The students there were full of questions about America ("Do we all live like One Tree Hill?" "What about LGBT students?" "How much does it cost to go to school?" "What do good students get to learn in school?") This student is dying to come to America and be an exchange student. She happily held the Monster for a picture.
Do you notice the school uniforms? They are really traditional, although I'm still puzzling over the Puritan collars. I didn't get a good picture of the boys, but they wore high collar jackets, black pants and white shirts. They looked so very professional and nice...makes me wish a bit for uniforms. I know, WMS students, you are wondering if I have gone loco in Georgia. No. But they did look nice...
Next was a visit to Ms. Clark's area, the library. It was quiet and no one was there. It was also small, but reminded me of a library in a medieval castle. I could imagine spending hours there looking at books. Monster found Arthur Conan Doyle (in Georgian) there.
We moved from there to watching a teacher of Russian. She was great with active participation, even asking students to act out words and using their knowledge of words to direct them to draw a cat.
When we left, the students gave us artwork they had drawn showing a word in English, Russian and Georgian. I was so very impressed. Our students can barely speak a language other than English and these were fifth graders who were trilingual. I find it interesting that they were learning Russian, however, as much of Georgia, in an effort to build stability and shake off the after-effects of being a Russian satellite (I was amazed at how often the word Bolshevik came up in conversation), has moved away from Russian things. These kids and their teacher were totally on their game, though, learning in a very active way.
Lunch followed with the head of school, a very progressive Georgian Orthodox priest. We've had several conversations with him and he is looking to modernize his school for the benefit of kids. I'm so very impressed with what he has done so far in meeting the needs of all kids but also how he is looking to moving forward with student achievement and learning. We could learn a lot from him!
After lunch, Peter and I did some teacher training about our schools and about school improvement and new teaching methods. I was impressed again by how much these teachers want to learn and improve their school. They are begging for assistance and knowledge! They also had lots of questions about our schools, like standards and whether or not we expel students (yes, we have standards and no, we don't expel students..well, for the most part). These teachers graciously gave up their Friday afternoon to hang with us and listen to staff development even after they were told they could go. The staff at St. Andrews is not only first-called, but first-rate.
After the presentations, I was lucky to meet Khatuna Vardidze, the only special needs teacher in the building of 1300 students (K-12). She is working so hard with kids and only wanted ideas on how to make it even better. She reminds me a lot of our own hard-working special education staff. I'm going to meet her again on Monday to watch her teach and give feedback as to how we deal with special needs students in our area. As the parent of a special needs child and the teacher of many, I have a unique perspective on this population. She was really an amazing teacher, given her resources. The fact that she is even dealing with this population when most schools don't was so inspiring.
Before we left the building, we stopped by a voluntary after-school art class, which reminded me in many ways of our own art students. They were studying because they wanted to, not because they had to. Their artwork was so well done and their study of art was easily visible. They knew Impressionists and Seurat and Van Gogh and were doing their own work on drawing Easter Eggs. They were willing to put their art with WMS
Our evening ended at a local bistro with some chacha, which is a traditional Georgian wine, and Khinkali, which are Georgian dumplings filled with pork, beef, chiles, cilantro and fenugreek. A bit more from Wikipedia...
Khinkali (Georgian: ხინკალი) is a Georgian dumpling which originated in the Georgian regions of Pshavi, Mtiuleti and Khevsureti. Varieties of khinkali spread from there across different parts of the Caucasus. Khinkali is filled with various fillings, mostly with spiced meat (usually beef and pork in Georgia, beef in Azerbaijan and other Muslim-majority areas, and sometimes lamb), herbs (usually coriander), onions, and garlic.[5] Mushrooms, potatoes, or cheese may be used in place of meat.
Khinkali is eaten plain, or with coarse black pepper. The meat filling is uncooked when the khinkali is assembled, so when cooked the juices of the meat are trapped inside the dumpling. The khinkali is typically consumed first by sucking the juices while taking the first bite, in order to prevent the dumpling from bursting. The top, where the pleats meet, is tough, and is not supposed to be eaten, but discarded to the plate so that those eating can count how many they have consumed. In Georgia, this top is called the "kudi" (Georgian: ქუდი, hat) or "kuchi" (Georgian: კუჭი, stomach).
It was so very delicious. My host had a mushroom one and we shared other varieties around the table. It is considered rude to get juice on your plate so it was definitely a challenge. Here's a picture.
Goodnight to you all. Up tomorrow, more teaching teachers, an archaeology musuem and our group leader makes a leap into the Black Sea, even though it is cold here right now. ( I plan to dip a toe!)
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