More on my Russian program

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am teaching a two week Russian program. It has been very intensive and a bit stress inducing, but on the whole, I am thoroughly enjoying my class. Here is what my daily schedule looks like.

An intensive schedule:
9:00-11:00 We have basic learning with a focus on vocabulary practice. For example, today we learned about hobbies. We played a game where we all stood in a circle and passed a ball around. If you got passed the ball you had a few seconds to think of a hobby that hasn't already been said. My kids, desperate not to get out thought up some pretty crazy hobbies.

• collecting doors
• collecting windows
• walking your snake
• walking your cat
• walking your parrot
• collecting shoes

Yesterday we played restaurant. Kyle gave me the suggestion of allowing some of the customers and waiters to be rude while others were told to be polite, to liven things up. And boy did it liven the activity up. One boy rolled a paper and pretended to smoke even though he was told it was a non-smoking area. Security (me) was called several times insisting I escort the guest out. The boys wanted me to allow pretend guns and weapons to be used but I thought that would be taking the activity in the wrong direction. Never-the-less, it was a success, and they even used English almost entirely to express all of these ideas., but a welcome reprieve from active teaching.
11:00- 12:00 Reading and comprehension... Not very interesting
Lunch (seriously lacking in veggies)
1:30- Listening activities. The first day we listened to "You are my sunshine" which my Russian students had never heard before, but they requested to hear again and again, singing along with the music. Yesterday we listened to Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden (a German band) which is an extremely well known and popular song in Korea. I had never heard it in America, but we may be the only ones, as the Russians all knew the song as well. Interesting what we don't know about in our little isolated corner in the world.

2:30-3:30 Theme class. They love theme class because there is always some type of fun activity such as making and flying paper airplanes, making key chains, learning how to draw, etc.

3:30-4:30 Drama practice. The play they have picked is called "Pirates of English Village" written by an ex-teacher here. Characters include Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, crocodile, and Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean" and another Captain. Tinkerbell marries Jack Sparrow and Wendy marries the captain of the ship. Peter pan and the crocodile become allies to win Wendy back. It is a very silly play and the kids are so into it. I love that they are self-motivated and willing to be silly. I don't know if all Russian kids are like this, but if it weren't a massive icicle for 10 months of the year, I would consider working there.

4:30-5:00 time with the teacher. We are watching Kung Fu Panda- which they love!!

Interesting tidbits about the Russians:

• They have a very different fashion sense. Koreans besides wearing extremely short skirts (outside of school) are very conservative dressers. The style in fact is what you might see on a baby doll, loose, flowing, and showing very little chest. Russians on the other hand, have a very liberal sense of clothing. One little girl has worn swimsuit shorts for two days. One girl wore a tube top dress. Clothing that would be considered inappropriate in any school in the US, but typical summer wear. Maybe it is because they never see the sun or maybe it is because it just much more accepted in their culture to wear this type of clothing in school. Either way, it is an interesting hodgepodge considering that the Koreans and Russians are going to school side by side.
  
• The girls almost all have long hair. Really, they have some of the longest hair of girls I have seen in a long time.
  

p.s. I took pics of my kids today, but didn't have time to upload them. They will come soon, so I don't want to hear any gripping :)