We decided to
teach the older boys who have been helping the English volunteers run the camps
for several years now. When we first met the boys they were 14/15 and now they
are between 15-18. It’s been
really strange seeing them grow up and change every time we see them (one of
the lads is now married and living with his wife!). Being a teenager in the
village is difficult, there is very little for them to do and without support from their parents there is nobody to drill in the importance of
getting an education to them. Three of the boys have now dropped out of school
and have very limited options available to them. In the four days we had spare
me and Alice took them out of the village for a couple of days to teach them a
little bit of English.
For our first
English lesson we took the four lads, Lapi, Vergin, Gyozo and Feri to a beer
garden and played pool to break the ice as we wanted it to be relaxed. We tried
getting them to only speak English but that didn’t work very well whilst
playing pool! So decided to go back to ‘proper’ teaching and gave them all a
pad of paper and pens. It was great to see them writing and really taking care.
Gyozo ripped up his piece of paper about 5 times as it wasn’t neat enough for
him!
The walk back to
the village was the highlight of the day. The lads had got confidence in
speaking English at this point. Everything we passed we pointed at and told
them the word in English and practised what we'd taught them already - sit down, stand
up etc. It was amusing them suddenly stopping or sitting when we said something!
What was even better was Gyozo shouting ‘What’s the problem’ across the street
at a stranger. Luckily not many people speak English in Tirgu Mures (or don’t let on that they do anyway!).
The next few
days of teaching them went well. I tried out my skills as a TEFL teacher and
made little cards and got them to match them up to make sentences. It was going
well until a gust of wind blew them all off the table! Despite trying our best
to get them speaking in English it was conversations about girls, drinking or
smoking that got them all talking – typical lads! It was great to see them
taking in an interest in learning and even though we might not have taught them
as much as we’d like, it’s more than they knew before and got them more
confident in speaking English. Lapi and Vergin the older two lads, knew a bit
of English but would never speak it so that was progress in itself! Vergin was
even reading his notes on the walk down into town one day, which was really
nice to see, as he'd been one of the quieter ones on the first day and we
weren't sure if he'd return for day 2!
For our last
lesson we took them to see Batman in English with Romanian subtitles. I don’t
think they had ever been to the cinema before. It’s little things like that,
which we take for granted in the UK but it’s a real treat to them. Felt like
such a mum buying them popcorn and drinks. We asked them if they enjoyed it and
Gyozo looked really annoyed, he said he didn’t like it because Batman died so
when we told him he didn’t he decided he did like it after all!
Vergin, Lapi, Feri, Alice and Gyozo at the cinema :-)
Me and Alice
booked a couple of days in Budapest. After we booked it we realized there was a
big festival, the Sziget festival on at the same time so we decided to go to
that while we were there. I got a really cheap deal on a 5 star hotel, which
was actually cheaper than most hostels so we couldn’t pass up on the
opportunity! We enjoyed the 5 star luxury and all the touristy things around
Budapest before heading to the festival. If you’re ever in Budapest Sziget festival is a must.
Good bands, cheap beer, great location and a lack of festival idiots – what’s
not to like?!
That's me and Alice with our Hungarian (not Italian) festival hats
On a bar suspending in the air on a crane (sorry Alice!)
After a
horrendous plane journey back (see cheap beer reference and above pictures), we returned to the
village for a day to relax before the second group of volunteers arrived. The second summer camp is the one I usually come for. The same kids go on the camp until they get too old and I've looked after the same boys for three years now. As soon as I saw them in the village they told me who else was going to be in our cabin this year!
Well, this has turned out to be quite long so I'll stop now! I'll post the final part of what should really be a book soon...
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