A few words on traveling...

(posted by Zsofi Budai)

I know I'm several weeks late with posting this (sorry!), but I just rediscovered the website for planning trips to, from, or within Slovakia. Here it is:

www.cp.sk

It has both train and bus schedules. All you need to do is type in your city of departure, your destination, and the date and time you want to travel. The tricky thing is that it is all in Slovak (unless I missed the English version somewhere) but it would do you good to learn a few words of the language anyway... Or just ask your host family for help!

And don't forget the website for train travel to, from, or within Hungary:

www.elvira.hu

Now, I know that most of you are eager to see the region (and each other) in your free time, but remember that you need to spend at least one weekend with your host family!!! I was about to turn Janelle, your wonderful program director and Felsőpatony's super amazing English teacher, into an anti-role model for this, since I wanted to see her so badly I almost asked her if she could skip her plans with her host family this weekend. Not a good idea! I resisted the temptation to ask (and I'm sure Janelle would have wisely turned me down anyway). You only have one more weekend left in your village, but before you make plans to go anywhere, double-check with your host family to see if they have anything planned for you. And if you already left your village (without your host family) this weekend (the one that's just come to a close on Sunday evening) well, then, that means you shouldn't be making plans to leave again, unless your host family has already assured you three times that they have absolutely nothing in store for you this coming weekend and would actually prefer that you left and gave them some time alone.

Of course, since all of you are super amazing volunteers yourselves (completely dedicated to your villages, students, and host families!), I know that I really don't even need to post this reminder.

no facebook, no problem

hilites from our fabulous midpoint break

hungarian grand reunion!


dining with the family


the power table


the kids table



the night was off to a great start




wedding photo!


this picture is like, so la


holland taking it like the lady she is


and this is when the trouble started


lights out for collar as he pays his respects to this fine hungarian pioneer


and there he is the next morning, good as new


btw that tour of fort was really to get a good photoshoot in


surprises around every corner


looking down at the river danube, although you cant tell by all the yellow grass


work it girl








this is when we realized we had lost the rest of the group


gorgeous tour guide








i found a puppy in the middle of a bowling alley


dont worry, they havent lost their shirts, they just put them in the freezer


tom collar says bon voyage


well be recreating this all soon, dont worry

your fearless leader ís now a teacher

Hey dudes, new slovak phone totally rad, brah!

inside slovakia 0908 392 874
outside slovakia 00421 908 392 874

text it. now i can stop getting threatening emails from my parents about the phone bill.

Anyway, Felsopatony is wonderful. Its a small village of about 1800 people and this is the first year LE has been here in a while - thus my classes are pretty small, only about 25 students total. One class is for intermediate children and the second is a mix of grammas and smarty pants teenagers who somehow managed to become fluent in English. Its pretty sweet. Today we threw water balloons and tomorrow Im making the adults play hatchi patchi. Feedback has been really positive and so everyday i get one or two new students. Guys, Im really not surprised. I am preeeeetty much the greatest teacher ever.



water balloons for educational purposes

My host family is also great. I live in the mayors house, which has an identical floor plan to the house I where I lived in Udvard over a year ago.. weird huh! Ive got a sweet bedroom full of Green Day posters because my host sister is in London au pairing for the summer.



My host brother is super sweet and the cutest thing ever. Just imagine Balazs at age 16. He translates my life for me and escorts me to school. Then in the evenings we go to the bigger town to play pool and drink becherovka and zlaty bazant with his friends.

My parents cant understand why i refuse to drink and smoke in front of them. I keep trying to explain to them that in the states theres a sense of inpropriety for teachers to do things like that, and so my host brother said give me your hand. He put an unopened pack of marlboro lights in it and told me to go home and smoke them all. WHAT A SWEETHEART! Last night we went to bed with the soothing flavors of fernet and tonic in our tummies. Life is good.



Ive met a lot of people so far.. I think I have exchanged phone numbers with every single person who even remotely speaks English in a 25 km radius.



I think I might jump in a lake right now. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Shelley Potter plays catch up

I was in a small village in south eastern Hungary called Dusnok. It has a total of 2800 residents, 1 elementary school, and 1 pub. It's a pretty chill place where everyone seems to know each other and the families that live there now have been there for generations. The oldest people in the village speak a dialect of Croat...not sure when they migrated from Croatia, but they feel slightly superior in their ability to speak the language. I lived with a very large family, 1 mom, 1 dad, 1 brother, and 5 sisters! I felt like I was part of the Brady Bunch! Unfortunately the only person who spoke any English was the father, and that was minimal. Still I had fun with them. We had ping-pong tournaments in the basement most nights, hung out in the garden in the evenings while the father played the guitar and the family sang old folk songs, and all 9 of us would hop into an old rickety canoe and paddle around the village river. It was good times had by all. My classes changed both in size and number throughout the 3 weeks. First I had 4 classes, then 5, then back down to 4. I started out having 20 children 9 and under in my beginner class, then the second week the number jumped up to 33 (and I prayed for Jolene to come!), and then the number was back down to about 17 the last week. So in total I taught anywhere from 50-70 students during my stay there. Hatchi-patchi was my friend! In the evenings many of my adult students would invite me to their homes, stuff my belly, and pick my brain. I got pretty close to a few of my students. On the weekends different students would volunteer to take me to neighboring towns for sightseeing, and I was even able to attend the famous fish soup festival in Baja. I have never seen so many people in one place in my life! I could smell the smoke from the fires while I was still on the bus, and I swear every one from Hungary showed up with at least 2 cousins. The night was full of soup, beer, and dancing and then ended with an impressive show of fire works. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Dusnok...my students were very bright and enthusiastic which made the classes fun and I found the people very generous and welcoming. I'm sure the next volunteer will enjoy teaching here as much as I have.

Greetings from Danny Holland, Blog writing pro

Holland-Hammers-Halimba 2007

Best way to arrive in a small Hungarian village that has never seen an English person before?? ANSWER: by jumping off a train after you have fallen asleep and missed your stop...(thanks AT and Gretchen for throwing my bags off!!)...
Despite this slightly unusual arrival I found the people of Halimba welcomed me into their homes and hearts, never missing an opportunity to feed me or give me palinka, of course to prevent them thinking me rude I ALWAYS had to accept their generous gifts...
Teaching was happening 4 times a day, in the morning and then also the afternoon, had 1 starter kids, 1 elementary, 1 intermediate and also 1 starter adults... found the starter adults the most difficult but found that after a few days we all got on alot better..
on the weekends we would visit lake Balaton and drink local wine (and of course Palinka!)...
I was living with the Mayor and he had a wife and one son who was 21 and a daughter who was 18 and a model.... and dont get started on that collar!
So all in all I had a great time, managed to drink wwaaaaayy to much, and taught some of the craziest Hungarian kids that exist on this planet... Danny Holland

AT did it.. SO CAN YOU

Welcome to Alsonemesapati, HU! A relatively quaint village in the Zala county, Apati (as it is fondly referred to by locals) is actually the most picturesque place I have seen in Hungary. Although about 500 people live in the town itself, nearly 80% of them commute to work in the nearby city of Zalaegerszeg. Teaching close to 100 people, I feel as if I've met the entire town! I start each day teaching a group of the cutest 4-6 year olds I have ever seen in my life. Although they speak about as much Hungarian as they do English, teaching these Kindergarteners has been the highlight of my days. Somewhere between 1st and 2nd grade, one tends to forget that "Duck Duck Goose" kicks ass! My second class is comprised of students from 7-19 years old. This is by far the most difficult of my classes, because I can rarely find a game/activity that everyone in the class enjoys. Buying everyone ice cream however seems to have struck accord. My last class of the day is the adult class. I don't think it's possible for a 19 year old University student to grab the attention of 20 forty year olds in any other setting. Being treated as an adult by so many whom I see as my elders has been one of the most life changing experiences. Truthfully, there wasn't anyone in Alsonemesapati who spoke English before I came here, but I've enjoyed every challenge that I faced here. In a place where every sentence gets a little bit lost in translation, I find myself crying when I say goodbye to each person I've met. I'm so glad that I was able to live in this town, and I am extremely excited at the prospect of teaching in another part of Hungary!

Francesca Mazzola RULES

Greetings from Csallóközaranyos (Zlatná na Ostrove) (SK)! As I write
this little blurb am I just starting to realize how much I am going to
miss all of the people who have so kindly taken me in these past few
weeks. Csallóközaranyos, or Aranyos as it is commonly called by the
people here, is a quaint little village of about three thousand
people. I teach about fourty of them in four one hour classes a day.
The little kids, who are all boys, are between the ages of nine to
tweleve, and they are absolutely adorable. They seem to have an
endless amount of energy and are constantly drawing me pictures or
making me crafts so that I can decorate my dorm room--they decided
that my dorm room lacked decoration after seeing photos. My second
class, however, is composed of only girls between the ages of fifteen
and nineteen. This class includes a beautiful model who just qualified
for an international modeling tournament in Budapest next month. My
final two classes are in the evening and those are composed of people
between twenty to forty years olds. Overall, I was incredibly
impressed with the level of English in this village. All of my
students had a very solid foundation in English. My host sister even
went to England to study and work for about three months! I've had an
absolutely amazing experience here and will be sad to leave. Though, I
can't wait to see you all this weekend. Take care!

I now love Jae Chang more than you

Village: I know it says on the spreadsheet that I'm currently in Abasar, but Abasar has recently split up into two villages: Abasar, and Pálosvörösmart. There are about 650 people in Pálosvörösmart and the village has public transportation. My host sisters and I take the bus out to Gyongyos or Eger to go shopping or just walk around and eat about two or three times a week.

Classes: I have 4 one hour classes from monday to friday: my first class is comprised of 5-7 year olds who speak no english whatsoever, so we make origami and i teach them the english words for the paper creations. my second class is with students from the ages of 8-11, who speak little english but know enough so that i can teach them a good amount of vocabulary and some conversational english. my third class (my favorite) is with high school students who are pretty much fluent- so we just talk about America, and they love learning idioms. we watched about half of seaon 8 of Friends because my host sister has the series from seaon 1 to 10 in Hungarian and English.. so I played seaon 8 on English audio and put on English subtitles and i made worksheets that highlighted certain phrases they would not understand ("top-notch", "mother may I!") One of the students mother attended the class one day and we watched an episode where one of the characters talked about a diaphragm.. and the mother asked me to explain what it was. I handed her a dictionary. =) Anyway, my last class, is a night class in which i have students who are in their mid twenties, and they are at the same level as the high school students so they like to practice speaking English (mostly about America and the show House (?)) People in my village seem to be obsessed with American shows such as Friends, House, Grey's Anatomy, Third Watch, etc, etc..and they've rubbed off on me and I am now very much into these shows as well.

Host Family& Free time: There are 4 daughters in my host family at the ages of 15, 17, 19 and 22 who are all rather fluent in English. On weekends, my host family takes me to nearby villages where they hold festivals, or to museums, castles, and whereever else they think I might enjoy. They're simply amazing and have made my stay in Pálosvörösmart so enjoyable- it'll be very hard to say goodbye to them. My host family has 2 dogs, 2 parrots, 2 cats, 3 adorable kittens and 1 guinea pig. My host mother loves to cook (and is AMAZING at it) and I thank her very much for it..well, not so much for the extra pounds but..i'll deal with that later.

anyway- i am loving it here in Pálosvörösmart and I hope next year's volunteers will get a chance to experience the incredible time that i'm having here. see you all soon.

Elizabeth Myer says What Up

Hello from Nyarasd, SK! It has been a really exciting 3 weeks, and I cannot believe how fast it has gone by. Nyarasd is small village, —about 3,000 inhabitants—but what they lack in size, they compensate for in generosity, kindness, and warmth. My students are all wonderful. I teach 5 one-hour classes, which was difficult at first, but now feels natural. Most of my students do not speak any English, but they are all very enthusiastic and responsive. In the evening, I teach an adult class, and they are tons of fun. They also shower me with gifts and baked goods, and constantly invite me on trips and over for dinner.
My host family is also amazing. They do not speak any English at all, but they have three daughters that speak very well. They are all adults, and they live abroad, but one of them is visiting this week from Prague, and another was here last week from Austria, so I have pretty much always had a translator! My host family has a huge house with a pool and tons of animals...3 dogs and a cat that has three 4 wk old kittens! Plus they have chickens and rabbits, turkeys, etc. I havent even seen their whole backyard—its massive! I also have my own house...no kidding! It’s an enormous room with a kitchen and bathroom, and it is bigger than the apartment I shared with a roommate last year!
Anyway, Nyarasd is wonderful...Slovakia is wonderful...

Also, everyone here calls me Bözsika…which I think is cute, but Zofi tells me is actually dreadful.

Teaching IDEA

I cant believe I forgot to mention - a really popular method for saying goodbye to your villages is staging a performance on your last day. Teach the little kids songs and have them present their artwork to friends and family. The village loves it and its a great culmination of all your hard work.

Heres an example from China:



But feel free to put a little more umph into it..

Sylvan Hoover follows directions, then goes above and beyond

Deter, SK

How, could you assign me to this place? They've put me up in this huge apartment w/ a living room, kitchen, my own bathroom, and the odd interior room which has only a single ceiling light but is otherwise empty. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to want to leave. Maybe I'll just become one of 'those volunteers' and settle down with a nice slovak girl ;-)

I am having a wonderful time. The people are amazingly friendly, the scenery is spectacular, and I really couldn't be more pleased about where I was placed.

About 500 people:

My host, the mayor, has held the position since the end of the Cold War. Bullhorn's are located around the village that provideannouncements twice a day and traditional hungarian music in the afternoon. The village lies at the end of a 3km dead-end road, so traffic is light.The village is a bit isolated, and public transit is really not an option. But, there are regular trips to a larger town about 45 minutes away in peoples' cars, so if I need something from the town I can normally find someone who's leaving soon and bum a ride.I now haunt city hall. I live in city hall. I teach in city hall. I eat in city hall. There is a small apartment in city hall where I sleep. There is a preschool in the building, w/ the most quiet kids I've ever not heard (I'm told their teacher is very strict), and so I eat from their kitchen. Meals are filling. Major ag here is pork, so for the first 3 days B,L,&D was all pork. Then mysteriously that stopped, and now everything is fried. For dinner this evening I had fried bacon ball (like meat balls but made pretty much entirely of bacon) and breaded fried cheese balls. Other meals have included jelly doughnuts for lunch, and these incredible jelly filled dumplings covered in chocolate, also for lunch. The village has gotten EU funds for improvements, so the facilities are very nice.

Students: 71 students in total of which 59 of them are at the absolute starter level, 10 are high school students (so they can understand simple phrases), and 2 students have taken university-level English and are at a developed conversation level. Those 2 students account for 100% of the village that I hold conversations in English with. The students are very enthusiatic. The adults seem to be the most excited, and that is the class I have an Englishspeakerpresent.

The classes: I have 6-7 one hour classes per day. The first four run from 9-13, and consist of all the non-adult classes. I have one high-school class, one 'kid' class - ages 7-10, with maybe 20 word english vocabs, and two youth classes. The youth classes are split because half of them come by bus from neighboring villages, while the other half are local (and the third half already speaks fluent english). They have maybe 40 word English vocabularies, and the girls are obsessedwith Tokio Hotel, which I had never heard of till I got here (personally, not my thing). Sometimes I hold an extra class in the afternoon relating to less useful material, i.e. 4th of july, PB&J, smoothies. My hosts are very accommodating, so class materials are ample.

Out & about: Around the village there is great hiking. They are trying to promote the area as a hunting destination. Evenings here are very lax. The pub closes early, and most folks go to sleeprelatively early and wake early. Weekends are filled w/ visiting festivals in neighboring villages, and camping/graduation/bonfire parties organized by recent university graduates from surrounding villages. Folks who've been to my classes, and now know basic greeting conversations, have taught others, so when I walk about town I always have a number of conversations that all play out in identical manners. Ittruly is a exciting to be conversing w/ folks in English who a couples weeks ago knew barely an English phrase.

Deter is incredible. You must send future volunteers.

Big Whats UP from Matt Patterson in Madar

Madar is a village of 1040 people. I have between 25-30 students from 6-18 years old, which I have broken up into two classes. I also have 7 adult students in a night class. All of the kids seem happy with the classes, and I have had few discipline issues. All of my students are absolute beginners, but they are learning quickly. My host family is amazing. My mother speaks no english, but has so much energy it is incredible. My father can read english and is working on his speaking. My older brother is basically fluent in English, and the younger is just starting.

Midpoint Break in Komárno, Slovakia – Arrivals and Departures

(posted by Zsofi Budai)

Continuing with the LE tradition, CEVP will hold midpoint break in Komárno, Slovakia, this year. Please read the following few lines to learn some important info about arrivals and departures.

First, you should know that the Hungarian name for the city (which is mostly ethnically Hungarian) is Komárom, and Komárno is the Slovak name. This is not to be confused with the Hungarian city called Komárom that is actually across the Danube (the border between Slovakia and Hungary). Hungarians in Slovakia refer to both cities as Komárom, but if they mention the name they are most likely talking about Komárno (SK).

If you are currently teaching in SLOVAKIA, your host family will drive you to the hostel in Komárno on Friday, July 20, between 4:00 and 6:00 PM (they should have already arranged this with Imre).

If you are currently teaching in HUNGARY, you should take a train to midpoint break. Your host family will help you figure out which one to take (and you can always look it up on www.elvira.hu) – they already know about midpoint break, but you should remind them in advance anyway. You should plan to arrive on Friday, July 20, in the late afternoon or evening. The tricky part is that the train you take should go to Komárom (HU), NOT Komárno (SK), since the latter is way easier to reach from Hungary and also much less expensive to travel to. If you let us know in advance (i.e., a few days before you travel) when your train is to arrive there, someone will go and meet you at the station. That would most likely be Janelle, Balazs, Zsofi, or me (I know that none of you have met me, but you should know what I look like from the country background guides and my introductory blog post). The hostel is pretty easy to reach from there – we just need to walk across the bridge into Slovakia. However, the bridge is quite long and all, so it’s a fair amount of walking. I hope everyone heeded Janelle’s advice and packed lightly! Otherwise, it is possible to take a cab if absolutely necessary.

As for the hostel – it’s the same one we stayed in last year, and it is actually a HUGE step up from Martos (but I love Martos). It is called DANUBIUS, and it is located on the Dunarakpart (Dunajske nabrezie in Slovak). That just means it’s right by the river. If you’re coming over the bridge from Hungary, you’ll need to turn left once you get into Slovakia (but someone will be with you to help you navigate).

We have a bunch of activities planned for Friday night and Saturday (including dinner/lunch with the incredible Imre!). Balázs and Zsofi are both from Komárno, and they know the city inside and out.

On Sunday, you will all travel to your second session villages.

If you are going to teach in SLOVAKIA, your host family will pick you up at the hostel on Sunday morning around 11:00 or 12:00.

If you are going to teach in HUNGARY (this is always more complicated), you’ll need to walk (or take a cab, if you must) across the river to the train station in Komárom (HU) and go from there. We’ll have everything arranged with the host families by then so you know exactly where you’ll need to go when.

See you in Komárno!

Greetings From Sarah F, Tallos, SK

I´m teaching here in Tallos/Tomashivoko. The town has about 1600 people, with lots of other villages nearby. The nearest village, Vasakey, is sending some students to my classes, too. In total I have about 40-45 students. I have around 12 younger students - under the age of 10- over 20 between 11 and 15, and about 10 adults students, from 18 to much older, most of whom speal some English. My classes are going well. The students are fun, and the peple in the village are very nice. From what I understand this is there first time having a LE volunteer. I´ve been having lunch with various students and their families, as well as going on afternoon bike rides, walks,or car trips. My host family, the Kossars, are wonderful. They have 3 children, and are welcoming, kind, and exceptionally good cooks!

Some ideas for teaching (part 2)

Spanish classes are going super well. Its so funny being on this side of the classroom because after last year, Im super conscious of everything my teacher is doing. For example, she never ever ever just translates a word into English. She explains it in Spanish using different words and as much drama as possible. The other day, a lesson plan of hers didnt pan out so she said it aside and just had a long conversation with us. It started out with what are you doing tonight and just kept going - with her help, of course, asking very guiding question sto steer the conversation.

An activity I liked was to practice future tense. It was called I´m Going on a Trip. I worked with this French asshole and one of my new Dutch girlfriends. We said we were going to Pamplona tomorrow, and this is what we would do before our trip, this is what we woul do during, this is what we would bring, etc... Another good trip activity about going on trips is where you go around a circle stating all the things you would bring in alphabetical order - An apple, a banana, a cat.. The list gets longer and longer, but you have to name everything everyone else has said, then add your own until you get to Z.

Also, a really good way to get little kids quiet is to yell. Really! Start with a loud HEY and have them repeat it. Then give a slightly quieter hey, then quieter, then quieter until youre at a whisper, and then theyre whispering, and then theyre silent. They love it, too.

Miss you guys. See you our Komarno extravaganza in two weeks!

Some ideas for teaching (part 1)

(posted by Zsofi Budai)

I hope all of you had a wonderful first week teaching in your villages! If not, let Janelle and/or me know about any problems that arose – we’ll do our best to solve them.

In the meantime, here are some ideas/lesson plans that really worked for me when I was an LE volunteer (I taught in Slovakia – yes, only in Slovakia – in both 2004 and 2005). Feel free to add your own to share with every one. You should be able to post comments anonymously, but if for some reason you can’t, do let us know!


FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN (BEGINNERS)

Ice Cream

I had several classes of elementary school-aged children, all of whom were more or less beginners, and they LOVED what I called the “ice cream lesson.” I spent part of a class period teaching them ice cream related vocabulary, including phrases such as “I would like X scoops of Y and Z flavor.” I went over all of the flavors (you can draw the corresponding fruit on the board so that they understand what it is) and had the kids practice ordering ice cream from one another.

The next day, I took the kids over to the local ice cream shop (which was actually one town over) and promised to pay for their ice cream if they ordered in English (I first had them say everything in English, then point to the flavors so the lady behind the counter actually understood). It worked perfectly! It didn’t cost me very much either, since ice cream in rural HU or SK is very cheap, as I’m sure all of you know by now.

Songs

I’m sure most of you have done or are planning to do this already, but kids really love learning fun, catchy songs in English (like Bingo), especially if they involve movement. You could choreograph a dance to the song as a class, with each person getting one line of the song to make up steps to.

FOR TEENAGERS/YOUNG ADULTS (INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED)

Song lyrics

I got this idea from my high school Spanish class – I picked a song, wrote out the lyrics, and cut out random words. (If I wanted to make it easier, I wrote all of the words out on top; if I wanted to make it harder, I didn’t give my students the words at all.) I actually had access to a printer and copier in the mayor’s office so I typed up the lyrics and distributed them to my class, but you could just write everything on the board and have your students copy it into their notebooks. Then we listened to the song in class (several times); once the students got most of the missing words, we went over the meanings of those they didn’t know. This activity was actually pretty hard for most people, so make sure you pick a song in which the singer enunciates well and doesn’t swallow his/her words.

Lesson in slang

This was hard for me because I don’t use much slang in my everyday conversations, but teenagers love learning the latest American (or British) slang. Spend part of a lesson teaching them vocabulary, illustrating how to use it, and then having the students come up with their own sentences. Just stay away from anything raunchy, because that’s the point at which you’ll lose the class’ attention. Also, my students loved learning about regional expressions, so teach them something about the way in which people in your hometown speak. At the end of the class period, have your students teach you a few slang expressions in Hungarian or Slovak!

FOR ADULTS (INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED)

Scattegories

This certainly works with more advanced teenagers as well, but I found that I only really had success with it in my advanced adults’ class. If you don’t know how this works, let me explain: you come up with 6-8 categories (like country name, city name, animal, move title, etc.) and then have someone stop you as you recite the alphabet in your head. Whatever letter you stop at is the one that everyone has to use as the first letter in all the things they come up with in their categories. After a set amount of time (like one minute), you stop everyone and go over the answers. If people didn’t put down anything or if they wrote an answer identical to one of their classmates’,

Lesson in politics

Everyone likes learning more about the US (or Britain, whatever the case may be) but more often than not your students’ understanding of American politics will be, well, misinformed. Use this opportunity (with the presidential election coming up next year) to teach them about how the American government works. First, go over a list of political vocabulary to make sure your students are able to discuss this topic, then give a mini-lesson on American politics (complete with pictures of key people and places, if possible). Afterwards, have a discussion with your students about the government in their home country (HU or SK) – I find it fascinating to learn about what people think of Gyurcsány (HU) or Fico (SK).

Lets Keep in Touch

Hey guys -

This may come as a bit of a shock but... someday, I won´t be your program director anymore. Its tragic, I know, but all that means is that one of you will take my place. Its an amazing position that requires a lot of work over the course of the year - reading application after application, holding interviews, communicating with Country Coordinators, matching volunteers with villages - but it´s all so worthwhile. In order to make it easy on you, lets keep a little paper trail of villages thta wasnt available to me this year. Send me a little blurb about your village - its name, how many students, what theyre like, what your host family is like, etc. Ill post it on the blog and we can all keep track of each other.

BTW Although Budapest will always be my favorite, Spain is an amazing place. Im sure well all have stories to share when we see each other.

On calling me

Hi guys -

When calling me, I noticed that numbers only show up as private if I dont already have your number. If you have a cell, please email me the number asap. Texts are also better because Im being blocked from checking my voicemail, although Ive texted Sylvan and Sophie a couple of times unsuccessfully (or else youre just avoiding me).

Thanks for letting me know youre having a great time! Keep up with my adventures via my silly internet diary..www.livejournal.com/~jr_robot..ive been keeping it since i was 16 zears old.. shame..

Oh yeah, and facebook, of course. the pictures are gonna be sweeeeeet

orientation was a BLAST

I miss you guys and hope to hear from you as soon as possible! And see those photos up on facebook, too. For now, here are detailed instructions on that thank you card Ilona and I described at orientation.

Dear Volunteer,


Learning Enterprises operates solely on the generous support of donations and grants. We don't require you, the volunteers, to pay program fees. We don't receive funds from the villages where we teach. The host families who welcome LE volunteers do so without any financial compensation.



Each year, LE's mission is fueled by the dedication of its staff and the donations of its generous sponsors. As an incentive, we have the Village Sponsorship Project (VSP), where donors get information about the programs they are helping operate. Through these fundraising projects, over 200 people donated to LE this year, and we need your help to follow through with VSP.


Each volunteer will be required to complete three tasks:

Emailing 5 photos
Mailing 1 postcard
Mailing 3 letters (2 from students & 1 from a class)


Please print out the following pages and bring it with you to remind you what you have to do! Your PD will discuss it with you again at orientation. Please try to send all four things by the end of July so we can get them to donors before the summer’s end. Feel free to be creative!


Thank you for your help and making this summer a success!


Docendo discimus~

Teach, that you may learn




Email 5 photos to lephotos2007@gmail.com with the subject:
, ,


Some Ideas:

You with your class
You doing something with your host family
Your village
The students



Please send the a post card, a class thank you notes, and student thank you notes (described below) in a packet to:


Maureen Russo Chant

1325 18th Street, NW

Apt. # 1008

Washington, DC 20036


Send a postcards describing your experience and thanking the donor.


Sample:

Date

Dear Sponsor,


I write you from , , where I am currently serving as the English teacher for . When I am not teaching, I .


Thank you so much for making this possible. Both the students and I are very grateful.


Sincerely,




Have two of your classes design and write a thank you letter. Write the letter on the board and have one student with good handwriting copy it to paper. Have all the students sign it. Make it pretty! One idea is to have each one draw something and write the English word for it on the cover. This is a great lesson plan!


Sample:


Dear Sponsor,


We are from , . We are learning English this summer. Our teacher’s name is . Our favorite part of the class is <_______>. Thank you for helping us learn English.


From,





Have individual students write a thank you notes we only require two, but if you end up with extras feel free to send them along anyways!


Sample:


Dear Sponsor,


My name is . I am years old. I live in , . I like to . When I grow up I want to be a . Thank you for helping me learn English!


From,