STRESS!!

It was another stressful day. I had the professional students again, but at least this time I had a book to work with! We talked about where we would want to go, and what we would want to do there. We also talked about nationalities, languages, and how they compare to the name of the country. It started to get a little interesting when they decided we needed to talk about the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England...plus the Commonwealth! I thought I was going to go absolutely nuts answering these questions (The Netherlands/Holland was an interesting one as well). I think they like it well enough for now; we will see if this changes.

My university students are another story. The other teacher is doing CVs with them, and so the dean wants me to do it with my class. I think the other teacher can do it when she comes in; this will be better for both of us. I do not want to teach it, and she feels it is important (part of why I don't want to teach it is that I don't agree with the way she is doing it, and they want it to be uniform).

During my last period with them today, I felt like I was pulling teeth. They were definitely not paying attention. I asked a question directly from the book and got no response. I said the answer and repeated it twice (3 times total). I then asked the question again. I received the same blank stares. I told them the answer three times again and re-asked the question. Again nothing. I looked at them, told them "this is the answer!" and repeated the answer three more times. I asked the question one more time....I still had students who were totally lost. I went out of the room and beat my head against the wall...the students of course laughed at this, and we moved on. It seems we are all getting a little distracted as the weather gets warmer and many people are getting sick... I hope I do not catch whatever it is that is going around.

Tonight I have to finish writing the test for tomorrow. We were told that the company would have these tests for us and that we would have it by today. The test seems not to exist. I am not one who really likes to make tests, but I suppose someone has to do it. I also just found out that they do have the periodic test for book 2 (the one we just did last Thursday). We were told that we wouldn't have to redo this, but now it looks like we will. I am not very happy about this, and the students will not be either.

I suggested that we make the makeup test mandatory and use that test for the makeup. Perhaps that is what they will do. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this newest "fiasco."