First Full Week of Teaching

I have now met all the students in my 10 classes and have a general idea of their varying levels of English. There are definitely some classes that are going to be more challenging for me than others (because of level of energy, age, etc) but I am a little more confident in my ability to teach now than I was last week. I have to be careful in certain classes because when there is a stronger speaker the class often lets them speak whenever possible and/or I will give directions and instead of listening they wait for the stronger speaker to translate. One way I am trying to avoid the second part is slowing down and asking if they understand so hopefully that will help me judge their comprehension and not force the stronger students to spend time translating everything for the rest of the class.

While I will be traveling this weekend, (more on that later) I will also be getting some work done on my syllabi. We have to make syllabi for each class that lists what we are doing each week, topic, vocabulary, and any grammar points and they are due September 12th. This doesn't sound too hard at first but it's a bit overwhelming to plan for the whole year when I've had 45 minutes with each class! Luckily, the other English teachers are all wonderfully helpful and most have either given me, or helped me pick out books that are appropriate for each class' level. I have 2 classes using one book and 3 classes using another book, 2 graded readers (stories that have been modified for certain levels of English ability), 1 class doing Civilization/Culture that I will be doing handouts for and then 2 that I don't have a specific book for but I can borrow from a couple sources to create lessons. I am going to spend Sunday doing some laundry so I plan to take my laptop and hopefully finish up the syllabi while I wait for the washing machine to finish (I am using the school's washing machine on the weekends so I don't bother anyone).

On to more fun things, I will be traveling by train to Hajdúszoboszló, to visit Jenna (you can read her blog here.). Skye is also coming down from Sátoraljaújhely and should be getting into the train station around the same time as I am (hopefully 3:13 like the site says, or actually 15:13, Hungary uses the 24 hour clock). In preparation I had Niki write down these phrases for me. Szeretnék egy jegyet Hajdúszoboszlóra, means 'I would like a ticket to Hajdúszoboszló' and csak odaút! which means I only want a one way ticket not a return. I am taking the paper she wrote in on as well as the paper I wrote the time and train numbers of both trains. It will only be one ticket but I have to change trains in Szolnok.


Right now the plan is consists of visiting Jenna Friday afternoon/evening and staying over. Then we will go as a group to Szolnok (picking up some other CETP teachers on the way and/or meeting them when we get there) Saturday morning for the goulash festival. I am very excited and I plan to eat as much goulash as I can stomach, it's my favorite Hungarian dish! Also, seeing everyone will be fun and much better than sitting around all weekend like I did last weekend. With my Fridays free, I plan to travel and visit people as many times as I can afford to which will depend on train prices. The trip to Jenna should be about 3000 ft and I'll have to get a ticket back to Szolnok and then one from Szolnok to Mezőtúr, as you can see the prices add up. The train from Szolnok back here isn't nearly as expensive but I am trying to be fiscally responsible.


Speaking of fiscal responsibility, I got paid today!! I did not expect to be paid until my paperwork went through and I have not even filed it yet so I was completely surprised when Niki took me to the woman in charge of payroll this afternoon. I did not get my full pay for the month but I got most of it, I think it was possible because the school I teach at is a religious school so I am being paid by the school and not the government like my fellow teacher's at public schools. Anyway, I decided to make up a budget for myself which consists of Food, Travel, Savings and Misc, where Misc covers clothes, things for the apartment and school supplies. Travel got the biggest percentage as I know once I get the hang of the trains here I am going to be running around the country whenever possible to see friends and learn more about Hungary!

I just had to get up and close my windows because a storm is coming and it's cold in my apartment now. Fortunately, it seems like the storm isn't going to continue past tonight, as I am walking about 2 km to the train station tomorrow morning and I don't want to walk in the rain. 

The black dot in the lower right corner is me, the train station is circled in blue at the top.

Sziasztok!