GERMANY
Yeah, this post is deliberately titled 'untitled' because there's no non-wordy title that could effectively sum up everything in this entry. I'm so post-modern.
It's Tuesday at 5pm, which means all my lessons which require an ounce of effort are done and dusted and the rest of the week with my other 6 hours is now a sweatless toil free slog.
I tried to teach British past tenses today in my grammar class; man, I sure do suck. Trying to explain the difference between "have done" and "had done" isn't even worth the tears. It also seems impossible for learners to grasp the English use of non-specific time phrases, like 'just' or 'yet', which are another thing that I swear requires specialist tuition to be able to clear up for foreigners.
Tomorrow I have my other English support group, which always starts well but descends after 20 minutes into "let's see how many racial slurs we know in English' and 'I bet I can do a better fart than you'.
I've been given the latest textbook to work with, so we'll see how that one goes.
I'm also in a very thinky mood at the moment. I was speaking to some kids from the 7th grade earlier today, I think they're about 13 or 14. I don't usually talk to students this young, because pre-teen kids don't have any concept of sympathy for foreigners and when I start floundering, not only will they not understand but usually just laugh among themselves, and this makes you feel a twat.
Anyway, we were talking about school and other such crap and then we started talking about England. I had my England head on since I'd been talking about stereotypes the previous lesson. A girl asked me "do you feel really tall here?"
And this is what got me wondering. I don't feel particularly tall here; in travelling experience, Japan is where my shorties at. But then I remembered how people stared at me here, just as they did in the far east, and now I'm questioning whether I am actually taller than most people here (which it doesn't feel like) or if I'm still "that english kid in town", 6 months on. Who knows.
The other last thing is that a picture of a witch I drew to go with the Abitur (A-level) parties has been printed on t-shirts for students. Unpaid commissioned artwork success.
Yeah, this post is deliberately titled 'untitled' because there's no non-wordy title that could effectively sum up everything in this entry. I'm so post-modern.
It's Tuesday at 5pm, which means all my lessons which require an ounce of effort are done and dusted and the rest of the week with my other 6 hours is now a sweatless toil free slog.
I tried to teach British past tenses today in my grammar class; man, I sure do suck. Trying to explain the difference between "have done" and "had done" isn't even worth the tears. It also seems impossible for learners to grasp the English use of non-specific time phrases, like 'just' or 'yet', which are another thing that I swear requires specialist tuition to be able to clear up for foreigners.
Tomorrow I have my other English support group, which always starts well but descends after 20 minutes into "let's see how many racial slurs we know in English' and 'I bet I can do a better fart than you'.
I've been given the latest textbook to work with, so we'll see how that one goes.
I'm also in a very thinky mood at the moment. I was speaking to some kids from the 7th grade earlier today, I think they're about 13 or 14. I don't usually talk to students this young, because pre-teen kids don't have any concept of sympathy for foreigners and when I start floundering, not only will they not understand but usually just laugh among themselves, and this makes you feel a twat.
Anyway, we were talking about school and other such crap and then we started talking about England. I had my England head on since I'd been talking about stereotypes the previous lesson. A girl asked me "do you feel really tall here?"
And this is what got me wondering. I don't feel particularly tall here; in travelling experience, Japan is where my shorties at. But then I remembered how people stared at me here, just as they did in the far east, and now I'm questioning whether I am actually taller than most people here (which it doesn't feel like) or if I'm still "that english kid in town", 6 months on. Who knows.
The other last thing is that a picture of a witch I drew to go with the Abitur (A-level) parties has been printed on t-shirts for students. Unpaid commissioned artwork success.
