Greetings
everyone: This was a big week: language, observations, teaching, observations,
language, observations, self-study, language, observations, culture, and (wait
for it) our site assignment! That last bit is at the bottom of the post.
Last
Tuesday was my day with the students in Ymer’s class. My first class teaching Albanian
kids! It was a lot of fun and I could tell they had a pretty good time – I did
too of course. Teaching in Albania is going to take a bit more thought and
consideration than I had expected. It’s not so much the English since my
students had a pretty decent handle on the language. But there are nuances with
both cultures that I really need to mindful of so things don’t get “lost in
translation” (as one of the volunteer/evaluators notes below) – like using a
bumper sticker to illustrate a point and then getting sidetracked when I
realized that the kids may not understand the purpose of one (haven’t seen any
around here). My whole tangent was an absolute waste of time and served no
purpose – little things like that.
For
fifty minutes the class went pretty well and then train-wrecked for fifteen minutes
more as I tried to cover all my material. OK. A teaching mortal sin:
sacrificing student learning on the altar of a teacher agenda (it was a misread on my part since I finished earlier than I needed). Nonetheless, I know better
than this and I seldom made time-management mistakes in the states – Ymer downplayed my
concerns after class (what a nice guy!) and told me later that the students
were hoping I would be assigned to the university so they could take classes in
the fall term.
I
know some of the PC volunteers also read this blog. Also, if others looking
into PC service are like me before and after I applied, they got on the web
looking for blogs from volunteers to get some sense of what the work was like.
So….I decided to post an evaluation on the class (warts and all) for any that
might benefit. I asked my small group to give me an evaluation and Jo’s was
precise and short enough that I thought I’d post hers.
(Thanks,
Mike, for your twelve-page, single-spaced, time-notated review – seriously, it
was a work of art, and with his permission I may send it off for publication! I
may have to edit: e.g., “Sh**, Bill, WTF were you thinking!!” – OK, I’m joking
– Mike told me this week he doesn’t have to post a blog since I share mine with him
and he shares with his 2200 friends.)
All
the evaluations were incredibly helpful. The topic of the lecture was “Critical
Thinking, Culture, and Communication.” Here are Jo’s comments:
Class
was very enjoyable – thank you.
Some
points to ponder:
·
Time
management (I wish you could have finished)!
·
Avoid
saying “understand” so much. Students may be too shy to admit that they missed
something.
·
Watch
the idioms; EFL learners don’t always get the meanings and get confused; same
for colloquial English.
·
Be
careful about using too much humor – as with idioms, humor gets lost in
translation.
·
Students
enjoyed your lecture – they all paid attention to you.
·
Excellent
way of introducing gender inequality! Very impressive.
·
Love
the part about prejudice and ethnocentricity – but I saw a problem when you
were joking about America being the center of everything; I don’t know if they
understood your very subtle sarcasm.
·
Tempo
of the class was great – seamless flow of information.
·
Very
good visuals – excellent power-point presentation.
·
Your
English/speaking was very clear and easy to follow.
Jo
is going to be a teacher/trainer – working with and observing secondary ESL teachers, and in the course of her two-year
assignment, giving evaluations for improvement. I’ve had a few teaching
evaluations over the years but this one was the most helpful and certainly the
most meaningful. Jo served in the Ukraine a number of years ago as an ESL teacher (I may have mentioned this already);
this might be her first assessment as a teacher/trainer – my first class; her
first evaluation – BAM!
 |
| Hangin' with Jo in language class |
***
The next day when
I left the university a few kids caught up with me and invited me for coffee. I
was headed for the hub for a language class. Made an executive
decision (I am with the Peace Corps, right?) and opted for a great opportunity
to visit about the school and of course got some
of their feedback on the class. I’m getting used to explaining what I do in
Albania but these kids already knew since they’ve had Peace Corps volunteers at
the university. They asked if I was going to be teaching at the university; I
gave them the names of the universities where I thought a volunteer would be
posted: Tirane, Korce, Vlore, Durres, and Elbasan. I told them I would find
out on Friday. The next part was really cute. You remember with kids the night
before Christmas? What time do we open our presents? This one student leans
forward and say, “What time will you find out?”
***
The
next two days after my class we observed at the university, at another high
school, worked on language, and our practicum. I was headed into Elbasan
Thursday morning. The guy next to me started talking to me and his English was
pretty good. He was just returning from Greece that morning. He lived in
Elbasan and was visiting his family after picking fruit and vegetables for
three months. Alda and I walked for a couple of blocks together and then I
peeled off to get my shoes shined with Toni (pic a few posts back). It was good
to see Toni and after the shine I was on my way. I crossed the street and Alda
came over to me and invited me for coffee. He was sitting at a lokal when he
saw me. I was headed to the university to put in an extra hour or so of study
but I had been thinking of Alda’s situation – no work here, bounce back and
forth between Greece and Albania, holy hell. So I passed on study. Alda moved
his bags from one chair and I sat down. We talked for another half-hour or so.
It was another story of many I have heard – no hope.
You
kids will recall some of the things I told you about Grandpa Dalton’s time
during the Great Depression. His dad, your great-grandfather, was the postmaster
in Mena, Arkansas. There was a break-in at the post office after closing and
great-grandpa was killed. That left just grandpa with a mom and five other
brothers and sisters. It was a tough time. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in
1930 and the next year he created the CCCs – or Civilian Conservation Corps. By
the end of the thirties grandpa was old enough and he joined the CCCs; he said
it was the first time he could remember getting three meals a day. Anyway, the
CCCs built roads, bridges, improved park lands, etc. It put millions of young
men, age 18-28, to work. The point of this Martin Moment is that the
CCCs give them jobs, food, and money (like the rest of them, grandpa sent money
home to the family every month) – it also got this cross-section of young men off the
streets. In 1997, seven years after the fall of communism, there was a revolution in Albania and the Peace Corps program
was closed down because of the political unrest. The force behind the violent revolt
was this same age group of unemployed young. Roosevelt likely averted a
revolution in America during the depression with his New Deal measures and specifically
giving the hopeless and dispossessed young men something to do instead of, like
in Albania now, sitting around doing nothing. I am fearful that it will get
worse before it gets better, I hope not.
***
OK.
Friday all the volunteers came to Elbasan for a training day. Everyone was
anticipating the site announcements. I understand that one year they made the
announcement at the beginning of the day and because of all the excitement and
some placement disappointments (which I find difficult to understand – or have
any sympathy for), the news has been switched back to the end of the day. Nonetheless,
the day was filled with a just-below-the-surface energy. Two years is a long time for most of
these kids and certainly they wondered where they would be: on the coast, in
the mountains, in a big or small community, the whole thing.
Earl
Wall, the country director, brought the envelopes with our site assignments. I
wasn’t too concerned since the university placements were restricted to the
major cities. However, to a degree I was hoping to stay in Elbasan since I have
made friends with a number of the locals and I’ve spent a bit of time at the
university observing classes, meeting faculty, and taking coffee with students.
The room was a bit tense, everyone was waiting, and I couldn’t help myself (note my impish smile):
“Any chance we can take a ten minute break!” More than a few responded with a
loud and appalling “no!!!” But most of the group got the joke. Pretty damn
funny.
My envelope read, “Elbasan – Alexander Giovanni University”
– outstanding!! My good friend Mike is at the university with me. I posted on
his FB that his assignment was expected: he’s been watching my butt since
Philadelphia and the PC staff realized that it would probably be good to have a
minder in place to keep an eye on me. Another good friend, John, is also here
working with a tech school – two great guys. I’ll be working with Ymer – he's president
of the Albania English Language Teachers Association and I'll act as a Peace Corps liaison to that group. My university
counterpart teaches history and works in Balkan studies (more on a later post).
After
the announcement we met at a local outdoor bar and toasted our good fortune. I
called my host family and Sardi with the news and they were pretty excited that
I was going to be close.
Unfortunately that was the one day I forgot my camera –
bummer – I’ll gather some photos from some of the other volunteers and post
them later. It was pretty good. Metesh got his dream spot working with a youth
group in Vlore, right on the coast, and Nate will be working at a university
in Korce – beer capital of Albania – he’ll like that!
***
Quick
story: I got home late Friday after the celebrations and two beers (one and a
half too many for me). Another face in the living room which I assumed was
another family member. Sali introduces me and this guy starts talking to me in
Shquip (Albanian). I start fumble-butting my way through: “Une jam nga Amerika.
Une jam vulnetar i Korpusit te Paqes…mumble, mumble, mumble.” And then he says, “Pretty good. Your
language is coming along.” I start beating on the guy, laughing, everyone’s laughing.
Jon lived with my host family the year before and came back for a visit. Very,
very funny! He repeated the words I've heard a number of times: “Don’t sweat the language, you’ll get it.”
 |
| With Jon, Sali and Renato |
Yesterday
when I got into Elbasan I grabbed my usual first coffee of the day at the park
restaurant and let Bledi and the guys know the good news. Free coffee! On the
walk up to the hub I greeted Edmond, my street vender friend. His first words:
Tirane? No. Korce? No. Durres? No. Vlore? No. And then a big smile…Elbasan?
Yes!! And then I got mugged! He immediately went over to his goods and gave me
some kind of charm and said “Gud luk, Billi.” I got a half a block away, still
smiling and laughing, and went back for the photo. Super moment.
It’s
going to be an amazing two years. Later. XOXO
More photos when I have time. Headed out to a neighboring village for some kind of festival - will know when I get there!
