So all good things must come to an end, and other similar cliches. The latest good thing to come to an end is my summer holiday.
So I have my timetable, and it looks like this’ll be a busy semester. 22 hours of class per work, 16 of those hours being writing classes. So, lot’s of extra paper work, then. Fortunately, all those writing classes are at the same level, which keeps the preparation part of the workload down to something manageable. But with 30 something students per writing class and four classes….. That’s lots of essay marking.
That’s alright, though. Despite all the extra paper work, I actually prefer teaching things like writing (and reading and listening and literature and culture) because classes like that give you something much more solid and meaty to sink your teeth into than the usual vague, vapid oral English classes that make up most of the timetable for most foreign teachers.
So these writing classes start tomorrow, and I’m pretty much all prepared for that. The first lesson, of course, will just be introductions and a quick, easy test to see what level their writing is at (and how much they’ve forgotten over the summer and how much reviewing we need to do before we get stuck into this year’s textbook). I have the first unit of the textbook all mostly mapped out, and it shouldn’t be too hard to turn that outline into proper lessons.
Ugh. A programme I spent two years on after I left BeiGongDa the first time, and a programme I hated for a variety of reasons, has left me better equipped to plan out units and perhaps even semesters than I used to be. I guess this is a good thing. But still, what I spent a significant portion of this afternoon doing reminded me a bit too much of that programme.
Oh well, back to work and the real world.
You can take the boy out of the programme, but you can’t take the programme out of the boy.
Meanwhile, I learn today that the Senior 2s have actually got as far as Unit 19 in Book 3, which has completely blown most of the term out of the water and majorly screws up next term.
And this is the first year the school has had Senior 3 classes. I don’t think this is going to end well somehow when we’re being told to sort out the textbooks for ourselves.
Ay, well, I’m just trying to take the few little nuggets of truth and goodness out of Rubbery and Her Nazliness’ “training” and apply them to the real world, and as it turns out, some of what they taught me is actually useful. For now, at least. The thing is, I have to turn a textbook I was given (and not asked about) into a decent writing course. I’m not entirely convinced about the choice of textbook just yet.
Sounds like you, though, are in for an interesting time. Unit 19 of Book 3? Didn’t even realise Book 3 went that far. As for Senior 3…. good luck. You know what’ll happen when the GaoKao gets too close for their comfort.