בית ספר ומשרד

Last week, we started our major placements in the community. One of the places I will be volunteering at is the Pines school (pronounced like penis or pea-nes). I feel that there are so many differences between the schools here and the ones in the US. The biggest difference which I feel I'm going to have a problem with is classroom management and discipline The classroom is chaotic. Pure chaos. And it doesn't seem to me that the students really listen to authority. When the teacher asks them to be quiet or sit down or do a certain exercise, there is a constant struggle. It seems like there is a lot of threatening of repercussions but there is no punishment that will make a difference. The teacher tries to give positive reinforcement but it doesn't seem to be enough. Stickers or small candies are not enough to make students want to behave. I think it is just part of the culture. All the classrooms seem to be the same. At the least the few that I have seen. I will need to start bringing games that will hopefully catch the kids' attention more. It was so hard. I'm comparing this experience to when I worked in the first grade class in Atlanta for a few months. In the US, there is respect for authority. The students call the teachers by their last name and when you are misbehaving, there are consequences that matter. Also, the students want to please the teacher. There is order. Kids are not all over the place. They don't all crowd around the teacher and yell to get their way repeatedly. I feel it is going to be a challenging year but I hope I can help with English (and as my Hebrew gets better, it will be easier).

I also started working in the חברים בתבה (Friends by Nature) office. This is the nonprofit that facilitates the projects in seven Ethiopian communities throughout Israel. I will be working on a project to help Ethiopian Israelis prepare for the application for the shluchim program. This is a Jewish Agency program that brings Israelis to work at Jewish summer camps. Ethiopian Israelis are disadvantaged in the application process and we are trying to prepare those individuals who are interested in participating in the program in preparing for the intensive interview process. The application deadline is in the next few months so we don't have much time to pull everything together.

I haven't begun my shabab, where I will be tutoring English in the home, and I haven't started another English teaching group where I will get the opportunity to teach older men and women (25-50 years) whose Hebrew is more advanced but the learning will all be oral. While it will be challenging, I think it will be really rewarding for all involved.

This weekend I am going to Jerusalem. We are having a one day seminar on Thursday about Ethiopians in Jerusalem and then a few of us are staying Thursday night at a hostel (that's the plan anyway) and I will be spending Shabbat with my Hebrew teacher from Jewel and her husband.

שבוע טוב!