August 31, 2010: Second day at school

August 31, 2010: I arrived at school in great time once again even though I left a little later in the morning today. The weather has turned significantly colder -- I may actually need to wear a jacket tomorrow! You can tell the cooler weather is here to stay because all the outdoor cafes have started offering blankets for their customers to wrap around themselves to keep warm. It's funny to see everyone outside the cafe wearing the same color of blanket.

On the way to school, I noticed Hungary's contribution to recycling -- huge plastic containers where the population can contribute their waste in separate containers depending on the item.

Receptacles for recycling

After arriving at school, the gate lady gave me my very own key to the teachers' lounge. By the end of the day I also had a key to my office. I also went to the school bursar to pay for the lunches for September. I decided to take my chances on the school's food for lunch @ ~$1.50 a meal, especially having seen the menu. If I had selected not to participate in the school's lunches, I would have been given a voucher for 4500 forint (~$20) that I could have used at outside restaurants for lunch. I can choose to buy lunches at school or receive a voucher every month.

I went to my office and met Gabor who took me to the school library where I opened an account so that I can check out any books I like. They have all the classics in English literature as well as simplified versions that could be used in my classes. They even have Dan Brown's latest book (why, I don't know since his first book, The Da Vinci Code was not exactly what I would call notable literature). I also looked over the math book, but it was one written in Hungarian. They must have one written in English since math is taught in the English language.

Ujpesti High School library

 Returning to our office, I met Beder Kati and asked her what she thought of my first English class activity that I had mailed her and the other teachers last night. (The activity was a four by four matrix telling the boys to find someone in class who satisfied what each box stipulated -- e.g., find someone in class who has a dog  and find out its name). I was concerned that perhaps the exercise was too advanced for the students but all the teachers who saw it said it was a very good exercise, so I'm all set for day one!

After this we all went to the English department's first "formal" meeting. There are twenty English teachers in the school, and I'm on the team for four of the five English teacher teams for grade 9. There's 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, and 9E. Of these classes, 9A is the weakest of the five classes and they will not be part of the bilingual program. 9B, 9C, and 9D are the strongest students in grade 9 and each of these classes will have twenty classes of English per week. I will be teaching English conversation six times a week to each of the 9B, 9C, and 9D classes and four times a week to 9E which is slightly weaker than the bilingual students. As I said, there are three other teachers on the team teaching each of these classes and the other teachers will divide their duties to English grammar, written English, and reading. I am very pleased with all the other teachers I've met to discuss upcoming plans for doing this. They all speak impeccable English and will be very easy to teach with. They have all made it very clear that I'm to do what I want to do, however, I've told them it seems that it would be in the students' best interest if I were to exercise the students in the grammar that the others are teaching so that they're getting drilled in that grammatical lesson. They liked that idea, so that's the way it will be. 

The English department's meeting started off with the Assistant Headmaster (Lecsi whom I met yesterday) welcoming everyone (I think) and giving them guidelines to work by. I say "I think" that's what he said because the entire meeting was conducted in Hungarian. Then Fekete Kati, the head of the English department spoke. She had two pages of things she discussed and the teacher who sa