Siberian teachers, students and hotels.

So much to learn here in Siberia.  

For adults, Facebook is not used as much as in the US.   Here they use the equivalent of classmates.com.  Our generous and super organized host teacher, Tatyana, let me take this picture of her page:

I was particularly impressed with this photo of the fruits and vegetables produced on her family dacha.  

Many families have dachas or country/village escapes where they go to escape the city and to grow food for their families. We will visit a similar home tomorrow. 

The picture below is of one of the students in my English foreign language class who spoke passionately of her adoration of Harry Potter.  The video footage of this is on my Facebook page for my  friends and students.

I found the students shy at first and then really interested and curious about the United States. Not one of them had heard of Los Angeles or Beverly Hills.  They also hadn't heard of California. But they knew Hollywood so that's the city with which I went. 

Later, Tracey and I met with teachers from the language institute.  We used methods that we would use in our own classes to explain the school system.  We had them do a What do You Know/ What do You Want to Know activity at the beginning. We had them pair share and then share out their favorite questions with the group.  In order to answer their questions Tracey showed footage from her school district and I used the Prezi that my Sophomore Honors students produced. Students: our Prezi was a huge success. I loved being able to tell them that you created it. 

The teachers had never heard of Prezi and were excited to give it a try.

Tracey and I come from very different school districts. She is from Atlanta and I am from Beverly Hills. We have different opportunities and challenges. It's good to learn from another teacher of this caliber.  This is just another reason why the TCG program is so strong.  Everything about it is a best practice in action.

These are some of the teachers to whom we spoke. Notice Alexander on the right.  Americans might wrap their arms around each other: not so here. Alexander seems to stand apart from the group. He is a lovely Spanish teacher and I enjoyed practicing my Spanish with him. 

By the way, the Spanish teachers here speak the language as if from Spain:  not South or Central America. 

Tatyana arranged for us to the Siberian Chamber Orchestra last night. The Orcastra is quite famous and travels the world.  I will add some pictures of this later. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I don't want to keep you in suspense any longer about my Siberian abode. Please see pictures of my room at the Tsentralnaya Hotel.  Notice that the sink and the shower use the same outlet.

I'm  getting the full Siberian experience in this regional hotel.