"Teacher Mara"

Today was my first day of "teaching". I'm actually a tutor, the teacher takes students out of the class in order to speak English with me. It's a lot of fun. Since today was our first day, and the teacher didn't know that we were scheduled to come, we did not have a chance to observe any classrooms yet and will do that on Tuesday. All the students that I had today were the better ones, they all spoke English extremely well. My first group of students (all two of them) were in 6th grade. When they first came in, my roommate and I simply began speaking with them, what they liked/didn't like, both of their parents' were from Russia and thus both knew a little Russian as well. I asked them if they liked living in Akko and they quickly responded no. When I asked them why the girl simply said because there are monkeys here. (Monkey is a derogatory term for Arabs.) I was really surprised that a 6th grader would say such a thing- especially one with immigrant parents. She went on to describe how much she disliked these "Monkeys" in Akko, yet it was clear that she wasn't saying anything with content. Although this could have been because she didn't know the words in English, I'm doubtful of that naivety.

Despite being a little culture shocked with the derogatory name, everything else went extremely smoothly. Throughout the day I helped students write letters to their American pen-pals, we drew pictures of monsters and described what was on their face (i.e. eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, nose etc.), and we made up stories about what we have and do not have: learning the difference between have and has.

Their school day is set up completely different from what I remember elementary school to be like. They have two lessons for 45 minutes each and then have a half hour break. During this break they are allowed anywhere on the school grounds. The school is set up in a square with a small court yard in the middle. The court yard has a small basketball court, hopscotch, and a few other games drawn on the ground. During break the students run throughout the courtyard and along the hallway. After their half hour break the "bell" rings. It is actually not a bell but rather part of a song. After first I thought this was a great idea, but after listening to it all day I could see it getting extremely annoying. After the break there are another two 45 minute classes, half hour break, and another two 45 minute classes. I think it's a nice way to break up the day. There is no "lunch break" or "recess" like we have in America, since school ends at 1:45 there is no need to serve lunch during school- most students will eat at home. This, I think is weird, I guess it shows the independence of Israeli culture, because even the smallest kids, go home around 1:45 or 2:00, whether someone is at home or not.