This is very late in coming to the blog, but I wanted to write something here now that it is already September, and this summer is already becoming a fond if somewhat distant memory for us. It is unbelievable to think of all that has happened to me this summer while in Hungary and Slovakia. I know, I hope at least that I will never forget it, and I feel so thankful for all of it, for everything.

I want to write a few things here for any forthcoming volunteers, just some practical advice I suppose. Preparation for your summer in Central Europe is the most important thing that you can do I think. It is truly impossible to be completely prepared for all the situations and all of the people you will encounter of course, but premeditating about things, from how you will feel in a foreign and far away place to the practical (what will I teach, what will my students need?) will prove to be an immense help for you. Try to prepare some lessons for people of all ages, and bring many small materials with you like paper and markers, stickers, things to play with like inflatable world balls.

But otherwise, there is far too much that is impossible to prepare for, and that is perhaps what is most difficult and most beautiful about the experience you can have as a volunteer. Be open and calm, and face whatever comes, and enjoy yourself as much as you can! The hospitality and kindness of the people you will meet will affect you profoundly, it really will.

I miss and will miss my time in Central Europe so much– I will never forget it I hope. I miss you all too, the volunteers on the program, and hope we can stay in touch!
With much love, Hannah

I had an amazing time in Europe this summer as a volunteer. I met so many wonderful people and had the privilege of being part of two of the loveliest families in amazing villages. I will always wonder how LE could have known to assign me to Keszthely and Rédics as I could not get over how happy I was or felt so much like I belonged in those places.

Preparation
I had almost no time to prepare for the trip and only managed to pack the night before I left Australia. In a way this was good because it also meant, I had no expectations which minimised, if not eliminated the cause for disappointments.

I had originally planned to create lesson plans, laminate and cut up materials but never had the chance to. I had taken way too much art materials and two of everything and I could have just done with one set, really. The things I was glad to bring though were: an 8G USB, foam beads (lighter than wooden/plastic ones) together with plastic laces and 60 Australian clip-on koalas.

The USB I used to store all my PowerPoint presentations. I had made one for each day of teaching so it was like having an electronic blackboard. I would cut and paste a lot of pictures off the internet and include them in the presentations. As I did not bring many books those I did not have but knew were good to use to teach children, I made electronic versions. For The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I found videos of them on YouTube and had the children watch them but also would print-screen parts, and paste them onto a PowerPoint for use during review.

The foam beads and plastic laces, I would set up in one corner as an alternative activity for the children so I did not have to teach the whole class the main lesson in a big group. As this remained popular, I eventually created pattern cards so the children could bead by colour and the same beads were used as bingo markers in another activity.

All koalas are now hopefully settled in their new Hungarian or American homes. I had brought several other presents enough for everyone I had meant to give them to, but the koalas were a big hit.

The biggest shock and what I would consider the most negative experience was being conned by a taxi driver on my first day in Budapest but even that I got over fairly easily because I told myself to learn from the experience and look forward to what was up ahead. Throughout the trip, I reminded myself to identify something in common with everyone I meet and to face differences with curiosity rather than fear.

First Days
I told myself that for this trip, work on the assumption that my best resource was myself, or at least, within me. Work with whatever was given me or what I had and maintain my attitude that with everyone I meet, I am to treat them how I would have liked to be treated. I am pleasant with everyone but do not expect them to like me back so if they do, then that is a bonus. Still, I was fortunate that both families welcomed and cared for me that way they did. For both first days, I had a PowerPoint presentation to introduce myself and talk about what they could expect but I knew the content would be secondary to how I delivered it so I would have talked the same even without a presentation. I did not rehearse anything and just stood in front of the group and talked about how genuinely pleased I was to be there. If I appeared confident it came with being first curious and happy to be given the chance to do what I did. This disposition along with the promise that I would make them enjoy learning English instead of perfecting their grammar may have made them feel learning was within their reach. And I believe that the manner that I used to engage them on the first day made them realise that I was not the traditional type of teacher who would stand there and expect them to receive the information passively. For me, if I succeeded in making them laugh on that first day, I would see them in class for the summer and this proved true in both villages.

Teaching
I was an early childhood teacher and so the only way I knew how to teach resurfaced this summer. This was done in the progressive manner, to set up the classroom to facilitate interactions and to develop and implement lessons – even those with structured concepts like language – that were meaningful and therefore would be remembered most by the students. It was interesting that this approach was successful not just for little children but for students across all ages, cultures and languages.

As with the activities I used as an early childhood teacher, my lessons were interactive but were supplemented by resources even if I had to create these. The internet was a good resource but it was not my main resource and I did not use it to substitute a lesson, it just allowed me to present information using more medium. I avoided teaching words, letters or numbers in a manner that would lead students to memorising them. Instead, I had them learn concepts using activities that they could relate with personally like numbers using discussing involving their ages, birthdays or addresses, letters of their names. Vocabulary and grammar were touched on using activities or topics, which were determined by what I had identified as what they were interested in. A combination of teaching mediums, materials, games and structured exercises helped ensured that the concepts were better integrated. I was also happy to represent two countries, which gave the students a chance to ask more questions about more things. I also made sure that part of the session allowed the students to participate. For both villages, the last activity was Show and Tell. By this time, the students were confident enough to talk about what was most important to them. It covered a wide range of interesting topics and the students were as proud of themselves as I was of them. For students to thank me for making them feel good meant more to me than being thanked for teaching them grammar.

The most challenging about teaching English is the same as when you are teaching very young children. You are not able to give them instructions or explanations on why they are being asked to complete a task or an activity. One student expressed confusion and frustration by this so I tried my best to explain to him. But even in the process, I encouraged him to express his opinions, only that he do it to me and in English so issues can be resolved. In the manner I taught, the level of trust the students put in the teacher is very high and to establish and maintain a very good rapport between student and teacher is very crucial. If a good relationship is fostered through establishing clear lines of authority but at the same time being approachable, there is mutual interest and respect demonstrated by both teacher and students and this will also ensure that disciplinary issues are prevented or at least, minimised. I did not have to deal with any difficult students in both villages.

Time Outside Class
I spent additional time with students and their families outside the classroom and these opportunities made us get to know each other better and allowed us to interact on a more personal level. The extra time together allowed the trust to build and the students were more confident in speaking to me and with each other in English as we had the chance to talk about their interests and what meant most to them, unlike in the classroom where even if topics were drawn from them, it had to be general enough for everyone to understand. I was taken to festivals, concerts, McDonald’s in the next town, as well as lunches and dinners where I had the chance to meet with other members of the students’ families. I was teaching for 4 hours but would spend close to the same or even more time with students outside the classroom on most days. On the last days, I organised picnics or for the smaller group, pizza.

When I was not with students, I spent time with my host families. I opted not to use weekends to travel as I preferred to remain in my villages and spend as much time with my host parents or siblings and their friends. They treated me as part of their family and even if they would not allow me to do chores, I was involved in their daily family as well as their professional lives. Both my host families were involved in the community which had me immersed in it as well and I learned about the practical aspects and even about the not so rosy realities they had to cope with. I was also very honoured to be invited to my host brother’s wedding, which allowed me to take part in a traditional Hungarian wedding. My two host families would also take me to scenic places around their region with my second family taking time to bring me to Slovania and to Austria at the conclusion of my stay. There, I am glad that they met a relative of mine even for a brief period and that they got to enjoy a Filipino dish.

Training Day
I was not able to participate in Training Days on campus being based in Australia. The on-line and Skype sessions are useful but to supplement these, best to maximise the time when all volunteers are together at the start of the program and mid-point break. We had a good opportunity to know each other in Budapest and Slovakia but a more structured and longer session where we share ideas on lesson planning and are able to simulate the teaching experience would probably make volunteers more confident about their roles. I also hope that LE seeks feedback from the villages about how volunteers performed so they can take this into account when organising the program for the following years as well as recruiting the next batch of volunteers.

In closing, I am glad I applied for and took part of this program. I remain in touch with fellow volunteers, my host families and some of my students. It was sad to say goodbye but I am happier having known them. In the process of encouraging others to step out of their comfort zones, I had also expanded my own. This summer in Europe, the unknown turned out to be the most wonderful surprises for me – every single day.

L Pablo
Keszthely and Rédics, Hungary 2009

So first of all, these past seven weeks have been the BEST summer of my life. Thank you everyone for making this such a great experience. You are all fabulous! And Francesca thank you for everything you did, you’re the bomb!!

The three most important things I brought were three balls: a small, heavy one, a medium-sized beach ball and a big beach ball. Yan, I am expecting your ‘that’s what she said’ comment any minute now. I used them every day, they packed easily since I blew them up, I gave them away as prizes at the end, and they made EVERY grammar exercise into a fun game that the kids loved.

I could have done without about half of my clothes. What was I thinking, bringing so many clothes?? Future volunteers: DO NOT BRING TWO SUITCASES FULL OF CLOTHES. And if the wheels on your roller suitcase break, just kill yourself right there and then.

I actually planned quite a lot of classes before I left, but I wish that I had planned more and I wish that I had planned more activities for my first day of classes, since I ran out about halfway through and had to completely improvise. Of course, all teaching ends up being improvisation, but you CANNOT plan enough plan A’s and B’s, because something invariably goes wrong.

One of my best lesson plans was playing Jeopardy. Instead of normal categories, I used grammar categories — he/his/him, her/hers/she, my/mine/my/me, etc. I prepared sentences ahead of time with varying difficulties and they had to fill in the appropriate pronoun. The sentence-making was a lot of work for me, but the kids really loved it and it was so satisfying to slip that grammar by them and to see that by the end of the game they really had it down.

For little kids, I recommend googling ‘camp games’, since a lot of those can be adopted to English subjects. For teenagers, I recommend the above Jeopardy, and if you have a computer and internet access in your classroom, I recommend looking up the ‘disneymusiclover’ youtube user, who has uploaded every Disney movie onto Youtube in English with English subtitles. It sounds like lazy teaching, but they learned a lot from watching the movies, really enjoyed it and the imposed 10-minute long segments are perfect for discussing what has happened.

The only improvements I suggest are that 1) teachers get more information about their village ahead of time, 2) LE sets up a formal correspondence between previous volunteers and new ones, either in the same village or the same region, and 3) that LE makes sure to emphasize what villages are supposed to do with volunteers — aka, not send them to dance camps where they won’t be teaching, etc.

Much much love,
Diana

I didn’t feel all that prepared as I embarked on my adventure to Eastern Europe (or Central Europe, depending on who you are talking to.) But, I quickly realized that it didn’t matter. As long as future volunteers know that it’s okay, normal even, to be somewhat clueless sometimes, I think that should ease any anxiety.

As to packing, I definitely brought too many toiletries. I know other programs didn’t have access to basic things, like toothpaste or soap, so it would have been nice to know that I would have. Then I would have packed lighter, knowing that I could replace things if need be. I also brought more clothes than I needed, plain and simple. In my brilliance I brought a pair of heels. Haha. I am glad that I brought a lot of underwear and socks though, because sometimes I would go awhile without getting any laundry done.

As for teaching supplies, I’m glad I brought markers and index cards. I used them all the time. The paper was also really useful. I brought a frisbee that I never used though. I wish I had brought more magazines or some children’s books.

If I could go back to the first day with my host family I would tell myself, “Before you know it, you will be part of the family, and you aren’t going to want to leave. Relax.” Similarly with teaching, “It’s all going to be fine, and you never know who you are having the most impact on. Have fun and give it your all.” I did, but not without being nervous first.

Teaching usually went well. For one lesson I decided to take the kids to the local food shop to teach them the foods there. This did not work too well, as there were about 10 students and they all couldn’t see what I was pointing at and I didn’t want to raise my voice in the store. With 2 or 3 kids this would have been great though. That night, I took old ads and cut out the different foods. Then I glued them to index cards. The next day I taught the food and we played memory using the pictures and index cards with the names of the foods. This worked really well and took a solid 20 minutes.

My time outside of class was almost always spent with my host families. We would watch TV together, visit relatives, go to a nearby city, or just hang out. For two out of my three families, this was great. For the other one, I spent hours every day with an awkward, albeit very sweet, 18 year old teenage boy. I hung out with the students for an hour after class each day, but beyond that it was me and my host brother. He always wanted to know where I was and what I was doing. Looking back, it would have been nice to add some more people to the picture, but I still don’t know how I would have done that, especially as my oldest students in that village were 14 and he seemed to have few friends in the village.

Finally, in terms of training, a few samples of very specific lesson plans would have been helpful. By the end of the third week I was almost out of ideas, and, in that respect, I was grateful to be changing villages. Sometimes I felt like I was swamped with emails, so having one place for all pertinent info, like a wiki, would have been really helpful. I was also uncomfortable not knowing who my second host family was until after I had been with my first family for two weeks. I wasn’t able to send them the intro packet. It would have also been nice to know that I was going to have two host families in my second village. I didn’t have a gift for my second one. Then again, I guess not knowing was part of the adventure.

When all is said and done, this was definitely one of the best summers of my life. Thanks to Francesca and LE!

-Jen

Hey everyone!

Week two in Nova has been totally awesome! My students are super enthusiastic and I even have a couple of students, who are police officers. They invited me to their police station in Lenti, where they were taking English lessons…Yes, you guessed it! I got to teach a class at a police station. At first, I was a bit nervous…being surrounded by policemen can be very intimidating. However, that only lasted until I made them do skits, at which point everybody was cracking up. What was so funny? Imagine a police officer pretending to steal the president’s dog (they dubbed it Dog #1), which was actually the teacher’s (not mine…the actual English teacher of the class) bag, and trying to convince another policeman that it was not the president’s Kabimbo (those of you who know the vegetables and a few other words in Hungarian would get the joke)…ahaha…Kabimbo. Anyway, the point is that pairing a few policemen up and making them do random skits makes for a quite enjoyable lesson.
Oh yes, I almost forgot! Besides my regular lessons in Nova, I’m teaching one more class in the neighboring village of Sylvad (or something along those lines…I can’t pronounce it for the life of me…it’s a 20 minute drive from Nova). On Monday, I was taken to be introduced to the mayor of Sylvad and upon arrival I had about half the village waiting for me. A lot of the kids (mostly teens) wanted to take English lessons, but there wasn’t a big enough car to take them all to Nova. That’s why they asked me to teach in their village as well (Apparently, they requested a volunteer last year, but didn’t recieve one). So for the past week, the mayor of the neighboring village has been picking me up at exactly 7.30pm (that’s when my Nova adult class ends) and driving me to her village (on the way we pick up a small white board and markers from the mayor’s office in Nova, because they don’t have school supplies in the other village). We arrive at the village at about 8pm and I start class. The class goes until 9pm (that was the only time most of the people could make it to the lessons). It’s composed of 19 teenagers, 4 kids, and 5 adults. We are all cramped in a small library room, but at least that’s better than the field outside, where the mosquitoes rule the night (ta ra da dum!). After the lesson ends, one of the villagers drives my host sister and me back to Nova, where we eat a few s’mores (my host mother dubbed them “Energia Bomba”) before getting ready to go to bed.

P.S. The colored pencils (a great way to teach colors) game is a big hit with the young kids in Nova (I also tried it with the teens in my neighboring village and they LOVED it). Here’s how you play it:
The kids put the chairs in the circle and sit down on them. You take a couple for pencils (yellow, blue, green, and black) and assign a color to each kid sitting in the circle. Then you put the pencils in a cup or a hat and pull one out. If you pulled out green, all the kids who were assigned the color green get up and sit in the person next to them (clockwise). You keep on doing that until one person gets to their original spot. They can’t move if they are trapped underneath someone else and they don’t win until they get to their spot and their chair is empty.
P.S.S. You might think it’s weird, but my kids in Söjtör taught me the game and apparently it’s very popular in Hungary.

Having a blast in Nova!

Sincerely,

Lori

I came up with this idea randomly and it proved very successful, so I wanted to share it with those who have a computer, internet, and crazy teenagers!

I did a lesson about advertisement in America. The day before I took a photo of each student and then used this website: http://www.photofunia.com/ to put their faces on billboards in cities or on the cover of magazines, then projected it onto the wall (I have a projector). They loved this so much and I was able to hold their attention for a long time afterwards. We then drew pictures of things we would really like to buy: this way you can practice “This is…” and “If I could I would buy…” and we talked about being famous and if they wanted to be famous and for what.

I hope this helps if you need a random idea!!
Much Slungary love, Hannah

I returned to Hungary to a much smaller and less-touristy-than-Keszthely village called Rédics, 5 kilometers from the Slovanian border. There are a little over 1,000 people and the village are mainly homes. If you need anything from the shops, you can go to Lenti, 5 kilometers away, too. I teach in the culture house walking distance from the Mayor’s office where I can photocopy and meet up with my host brother (he’s been Mayor for 3 years and he’s 31) after my first class so we can have our daily lunch at his old school.

I live with the Mayor’s parents, two sisters, two dogs, two cats and their chickens and ducks, the latter I am told are around but have yet to encounter and we all get along. The house, like seemingly everything else, is 4 minutes away by bike. The Mayor’s wedding is in two weeks so I am knee-deep in the planning and organising as well. I have already helped paint the wedding room (here in the culture house) doors in between classes. Because I didn’t know I was to attend the wedding until my second last day in Keszthely, I did not bring anything suitable to wear. Since I have no time to go to Lenti or sneak out to Vienna or Budapest, a dress is being couriered from Sydney and will hopefully reach me in time.

It feels like the Stokkers have made me part of their family even before they picked me up. My host brother works from 6 am and his wife to be is equally busy, they still find time to organise activities for me. Last Saturday, they coordinated with Nova so Lori could join us on a trip to the caves to Slovania. Since Friday, there have also been picnics, a village day and even an “I will just say hello to the other Mayor” which led to having a second dinner in less than 2 hours.

I have more diverse classes here starting with the children’s class in the morning. I got an additional two girls today but they settled in so easily it wasn’t until we started Morning Circle (the time when we sing songs about the days, weather etc) that I realised I had never seen them in my life. The children’s group is very much like a kindergarten where we have a routine allowing us time to sit together and talk and then I send them off to the various parts of the room I had set up so the main activities I only do with at the most, 4 kids at a time. Our first main lesson was about The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle book). I had forgotten my book but I downloaded the 6-min video for them to watch. We had a series of activities that allowed us to create our own “book” either on PowerPoint or using their drawings so now most of them know days, colours and fruits.

My intermediate class begins at 3 and has a combination of teenagers and adults. Having internet both at work and at school, I utilise it supplement the lessons or introduce topics but the core of the activities is that I make them talk. Our first lesson was about travel so I showed them tourism clips about the Philippines and Australia, following that I assigned them cities and months and they had to pretend to prepare for the trip so they had researched where the cities were, how long it took to get there from Hungray (the more stopovers, the more countries they became familiar with because I had them plot these on map printouts), what the flags were like and what they wanted to do their (the kid assigned Beirut was a bit nervous at first). We also completed mock passport applications. I do not have to formally introduce concepts to this group but remind them of grammar in the course of the activities.

My beginners class is the most challenging with mainly adults who have not learned English before. I find using some of my children’s activities useful in this group because I do not want them to learn English through rote (memorisation). When we learned numbers, I had them string beads and now that we are discussing birthdays, they decorate 2D birthday cakes with candles I had cut out to represent their ages. Since most are in their 40s and will probably be unwilling to stick on 49 paper strips, I put 10 dots on each “candle” to represent 10 and they can practice counting by 10s while actually understanding the concept. Today, a student is celebrating his birthday, so I have a cake, some candles and will get them to do pin the nose of the clown so we can learn prepositions of place. The pace is significantly slower but you can see their confidence building and a sense of humour developing and that is what is important.

My Keszthely connection remains strong and it is funny how some of my kids there are worried I have forgotten how to say Keszthely and have also been asking how my kids here are so I reassure them I will always remember them in Keszthely. Rédics is very different from Keszthely but they are both equally amazing. There is a a sign on the highway with both the villages’ names and I am trying to work out how to take it home to Australia with me.

Kavas is much smaller than my previous village in Slovakia – there are perhaps 250 people or so, and I feel I have come to know or at least have met 3/4 of its inhabitants. I love it here very much: it is beautiful and the people are so kind and so generous. For the first day or so I was finding it difficult to adjust to a new home while missing my family and life in Slovakia, but one week has passed already (I cannot believe it!) and everything is as good as it could be and I love my family very, very much. They keep me very busy too, but let me take an afternoon nap almost every day, so this gives me time to decompress and rest.

I teach teenagers from around 9:30 to 12 each day, the last hour I spend hanging out with them before going to my second host-mother for lunch. It isn’t possible to hold their attention beyond 11:00! We play games, I tease them and joke with them and that gets them laughing and participating. I adore my students so much, and the number of children there has somehow miraculously grown, although I do not know if I can hold onto them for another two weeks (short attention spans I fear).

In the afternoon I spend time with the teenagers again, bike-riding or going to the art camp that happened all this week. I got to see Kristi and Cam at this camp (they are close by!) and that was wonderful for me: it felt so good to sympathize, to tell stories, to speak quickly in English and just relax together. We all love Hungary very much I feel.

I have an adult class from 6 – 7 which I love just as much as my teenage class except for different reasons. They are of course much calmer and more composed and speak fairly good English, so they teach me Hungarian and I have conversations with them in English and supplement them with articles or video clips. They were fascinated to learn about Mormonism (FLDS) and about religion in America. I am fascinated too by their opinions and the history they teach me about Hungary.

I hope you are all as well as possible!! Time is passing so quickly!! Much love, Hannah

Pelsoc is a wonderful village of 2000 people that has really treated me amazingly from the first moment I arrived. I am staying with the kind of vice-mayor of the town whos exactly like my mother except a bit bigger. She has been taking me on trips every day and while although sometimes i just want to chill at home and do some gchatting the trips really have been wonderful – im going hunting monday and scaling a mountain today.

I teach twenty teenagers which is quite a challange but i flirt with the girls and throw stuff at the guy and that generally maintains order in the classroom. Ive been using alot of the strategies we talked about and slowly but surely the little hormone driven monsters are learning gods language. My adult class is great, they legitimately want to learn, they stay after class to chat, are eager to participate and dont mind being corrected. I have been doing alot of stuff with lyrics recently especailly some songs with messages so that we can extrapolate both vocab and a meaning after we study the song.

I am extremely jelous that Ridge and Marc are developing their bromance without me and am even more upset that not a single roma in my village is remotely like foram. Funny story, my host mom knew about cam cam forgeting her passport at home and getting kicked off the train and wait for it – im not in cam cams village. I have been dreaming of Diana McCue recently, and both alisons – and like in the same dreams. I joke. Kinda. I am lost in Pelsoc without our fearless leader Francesca although to be honest, i triple checked the bus times to Prague because 200 is not 1400.

Lori, keep working your magic,

Yan

Hello from Zalatarnok, just 20 minutes south of Zalaegersag (both of which I still don’t know how to spell or pronounce…). Things are very interesting here, and much different than my village in slovakia!

When I got here, I quickly realized that no one in my host family can speak english, except for my 16 year old host sister, who knows a little but for whatever reason basically refuses to speak or try to speak. There were no programs planned for me when I got here, or classes scheduled or anything. I admit I was really spoiled with attention and plans and english speakers in my last village, so for the first few days I was very homesick for germersky jablonec, and would spend my time reading. Now I’ve figured out that they had a volunteer last year and planned a lot of activities for her, but she didn’t want to do them. Therefore, they didn’t want to plan a bunch of stuff for me, which makes sense. Since then I have been trying to tell people that I would love to do fun things with them, and it has been working out a lot better for me.

My lessons are also a lot different from my last village. I have younger kids in the morning – about 8 kids from 9-14. They are bright, but very badly behaved. On the second day, a group of boys was mad that they were losing a game, and left. Like literally just left the school, spent about 10 minutes banging on the windows, and then went home. So now we don’t play games that have winners and losers, or I just try to skew the points so they don’t get too far behind.

In the evenings I have an advanced class with 4 people, and we are reading magazine articles / stories. This is followed by a class for adults who don’t speak english. However, there is only one adult who doesn’t speak english, and the other 3 people who come should be coming to the more advanced class, but I think are too shy. So it is difficult to find ways to keep everyone learning, and to stop them from getting bored and speaking in hungarian all the time.

This weekend is the Zalatarnok festival, which should be fun, and next weekend some people my own age are taking me to Lake Balaton, so I am excited (have fun in prague!)

Hope everyone is having a great time in your village!!

Erin