Part I: Russian Lesson
Back when I took my hair raising trip to Moscow with Vanya in order to reclaim my suitcase, all the other Americans at the AH took a Russian language test, in order to see what they would need to go over in their Russian lessons. (Each American teaching at the AH receives two 90 minute individual classes in Russian per week for free... this is the same amount of instruction our students receive, except that our classes are one on one, which is fantastic.) I, being in Moscow at the time, did not get to take my test. Russian lessons began today, and the first thing I got to do was take the test. I did surprisingly well, especially considering that I have not studied Russian since I graduated in May 2001. Of course, I feel I have a bit of an advantage over the others, in that I have had a month of daily speaking practice to refresh my memory, and they had been here less than a week when they took their tests. But I did well on the test, and when Nellie (my Russian teacher) and I discussed my mistakes, nearly everything that I had done incorrectly made sense as soon as we talked about it. Woohoo! Of course, she assigned me what I thought was quite a lot of homework... and then told me (in complete seriousness, as far as I could tell) that next time she would not give me so little homework! Sigh. But, I told her that I want to study Russian so that I can work for an American non profit that does international relations and development work with Russia, and she says she will try and focus the theme of our lessons accordingly. I have no idea how one would do that, but I suppose I will find out.
Part II: VEMZ
Today my class at VEMZ did not go so well. This was not the fault of my students in any way. I simply got over ambitious and tried to cram two days' worth of grammar into one lesson. For some reason, when I had looked at the topics in the book, it seemed perfectly reasonable to combine the two grammar topics into one session. Unfortunately, it turned out that the authors of the book knew what they were doing when they divided the chapter in two. Instead of spending part of the class explaining boring grammar rules, and spending the rest of the class doing various written and oral (and fun!) activities to reinforce the grammar, I ended up turning nearly the entire class into one long and tediously boring grammar lesson. I feel terrible that it was so boring. Plus, since we did not do any reinforcement activities, we will have to do them next time. On one hand that is good; next class we will get to do all of the fun things I had planned for this class. On the other hand, the reason I did the two grammar topics in one lesson was so that I could accomplish more before the midterm. As it is, I will not be able to introduce a new grammar topic next class. I am going to have to rewrite my syllabus for both VEMZ and the syllabus for the class I have at the AH that is the same level as the VEMZ class... not to mention that I have to rewrite my lesson plan for that AH class (which is tomorrow) as I had planned on doing two grammar points in there as well. Sigh. I hope my VEMZ students do not decide that my class is too boring to attend in their free time!
Part III: Students everywhere
So, I am starting to feel like my mother. In my hometown it seemed that just about wherever she went, she would run into her current or former students. She has only been teaching in the small town where she currently lives for a little over a year, and already she is running into students all over the place. This has begun to happen to me as well. Yesterday, as I was walking down the street, I saw someone whose face looked familiar. She smiled and said hello (in English), at which point I realized who she was and what class she was in, and I was able to say hello in return without feeling too thrown off. Later the same day, I saw a friend of the daughter of one of the Russian teachers at the AH. (How small-townish is that?) I hardly know this girl (in fact, I do not remember her name at all), but there she was, waving at me from across the street. Today, on the trolley ride home from VEMZ, as I was preparing to disembark, I noticed a young woman watching me. Now, I do not always stand out as a foreigner, although when I do, people tend to stare. I did not think that I looked too non-Russian today, and I kind of thought I recognized her. Then she smiled. Russians do not smile at people they do not know and simply accidentally lock eyes with while on public transportation. Crap. I must know her. Who is she? I smiled back. When it was my stop, she stood up to get off too. I decided that she looked a lot like the new girl in my VEMZ class. I had only seen her today, and as she sat in the very back, I could not see her clearly. (At this point I figured that it was probably her, because the trolleybus came from VEMZ. Sometimes I am a tad slow.) Anyhow, as we disembarked she asked me where I lived, and then we had a nice little conversation. I am 90% certain that she was from my VEMZ class.
Part IV: Mushrooms!!
So this morning, Nina M asked me if I liked mushrooms. Well, what she said was the Russian equivalent of: You don't like mushrooms, do you? You know, the kind of question that is phrased such that you expect the answer to be No. She seemed genuinely surprised when I said that I love mushrooms. Perhaps none of the previous Americans who have lived with her liked mushrooms. Although I felt kind of like that scene in the Fellowship of the Ring (the book, not the movie) where Frodo and Sam arrive in Buckland with a basket of mushrooms given to them by Mrs. Farmer Maggot. The Hobbits in Buckland, upon hearing that Frodo and Sam had already eaten mushrooms once that day ask something along the lines of: Well, you won't be wanting seconds, will you? But of course Frodo and Sam want seconds. Who turns down mushrooms? Anyhow, Nina M made me mushrooms for dinner. I do not remember the name of the type of mushroom I was fed (it sounded something like the Russian number 5, so kind of like pyat, but not quite), but these were absolutely the best mushrooms I have ever had in my entire life. They were not cooked in any sauce or seasoning; they were simply stir-fried in some cooking oil to a nice texture, but wow! I have never tasted mushrooms with such a rich, incredible flavor before. I could have eaten them all night. No wonder Russians are such avid mushroom pickers if this is the kind of delicacy they can find in the woods!
Back when I took my hair raising trip to Moscow with Vanya in order to reclaim my suitcase, all the other Americans at the AH took a Russian language test, in order to see what they would need to go over in their Russian lessons. (Each American teaching at the AH receives two 90 minute individual classes in Russian per week for free... this is the same amount of instruction our students receive, except that our classes are one on one, which is fantastic.) I, being in Moscow at the time, did not get to take my test. Russian lessons began today, and the first thing I got to do was take the test. I did surprisingly well, especially considering that I have not studied Russian since I graduated in May 2001. Of course, I feel I have a bit of an advantage over the others, in that I have had a month of daily speaking practice to refresh my memory, and they had been here less than a week when they took their tests. But I did well on the test, and when Nellie (my Russian teacher) and I discussed my mistakes, nearly everything that I had done incorrectly made sense as soon as we talked about it. Woohoo! Of course, she assigned me what I thought was quite a lot of homework... and then told me (in complete seriousness, as far as I could tell) that next time she would not give me so little homework! Sigh. But, I told her that I want to study Russian so that I can work for an American non profit that does international relations and development work with Russia, and she says she will try and focus the theme of our lessons accordingly. I have no idea how one would do that, but I suppose I will find out.
Part II: VEMZ
Today my class at VEMZ did not go so well. This was not the fault of my students in any way. I simply got over ambitious and tried to cram two days' worth of grammar into one lesson. For some reason, when I had looked at the topics in the book, it seemed perfectly reasonable to combine the two grammar topics into one session. Unfortunately, it turned out that the authors of the book knew what they were doing when they divided the chapter in two. Instead of spending part of the class explaining boring grammar rules, and spending the rest of the class doing various written and oral (and fun!) activities to reinforce the grammar, I ended up turning nearly the entire class into one long and tediously boring grammar lesson. I feel terrible that it was so boring. Plus, since we did not do any reinforcement activities, we will have to do them next time. On one hand that is good; next class we will get to do all of the fun things I had planned for this class. On the other hand, the reason I did the two grammar topics in one lesson was so that I could accomplish more before the midterm. As it is, I will not be able to introduce a new grammar topic next class. I am going to have to rewrite my syllabus for both VEMZ and the syllabus for the class I have at the AH that is the same level as the VEMZ class... not to mention that I have to rewrite my lesson plan for that AH class (which is tomorrow) as I had planned on doing two grammar points in there as well. Sigh. I hope my VEMZ students do not decide that my class is too boring to attend in their free time!
Part III: Students everywhere
So, I am starting to feel like my mother. In my hometown it seemed that just about wherever she went, she would run into her current or former students. She has only been teaching in the small town where she currently lives for a little over a year, and already she is running into students all over the place. This has begun to happen to me as well. Yesterday, as I was walking down the street, I saw someone whose face looked familiar. She smiled and said hello (in English), at which point I realized who she was and what class she was in, and I was able to say hello in return without feeling too thrown off. Later the same day, I saw a friend of the daughter of one of the Russian teachers at the AH. (How small-townish is that?) I hardly know this girl (in fact, I do not remember her name at all), but there she was, waving at me from across the street. Today, on the trolley ride home from VEMZ, as I was preparing to disembark, I noticed a young woman watching me. Now, I do not always stand out as a foreigner, although when I do, people tend to stare. I did not think that I looked too non-Russian today, and I kind of thought I recognized her. Then she smiled. Russians do not smile at people they do not know and simply accidentally lock eyes with while on public transportation. Crap. I must know her. Who is she? I smiled back. When it was my stop, she stood up to get off too. I decided that she looked a lot like the new girl in my VEMZ class. I had only seen her today, and as she sat in the very back, I could not see her clearly. (At this point I figured that it was probably her, because the trolleybus came from VEMZ. Sometimes I am a tad slow.) Anyhow, as we disembarked she asked me where I lived, and then we had a nice little conversation. I am 90% certain that she was from my VEMZ class.
Part IV: Mushrooms!!
So this morning, Nina M asked me if I liked mushrooms. Well, what she said was the Russian equivalent of: You don't like mushrooms, do you? You know, the kind of question that is phrased such that you expect the answer to be No. She seemed genuinely surprised when I said that I love mushrooms. Perhaps none of the previous Americans who have lived with her liked mushrooms. Although I felt kind of like that scene in the Fellowship of the Ring (the book, not the movie) where Frodo and Sam arrive in Buckland with a basket of mushrooms given to them by Mrs. Farmer Maggot. The Hobbits in Buckland, upon hearing that Frodo and Sam had already eaten mushrooms once that day ask something along the lines of: Well, you won't be wanting seconds, will you? But of course Frodo and Sam want seconds. Who turns down mushrooms? Anyhow, Nina M made me mushrooms for dinner. I do not remember the name of the type of mushroom I was fed (it sounded something like the Russian number 5, so kind of like pyat, but not quite), but these were absolutely the best mushrooms I have ever had in my entire life. They were not cooked in any sauce or seasoning; they were simply stir-fried in some cooking oil to a nice texture, but wow! I have never tasted mushrooms with such a rich, incredible flavor before. I could have eaten them all night. No wonder Russians are such avid mushroom pickers if this is the kind of delicacy they can find in the woods!
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