Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Suppose I gave a lesson and nobody came?

I think I just experienced my first "Don't-ask-me-I-just-work-here" moment.

Well, there I was in the Language Lab, all set for today's lesson. The exercises were written on the whiteboard. The worksheets were waiting on the students' desks. The Powerpoint was primed. All that was missing were my students, and the JTE.

Don't panic, I told myself as I collected some of the worksheets that had blown off the desks. Maybe they're just late back from phys. ed. I mean, it's not as if they switched to Monday's timetable because of some soccer thing, out of the clear blue sky, and didn't tell you. That's just crazy-talk.

End of whine.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

aw! wow, I can't believe no one told you. How long until you realised something was up?

See. That there's a classic example of why you should come back to Australia! They'd tell you if something like that was going to happen here!

Matt said...

Well, it is possible that it was a mere oversight. To be fair, they have notified me at least a week in advance of future timetable changes.

(Besides, in Australia Fanta doesn't come in Grape and Melon Cream varieties. You haven't lived until you've downed a hearty melon creaming soda.)

Anonymous said...

ohh.
ew, melon? sounds kinda funky. Although then again, I could be wrong.

Well, you two have fun over there drinking your grape fizzy drink and melon creaming soda. If you ever come back for a visit, within the next two years, make sure you both bring back some for the little people of Australia to try!

Anonymous said...

yes, especially the little people, like me.
that is pretty rude.

miss, having fun
i would put a question mark and more punctuation but my shift button still isnt working.
so im not gramatically incorrect, because SOMEONE actually taught us grammar. unlike SOMEONE else -cough- miss thorpe -cough-

Emma said...

What's really annoying over here (not that it bothers me too much as I use my own laptop) is that all the shift, enter, delete and punctuation keys are in different spots. However, I am still really tempted to buy an ultra portable laptop with a Japanese keyboard: they mostly weigh under 2kg and frankly they are just so cute.

Yet, don't be conned into thinking that the cute factor means that the purchase of an ultra portable laptop will be a whimsical impulse buy. No, quite the contrary. You see, in Japan there are a lot of people and there is not a lot of room (for instance, they literally make more room by building man-made islands--excuse the tautology, I just wanted to emphasise the point). At school this means the buildings go up instead of out and across. There are two blocks of buildings (the A block and B block) each of which has 4 levels (ground level is called floor 1 and so on). First year senior high school students, who are the same age as Year 10 students in Australia, have all of their classes on the 4th floor, 2nd year students have all of their classes on the 2nd floor and the 3rd year students have all of their classes on the 1st floor. I teach six 1st year classes a week, four 2nd year classes a week and five third year classes a week, so I am running between buildings and up and down floors all day long.

Now, how does this justify the otherwise frivolous procurement of an ultra portable laptop? Well, as I have an excess of time with my early arrival at school, lack of marking and reporting and no PCG or administrative duties, I make a PowerPoint presentation for every lesson. The result being that the size of my shoulder muscles is beginning to rival Arnie's. That is unless I soon acquire my much desired ultra portable laptop!

Anonymous said...

Haha. Well, I see you have successfully justified your point and I strongly recommend you buy yourself that laptop!