This week all of the teachers in Hungary, including Daniel and I, have returned to work. The new school year officially begins on the 1st of September, and there is a lot to do between now and then.
As mentioned in our last post, Monday morning began with a staff meeting. The school principal, Sanyi, used the meeting to outline all of the major changes in store for the 2011-2012 school year. And boy, was the news ever depressing! Apparently a representative from the Hungarian Government performed some kind of audit of the school during the Summer holidays and dictated that a number of changes had to be made. Sanyi was forced to cut back on staff, as well as the number of classes that particular students can take. For example, our Grade 3 and 4 students will now finish school at 1:30pm instead of 4pm. This creates a bit of a dilemma for those students (and their parents) because the school bus doesn't come until 4pm, so any student who doesn't live locally will be forced to just wait around. At the moment, the plan is to create some kind of free after school club for the students who want to stay at school, but how many students will take this up is a bit of a mystery.
In addition, our colleague Gabriel who previously taught PE to Grades 1-8 is no longer working at the school. A part-time replacement teacher has been found, but as he doesn't speak much English he is unable to teach the lower grades. Fortunately an existing staff member is available to pick up the slack...and that lucky person is Daniel! From the middle of September, he will teach eight PE lessons a week. At first I don't think he was too thrilled with the idea, but now he seems fairly excited about it, so hopefully things work out.
Daniel has also been tasked with leading one of the new Grade 1 classes. This is a big ask as these kids are new to school, as well as new to learning English. At the beginning of the school year their attention spans are approximately five seconds long and by the end of the year they can last about two minutes. So teaching them is tough. Really tough.
As for me, I'm pretty happy with how my teaching schedule is looking so far. It looks like I'll be teaching some English in every grade, but my main focus will be leading Grades 2 and 3. I've also managed to retain the drawing lessons that I enjoy so much. And I've avoided singing lessons - yippee!
I've also agreed to take on a part-time teaching position (1 hour per week) at another primary school in the nearby town of Mátészalka. The school is commencing the same English program that we offer in Máriapócs but they didn't have a native English speaker until they hired me yesterday. Since having a native speaker is an essential component of the program, I think they were getting a little desperate and they seemed thrilled that I've agreed to help out. I'm not sure if it really counts as being headhunted, but the principal of the school in Mátészalka heard about Daniel and I through his wife who owns a baby goods store. Apparently she was talking to someone in Máriapócs who also owns a baby goods store and they suggested us for the job. We're famous!
Finally, here is a photograph of the official 2011 staff and graduating class photo (sorry about the crappy quality). Don't you just love how happy everyone looks?
- Amanda
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