Steppe 5

Brigitte has arrived! We weren't sure if or when she would get here, but she finally arrived on Wednesday night. She has dived right into the speaking tests which we all have been busy administering since Wednesday. Unfortunately we all had to work a bit on Saturday, but Brigitte and my tests for the afternoon were cancelled, as the 11th graders are preparing for another exam in the coming week. Now after a longer week, straight on to preparations for this week.

Two students from our school have won first and second place in a district English speaking competition.

The challenge in teaching over the last couple of weeks has been discipline and sort of classroom etiquette The students have somehow been allowed to think that it's ok to behave rudely and loudly around foreign teachers... They have almost no respect for the foreign teachers as we teach, loudly talking, even mocking us during our instruction. It's hard to know what to do, since we can only communicate with them to a certain point. It's difficult to know when to attempt to put your foot down, and when to let things go--especially when you can't really know exactly what's happening in the class (since they're jabbering in Mongolian) in order to deal fairly with everyone. For the first couple of weeks it's not too bad, but finally I have decided to try to establish a certian etiquette that I expect from my classes. Otherwise, I don't feel that I'm able to teach in such a way that the school is getting their money's worth from me, or that I'm doing any kind of service to any student that even wants to learn. Part of this is also because whenever the Mongolian teachers are around, the students are stellar: silent, behaved, respectful. I know they understand how they SHOULD behave, so I need to make them understand those boundaries continue into my classroom. And sometimes, it's truly appalling, and basicly not a good habit to get into what these students do. In my 11th grade class, I had a student throwing things at another student! This is the graduating class in Mongolia, these students will be considered adults in just a couple of months. How do they think they're going to get along in the workplace if they can't even pretend to respect their foreign English teacher? No doubt they aren't thinking, and that's why I'm the teacher and they should behave in my class.

Of course, this is basicly an Olympian feat, without the medal and publicity--I'm pretty sure any teacher feels this way! But so far, whether it's true or an illusion I'm choosing to see, I think I am beginning to succeed in getting some order.

Last night, we had a lovely dinner at Jaisri and Brigitte's apartment, with Nadine, Steven, Khishigee, and Boogii, and of course Jaisri's Japanese fiancee, Keichi. Jaisri cooked curry (she is part Indian) and a traditional Malasian dish, Keichi cooked a meatloaf type meat dish and another Japanese noodle dish, and I brought rice. (:-P not my night to do the interesting cooking) Brigitte made a delicious cake for dessert. It was really a lovely time; nice to be all together and chatting outside of school.

Today the 3 Swiss ;) and I took a walk around New Darkhan and had lunch at Texas pub. No I will go home and prepare for classes tomorrow. I have been at the internet cafe which has wireless for personal laptops, updating a few things on my laptop.