The past and future events of the Academy through my eyes
When a story reveals its content, it is much easier for everyone to have a clear purpose, vision and desire to become a part of it. The story of Unlimited Coders Academy had everything it needed to start unfolding. By everything I mean energy, enthusiasm and purpose that drew me to it like a magnet. Every step of the way was thoroughly planned yet many things happened spontaneously.
In the hot sun, under the tent in the park, we whispered our idea out loud, and it echoed louder than we expected among the people who were cooling off in the shadows. And when September started to smell like rain and outside the roads were painted in golden, the children's noise filled our classrooms and our hearts. The first half of the year was hectic and full of surprises and challenges.
However, when every corner of my classroom woken up new inspiration in me the events started to lined up. The sweetest moments are always those that are in the informal part of the teaching, outside the books and notebooks, such as drinking tea as Englishmen do, gathering leaves in the park and bringing autumn in the classroom. The celebration of Halloween was a blast, first we read a lot about what it represents and then we put on masks and took tons of pictures. We gave and received gratitude for Thanksgiving, holding hands as befits. We talked a lot about theatre and we opened serious debates about bulling, social issues, business. And in the blink of an eye, Christmas came. The tall Christmas tree stood in the middle of the Academy, Rudolph was everywhere, there was no snow, but everything else was magical. On Christmas Eve, we had a party to remember."We wish you a merry Christmas", "Christams is the season of love", Frosty the snowman", echoed from the children’s hearts and throats.
My agenda was a little hidden, like, without them knowing while we sang "Last Christmas" we practiced the past tense. Every song, every game we played has enriched their vocabulary. “Learning while celebrating” as they said.” Priceless and rewarding at the same time” I said.
To mark the end of the year we drank hot chocolate and ate ginger bread cookies with the adult students, the wonderful people of whom we are particularly proud.
I always desire my working experience to serve as a direction towards which I see education in the Academy where I work. The system of an informal education, studying cultures, traditions, discovering new horizons becomes a challenge when it happens in a foreign language, a language that is spoken by the people in the whole world and yet for some foreign and unknown. So my approach is to learn it like a mother tongue. So why not bring it closer to us in practice, like chapters that complement each other, one ends, another begins.
The second half of the Unlimited Coders Academy’s first academic year will be rich in content that will cheer up the students, relieve them from the daily rigid judgment about their knowledge.
The plan for January is to return to the classroom, which has the smell of coffee and tea and has the warmth of a home.
In February, the lessons will be practical with a lot of useage of the English language, such as “visiting library” simulation classes, having online conversations with native speakers, that is when learning is the most productive. February will be the month of love and companionship.
March will be dedicated to Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin, for the woman, not one but for all women who have changed the world. For those who have trodden a bumpy road and for all who are still bravely and proudly treading for the realization of their ideals and dreams.
In April we will celebrate April Fool's Day and then Easter, it will be a month dedicated to quizzes and puzzles. A month for welcoming guests, when I plan to teach my students two more languages, the sign language and the language of music and dance.
We will dedicate May to all students who will take international exams in order to facilitate their path to their future career, future education or employment.
In June, we will welcome them with the Cambridge certificates in their hands and we will celebrate wildly.
Together with my team which is the wind beneath my wings, I aim to create generations of young people who will think for themselves, who will build a positive attitude, who will learn only to gain knowledge, who will fight for their rights and invest in their future. People who will value themselves. I am on a way of building such a system of education brick by brick because I believe in it sincerely and deeply. That's how I want to leave a mark. The meaning and weight of the message written on the wall in my classroom “The future of the world is in this classroom” is so big and profound. We all stand firmly by it. -Your Teacher Sonja Hristovska