Lesson Plans

I typed up a very detailed lesson plan, packed my bag and took off for my job teaching Business English at a personnel agency. After arriving early to set up my classroom I discovered that I didn't have the audio portion of the lesson.

So, on to Plan B. I had copies of an article on the Fast Moving Consumer Products industry that I had planned to use a time filler. And I decided that the homework I intended to assign could be done in class.

We started off with the warm up discussion questions that I had prepared. Then Plan B was quickly set aside in favor of an animated discussion of the financial crisis, and new governmental policies related to solving the financial problems for the elite while ignoring the social injustices faced by the elderly and disabled. It was exhilarating to hear them speaking so eloquently on such difficult topics. They only needed minimal corrections and gentle prompting with a few vocabulary words. (a few words came out in Russian and I had to offer the English equivalent)

And the bonus is that the lesson I planned can be saved for next time!

English Language Helpers

Today Tom is headed out to Krasnodar's first English speaking AA meeting. His friend V asked him to help out with the format and getting the group off the ground. If you are an English speaker here in Krasnodar looking for an AA meeting let us know and we will get you directions!

I started off my day working with Elizaveta. Leeza, as she is affectionately called, is 9 years old. She and her family just recently moved here from the Moscow area and were disappointed to learn that there is not an English class at her elementary school. Her parents asked me to teach her a song in English, help her finish up her work book from her former school and correct her pronunciation when needed. She is a sweet little girl and we had a great time together. My favorite part of the lesson was her giving me a kiss and telling me how much she loves learning English!!

On Wednesday Tom will be coming to work with me because her 5 year old brother Mikhail (Misha) was extremely shocked that Tom didn't come over to play with him while I worked with his sister!