Well, I
realize that this summer – and now the following few weeks that have whirred
right through fall and into winter for a second consecutive year – has found me
pretty delinquent on here.
As of
this summer, the excuse was travel. I ain't gonna apologize for that.
As of the
last few weeks, my excuse is also sort of travel, as I was in Minnesota for 10
days. However, more recently, I've actually been a bit busy.
My second
year of school has started, which has meant a few things for me:
First
off, I can't tell you how much smoother it's been this time around. My language
is better, I know my colleagues better, I know my students better. It's been
wonderful how much easier the start to this second year has gone.
Secondly,
this year – the last one for me in Tulgheș and for Peace Corps in Romania –
I've decided to do whatever I can to help as many students in our community get
some sort of English instruction. You see, we're 3,000 people here, and that
includes five kindergartens, five elementary schools (1-4) and one middle
school (5-8). For all those students, there is ONE full-time English teacher,
aka my inimitable counterpart Ovidiu. Now I'll probably save thoroughly extolling
Ovidiu's virtues for a different time, but I'll say that I sincerely look up to
him as a man, husband, father and person. Although he wears all those hats
well, it's still impossible for him, as a teacher, to get to every student.
That's
where I come in.
Essentially,
in addition to the 16 hours per week we're mandated to have as TEFL volunteers,
I've taken on 11 more with the kindergarten; "zero grade" (new this
year, between kindergarten and first grade); adults; an English club and my
American Football club, which just means we play football an hour a week. I
won't be able to get to everyone from K-8, but we're going to get to as many as
possible to at least give them a small push they wouldn't have gotten
otherwise.
I'm also
still working on some ongoing projects. There's a video project where we're
trying to get to Romanian athletes to have them record something in both
Romanian and English about why it's important to learn English. We've already
scored THE Nadia Comaneci (English, Romanian) and have distributed it throughout
the country.
I'm also
working with a few talented teachers on attempting to write an updated English
curriculum for kindergartners. The goal is to leave something behind that's an
easily packaged, all-encompassing plan that can be implemented even by a
teacher who doesn't speak any English, as is often the case for those over
35-40 in Romania.
Finally,
we're still working on getting Tulgheș featured on www.villagelife.ro,
which I'll post more about when the information goes up. All the information is
written; we're just putting final touches on the photos and packaging
everything.
So why
did I write this blog post so unabashedly patting myself on the back? Well, at
first I was using it to provide an excuse for what was originally planned to be
a concise (dismissive) post. Now, looking back at the copy that has somehow
spewed out of me this evening, I see I'd be better served to use it as an
excuse for a future that might find these things more infrequent.
Basically,
I'm going to be busy this year. I've decided that, after a refreshing trip
home, I'm going to make the most of these final nine months. I’m going to trim
some of the distractions and extracurricular activities – yes, blogtopia, that
means you – and devoting whatever I can to going out with a bang.
