Wow! It is just scorching today!. I came home from teaching all day, walked into the office and saw the temperature inside was 35deg Celsius - which translates to 95deg Fahrenheit. TURN ON THAT AIR CONDITIONER!
Of course, I am sure this Ecuadorian temperature is probably quite higher than what most of my Northern buddies are experiencing right now.
So I am just slumming at the moment, but I'll have to go out in a bit since I have a night class I am teaching.
More ice!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Hot Romance, Teacher's Style
Okay, the teacher part is right, but the hot romance might be a long stretch. But my wife and I are going out on a date.
A grading date.
We do this from time to time when the stacks of ungraded papers on our desks get too high. We'll head to a local restaurant, order something to eat and some drinks, then spend a few hours catching up on our grading.
Actually, we get a chunk of our grading done, but no where near what we would doing it on ur own. That is because we are always stopping and reading some passage from our papers to each other.
Sometimes it is a "wow, she really blew this, let me read this to you..." and it is something that is completely hilarious. In fact, I might have to start posting a regular excerpt of the week.
Sometimes it is "WOW! This is great!" and we read off something that is so good it warms a teacher's heart."
Often, though it is "This sounds wrong, but let me read it to you, maybe I;m not getting it" which generally means the other will be as confused as the spousal teacher.
Anyway, it is educational marriage activity at its finest, done over an extra large diet coke.
Togetheress in Ecuador, who'd a thunk it?
A grading date.
We do this from time to time when the stacks of ungraded papers on our desks get too high. We'll head to a local restaurant, order something to eat and some drinks, then spend a few hours catching up on our grading.
Actually, we get a chunk of our grading done, but no where near what we would doing it on ur own. That is because we are always stopping and reading some passage from our papers to each other.
Sometimes it is a "wow, she really blew this, let me read this to you..." and it is something that is completely hilarious. In fact, I might have to start posting a regular excerpt of the week.
Sometimes it is "WOW! This is great!" and we read off something that is so good it warms a teacher's heart."
Often, though it is "This sounds wrong, but let me read it to you, maybe I;m not getting it" which generally means the other will be as confused as the spousal teacher.
Anyway, it is educational marriage activity at its finest, done over an extra large diet coke.
Togetheress in Ecuador, who'd a thunk it?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Life Can be so Unfair...
(sigh)
This is an important holiday weekend in most of Latin America. In the US, Easter is a fairly important religious holiday, but it doesn't involve days off, normally at least. In Catholic Latin America this is Semana Santa, Holy Week, a lengthy celebration. For many it is a 4-day weekend, including for the faculty and staff at my school.
Monday adds to it, it is 'Teacher Day' and after this 4-day weekend we will start our day with an assembly (or momento civico). After this we have classes until noon and then the students head home. At 1:30 we have a formal lunch at the auditorium for teachers. So, in the end we teachers will be at school for all day, but we will only teach half a day.
At my wife's school, though, they have Monday off, a 5-day weekend.
(sigh)
I need a different schedule!
This is an important holiday weekend in most of Latin America. In the US, Easter is a fairly important religious holiday, but it doesn't involve days off, normally at least. In Catholic Latin America this is Semana Santa, Holy Week, a lengthy celebration. For many it is a 4-day weekend, including for the faculty and staff at my school.
Monday adds to it, it is 'Teacher Day' and after this 4-day weekend we will start our day with an assembly (or momento civico). After this we have classes until noon and then the students head home. At 1:30 we have a formal lunch at the auditorium for teachers. So, in the end we teachers will be at school for all day, but we will only teach half a day.
At my wife's school, though, they have Monday off, a 5-day weekend.
(sigh)
I need a different schedule!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
School is on!
My blogging has cut back, because classes are going and I am stumbling, rumbling and bumbling about staying ahead of my new crop of students. It is always fun to start a new year. Last year wasn´t so fun because I came in as an emergency hire in the middle of school, which is WAY stressful for the teacher and the students. Now we are all getting off on a more relaxed foot and everything is great.
Of course, I still don´t understand the Ecuadorian penchant for starting things when you have to stop them. Last week, the first week, started on Wednesday so it was a short week. This week ends today, on Wednesday, because tomorrow starts the big fiesta of Semana Santa, so another really short week.
Next week is normal, sort of, since Monday is Dia del Maestro (Day of the Teacher) so the students have a half day and faculty has a special lunch after the students go? We won´t have our first full week of classes until our 4th week of school. It is a hard life, but I have to do it!
Of course, I still don´t understand the Ecuadorian penchant for starting things when you have to stop them. Last week, the first week, started on Wednesday so it was a short week. This week ends today, on Wednesday, because tomorrow starts the big fiesta of Semana Santa, so another really short week.
Next week is normal, sort of, since Monday is Dia del Maestro (Day of the Teacher) so the students have a half day and faculty has a special lunch after the students go? We won´t have our first full week of classes until our 4th week of school. It is a hard life, but I have to do it!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Picture Perfect Teachers
With students present and school in - here are a few pics of some of the international teachers working at Colegio Americano.
Our First contestant in the "faculty pics" is the dazzling young lady in the upper right. This is Wilha Van Dyke, from Holland. She knows nine languages, is fluent in three, and is teaching English Lit, Debate and Ecology. Wow!
A couple of old pros - Judy Saloman has taught at Colegio Americano since 1997, while Anthony 'Tony' Allen first started teaching at Colegio Americano in 1968. Is he really a foreign hire?
Starting the day with a ride on our expresso bus is Liam O'Hara. He normally does NOT dress this sharp! Liam started mid-year last year.
Our First contestant in the "faculty pics" is the dazzling young lady in the upper right. This is Wilha Van Dyke, from Holland. She knows nine languages, is fluent in three, and is teaching English Lit, Debate and Ecology. Wow!
A couple of old pros - Judy Saloman has taught at Colegio Americano since 1997, while Anthony 'Tony' Allen first started teaching at Colegio Americano in 1968. Is he really a foreign hire?
Starting the day with a ride on our expresso bus is Liam O'Hara. He normally does NOT dress this sharp! Liam started mid-year last year.
1st Day!
Hurray! First Day is here and a whole year of hopes and dreams are ready.
One of my students, Santiago Franco, says a few opening remarks to the assembled Colegio Americano.
The first official act for 1st Period is a "momento civico" - a school Assembly outside in the central plaza of the school. this is a photo of the 4th and 3rd Courses (the equivalent of 10th and 9th Grades in the US).
Of course, it all starts as faculty and staff arrive and "clock-in."
So it is April 1, 2009, and a new school year has officially started! More pictures and more stories to come!
One of my students, Santiago Franco, says a few opening remarks to the assembled Colegio Americano.
The first official act for 1st Period is a "momento civico" - a school Assembly outside in the central plaza of the school. this is a photo of the 4th and 3rd Courses (the equivalent of 10th and 9th Grades in the US).
Of course, it all starts as faculty and staff arrive and "clock-in."
So it is April 1, 2009, and a new school year has officially started! More pictures and more stories to come!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)