The start of school

School has started for the year!!! Well, it’s the first time in 9 years that I didn’t have a hard time sleeping the day before school. Perhaps it was knowing that I didn’t have to perform in a silly skit early the next morn, or prepare for bus safety instructions. It was a bit disconcerting in that I didn’t have a schedule until I walked in on Monday morning. Though the rest of the teachers didn’t have a schedule either, so whatever. There are apparently going to be some changes in the schedule in the next few days, so it’s not that productive to get worked up about it. I was given a tour of the campus by Edit, a really sweet lady who has been very excited to talk to me in English. I will be teaching in what Erika refers to as “the shack” as well as in the main building and the Kollegium, the student dormitory building that has classes on the first two floors. The classes begin on the hour and last 45 minutes. There is a 15 minute break in between each class. The students don’t have a “lunch break” like we do at home, they are expected to eat in those 15 minutes.

The first period starts at 8:00am and the last one starts at 1:00. Theoretically, I will be done at 1:45 everyday- but that’s only if I have a 6^th lesson. If I am not teaching a certain period, I don’t have to be in the school building, but since I don’t have internet at my apartment, it seems like the smartest thing just to get things done on-line and then be a bit early for the next period. There are two bells that ring for each period. One starting the period – which is typically when the teachers start to mosy to their next lesson, and one ending the lesson.

My first class was 9^th graders, and some of them are absolute beginners. They have quite a range, from nearly fluent to basic beginner. What to do with this group… they are quiet, attentive and eager to have me as a teacher (at least that was the honeymoon of day one). I have all of the 9A students, but they are split in half so I don’t have more than 16 at a time. I had to laugh on the first day because I have the ambulance kid (from the opening ceremony) in class- he has some rugged stitches in his chin.

The students are all divided into “specialties”. If you are an A student (9A, 10A, 11A) you are specializing in English. If you are a B student, you specialize in the arts, a C student specializes in Math and Science and the D students are IT and computer kids.

At any rate, I did an activity that we would be doing if I were back at Burnsville. You have a partner and have to introduce them: name, favorite subject and interesting fact. For some of the 9^th graders their interesting fact was that they ride bikes. Hmph. Not so interesting, but they are novice English speakers, so I’ll give it to them. One of my young men shared that his partner’s favorite class was biology, but only in the 8^th grade… you can see where this is going. I responded to the introduction with “and what do you learn in biology in the 8^th grade?” and the students responded with parts of the body. Playing into his silly game, I said “like cookies?” Apparently “cookies” in Hungarian means a little boy’s peter, not the sweet treats we know and love. Other than the sex kid, they were fairly harmless and easy to handle. We moved on to questions they might have for me, and theirs ranged from “what is your favorite color” to “what do you like best about Hungary?” When I got to my 12^th and 13^th graders on day two, the questions were “How do you feel about the Russian invasion of Georgia and what should the EU response be to the Russians?” and “Why aren’t you married yet?” So there is quite a discrepancy between the 9^th graders and 12^th graders. However, I have the 9^th graders 4 days a week, and all other levels once per week. So the younger ones are expected to advance rapidly.

As any American school, there are your kiss asses, your smart asses, and your plain old asses- and I have been able to distinguish them pretty easily. There are two young men that the American teacher before me warned me about – and I met them today. I was able to nail them quickly and told them that I knew all about them – they weren’t happy that I had been warned.

I am learning more about the culture of European schools too. OR maybe it’s just a Hungarian thing, but there are a couple small teams here at the school for athletes to participate in. The interesting thing is that they are in sports like handball and floor ball. Keep in mind, that two weeks ago I was mocking floor hockey and handball as they were playing it at the Olympics, only to learn that it’s quite popular here among kids. So, I take my mocking back and I look forward to watching my first handball match whenever I figure out how to find a sports schedule.

One thing that is interesting about these Hungarian kids – English is their third language. All of them are also learning German, French or Spanish. They all have backgrounds in other languages, some also have Russian and Latin in addition to English, Hungarian and one other language. They are very motivated to learn, and the 12^th and 13^th graders really surprised me as to how advanced they are. It’s like I was teaching a regular class at home. I definitely will have to bring my A game to these classes, as they are witty and will see through any gamey things I try to bring to them.