A Little Look at the American Home Student

After several requests and the realization that I have not posted much about the students here at the American Home; here goes. At any one time the American Home has somewhere between 350 and 400 students. Usually, each teacher has four classes that average between 11-13 students each. These classes meet twice a week for an hour-and-a-half; either on Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. Wednesday is set aside for office-hours, a teachers' meeting, and lesson planning. For some, Wednesdays also include conversation classess that focus more on speaking skills and are open to both current students and others who want to keep up those speaking skills. Nearly every Saturday we show a movie in the afternoon. This is sometimes accompanied by events such as a presentation on a topic of a teacher's choice or an activity like American Football.

Each day of instruction has three hour-and-a-half periods and usually a teacher teaches two of them. I usually arrive around 10 and spend some time reading the news are such. On Tuesday and Friday I have an hour-and-a-half of Russian lesson. The rest of the day is taken up with preparing, making copies, drinking tea, and making the occasional foray into the back yard to toss around a football with Joanna, Eric, and Sara. On Monday and Thursday I have the 4:00 period off followed by a BI (fifth-level) class and then an AI (third-level) class that finishes up at 9:00. On Tuesday and Friday I have two AI classes and then the final period off. Each of my classes has a different character.

My BI class is a mix of adults and students: the youngest is about 15 and the oldest is probably in her early 40s. They are very talkative and enthusiastic, but somtimes I have a hard time keeping them focused and speaking in English.

My three AI classes are also very different. The first has the same sort of mix of students and adults. They are a good class and often ask questions and beg for more explanation. My second class is all teenagers. At first they didn't like to talk very much and I felt like getting them involved was like pulling teeth. I dubbed them my "Silent-as-Death Class," an appelation I stole at Joanna's suggestion from a class last year. The bright spot in that class are the three or four students who sit in the front of the class, who would answer every question if I let them. As much as I complained about them, I think they are coming around. My final AI is the opposite; they are all college students or adults. They are a great class and after some of the struggles with my other classes, I joke and say that this one restores my faith in humanity.

That is the character of my classes, but the students vary quite a bit. However, there are two basic types: the young un's and the adults. The youngest students are usually here because their parents want them to learn English. Some of them enjoy it, some don't. They all study English in regular Russian school, but that has limitations. The Russian schools drill grammar into their heads very well...imagine learning "I am, you are, he is..." the way you learned 3+4=7, 3+5=8, etc. The thing they lack is speaking and listening practice. We have examples of students who can read and write passably but say things like "I from in Vladimir."

The fact that the young students have learned all of this recently is their major advantage over the older students. Most of the older students studied English at some point years ago is school, but haven't used it in a while. The major advantage that they have over the younger students is that they are the ones paying for this and the really want to be here. I guess all told it balances out between young and old in the end.