Teaching in Radowell

I have posted about my recent arrival in Ukraine, but I haven't talked about my teaching experiences, and teaching is the main reason I have come! It may seem like an oversite, but I assure you, this is not the case.

We have spent most of the time I have been here trying to get things set up so that we could start teaching. When we were finally able to do that to the satisfaction of at least the school principal, we had two days of regular teaching. Then there were meetings, presentations, plays, science fairs, etc for us to attend (or not) and try to make sense of. The plays were actually interesting and well done, even if I wasn't able to completely understand what was going on.

The science fair was fascinating! The equipment and material the students have access to is outstanding, for the most part. One of the people there was a local engineer who showed us these new devices that measured various pressures, temperatures, and other such stuff and were hooked up to a computer to display it digitally. It was the only one that was done by a professional.

 This student project dealt with the effects on amperage and voltage when you raise or lower the resistance. I didn't get much more than that out of it as the person acting as an interpreter for me had gone somewhere else.

This was a selection of materials that have been purchased for the school that could also be purchased by individuals. The company also sells them to schools in the US (they had the mandatory sales representative there who spoke a bit of English).

 This project dealt with optics and how colors change when a multi-colored object is spun quickly, and how they are affected by distance.

 This is a demonstration of the wave pattern in which the balls are all released at the same time and start swinging back and forth like a snake.

 This is another optical "experiment". It shows how the eye works using lights to show where on the eye the image would fall. You can set the lights to show you different ages, and then show how lenses move the image to the correct area of the brain allowing for "corrected vision".

 This was one that really surprised me. This microscope is hooked up to the computer in order to show what one would see if they were to look into the microscope itself!








To the left of the computer is what appears to be a traditional microscope, but it has its own digital screen as well!! Where were such things when I was going to school?

 These were at the same place as the microscopes. The various specimens were interesting to look at to see what sorts of things the students were studying. I told them that the rat was for dinner. It took a couple of attempts before they understood, but their reaction was well worth it!

 This was fun to watch. They didn't explain anything at all about it, but my guess is that this was centrifugal force at work. One would take one of the small, metal balls and place it at the top of the ramp, let it go and watch it go around the loop and into the net at the bottom.

It was a lot of fun watching a small child attempt to do it. They couldn't even get the ball to start down the first part of the ramp. He appeared to be having a good time, nonetheless.

And, of course, what science fair would be complete without the classic earth, moon, seasons model? This is made to spin and show you the position of the moon, the earth, and the sun in relation to each other at every season and partial season. Being interactive gave this one a high rating by some of the younger attendees.







The science fair was a success, and afterward, I made my way over to the hotel (guesthouse) restaurant for a little lunch. Some of the students from school were there. One group were the children of one of the workers of the hotel. We (another teacher and I) invited the four of them (the children and the mother) to sit with us. We talked about what they did at school and after school and other easy topics that helped them practice their English. When they left, a boy (one of my students) from another group of students got my attention. He was sitting with three girls I had seem previously but don't have in any of my classes. He asked me for 3 hryvnias. Of course I took the opportunity to go over and ask him a bunch of questions about it!

He said that I should give it to him as a present. Then he offered to give me a french fry for it ... when I still did not give him the money, he offered me 3 french fries! All this time, the girls were telling me not to give him money. Once an unfamiliar elderly man walked in, and the boy asked him for money as well. I finally told my student that I was poor and didn't have any money. He looked at me and gave me a french fry saying "my gift for you." The girl sitting next to where I was standing offered me ketchup! This whole encounter took approximately 10 minutes, and there was much laughter throughout. The best times definitely come outside of class!!