...Even In Australia
Tomorrow is Friday and marks the end of the week of senior school-leaving exams, the Maturiti. Students must sit for exams in four subjects of their choice, including the required Slovak; each subject administered throughout the country on its designated day. This past Tuesday no one had exams because that was for Hungarian and Lithuanian, languages that are required at some schools in the eastern part of the country. Wednesday was English and the topic was announced to everyone on the radio by the Ministry of Education at 8:00 that morning. Whip out your pens and blue books, kids, and wax eloquent FOR FOUR HOURS!
All students were dressed up, boys in suits and girls in heels, suits or business-type outfits. Wearing their green ribbons they were easily identified around town as "last years" or seniors. And it's not over yet. In June these same students will go through another version of testing in the same subjects. English, for example, is oral but this time the students have studied the more than 20 topics from which they will randomly select. They will speak and answer questions before a panel of impartial teachers, all this so that they will be able to secure their certificate. Securing a certificate is a matter of choice and there are different levels depending on the type of school you attend. At our gymnazium, where all students hope to continue at university, this certificate is necessary for admittance to higher education. So tomorrow is TGIF; I'm sure there will be a lot of green-ribboned people celebrating tomorrow night!
Well thank God I wasn't being examined on my teaching last Wednesday! Let's just say I've had better days, but if I left it at that what fun would the blog be? Indulge me here: Ever since my children were small I've enjoyed collecting childrens' books. The collection leans toward the primary years; I even have books in different languages like my latest find: "Lezioni Di Tuba" (How could I resist, Ian?) Some are classics but most are books that gave me a laugh, a thought, a visual jolt or perhaps all those things. I am SOOO ready to be a Grandma! One classic is Judith Viorst's "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". Poor Alexander is a middle boy of three, too young to be "cute" not yet old enough to be cool. When he wakes up with gum in his hair, the day only goes downhill from there: lima beans for dinner, his best friend finds someone to replace him, his cat won't sleep with him! In short, Alexander feels he is a seven-year-old screw up, but maintains all would be good if he could just move to Australia. And I told you that so I can now tell you this.
A few days ago I had one of those lessons where everything seemed to pull together: we played an effective volleyball lead-up game that more than satisfied the class' desire to "play real volleyball". The game was quirky which made it unpredictable and also took the pressure off the less skilled girls to perform on a par with those more skilled. And of course the best part was they said, "Can we do it again!" Of course you can; you are so wonderful and your P.E. teacher is pretty marvelous herself, I'm thinking.
The next day I adapt the game for Primas (first years) changing the skills but not the rules. Primas, remember are big on enthusiasm; they once cheered when I carried out the orange cones from the equipment room as in yes, we're using the cones today! No kidding. BUT not so good with the english language end of things, so that's the trade off. First off I taught them a new word which was also the name of the game POISON. I ask "Romeo and Juliet?" Most nod yes mainly thanks to Leonardo Di Caprio. I make like I'm drinking, then dramatically clutch my throat and pretend to die; major over-acting but they got it. OK on to the rules.
Using a volleyball we basically were playing a variation of a throw and catch game they already knew. We know it in the states as Newcomb; here they call it Prehadzovana. We played it with 4 teams, however, using one volleyball net and each team starting off with five objects (we used tennis balls) The object of the game is to try to play so you retain all five balls. Missing a catch means you must give up a ball and eventually one of the four teams loses all five tennis balls. (No, in P.E. you never say you lose your balls, or pick up your balls, or give me your balls, or anything like that good for a sophomoric laugh.) ANYWAY, this team disbands and can go to any of the other three teams, alone or together. This brought some whines of "But that's not FAY-ER!" (Why is it that with so little english, they can still whine with the best of them?)
However, that's the idea of the game; I said it was quirky. The now-vacated court becomes POISON and a ball hit into the POISON court results in the hitting team's loss of another tennis ball. Can't you feel the tension among the 10 year olds?! Lots of screaming, drama, foot stomping (I think I was playing Queen's "We Will Rock You") and unfortunately in one case the whole team colliding to catch the ball. (They all decked one another BUT SAVED THE CATCH! Vybourne, Primas!)
After that another team (OK I'll say it.) loses its balls and regroups with the remaining two teams. Now there are TWO POISON COURTS AND EVENTUALLY A WINNER! How exciting! Well... no, not if the game is over and you don't even know you won. Ohhh. BARBORA YOU ARE WINNER! Blank look. THEY ARE LOSER! More terrible english and another blank look. Judita, do you understand winner? Yes, she does. Can you tell Barbora that her team won? Even Judy saw how silly this was but let Barbora in on the secret that her team had won the very exciting but apparently incomprehensible game of POISON! As a very wise Alexander figures out (with his Mom's help of course) at the end of the story, "Some days are just like that, even in Australia". ...and Slovakia.
All students were dressed up, boys in suits and girls in heels, suits or business-type outfits. Wearing their green ribbons they were easily identified around town as "last years" or seniors. And it's not over yet. In June these same students will go through another version of testing in the same subjects. English, for example, is oral but this time the students have studied the more than 20 topics from which they will randomly select. They will speak and answer questions before a panel of impartial teachers, all this so that they will be able to secure their certificate. Securing a certificate is a matter of choice and there are different levels depending on the type of school you attend. At our gymnazium, where all students hope to continue at university, this certificate is necessary for admittance to higher education. So tomorrow is TGIF; I'm sure there will be a lot of green-ribboned people celebrating tomorrow night!
Well thank God I wasn't being examined on my teaching last Wednesday! Let's just say I've had better days, but if I left it at that what fun would the blog be? Indulge me here: Ever since my children were small I've enjoyed collecting childrens' books. The collection leans toward the primary years; I even have books in different languages like my latest find: "Lezioni Di Tuba" (How could I resist, Ian?) Some are classics but most are books that gave me a laugh, a thought, a visual jolt or perhaps all those things. I am SOOO ready to be a Grandma! One classic is Judith Viorst's "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". Poor Alexander is a middle boy of three, too young to be "cute" not yet old enough to be cool. When he wakes up with gum in his hair, the day only goes downhill from there: lima beans for dinner, his best friend finds someone to replace him, his cat won't sleep with him! In short, Alexander feels he is a seven-year-old screw up, but maintains all would be good if he could just move to Australia. And I told you that so I can now tell you this.
A few days ago I had one of those lessons where everything seemed to pull together: we played an effective volleyball lead-up game that more than satisfied the class' desire to "play real volleyball". The game was quirky which made it unpredictable and also took the pressure off the less skilled girls to perform on a par with those more skilled. And of course the best part was they said, "Can we do it again!" Of course you can; you are so wonderful and your P.E. teacher is pretty marvelous herself, I'm thinking.
The next day I adapt the game for Primas (first years) changing the skills but not the rules. Primas, remember are big on enthusiasm; they once cheered when I carried out the orange cones from the equipment room as in yes, we're using the cones today! No kidding. BUT not so good with the english language end of things, so that's the trade off. First off I taught them a new word which was also the name of the game POISON. I ask "Romeo and Juliet?" Most nod yes mainly thanks to Leonardo Di Caprio. I make like I'm drinking, then dramatically clutch my throat and pretend to die; major over-acting but they got it. OK on to the rules.
Using a volleyball we basically were playing a variation of a throw and catch game they already knew. We know it in the states as Newcomb; here they call it Prehadzovana. We played it with 4 teams, however, using one volleyball net and each team starting off with five objects (we used tennis balls) The object of the game is to try to play so you retain all five balls. Missing a catch means you must give up a ball and eventually one of the four teams loses all five tennis balls. (No, in P.E. you never say you lose your balls, or pick up your balls, or give me your balls, or anything like that good for a sophomoric laugh.) ANYWAY, this team disbands and can go to any of the other three teams, alone or together. This brought some whines of "But that's not FAY-ER!" (Why is it that with so little english, they can still whine with the best of them?)
However, that's the idea of the game; I said it was quirky. The now-vacated court becomes POISON and a ball hit into the POISON court results in the hitting team's loss of another tennis ball. Can't you feel the tension among the 10 year olds?! Lots of screaming, drama, foot stomping (I think I was playing Queen's "We Will Rock You") and unfortunately in one case the whole team colliding to catch the ball. (They all decked one another BUT SAVED THE CATCH! Vybourne, Primas!)
After that another team (OK I'll say it.) loses its balls and regroups with the remaining two teams. Now there are TWO POISON COURTS AND EVENTUALLY A WINNER! How exciting! Well... no, not if the game is over and you don't even know you won. Ohhh. BARBORA YOU ARE WINNER! Blank look. THEY ARE LOSER! More terrible english and another blank look. Judita, do you understand winner? Yes, she does. Can you tell Barbora that her team won? Even Judy saw how silly this was but let Barbora in on the secret that her team had won the very exciting but apparently incomprehensible game of POISON! As a very wise Alexander figures out (with his Mom's help of course) at the end of the story, "Some days are just like that, even in Australia". ...and Slovakia.
posted by Joan Vande Velde @ 7:23 AM
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