Getting Ready to Go

Some postcard views of Bialystok 

So What is the Blog About?

Thanks for taking a look at my blog! If you found it, you probably know my name is Austin and I am completing a Fulbright Grant to Poland over this upcoming year. If you don't know me (because you found me through the Fulbright website and are now stalking me), I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2016 with degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Plan II Honors (a liberal arts major); additionally, through the UTeach program, I received my teaching certificate for high school math and science.

I will leave the U.S. this upcoming Sunday, September 18th and will return on July 3rd.

This blog will serve as a way for me to update everyone back home to follow what I am doing tell me when they will come visit me (but actually, if you find yourself in Eastern Europe, send me an email!). This is a relatively long post, so don't feel bad I lose you halfway through! I will try to update this blog about once a week, but I can't promise that I will stick to that schedule.

Where I am Going?

Where even is Bialystok?

My Fulbright Grant is to the University of Bialystok in Poland. If you have no idea where Bialystok is, you're not alone. I had never hear of it before my grant, but I am excited to be there soon.

Bialystok is a city of about 300,000 people in Eastern Poland. It is about 2.5 hours outside of Warsaw by train. The weather is a big change from Texas. In winter, the average high is around freezing and there is plenty of snow to go around. It is a good area for hiking and exploring, which is one part of the city I am most excited about.

The University of Bialystok (UwB) is a relatively new university; it was created in 1997 as an offshoot of Warsaw University. It has about 17,000 students and offers around 70 specializations. I will be teaching there from Oct. 1st to June 30th, 2017.

What Will I be Doing?

Department of Philology at the University of Bialystok
(No I don't know what the poster says)

I was lucky enough to be awarded an English Teaching Assitantship (ETA) through the Fulbright Grant program run by the U.S. State Department. The goals of a Fulbright Grant are serve as teachers /educators and cultural ambassadors. So not only will I be teaching at a university, but I will also create and host different cultural events. Most Fulbrighters teach in primary or secondary schools; Poland however, places its grantees at universities to teach bachelors, masters, and even some PhD students. 

At my university, I will be teaching 4 groups of students: two masters groups and two bachelor groups in the department of Philology. Philology is the study of literary text and records; it aims to establish authenticity and determine the original meaning of the text or work. Fortunately, all of my students will have taken at least some formal English classes before mine, so I will not be their first exposure to English.

I will be teaching two sections of Academic Writing, one section of Conversation, and an Integrated Skills class. While I have never taught an English class before, I am really looking forward to the challenge. It will be a great opportunity to improve my ability to work with students learning English as a second language (which is a very important skill as a Texas teacher). Additionally, I will incorporate conversations about the differences between American and Polish cultures into the classes.

The Bial River that runs through the city

The Nitty-Gritty Teaching Details

Like most American colleges, Polish universities divide up their school year into two semesters; each semester is 15 weeks long and ends with a week of serious finals. In most courses, students expect the majority (if not all) of their course grade to come from the final. Because of this, students are not used to actively participating in or even attending class. (something that I hope to change!) I have been told that many students are reluctant to speak in class because that are often intimidated of speaking English to a native speaker and they will not volunteer until they have perfected their answer. As such, it will be one of my first goals to establish a safe and welcoming classroom environment. This will probably involve me embarrassing myself with my terrible Polish many times a day.

I think the biggest challenge of my grant will be designing and creating the curriculum for the different courses.  I will be designing course curriculum from the ground up, which is a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I will be able to structure the courses how I want, to cover (hopefully) interesting topics and to create a comfortable classroom environment. On the other hand, designing several courses for students who speak a different language, grew up in a drastically different education system, and have different expectations of a college class is a big challenge. While I have started planning some general outlines, I have yet to get down to specifics.

After orientation in Warsaw, I will head to Bialystok on Saturday, September 24th where I will lay eyes on my home for the next 9 months. Once there, I will have a week to figure out the city, the university, and nail down my curriculum. I expect that week to go by very quickly!

Finally, How am I Feeling?

I would say that I currently flip between being very excited about my trip and being mildly terrified. I am looking forward to all the new experiences I will have, the new people I will meet, and the new places I will go. However, 10 months is a long time to spend somewhere else, especially somewhere so foreign and new to me. Not knowing the language is also concerning, but apparently many Poles speak some amount of English (so I will at least survive). All of the advice and information I have gotten from past Fulbrighters to Poland has been very encouraging, motivating, and positive. 

I have pretty much finished packing and now all that is left is to get on the plane and fly over. Hopefully I will be able to regularly post to this blog about once a week. If you want to contact me, Facebook, email, or comments through this blog are probably the best.