Second class went much better today. I am relieved. I hope I am not going too far in saying that I have given them some hope that my classes will be somehow different from what they are used to. First class went fine, but I am a bit worried about my inability to communicate with them.

One thing that made me feel so good in class is that I got many of them to smile. I don’t know how many Polish teachers even do that.

A few words on the Polish education system: It seems that most teachers (in the past anyway) never treat students with respect. In fact, some of the things I’ve heard about border on contemptuousness. Many of the teachers ridicule students. I hope that my different (hopefully respectful) approach will yield good results. I want to help these kids–maybe this will help.