Teach and Learn with Georgia

Apart from being an unmatched adventure and experience in cultural immersion, the opportunity to teach in Georgia with Teach and Learn with Georgia jump-started my career in education. My host family and community were all so welcoming and helpful.

The historic and natural sites in Georgia are stunning. There are castles, mountians, and waterfalls. The food is amazing: Megruli khartcho soup and cheese, ghomi, barbecue, khinkali dumplings, eggplant and bean dishes, satsivi soup, khatchapuri filled bread, and of course Georgian wine. And it's all even better at the many Georgian "supras," meaning "table," that you will feast at.

I stepped out of my comfort zone in going to Georgia, but learned so much about the world, and it changed my life for the better. Thank you, TLG!

I have had some of the best time of my life living and traveling in this country. I have had the chance to experience their wonderful hospitality, cuisine, music and dances.
This experience can be both rewarding and frustrating at times but the good however outweighs the bad.
The lack of interest in some students can be discouraging, but I do my best to encourage them to want to learn more be it with the English club or games we play in the classroom.
This program offers a unique experience.

I was in the summer 2011 group, and after 9 of us were left with no contact at Tbilisi airport,we finally made our way to Kutaisi-I had not slept in 30 - yes 30- hours,then they gave us 2 hours to sleep and then I and my group were supposed to meet with the Minister of Education-and no one awakened me; staff was in general like this, somewhat of a fiasco. They gave minimal Kartuli(Georgian)language lessons and the cultural awareness was redundant for many who had as myself lived-taught throughout the world already.

Staff were much less world - teaching - language expertise aware than many participants.They were really bothersome to say the least, unprofessional in not a few ways.

That said I had a SUPER GOOD family;I speak Russian and I had no trouble anytime getting around and spoke at home in Russian-my father was a former mayor and mother, maths teacher. I STILL am close to them and love them.

I know the TLG people were trying to do something good but I think all of us, at least the people in the program I knew-consider the high turnover staffers about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Nowadays I know the president of the country is not "Mischa Saakashvili", but Ivanishvili who favours the way things used to be before Georgia took independence. So I could not say what augurs for the possibilities of the program today. I would say if a person speaks Russian (I am native speaker of American English) then it will go very easily, just play along with the "matriculation", simplistic as it may be- then get with your family.

I found the people 99 percent of everyone in Sakhartvelo(Georgia) GREAT. Only one taxi driver, a Romansch Tsigan(Gypsy) tried to rip me off in Batumi once but otherwise I can't think of one bad person or experience as a trainer there.I got burned out on cheese bread but to say it tastes exquisite is to say the least. Other foods were good; especially sauces which are truly gourmand. I tend to vegetarian which they sort of chuckled at but overall the food was good.

Yes, and I learned to make wine and harvested grapes that autumn; we harvested just part of the crop and it was 300 kilos;it is a beautiful memory.And don't forget the cha cha (pure distilled alcohol). I really didn't drink but a tiny glass but it has a punch!

I cannot tell you how beautiful Adjara region is.We're talking picture postcard beauty.I will return, my own parents died years ago and I consider the family there my mother and father, for real and I can stay-live there anytime. People do not exaggerate when the speak of Georgians' hospitality.

If I were running the program I would get rid of 90 percent of the staff-training and have just a couple of professional, seasoned liaisons to run the show.

I would recommend this only to certain individuals. The groups have had fresh out of college kids who treat it like a frat party on spring break. It is NOT and they are a freakin' embarrassment to the states(where I am from).If a person has language(s), and teaching credentials(I mean specifically ESL Certs as I have ) - then by all means go. Otherwise I'd say probably no to the average person merely seeking fun and travel.

Again I love my family there and I will return and TLG made it possible - I am grateful to them for that.

Georgia has been a wonderful experience. The people are very friendly and welcoming. Most of the villages and schools are just excited that they have an English speaker and are very cooperative. Georgia has its share of discomforts: most volunteers are placed in smaller villages (mine has about 1000 people); bathroom facilities are low tech, which means showers once a week and sometimes Turkish toilets; schools are limited in what materials they have, expect little to no technology used in classrooms. All of that said, the people more than make up for these minor discomforts! Everybody in my village talks to me when we meet. I've received three bouquets of flowers this week already and I got more apples and nuts than I could eat during the fall. The teachers in my school got some useful phrases translated and hung them in our coffee room. And it's always great to hear kids improve their reading and become more confident. The little boys I live with delight in using their English, like yelling from the bathroom "I want toilet paper!" to saying "Let's go!" as we leave the house. Even now they are hovering around, asking me what I'm doing. I would not trade my time in Georgia for anything.

A note about Reach to Teach. Compared to the other volunteers in my orientation group, I felt very prepared regarding all paperwork (medical documentation, contracts, etc.) I had everything I needed with me.

I lived with a great family in a nice house. My town was not too far from Tbilisi, which I enjoyed. Being able to escape easily was pretty essential, as things to do in the town were very limited.
My teaching experience did not give me much teaching experience, though. Not very much was expected of me in the classroom which at first was a relief because I had had no prior experience, but I wish I had come away feeling more comfortable in front of a class. My co-teachers and principal were very nice and welcoming and did their best to make me comfortable.
The 11th group, which arrived at the end of January 2011, was a great group. I am still in contact with some of them, and there was usually something to do on a weekend. My stipend was enough to visit Tbilisi or somewhere else around the country almost every weekend.