they sat in my classroom and wasn't yelled at and told that they are stupid. And my Director has also approved a project to create a mural hall near my classroom so that will be fun for both me and the kids. THey need some outlets for any creative juices they've got in their heads.

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