Bingo!

Yesterday I left many sets of the flash cards at the school. Today I was very pleased to see the English teacher already going through them to determine what she might use in her class.

Each class today was Bingo time. We played Bingo last Friday and the kids have begged for it every day. I told them we would do Bingo again on Friday. Bingo gives the students good practice for speaking and hearing numbers.  The winner of Bingo is awarded, not a prize, but the opportunity to call the numbers for the next game.

I had chosen the thought for the day before starting the games, and then saw during Bingo how we fill the jug. The 1^st graders will literally count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so forth until they get to the right number, whereas many of the 2^nd graders can simply look at the number and speak it. It shows how the jug is filled drop by drop with English classes and English practice between 1^st  and 2^nd grade.  Bingo, both the game and the song, is also good for helping students learn how to pronounce the English letter, I.

We have been using A-B -C flash cards and one set has astronaut for A. One boy proudly showed me a picture he had drawn today with an astronaut. 

In the evening Lori was taken by Mihaela to Trattoria again – it’s hard duty but someone has to do it!. We were joined by the principal from Primary School # 2. Again a very pleasant evening.

Winter Lessons

Today all my classes started with seeing pictures of the Mississippi River that I have taken just outside my apartment on the trails along the river. I also showed pictures of the ice carvings that are part of Winter Carnival in Saint Paul, something different from what happens in most cities during the winter. Every time we got to these photos the kids would go Wow! They also enjoyed the short video that showed how artists use chisels and saws to make these ice carvings. The remaining time for each class was filled with singing songs, doing Hokey-Pokey, or playing Hangman.  Thank you to Mihaela and Dan for translating.

Some of the students were curious about what I can say in Romanian. I always start with the word for ice cream; that makes students laugh.  Another student asked me if I knew where I was. When I replied, “Bârlad,” he told me I was right!

Flash Card Lessons

Wednesday morning at 7:30 found all the Ohio people in the lobby with their luggage, off to catch the 8:04 AM train to Bucharest. Their final destination will be Seattle on Thursday that will go on forever!

Meanwhile Lori was back at Primary School #2 for two classes in the morning and 2 classes in the afternoon.  What do we do with the intermediate students? One day they each received a flash card about a North American animal. They were asked to present the animal, explain where it lived, desert or sea, for example; what it ate; and what its babies are called. Another day this group used flash cards about the states of the U.S. Lori explained that the states’ names come from English, Spanish, and American Indians languages. This helped the students learn how to pronounce some sounds in English and also helps them learn why the language seems to be so complex. After this lesson about the states, one student came up to Lori and said, “I love geography!” The last class in the afternoon, today, had 21 young students of varying abilities. I was glad to have Dan there to help me with this class. They are full of enthusiasm and energy, and 21 pieces of energy is a lot of energy!

At 6 PM the principal from the school, along with his son and daughter, arrived to take Lori to “the best pastry shop in Bărlad. The claim is true! The cake was lovely, and so was the ice cream.

After this great food, we went to the nearby city park and walked about through the children’s area and then along the major boulevards in the park. It was a lovely evening for a stroll. We were lucky for at 5 PM there had been a major thunderstorm and when the principal returned Lori to the hotel at 8:30 PM, the rain began again.

Special Goodbyes

We all arrived at breakfast at 8:00, but for some reason service was very slow, the slowest we had encountered. This made Lori nervous as she had to be at her school at 9:00 for a class. Finally it arrived at about the same time as did Dan and Mihaela. Mihaela and Lori were quickly off to Primary School # 2 where Lori was expecting a class of adult teachers. However, plans had changed and during the morning she had three classes of beginner students.  Back at the hotel for lunch Lori enjoyed another Bulgarian Salad.  Then it was back to Primary School # 2 for two afternoon classes.

Meanwhile the Ohio group was off to the hospital for their last day with the children there. They came back later in the day sad to leave the children, but with wonderful memories in their hearts of these special children and well as charming versions of “I love you” recorded on their mobile phones.

At around 6:15 PM, two students arrived from a high school and walked us back there. A group of students, mostly 10^th graders right now, had many questions about how they might study in the United States.  After the class we walked across the street to Restaurant Alona for another wonderful dinner. We all walked back to the hotel and Mihaela went with the Ohio group to the LIdl store to buy some food for their Wednesday breakfast, since they will be leaving in the morning before breakfast is served at the hotel.