A couple people clapped when I walked into the room, which I took as a good sign. Most of the thirty-five students in this morning's reading class are from the 33B class I taught last fall. Two are from 33G, the minority class I taught last year, and a couple others are from 33I, who had me for writing a couple years ago. I told them I wasn't sure whether they would be happy or sad to see me back. (Assuring them they will have less homework this time probably helped a little.) We got started with an article from the Japan Times and got further with it than I expected.
During the first class of the day, I observed a new ELI teacher who is practice teaching at the DAV as part of her training. She's an elementary teacher from Tennessee and did a great job transferring her skills to EFL. She and her husband leave Sunday to teach in Pakse, Laos. In fact, most of the new teachers this year (7 of 11) are headed to Laos. Only three will stay in Vietnam. We could use more - the DAV, where I teach, is down from five ELI teachers two years ago to three.
On the home front, I just got back from taking Nancy to the doctor. She's been having flu-like symptoms since Friday and we wanted to rule out H1N1. It's been ruled out. This early reminder that her immune system is not what it used to be turned out to be a bacterial infection. They gave her antibiotics and she should be back to normal soon.
August 17, 2009
August 12, 2009
Unpacking
I'm a step ahead of my nephew - he's moving into a new house in SC, while I only have to move back into our home in Hanoi. We arrived late Sunday night (VN time) on the 9th and have pretty much finished unpacking what we brought. Now we just need to remember where we stored the things we left! It's been a nice homecoming, with neighbors, friends and colleagues all happy to see us back. My Vietnamese is rusty, but could be worse (I need to slow down and pay more attention to my pronunciation).
Since Monday, I've been to two meetings at the school, received the schedule for one of my classes, transcribed two audio texts for a colleague, turned down a request to help with an exam for interpreters, met our new teammates, and done a load of laundry. I still need to buy some garlic and fish sauce so we can cook at home. It's hot, but nice to be back.
Teaching-wise, it looks like I'll have three classes with the English department and two with the interpreter training section. Things are changing a lot at the school this year, so there are still a lot of things up in the air. The tutoring at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to have faded away during the spring, so I don't think I'll be doing that any more. My classes start Monday and it looks like they may need me to be a mentor teacher for the new teachers' practicum, but I won't know that till the end of the week.
I'd try finishing this post off more stylishly, but it's 3:30 PM and jet lag's starting to kick in.
Since Monday, I've been to two meetings at the school, received the schedule for one of my classes, transcribed two audio texts for a colleague, turned down a request to help with an exam for interpreters, met our new teammates, and done a load of laundry. I still need to buy some garlic and fish sauce so we can cook at home. It's hot, but nice to be back.
Teaching-wise, it looks like I'll have three classes with the English department and two with the interpreter training section. Things are changing a lot at the school this year, so there are still a lot of things up in the air. The tutoring at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to have faded away during the spring, so I don't think I'll be doing that any more. My classes start Monday and it looks like they may need me to be a mentor teacher for the new teachers' practicum, but I won't know that till the end of the week.
I'd try finishing this post off more stylishly, but it's 3:30 PM and jet lag's starting to kick in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
