well, we're a month into my little adventure here, so i think it's about time a revisit my reasons for coming here: the life experience from the adventure of world travel as well as my professional development as an educator. unfortunately, for varying reasons, these factors have been quite underwhelming in my first month. first, there's the adventure of world travel. since i still don't have my stupid visa (until october 8th), i'm still unable to leave the friendly confines of macau. macau's fun and all, but being that it takes less than 20 minutes to get from one side to the other, it doesn't take that long to get the full macanese experience.
second, is my professional growth. i was approached after my freshman year at iwu and asked whether i would like to get my middle school endorsement as well as my secondary endorsement. i had just spent the semester observing a 6th grade class and had gotten a good review from my cooperating teacher, so the ed department asked. i promptly responded, no. why? because i am thoroughly not a fan of that age group. i've been a day camp counselor before, and the headaches with that age group (painful immaturity and general annoyance) were plenty to make me decide i never wanted to deal with them for an extended period of time again. i'm not saying i accepted this job in macau under false pretenses, i just thought i would be teaching high school students. miscommunication i guess. oh well. too bad.
the thing that has bugged me the most about teaching these kids is i feel like half the time i'm talking to 5 year olds, or a dog, or alien, or a 5 year old dog-like alien, because i have to dumb down everything that i say so that hopefully it can be absorbed by students. i have this huge problem with stupidity and ineptitude in that, well, i hate stupid people. i can honestly say that the few human beings that i hate to the very core, i do so because they are just that dumb in that they simply "don't get it" no matter how much you try to explain something to them. i'm not saying that my students are stupid by any means, not even close. i would never say that. but when you tell somebody in the only way you know how in the easiest way you know how and they still don't understand it, you can't help but feel like you're talking to a stupid person, because if they spoke your language, they would have to be stupid to not get it. on the other hand, i referenced the dog earlier, which i think is the decent analogy. you can yell at and get mad at a puppy when it pisses on the rug, but in the end, it just doesn't know any better yet, so it's useless to get mad. as an english major and as somebody who wants to pursue his masters/phd in english, dumbing down my rhetoric to a neanderthalean level is not appealing to me in the least. but, the kids have to learn and i have to teach them, so i have to fight through no matter how many times the kids "piss on the rug."
a friend told that this experience will make me a more patient teacher. perhaps. for this situation, my patience is growing. it does no good to do anything else but be patient. i'd go nuts. i'm just fairly certain that i don't want a teaching job that requires this extended level of patience. i ultimately want to be an educator that extends and grooms knowledge and skill, rather than trudging at the level of building the base of that knowledge. the base is certainly important. without the base, there is no extension to be made. to get to the top you have to trudge through the trenches first though. i guess this job is just my first trench. and hopefully one that will be parlayed into one of those other jobs i eventually seek on my way up the ladder.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Film Review: Meet Dave
ok, so i am now co-teacher for the english elective class "film and music appreciation." awesome, right? yeah, and then you walk in and find out that the first movie we're watching is eddie murphy's p.o.s. "comedy" Meet Dave. (the one with the tagline "eddie murphy IN eddie murphy). i have the horrible feeling that when the teachers heard i was teaching it with them, they decided this would be a fitting move. ugh, we all know that the only good thing eddie murphy has going for him is the chance that they resurrect beverly hills cop. (look man, i ain't fallin for no banana in my tailpipe) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HktV2yGtLv8&feature=related
i digress.
anyway, so on to the only time i'll ever tell somebody that they never want to "Meet Dave." **Spoiler Alert** so quick plot, eddie murphy and his team of lilliputian aliens travel to NYC in a spaceship shaped like eddie murphy in search of this tiny water absorbing meteorite that falls in the hands of a little kid whose mom is the foxy -brunette- elizabeth banks. the tiny aliens become susceptible to "human emotions from planet earth" from within the murphyship that they try to make funny (love, alcoholism, fiery rage, and gay). "andy from the office" overthrows eddie murphy for being too soft on the humans, but eventually gets thwarted before he can destroy the planet earth. the crew leaves earth from the emergency pod in murphyship's shoe. the end.
all the laughs come from the aliens not knowing how humans react. they look up things on the internet and typically get incorrect, yet legitimately popular results. (not surprising eddie murphy takes a job about not understanding how people on earth will react {he thinks people still find him funny}) so there's some bathroom humor (the robot craps out $20s and hotdogs on two respective occasions) and some physical comedy (it's a robot spaceship that doesn't know how to move like a human, duh?). anyway, the things that bugges me: the terminator already covered the "human boy teaches alien robot to give a high five" plot line. if an alien robot gets taken to the hospital and administered an mri, it should be exposed, not skip to the next scene. also, when asked of a good spot to take elizabeth banks for her birthday, a 12 year old shouldn't suggest a salsa-dancing bar. how does he know it exists, and what is a virgin mojito? i think that's it.
the perks: gabrielle union is super foxy. she doesn't have to be funny. she just is, and she's fine. also, scott caan is an acceptable add-in in any movie/tv show.
we're done here. if i continue to watch crap movies i wouldn't otherwise see, expect some similar posts. cheers, readers!
i digress.
anyway, so on to the only time i'll ever tell somebody that they never want to "Meet Dave." **Spoiler Alert** so quick plot, eddie murphy and his team of lilliputian aliens travel to NYC in a spaceship shaped like eddie murphy in search of this tiny water absorbing meteorite that falls in the hands of a little kid whose mom is the foxy -brunette- elizabeth banks. the tiny aliens become susceptible to "human emotions from planet earth" from within the murphyship that they try to make funny (love, alcoholism, fiery rage, and gay). "andy from the office" overthrows eddie murphy for being too soft on the humans, but eventually gets thwarted before he can destroy the planet earth. the crew leaves earth from the emergency pod in murphyship's shoe. the end.
all the laughs come from the aliens not knowing how humans react. they look up things on the internet and typically get incorrect, yet legitimately popular results. (not surprising eddie murphy takes a job about not understanding how people on earth will react {he thinks people still find him funny}) so there's some bathroom humor (the robot craps out $20s and hotdogs on two respective occasions) and some physical comedy (it's a robot spaceship that doesn't know how to move like a human, duh?). anyway, the things that bugges me: the terminator already covered the "human boy teaches alien robot to give a high five" plot line. if an alien robot gets taken to the hospital and administered an mri, it should be exposed, not skip to the next scene. also, when asked of a good spot to take elizabeth banks for her birthday, a 12 year old shouldn't suggest a salsa-dancing bar. how does he know it exists, and what is a virgin mojito? i think that's it.
the perks: gabrielle union is super foxy. she doesn't have to be funny. she just is, and she's fine. also, scott caan is an acceptable add-in in any movie/tv show.
we're done here. if i continue to watch crap movies i wouldn't otherwise see, expect some similar posts. cheers, readers!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
***SPORTS***
Football season is underway friends!!! unfortunately, since most bears games start around 2 am on mondays here and i have to wake up for school by 7, i'll be missing most. primetime games will be my savior though. and if the bears are any good (although i am still very doubtful), i'm sure i can find some days to sacrifice sleep for a competitive game. and tuesday morning football is the new monday night football.
not that anybody probably cares, but my first season participating in fantasy sports came to a fiery end as my number 3 seed baseball team got upset this weekend. i never played before, because i couldn't stomach the thought of cheering for a player against my beloved teams. in review, the pros outweigh the cons. while i was always an expert on my own teams, playing fantasy made me a geek about the whole league, and i love it. i desperately love football, but my love for baseball runs just a bit deeper. and my first fantasy season felt like an explosive love affair with my national past time. ***and the astros crawled from the NL cellar to 3rd place in the division. they don't get any national love (downright disrespect in fact considering what they've done), but i've been raising my glass weekly to my boys in houston. you're a scrappy bunch; i'm proud of you.
not much basketball news. kevin durant took the summer of lebron and eclipsed him. good job. although i can't say anything that bill simmons hasn't already said in his most recent column. i got a surprise these last few weeks by finding out i'll be in chicago december 19-24 before going on a family vacation. i did not expect to be home before june, but there's 1 game in that time span the bulls are in town (21st vs. 76ers). i plan on being there, so should you. talk to me if you're interested. (derek, neil i'm banking on you two)
no, i'm not forgetting about hockey. the blackhawks are at home during my chicago visit as well (22nd vs. Predators). i may have to make it back to back nights at the UC. also, countdown to kyle beach is on.
i am in macau, and at the aforementioned roadhouse, i watched the new zealand all blacks pull out a late match win over australia in national play. i may start playing rugby here soon.
not that anybody probably cares, but my first season participating in fantasy sports came to a fiery end as my number 3 seed baseball team got upset this weekend. i never played before, because i couldn't stomach the thought of cheering for a player against my beloved teams. in review, the pros outweigh the cons. while i was always an expert on my own teams, playing fantasy made me a geek about the whole league, and i love it. i desperately love football, but my love for baseball runs just a bit deeper. and my first fantasy season felt like an explosive love affair with my national past time. ***and the astros crawled from the NL cellar to 3rd place in the division. they don't get any national love (downright disrespect in fact considering what they've done), but i've been raising my glass weekly to my boys in houston. you're a scrappy bunch; i'm proud of you.
not much basketball news. kevin durant took the summer of lebron and eclipsed him. good job. although i can't say anything that bill simmons hasn't already said in his most recent column. i got a surprise these last few weeks by finding out i'll be in chicago december 19-24 before going on a family vacation. i did not expect to be home before june, but there's 1 game in that time span the bulls are in town (21st vs. 76ers). i plan on being there, so should you. talk to me if you're interested. (derek, neil i'm banking on you two)
no, i'm not forgetting about hockey. the blackhawks are at home during my chicago visit as well (22nd vs. Predators). i may have to make it back to back nights at the UC. also, countdown to kyle beach is on.
i am in macau, and at the aforementioned roadhouse, i watched the new zealand all blacks pull out a late match win over australia in national play. i may start playing rugby here soon.
Oh, Twilight. I thought you said your favorite movie was Toilet.
1. Yeah, so long story short, asians pronounce Twilight and Toilet almost exactly. I'm not surprised; they're synonyms. both are filled with shit.
2. Chalkboards Suck! My average of sneezes per day is up 500%. I volunteered to take the smaller, less ventilated/air conditioned room for a few classes, just for the dry erase board.
3. i saw a lady cradling her 2 year old as it pissed right into the drain in the middle of the sidewalk the other day, in the middle of the afternoon, on a busy street. that was interesting.
4. a 7th grade girl took a condom out of her wallet in the middle of class today. that has never happened to me in my class before. after my double take, i quietly asked her to put it away. in retrospect i don't know whether i should have confiscated it and thrown it out. i mean, at least they're being safe. china isn't really hurting in the population department.
5. i'm about to get hit with the whirlwind of fall television premiers (dexter and it's always sunny are my primaries, can't wait), but i've been catching up with mad men. at my current rate (1-2 episodes a day after work, depending) i'll be done in a 2 weeks or so. it's pretty phenomenal. i'm currently taking suggestions for my next show to blitz through. i'm leaning towards breaking bad or the wire, but those can wait if any of you think of anything there's a can't miss that i'm not thinking of.
6. some pairs of pants are fitting better, others are fitting worse....in the good way. i loved my time in collegiate fantasy land, but i was looking forward to the graduate weight loss.
2. Chalkboards Suck! My average of sneezes per day is up 500%. I volunteered to take the smaller, less ventilated/air conditioned room for a few classes, just for the dry erase board.
3. i saw a lady cradling her 2 year old as it pissed right into the drain in the middle of the sidewalk the other day, in the middle of the afternoon, on a busy street. that was interesting.
4. a 7th grade girl took a condom out of her wallet in the middle of class today. that has never happened to me in my class before. after my double take, i quietly asked her to put it away. in retrospect i don't know whether i should have confiscated it and thrown it out. i mean, at least they're being safe. china isn't really hurting in the population department.
5. i'm about to get hit with the whirlwind of fall television premiers (dexter and it's always sunny are my primaries, can't wait), but i've been catching up with mad men. at my current rate (1-2 episodes a day after work, depending) i'll be done in a 2 weeks or so. it's pretty phenomenal. i'm currently taking suggestions for my next show to blitz through. i'm leaning towards breaking bad or the wire, but those can wait if any of you think of anything there's a can't miss that i'm not thinking of.
6. some pairs of pants are fitting better, others are fitting worse....in the good way. i loved my time in collegiate fantasy land, but i was looking forward to the graduate weight loss.
9th Anniversary of Terror; 23rd of Me
first, a shout out to my new home away from home, The Roadhouse Macau. i only had classes monday-wednesday, so i went out exploring by myself wednesday night. what i found was a hole-in-the-wall blues shack. i arrived for happy hour (every day 5-9, buy 1 get 1 free. BOOM!) and proceeded to mingle with the bartenders and other common folk. most everybody in there also spoke english, either ex-pats, australians, or chinese that spoke english well. i immediately started requesting songs that i haven't heard in a while that would only be acceptable in a blues joint, so not your umST umST umST dance music the kids are listening to these days. anyway, i made my way back there friday night, where they had a kick ass blues band wailing. (they played me a 7 minute jam version of sweet home chicago for my birthday at midnight) a dude i met the last time was also there and bought me a midnight cigar. it's not america, so i could smoke inside the bar. then i went home for saturday mornings are the aforementioned club activities.
anyway, the actual birthday festivities. after dinner with my two new teaching friends, we went back to the roadhouse to catch the end of happy hour. (seriously, buy 1 get 1 free. duh?) then we ventured out and about, because as much as i love the blues, the ladies, ehh, not so much. so a fun little tidbit i learned is that this time of year in macau, on saturdays for the next couple weeks at 9 & 10 pm, the international firework competition commences. so we went to another bar that had a view of the fireworks, which were pretty freakin awesome, as you can imagine an international firework competition being around the birthplace of fireworks. This bar had a pretty decent band (can you believe a cover band didn't know a single bon jovi song though? i thought that was low hanging fruit? they went and totally redeemed themselves with highway to hell and sweet child o' mine back to back, which are way better tunes, but still...you're a mediocre bar cover band, PLEASE!). anyway, this is the bar where the night really takes off. my compadres hit the drinking brakes a little, but that didn't stop them from piling shots on me before we left. (ooo, other digression...if you order chicken wings in a macau bar, ask for a picture first, or else you may get a plate full of the little scrappy ends of the wings. you know the things most people throw out when they make chicken wings, because there's practically no meat? yeah, a full plate of those).
anyway, then we made our way to the lion's bar at the mgm grand. i'm at the point of no return (no not parlor...inside joke), so i head to the bar and order "the lion's iced tea," because i thought it was a long island. BAD assumption on my part. if a long island impregnated a mojito and it was aborted after 6 months and dumped into a glass, that's what they gave me. (are cocktail abortions too graphic? sorry) anyway, every other nasty sip was accompanied by a shredded chunk of mint leaf. not what you want late into a birthday: minty leaf chunks in a drink you expect to be chunkless. but i finished it, the champion that i am. right around then, the live band calls me and these two other girls who share the same birthday as me on stage, where we had a 42 oz glass filled with an orange drink. we were assigned a straw and i think they said "Go." - now in the past, i've shared some large drinks with people (X!), but everybody carried their weight in those events; not so much this time - the drink was delicious; it wasn't there long (no thanks to those 2 birthday girls). taxi drive home shortly thereafter, and that was my birthday!
anyway, the actual birthday festivities. after dinner with my two new teaching friends, we went back to the roadhouse to catch the end of happy hour. (seriously, buy 1 get 1 free. duh?) then we ventured out and about, because as much as i love the blues, the ladies, ehh, not so much. so a fun little tidbit i learned is that this time of year in macau, on saturdays for the next couple weeks at 9 & 10 pm, the international firework competition commences. so we went to another bar that had a view of the fireworks, which were pretty freakin awesome, as you can imagine an international firework competition being around the birthplace of fireworks. This bar had a pretty decent band (can you believe a cover band didn't know a single bon jovi song though? i thought that was low hanging fruit? they went and totally redeemed themselves with highway to hell and sweet child o' mine back to back, which are way better tunes, but still...you're a mediocre bar cover band, PLEASE!). anyway, this is the bar where the night really takes off. my compadres hit the drinking brakes a little, but that didn't stop them from piling shots on me before we left. (ooo, other digression...if you order chicken wings in a macau bar, ask for a picture first, or else you may get a plate full of the little scrappy ends of the wings. you know the things most people throw out when they make chicken wings, because there's practically no meat? yeah, a full plate of those).
anyway, then we made our way to the lion's bar at the mgm grand. i'm at the point of no return (no not parlor...inside joke), so i head to the bar and order "the lion's iced tea," because i thought it was a long island. BAD assumption on my part. if a long island impregnated a mojito and it was aborted after 6 months and dumped into a glass, that's what they gave me. (are cocktail abortions too graphic? sorry) anyway, every other nasty sip was accompanied by a shredded chunk of mint leaf. not what you want late into a birthday: minty leaf chunks in a drink you expect to be chunkless. but i finished it, the champion that i am. right around then, the live band calls me and these two other girls who share the same birthday as me on stage, where we had a 42 oz glass filled with an orange drink. we were assigned a straw and i think they said "Go." - now in the past, i've shared some large drinks with people (X!), but everybody carried their weight in those events; not so much this time - the drink was delicious; it wasn't there long (no thanks to those 2 birthday girls). taxi drive home shortly thereafter, and that was my birthday!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Early Musings
1. Just when you didn't think that I could get any sweatier, I move to macau, where the humidity here makes Houston feel like the ice tundra. And yes, I do keep a spare shirt in my office.
2. Well this is new... In China, I'm apparently a heartthrob. 5 female students have already expressed their love for me. Hot female teachers, I guess I know how you feel.
3. I found out that there's a morality clause in my contract, since I work in a Catholic school. If I'm caught doing anything blatantly immoral, I can be fired. Good thing no school official will ever be out with me on the weekend.
4. Tofu is gross. In America. In China. I've done my best to try everything since I've been here. The steamed tofu made me want to vomit. It's dessert form is vile. It's even pretty bad deep fried. 3 strikes, you're out. (chicken foot though...not bad at all)
5. I blame Bill Simmons for his 9/02/10 podcast, but I have a inexplicable craving to watch all 10 seasons of Beverly Hills 90210.
6. China has yet to get the memo that Lebron is no longer on the Cavs. Or don't care to bring in any new advertisement until he gets a ring. Kobe reigns supreme here, well, after Yao i guess.
7. I'm amused that manikins in China are in the image of Caucasians. They're dressed in very Chinese looking clothes though. It's the little things that amuse me.
8. Don't wear a suit to the casino in Macau. Nobody else does, and you'll get really sweaty.
9. I miss good beer. Although alcohol is cheap as dirt here (22 oz tsingtao is ~75 cents), China wouldn't know a dark beer from dirty river water.
10. Google and Youtube both work here. Pandora and Hulu do not. I'm not suffering though...
2. Well this is new... In China, I'm apparently a heartthrob. 5 female students have already expressed their love for me. Hot female teachers, I guess I know how you feel.
3. I found out that there's a morality clause in my contract, since I work in a Catholic school. If I'm caught doing anything blatantly immoral, I can be fired. Good thing no school official will ever be out with me on the weekend.
4. Tofu is gross. In America. In China. I've done my best to try everything since I've been here. The steamed tofu made me want to vomit. It's dessert form is vile. It's even pretty bad deep fried. 3 strikes, you're out. (chicken foot though...not bad at all)
5. I blame Bill Simmons for his 9/02/10 podcast, but I have a inexplicable craving to watch all 10 seasons of Beverly Hills 90210.
6. China has yet to get the memo that Lebron is no longer on the Cavs. Or don't care to bring in any new advertisement until he gets a ring. Kobe reigns supreme here, well, after Yao i guess.
7. I'm amused that manikins in China are in the image of Caucasians. They're dressed in very Chinese looking clothes though. It's the little things that amuse me.
8. Don't wear a suit to the casino in Macau. Nobody else does, and you'll get really sweaty.
9. I miss good beer. Although alcohol is cheap as dirt here (22 oz tsingtao is ~75 cents), China wouldn't know a dark beer from dirty river water.
10. Google and Youtube both work here. Pandora and Hulu do not. I'm not suffering though...
Week 1 Ventilation
Have you ever pictured me throwing a little chinese boy out of a window? I have!... MULTIPLE times a day. No, it's really not that bad; it's just a WAY different animal than teaching in the states. There are clearly just some growing pains. I teach Junior 1A and Junior 1B English, which includes 5 blocks a week of English and 2 blocks of Conversation. I also have Junior 2A and Junior 2B for 2 blocks of Conversation each week. I'm also volunteering to help out another teacher with the English elective, Film and Music Appreciaiton, but that doesn't start until next week. I'm aslo going to eb paritally in charge of the English Club (club activities take place on Saturday mornings 9-noon. {English Club? More like Hangover Club...}). Junior 1 is the equivalent to 7th grade, Junior 2 to 8th grade. Junior 1-3 students have class in the morning, and Senior 1-3 students have class in the afternoon; so on a typical day, I'm done teaching class by 12:50. Since I'm required to stay at the school until 4:45, I have plenty of time to get all of my lesson plans done at school. My desk is in the "English Office," which is basically the room in the corner of the building where they've put the 3 Americans (which is next door to the big office where all the Chinese English teachers are). Both of the Americans have worked at the school before, so they offer a great deal of help and invaluable suggestions (Collaborative Relationship Standard anyone???).
The classroom is where things get a tad hectic and frustrating as a teacher. If anything, this week has filled me to the brin with empathy for all of my foreign language teachers (Spanish in high school/Italian in college). Supposedly, the students have been taking various English classes thre last couple years, because it is a requirement to pass an English exam as well as an English interview if they want to attend the university when they graduate Senior 3. You remember in foreign language classes though when you came back on the first day of school and forgot almost everything you learned the last year, becasue you haven't been speaking and practicing it regualrly all summer? (that's why I dropped Spanish 3 on the first day of junior year). Anyway, every lesson I've planned so far has BOMBED the first time. The students will not SHUT UP! You can get the quiet for about 30 seconds MAX, but as soon as you restart the lesson, they start chatting again with their friends in CHinese, because they have no clue what I'm saying for the most part. I've resorted to grabbing a chair and sitting in the middle of the talkative students, which works for a bit longer. Soon after though, they start talking around my back. God knows what they're saying, because I certainly don't, adn the students know it. It horrifies me to think of the kind of crap that I pulled in foreign language class with the teacher understanding English. What would my friends and I have done if the teacher didn't understand any English. Hell cracked a bit loose just thinking about it. They also have no concept of what a whisper is, that is until you ask them to speak in English. Then I can barely hear them. There is a silver lining to this... For each bombed lesson I've had, I've tweaked it before I teach it to the next class, where it has gone exponentially better (Assessment Standard!!!) Hopefully now my lesson plans will go a little smoother. As for the chatty kathys across the room, well, there's a reason that homework was created: 1. To reiterate the precious lesson to help cement it into memory; 2. To scare students into behaving upon the consequence of getting more homework form misbehavior. Say what you like about homework as punishment or negative reinforcement; it's a proven method, one that's about to strike my classes like Hurricane Earl (or that almost typhoon that happened here yesterday). Aside from the growing pains, I'm still very excited about my next year here in Macau (yeah, it still probably won't be more than a year). I hope that this is the last one of these that is drenched in frustration. We'll be right back after the commercial break...Thanks for listening.
The classroom is where things get a tad hectic and frustrating as a teacher. If anything, this week has filled me to the brin with empathy for all of my foreign language teachers (Spanish in high school/Italian in college). Supposedly, the students have been taking various English classes thre last couple years, because it is a requirement to pass an English exam as well as an English interview if they want to attend the university when they graduate Senior 3. You remember in foreign language classes though when you came back on the first day of school and forgot almost everything you learned the last year, becasue you haven't been speaking and practicing it regualrly all summer? (that's why I dropped Spanish 3 on the first day of junior year). Anyway, every lesson I've planned so far has BOMBED the first time. The students will not SHUT UP! You can get the quiet for about 30 seconds MAX, but as soon as you restart the lesson, they start chatting again with their friends in CHinese, because they have no clue what I'm saying for the most part. I've resorted to grabbing a chair and sitting in the middle of the talkative students, which works for a bit longer. Soon after though, they start talking around my back. God knows what they're saying, because I certainly don't, adn the students know it. It horrifies me to think of the kind of crap that I pulled in foreign language class with the teacher understanding English. What would my friends and I have done if the teacher didn't understand any English. Hell cracked a bit loose just thinking about it. They also have no concept of what a whisper is, that is until you ask them to speak in English. Then I can barely hear them. There is a silver lining to this... For each bombed lesson I've had, I've tweaked it before I teach it to the next class, where it has gone exponentially better (Assessment Standard!!!) Hopefully now my lesson plans will go a little smoother. As for the chatty kathys across the room, well, there's a reason that homework was created: 1. To reiterate the precious lesson to help cement it into memory; 2. To scare students into behaving upon the consequence of getting more homework form misbehavior. Say what you like about homework as punishment or negative reinforcement; it's a proven method, one that's about to strike my classes like Hurricane Earl (or that almost typhoon that happened here yesterday). Aside from the growing pains, I'm still very excited about my next year here in Macau (yeah, it still probably won't be more than a year). I hope that this is the last one of these that is drenched in frustration. We'll be right back after the commercial break...Thanks for listening.
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