It has been a hectic couple of weeks here in Kosovo and they're only going to get busier (Hello holiday and idea season). All the volunteers are being productive and we are doing great things in this evolving country. I have been wanting to do a new post, and have had a variety of ideas but decided to focus on my experience thus far in the Kosovar School System.
Going into my 2nd month of school there are so many differences that I see in my local community's school than I experienced back in the states. For one the school day. In my village we only have one schedule - 40 minute classes beginning at 8:50am and ending at 1:50pm (but it is usually more like 1:45pm). Most other schools usually have a morning and an afternoon shift because there isn't enough room for all the kids to attend at the same time (each class already usually houses anywhere from 25-35 students in my experience). The schools do not have a cafeteria in them, everyone eats at home, and there is a small market close to the school for the students to grab a snack during their 15 minute break halfway through the school day. There is no front office, students, teachers, parents, all go in and out freely, without much, if any, supervision. It is a much more relaxed setup than in 'The States. I have experienced students leaving their 2nd period in order to go "have a girls day" in the nearby town, walking into an empty classroom because students decided they wanted to visit a sick friend during the school day and great future lawyers who will try to bargain with a teacher to give them a 5 (an A) and they will participate more, otherwise they won't and will take the 4 (insert side-eye). These of course are just some of the most drastic things I have dealt with. For the most part the students are similar to the U.S. - the younger they are, the more enthusiastic haha! When it comes to respect students refer to their teachers as "Teacher/Mesues/Arsimtare". You won't find a Mr. so and so or Mrs./Ms. anywhere. Anytime an adult enters the room or opens a door, or a student is picked to speak you will see young bodies standing to greet and speak. Personally, I still tell my students to sit down as soon as I get in the room - it weirds me out seeing them standing for me, almost like I am the Commander-in-Chief or something HAHA! So one random fact that was told to me by a few teachers in Kosovo, they think the USA has 52 states, like the books even say so (insert big eyed emoji here) so I spent one free period going through my geography teachers book in my school to see if I could help if there were any "typos" which I didn't find - yet. When it comes to English, a lot of students \have difficulty because of the teaching style, so I and my counterpart have taken a different approach to what the norm was for our students. As of right now, Jeopardy is a HUGHE hit and so is Pictionary. My biggest struggle is that after school all students just go home. There aren't any after school programs in my village for them to continue to foster their relationships and grow new skill sets etc.
The school system here, in my village, we do not have starter schools (think Pre-K and Nursery). The students start at Kindergarten or 1st grade, and stay with the same group of students their entire primary career (for example whoever is in your homeroom is who you have every class with for the next 10 years in that school). Also, students do not change classrooms, teachers do - so much for worrying about classroom decorations ha!. Also there aren't any Special education, honors or advanced classes in the Primary school. This was something that showed me just how hard it is to be a teacher here because if you are a student here you can easily be left behind or bored if you have a learning issue or get bored in class because the coursework is too easy. Working with multi-level classrooms is very interesting and stressful at the same time and you often wonder how much students really understand and retain throughout the day.
I would love to continue this post but that is all I can think of for now, it is late in Kosovo and I have a full day at work tomorrow, until next time Naten e Mire!
