Daddy goes back to school.

20251108

This week I got involved with the schools again. We gave some money to Zorianna’s school, which they immediately put to use.

The English teacher that quit had been making $7.50 per hour. She left on some pretext to the effect that she didn’t get along with a first-grade student and she didn’t like being told by the head of school how to handle the kid. I suspect that if she had been being paid more she would found it harder to leave.

At any rate, with the money we have committed to the school they are able to offer $10 an hour. It was enough to attract another teacher, who begins next week. We hope it works.

By the way, that teacher is going to teach the standard Ukrainian curriculum on Mondays and Fridays. They want a native speaker, which turns out to be me, to do a speaking class on Wednesdays.

I showed up on Wednesday, on short notice and having received no guidance. I brought a page of nursery rhymes and songs. The six kids, grades 1 through 3, were rambunctious. I nevertheless observed that their kidding around was in English, which probably serves the pedagogic purpose. Though it was a bit chaotic, I think they got something out of it.

I met with Irena, the head of the school, today and talk about next week. It is still not a very precise plan. I’m going to bring two Dr. Seuss books, The Cat in The Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. The beauty of these books is that they have a very small vocabulary – about 400 words. Five of the six kids in the school speak English to some extent, whether by previous school here or by private tutors or speaking at home.

Only one kid, young Max in the second grade, has little exposure to English. Two of the third-graders, my Zoriana and Sophia, have enough English that they will be able to read these two books. So, my plan will be to start to reading myself, but to then let the big kids do some of the reading, and also let them explain to young Max who will not know what all the vocabulary is exactly what the words mean.

I did pretty well with Max last Wednesday. I know enough Ukrainian, and there is enough similarity between our Russian and Ukrainian, that I was able to explain things adequately. I’m sure that he will not remember the vocabulary, but repetition is the key. If he hears it from me and the other kids, he will have it figured out in good time.

I remember the travails of getting my now 43-year-old son Jack to study French when it was offered in the boutique private school he attended. I will say, charitably, that St. Patrick’s Episcopal School never expected the kids to be able to converse in French, and of course they never could. Despite exposure throughout K-12, it was not until college that he could converse with me in French. For elementary school, it was obviously a vanity project. English is more important here than French was there, and I think these kids are doing pretty well for their age.

I was pleased that Irena was able to converse with me quite comfortably for half an hour when she dropped by our house. My Russian is a little bit better than her English. She is an intelligent woman and we get along fine.

Her husband Eugene (Zhennya) is a real gem. I told her that she had done extremely well to pick him. I heard her story today. They went to university together, where he was not quite as good at the exams as she was, and the University was going to separate them. However, she insisted that they stay in the same class. She knew what she wanted.

I don’t know what Zhennya’s problems were passing exams, but when I talk to him about financial matters and look at the spreadsheets that he did, I think that the guy’s a genius. Anyhow, she had very good sense to stick around to make sure he was the one. I hope my girls do as well in choosing a man. That is the topic of the speech I am giving this morning.

Zoriana should be well situated for the third and probably the fourth grade. More than that, this is a school that Marianna should be able to attend as well for four grades. This is important to me - her birthday is just after the pubic school cutoff, but I would like to see her enter first grade next year.

Sunflower School’s enrollment is up from four until seven thus since the beginning of the year. I’m pleased that I’m able to do something meaningful to help. My contribution can be significant because money goes a long way here.

Eddie is another story. He, as you know, is on the math Olympic team where he does very well. But he does not like language. I have been bugging him for years to show me something, anything, that he has written in either English or Ukrainian. He has refused.

When the Ukrainian teacher, Maria, called Oksana to tell her that Eddie was not being very attentive in class and not completing assignments, I was not surprised. Oksana asked me to deal with it. I told her please, let’s not triangulate. Let me take over and be the primary contact for Maria.

Teachers here have not wanted to deal with me. My Ukrainian is poor. I’m better than I used to, but still don’t understand it well. I know from years of experience that teachers can be a bit standoffish with fathers in any case. A somewhat deaf old foreigner who does not speak the language well is a challenge they would rather not deal with, but I’m going to force the issue on them. If they want somebody do something with Eddie, I’m the one they need to talk to.

When I phoned Maria yesterday, it was interrupting a class. She did not comprehend that she should not pour Ukrainian at me a mile a minute. I tried to convey that if she wants to complain to somebody, I’m the guy, but I don’t think she got the message.

The telephone having failed, I wrote to her via the school’s general email. I said that the I agree that Eddie needs to do more. While the emphasis in Ukrainian, as in Russian instruction, is always on grammar, my emphasis is on simply writing something. Anything. In any case, you can’t use grammar if you don’t write. Our interests coincide.

I offered to meet with her. I doubt she will be thrilled at the prospect, but I’ll attempt to charm her. I’m glad she wants to do something with Eddie, and to be effective she needs to meet with me. I’ll report how it turns out.

That’s the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the strong man has temporarily whittled down his to-do list. Ordered a replacement taillight from Germany to replace the one I broke. Oksana should know better than to ask me to drive when I don’t really like it. We are wrestling with getting some stuff through customs. The book on the Silk Road was the last review I had to complete. The kids are all happy in school, and we are practicing Christmas carols.

Graham