Ugh. Woke up at quarter-to-seven, sluggishly roamed about the apartment for a few minutes, then went to work. Did prep for my first class of new students (5 teenage girls, low level). It was alright, but the book might as well not exist for all they understand. The material is just too advanced for them. (The same holds true for the class I have in 25 minutes: teenagers, intermediate level.) Oh, and they followed me around on break. I'm really getting sick of this attention, and the giggling and stupidity and prodding for my email, MSN, cell number (what cell??), zodiac sign (I shit thee not), Chinese birth year, phone number, etc. FOOOOOOK OFFFFOn top of that, for this next class I'm at the end of unit 4 of 8 with only 6 or 7 classes of 20 so far. Yeah... the teacher who did a 'midnight run' did not bother to pace his lessons, so now I'm somewhat screwed. I'll have to create a revision chapter myself, devise a unit for 2 or 3 lessons that doesn't exist in the book, and then move back to normal lesson pacing - 2.5 classes, or 5 hours, per 12-page unit. Torture. T-O-R-T-U...
Additionally, I haven't eaten anything yet today. I'm running on a litre of water and 3 cups of coffee... which does nothing since I built up a caffeine immunity in high-school. Grrr...
Aw well. Finish off this next 2 hour block and I'm the hell outta Dodge (aka the school) for 2 days. Weds is a training day, but I need the morning for full week prep, then I have a test class on Thurs and Fri, both 'high-flyers' (7-9 year olds). Only 1.5 hours each class, though. That said... they're the worst bunches of kids, apparently. I don't mean their English level. I mean as kids. They're from the deepest abyss in Hell. Satan doesn't even want them there. So I've been told. Trial by Fire, I guess.
Then my usual Saturday/Sunday routine of classes.
I just want to head home and write a few long emails to those who are due them, watch a few episodes of Lost (season 1) and do some writing. Oh, and sleep. And eat.
Someone send me some mental energy, please.
---5:51pm update---
I survived. My afternoon class was awesome, and I somehow sustained my energy through the 2 hours. I went home right after, getting in around 4pm. I then watched 2 episodes of Lost and did a bit of email correspondence as spoken of above. Oh, edited in my Conversation class picture.
2 comments:
LOL!
Welcome to the realities of teaching! It's too bad you're only there for 6 months or so... The first year you teach a course is always a nightmare, because you either need to write the lesson plan from scratch, or else modify someone else's. The 2nd time you run a course is typically much more satisfying course prep and course material wise.
As for the attention... Hey, interacting with a foreigner is a big deal for some of these kids... So patience, young Jedi.... (But yeah, I wouldn't be giving my personal info to young students either...)
Enjoy your break and... don't forget to eat your breakfast next time! ;-)
PG
I'll be running about 2 courses of a class in 6 months. For my summer classes, I've already gone through a few full classes and started others. We have books and lots of resources, so lesson planning isn't all that painful unless you have the early learners, Noddy kids or high-flyers. ... which actually only leaves the trailblazers (teenagers) and EF adults, both of which seem to be my 'forte', or preferred assignment from the Director of Studies. He's not giving me many kids classes given my age and background, which suits me.
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