PAU3A!
I leave my apartment with my bag on my shoulder.
I am dressed in black shoes, pants, sweater and a
light gray dress shirt—Uzbek style. I try to fit in. I
make sure my door is locked securely, and I stick
my hands in my pockets one more time to check
for my keys and money. I don’t want to get to the
marshrutka (taxi van) and find I have no money for
the fare.
I’m running a bit late, so I walk hurriedly up the
street. I make it to the corner of O’zbekistan
Ko’chasi (Uzbekistan Street) in about 6 minutes.
This may be a record. I wait for the light to change
and cross. Then I hail Marshrutka No. 1 by holding
my hand flat, palm down, at waist-level parallel to
the ground. I get on the van and squeeze onto the
back seat that really should only hold three people,
but is used for four. I tap the shoulder of the person
in front of me and hand him my 100 so’m note. It is
passed to the front, and the driver accepts it nonchalantly.
I arrive at school and am greeted by students as I
walk through the courtyard. I walk upstairs to the
English corridor. It has just become 9:00 AM, and
my students from class “2g” are waiting for me.
Primary students are quick to arrive at a class and
quick to jump up when the bell rings. As I walk towards my room I am thinking: “I hope my counterpart teacher is here. I’m not up for this by myself
today. I really want to sleep another hour.” As I
approach the door, little hands are extended, and
five or six little boys and girls say, “Good Morning
Mister Todd.” I shake their hands and a smile
forms on my
face. Then I
open the door
and get out the
way, as the
class of eighteen students
rushes to see
who can be first
in the room. Ah,
I see my counterpart coming
now. I walk in
the room and
see a mix of
Asiatic, Middleeastern, and
Northern European faces looking back at me.
Mondays I have only second graders, four periods
straight. I begin today’s lesson by saying “Stand
Page 21
Up…Good Morning.” The students stand together
and say, “Good morning, good morning, good morning to you. Good morning, good morning; we are
glad to see you.” “We are glad to see you too,” I respond, “sit down.” Thus begins our class. Next we
sing a couple of songs like the Alphabet Song and
the Family Song. I review personal pronouns such
as “I, you, they,” and possessive adjectives such as
“my, his, her, its.” We review the vowel “A” and its
various sounds. Then we teach prepositions by asking students: “Where is my red pen?” “It is on the
notebook,” they respond with a little help. At end of
class, the students quickly copy down the date and
the new words from the blackboard. If the class is an
Uzbek language group, English words are translated
into O’zbekcha and written in Latin text. If it is a Russian group, the words are written in Ruskiy using the
Cyrillic text. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I was
taught to read and write Uzbek first in Cyrillic. Afterwards, it was not a problem to transcribe it back into
Latin text. It was only after Uzbekistan’s independence from the Soviet Union that the country decided
(and had the option) to move the language from Cyrillic to Latin letters. As a result, many adults can’t
read the Uzbek written in Latin text, although the
kids are learning it at school instead of Cyrillic. Of
course, students from both groups take the other
language in addition to English. In other words,
these kids are learning two additional languages in
first grade in addition to the language they primarily
speak at home. The bell rings, and I try to help some
students finish up their copying. This pattern continues for four periods.
Now I have about one hour ?Y??H
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