Miscellaneous
Random thoughts that have as yet found no home in any blog entry.
NAMES AND NICKNAMES are confusing. The good part is that there is so much repetition with names, when you can't think of the correct one, calling out Michel or Katarina is a good guess. But wait, Michel is also Misa or even Miska (say Misha/Mishka) and Katarina is Katka. Simona is Sisa, Martina is Mata and Kristina can morph into Kika. I've written that I teach with Jozef but everyone knows him as Jozko. The other three PE teachers are Stevo (Steven), Vilo (Viliam) and Dano (Daniel). and my buddy Zuzka is Zuzana (Susan). I teach Zora but she is also Zorka, just as Daniela is Danka, Paula is Paja and thank God Eva is Eva. Last fall, there was a lot of, "Who?" because I only knew what was written on my roster, even though almost no one uses these formal names. Yesterday when I was in Billa (European grocery chain) I was scanning the magazine rack as I waited to check out. Now I know that Dorota has a diminutive form, but really, but how could you purchase a glossy entitled, "Dorka"?! That also reminds me that a jewelry store I pass each day is named "Spleen" but now I'm getting off track...
I AM THE ONLY PERSON who still wears old school hard contact lens in Slovakia. I found this out when I visited no less than 10 optic stores last week in search of solution, receiving the usual looks of, "Whaddya crazy?!" My take on this is that with socialism, Czechoslovakia was by-passed on the whole hard contacts development; no holdovers now since there were none to begin with. These days, however, people wear the more popular soft lenses and since I appear to be the only one still in hard lenses, they do not see fit to have a store to sell solution to yours truly. I anxiously await a solution shipment from Nancy, the same friend who has nailed an esteemed place in heaven after this year's mentoring duties. Dakujem!
LANGUAGE is fun, weird but fun. I often wonder how things end up being translated a certain way, and then consistently used by everyone. In the US if someone said, "Don't you have a pencil?" that is an accusatory question, as in "(What do you MEAN) you don't have a pencil?! Here people say it to mean, "Do you have a pencil?" I hear this all the time and I am always taken aback because it sounds rude but it's just a simple question. (Edit update: Marcel has just told me that is how it's said in Slovak so that is the way it is translated. Makes perfect sense.)
Everyone laughs about "being out in the nature" and Slovak teachers of english yell at their students to never, ever say this although everyone still does. First there is no good translation, so they say nature when we would say outdoors. Slovak language doesn't use articles so you "take tram and go to restaurant" for example. Not knowing when to use articles makes them likely to overuse them, so we get "the nature", doubly strange.
The words speaking and talking get mixed; they say speaking when we would use talking. Not wrong exactly, just different enough so I notice it.
Kids say they are learning for a test; teachers remind them they are STUDYING for a test, which probably makes little sense.
The verb "to be" gets conjugated not incorrectly, just oddly. People say, "Do you have a good time?" when they want to know "Are you having a good time?"
"There is the possibility of...you have the possibility to..." is often said when "you can" works just as well, but is seldom used here.
The word rehabilitation (or is it rehabitation),has become rehab when speaking of building projects, as in "rehabbing an old apartment building on the Southside of Chicago". I have never heard this word used here, if in fact it is one. People here say reconstruction, which is probably more accurate because it usually involves a complete interior gutting and often extensive exterior work.
I finally saw the word "trening" written on a Judo poster and now understand why kids always say they can't do training in my lesson (what I hear) but they mean trening (as in can't participate). Last fall I thought this was so completely presumptuous of them, to refer to our class as training and themselves as "athletes", but now I get it and my kids know a new word - PARTICIPATE! By the way, to say athlete is also confusing because it means one who does athletics, which we would call track & field.
Some words are more British than American due to the use of texts from UK. Hearing tins instead of cans sounds strange, as does bin instead of wastepaper basket/garbage can. Trash seems to satisfy everyone.
"Have you a pen?" they ask. Not wrong, but who do you know who talks like that?
I AM READING TOM WOLFE'S BOOK, "I Am Charlotte Simmons", which is set in a mythical ivy league school much like Harvard but smaller. In one part an upper classmen character attempts to explain his perception of success after undergraduate school and wanting TO DO things, preferably like being a Bad-Ass Rhodie. Says freshman Charlotte, " "There are only 32 Rhodes scholarships?" Yes, nods Adam. "Well golly, that's not very many. What if you're a bad- what if that's what you're counting on and you don't get one?"
"In that case," said Adam, "you go after a Fulbright. That's a pretty long way down from a Rhodes, but it's okay. There's also the Marshall Fellowships, but they're the last resort. I mean that's bottom-fishing..." "
So not a Bad-Ass, nowhere near, but I'm also not a bottom feeder!
MY LAST VISIT at another school was yesterday, at the public grammar school I'd mistakenly dropped in on a few weeks ago. Miroslava DID in fact follow up and the visit was a huge success. I was skeptical because she mentioned me teaching her english class as well as observing the PE class. Her students were beginner/intermediates and I knew they did not get as much english as our students so I wasn't sure if we could sustain the conversation format she had in mind.
Her class of 12 pupils were 6th graders, very excited and in a good frame of mind to receive me. It was obvious the teacher had prepared them well. They introduced themselves, said a little about their interests, family, etc. and I interrupted frequently to ask questions and extend the dialogue. This went well and then I took a turn and told them about me, Lab, Chicago. They all said they wanted to go to my school when I described the PE facilities. I talked about my own kids and just happened to have some of Christian's CSC cards with me. So, acting like Grandma Mary, I gave everyone his own and now Christian has 12 new Slovak fans. Juraj had even heard of him!
They asked did we follow ice hockey since that's huge here in Slovakia. I was asked about the food; do I like Kofula? NO! but then I also said no one here liked the root beer I brought over from Chicago. They just couldn't fathom it. And soup! I said I enjoy the soup but that is not our custom in the states. REALLY?! Not even on Sundays? Nope. Utter disbelief. I asked them what they thought of PE. Jan and Ludovito, who I'd pegged as jocks said they liked it, even - you guessed it - vybijana. Others were less enthusiastic. Teacher Miroslava asked did we have a name for this game and I had to explain it was dodgeball. "And what does it mean, dodge?" she asked, apparently a new word for her. (Oh, great, I'm a world ambassador on the level of Ben Stiller in "Dodgeball")
It was a class that no one wanted to end. Lots of moans when the bell rang with hopes that I could come again. Unfortunately I have a different schedule next week as well as final grade reports so I won't be able to return. Right before leaving, Miroslava asked who was a "first-timer" for hearing a native speaker? FIVE girls raised their hands, and it blew me away. I was so impressed with them, my last comments were to keep talking, make mistakes because that's how you learn, and that they'd been talking to someone with a Chicago accent!
I was then walked over to the gym where a special volleyball class was in session, but following the exuberance of the english class this was a dud. These 13 year olds were in an extended double-period class but were less skilled than my girls. This was the fifth gym I had been in and I realized they are all (old and new) outfitted the same way: balance beams that store vertically, ropes, stall bars, shabby set of rings, blue metal bars you assemble for gymnastics. I didn't see the "goat" but I'm sure it was lurking in some equipment room.
Men teach boys and women teach girls, and students have class twice weekly. The regular teacher was sick but I noticed that the substitute had the curriculum document on the bench, the same kind of year-long plan I had had to create at the beginning of the year. The jeans-wearing substitute was a PE teacher himself and spoke a little english. I couldn't resist asking him about skill tests for university admission in physical education. He said there are standards for all sports, even swimming. (About zero chance that you'd ever teach swimming in a public school, since they're all the same and DON"T include pools.) He said - ready? - he took his tests FOUR times before he was admitted!
Just this week we tested our students in swimming according to their protocol, which meant timed 25 meter swims. There was no credit for rhythmic breathing and/or endurance and a certain amount of thrashing between the lane lines in a 12-year-olds attempt at speed. Everyone is interested in the bottom line here; you win or you lose, make the time or don't.
FLAG DAY IS COMING! I know, and who celebrates THAT? Well, this year I do. It is the custom at my school on one's birthday or name's day to bring in treats for everyone and put out the spread in the common area of our office. I did this last October and everyone else does it from time to time. When projects are finished we also eat (and drink!) to celebrate. Since I'd like to thank everyone for my year here but can't do so at my flat, I'm going to stage a celebration this Thursday on Flag Day to show my appreciation. I got in touch with Lucia at the American Embassy and she supplied me with lots of flags and red, white and blue decorations, including one of those round paper, hanging globe thingees. I have flag napkins from home, r-w-b grosgrain ribbon and will look for flowers. If nothing else, the decor will be to die for! Hot dogs and apple pie would be perfect, but I think I'll settle for cold cuts and fresh veggies... and NO KOFULA!
NAMES AND NICKNAMES are confusing. The good part is that there is so much repetition with names, when you can't think of the correct one, calling out Michel or Katarina is a good guess. But wait, Michel is also Misa or even Miska (say Misha/Mishka) and Katarina is Katka. Simona is Sisa, Martina is Mata and Kristina can morph into Kika. I've written that I teach with Jozef but everyone knows him as Jozko. The other three PE teachers are Stevo (Steven), Vilo (Viliam) and Dano (Daniel). and my buddy Zuzka is Zuzana (Susan). I teach Zora but she is also Zorka, just as Daniela is Danka, Paula is Paja and thank God Eva is Eva. Last fall, there was a lot of, "Who?" because I only knew what was written on my roster, even though almost no one uses these formal names. Yesterday when I was in Billa (European grocery chain) I was scanning the magazine rack as I waited to check out. Now I know that Dorota has a diminutive form, but really, but how could you purchase a glossy entitled, "Dorka"?! That also reminds me that a jewelry store I pass each day is named "Spleen" but now I'm getting off track...
I AM THE ONLY PERSON who still wears old school hard contact lens in Slovakia. I found this out when I visited no less than 10 optic stores last week in search of solution, receiving the usual looks of, "Whaddya crazy?!" My take on this is that with socialism, Czechoslovakia was by-passed on the whole hard contacts development; no holdovers now since there were none to begin with. These days, however, people wear the more popular soft lenses and since I appear to be the only one still in hard lenses, they do not see fit to have a store to sell solution to yours truly. I anxiously await a solution shipment from Nancy, the same friend who has nailed an esteemed place in heaven after this year's mentoring duties. Dakujem!
LANGUAGE is fun, weird but fun. I often wonder how things end up being translated a certain way, and then consistently used by everyone. In the US if someone said, "Don't you have a pencil?" that is an accusatory question, as in "(What do you MEAN) you don't have a pencil?! Here people say it to mean, "Do you have a pencil?" I hear this all the time and I am always taken aback because it sounds rude but it's just a simple question. (Edit update: Marcel has just told me that is how it's said in Slovak so that is the way it is translated. Makes perfect sense.)
Everyone laughs about "being out in the nature" and Slovak teachers of english yell at their students to never, ever say this although everyone still does. First there is no good translation, so they say nature when we would say outdoors. Slovak language doesn't use articles so you "take tram and go to restaurant" for example. Not knowing when to use articles makes them likely to overuse them, so we get "the nature", doubly strange.
The words speaking and talking get mixed; they say speaking when we would use talking. Not wrong exactly, just different enough so I notice it.
Kids say they are learning for a test; teachers remind them they are STUDYING for a test, which probably makes little sense.
The verb "to be" gets conjugated not incorrectly, just oddly. People say, "Do you have a good time?" when they want to know "Are you having a good time?"
"There is the possibility of...you have the possibility to..." is often said when "you can" works just as well, but is seldom used here.
The word rehabilitation (or is it rehabitation),has become rehab when speaking of building projects, as in "rehabbing an old apartment building on the Southside of Chicago". I have never heard this word used here, if in fact it is one. People here say reconstruction, which is probably more accurate because it usually involves a complete interior gutting and often extensive exterior work.
I finally saw the word "trening" written on a Judo poster and now understand why kids always say they can't do training in my lesson (what I hear) but they mean trening (as in can't participate). Last fall I thought this was so completely presumptuous of them, to refer to our class as training and themselves as "athletes", but now I get it and my kids know a new word - PARTICIPATE! By the way, to say athlete is also confusing because it means one who does athletics, which we would call track & field.
Some words are more British than American due to the use of texts from UK. Hearing tins instead of cans sounds strange, as does bin instead of wastepaper basket/garbage can. Trash seems to satisfy everyone.
"Have you a pen?" they ask. Not wrong, but who do you know who talks like that?
I AM READING TOM WOLFE'S BOOK, "I Am Charlotte Simmons", which is set in a mythical ivy league school much like Harvard but smaller. In one part an upper classmen character attempts to explain his perception of success after undergraduate school and wanting TO DO things, preferably like being a Bad-Ass Rhodie. Says freshman Charlotte, " "There are only 32 Rhodes scholarships?" Yes, nods Adam. "Well golly, that's not very many. What if you're a bad- what if that's what you're counting on and you don't get one?"
"In that case," said Adam, "you go after a Fulbright. That's a pretty long way down from a Rhodes, but it's okay. There's also the Marshall Fellowships, but they're the last resort. I mean that's bottom-fishing..." "
So not a Bad-Ass, nowhere near, but I'm also not a bottom feeder!
MY LAST VISIT at another school was yesterday, at the public grammar school I'd mistakenly dropped in on a few weeks ago. Miroslava DID in fact follow up and the visit was a huge success. I was skeptical because she mentioned me teaching her english class as well as observing the PE class. Her students were beginner/intermediates and I knew they did not get as much english as our students so I wasn't sure if we could sustain the conversation format she had in mind.
Her class of 12 pupils were 6th graders, very excited and in a good frame of mind to receive me. It was obvious the teacher had prepared them well. They introduced themselves, said a little about their interests, family, etc. and I interrupted frequently to ask questions and extend the dialogue. This went well and then I took a turn and told them about me, Lab, Chicago. They all said they wanted to go to my school when I described the PE facilities. I talked about my own kids and just happened to have some of Christian's CSC cards with me. So, acting like Grandma Mary, I gave everyone his own and now Christian has 12 new Slovak fans. Juraj had even heard of him!
They asked did we follow ice hockey since that's huge here in Slovakia. I was asked about the food; do I like Kofula? NO! but then I also said no one here liked the root beer I brought over from Chicago. They just couldn't fathom it. And soup! I said I enjoy the soup but that is not our custom in the states. REALLY?! Not even on Sundays? Nope. Utter disbelief. I asked them what they thought of PE. Jan and Ludovito, who I'd pegged as jocks said they liked it, even - you guessed it - vybijana. Others were less enthusiastic. Teacher Miroslava asked did we have a name for this game and I had to explain it was dodgeball. "And what does it mean, dodge?" she asked, apparently a new word for her. (Oh, great, I'm a world ambassador on the level of Ben Stiller in "Dodgeball")
It was a class that no one wanted to end. Lots of moans when the bell rang with hopes that I could come again. Unfortunately I have a different schedule next week as well as final grade reports so I won't be able to return. Right before leaving, Miroslava asked who was a "first-timer" for hearing a native speaker? FIVE girls raised their hands, and it blew me away. I was so impressed with them, my last comments were to keep talking, make mistakes because that's how you learn, and that they'd been talking to someone with a Chicago accent!
I was then walked over to the gym where a special volleyball class was in session, but following the exuberance of the english class this was a dud. These 13 year olds were in an extended double-period class but were less skilled than my girls. This was the fifth gym I had been in and I realized they are all (old and new) outfitted the same way: balance beams that store vertically, ropes, stall bars, shabby set of rings, blue metal bars you assemble for gymnastics. I didn't see the "goat" but I'm sure it was lurking in some equipment room.
Men teach boys and women teach girls, and students have class twice weekly. The regular teacher was sick but I noticed that the substitute had the curriculum document on the bench, the same kind of year-long plan I had had to create at the beginning of the year. The jeans-wearing substitute was a PE teacher himself and spoke a little english. I couldn't resist asking him about skill tests for university admission in physical education. He said there are standards for all sports, even swimming. (About zero chance that you'd ever teach swimming in a public school, since they're all the same and DON"T include pools.) He said - ready? - he took his tests FOUR times before he was admitted!
Just this week we tested our students in swimming according to their protocol, which meant timed 25 meter swims. There was no credit for rhythmic breathing and/or endurance and a certain amount of thrashing between the lane lines in a 12-year-olds attempt at speed. Everyone is interested in the bottom line here; you win or you lose, make the time or don't.
FLAG DAY IS COMING! I know, and who celebrates THAT? Well, this year I do. It is the custom at my school on one's birthday or name's day to bring in treats for everyone and put out the spread in the common area of our office. I did this last October and everyone else does it from time to time. When projects are finished we also eat (and drink!) to celebrate. Since I'd like to thank everyone for my year here but can't do so at my flat, I'm going to stage a celebration this Thursday on Flag Day to show my appreciation. I got in touch with Lucia at the American Embassy and she supplied me with lots of flags and red, white and blue decorations, including one of those round paper, hanging globe thingees. I have flag napkins from home, r-w-b grosgrain ribbon and will look for flowers. If nothing else, the decor will be to die for! Hot dogs and apple pie would be perfect, but I think I'll settle for cold cuts and fresh veggies... and NO KOFULA!
posted by Joan Vande Velde @ 10:11 AM
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