Work Work Work

Quick note- I can’t post pictures on this site anymore. The last two times that I have tried it messes up other programs. I have absolutely no idea how or why this happened, but it is just too frustrating. Both times, I tried typing in Google Chat and my text was entered backwards. My friend thought that I was taking a lot of time to play an elaborate joke and type everything backwards. Not so. After the second time my everything got all jumbled up, I decided to upload my pictures on an online site. I opened a Flickr account. If you want to see my pictures, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinesenewyeardragon/ Sorry for the inconvenience!

So far, teaching has been a pleasantly different experience this year. I had a great time last year, don’t get me wrong, but it is nice to have a bit of a change. Variety is the spice of life. The different courses keep me on my toes. It has been a lot of fun going back and remembering all of those details of American history that have been filed away in the dusty nooks of brain to make room for all of the more recent and/or more pressing information. I am wrapping up the “American” section of my English Countries Survey course next week. For their midterm, I divided them into groups and assigned each group a different decade of the 20th Century. I am curious to see how this goes. I left it up to them to decide what information they were going to include. It will be exciting to learn about the last 100 years in terms of what they think is interesting or noteworthy.

My students themselves are a different crowd this year. They are all second or third year students, so I can see the maturity difference. They are a little less easily entertained, but a little less giggly, so it all balances out. I have a wide range of names from the edible (Nut, Ice Cream, Kiwi, Carmel) to the weather related (Blizzard, Snow, Rain, Sunny, Water) to the flowery (Rosy, Lily, Violet, Ivy, Daisy, Flora) to the classic (Sparticus, Athena, Venus) to the random (Rallo, Element, Jark, Wing, Joery, Solen, Sanchez, Joya, Zuro). I even have a student named Capricious. She had a “boring” English name, but wanted something more interesting so she opened a dictionary and pointed. Capricious it was! I don’t have an office this year, so I don’t hold office hours. This has made it a little more difficult to get to know some of my students. I am getting there, slowly but surely.

My classroom this year is very different form last year. Instead of having a bunch of desks, my students each have a cubicle with their own computer screen. It is nice that they can see any notes or pictures that I use, but it makes it a lot harder to have the students interact. When I try to have them get in groups, they are forced to look over barriers or converse with someone far down the row. My “command” center is much easier for me to use and I have access to the internet and a DVD player right in my room. A picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes a video clip is even better.

There is this older gentleman who is kind of the Keeper of the Keys for the building. He comes around before class to make sure the room is open and that the computer system is up and running. I was never told his name, but most of the students refer to him as a “nice uncle”. He also has the worst toupee I have ever seen. His English is about as good as my Chinese, so we can communicate on a very basic level. The other day, after booting up the system for me he said, “You teach English like a dance!” He then proceeded to wave his arms and sway like an orchestra conductor who was also a bit of a ballerina. I guess my energy and flailing limbs are obvious even with the door closed…

---

---