I love English, but I love this more...

Today is Friday, and only one thing is more awesome than Friday at my job. The only thing more awesome than Friday is seeing a former student being successful at something new, especially a student you knew pretty well.

In the spring, I taught a class that was full of bright students. One of the brightest and hardest-working was a young woman from a Middle Eastern country. She was about my age, had moved to the US with her husband to study, and was a bottomless pit of questions about English. She was taking some continuing education classes at the university in addition to her English classes, and I helped her with her essays. At the end of the semester, she threw a party for her female teachers and classmates (at which I felt horribly under-dressed when I discovered that women who wear scarves and veils in public look like supermodels at home). She cooked for a solid day ahead of time and made everyone feel welcome and at home in her apartment. In short, she was an amazing student.

And then her father got sick at home. She had to leave in a hurry, just a few weeks before the end of the semester. And that was the last I heard from her.

Until today! I came back from lunch and she was standing in the hallway, apparently waiting around to see me. She had had a difficult summer at home, as her father had passed away. But she was back and studying full-time at the community college, in classes every day with native English speakers. She brought me a teeny bottle of perfume from her country and invited me to another end-of-semester party in December sometime. We hugged and she promised to come back and visit again.

And that is why I have this job. I love the English language, but more than that, I love my students. And I love reconnecting with the best ones most of all.

Category 3, Round 2

Yeah, one of my category 3 students came back for round two of why he should be moved up. Because apparently talking to my boss didn't convince him that moving was out of the question. Now he hates me and thinks he's not moving because I want to make him miserable, not because my professional judgment and the fact that the TWO classes above him are full make moving impossible. Awesome.

So I had the conversation with the category 3 students...

... and it went exactly the way I expected. I even added that there is absolutely no room for more students in the level above mine, so even if I wanted to move them, I couldn't. I still got the stink-eye. I referred them to my boss, who is going to tell them exactly the same thing. No means no, people! 

Students on the move

Okay, so it's obviously been a million years since the last time I posted. But I figured it would be good to start this back up, since the fall semester has begun at my language school. Today is the end of the first full week of class, and I can say with some certainty that I have had more students moving in and out of my classes this week than any semester ever. In my experience, students who move from class to class generally fall into the following categories:

1. Registered late. This is the easiest group to deal with. They just got here late, so they show up to class halfway through the week. They don't want anything in particular; they're just late.

2. Wants to move up and should. This group was having a bad day when they took the placement test last week. They were tired, culture shocked, hungry, hung over, whatever. They would do much better in a higher class, so they need to be moved.

3. Wants to move up and shouldn't. This group has a pretty high estimation of their language abilities. They know they know more than they appear to. They're smarter than their friend who is in a higher class. They can't understand why you doesn't agree, and will let you know how wrong you are until you either give in or show them their diagnostic test score of 17%.

4. Needs to move down. This student is a fantastic guesser and somehow placed into an advanced class when they're still struggling to master the present tense. You can tell who they are by the deer-in-headlights look they give you when you ask them a question. So you have to have the awkward moving-down conversation with them, using mostly hand gestures: "Here's your test. You don't know present tense (pointing at wrong answers, shaking head). You should move down (pointing down)." And then you wait for them to say, "No, teacher! I understand! I don't move down!"

5. Can't make up their mind. They want more writing practice. Or do they? They're in your class the first day, but then they decide another class at the same time would be better. So then they're gone, until they realize how much homework the other teacher gives. Then they're back, looking sheepish.

Of course, not all moving students fit these stereotypes, and I exaggerate a little bit. But not much. I've quit reprinting my attendance sheet every time a student adds or drops my class until next week when everything is settled, because I've had to recycle at least two trees' worth of outdated attendance sheets in the last four days. We have a meeting this afternoon to discuss all the moving students, so everyone should be in a permanent spot by Monday. At which point I have to have the discussion with the category 3 students about how nobody except them wants them to move up. And then deal with the stink-eye from them for the rest of the semester. Awesome.