Teachers’ Day conference

What a way to spend your Saturday! The entire staff got bused to a ski resort outside of town for an all-day teachers’ conference. Only a handful of teachers didn’t show up and it was exactly those, who are resisting change and actually doing things to subvert the international program. I keep telling the director that these are the people she has to get rid of if she really wants her school to meet the progressive goals she’s set for it. I hope she eventually has the cojones to do it. Sometimes they do exactly the opposite of what they are instructed to do and there are no consequences. In any case, the ski area is beautiful. The morning started with stand up coffee and tea in an area so narrow, you couldn’t get by anyone. Then the director opened the sessions with the obligatory rah-rah speech. It was the usual Russian pageantry of praising the great leaders and telling the common workers how much they mean to the organization. And it’s not all facetious. I’m convinced that this type of speech and behavior is so ingrained on the Russian soul that they are genuinely sincere when giving these speeches and pep talks. I find it such an interesting cultural phenomenon.  My workshop was scheduled for 11:30, so I signed up for a “communications” workshop in Russiain at 10. I only needed one or two words of translation. It was sort of a touchy-feely, getting-to-know-you type thing.  But I went with it and in the end it was worth it , because many Russians are afraid to say anything to us Englsih-speakers because they think their English isn’t adequate. The session made the point that you don’t need excessive language skills to communicate. I had about 20 people in my session at 11:30. All I did was a circle time, just as I would have done it with my children. I was really surprised how many of the people spoke very good English. Most of them lead groups on one of our other campuses. After a lunch which was slightly better than I ones we get a school, we had a chance to walk upside for a bit. The English -speaking crew basically held together and Svetlana, the Chinese teacher who speaks very good English, hung out with us. Jake, the new guy, is a stitch. He’s really into soccer and has a wicked sense of humor. We got to hear about all the bones he’s broken in his short life and how! Lordy, it’s amazing this kid can still stand up. If his team Liverpool gets into the play-offs, I’ve promised him to go to his favorite bar with him to watch the games. Things could get wild.
We could have spared the after-lunch session. It went from 2:30 to 6 and involved everyone at one . The theme was how to improve the school. It was totally useless and people just started dropping out, one at a time (including me) and doing their own thing. I got into some chats with the Russian colleagues again. It turned out to be a good day for networking. After this session, we all walked through the building to the restaurant in the ski lodge, where we got fed again. There was a tomato salad, followed by fish on a bed of veggies and a cake for dessert. It wasn’t bad.
We didn’t get on the bus for home until 7:30. We got back into Kazan at 8:15. Jen and I took the Metro straight home while Sonia and Matthew took Jake to Lake Kazan. I was home at 9 and the day was long enough for me!
Now I’m sitting here waiting for the guy to finally come and install my meter. Then I’m going to head out to see the new Melissa McCarthy movie with Anna. So, now it’s time to get my lesson plans  done . I’ll let you know how much of the movie I understood.