My brain is full!! I think I need to find a new way to relax and take it all in, and then try to figure it all out. Tomorrow is supposed to be a test for the university students. The other teacher and I misunderstood what the test was supposed to cover, so we told the students that Unit 4 Lesson 1-4 was all that was going to be on it. As it turns out, the dean has put all of Units 1-3 on as well! There is no way we can give that test to them, so we are going to postpone that test until next week. This means that we need to make (set) a test tomorrow morning when we arrive at the college. I just hope it is enough time. This also means that I have to come up with something to teach them in the afternoon. I was not supposed to have to teach as the test was supposed to last all day and then they go home; but now it will be a shorter test and they will stay!
The vets/engineers had their test today (except for group 3 which will take it tomorrow as well). I have to read through and make sure the answer key is correct, and I have already found 3 errors and I am not even halfway through it yet. After finishing the answer key, I have to do the correcting of the multiple choice, and then I have to read the "100 -150" word essays on their favorite vacation. They went a little overboard and wrote whole pages, some front and back. I was expecting only 10 - 20 sentences (depending on the length). One of them asked if the prepositions counted as words! I had to laugh to myself about that one.
With so much marking to do, I, along with the rest of the staff, left early to go to the other school the company runs. This is a primary school up to grade 8. I believe they will be moving into secondary as well next year. They lower grades were having their annual Spring Concert. They performed music and dances from different cultures and even had a miniture fashion show as well. This fashion show was done to Christmas music, so I was a little confused by that, but all in all, it was a fun time.
On a slightly different note, it seems that I have two or three phrases that I say a lot. Today I was writing on the board and put in ellipses. When I did this, one of my students said "blah, blah, blah". Apparently I often use this phrase when I write ellipses. Another student was telling me how she now uses "oh my gosh!" at home. Her mother (an English teacher) asked her what it meant, and the student replied "I don't know, but my teacher always says it." And now her brother is using it as well. It is amazing how much impact we have on the students' thoughts and the words they use. But it is not only the students; the dean has also picked up on one of my overuses: 'whatever!' I use this after listening to the way things are being done, and what they say because I know that it will probably change within the next day or so anyway; I have learned one must go with the flow here..
The president of the company stopped by to observe my class today. This unannounced visit was not a good one for me. I was so nervous! AND after I told my students to not use the dictionaries for the exercise, the one he was standing directly behind opens hers! I was walking around seeing how people were doing and when I came to the desk next to hers, the president said "you said not to use dictionaries." All I could do was look at the student and let her know she had done something wrong. I felt like and idiot. I guess these things happen though.
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