3rd November

3^rd November

“For the past is past and will never return, the future we know not, and only the present can be called our own” Marie Corelli

I am reading a history of Tsar Nicholas, as this quote was written in his diary by his then fiancée Alexandra. It is a quote by Marie Corelli apparently, a lady I had never heard of, but according to Wikipedia, her “novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G Wells and Rudyard Kipling. Anyway, I liked it the quote.

The book is a strange one from the 1960’s, with all of the information apparently gathered from the diaries and letters of those surrounding the Russian royal family. It reads more like fiction than non-fiction, but it is interesting subject matter, so I will try and finish it. Another 600page tomb, thanks again Jason.

I was just informed that the breakfast dad has cooked, pasta and sausage, contains no meat. I wonder if this is similar to the Japanese idea that food cooked in fish sauce is also vegetarian.

I am sitting in the teacher’s room writing this, as I have started bringing my computer to school, and just typing in the lesson plans. Saves me doing it later, and means I can give copies to the teachers to look at and revise over the summer.

It is the end of the first time, and grade giving time. As I have mentioned, the scale in theory goes from 1-5 (five being best), but in practice, no one gets less than a 3 (the official grade tables only have 3, 4, 5 options). Teachers are supposed to write in grades in the class journal after every lesson, based on, well, whatever they deem fit. And they do, its just that what they deem fit is very arbitrary, and is based more on how the student does in other classes, than in specific performance. For example, if a student gets 5’s in Maths and Physics, they will probably receive 5’s in all the other subjects, regardless of their actual performance. Likewise, if a student gets 3’s, they will get them across the board.

With my English teachers, I have been trying to make grades based on class work and homework, and we have made a little progress. Students can only get a 5 if they do their homework, which seems like a simple enough request, but with over half the kids not doing it, it has caused a few comments from fellow teachers (“Why did my son not get a 5?”, “He doesn’t do his homework”, “That doesn’t seem fair”, “If he did his homework, he would get a 5”). This novel approach to grades hasn’t caught on though, and I am currently witnessing the Kazakh language teachers giving the end of season grades, by asking the other teachers in the room, if the kids are good students or not.

At least I haven’t seen any money change hands to buy grades, which apparently will happen for the end of year ones. By that time, I hope to have the system in place for English to make the system of grade giving set in stone, and un-shakeable. But we will see. Fingers crossed.

Off to Almaty again tomorrow, for another week of boring teacher training seminars. This time, there are 2 optional days of AIDS prevention training, which I am staying for, as much for an excuse to spend more time in the city, as for the useful information I will learn. It also will allow me to apply for grants for AIDS related projects, which is something I will try and organise for next year. HIV is really low here, which is wonderful, in part due to a tiny population spread over a massive country, but, as with most countries, it is rising. If I can teach the village kids in the 11^th class something that will help them when they move to the cities for University, then I will give it a shot. Not sure if my Kazakh will be up to it by then though, we will see!