Maturita

"Maturita" is a word that has great importance in Slovakia.  The students are all required to take state leaving examinations in specific subjects in order to graduate from high school.  There are both written and oral portions, and this past week was the final hurdle for our seniors -- the oral Maturitas in at least three subjects.  Since we are a bilingual school, all of our students must pass the Maturita in English.  

The committee of teachers who grade the students included one "neutral" English teacher from another high school, Katka - our English department chair, and Janka - another English staff member (one of Slovak daughters!)  

This green bag holds the wooden disks which determine the random set of topics the student will be tested on.  The numbers 1-30 are on the bottom side.  There are 30 topics which the students must be prepared to discuss, and during the oral Maturita, they will have three tasks involving only three of these 30 topics.  But they have to study them all!!  

Our first student drawing her number.   Some of the possible topics were such things as education, sports, Slovak culture & history, technology, English-speaking countries, health care, jobs and careers, leisure activities, fashion, the arts and entertainment, travel, relationships, English literature, the environment, and housing.  The topics include pretty much anything that anyone would ever want to talk about!!  

After a student draws a number, she has 20 minutes to read the tasks and topics, and prepare some written notes to help in the examination.  The only materials available to use are the English dictionary, maps, and other references on the table.  

While one student begins the examination, the next student begins the preparation time in the corner of the room, so each time slot for testing is also 20 minutes.  The first task is a picture description.  Usually there are 2-4 photos on a page for the student to describe, compare, contrast, and possibly tell a story about or answer some questions about.  The pictures are always connected to each other and to one of the 30 topics.   (5 minutes)

Task #2 is a 10-minute section with several bullet points outlining what the student should consider, discuss, give opinions on, etc., again all related to one of the topics.  The panel of judges may ask follow-up questions which may help the student address all the important aspects of the topic.  (You may notice the small green ribbons that most of the students wore to Maturita --- these were the ribbons presented at the Stužkovás last fall.)

I was really distracted by constant action right outside the window where the students were doing their preparation.  During a break between sessions (five students are examined in one session, then those students are called back into the room and the judges tell them all their marks before the next group of five begin), I opened the window to watch a pair of swifts building their mud nest on the wall!  

Observers are allowed into the examination rooms, and many of the younger students took advantage of the opportunity to see first-hand what the Maturita examinations entail.  

Some more of our younger students observing Maturita exams.  Notice the footwear -- all of our students are required to wear 'slippers' inside the building every day.  It really does keep the building a lot cleaner!  Of course the Maturita students were allowed to wear normal shoes for the examination since they were all dressed in business attire. 

The third task is a role-play situation, involving an American lector as an interlocutor.   This was a new term for us, but it means someone who is a participant in an examination, but who neither receives or gives a score.  Tim and I merely acted out a role in opposition to the student, again related to a topic, and we did our best to help the students do a good job on this task for 5 minutes.  It's probably the easiest portion of the Maturita!  

One of Tim's role-plays was with Zuzka, and he was a reporter interviewing her after a hugely successful gold-medall Olympic performance, so he immediately grabbed the camera and took her picture in front of the Slovak emblem to start out the role-play!!    :-)   LOL!!   

The oral Maturitas were in all subjects, and our bilingual students had to select three subjects, including English of course.  They also had to choose another subject in English, like Math in English, etc.  There was a lot of stress during the four days of Maturita testing, on the part of the teachers as well as the students.  It's a lot of pressure on the students to study and do well to pass, and many of them needed really high marks for university admittance.  The teachers wanted the kids to do well, but they have to maintain rigorous testing standards too.  The English Maturitas lasted for three days, but Tim and I split up the duties as interlocutors so that we could cover the teaching for almost all of our classes.  

After our Maturita duties were completed on Wednesday, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head out for an after-school bike ride.  This is one of the huge "bottle-brush" trees outside the blocks of flats on our street.  We don't know what they are called, but the flowers look like bottle brushes!!  :-)  

We headed towards the Low Tatras, through Okoličné and on to Závažná Poruba, a nearby village.  These fields were beautiful in the late afternoon sunshine  -- potato fields and haystacks!  

Závažná Poruba's Catholic chapel in the foreground, and the Lutheran church up the hill in the background.  

Looking back at the village of Závažná Poruba, in the shadows of Poludnica with storm clouds overhead.  

Before we headed back across the bridge over the Váh River, we stopped for a picture of the Gothic Catholic church in Okoličné, with the High Tatras in the background.  

These iris behind our building remind me of the ones beside our house in Ankeny!  

We even have some yellow iris like this one back in Iowa!  We keep really busy most of the time, but we have tried to guard our one free night of the week, Wednesday, to relax, exercise, and have some mid-week 'down time' for such things as this bike ride!  During the other four weekday evenings, we continue to teach some adult lessons, go to church choir rehearsals, play volleyball (two nights), and Tim plays basketball.  So our unscheduled Wednesdays are precious times! 

Finally, on Thursday at 5:00, there was a baccalaureate / graduation ceremony at the church for our three classes of seniors.  The Headmistress and one of our two deputy headmistresses, plus a representative from the mayor's office were in the front row across from us.  First there was a normal worship service with scripture readings, prayers, hymns, and a sermon.  

Then each class stood at the front as they prepared to receive their student records and graduate.  This is the 5.AP class, starting with Ika.  These students started together five years ago, and they were in the same classroom together almost the entire time, except for such things as science labs and English conversation class when they were split in half for smaller sections.  

Here are the 5.BP's, with Martinko leading off.  Again, most of the students were wearing their green ribbons, which are an important symbol of the honor of taking the Maturitas.  

The Headmistress, the mayor's representative, our school pastor, and the class teacher all presented items to all of the students and congratulated them.

Signatures on paperwork are a big deal here in Slovakia, we've learned, and graduation is no exception.  After receiving their school records, all the students signed an official document.  Katarina, the Slovak daughter who visited us in the U.S. last summer, helped Mirka and all the other students with this official process.  

The next row of the 5.BP class, ready to be announced, and Natalia heading out front.  

When each student's name was read, he would stand in front while accolades were read about personal and academic accomplishments during his school career.  Richard has excellent English and German skills!  

Lenka had to wait a long time while all her accomplishments were read!   :-)  

The Oktáva class, which are the graduating seniors from the 8-year program.  

Zuzka is another outstanding student with many accolades.  

Danka, one of the class teachers, made some touching remarks to the graduates and quoted Ernest Hemingway, and Katka translated into English.  Katarina and Katka had been sitting with Tim and me during the whole service and translating, so that we didn't miss out on anything.  

Martin (in English) and Pavlina (in Slovak) eloquently and graciously thanked the teachers, parents, and school staff. 

And then Janka, the headmistress (at left) and Lenka both gave lovely speeches thanking us for our service at EGJT over the past two years.  It was very touching and emotional.  

We were each presented with a Slovak Bible signed by the graduating senior classes, as well as a mug with a Bible verse.  

Tim and I each thanked everyone, and Lenka translated into Slovak for us.  Thankfully, Pat'ka had warned us that this might happen, and though we really wanted this event to focus totally on the seniors, not us, we were very moved and honored to share this precious time of graduation with our wonderful students!