Back to school

So my school is very conveniently on a subway line…and then a ten minute hike up a mountain. In high heels. Like a pretty serious hike too. When I first met my co-teachers one of them said it was like a 45 degree angle, I thought he was kidding or exaggerating…he wasn’t. At all. Ok, it’s not that bad the WHOLE way but honestly it is most of the way.

Oh and then my classroom is up four flights of stairs…water and bathroom are both convienently located on the first floor. Sweet.

The English room itself is pretty freaking sweet. I’ve got the only classroom with AC which makes me feel like a bit of a tool but whatever. There were numbers and days of the week and such posted on the blackboards that had been up for years and I found two spelling errors and pulled them all down.

Theres a huge chalkboard with sliding extra pieces and a giant tv built into it.

There are also two side rooms, the first has bookshelves and four computers for student use. The second is walled off but has a window that opens to the main room. It has another computer, tv, more books, and extra tables and chairs in it for like small group work.

The girls seem to like me. They think it’s super fun to all scream “HI TEACHER” because I’ll answer every one of them back usually. I figure I’d rather play along on the hopes it makes them more willing to talk to me. Already it seems to have worked, one of the students on her way home said hi and I said hi back but I don’t like to force them into a conversation they don’t want to have…but she started talking to me and I talked back until she decided to move one…then another student started to talk to me. So I keep playing their game and they seem to enjoy it.

So I have around 24 different classes, about half of them meet bi-weekly. Some of the grade 3 classes (Seniors) only have 12 students, but most of them have 30-16 just like the first grade classes (Freshman/Sophomore). When I’m not teaching I can hang out in the teachers room and have everyone talk about me while I hang out on the computer or I can go upstairs to the English Zone and be anti-social…I find a healthy combination of the two is really helpful. It’s nice to have a chance to destress to some crappy tv upstairs then go downstairs and plan…as long as I don’t waste too much time upstairs.

Luckily/Unluckily my two grades, first and third, are about the same level. There really isn’t much improvement…actually some of my first grade classes are the best. I don’t have to make more than one lesson plan a week because of this but I do need to have a LOT of wiggle room worked in so that I can raise and lower the level per class, even per piece of a lesson.

It’s sad, my lesson this week was fashion. My first class found it fun but easy, my second class…I had one student that had “a sky blue blouse with a burgundy cardigan” and others who didn’t know what jeans, skirts, and t-shirts were. Nor simple colors like black or white. Very sad and hard to work with.

Fun story: One of the girls was drawing a character from something… I really have no idea what but it was like a freaking mermaid or something. Whatever. Anyway she asked one of the girls to help her label the picture. I walked over and saw “Bitch Queen” and almost pissed myself. If you think about it though, beach> beech> bich> bitch…yeah it kinda made sense, we love our random silent letters in English…and that aspiration almost gives it a “t” sound, especially the way they pronounce it. You get the picture.

Anyway I’ve got some awesome classes and some HORRIBLE ones and it all seems to depend on the co-teacher and what they let them get away with…so naturally I now HATE some coteachers for being lazy (like the one who doesn’t even show up for class…yeah slight language barrier) and absoluetly worship others because they work so well with the girls AND keep them in line AND the girls still like them AND they’re ACTUALLY HELPING THE GIRLS…That’s a story for another day though.