Georgian Schools and Education | Making a Difference

Browsing All Posts filed under »Georgian Schools and Education«

Expectation Vs. Reality

March 14, 2013 by Kacie Riann

My orientation to Georgia took place 5 months ago at the Bazaleti Hotel in Tbilisi. The 108 other new volunteers and I stepped off of a 36 hour travel day at the tender hour of 4 a.m. and after patchy sleep schedules, blood tests, and our first purchases with lari and visuals of the Georgian […]

Of Matriarchs and Men: an interview with a school Director.

March 11, 2013 by Dekanatre

An interview with Zanati Public School’s school director and literature teacher, Manana Tediashvili. Georgia is a land of local flavouring, from its villages dotting the sweeping hillsides and rugged mountains right on up to its administrative and governing styles. As an English teacher attached to a tiny village school, I’ve been repeatedly impressed […]

Song and Dance

March 1, 2013 by panoptical

This is a post about why I open every lesson with a song.* I usually start off my new students with something easy and fun – “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” is my favorite for this. Everyone stands, everyone says the names of the body parts, and then we sing the song together. We sing […]

Introducing Guy Fawkes: Advice for Putting on a Performance

February 4, 2013 by kjmaher

British TLG Volunteer Oliver Rogers spent last semester in Village Zumi, where he wrote and directed a school play that caught the attention of his village and local media. Oliver, or Olly as he prefers to be called, created a play dedicated to the English holiday, ‘Guy Fawkes’ or ‘Bonfire’ night, which is celebrated on […]

Georgian Educational Perspectives

November 21, 2012 by panoptical

One of our missions as foreign volunteers in Georgia is to exchange cultural perspectives, especially on education. Exchange is apparently a two-way street, so when I’m not bloviating about kids these days running in the halls and touching me with their filthy hands I make it a point to listen to, and try to understand, […]

Reflections on the First Week

November 13, 2012 by klshea

My class size ranges from 4 to 7 children, and while one would think that means classroom management is not a problem, that is not always the case. Fortunately, TLG gave adequate forewarning that Georgian teachers’ methods of maintaining order could be very different than their western counterparts’. Now, rather than being shocked by the […]

The Co-Teacher Experience

October 31, 2012 by adelavan

Stepping into the classroom on my first working day in Georgia was an experience that I had anticipated, but this anticipation did not make the experience any less awkward. There was this classroom full of new students jumping to their feet in order to greet their first foreign English teacher, a classroom full of students […]

Teaching the Present Continuous

October 30, 2012 by mikkelablanton

Lesson Plan Local English Teacher: Manana TLG Volunteer: Mikkela Grade: 4th-6th English World Textbook Level: 2 Lesson Objectives/Target Language: Students are able to follow directions given in English Students are able to correctly use the present continuous Students understand subject/verb agreement Materials: Blackboard, student notebooks/paper, pen/pencil, action flashcards (found with Blue Book English World II […]

Snail Mail from America

October 24, 2012 by mikkelablanton

The look on my students’ faces when the director enters through our classroom door and states my name is one of curiosity. As Jamal, the director, doesn’t speak a single English word, it is rare to see the two of us conversing. Perhaps even more rare is Jamal’s frequency in pulling teachers from class. The […]

Get Well Soon!

October 18, 2012 by saintfacetious

I would be the first to admit that I have no experience teaching children anything. I have plenty of experience teaching adults and teens, but that seems to be a whole different game. Adults have reason and logic, children have curiosity, energy and really short attention spans. Especially the younger they get, which was why […]

Cheek-Pinching Good: First Week of School

October 7, 2012 by maryellen287

My first week of school was a strange twilight zone; not only was everyone convinced I was a new student, but no matter what sort of schedule I though I had worked out, the next day I would arrive to find it changed. There was a lot of sitting in the teacher’s lounge, a lot […]

There’s this kid in my class…. and other things that came to mind.

October 3, 2012 by brijerydoo

She is a perfectly beautiful child with the sweetest smile that never quite reaches her eyes. Sometimes she comes to class with her legs in braces. Her dad often waits outside her class for her, to carry her bag, and walk her home. He looks tired, but ever so kind. She comes out the classroom […]

you fantastic

September 29, 2012 by dasoka

Welcome to Laituri village school. With 500 students we are big for a village school and occupy a building just across from the village church. The school is a monumental concrete structure with aluminum siding, around an inner courtyard where cows graze. In front are a row of pines so narrow, tall, straight and fuzzy-needled […]

My new (school) year resolutions

September 19, 2012 by Away From Home

I have changed schools this year. I preface this only because it means I will be given a clean start with new students. The school I first arrived at in January was full of eager pupils, excited to learn English from a man of mystery and American clothes. It was though, my first experience teaching […]

This School Year, I Will Eat Fewer Students

September 18, 2012 by brijerydoo

I always find it entertaining when New Years rolls around and people ask you, “so what are your New Years resolutions?” I always give the most limp-wristed response I can come up with at that moment; “this year, I will try and put less jam on badgers.” But I was thinking, about starting a new […]