Settling into a Routine

TL;DR or Quick Summary 

1. This was my first full week of teaching and with my regular schedule. It is busy, but not too busy. 
2. Time seemed to fly by this week; before I knew it, the weekend rolled around.
3. Grading essays is tough! I have started to grade the essay so of my masters students and it is a long process. 
4. Long weekends are long!

Map of Poland with phonetic pronunciations

What's New this Week?

I have started taking Polish classes! While the language is pretty complicated (you modify the ending so of every word for random crazy reasons), I think I will eventually get to the speaking level of a talented six year old. The class is full of Erasmus (international) students and is taught at my university. Since we all have the common language of English, whenever someone gets desperately confused (a frequent occurrence), we can switch back to English. 

So far we have focused mainly on pronunciation; which is a very good thing. While I know English has its fair share of hard to pronounce words (I'm looking at you rural), for me Polish is a conglomeration of s, z, c, and more s sounds. We spend the first day practicing making the three different s sounds; then we followed up with different z, t, and c sounds. The instructor has had a lot of practice teaching Polish and is very good about helping us with pronunciation. He is also one of my students in my professor conversation class.

Which brings me to the next news, I have started teaching an English conversation class from professors and graduate students. The class is smaller than I was expecting, 8 people signed up (and only 6 showed up for the first class), but that's not a bad thing. I want to have conversations and debates over silly topics (is a hot dog a sandwich?) and some more serious topics (no really, is a hot dog a sandwich?). About half of the class is from the natural science department and they expressed interest in hearing a research presentation in English, so I might have to break out my skills from my Yeh Lab days. I hope the class will be fairly informal.

Finally, the Erasmus program here has a weekly language exchange event. You can learn a variety of languages (from Russian to French to Greek) and teach people your own. I got a chance to go over some of the Polish vocabulary and phrases from my formal class and I taught others some English tongue twisters. Everyone was disappointed that I did not come prepared with typical Southern slang/expressions. This week, I will come prepared!

This weekend was a quiet one for me. I stayed in Białystok and mainly graded essays (I know, it's an exciting life that I live). The weather was most cooperative; it was cloudy and rainy for most of the weekend so it did not tempt me go venture outside. I was working on my record number of days since I had last seen the sun (I was up to three), when the clouds parted on Sunday. I went out for a walk and ran into some other Erasmus people. We talked, got lost in some woods, and enjoyed the sun (while it lasted).

Up before the sun is

Teaching Updates

Last week I assigned my M.A. writing students their first essay; it was about how to best educate students in middle school. The essays were well written, although there were a few translation/idiom errors. After reading through about 3/4 of the essays I noticed several differences between Polish and American styles. Whereas we are often taught to have a thesis statement with justifications at the end of the introduction, many of my students did not state their position until the end of the paper. 

Some of the other Fulbrighters that I have talked to said this is because the students want to keep their reader in suspense (much like an American presidential candidate wants to keep Americans in suspense about his acceptance of election results) throughout the paper; they do not want to bias the reader with their opinion. I'm not sure whether or not I agree with the strategy yet. 

In my B.A. writing class, I will continue with theme; they will be writing their own stories with a specific theme in mind. I am hoping for some interesting stories! 

Finally, in my integrated skills class, I will continue teaching idioms and maybe play a game. Earlier this year, one of my friends introduced me to the game Dixit. In the game, one player describes a card with an abstract picture on it; that player wants to give a vague, but not misleading description. The other players then have to guess with card was the first players from several other cards. It sounds confusing, until you start playing. It is a good way to introduce new vocabulary words and inspire some creative descriptions. 

That's all for this week! Next weekend I will do some traveling and should have more adventures to report on!

Bonus Pictures 

Restaurant in Białystok 

Second Week of Teaching and Getting a Life

TL;DR or Quick Summary 

Enjoying the Fall Colors

1. My second week of teaching was a success. I have now seen all of my classes at least once.
2. I have a more firm idea of the direction in which I want to take my classes. Although, I am sure that will change again as time goes on. 
3. I have made friends with several Erasmus (international) students in Białystok. It has been really good to spend time with other students. 

Second Week of Classes: Changing Everything

I wonder if my students know about Winnie the Pooh...

Well okay, maybe not everything, but I have made a lot of changes. Using the vast resources of Google, I have looked up more literary analysis practice, information, and tips than I think I did in all of high school. Luckily, I have been able to find worksheets, practice, and examples for most of the topics online. I revisited short stories that I have almost forgotten about, like The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, and several more that I will soon subject my students to. 

For all of my classes I have assigned a weekly one page journal entry. I blatantly and apologetically stole this idea from some past Fulbrighters and I am very glad that I did. While I give weekly suggested topics, students can always free write if they wish. They were all very relieved to hear that I would not be checking their journals for spelling or grammar, just completion. So far I have only read two classes worth of journals; however I have already received some very interesting responses about what students expect from my class (to get better at writing duh), about jobs (teacher, taxi driver), and why childhood was so much better than adulthood. I hope that their responses continue to be genuine and interesting.

What most of my classrooms look like. Sometimes includes
students.

For my lower writing classes (2nd year students) I want to focus a lot of determining the theme of a passage and being able to justify that choice with evidence from the passage. Other professors have told me that the biggest challenge with Polish students is getting them to think for themselves (a problem that is not unique to Polish students at all) and to support their ideas with textual evidence. So it seems like we will practice a lot of analytical writing.  

For my upper writing classes (4th year students) I want to focus on researching and writing research papers. Next year (their final year of their MA program), these students will have to write an extended research paper to complete their degrees. As such, I want them to be comfortable with reading academic papers and extracting relevant information. I gave them their first essay assignment this week; it asks them to determine what type of education that middle school students should receive: highly academic focused, highly life skills focused, or something in between. I had them read an academic article on teenage brain development and listen to the 'This American Life' radio show on Middle School.

Cafe near my university where I have taken up part time
residence.

Finally, in my Integrated Skills class, the students read their descriptions of pieces of art out loud. Students chose pieces ranging from The Scream to some famous Polish painter (whose name I can't remember). It was a very useful exercise because it showed how confidently students spoke English and revealed the depth of their vocabulary. Lastly, we watched some clips from the second presidential debate; their faces while watching the debate were priceless. Hopefully we will be able to have some good discussions about politics and other controversial issues.

How I Got a Life

The biggest adjustment for me by far in coming to Poland has been the change in my social life. In Austin and Houston, I had an established group of friends with whom I could hang out with, go out to eat with, or go camp with in remote parts of the country. Starting off, things here were very different. 

For the first couple of weeks, I didn't really meet anyone my age because classes had not started yet, I was setting up my apartment, and I was doing some hardcore lesson planning (most of which I would later trash). Netflix was definitely my best friend for a couple of nights. I kept telling myself that once the semester got started and I got into a rhythm, I would find some people my age.  

I knew that there were supposed to be a lot of international students in Białystok through the Erasmus program. Erasmus is a Europe wide exchange program between universities in different countries. Since Białystok has three major universities, there are a surprising amount of Erasmus students roaming about. However for a while, I never saw any of these mythical people. 

Erasmus Pub Crawl.

After scouring Facebook for different Erasmus events, I saw an event for bowling for Erasmus students. Although I was not specifically invited to the event, I decided to show up anyways. Arriving at the bowling alley, I found that it was in an old run down warehouse. Eventually, I walked up to two people standing around and asked if they were here for the Erasmus event; fortunately they were and they were happy to let me join bowling! Although I literally bowled the worst game of my life (I think I barely broke 50) and personally started the stereotype that Americans suck at bowling (sorry fellow Americans), I really enjoyed myself. Everyone was very nice; there were people from Serbia, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, and of course Poland. They supported me when I bowled double gutter balls and cheered when I knocked down nine pins. 

After meeting people face to face, I was immediately invited to many other events. The Białystok branch of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) organizes fairly frequent events; pub crawls (which I think are a Polish national sport), karaoke (don't worry, I didn't sing anything), and themed parties followed. It was a very nice change from the first couple of weeks. 

The Białystok ESN also organizes trips to different parts of Poland and Europe. They mentioned a possible ski trip, a trip to the nearby national park, and several others. I am excited to see what the rest of the semester (and year) holds with my Erasmus friends.  

Other Adventures: Białystok and Beyond

Autumn Market Festival

The first full weekend that I spent in Białystok turned out to be a really nice weekend. I had finished my first week teaching and did not have any classes on Monday so I planned for a rather relaxing weekend. I went out for dinner a couple of nights with two of my Erasmus friends from Greece. We walked around the city at night (and discovered just how long things got) and ate at a pizza place while the Polish national football (soccer) team beat Denmark.

Bubbles! I may or may not have popped several bubbles

The next day, I stumbled upon two cool events in the city center. There was an autumn market festival where they sold Lithuanian meats, mulled wine, and some of the best cheese that I have ever had. The other event looked like it was sponsored by a church group (but everything was in Polish so I wasn't entirely sure). They had different choirs come up and sing, a man making hundreds of bubbles, and a horde of dancers that unknowingly encircled me (see video below). The entire city center had a very festive and happy spirit. Even the sun cooperated and came out for a nice afternoon.

After my third week of teaching, I decided to go back to Warsaw for the weekend (Oct. 14 -16). It was the weekend of the Warsaw beer festival and there were several Fulbright friends I wanted to visit. The train ride to Warsaw is only about 2 hours and 20 minutes; so it is an easy trip to the 'big city'.

Inside of the Warsaw Beer Festival

The Warsaw beer festival was a lot more classy and sophisticated than I was expecting. I wasn't expecting things to be full on Octoberfest, but I was expecting outdoor tents, long tables, and obnoxious drunk people. Instead, it was held inside the stand area of a large stadium (it looked like a convention hall) and was very organized. There were probably over 100 different 'bars' from different breweries selling beer; most were smaller craft brews. I had a great coffee milk stout, some hot cider, an American Pale Ale (apparently that's a thing), and a nice wheat beer. 

We also went to a visual performing arts show where a fellow Fulbrighter performed. The event was a lot of fun and I was several interesting performances (although I'm still not sure if I 'got' some of the performances). 

The seating for the beer fest was outside in the stadium

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!

Bonus Pictures and Movie

Red Church in Białystok

Art Show in Warsaw

First Week of Teaching

Beautiful Fall Day in Białystok

TL;DR or Quick Summary

1. My first week of teaching was more or less a success! Nobody died or cried.
2. There are already 100 small things I would do differently if I could go back, but that's okay. 
3. The biggest challenge was figuring out what materials students had covered before and what material they were expected to cover this semester. 
4. Polish students, much like American students, will laugh at you when you read the Itsy Bitsy Spider out loud.

Adventures Before Teaching

The weekend before I started teaching, I traveled to Poznan, another city in Poland, to visit some other Fulbrighters. Poznan is about 5 hours west of Białystok by train with one train transfer, which is not too bad. Unfortunately, I did not realize how seriously Poles take their seat assignments on trains. On the first train I either found my correct seat by luck (small chance) or no one called me out on it (more likely). The second train, however, was a very different story.

One of Poznan's Many Green Spaces

Waiting for the Daily Goat Battle!

On the second train, I ended up moving cabins twice (think Hogwarts Express) because I was in the wrong seat. My moving caused a chain reaction of people having to move on an already full train. Overall, I think four or five people ended up moving. One guy was in the wrong train car, the other didn't even have a ticket, and others were just sitting where ever. Fortunately, there was a helpful German business man who did most of the talking and accompanied me on the quest for my seat.

Fancy Coffee and Friends in Poznan

Poznan was a great city! There are three Fulbrighters living there and one more came down from his frozen home on the Baltic Sea. In Poznan, we did a lot of walking, beer drinking, and taking the scenic route. We made St. Martin's Croissants (a local specialty), explored the 'Latin' club scene, and even went to some restaurants and juice bars that were very reminiscent of Austin. 

The city symbol of Poznan is the most noble of animals, the goat! Legends say that during the early years of Poznan, two goats escaped to the top of the tower in the town square and began battling. The local king though this was hilarious and declared the goat to be the symbol of Poznan. Today, there are two mechanical goats who come out of the tower at noon and battle each other for the whole town to see.

Football Game in Białystok

After a week of being in Białystok without seeing many people my age, it was a great and much needed break to spend time with some friends. While I really do like Białystok, I was very jealous that the Fulbrighters in Poznan had each other in the same city.

On Sunday night, before my first class, I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the local Białystok football (soccer) team game. I attended the game the game with my mentor's husband and some of their friends. While the score ended up being an record setting 0-0, I still enjoyed the game. There is a section of fans called the 'razor blades' who are notorious for their fanaticism; they were standing and screaming convoluted cheers the whole game (much like Texas football fans). Overall it was a very fun experience and I am looking forward to my next game.

This was the first half of all of my classes

On to Teaching!

Although I had prepared for the first week pretty thoroughly, I was still nervous about my first week of classes. My main concerns were that I simply didn't know the system very well; I didn't know what a typical class was like, how classes were usually structured, what kinds of expectations the professors had of students and vice versa, and any number of small things. I was worried that what I was going to do would just be so off base that students wouldn't respond. As it turns out, things went well and now my students have seen an American do his best to sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to a class of college students.

As my schedule is right now, I have one class everyday. Tuesday -Thursday my classes are at 8:00am (yay early mornings...) while Mondays and Fridays start a bit later. While things might change during add/drop period, I think my schedule is pretty set. All of my classes went well (nobody died or cried), but the Friday class was a lot more organized than my Monday class. I found there were a lot of differences between Polish and American university classes, but there were also many similarities.

Difference in Classrooms and Equipment

The first difference I noticed was that most rooms do not have a projector or whiteboard, although all of my rooms have had a chalkboard. Teaching without a projector is not something that I have had to do before and will take some adjustment. Instead of being able to click a button and have pictures and text appear, I have to write it all out, spelling mistakes and poor drawings included. Making some spelling mistakes on the first day did help the students see me as an actual person but does not help me seem like a competent professor. (In case you were wondering I forgot to put the final 'n' on information.)

Another difference is that all rooms are locked at all times. I have to visit the key-masters in order to get a key for the classrooms or my office. This caused several problems because the rooms are a combination of multi-digit numbers and letters and the key-masters (while incredibly nice) do not speak English. There was a lot of finger counting and writing involved. By Friday however, they were prepared when they saw me approaching and handled me a pen and some paper right away; I think I will bring them some breakfast sweets sometime soon to show my appreciation.

My reaction to first day introductions vs. my
student's reactions.

What Did I Actually Teach?

As any college student knows, the first day of class is syllabus day, where nothing important really happens and no real content is taught. Not so in my class! During the first half of class we did introductions and discussed the syllabus. Through their introductions, I learned that many students like horses, are a big fan of the color pink (one student said 80% of her wardrobe is pink), play in a band or in a semi-professional context, are named Ola (seriously I think I have 7 Olas), want to be professional translators, and hate public speaking.

I am glad I had them all introduce themselves because it gave me an idea of their English proficiency (they can all communicate well, even if they would not admit it) and it set the expectation that public speaking in class would be a common occurrence. When I introduced myself, I usually mentioned just how mild the winters in Texas are; this usually evoked laughter and smiles from my students as they told me what winter would be like here. Several wished me good luck. After introductions and reviewing the syllabus, we moved onto content.

2nd Year Writing 

In my 2nd year academic writing classes, we discussed the basic elements of formal writing (thesis statements, claims, supporting arguments) and then practiced writing thesis statements for different topics. While they were not super excited to practice thesis statements, they all seemed to have a good handle on the concept.

After class, I talked to one of the professors who typically teaches the 2nd year writing courses, and he suggested making shifting the class to focus more on literary analysis; during their 1st year writing courses, students perfected the art of the 5 paragraph essay (in theory) and this year should focus more on analysis. While it is never fun to change my plans, this was very good information to have. I think I will have students read some short stories and practice analyzing theme, main idea, and all those other literary ideas I thought I had escaped.

3rd Year Integrated Skills

My 3rd year integrated skills class is a course that focuses on listening, speaking, and reading. I will have the most liberty in this class to design lessons and shape the curriculum. I hope to include lessons on American politics (something important is happening this year), sports, and differences in culture. I decided to first focus on descriptive writing. I divided the class into pairs; in each pair was a speaker and an artist. I would draw and an abstract shape on the board and the speaker would have to describe it to the artist (the artist could not see the board). The wining group got some Reese's Cups straight from America.

After a slow start, the activity was a big success. The students really got into the game and it was a good opportunity to teach vocabulary (edge, corner, hexagon, intersect, solid line, dashed line) that would otherwise be pretty dry.

4th Year Writing

You are almost done reading! I know this is a long post! 

My 4th year writing classes are actually first year masters students (that's just how things are organized here). Since these students are going to have to write a substantial research paper next year, my goal for this year is to help them with their paper research paper writing skills. This will include summarizing, extracting relevant information, deriving conclusions, and supporting claims with evidence. 

This week I started with summarizing. I wanted to start the class off on a light note, so I decided to practice summarizing nursery rhymes. I did not realize however, that because there was no projector, I would have to read the nursery rhymes out loud; the three that I chose were the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Humpty Dumpty, and Jack and Jill. After reciting the Itsy Bitsy Spider, I even got a (only mildly ironic) round of applause! 

I am looking forward to continuing to get to know the students and to improve my English teaching abilities. Next week I plan for things to have more structure and purpose. However, I know that I will not have a firm idea of how I want the class to run until the end of the semester. 

Bonus Pictures!!!

Białystok Park 

Białystok Park

Poznan's 'Historic' 10 Year Old Castle

Poznan Town Square

Fantastic Dinner in Poznan

Poznan Town Square

Semi Candid Picture in Poznan

Białystok Palace

Arriving in Białystok

TL;DR or Quick Summary 

1. I arrived in Białystok, where I will be teaching at the University of Białystok (UwB) for the next nine months.
2. I met my mentor, who works at UwB in the same department. She is fantastically nice and is excited to have me here.
3. My apartment is great and very green. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a "kitchen," and a laundry machine.
4. Białystok is very walk-able and has a lot more green spaces than I was expecting. 
5. Once the semester starts, and I get into my routine, I think I will be very happy here.
6. I am very excited to start teaching, but also nervous about fitting in with the Polish system.

View from a parking lot the Białystok bus station

First Impressions 

As my bus rolled into the city, I was surprised by how quickly the city sprung out of the countryside. One moment there were farms and small homes and the next there were car dealerships, stores, and tall apartment buildings. It looked very much like other European cities. My mentor was waiting for me at the station, which was great because I didn't have to carry my bags alone anymore!

As we drove through the city to my apartment, she went through a list of what we needed to do to get ready for the semester, meetings we needed to attend, and things that last year's Fulbrighters did. Although it was a lot of information, I was glad to hear all of it because I could finally see things taking shape.

Home sweet home

My apartment complex looks like a fun mix of a castle and a prison, but is actually very nice. There is a grocery store right next door, a bus stop around the corner, and a bike rental stand nearby; it is in a pretty convenient location. Last year, Białystok had two Fulbright Grantees, so the apartment they set me up with has two bedrooms. The walls are a mix of green, yellow, and white which gives the apartment a very particular feeling. I am hoping to get some posters and rugs to give it a warmer feeling.

The larger of the two bedrooms.

One bed room is much bigger than the other; I made the bigger bedroom mine to sleep in while the other is currently serving as an office, dining room, and storage closet. The beds are fairly comfortable, but a little too small for me (I'm not shocked either). Luckily, there are not big pieces of furniture that I will need to buy.  The two Fulbright scholars from last year were nice enough to leave kitchen essentials so I did not have to go out and buy everything. My one big purchase will be a toaster oven so that I can bake cookies if the need arises. 

Exploring Białystok 

Neighborhood near my apartment

My first full day in Białystok, I pretty much walked everywhere. The city is small enough that I could walk to all of the main points fairly easily. Leaving my apartment, I walked through a neighborhood of older apartment buildings. Despite their origins as tall grey concrete slabs, they were now painted many different colors. I liked all of the different colors, but I was told that there is now a semi-serious campaign to stop the 'pastel-ization' of Białystok. 

Between the buildings were courtyards, football (soccer) fields, basketball courts, and even some gardens. Shops (like a fish monger) were interspersed throughout the first floors of buildings and fresh fruit stands dotted the street. There were plenty of cars on the road, but there were also many people walking or cycling. After the neighborhood, I somewhat accidentally ended up in a heavily wooded area. I blindly followed a path through the woods and was lucky that I was still heading the right direction.

City park with tons of roller skaters

I learned that Białystok is one of the few cities where you can walk from the center of the city to the outskirts only walking through parks and crossing one street. Although it would have been a chilly day in Texas, there were plenty of Poles out and about. Families with strollers were everywhere. I was surprised to find that there was a free zoo in the middle of one park. It was small, but did a great job of showing off Poland's native animals including ducks, chickens, bears, wolves, and the European Bison, the Zubr.

European Bison, the Zubr

Besides the zoo, there were green spaces to picnic and play, benches, fountains, and tables; in the summer time (it's now officially fall here) the park is probably packed everyday. Coffee and ice cream carts were everywhere. Poles seem to have a very strong love affair with ice cream; they eat it even when wearing heavy jackets and scarves. One Pole that I talked too exclaimed, "of course we eat it when it's cold. It's much healthier for you that way!"

Finally out of the parks, I go to the city center. It was rebuilt after the war, but the center still had a distinct old charm to it. The square around town hall was lined with patios for pubs and restaurants. There was a city ordinance that required all businesses around the town hall to serve some alcohol; this made the square a very popular place. I was pleasantly surprised to discover several coffee shops around the city center that would be good to do some work in. There were also pubs that served local micro-brews and probably five sushi restaurants, but nothing resembling Tex-Mex. :(

Białystok Town Square

Although I did not talk to many people, most were talking, laughing, and smiling. My first impression is that Białystok is a small vibrant city. I am looking forward to exploring it more over my time here.

Getting Ready to Teach

Early in the week the Philology department at UwB had it's start of the year meeting. Although most of the meeting was in Polish, I am glad that I attended. My mentor was helpful and introduced me to everyone I would be working with. She also translated any important parts of the meeting. She showed me around the building, helped me get a library card, a student card (yay discounts!), and introduced me to people who would make my life easier. I met a couple of of native English speakers in the department, but nearly everyone that I talked to was fluent in English. 

Scheduling Classes

My schedule has changed since I first received my class list. I will only be teaching five classes (instead of nine as I thought earlier); four classes are academic writing and the other is integrated skills. I was very relieved to start off my first semester with fewer classes. 

The university does not actually finalize the course schedule for the semester until this meeting so that professors can voice any objections. This means that students (and professors) do not know their schedule until classes are about to start. I can't imagine not knowing my schedule until the week before classes start. At UwB, the administration schedules all of the classes on a cork board with pins and sticky notes! It is a very elaborate system, but it works!  

All of my classes are 90 minute long and meet once a week. Fortunately and unfortunately, there are several holidays throughout the semester; so there will be some times when I don't see a class for two weeks. But these holidays will give me an opportunity to travel. Since the majority of my classes focus on writing, most of my lesson planning has involved looking for and creating writing exercises. All of my students will have to keep a weekly journal to practice informal writing in English. Each week we will focus on a different formal writing topics.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good about my classes. I just don't know exactly what level I should expect my students to be on (which is a problem with any and all classes). Since I am working with students who have all chosen English as a specialization, I am not overly concerned with communicating with my students; I am more unsure about their ability to formally write in English. Another concern is the difference between Polish and American higher education systems. Although similar in the grand scale, there are a plethora of differences that reveal themselves once you start planning a class. 

In their past courses, Polish students are used to being more passive in class; the professor is the one who does all of the talking and explaining, while the students listen and take notes. I want my students to collaborate, discuss, and present material during class. I'm sure that we will be able to get there, but I'm not sure how long it will take. 

That's all for now! Thanks for reading! Bonus pictures below!

Białystok Square in the evening 

New UwB campus (not where I will be)