Friday, September 26, 2008

Submitted by Shari Schindele

“Never doubt that a small group of citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead

Friday marked the end of our first week of volunteering in the schools on Crete. It was an interesting day, offering a variety of experiences. For example, some of us missed having eggs for breakfast, so I took a poll and learned that our group would consume fourteen eggs if Dimitris would prepare them for Saturday breakfast. We learned that eggs had been missing from our breakfasts because Dimitris only buys very fresh eggs and none had been available. Much to our surprise, though, they appeared during our four-course lunch: salad of lettuce and tomatoes, a fried egg, soup, and pears.

Shortly after breakfast, the St. Marina’s afternoon teaching group left for Knossos by bus. They returned by cab in time for lunch and wishing for naps. Meanwhile, the morning teaching groups were off to their schools.

Millie reported that her morning with the 3 ½ to 4-year-olds was wonderful—especially since she was asked for an encore presentation of “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

Carol’s group worked with yellow. The five-year-olds dipped a lemon half in yellow paint and stamped lemon figures on paper. Picture it: one lemon, twenty-one five-year-olds, and yellow paint.

Lois and Kathy’s students approach them on the playground and say, “My name is…” or “How are you?” or they wait to see if Kathy and Lois can remember their names. One of the recipes for their daily treats—yes, they get daily treats AND recipes—called for raki. Today, they each received a bottle of Raki “for the cookies.”

Harry and Dean learned today that their conversation activity of “Two Truths and a Lie” was an even bigger hit than they realized. Students met them at the gate when they arrived and said they’d played the “game” the night before with friends. They also learned that the more seniority a teacher has, the fewer hours she teaches. For example, the physics teacher now teaches sixteen 45-minute periods per week—less than three hours per day. A beginning teacher teaches twenty-five periods per week—3 ¾ hours per day. The physics teacher was shocked at the schedule for American teachers. Dean and Harry have been asked to talk at next week’s faculty meeting on the topic of the American education system.

The afternoon group was surprised to see that there are fewer students in their after-school program on a Friday. We didn’t mind, of course, and the day was fun.

Susan was delighted to see “provocateur” Katarina soften up a bit, and she was also happy to see Costa lighten up and smile.

Jackie received an unexpected hug and kiss from Nick—which brought tears to Sally’s eyes at the genuine affection reflected in his actions.

Jenny convinced Thomasin to draw something other than dragons although he incorporated those assigned shapes and body parts into his dragons. After awhile, she had him labeling the drawings and reviewing the vocabulary orally.

Gil and Shirley manned the “portrait studio,” where Gil continued drawing individual portraits of the students to their absolute pride and delight.

And I received my second work of art from Katerina today—Katerina who sidled up to my table and laid the folded-up drawing in front of me and then moved away. Playing Bingo and drawing shapes and “house” vocabulary with Anna while she earned stickers was another highlight for me.

The morning teachers engaged in a variety of afternoon activities including beach walking and shopping. When we had all returned to Hotel Handakas, we had social time pool side (and in the pool) and lots of card playing—Bridge and “May I,” a Gin-Rummy-like game taught by Jenny.

These are snippets of our first week that do not convey the delight and care we feel for the students. What we have seen through all of our experiences this first week of volunteering is that even though our situations in the classrooms and during free time are very different from what we encounter at home, we can make progress in building relationships with the students and with each other. Too, we can make progress—both baby steps and bigger steps depending on our teachers’ comfort levels—in conversing in English and a little Greek with students of all ages.