Appropriate School Behavior?

I understand that all schools have different rules; I thought some things were pretty standard. But, now it would take something big to shock me. I have been here for a little while now. I don’t really remember all of the things that surprised me when I first started teaching at the school.

 As I have said in the past, my school has two different sections: Russian and Georgian. From what I have seen, the way the students behave and the way the teachers act differs greatly between the two sections. Most of my experience is with the Georgian sector, which does seem to be a little more laid back and far less structured than the Russian section.

            I work with III form through XII form students (8 to 18 years old) and I really don’t have a favorite class. Each has its ups and downs. Some things are consistent throughout all the grades.  For instance, homework seems optional. The same two or three students always do it in each class. There is really no consequence for not doing your homework. We go over it in class and you can write down all the answers if you want them, or you can just sit there and listen. More than once I have heard the excuse, “I had to go to a party last night so that is why my homework is not done.”

            The attendance rate, by both students and teachers, is much lower than I would estimate it is in American schools. By IX form, coming to school seems even more optional. I lost count of the number of times I have gone to teach the IX form class to find the doors locked and the students gone. They normally do come in the morning, but between classes they leave and don’t come back. Sometimes they say they forgot they had anymore classes, even though the schedule is the same every week.

One time I did see the entire XI from class get in trouble for skipping school. I remember the day that they skipped I was told they were probably all hung over because the day before had been a holiday. The school director came in and started yelling in at them in Georgian. Of course, I didn’t understand. Several students stood up and then things (such a keys and metal padlocks) were thrown at them. They all did a good job of dodging the looming flying objects. After the school director left, my co-teacher told me that they were in trouble for skipping school and as a punishment they all had to clean the schoolyard.

            The skipping school incident was not the first time that I saw the school director yell at students. The first time I thought her yelling was even a slight under-reaction to the situation. I was standing in front of the IX form class when she walked into the room and called out a boy’s name. He came to the front of the room and she started yelling at him and pushed him one time, not very hard. He just put his head down. At the time this was happening I did not understand and thought this was pretty harsh. After she finished yelling at him, he simply went back to his seat. I actually don’t know if that was his only punishment but it seemed like it. When the director left, I was told that the student had beaten up one of his classmates and that the classmate was now at the hospital. Then class went on as normal.

I guess teachers do normally just look the other way when students are rough housing in the hall. And almost everyday I take away a book or a ruler because a student is hitting another student pretty hard with it. This just seems to be normal.

            Georgia in general is a culture where most people drink heavily and most men seem to chain smoke. Drinking and smoking starts at a very young age. When I told one class about the age laws in the U.S. regarding drinking and smoking, they said that was enough of a reason to not travel to the U.S. My students have asked me to get drunk with them, to which I replied I don’t drink more than a few drinks at a time (having a few drinks in this country is not really optional but I will talk about that in another entry).

I have never seen students drink in school, but that would not surprise me at all. I have seen students light cigarettes in class and try to hide them under there desk. I found these attempts humorous. They did not get in trouble. They were simply told to put them out. Smoking in the bathrooms seems to be okay, though. The bathrooms have no main doors and during breaks there are always groups of boys smoking by the windows.

            The VII form Georgian class is one of the smaller classes, and apparently has a reputation among the teachers as being a crazy class. I was told it is not just one student but the entire class that causes problems. I had not been to the class in a while and I was led to believe that was because their behavior was slightly embarrassing. It was my first time in the class in about two weeks and the students genuinely seemed excited when I walked in.

Later in class, I was standing in front of the students talking about when, in English, we call it a watch verses when we call it a clock and how an alarm clock is still a clock because in Georgian they are the same thing. Then, all of a sudden, from the center of the class, there was a large boom and spark. Someone had set off a firework.

The other teacher stood up and said, “Sorry Meghan. Give me one minute.” The class was going nuts, and I was left alone with them. One student told me to hammer on the teacher’s table to get their attention. When I did that they all just clapped and cheered for me. I eventually got them calmed down and in their seats. Then they asked me if I could teach them a new game. I said no and told them that only good classes get games. Then I attempted to go back to the discussion about clocks when the other teacher came back in with reinforcements, including the head teacher and the VII form’s homeroom teacher.

The students all stood up to be yelled at. One girl went over to all of the coats, picked up three, brought them to the front of the room, and emptied out all the pockets. Inside were tons of little firecrackers. During this process, another girl kept apologizing to me and telling me that I could sit down. She even moved her chair for me to sit in. I had to turn away from the class because I thought the whole thing was very funny. I don’t know if there was any further punishment other than the confiscation of the fireworks. After they were done standing and getting a lecture, the class was basically over and I was told again that they are a bad class.

            None of these things might seem that abnormal for seasoned American teachers. I even told a teacher here that kids in America are the same and the only thing different is that teachers’ reaction and American school buildings tend to be a little nicer. 

(group of students in a class posing for a picture)

(looking out a window at school)

International Club

Some days it is a little frustrating. I don’t understand the people around me and I wonder what I am doing here. Then, I show up at school and I am greeted by shrieks of “Hello Megi!” and “Good morning Mega!” My mood is immediately uplifted. 

One Wednesday afternoon I was handed an invitation to a club meeting. Two English teachers had been talking to me about coming to their clubs, so I was not surprised when I was asked to come. But, the formality of the invitation kind of surprised me. A note was hand written on a Cinderella card asking me to come, the following day, at one-thirty in the afternoon.

(My Invitation) 

            Thursdays are my shortest day at school in terms of class time. The last class I teach ends before noon. But I didn’t mind waiting around for a while in the teacher’s room for the meeting. The organizing teacher came in at one-thirty and asked me to wait ten more minutes. I said of course. An hour later, I was on my way to international club.

I was the special guest, along with the school director,is like the principal, and who, from what I can tell, is second in charge--kind of like the principal and vice principal. I was informed that the subject of this meeting was going to be the state of Virginia, in particular the town of Fairfax, because I was the special guest. I was such a special guest that students tried to sneak in a pretend they were part of the club, but they got kicked out before the meeting officially started. The teacher also said sometime along the lines of, “We know our special guest will stay the whole time.” I am sure that, sometimes, by their standards, I do things that are probably considered rude. But, I don’t think I would get up and walk out of a meeting where the subject is in my honor. Through the entire meeting I had a smile on my face. I just couldn’t help it.

            Each student had memorized something to say, but they tried to act like it was all just things the student could recall. The teacher would ask a question, and one student would raise their hand and come to the front and say something in English that was obviously memorized. The topic of the meeting included the economy, history, geography, and climate of the state of Virginia. I did learn some things, such as the fact that Virginia has an average of five tornados a year, and that it rains somewhere in Virginia, on average, one-third of the year. 

I was surprised that they found enough information for five different students to talk about Fairfax. They talked about things such as the Chocolate Festival (I was glad I could say that I have been).  I also learned that Northern Virginia Community College is the second biggest community college system in the U.S. and that George Mason used to by part of that system. A boy actually made me a handout about the Colleges in Fairfax. I really didn’t know these things-- who would have thought I would learn them in classroom in Akhaltsikhe, Georgia?

After all the students had presented I was asked to say a few words about the climate, but they had covered is pretty well so, I just pointed out on the map where the different regions were located.  

(This is a picture of a picture of me speaking to the Club)