I cannot believe that my first week in Tarnow has come to an end! Although I am supposed to be the teacher, I certainly learned a lot this week from my students and my host family. Since Monday, they have all become less shy, and most of them are now outgoing and like to participate in class. The children especially like to play games! David and I invented (and shared with other volunteers) games about months of the year, days of the week, spelling, body parts, and many other topics. We have to remember that our classes are voluntary, so the students may not come back if they feel like they are not learning anything or not having fun!
The oldest class (age 15+) has clearly been the hardest to teach. I feel like I am teaching material that they already know; vocabulary and spelling don't seem to be a problem for them, and maybe the first few days were not as engaging as I would have hoped. However, last class we spent more time on reading comprehension. For example, they listened to song lyrics and a related story, and then had to answer a series of questions about the reading. We also will start a "current events" portion of class when we talk about current topics and watch news videos on YouTube (some anchors talk very fast though! We need to find a way to slow it down!)
I also got my weekly dose of sports action! On Friday we played football (aka soccer) outside after my third class. The students loved it! However, many of the girls did not want to play, so David took them inside and reviewed English words for makeup and jewelry. When it comes to gender, we must be very sensitive to differences in taste. Obviously, we cannot just play soccer all the time (although I would love to!).
Volleyball is another popular sport in Poland, and on Thursday night I joined my host-father's co-workers for some intense volleyball. I haven't played competitively since high school, and I had so much fun! Even though the guys I played with were between 30 and 50 years old, they were incredible, most of them better than me! I will definitely join them again; they play every Monday and Thursday.
Last night I met up with some other volunteers to discuss travel plans and catch up on our teaching. Poland is great, but it's nice to be able to connect with my fellow Americans. In class, I hear "tso to jest" (what is this?) all the time when students are confused! I must slow down my pronunciation and use simpler language. Although my host brothers are mostly fluent in English, talking normally with my friends still feels like a luxury!
