Backtrack

In individualized lessons, we were instructed to read a short story about a boy named Fredya Ribkin who attempted to do his homework one winter day, but was distracted by the radio. It was slightly discouraging that the verbs (glagoli) were so challenging to read; there were many intimidating "ya-l-c-ya"s reflexive verbs, and so on...with plenty of unfamiliar vocabulary, but only through practice will our reading skills get better.

Through the day, we focused on the passage. It was a bit sad finding out last Friday, that we would sing only a small portion of Katuysha in Russian, because it's an amazing song in Russian, but at least all the AFS students will work on the performance together. We spend time together, and that's always a good thing. Also, who knows? Perhaps the song will be more fun when sung in different languages.

Back to today's events, we had an unexpected surprise in the English classes today. It was a flashback to 6th grade. Avril Lavinge's "Sk8ter Boi" played today, while the 8th graders analyzed the lyrics. I found it funny, because this was the song I wanted to originally sing during my 6th grade talent show, but the principal banned it because she believed it talked about teenage pregnancy...no comment on that. Anyhow, the 8th graders read their Oxford English textbook while an off-beat cover of the original song played. I found myself humming along.

Afterward, the 10th graders had their English class, where we spent a period just conversing in English. They were really friendly, although a bit shy. It's natural, I suppose, but the students speak English very well--better than they think they do.

However, my favorite part of the day was time with my sister Ira. In Russia, they have convenient electronic kiosks where you can pay for your internet, phone, TV, and misc bills. There was one located in a supermarket, and another in a bank. Ira helped me add money to my phone balance after school, and then we spent a good hour walking around the neighborhood. Sure, the skies were grey and it was cloudy, but we had a nice break from the recent rains.