Just so no one thinks I'm slacking (and because I have to keep track for Peace Corps and because it's a bit of a brag list) this is what I've been doing for the past two months other than going to clubs and watching "Sex and the City":
Primary Project:
Teacher Trainer at Re-certification Institute:
-Taught multiple seminars on: Country Study; Speaking Skills; Mixed Ability Classrooms
-Have substituted for sick teachers at School 12 in Zhytomyr.
-Wrote Olympiad Tasks for Zhytomyrska Regional Olympiad
-Judged at Berdichiv Spanish Olympiad
-Judged at Zhytomyrska English Olympiad
-Coaching Olympiad winners
-Taught Demo classes at School 12 in Zhytomyr and School 15 in Berdichiv
-Attended Seminars at School 12 in Zhytomyr and in Andrewshovska; gave feedback
-Working with Iryna Borislavina on training manual; wrote example texts for manual
-Working with local pedagogical university to help their students improve their English
Secondary Projects:
Multicultural Awareness Group (a PC support group):
-Creating lesson plans on Hispanic culture in America to be included in MAG's lesson plan book.
English Club (a weekly club of approximately 20 students):
-Topics have included slang, American dance, American music, discussions on future goals, American country studies and debates on gender roles.
Polissa (a nonprofit organization for promoting extreme sports):
-Working with Polissa to secure funding for a climbing gym in Zhytomyr
-Wrote press release for Polissa's past work with multisport racing.
Soldiers for Peace (a nonprofit organization of veterans working for community building):
-Wrote press release
-Working with Soldiers for Peace to secure a grant for a summer camp for boys based on scouting principles.
Olympiad Tasks Webpage (an online clearinghouse for past Olympiad tasks so that students may use them to study):
-Conceived of project
-Designed and wrote HTML for site
-Working with IT Coordinator at Zhytomyr institute to create a PERL component so that any teacher can post tasks and the site will update itself, therefore requiring no maintenance.
Audiovisual Country Studies Project (a project to provide teachers with digital photographs and video of America)
-Conceived of project
-Working to create thematic Power Point and HTML presentations with currently available digital photographs.
-Have edited videos to go with the project
-Final project will be a 50 page booklet with 2 CD-ROMs that teachers may use to bring an audiovisual element to their country studies classes
YouthCan (a Ukrainian youth empowerment organization)
-Training councilors on: Developing Teaching Style; Fostering a Positive Classroom Environment; Establishing Good Student-Teacher Relationships; Motivating Students
FLEX (an exchange program that allows qualified students to study in the USA for a year):
-Selected as a orientation teacher; will begin training in April and will do orientations during the summer
Practical Project for ESL teachers (a PC pilot project to increase the level of knowledge amongst Ukrainian ESL teachers):
-Worked with other volunteers in project to design a timetable and curriculum
-Contributed lesson plans to the project curriculum
-Will be a "hub" for PCVs in the region who need help training their teachers
T2T Project (a PC pilot project to increase level of teaching knowledge amongst TEFL PCVs):
-Worked with Peace Corps and other Teacher Trainers to design timetable
-Will be visiting each volunteer in my region for demo lessons/observation and feedback
-Will be conducting mini-seminars for PCVs in Zhytomyr