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.

Language lessons

I decided last week that it would be fun to learn some basic phrases in all of my students' languages. My students get a giant kick out of listening to me butcher their mother tongues, which for me is the whole point of doing it - they enjoy being the teacher for a few minutes everyday. The hard part is that among my 30ish students, there are eight languages to account for. I do pretty well with Spanish, French, and Portuguese, and am not half bad at Japanese, but Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Sinhalese are hard. The Arabic-speaking men in my classes are the best cheerleaders; they try to think of mnemonic devices to help me and nod encouragingly as I try to cough and wheeze my way through some of the more difficult sounds. So far, this is what I have learned to say - good morning, goodbye, and thank you in eight languages:

Spanish: buenos dias, adios, gracias (I minored in Spanish, so this was a freebie.)

French: bonjour, au revoir, merci

Portuguese: bon dia, chau, obrigado

Japanese: ohayou, sayonara, arigato

Arabic: sabah al kheer, ma'a salama, shokran (one of my students said to think of "sugar" + "ran")

Chinese: zao shang, zai jian, xie xie (the intonation is the hardest part)

Korean: an-yong, an-yong (with different intonation), kam-sa-ham-ni-da

Sinhalese: suba udesanak, tata, stuti

Aren't I accomplished? Eight languages! Now if only I could remember all of them all the time...

Midterm

So we have officially reached the midpoint of the semester, and everything is chugging along. I gave out midterm grade reports at the end of last week, and was pretty surprised when all the failing students accepted their grades gracefully. I usually have at least one freak-out, so it was nice to not have to deal with that. The freaking out actually came from the A students, many of whom wanted to know why they had a 96 instead of 100. "Teacher, WHY?" Perfectionists.

So after that, I needed a vacation. Enter spring break! Perfectly timed to come after midterms. Cary and I had a house blessing and housewarming party the first Saturday of the break, which went really well, but had me cleaning like I have never cleaned before all week. I dusted furniture crevices that will never be seen by anyone. My mom was really proud when she got here the day of the party to help set up. The clean gene is totally dominant in her, but not in me at all. I am just like my dad - where I drop something when I come in the door is generally where it belongs. I've gotten tidier since I got married, because Cary is very organized and clutter stresses him out, but this degree of cleaning was a real stretch for me. And in the end, the house looked beautiful and the party was a success. Who knows? It's taken me almost 25 years to get this organized, so maybe by the time I'm 50, I'll have some semblance of organization on a day-to-day basis.

After the party, I headed down to my hometown to help Suzanne do wedding stuff for the first half of the week. Really, she didn't need much help, as she is totally full-steam-ahead with the wedding planning, but I enjoyed giving it anyway. I went dress-shopping with her and Mama, and she found a really beautiful dress. She looked great in everything, but the dress she found was truly stunning on her. I wish I could post a picture, but sadly, I can't. I can post a picture of my bridesmaid's dress, though. I am thrilled that it's not super bridesmaid-y.

See? Very glamorous, and not something that I will cringe at when I look at pictures 10 years from now. I also got to help taste-test wedding cake - obviously a crucial job for the matron of honor. Other than that, I had a restful half-week at my parents' house, while Suzanne and Mike and my mom ran around meeting photographers, videographers, etc. How nice it is now to help with wedding stuff and not be the bride!

I came back home on Wednesday and have been relaxing ever since. I had lunch with Cary at work yesterday, and checked out five books from the library, which I've read two of already. Tomorrow Cary and I are having a date day, which I'm really looking forward to. So overall, a lovely spring break! I love my job, but sometimes I wish I were independently wealthy so I could just do fun stuff all the time. But I imagine it would get old.

What Emily Needs

I saw this on Facebook. I typed in "emily needs" on google and I'm writing down the top 10 things it came up with. I'm posting it here instead of Facebook so I don't annoy people with the tagging.

1. Emily needs to give Tim food in Social Studies today.      Ummm... right.

2. Emily needs new painting skills.    Or any painting skills.

3. Emily needs your phone numbers.    This is not working out too well so far.

4. Emily needs to get her Tortillas on Vimeo.    I'm about to give up on this list.

5. Emily needs advice.    Okay, that's more like it. I generally could use some advice.

6. Emily needs help deciding how to cut her hair.    No, I like my hair the way it is!

7. Emily needs more light on her face.   An ad for Flickr, but a little more light couldn't hurt.

8. Emily needs a job.   I have a job. I just need benefits.

9. Emily needs an iTunes gift card.   Ain't that the truth.

10. Emily needs lifelong support.    Yes! This is one that google finally got right! I do need and want lifelong support... although not in the sense google was talking about, like being on a ventilator.