Today's Tally

Today I'm tallying the successes of the day, because while none of them were big, there were enough of them that it'd be a crime for me not to stop and take note.

In my sixth grade class, one of my students who I have never before heard speak-- at all-- in any language-- participated in our vocabulary exercise using a PowerPoint slideshow that took me less than fifteen minutes to create. (Note to self-- the computer should come to school more often.)

In my third grade class, students actually requested that we do a direction-following/craft project from last week again. I've never had students in this school request to repeat an activity before. (Another note-- my third graders are most attentive when there's glue involved.)

I visited a restaurant where the waitresses only speak Russian, and I used Russian almost entirely. (I slipped on a couple thank-yous in Romanian, but that's minimal.)

I bumped into a few of my seventh grade boys on my walk home. I greeted them and asked how they're doing, they responded and asked me in return. All in English. Maybe you need to have met my seventh-graders to understand the enormity of this, but believe me, it was a big deal.

My teaching partner and I collaboratively filled out a kind of evaluation of the curriculum form today, all in Romanian, and I understood it just as well as she did. We genuinely needed one another's assistance, and it was a kind of collaboration I'd never have expected I'd manage in Romanian.

I carried my computer to and from school today, and no harm came to it.

I made my bed after school instead of giving into the urge to crawl back into it with a book. (Again, maybe you'd have to be here to know it's a big deal.)

My partner and I did all our planning on Sunday (which was lovely, because it also involved an invitation for dinner and some time hanging out with her and her darling daughters) so today we had free time in the day-- honest-to-goodness, not spent planning or typing, or cutting and drawing, free time. It was excellent.

Last, but I'm sure not least:

I blogged about things that went well here for the first time in just a bit too long, and about things that went well at school for the first time in Moldova.


Addendum:
I know I already said last, but that was mid-afternoon and since then:

My eight-year-old host brother came up to my room to ask for help studying his English vocabulary, and I reduced him to giggles by speeding up the words, pronouncing them enthusiastically, and doing them out of order, going back over and over to the tricky ones for extra practice. Something so simple has such a huge effect when kids are used to such "classical" teaching methods.

Host borhter showed off his newly memorize vocabulary to the family over dinner.

My host sister from summer training Skyped me to ask for English homework help, too, and impressed me by producing a really nice essay on friendship, with little more than some help translating figures of speech that she hasn't yet learned.

Training host sister was super grateful for the help-- and gratitude's a big, big deal. :-D

I'd say it's become an all-around good day.

(Now, back to tackling a to-do list full of deadlines fast approaching.)