Teaching Woes

Sometimes having two teachers in the classroom can be good. Other times, just useless. I taught my least favorite class yesterday and I was coming down with a cold in addition to the election blues I've been suffering. I just wasn't there. I functioned pretty well for the first hour, but when it came time to the second, I lost my train of thought and no amount of looking at my notes or the teacher's guide could retrieve it from the depths. In what must have been a pathetic display, I looked at the CT and told her I had no idea how to explain that they were supposed to write a paragraph about a sport. She then took over the classroom with mask firmly in place, as she has been sick too for about a week. She attempted to explain in Chinese what the students were supposed to do, but we still had to go to each individual student and explain again, in both English and Chinese. Finally the class got back on track, but we lost them completely over the last ten minutes. I found myself looking at my watch every minute, praying those last five minutes would be over! Two sick and tired teachers does not an effective learning environment make!

On the plus side, two girls who serious disrupt class, leaving at break and not coming back until ten minutes after break has ended, sleeping in class, refusing to do work, will not pass this level (which is almost over) and will be asked not to return to the school. Yippee! The rest of the class is pretty good so it won't be so painful to teach. Now, if I can manage to be awake too...

And in a redeeming moment, the little fat girl in my class who sits in the front row, and who I love, told me: "Teacher, your hair is noodle!" She smiled, laughed and said it again. It was adorable! I smiled and agreed. My hair *does* indeed look like ramen noodles.