digging her own grave...

Mom's first week of teaching full-time is over. The experience has been a mixed one.

Mom saw each section twice this week. The first class with each section was so and so. Some were good, but mom attributed this to the fact that many students were missing, so class size was relatively small. The German majors had an important exam in German this week, which was at the same time as the classes, so they were excused. Mom thought that the small size made the class more manageable. Wrong. The bad classes were also small, but bad. Did I mention they were bad? Yes they were.

Mom was given almost no instructions, and in the beginning, no textbook either. She had to decipher the registrar, all hand-written, hand-written in Bulgarian, I should add. Count the students, subtract the number present from the number on the registrar, then ask who's absent, and write down the numbers (each student is represented by a number). Not fun, but bearable.

Before coming to Bulgaria, mom's teaching experience was limited to teaching library workshops. Sure, this type of teaching presents its own challenges, but there are many things that make it easier, the most important being that the 'students' come to class on their own will. They were university faculty, staff, and some college students who wanted to learn. Compare this with a class full of 18-year-olds who are forced to show up, and have to be under the constant threat of being sent to the principal's office in order to behave. Not mom's style.

So, right on the first class, mom established her only rule in class: no talking while a classmate has the floor. Mom doesn't care if people talk while SHE is talking. But in order to foster an environment where people feel comfortable in expressing themselves, she has to impose a climate of respect. Not respect towards the teacher, but respect towards each other. She explained that she would not argue, nor send anyone to the principal's office. She would just ask the offender to leave and let the class continue in peace, and get an absence.

All that sounds nice in theory, but in practice she expected the worst. To her great surprise, she only had to put her foot down only once, today. By the second class, each section was attentive beyond mom's hope. So far so good.

And then the twist came. Two students in different sections declared that there is a petition going around the 12th grade in order to keep mom as their teacher till the end of the year. Would she be O.K. with that? Now, what is for mom to say? "No, this is not what I signed up for, and I really can't wait till I don't have to do this anymore?" That's not her style either.

Instead, she replied that she's not sure this would work, that the English majors are complaining because they 'were entitled' to the 'native speaker' whom they never see any more (which is true, there have been such complaints from the 9th - and believe it or not, some of the 12th graders too!), that she doesn't know if the Fulbright Commission will be O.K. with that because she's not supposed to be a full-time teacher, but if it works out and the students want her, why would she say 'no'?

So! Next time you talk to her, and she starts complaining to you, please remind her that she dug her own grave! I tried to tell her myself, but preferred to get a colitis attack instead. Do you think she'll get the message?