Wow that was a big week. It was midterm week at the American Home, which meant lots of questions and giving speaking and written exams. It was also the week of the annual Halloween Party, which our students love but which requires a lot of planning and work. On top of that, another teacher and I agreed to present at a research conference held by Vladimir State University, and, in order to do that, we had to write a research paper and prepare a presentation. Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of free time!
I was all worth it, though. The Halloween party was a success: 60 or so highly energetic Russian students (mostly teenage girls) showed up, and we turned the American Home into a haunted house. They carved pumpkins, learned to dance the thriller, and ate lots of junk food. It was like a little bit of America right here in Vladimir.
The research presentation also went well. Our paper was titled "Inequality in American education: the impact of location," and we focused on property tax's role in producing unequal outcomes in Ohio schools. It was a tough slug to get the paper written, but we definitely enlightened the academics at Vladimir State about a side of America that isn't covered in movies and pop songs (the usual sources of information about American culture). Our presentation highlighted two school districts in the Cleveland area that illustrate the correlation between property-tax revenues and school performance--Cleveland and Beachwood--and one that breaks the trend--Cleveland Heights-University Heights. We presented in English to a group of about 15 people, and, at least from their reactions, it seemed like they understood at least most of what we were saying. We even got a few questions. My favorite was, "Do private individuals support struggling public schools?"--I answered by bringing up the role of the Cleveland Foundation and other philanthropic organizations.
Also, most of my students did well on their midterms. Now I've got to grade a big stack of tests featuring such ESL gems as "I like to do it a lot" as a response to the question "How often do you do your homework?" and a lot of incomprehensible things like "I slip in my bad around until 23:00pm at week." (She means I go to bed at around 11:00pm on weeknights). One day I'll have to make a blog dedicated to the stuff my students say....
I was all worth it, though. The Halloween party was a success: 60 or so highly energetic Russian students (mostly teenage girls) showed up, and we turned the American Home into a haunted house. They carved pumpkins, learned to dance the thriller, and ate lots of junk food. It was like a little bit of America right here in Vladimir.
The research presentation also went well. Our paper was titled "Inequality in American education: the impact of location," and we focused on property tax's role in producing unequal outcomes in Ohio schools. It was a tough slug to get the paper written, but we definitely enlightened the academics at Vladimir State about a side of America that isn't covered in movies and pop songs (the usual sources of information about American culture). Our presentation highlighted two school districts in the Cleveland area that illustrate the correlation between property-tax revenues and school performance--Cleveland and Beachwood--and one that breaks the trend--Cleveland Heights-University Heights. We presented in English to a group of about 15 people, and, at least from their reactions, it seemed like they understood at least most of what we were saying. We even got a few questions. My favorite was, "Do private individuals support struggling public schools?"--I answered by bringing up the role of the Cleveland Foundation and other philanthropic organizations.
Also, most of my students did well on their midterms. Now I've got to grade a big stack of tests featuring such ESL gems as "I like to do it a lot" as a response to the question "How often do you do your homework?" and a lot of incomprehensible things like "I slip in my bad around until 23:00pm at week." (She means I go to bed at around 11:00pm on weeknights). One day I'll have to make a blog dedicated to the stuff my students say....
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