So I only had one student in my first class today, the female one, so we gt to talk abut shoes and shopping and music and movies to our hearts content.
There's a little kid trying to read this over my shoulder right now. I wonder if he understands enough English for me to be able to tell him that this is very rude.
I'm between classes at the moment and I just tried to get online in the placement test room. The lady in charge was not very happy with me. She took one look at my jeans and said "You're not a teacher here are you?"
Yes, I'm being a rebel today and wearing jeans. Yes, I know this is fully against the rules, but I'm sorry, it's just too hot to wear those hellish sweat factories otherwise known as polyester dress pants today. I'll get back on the straight and narrow tomorrow. Maybe.
Love and peace or else,
~C
P.S.
I'm having some issues with Abba recently. I feel like I haven't been spending enough time with him recently but everytime I try it's really awkward. And I'm not sure exactly what's wrong or what to do abut it. Anyway, if you guys could be thinking of me I'd be greatful.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The game:
1. Grab the nearest book to you.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
From "The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern" by Lilian Jackson Braun
He frowned with displeasure as she went on talking about cats and grinding nutmeg into their cocktails. "Now tell me all about your moustache" Cokey said. "I suppose you said it's terrible glamorous."
"I raised this crop in Britian during the war," said Qwilleran, "as a camoflage."
"I like it."
1. Grab the nearest book to you.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
From "The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern" by Lilian Jackson Braun
He frowned with displeasure as she went on talking about cats and grinding nutmeg into their cocktails. "Now tell me all about your moustache" Cokey said. "I suppose you said it's terrible glamorous."
"I raised this crop in Britian during the war," said Qwilleran, "as a camoflage."
"I like it."
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Harry Potter 5
That's what my students want to watch in class tomorrow.
Now half of me wishes I had been able to pick something overtly moral. But the other half of me is proud that my students enjoy this aspect of American culture (especially considering the last time we tried something like this all I got was, "U2 is nice, but I like hip-hop." *shudder*)
For some odd reason, my school only allows 3 days off for Khmer New Year which means, in effect, the teachers have to show up but precious few of the students will. 6 students showed up to my 5:30 class, which is how we arrived at the Harry Potter decision. None of my three students came to my 3:30 class so I went to get a new seat for my bike since my old one was broken and...uncomfortable. So I got directions from the moto guard and, after getting lost only thrice, I managed to find the right market, which was, of course still completely shut down. So I drove back to Sihanouk Blvd where I had seen tons of moto shops, thinking that surely someone would have a bike seat. The first shop said no, the second said to check next door and another shop about 500 metres down the road. The shop next door didn't have them. 500 metres later, shops one and two were fresh out. In shop three, someone was apparently having a seizure in the middle of the floor. I tried to ask if there was any way I could help but they didn't get it and didn't seem to want anyone outside the family to be involved (Cambodians are like that), so I asked Abba to help them and went to the next shop. They not only had a bike seat, they had a cushy one. It was $4. They tightened my brakes and readjusted my seat height too. And they spoke English and had a nice dog. It was an unexpectedly good day.
Incidentally, watching Scrubs right after the season finale of Grey's Anatomy is an interesting juxtaposition. I recommend it.
I Need a Hero,
Cleo
Now half of me wishes I had been able to pick something overtly moral. But the other half of me is proud that my students enjoy this aspect of American culture (especially considering the last time we tried something like this all I got was, "U2 is nice, but I like hip-hop." *shudder*)
For some odd reason, my school only allows 3 days off for Khmer New Year which means, in effect, the teachers have to show up but precious few of the students will. 6 students showed up to my 5:30 class, which is how we arrived at the Harry Potter decision. None of my three students came to my 3:30 class so I went to get a new seat for my bike since my old one was broken and...uncomfortable. So I got directions from the moto guard and, after getting lost only thrice, I managed to find the right market, which was, of course still completely shut down. So I drove back to Sihanouk Blvd where I had seen tons of moto shops, thinking that surely someone would have a bike seat. The first shop said no, the second said to check next door and another shop about 500 metres down the road. The shop next door didn't have them. 500 metres later, shops one and two were fresh out. In shop three, someone was apparently having a seizure in the middle of the floor. I tried to ask if there was any way I could help but they didn't get it and didn't seem to want anyone outside the family to be involved (Cambodians are like that), so I asked Abba to help them and went to the next shop. They not only had a bike seat, they had a cushy one. It was $4. They tightened my brakes and readjusted my seat height too. And they spoke English and had a nice dog. It was an unexpectedly good day.
Incidentally, watching Scrubs right after the season finale of Grey's Anatomy is an interesting juxtaposition. I recommend it.
I Need a Hero,
Cleo
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A 3 inch long cockroach died in my bathtub this morning of neurological poisioning after a failed attempt to drown the little bugger.
But other that that completely unnerving incident, my break has gone fairly well.
I had the most relaxing weekend ever and have done a fat load of nothing for the past 5 days. Except for reading a wonderful book called "Damaged" by Cathy Glass (who writes under a penname to protect the innocent.) It's a true story about a little girl named Jodie who was taken into foster care after having been horribly sexually abused by her parents. It's a rather disturbing read, but seeing her behavior made me think about the kinds of things I might encounter one day while working with the sexually abused girls here. All in all, it's tough, but I definitely recommend it. Make sure you're caught up on homework though, because it's one of those you can't/don't want to put down.
Speaking of homework, we were planning on going to Thailand over the break but that ended up not working out...after I had told my teacher that my internet access might be a bit patchy. Which means that I have an "excuse" for not having done my homework yet. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean I get to skip it entirely, so that's what I'll be doing for the next hour and a half or so.
I start teaching again tomorrow, which I'm not quite sure I'm ready for, but we'll see. I don't really expect anyone to actually show up for class so I'm seriously considering having my speaking and listening class watch a movie because I can totally write that off as a lesson plan. And they'll like it. And we'll need some cushion after they get their midterms back...
On a completely unrelated note, about two months ago I had an ear infection and while the pain went away, my ear has been bothering me ever since. I went to the doctor today to have it checked on and apparently I had some unsightly wax buildup (for which I blame Cambodia and it's dustiness). Well, I say unsightly...I got to see it after they flushed it out of my ear with a syringe filled with warm water. It was gross. But hey, I can hear better now!
April is like August in Cambodia. It's the hottest time of the year so we're all sweating like pigs, but honestly, it's not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Albeit, we haven't gotten to the worst of it yet, but whatever.
Ok, enough stalling. I gotta go check my facebo--um, homework.
Love and peace or else!
Cleo
I had the most relaxing weekend ever and have done a fat load of nothing for the past 5 days. Except for reading a wonderful book called "Damaged" by Cathy Glass (who writes under a penname to protect the innocent.) It's a true story about a little girl named Jodie who was taken into foster care after having been horribly sexually abused by her parents. It's a rather disturbing read, but seeing her behavior made me think about the kinds of things I might encounter one day while working with the sexually abused girls here. All in all, it's tough, but I definitely recommend it. Make sure you're caught up on homework though, because it's one of those you can't/don't want to put down.
Speaking of homework, we were planning on going to Thailand over the break but that ended up not working out...after I had told my teacher that my internet access might be a bit patchy. Which means that I have an "excuse" for not having done my homework yet. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean I get to skip it entirely, so that's what I'll be doing for the next hour and a half or so.
I start teaching again tomorrow, which I'm not quite sure I'm ready for, but we'll see. I don't really expect anyone to actually show up for class so I'm seriously considering having my speaking and listening class watch a movie because I can totally write that off as a lesson plan. And they'll like it. And we'll need some cushion after they get their midterms back...
On a completely unrelated note, about two months ago I had an ear infection and while the pain went away, my ear has been bothering me ever since. I went to the doctor today to have it checked on and apparently I had some unsightly wax buildup (for which I blame Cambodia and it's dustiness). Well, I say unsightly...I got to see it after they flushed it out of my ear with a syringe filled with warm water. It was gross. But hey, I can hear better now!
April is like August in Cambodia. It's the hottest time of the year so we're all sweating like pigs, but honestly, it's not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Albeit, we haven't gotten to the worst of it yet, but whatever.
Ok, enough stalling. I gotta go check my facebo--um, homework.
Love and peace or else!
Cleo
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Really guys? I'm not that stupid
So I gave my midterms today. about 10 of my 15 students copied everyone else's answers and I'm rather upset. They didn't even try to hide it. I haven't decided quite what to do about it yet. My plan for tomorrow was to give everyone back their graded midterms and go over them with my students, but as I don't have to have my midterm grades turned in for 2 weeks, I think tomorrow will be sitting in class and letting everyone write me a 200 word essay in English about why cheating is a bad idea, and what happens in my class if you get caught. An F is what happens, by the way. As this as is everyone's first offense this time, I may let it slide with just the essay. Either way, I'm still pretty ticked. I was starting to enjoy teaching and then they have to go pull a stunt like this...
Sunday, April 6, 2008
When all else fails...
Resort to poetry!
We're doing poetry analysis in my Advanced class tomorrow. I'm rather excited! We're doing Richard Corey by E. A. Robinson because it has an easy-to-understand theme, manageable vocabulary, and it's by E. A. Robinson.
I still have no clue what I"m doing in my Almost Advanced class. We're supposed to be working on relative clauses, but the English major over here isn't sure what those are. I'll keep ya posted on how that goes.
Shopping went exceedingly well, meaning that I got 4 pairs of nice dress pants for $24 and found them in under an hour. I'm still on the hunt for a book bag to carry all my stuff in so I'll probably make a trip to Central Market sometime next weekend.
In other news, a friend recently reminded me that lukewarm is not a good temperature to be. I hadn't realized that I was there, or rather, I hadn't let myself see it. But I've gotten a good dose of humility recently and I'm tired of mediocrity. I'm tired of being lazy. It's getting me nowhere fast. I've been talking to Abba about it a lot and we both know that this isn't going to get better overnight. It's going to be a continual process of growing and changing and redefining the way that I think about a lot of things.
I used to be in love with Abba. I'm ashamed that I'm not anymore. Something in me wants to be stubborn and do this all myself, but another part knows full well that I can't. I know better than this. I know that he has everything that I need, and my flesh has been winning for way too long.
So this week isn't shaping up to be relaxing. Please be thinking of me and hoping that my stupid side looses.
Helter Skelter,
Me
We're doing poetry analysis in my Advanced class tomorrow. I'm rather excited! We're doing Richard Corey by E. A. Robinson because it has an easy-to-understand theme, manageable vocabulary, and it's by E. A. Robinson.
I still have no clue what I"m doing in my Almost Advanced class. We're supposed to be working on relative clauses, but the English major over here isn't sure what those are. I'll keep ya posted on how that goes.
Shopping went exceedingly well, meaning that I got 4 pairs of nice dress pants for $24 and found them in under an hour. I'm still on the hunt for a book bag to carry all my stuff in so I'll probably make a trip to Central Market sometime next weekend.
In other news, a friend recently reminded me that lukewarm is not a good temperature to be. I hadn't realized that I was there, or rather, I hadn't let myself see it. But I've gotten a good dose of humility recently and I'm tired of mediocrity. I'm tired of being lazy. It's getting me nowhere fast. I've been talking to Abba about it a lot and we both know that this isn't going to get better overnight. It's going to be a continual process of growing and changing and redefining the way that I think about a lot of things.
I used to be in love with Abba. I'm ashamed that I'm not anymore. Something in me wants to be stubborn and do this all myself, but another part knows full well that I can't. I know better than this. I know that he has everything that I need, and my flesh has been winning for way too long.
So this week isn't shaping up to be relaxing. Please be thinking of me and hoping that my stupid side looses.
Helter Skelter,
Me
Friday, April 4, 2008
Nope, no catchy title this time. It doesn't make enough sense yet.
So let's do a quick re-cap of the past 36 hours, shall we?
Yesterday I got home from Sign Language Class at about 6. Little did I know it would be my last. DU DU DUNH!!! My dad told me that Isaac, a friend of ours, knew of a job opening for an English teacher at the school he works at, and wanted to know if I was interested. I called him and told him I was interested and he said "Type up a resume and come for an interview at 10:30 tomorrow morning."
So, the next morning, resume in hand, a very nervous Callie dressed as professionally as is possible in this weather, went to an interview. I talked to the boss man for about 5 minutes before he started pulling out teaching materials and my white-board eraser. I decided to go for something a little more perceptive than "Am I hired?" and said "Should I start on Monday?". He said "You should start today." And I didn't think the interview was going all that well. Silly me.
Who hires people like that? Really??? I have no previous experience with teaching and I'm younger than most of my students. I guess speaking the language helps, but I'm still reeling at the fact that I was hired that fast.
I have two classes, an Advanced class with two students from 3:30-4:30 and an Almost Advanced class from 5:30-6:30.
So I had all of 3 hours to prepare for my first class...ever. And I don't have the teachers manual for that class yet. I did a lot of "um"ing and tried to get to know the students. Thank goodness it's the weekend and I'll have time to get my head back on straight by the time Monday rolls around.
One thing I have managed to work out in my befuddled state is that I desperately need to go shopping. I know, I know, what else is new, right? But hey, at least I have a legitimate reason this time! This isn't one of those schools where jeans are ok, so Saturday will be spent looking for some dress pants and sensible (read:blister-free) shoes.
Love and Peace or Else,
Teacher
Yesterday I got home from Sign Language Class at about 6. Little did I know it would be my last. DU DU DUNH!!! My dad told me that Isaac, a friend of ours, knew of a job opening for an English teacher at the school he works at, and wanted to know if I was interested. I called him and told him I was interested and he said "Type up a resume and come for an interview at 10:30 tomorrow morning."
So, the next morning, resume in hand, a very nervous Callie dressed as professionally as is possible in this weather, went to an interview. I talked to the boss man for about 5 minutes before he started pulling out teaching materials and my white-board eraser. I decided to go for something a little more perceptive than "Am I hired?" and said "Should I start on Monday?". He said "You should start today." And I didn't think the interview was going all that well. Silly me.
Who hires people like that? Really??? I have no previous experience with teaching and I'm younger than most of my students. I guess speaking the language helps, but I'm still reeling at the fact that I was hired that fast.
I have two classes, an Advanced class with two students from 3:30-4:30 and an Almost Advanced class from 5:30-6:30.
So I had all of 3 hours to prepare for my first class...ever. And I don't have the teachers manual for that class yet. I did a lot of "um"ing and tried to get to know the students. Thank goodness it's the weekend and I'll have time to get my head back on straight by the time Monday rolls around.
One thing I have managed to work out in my befuddled state is that I desperately need to go shopping. I know, I know, what else is new, right? But hey, at least I have a legitimate reason this time! This isn't one of those schools where jeans are ok, so Saturday will be spent looking for some dress pants and sensible (read:blister-free) shoes.
Love and Peace or Else,
Teacher
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