My Last Bell

On May 25th, my school celebrated the Last Bell, symbol for the end of the year. For me, the Last Bell marked the conclusion of my role as an official teacher (although I will still have to teach for two months next school year). The end of my second year teaching was a bit more of a struggle than usual. My counterpart was absent for most of our lessons and my students had finally become comfortable enough to disobey me. I had one 8th grader storm out of my lesson when I didn’t review his class-work first. Another 10th grade girl was brazen enough to tell me she couldn’t participate in one of our class activities because she was doing her math homework. Yet aside from the decline in discipline, my counterpart’s absence afforded me much greater freedom over the lesson plans and ensuring continuity between them. Without any guilt, I tossed aside the textbook and taught themes I thought were important and which were fun for me—like maps! I spent more of my time working with the stronger students, a complete reversal from my prior strategy. For several of my advanced 11th graders, I held a separate seminar where I taught about and then we discussed American history. It’s impossible to quantify any results, but I feel that for the past two years I was patient and gave these students my all and that I did manage to have an impact.

This spring also witnessed the second annual American English Competition of Balkhash (AECB), a region-wide English competition that I and my fellow local PCVs started. Fifteen schools and almost 250 students from the 7th to 11th grades participated in the event. The competition had two-rounds—a general written portion focused on grammar and writing followed by an oral-round interview with the finalists. My goals for this year were 1) to make sure it occurred and 2) to lay the groundwork for locals and future PCVs to take over when I leave. On both counts, I succeeded. The AECB is now a known and respected event in the city and the local government and school board is invested in ensuring its survival. In addition, volunteers from other towns helped us conduct the event and they plan on organizing similar events at their sites.

Now that school is over, I am livin’ up my last summer as a Peace Corps volunteer. I just returned from a month long vacation that included Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan (more on that in my next blog). Situated on one of the largest lakes in Asia, Balkhash is an ideal summer location. The broad promenade along the harbor is full of people, outdoor cafes, and shashlik (grilled meat on a skewer) stands. Despite the “crisis,” the town is a lot livelier this summer. There are now two small amusement parks, cotton candy and popcorn stands are everywhere, and we even have a doner kebab place! I also discovered some nearby villages with much better beaches than the harbor and factory-polluted ones that I went to last year.

Aside from these everyday attractions, the town is busy with festivals and other events. Last week the soccer team of Kazakhmys, the company that runs our factory, played against the “Africa” team in our town stadium. I went to the game, but I am still confused on some of the details. The scoreboard just labeled the team “Africa” and the players were black and foreign. However, no one could tell me whether they were from a specific African country or why on earth they would come to Balkhash. Anyway, they lost 3-0. This weekend was the town’s most important celebration—Metallurgist Day. There were skydivers, an evening concert on the promenade, and other festivities. The event also coincided with an international bikers rally in town.

The summer is also a time of work for me and I have several projects that will keep me busy. I am currently organizing an English Leadership Camp that will begin next week and last for two weeks (more on that later). In August, I will conduct a workshop for local English teachers in Balkhash and then take part in another seminar in northern Kazakhstan.