From Red, Pimpled Faces to Troublemakers Taking on the World

Today, in my G2 class we had a listening exercise about ageing in UK. At one point, it said that “women live longer in UK than men.” After the listening exercise, I asked my students if they think that is true and why. Their response was “women have easier jobs, for example teaching.” I have to admit that I wasn’t very happy with that answer and I am sure that my face expressed that – mostly because my lesson prior to this one was with the notorious G3 class – where once again I had to repeat myself about 3 times and tell each individual student at least once to stop talking, put away their phone, open the book etc. (In other words, a spectacle I hope I don’t experience again.)

Now, of course I prefer my job… to almost any other job that there is and certainly think it is much easier than digging ditches or hauling bricks… but to hear someone hint that my job is easy is more than annoying… exasperating… infuriating… maddening…(you get the idea, right?)

So, dear students, I am going to tell you why our jobs as teachers are actually at least challenging if not hard. Is it the long hours of sitting at home preparing worksheets, researching best teaching material? Nope. Is it strain of standing in front of grumpy, sleepy and hormonal teenagers? Nope. Is it the lingering evenings spent on grading papers and reading often very amusing and at times monotonous answers? Nope. Not even the abundant trips to stationary shops to buy colored pens and stickers make it.

So, what is it?

You come to us as inexperienced young kids, naïve and willing to do everything we say. In a matter of few years, you mutate into young men and women that have their own peculiar opinions and are ready to take on the world. When I say that you are ready, I mean you are ready – a force to be recon with. And in those couple of years we (teachers) learn to like you, we learn to respect you and we learn to teach you the best we can. Call me sentimental, maybe it is the end of the year nostalgia that is coming over me, or maybe today I’ve looked at the faces of my G2 and G3 students and thought to myself “we teachers see you daily, we talk to you and we laugh with you” and in a way it is very hard to acknowledge that your red, pimpled faces one day will walk away and will never turn around … and only a small glimmer of hope burns in us that something we said will stay with you and help you take on that world. 

So to all the red, pimpled students taking on the world this year (in a week as a matter of fact), on behalf of all the teachers, I would like to wish you all the best of luck and fulfillment in your life. It is your life, cherish it and make the best of it.

And here is one of all time favorites - just for you.

Cambridge English Preliminary

For the first time, our school opened a new PET course during the afterschool program. The class meets once a week for two hours and focuses on preparing our 5^th and 6^th graders for the Cambridge Preliminary Test. This tests shows that the students have mastered the basics of English and now have practical language skills for everyday use.

The test itself last for 2 hours and 20 minutes and is divided into several sections:

Reading and Writing (1 hour 30 minutes) which shows that the student can read and understand the main points from signs, newspapers and magazines, and can use vocabulary and structure correctly.

·         Reading is divided into 5 parts and a total of 35 questions.

·         Writing is divided into 3 parts and a total of 7 questions.

Listening (45 minutes) which shows that the students can follow and understand a range of spoken materials including announcements and discusses about everyday life.

Speaking (12 minutes) which shows how good student’s spoken English is as he or she takes part in conversation by asking / answering questions and asking, for example, about their likes and dislikes.

The test is conducted face to face with one or two other candidates and two examiners. This makes the test more realistic and more reliable.

During our lessons we focus specifically on one test every 2 weeks as well as all the vocabulary needed for this level. So far, the course has a great start. A total of 10 students enrolled in the class and they are very diligently working each week on a test. 

PET Class Spring 2016

April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day (sometimes called All Fools' Day) is celebrated every year on 1 April by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes expose their prank by shouting April Fool. Some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in small letters. Although popular since the 19th century, the day is not a  public holiday in any country.

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1392) contains the first recorded association between 1 April and foolishness. Yup, there is a connection! Maybe I should assign the students to read Chaucer and find the first ever published April Fools’ joke J

Well, I have thought of playing several “funny” jokes on my students but Bronchitis has kept me at home…no, not April Fools’ Day, I am not coming to class, really!  Hence I personally can’t play any pranks on any of you dear students and colleagues, I will let you browse through the best pranks of 2016 so far. Enjoy! 

APRIL FOOLS' DAY PRANKS OF 2016

St. Patrick’s Day

Bet you didn't know: St. Patrick's Day

Every year on March 17, the Irish and the Irish-at-heart across the globe observe 

St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.

We did our own St. Patrick's Day at Educanet :-) The Spririt was everywhere! Good Job! 

Combating the Inevitable Exam Stress

Finals and midterm stress is virtually universal among high school students. In fact, if you're in the throes of finals, a little stress may be inevitable. Hectic study schedules, exam anxiety, and feelings of overwhelm are common around this time. And, because stress can make it more difficult to think clearly and remember facts easily, heavy levels of stress can be counter-productive for students. Given that our graduating class is now counting down days to the “school leaving exams” and all of our other students are franticly scheduling all mid-term exams, I can easily say that the school is walking on “egg shells.”

Fortunately, there are things students can do to effectively manage this stress--or make things worse! Cigarettes and beer make it worse – trust me… J Be sure you're doing the right things to keep stress at bay.

Often students ask me what is the best way to study and study well… my answer is: Learn What Works For You. Combating test anxiety, getting enough sleep...

But the most important things is to avoid all kinds of possible self-sabotage. Students often unwittingly make things more difficult for themselves by making common mistakes when studying for exams. Knowing what works, and what might make things more difficult, can help you avoid common pitfalls that make finals stress a larger obstacle than it needs to be. Stop pulling all-nighters, pounding the caffeine, and...budget time wisely

Am I guilty of all of those? Oh, yes. I was a student once (actually all teachers were – it is a prerequisite to being a teacher. ) My freshmen year at the University of Kansas I actually managed to stay up all night for two nights in a row studying for my ‘Logics’ and ‘Western Civilization’ class. I passed, do I remember anything from it? Nope. Once, I even managed to write a 10-page paper on the Albanian Civil War…I got a C out of it – not something that I am very proud of.

So, having ‘said that’ and ‘been there,’ I can only give my students once piece of advice before the upcoming midterms and final exams – open your book during the semester and not just the week / night / hour before the test.

 

Crunch time - Maturita Time

G4 /C4 - our graduating class of 2016

Matura  is a Latin name for the high-school exit exam or "maturita diploma" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine. 

It is taken by students (usually aged from 17 to 20) at the end of their secondary education, and generally must be passed in order to apply to a university.

The official term for Matura in the Czech Republic is maturita or maturitní zkouška. In 2010 the Czech Republic introduced a system of state exams which divided the previous system into two parts. The first is the state exam which consists of two compulsory subjects: Czech language & literature and a foreign language and, voluntarily, mathematics (the combination is chosen by students). The second part consists of school subjects which varies between schools.

The state part of the exam is supervised by CERMAT (formerly Centrum pro reformu maturitní zkoušky, "Centre for Maturita Reform; now Centrum pro zjišťování výsledků vzdělávání, "Centre for Detection of Education Results"), a state managed company. CERMAT issues final tests for the state part of the exam, documentation and practical tests, holds training for teachers who correct essays and supervise the students during the exams.

The examination itself is also divided between written and oral parts but not all subjects require both written and spoken input (for example math is formed by a written test only). Usually both the written and the oral part of the exam are set in late spring. The state part of the written exam is set to one day in which students in the whole country write identical tests, different tests are always issued on the day the exam takes place. The school part is always different and is based on requirements of the school which issues the test so it may be both written and spoken, but it can also be only one of the options.

If students fail in one subject they have the option to repeat the subject, if they fail more than one subject then they have to repeat the complete set of exams including the written part. All students have a maximum of three attempts to succeed in this exam, if they fail to succeed they end secondary school without the maturita and are unable to apply for college or university. 

So what does all this mean for our students (and as it happens, for my older son)? It means that those young men and women have finally came to a conclusion that they  must start studying. That the life of fun and "I forgot my homework"" is long over. Suddenly, they show up in class. Suddenly, they ask questions and some of them have even found the local library. 

With few months to go, I would like to wish our graduating class all the best and good luck on the upcoming Maturita Exams :-) 

Maturitní ples or Prom as it is often called in the United States of America is a social event and traditions, which starts the end of the secondary education with a final graduating Maturita exam. This event is often organized by students who are graduating that year and it usually takes places sometime between January and March.

It is often a very formal event which requires the young ladies and gentleman to actually dress up and even wash and brush their hair J

Many of them take it so seriously that they even take “ball room” dancing lessons – after all, they wouldn’t want to embers themselves in front of all family and friends.

This year, our school organized one such “ples” a few weeks back. For me, it was even more special as it included my own son who (no preferential treatment here) looked very spiffy.

The event was wonderful and the students did a terrific job organizing it. It was a pleasure to talk to them all and their parents and see them look like adults… many of them unrecognizable without sleepy eyes and torn up jeans.