Through all kinds of weather

Actually, no, the weather's been great here. Too warm, really: mid-sixties to seventies. I think I'd enjoy it more but it has this tinge of the sauna that was last summer. It also worries me every time it gets into the seventies that summer will be here in about April and I don't wanna think about dealing with the heat we had from the moment we stepped off the plane until somewhere in October. Or was it November. It was long time, anyway, and I don't want it to be longer.

We've gotten some cards lately from grandparents. Thank you Grandpa Gipson and Grandma Ewen. It's been great to get things from home. And Grandma had to send hers twice. Even when e-mail is common and we talk to friends and family almost as much as we used to, it's really been nice to get something in the mail. Especially 'cause we can actually read it.

Grandma asked if I would mention something about the classes I teach, so I will. I'm still considering getting photos of some of my kids. There isn't the paranoia here that would require me to get permission from each child's parents, but still. I'll see if anyone's interested in seeing these kids.

I have about a hundred kids a week, right now, little more. Their ages are from about seven up to about thirteen. I have two younger classes, we call them M-classes. M-2 and M-4. They're seven or eight. I have a couple of middle classes, called K-classes, K-10 and K-11. And a couple of older classes, A-classes, A-4 and A-9.

The kids are all pretty stereotypical from what I know in the States. M-classes are still excited by learning much of the time. They're also dumb enough that they don't realize they're learning when we play a spelling game. So that's useful. But they're the loud ones, very prone to screaming. It takes a lot of energy to keep their energy moving in the right direction.

K-classes are my favorite. They're middle of the road. They don't have the energy of really little kids, but they aren't as deliberately disinterested or lethargic as the teenagers in A-classes. They also have the more interesting material. I can have actual conversations with them.

In M-classes we have a TA: a Chinese-Taiwanese teacher who grades homework and helps if things get really out of hand. But I like the independence of K-classes. I have to grade all their homework myself, but I don't have a TA in that class I feel like is looking over my shoulder.

A-classes are the hard ones for me. A teacher here told me, "you have to be their friend" and unfortunately, I'm not that kinda guy. And it's hard to be friendly when the kids see it as their job to stymie my job of teaching them. That's my Friday-night A-9 class: classic we-don't-wanna teenagers. Middle-schoolers, actually, aged thirteen or so. I have another class about that age on Saturday morning, which I like better. I think the early hour keeps 'em quiet. I have to spend energy motivating them, making 'em talk, but it's easier to move them in the direction I want when I don't have to stop them from going in another direction first.

I don't feel like I'm cut out to be a teacher. Certainly not at these age levels, anyway. But it's had the advantage of not being boring like my other jobs. Things always change, so I'm not going to the same job every day. It is funny tho'; the common complaint around my office is how people say they like teaching, but they hate the prep work, especially the grading. Marie and I agreed we could do a lot of grading, especially if we didn't have to teach. It's correcting really simple English, so it's like the easiest editing we've ever done.

We do have books for lessons, so much of a session (usually we teach two- or three-hour classes) is pre-programmed: teach this phrase and these words in this way, use this game, and so on. It would get boring, but the kids won't completely settle into a pattern. There's always a troublemaker or six, depending on which class.

That's a look at my week. If there are more specific questions (grandma), feel free to add a comment and I can answer it pretty quick.