October 20, 2010: Parent/Teachers meeting at Ujpest

October 20, 2010: After school today there was an English department meeting to discuss a problem one of the teachers identified in that the syllabuses of the three bilingual English classes are all different and that it would be far more effective and easier for those of us who teach all three of these classes to have one standard syllabus to use rather than the three. Discussion became quite animated, but because of the pending parent/teacher meeting, the meeting was ended and a follow up meeting will occur next week. 

Today was parent/teachers day at Ujpest High School. Teachers were stationed in their offices or adjoining rooms to meet with any parents that wanted to discuss the progress (or lack thereof) of their sons/daughters. I was stationed in a room next to my office with my fellow teacher, David who also served as a translator in case a parent wanted to talk with me. We waited in that room for 45 minutes before the father I had met at last Sunday's 9C picnic visited us. After discussing the progress of his son, I lent him the JPL video and he showed me the latest copies of Astronomy Today that he subscribes to. There were a lot of great articles in that magazine and of course several of them had images created at JPL.  He also told me that the sludge cleanup efforts are proceeding on schedule -- slow but on schedule. It was great to have met him again.


Soon after he left, a deluge of parents started to arrive. I'm very pleased to say that I could recall each of their sons (except for one) when the parents gave me their son's name. Fortunately the parents who came all had sons who were performing well in class. (But, of course it would be the parents of good students who attend a parent/teacher night since the poorer students may have parents who aren't as concerned about the progress (or lack thereof) of their children!) I enjoyed talking with them all and assured them all that their sons are good boys and fun to teach, and that their sons are making good progress but perhaps could study a bit more. There were several parents who were proficient in English; in fact one mother was so fluent I asked her what she did and she told me she was an adult English teacher. 

At any rate, it was fun to have met the parents of some of my students, and it was great to hear that their boys tell them that they enjoy my class. It was also a great opportunity for me to remind the parents that their sons have a research project on a US National Park and will have to give a two minute presentation in front of class about their park the beginning of November. Fortunately, many of the parents already knew this, so there apparently is some communication going on at home.


The last of the parents left at around 6:30, so you can see it was a long day for me. But it was a day that helped me understand the boys' home environment. Several of the boys are being raised by single mothers who work late hours and selected Ujpest High School because of the number of male teachers who they want to influence their fatherless sons. Others told me that they had selected (or their sons selected) Ujpest because of the bilingual program, realizing that their sons have the prospect of having a better career knowing English. Still others told me that they had selected Ujpest because of the strong English department. No matter what the reason, it was nice to know that the school I'm teaching at is valued by the parents whose sons attend school there. So much for another day learning about the Hungarian educational system.