The Life and Times of the Curious Cockroach

A story that took shape during a busride with my grandfather, in Kherson, Ukraine.

A large fly rammed itself against the window again and again. The tea kettle emitted long whistles and hoots. Alyona Andreevna Volkova sat at her kitchen table, so busy staring at her own hands that she wasn’t aware of anything else. She flexed her fingers into a fist, then relaxed them slowly, watching her skin stretch then gather between her knuckles. She let out a long sigh.

Older. Starchier. These can’t be the same hands I had the evening before.

Usually, Alyona was cheerful. But that day she turned nineteen.

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You learn more from students than they learn from you.

Before coming to The Village and teaching at a high school and middle school, I thought that the above was just a cliche. I mean, come on, I was going to teach these kids English expressions, slang words, Canadian culture, maybe throw in grammar here and there. I had to teach, and they just had to sit back and be teachable, right?

Not quite. For a twenty-year-old who had never worked with kids/teens before (and no, there was no younger sibling guinea-pig), the experience turned out to be a lot more difficult than expected. But I got a lot out of it, and I can now say it myself: my students taught me more than I taught them. And that’s no cliche.

My main role as Language Assistant was to get my students to practice their oral English as much as I could, while their English teachers took care of the grammar bit. So here are my observations and recommendations that never made it into the Work Journal.

Working with pre-teens (Ages 11-13)

• Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. As soon as I stood in front of my middle school students without a teacher at my side, they tested my boundaries. At first I took this personally … What? I don’t look scary and authoritative enough as I am? Is it the way I talk? Is it my hair? … It only took about seven months (out of my eight-month contract) to realize that it really didn’t have anything to do with me. They were just kids faced with a new teacher, trying to make sense of the weird limbo. Every teacher has his/her own limits and rules. These students were just trying to figure out mine, by getting as close to the line as possible until I reacted. Nothing personal.

• How to set boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. Have clear rules, and for heaven’s sake, STICK TO THEM. “If you talk out of turn two times, the third time you’ll have detention” is one basic example. If you cave in to Johny’s puppy eyes, even if it’s his third warning, you are breaking your own rules. That means you lose credibility in front of everyone. Your rules will evaporate. And sooner than later, the kids will eat you alive.

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November 15th, 2010
Location: high school
Activity: surrogate mothers in India, medical tourism, video + discussion
Classroom enthusiasm levels: low

Haze of tobacco in front of high school doing wonders for stress levels, should really consider taking up smoking.

November 18th, 2010
Location: high school
Activity: not applicable (n/a)
Enthusiasm levels: non-existent (literally)

Some teachers on strike. No one showed up to class.
Apparently strikes are against President Sarkozy’s attempt to bump retirement age from 60 to 62.

December 2nd, 2010
Location: high School
Activity: n/a
Enthusiasm levels: v. high, but not inside classroom

Students now on strike too. How lovely that they are so far-sighted and are already thinking about their retirement. One student showed up to class, but only to ask me if I wanted to go on strike as well. Said I feared Ministry of National Education would deport me back to Canada.

Spent rest of class looking out of window, twiddling thumbs, watching my students making picket signs in courtyard. “RETIREMENT AT 62, MY ASS”  and “SARKO, YOU’RE FUCKED” were some of the more popular ones, apparently.

Then it looked as though students were barricading school doors with garbage bins, so decided it was time to vacate the premises.

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