So, what is a normal day of teaching like...
I usually get up at around 7:30 or 8. I have a bowl of fruit with yogurt and tidy up my room which doesn't take long :-) . Currently the teachers and director live above the classrooms. We currently each have our own room, but that will change in the next couple of weeks as 3 more volunteer instructors join the program.
My room faces the street, so I keep my windows closed at night. It gets hot, but it mutes some of the noise. The fan running also helps to mute the sounds of a very big city with no noise ordinances.
I wash my dishes and clean up some of the common spaces, emptying the trash cans in the bathroom of the toilet paper which is put in them instead of in the toilet.
This is a view from upstairs of the interior patio just outside of the classrooms. It is in the shade all day and the plants are lovely. Unfortunately, they also provide a haven for mosquitoes at night.
And here is a view of my classroom with the ubiquitous fan running nonstop.
Here is the common area between the two classrooms. The students stop for a tea break (and some stop for prayers) in the middle of class.
My first class is at 10 and has been a mother-child class. Moms can come with children under 4 and learn while a volunteer watches the kids. You can imagine that this worked better with some students than others. However, one of the children has just started school and the other mother found someone to watch her child in the afternoon, so she is switching classes. This class will probably become something else or get new students.
We have lunch from 12-1. And then we have a class from 1-3 (my highest level of students, all from Somalia, who would be considered intermediate in the US) and another from 3-5 (beginner students, most from Afghanistan, who are working on acquiring vocabulary.) After 5 we either have a meeting or prepare lessons for the next day. Until we got internet a few days ago, we would go to a cafe and have a drink and work online there.
By 6 I am usually ready for a break and will go for a walk or go downtown. I then make something to eat and catch up on email/internet stuff (now that we have wifi here.) Sometimes I read or knit and listen to music. I usually go to bed around 9:30 or 10 and hope that I get good sleep.
That's a typical day here at Halcyon Days Project in Athens. Things will be changing in the next week with the arrival of 3 more volunteers; new classes will be added and some students will be shuffled around.
I usually get up at around 7:30 or 8. I have a bowl of fruit with yogurt and tidy up my room which doesn't take long :-) . Currently the teachers and director live above the classrooms. We currently each have our own room, but that will change in the next couple of weeks as 3 more volunteer instructors join the program.
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My room faces the street, so I keep my windows closed at night. It gets hot, but it mutes some of the noise. The fan running also helps to mute the sounds of a very big city with no noise ordinances.
I wash my dishes and clean up some of the common spaces, emptying the trash cans in the bathroom of the toilet paper which is put in them instead of in the toilet.
This is a view from upstairs of the interior patio just outside of the classrooms. It is in the shade all day and the plants are lovely. Unfortunately, they also provide a haven for mosquitoes at night.
And here is a view of my classroom with the ubiquitous fan running nonstop.
Here is the common area between the two classrooms. The students stop for a tea break (and some stop for prayers) in the middle of class.
My first class is at 10 and has been a mother-child class. Moms can come with children under 4 and learn while a volunteer watches the kids. You can imagine that this worked better with some students than others. However, one of the children has just started school and the other mother found someone to watch her child in the afternoon, so she is switching classes. This class will probably become something else or get new students.
We have lunch from 12-1. And then we have a class from 1-3 (my highest level of students, all from Somalia, who would be considered intermediate in the US) and another from 3-5 (beginner students, most from Afghanistan, who are working on acquiring vocabulary.) After 5 we either have a meeting or prepare lessons for the next day. Until we got internet a few days ago, we would go to a cafe and have a drink and work online there.
By 6 I am usually ready for a break and will go for a walk or go downtown. I then make something to eat and catch up on email/internet stuff (now that we have wifi here.) Sometimes I read or knit and listen to music. I usually go to bed around 9:30 or 10 and hope that I get good sleep.
That's a typical day here at Halcyon Days Project in Athens. Things will be changing in the next week with the arrival of 3 more volunteers; new classes will be added and some students will be shuffled around.
Thanks for this blog. I was wondering what your day was like.
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