First Day of Teaching!

I officially have one day of teaching in Hungary under my belt. It feels good to finally teach after all the preparation and anticipation. I teach Tuesdays and Thursdays in the town of Ebes, at a school outside of Debrecen. Today I had my first round of students. I am teaching 2nd-5th grade this semester and then kindergarten-5th grade next semester. Each class has between 9-15 children, which I think is the perfect amount. Especially since many of my teaching techniques involve the students to get out of their chairs and move around.

The 5th graders were more advanced than I had anticipated, but at this school they teach a variety of subjects in English besides just my class. Then I had two lessons with 3rd graders and ended the day with 2nd graders. The 2nd graders had the most energy because it was right before lunch when I taught them. They loved playing "Simon Says" and the 3rd and 5th graders loved playing the "Tea and Coffee" game.  The "Tea and Coffee" game is where you have them stand in a line and then ask them to choose a side. You ask them simple questions like, "Do you like Coffee stand over here and if you like Tea stand over there." Only with my kids I asked questions like "Do you like Monkeys or Zebras?" and "Do you like Hannah Montana or Twilight?" I saw a lot of the students carrying around pencil bags, notebooks or backpacks with those on them.

The weirdest thing that happened to me today, wasn't even while I was teaching. A fellow Hungarian-English teacher at my school came to introduce herself to me and was surprised when I told her my name. At first she couldn't understand why my name was Dana if I was from the U.S. she asked me what my heritage/ethnicity was- I told her my heritage is German, English, Finnish, etc. And she couldn't believe that I was all those things at once. She then said that she was surprised how tall I was-which is something I never get being only 5'5. She told me she could tell I was from someplace different because of the way I looked. I don't usually stick out, but in Hungary I suppose I do! There is also a computer in my classroom and guess what it says on it --- Dana (as in the make of the computer is Dana). So maybe that's where the confusion about my name came in?

Student Artwork

The 3rd graders were really cute and some even came up to me after class and gave me hugs. The students really enjoyed drawing pictures about themselves and a few even drew pictures just for me.

A picture for me.

I will take a few pictures of the classroom next week to show what it looks like.  

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I will be teaching at the Cambridge Language School. I have been told I will be teaching adults, but also primary students too. So I will definitely be channelling my old working with kids mode that I used to have when I helped teach horseback riding and working at summer camp. 

Ben had a more chaotic first day than me. He taught his first lessons at his High School, but they are still working out the scheduling, so it was a bit confusing for him. Plus, he had to walk to school since we haven't gotten our bus passes yet (I got a ride to my work from our contact person). His school is only 2 or 3 miles away, but he won't enjoy the walk come winter. Luckily we'll be getting our bus passes this Monday and traveling around the city will become much easier.