Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Forming a groove.

Well, things are starting to reach normalcy around here and I think I'm getting into a good groove. At the moment I'm only teaching on Monday and Tuesday nights. We have something called English corner on Thursday nights and a cultural lecture on Friday nights, but we don't have to go every week. This week I have the honor of doing this semester's first English lecture. I think I'm going to go the easy route and do it on English idioms. Feel free to post a comment with your favorite idiom, phrase, or saying. Do it soon, though. I'm giving the lecture Friday night (your Friday morning).

My two classes have been going well. My Monday night class is annoying because it meets from 6:45 until 9:15. That's a long time when you have to practically wrestle with your student's English. But we're making it. That class is an elective so we basically do whatever I feel like. My Tuesday night class is Oral English for sophomore non-English majors. That means the students aren't English majors so their English could possibly be great and could possibly be horrific, and we have a textbook. The class is only two periods, so compared to the other class it's pretty easy to fill up the whole class period. Here's the weird thing about these classes... they only meet 10 times or less the entire semester. My Monday night class meets once a week for 10 weeks, then I'll get another class for the rest of the semester. My Tuesday night class meets once a week every other week, and I teach two different groups of students, one on odd numbered weeks and the other on even numbered weeks. That class only meets 7 times total. It just seems to me that having class 7 times every other week wouldn't be very productive. We'll see.

Today is a day off that I'm really looking forward to. I need to do some major apartment cleaning before lunch. I've had people in my apartment three of the last 4 days and I need to sweep, mop, and take out the trash like nobody's business. After lunch I plan on shopping for some things including, but not limited to, a DVD player, badminton raquet, guitar, bread, trash bags, and Oreos. I know you're so interested in all of this. Tonight a Chinese friend is coming over to cook dinner. We're going to work on her English in exchange for her cooking. Her husband is studying in America and we're hoping she'll be able to get a visa soon to go see him. I think it's been about 5 years since she saw him last, so it's about time to get her over there.

I'm hoping that this week I can start having some students over because I've made contact with a lot of different people and I think the time is ripe. Friendships will be formed, connections will be made, Studying will be done. After all, the reason I'm here is to Teach.

3 comments:

Vail said...

Cool!!:) Miss you.

Mama and Toby

Anonymous said...

Your friend...Clinton's wife by chance? Have fun on your day off!!!

Anonymous said...

Idioms: Here's a good website with meanings to the following

http://www.englishdaily626.com/idioms.php

Tongue-in-Cheek
Bend Over Backwards
Jump Down Someone's Throat
Cough Up
Smell a Rat
Scratch Someone's Back
Shoot Off One's Mouth
Turn Someone Off
Go to the Dogs
Fishy
Get in Someone's hair
Kick the Bucket
Pull Someone's Leg
Get Off Someone's Back
Cat Got Your Tongue
String Someone Along
Leave Someone High and Dry
All Thumbs
On the Line
Not Have a Leg to Stand On
Horse Around
Wet Blanket
Feel Like a Million Dollars
Up One's Sleeve
Straight From the Horse's Mouth
Knock Someone's Socks Off
Hang On
Lose One's Shirt
For the Birds
Out of the Woods
Make Ends Meet
Spill the Beans
Let the cat out of the Bag
Lemon
Money talks
The Early Bird Catches the Worm
Take the Bull by the Horns
Pay Through the Nose
Eating Someone
Stick Out One's Neck
Drive Someone Up a Wall
Play It by Ear
Jump the Gun
Bite the Dust