Hilarious, and yet quite frightening:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461
Also, there are finally some photos on my flickr site for your viewing pleasure.
5 months ago
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Teaching, or finding my hidden stern face
I spent the last couple of weeks finally teaching my own classes, and while I initially thought the pleasure of returning to a classroom would mask any tension or potential embarrassment, I found myself hopelessly over my head.
To be fair, I didn't have any major disciplinary issues and managed to keep everyone in the class and sitting in their seats for the most part, so that was a success. Keeping them interested and forcing them to engage in a class conducted entirely in English is quite another story.
I began each of my classes the same way-- making them play two truths and a lie, which on the whole went pretty well. Each student had to write three sentences about themselves, two true one not and present it. Then, the rest of the class voted on which statement was false. Given that they all have all their classes together, most lies were caught pretty easily. And, most students didn't quite understand that they were trying to trick their classmates, but at least they all spoke. Being the sneaky fool that I am, I managed to convince them all that my family is Morroccan--which I found to be incredibly entertaining given how horribly my French is progressing.
Then, in most of my classes, I moved onto presenting the US election to them, who the candidates are, how the electoral process works, etc... Most of my students got a bit lost and unfocused, but did manage to prove that American globalization is still alive and kicking, as they all knew about Sarah Palin and her knocked-up teenage daughter.
I'm running low on battery, so I'll end here. My parents are coming next week for--can you believe it?--my first vacation. I have almost 2 weeks off starting on Friday, and I've only been teaching for a 7 days! Gotta love la vie francaise!
All my love,
Betsy
To be fair, I didn't have any major disciplinary issues and managed to keep everyone in the class and sitting in their seats for the most part, so that was a success. Keeping them interested and forcing them to engage in a class conducted entirely in English is quite another story.
I began each of my classes the same way-- making them play two truths and a lie, which on the whole went pretty well. Each student had to write three sentences about themselves, two true one not and present it. Then, the rest of the class voted on which statement was false. Given that they all have all their classes together, most lies were caught pretty easily. And, most students didn't quite understand that they were trying to trick their classmates, but at least they all spoke. Being the sneaky fool that I am, I managed to convince them all that my family is Morroccan--which I found to be incredibly entertaining given how horribly my French is progressing.
Then, in most of my classes, I moved onto presenting the US election to them, who the candidates are, how the electoral process works, etc... Most of my students got a bit lost and unfocused, but did manage to prove that American globalization is still alive and kicking, as they all knew about Sarah Palin and her knocked-up teenage daughter.
I'm running low on battery, so I'll end here. My parents are coming next week for--can you believe it?--my first vacation. I have almost 2 weeks off starting on Friday, and I've only been teaching for a 7 days! Gotta love la vie francaise!
All my love,
Betsy
Friday, October 10, 2008
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