December 1st brought about a new law here in Sarkartvelo. MANDATORY SEAT BELTS!!! The old law was a mess of a law where a seat belt was only required when traveling outside of a city going over 80 kilometers per hour. This of course is not the easiest law to enforce much less have people take seriously. The new law requires seat belts to be worn by the front row passengers in all cars going any speed. I, of course, decided to test the desire by Georgians to wear these life-saving restraint devices. School ended at the normal time on the 1st so I went to the nearest marshutka to Batumi Georgia
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
60 Days In
I have now been in Georgia for around 60 days. Some of the days have felt like some of the longest days of my life while others rank as some of the shortest due to all the fun I've had.
The past few weeks has afforded me time to think and to analyze my educational experience thus far. I, a few weeks ago, found myself only sounded by a stream of negative thoughts. I must admit when you are thousands of miles from home, with a broken laptop (my charger basically caught on fire), in a city where the nearest native English speaker is half an hour away on foot, the ability to see negative is there.
I must remain focused on why I am here and what I know I can do. My attitude towards students is one that I would say was not the same when I was growing up. I would have preferred to move on to new material rather than wait for others to learn. I have learned though that this style is very much still in effect here. Thus my modified attitude has brought a change in the classrooms that I enter.
I have begun to bring the under performing, often ignored, students to the front of attention by actually having them participate in class. The current system appears to just allow those that do not understand the first time to just sit back and just never get it. I can not force that type of massive attitude change alone, I must show others and lead by example. The students who now sit at the back of the room now realizes that they are more likely to be called on to read or to answer a question. More pages of "glass half empty" could be written but you probably do not care to read all of that.
I continuously remind myself of why I am here. I am here to teach the English language to a population that, until recently, a majority of have never seen a native English speaker. I remain optimistic when I see the members of my host family greet me with a good morning. I am encouraged when the teachers at my school say hello or good morning Jason in English rather than saying it in Georgian.
These may seem like such small "victories" but in a country that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and is still recovering from a war with Russia in 2008 this is quite significant. The students at Kobuleti 3 surely do not realize how fast this country is speeding towards modernization. The unforationate situation is that the students who do not try now in school and actually graduate or go on to pursue higher education or a technical skill will not benefit from the changes that are quickly modernizing this country.
The students that misbehave surely do not realize that when Trump Towers, Hyatt, Hilton, or the Radisson look to begin hiring in the coming years they will look to employ multi-lingual people who behave and do as they are told. When more airlines announce service to airports in Georgia these students do not realize that those jobs go to people who can speak more languages than just Georgian.
These facts make the goal of the currently hundreds of volunteers here in Georgia even more important. We are helping to grow the base knowledge of the English language to these students. Our success will help determine their future. Those students who choose to attend university must take an English exam to gain admission. Their success on the exam will decide which university they will attend. That reason alone is a major encouragement. I can single-handed shape the future of my students by educating them about the English language.
Over the course of the last several weeks, the month of September, I have been trying to focus on what the deeper meaning of me being in Georgia is. I have turned my focus to the book of Proverbs in hopes of trying to further understand. I have sought wisdom and found understanding. Proverbs shed light on my attitude and helped me to realize that I needed to be an encourager and not one who discourages. Looking at the glass half empty would be so much easier to do but I have been too blessed to focus on that.
The past few weeks has afforded me time to think and to analyze my educational experience thus far. I, a few weeks ago, found myself only sounded by a stream of negative thoughts. I must admit when you are thousands of miles from home, with a broken laptop (my charger basically caught on fire), in a city where the nearest native English speaker is half an hour away on foot, the ability to see negative is there.
I must remain focused on why I am here and what I know I can do. My attitude towards students is one that I would say was not the same when I was growing up. I would have preferred to move on to new material rather than wait for others to learn. I have learned though that this style is very much still in effect here. Thus my modified attitude has brought a change in the classrooms that I enter.
I have begun to bring the under performing, often ignored, students to the front of attention by actually having them participate in class. The current system appears to just allow those that do not understand the first time to just sit back and just never get it. I can not force that type of massive attitude change alone, I must show others and lead by example. The students who now sit at the back of the room now realizes that they are more likely to be called on to read or to answer a question. More pages of "glass half empty" could be written but you probably do not care to read all of that.
I continuously remind myself of why I am here. I am here to teach the English language to a population that, until recently, a majority of have never seen a native English speaker. I remain optimistic when I see the members of my host family greet me with a good morning. I am encouraged when the teachers at my school say hello or good morning Jason in English rather than saying it in Georgian.
These may seem like such small "victories" but in a country that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and is still recovering from a war with Russia in 2008 this is quite significant. The students at Kobuleti 3 surely do not realize how fast this country is speeding towards modernization. The unforationate situation is that the students who do not try now in school and actually graduate or go on to pursue higher education or a technical skill will not benefit from the changes that are quickly modernizing this country.
The students that misbehave surely do not realize that when Trump Towers, Hyatt, Hilton, or the Radisson look to begin hiring in the coming years they will look to employ multi-lingual people who behave and do as they are told. When more airlines announce service to airports in Georgia these students do not realize that those jobs go to people who can speak more languages than just Georgian.
These facts make the goal of the currently hundreds of volunteers here in Georgia even more important. We are helping to grow the base knowledge of the English language to these students. Our success will help determine their future. Those students who choose to attend university must take an English exam to gain admission. Their success on the exam will decide which university they will attend. That reason alone is a major encouragement. I can single-handed shape the future of my students by educating them about the English language.
Over the course of the last several weeks, the month of September, I have been trying to focus on what the deeper meaning of me being in Georgia is. I have turned my focus to the book of Proverbs in hopes of trying to further understand. I have sought wisdom and found understanding. Proverbs shed light on my attitude and helped me to realize that I needed to be an encourager and not one who discourages. Looking at the glass half empty would be so much easier to do but I have been too blessed to focus on that.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Mestia
My friend/coworker Meaghan and I decided to go visit my Polish friend Dominik in Mestia for his birthday this past weekend. Dominik lives in the Georgian mountains about 30-40 kms from Russia. The journey to Mestia in the Svaneti Region began with a cab ride to the Kobuleti train station, a 2 hour marshutka or 15 passenger van type thing to Zugdidi (Zugdidi is the largest city closest to occupied Abkhazia which is about 25 kms from there), followed by another 5 hour marshutka ride up through the mountains. Mestia has towers that belong to every family there. The towers were used as protection many years ago. We climbed on the roofs of two of the towers to get an amazing view of the valley but while inside one tower we found out of the 12 or so people in the tower there were people from the United States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Canada, Italy, and Norway, talk about a small world. Mestia is in a valley surrounded by mountains and a major river runs through the city. The city is currently undergoing a development boom with the entire downtown square having construction going on. The airport will be finished in two months with hopes of having international flights. The general contractor superintendent told us that flights to Tbilisi, Kutaisi, and Batumi seemed to be sure bets though. The flights will be around the same price as a marshutka but will take hours and hours less time.
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