Blog Week 7

Last week was quite a quiet week. To begin with, I ran the Jeopardy lessons with most of the classes on Monday and Tuesday (I think this has been my favourite activity so far, with many of the kids becoming incredibly competitive!). With the Grade 3's, however, I had much delight in introducing , and together with Beata, teaching them the 'Happy Little Vegemite' song. This is the jingle from a famous, old Australian advert for Vegemite (which is much like the English Marmite). It took the kids a while but eventually they picked up the lyrics and the tune and I cannot wait to film them performing it next week! Thursday saw my classes either creating Didgeridoos (Indigenous Australian instruments) or doing a describing activity with plasticine where they had to make monsters that either I or a peer described. For both activities the kids' creativity was evident and their interpretations of Aboriginal art and imaginary monsters was very entertaining. 

I stayed in Warsaw over the weekend in an attempt to save money, but all the other volunteers from around Poland came here so we still had a great time. On Thursday night, we visited a vegan burger shop not far from Centrum and it was amazing! I loved it so much I'm planning on going back this weekend, and maybe every weekend after that... 

Thought the weather over the weekend wasn't fantastic, the start of last week and now the start of this week have been been beautiful. I've been missing the sunshine for weeks and now Spring is here (hopefully to stay) I feel so positive and even slightly less homesick!

Jessica:)

Week 6

Last week was so busy it's amazing to think it was only 7 days! For my Monday and Tuesday classes we ran the interview activity I've done with other groups previously. Many students produced lovely portraits of me and summaries of my life, a couple even attempted to draw my brother (though in stick figure form). On Thursday I ran 'ordering food' lessons during which the kids ordered and tasted the infamous English Marmite and Bovril (less well known). The general, revolted response was not entirely unexpected - I think we only had five students all day who enjoyed one or the other spread and came back for more!

My wonderful friends in Warsaw all came out for dinner for my birthday on Thursday then on Friday I left for England to spend the weekend with my family. It was brilliant to see them, though of course my Mum and Dad are still in Australia so it was not quite the whole family. Surprisingly, the sun even came out on Saturday and I spent a wonderful few hours in a t-shirt and a skirt. Who would think of going to England to get some sunshine!

Jessica:)

Week 5

This week found most classes putting together puzzles of cultural icons of Canada, America, New Zealand and Australia and matching the picture to its label. I had a very amusing time watching the confused faces when the students were confronted with words like 'bogan' and 'poutine', and even more fun when they matched things like 'redneck' to a picture of a wombat or 'pavlova' to Mount Rushmore. 

Over the weekend I visited Wroclaw with all but one of the volunteers currently in Poland (so there were 20 of us) and we all had a brilliant time taking over the hostel and catching up on the last three weeks. Wroclaw has a beautiful Old Town, similar to Krakow, but of course it has many little gnome statues dotted around so, in my opinion, that gives it one up on the former capital!

Jessica:)

Week 4

This week at Warsaw 306, the kids either gave me presentations on Poland and Polish culture (attractions, music, food, sport, famous people etc) or they planned my weekend and gave me recommendations of things to do in Warsaw. I haven't yet explored Warsaw as a proper tourist so this was all very useful! As usual, the students were enthusiastic and I received many creative drawing of the National Stadium, the Palace of Science and Culture, the Old City and even Pizza Hut. I was proud of many of the kids for having the courage to present their work to me personally, even though their English was not perfect. The highlight of this week was probably a group of Year 5s on Friday have an argument over where to send me for lunch - very cute!

I stayed in Warsaw over the weekend. On Friday, I went bowling and then out for dinner with most of the volunteers who are also placed in Warsaw and then we all spent Saturday night together. It was lovely to have a big group back together again and catch up on all the interesting experiences people have had in Poland. One slightly scary story was of a friend of mine walking the streets of Warsaw at 2am with no phone credit and absolutely no idea where he was...

Jessica:)

Week 3

In most of my classes last week we did a big, interactive cultural quiz called 'Jeopardy' with the kids. I based in on Canada, America, New Zealand and Australia as they are the countries Warsaw 306 has had volunteers from in the past. It was lovely to see all the classes become very involved in the competition and I have to say my favourite moments were the ones were students screwed up their faces, desperately trying to recall facts that previous volunteers had taught them. Then of course there were the excited yells as they got the correct answer, or the disappointment when a teammate knew the answer to a question but didn't have the courage to speak up.

Thursday was 'Fat Thursday', an entirely new phenomenon for me. I thought I'd pushed the boat out by having three doughnuts (and feeling very sick that night!), but as it turns out, one of the volunteers had twelve... I can't imagine how he felt!

As I mentioned last week, I headed off to Krakow with some friends over the weekend and it was an experience to say the least. On Friday we visited Auschwitz and I'm struggling to put into words how it felt. Emotionally draining and clarifying is probably the best description for me. Then on Saturday we did a free walking tour of the Old Town and were able to see what a beautiful city Krakow is and just how different the architecture is to that of Warsaw. On the social side of things, I really enjoyed seeing some of my friends who aren't placed in Warsaw but didn't enjoy meeting certain travellers who were staying in the same hostel as us... I'll leave that there.

Jessica:)

Week 2 (First week of work)

In some ways, it's been a busy week. In others, not so much. This week was my first at Warsaw 306 with the lovely Beata (I couldn't ask for a better mentor!). Truthfully, I didn't start until Wednesday and of course I don't work Fridays so it was quite a short week for me. That being said, on Wednesday and Thursday I had the opportunity to meet the wonderful staff and students of my new school. The range of English abilities at the school is wide, and I must admit I was really impressed by how strong some of the Third Graders are. I was interested to see that students quite often left out the articles in their English, but of course articles don't exist in Polish so it's to be expected!

On the social front, I've been seeing various friends most days and on Friday all of the Warsaw volunteers caught up which was brilliant. Unfortunately, I came down sick over the weekend so didn't do anything particularly interesting on Saturday or Sunday. Nonetheless, I'll be back on my feet soon, ready to work with the kids this week and then head off the Krakow this weekend where I'll be staying in a twelve-bed mixed dorm room for the first time (little bit nervous!).

Jessica:)

Week 1 (Orientation week)

My first week in Poland as a Lattitude volunteer has easily been one of the best of my life. Along with the twenty other young people who will be staying in Poland for the next five months, I attended at introductory TEFL course at the British Council in Warsaw from Monday to Friday. It may sound a bit dull but when you're part of such an enthusiastic and friendly group, everything is exciting. That's not to say the program at the BC was in any way boring. Spending our mornings trialling TEFL games and activities, then having the opportunity to practise teaching to a real class was a motivating kick-start to our placements.

While not at the BC, our group was spending time getting to know each other, either doing things in Warsaw with Beata or at the hostel. Certainly one of the highlights for me was the night we went ice skating at the National Stadium. Despite the odd tumble (I still have the bruises), we all had an amazing night doing something you hardly get the chance to at home. Of course, the night wouldn't have been the same without Sebastian, the plastic seal we hired that you could sit on while someone pushes you around. Admittedly, the only other person using one was two years old. but age is just a number, right?

On Saturday, we were all sad to say goodbye to the new friends we'd made and head off to our placements and host families. It's amazing to think how close we all became in just one week. For me (like a few others), the weekend meant settling into a suburb of Warsaw with an incredibly open and welcoming family who gave me a tour of the beautiful Old Town on Sunday. For others, however, the week ended with a train ride to another area of Poland. Regardless, I think we're all excited to begin teaching and I'm sure we'll see each other very soon.

Jessica