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August 24, 2001
Look Ma, I'm flying!
I'm actually on the plane as I write this entry. We just flew by Greenland and Iceland and we're about to cross Norway. Several other times I thought I was nervous, but compared to how I feel now I must not have been very nervous. Talking about leaving and thinking about leaving pale compared to actually leaving.
We said good bye to the other ESI teams Wednesday night at a commencement ceremony. It was difficult to leave them. We packed after the ceremony and gathered to leave at 3:30am Thursday morning(the 23rd). We got the airport and got off with very few hassles. I had to redistribute the weight in my bags since one of them was over 70lbs. I ended up bringing 2 bags of normal stuff and an extra box of camping supplies. I can't think of spending a year without camping, so I paid the additional fee to take my tent, sleeping bag, and everything else. We'll have an 8 hour layover in Helsinki before taking the final leg of our flight to Budapest tonight. So after 7 months of preparing, I'm actually going to be at my new home today. An added bit of excitement though; Wednesday at the commencement, We all received TEFL certificates and stuck to mine was a simple note saying "Neal and Paul, You won't have a flat in 1 month." Apparently, the landlord decided to cancel the lease. So I know we have a place to live for at least a week and after that I don't know what will happen. This makes things a bit more exciting.
School starts Monday morning at the school I'll be teaching at. I don't think I've told you about that school, so here's a bit more info. The school's name is Trefort Agoston Kéttannyelvü Szakközépiskola. It is a mid-level high school. It is a technical school specializing in electronics and physics. I will actually be teaching computer science 8hrs a week and English 12hrs a week. Schools in Hungary are set up different than American schools. At American schools, all the students have individual schedules, so it's possible for every student to have a different schedule of classes. Hungarian schools do it a bit differently. At Trefort for example, there are about 500 students. Each grade is divided into 4 groups; A, B, C, & D. These groups, then take all their classes together for their whole high school career. This can be good and bad. It's good because the kids have more incentive to pass so they can stay with their group. It's bad because the groups are created with little or no regard to student aptitude, so advanced students are often mixed with beginning students. Additionally, Trefort has a bilingual program. Every year the incoming freshman are given a test and the top students are all placed in the "D" section. This section then learns only English for their freshman year. They may not know any English at the beginning of that year, but when they finish they're all fluent. Then they take all their classes in English. It takes 5 years to finish the bilingual program.
I will be teaching exclusively in the bilingual program. I will be teaching 12hrs of English to a whole range of students, and also 8 hours of computer science a week.
Posted by neal on August 24, 2001 06:02 AM