English Olympics

Monday started bright and early with me subbing for a 1st hour class.  Then, for the next 5 periods, Tim and I both helped judge the school English Olympics.  It is a preliminary round to select representatives to go on to a regional competition.  There were three levels:  the younger students, the older students, and those who have spent at least 4 months living in an English speaking country.  There were also three tasks for each level - a written exam on grammar, usage, etc., and two oral exams.  Tim and I actually selected and prepared the oral portions for all three levels last week.  First there is a picture/photo description, which for the younger ones is simply describing the scene, what is going on, etc., but for the more advanced categories, they are supposed to actually create a story about what happens before and after the picture occurs.  Then the second oral part is a role-play, with the American lector playing one part!  That made us a little nervous, since the success of a student rested partially on our ability to keep the ball rolling!  It was pretty intense all day, but a lot of fun to hear what the students came up with.  After finishing at 1:00, we walked to the canteen for lunch then came back to teach two more periods.  It was a long day!!  

After school I got a lot done at home --- 2 loads of laundry, putting up our little live Christmas tree, making an Advent wreath out of the branches Pat'ka sent home with us and the candles Katarina gave us Monday, and getting caught up on emails, Facebook, and the current DM Register.

The real Christmas tree and the Advent wreath!!  

Today we each subbed some more - lots of teachers gone for field trips today - then we had our Slovak lesson, stopped at the grocery store on the way home, ate a quick supper, I had an English student (Eva, who drove us to the train after the concert Sunday!), and Eva joined us again this week for volleyball at our school.   We had one too many people, so I sat out one game and kept score out loud for everyone --- in Slovak!!  :-)  I was pretty proud of myself.  LOL!!

It has still been snowing a little almost every day, so everything looks clean and white.  In some places the sidewalks are well shoveled, but in others, the snow just gets packed down as everyone trudges over it.  One of our colleagues broke her arm falling on the ice this weekend - we are being very careful!!  :-)