CELTA

Well… It’s finished. I hated it and it was grueling and I’m glad it’s over. The ladies at International House in Kyiv were professional and accommodating but I could have done without the “toss the teddy-bear” on the first day but whatever…

A great group of fellow teachers and more than enough good times to make up for the drudgery and asininity..

Here is one rather frank British fellow’s take on the CELTA course for anyone considering it.

Be warned.

http://sites.google.com/site/englishdroid2/the-profession/celta-without-tears-1

Saturn

Viktoriya, the baby, Nikolai, Leana, Yaroslava and I drove out to the Kyiv Sea(Reservoir) to set up the telescope and check out Saturn, Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a picture with the camera apparatus but here is a picture of Saturn and a few of us enjoying the early summer weather and spending an evening stargazing. No UFO’s were seen, but there were 2 shooting stars.

A trip to the Za Carpathian region

Viktoriya and I took a 3 day bus tour to the far western region of Ukraine near the Hungarian and Romanian borders.

The price was good. 1000 UAH person, excluding train tickets, and dinner each day. We stayed two nights at a European standard “baza vidpochynku”, Vodogry. The bus was a Mercedes, the guides organized everything well, spoke about the history non-stop, and  were as pleasant as could be. We were in a group of about 20.

If anyone would like a phone number to book a tour please let me know.

The first stop after getting off the train in Volovets was the waterfall Shypit, which required a walk through a nice forest park, with staff that seems to care for it well. We then went to Synevir lake in the mountains. A crystal clear lake around 1000 meters above sea level. It is well cared for as well. We also visited a botanical reserve with large fields of flowers, mainly Narcissus, that day before heading to the “baza vidpochynku”

The second day involved a former Olympic training site in  Beregovo, which is a large swimming pool built around a thermal mineral spring. After that was a walking tour through the town.

The third day of the tour took us to Palanok castle which is comparable to Kominets Pidolski, or Khotin size and completeness. A violinist plays in the court yard, and most of the castle is a museum with a large number of items displayed from the history of the castle. It is located upon something between a large hill and a mountain, in the middle of a large flat area with a surrounding village. After this we visited a winery and a private wine tasting with the owner and operator. Good wine, and cheap.

Back on the train on that evening and back in Kyiv and straight to work on Tuesday morning.

It is amazing how cheap everything is out there. We went to a small family restaurant, and we both had a delicious shashleik dinner, with salad, and side dishes for 100 hr, including one beer.

I highly recommend visiting the area, or taking a tour with the company that we took if anyone is interested. Please let me know and I will ask Viktoriya to find the information.

Chernobyl Fundraiser/Cultural Marathon

There will be a cultural marathon in remembrance of the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl at the Master Klass Center of Culture and Education, http://masterklass.org/eng to raise funds for medical equipment for Ukrainian clinics from April 22-30. Everyone is welcome and we are looking for talented persons of any nationality who would be interested in contributing their work.

The Marathon Remember  is open for all people of good will. It has no national or social boundaries, thus any person or art project from any country can join the action.

There will be performances and films by the Kyiv chamber orchestra “New Era Orchestra” http://www.neweraorchestra.com, Sota Cinema Group, http://www.sotacinema.com, a jazz festival with Jazz in Kiev, www.jazzinkiev.com, the Rock Sich festival [url=http://www.rocksich.com], and several others.

Ukrainian weather

Another aspect of life in Ukraine that I particularly love is the weather.  Where I come from the weather is unpredictable and fluctuates wildly.  We have a saying back home, “If you don’t like the weather in Indiana, wait a few days.”

Although the winter here in Kyiv can be brutal, the spring is refreshing after the long freeze. Buds appear on the trees, children play outside, picnics are happening, and life is burgeoning everywhere after being frozen in the previous months.

The spring is also a time when I am filled with excitement about the coming months. I can envision riding my bike, taking walks with my wife as she practices her photography, and saving time leaving and arriving home without having to gear up for the cold. I can slip on my shoes, grab my backpack and go.

As the weather becomes even warmer and pleasant, I hope that I can hold outside speaking clubs as nobody wants to sit in a classroom when the sun is shining, and the warm air beckons everyone to come enjoy the flowers and birds.

Thanks to those who came to the movie!!

We had a good sized group of people who came to the showing of “HOME.”

Thanks to everyone who came. It was a wonderful evening.

Update on People & Ukraine

Most of the articles that we need to start with have been written and compiled. The designer has agree to take the project and, if all goes well, than we will meet with sponsors and begin the official first edition.

We have some great writers and articles. This idea has been taking shape nicely and hopefully will come to fruition soon.

Reminder about movie

Please see the earlier post about the showing of “HOME” this evening.

It should be a great evening. We hope to have alot of people. It was listed in the Kyiv Post.lol

 

New Clients

I met for an hour and a half this morning with Navteq, http://www.navteq.com/ the Ukrainian subsidiary of an American company based in Chicago. Not far from where I lived.

The company was a great place. They produce map/navigation software, and their team drives over ever last km of the roads in Ukraine, paved and unpaved, and create maps with their sophisticated equipment.  They have a beautiful and simple open office. Pleasant group of people. All of the staff were professional and they have a nice General Manager, Yaroslav.

I’m looking forward to meeting with the other group next and beginning a course with them.

Teaching

I came home late this evening after an interesting day. At 5:30 I was in the conference room of a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company, and later in the evening I was in on the 4th floor of a nice office building across from  Palats Sportu in a meeting room with a great view speaking with a young investment banker and a logistics manager of Coca-Cola. Am I a high paid consultant? No I’m an English teacher. I look indistinguishable from the  locals as I walk down the main streets of Kyiv, with my backpack and headphones, but I have a skill that is valuable here but which is of no significance in my home land.  I am a native English speaker.

Like most expats, I began teaching English upon living here in Ukraine. I was naive about it when I began, and despite my thorough education in English grammar, and a love for words and semantics, I found that teaching was not as nearly easy as I had anticipated. In my work in the hospital I was often responsible for instructing students and new staff, but usually it was in technical or computer issues. Teaching an abstract language is something entirely different.

Coming to a class and having a group of strangers, usually successful and educated, sit in front of me and listen to every word I have to say proved to be an easy situation in which to make a fool of myself. Being an American citizen in an Eastern European country can be bad for a person’s ego.  At first it becomes greatly inflated and then it is rapidly deflated.

As with all skills, teaching has a learning curve, but after 2 years of practice I feel confident when I enter a classroom and have learned to have much more material ready than there is time to study. I am good at dealing with people, understanding their frames of mind, and explaining concepts, but improvisation is usually only good infrequently. Finding approaches to each student can be frustrating, but the respect in the student’s eyes when you have helped them understand something is more rewarding than the money.

I have worked hard to avoid teaching English as my sole means of earning a living, but now that I am comfortable in my role as a teacher. I am not aversive to spending more time doing it and entering long term relationships.

I’ve been holding classes at English Planet on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings for the last year and half, and I also taught a corporate group with this school for nearly one year. The long term relationships I developed with my students on Fridays and Saturday are what inspired a love for teaching in me.

I also substitute, hold speaking clubs and meet with individual students at Oxford Master Klass, Language Partners, and Study Bridge. Oxford is the nicest school in Kyiv, I enjoy each visit I have there. The staff are the most professional and have given me opportunities to develop myself that I would have not had anywhere else. Language Partners and Study Bridge are both small schools. I am asked once or twice a week to meet with students, but the infrequency does not always help to keep my schedule manageable.

It is cliche, but I have learned more from my students, than I could ever hope to teach them.  I have an insatiable desire for learning and so I have no intentions of leaving the profession.  In fact, this summer I will be obtaining a CELTA certification, and would like to take a full time position.

There are worse ways to support a family.