Teaching in Different Venues

This past week has given us opportunities to teach in several different venues.  Tuesday evening was our normal workshop experience with the Mongolian English teachers.  Here, we're having fun with a skit in English which doubles as English speaking experience as well as teaching comparative adjectives (such as "the bigger the goat, the bigger the meal; the bigger the meal, the better I feel!"). 

I was the troll who had "eyes as big as plates and teeth as sharp as knives" (hence the crazy props in this photo).



As I played the troll, our Mongolian teachers took part as the three Billy Goats Gruff and, as you can see in this photo, The Bridge (Woman to my right has a nametag on her chest which says "Bridge")! 




The Big Billy Goat Gruff eventually rammed into me, the Troll, and shoved me off the bridge.


It was all a fun experience, and a modeling exercise for our teachers to learn a new way to present grammar to their students in a fun way. 

Then, Wednesday, during the day, we met up with one of our Mongolian teachers who takes our workshops.  She had a museum field trip planned, so we met her at her school to go along.  When we arrived, the students were in the courtyard of the school, waiting for our arrival.  When we came into the courtyard, many of the boys started yelling, "Kevin! Kevin!"  Several came to shake our hands.  They were so happy to see our arrival.  We have been to their classroom several times.  Let's see, I think once for Kevin to assist, once for both of us to observe (part of the process in our teaching), and once to watch their Halloween party in progress (at that event, we were given seats of honor and Kevin and I were the only ones served food--it felt strange!).  The Mongolian teacher needed to step back into the school for something, so she asked Kevin if he had an outdoor game he could lead the students in.  A wild game of "Red Light, Green Light" ensued. 

Here, the kids (and Kevin) are ready to take off when the leader shouts "Green Light!"



Kevin puts on a "mock stern" face to send a runner back to the starting line.

After the vigorous game (which we needed to get our bodies warmed up in the 20 degree weather), we walked about 2 kilometers to the museum.  All the way to the museum, students were slipping their arms into my arm (walking arm-in-arm is very natural in Mongolia), and tapping my arm to get my attention to ask a question in English.  I thought you'd like to eavesdrop on some of the conversations:

Student:  How old are you? 
Me: 99
Student: Laughter

Student: Where do you live?
Me: Over by Sunday Plaza.  Where do you live?
Student:  In....in.....Mongolia! (With all seriousness).
Me: Well I knew that!
Student: she smiled and laughed, like, "oh, yeah...duh!"

Student: What are you afraid of?
Me: I'm afraid that some day the electricity will go off when I'm in the elevator in my apartment building and I'll be stuck there for a long time!  (That is one of my greatest fears!)

Student: Do you have a big family or a small family?
Me: Well, it depends on what you think a big family is.  We have four children.
Student: Wow!  Four children!
Me:  Is that big?
Student: Yes!

Most families in Mongolia have 1-3 children nowadays.  Some people we've met in their 30's and 40's have 6 or more siblings, but most people in their 20's and younger have smaller families.

After arriving at the museum, the students stayed together for the most part.  We would all move to the next room together.  Mongolians are very "group oriented" and not as individualistic as Americans. 

We would look at an exhibit with them and point to items and refer to the Mongolian name if we knew it and then say the English name.  For example, a camel, "Tamay....camel".  We entered a large room with an exhibit of many photos of flowers.  One boy said, "Ahhh Tsitsik!"  I said, "Yes! Flowers...Tsitsik!"  We engaged in conversation with the students the whole time, asking questions, ("How many times have you ridden a horse?", when standing in front of a horse exhibit) or pointing to locations on a map, showing where we used to live and where our plane flew to get us to Mongolia.  After over an hour of interacting with the students, each of us commenting on exhibits in Mongolian and English, and being tapped on by students to get my attention (truly!) almost constantly, we were totally exhausted. 

The time with these 8th grade students was so enjoyable.  They had such a sense of excitement to learn English and to have native English speakers join their class.  One of the boys bought Kevin and I each a candy sucker at the museum gift shop and brought it to us.  The teachers presented us with a box of chocolates.  We knew they appreciated us coming to the class; we certainly appreciated the opportunity!



The three adult women on the left: the two younger women are student teachers who will hopefully have their own classes next fall.  The older woman is one of the teachers who attends our workshops every week.