After three weeks....

We have some new tables and chairs--well a few anyway, thanks to the dean helping me retrieve out of storage. It was quite a workout, actually. But a few more students are happy and more comfortable in, as we say "423 Storage."

A few students are still frustrated when there are more than one right answer. Boy, what if I introduced them to transformational grammar and PoMo!! One student was genuinely upset because in her dictionary, the past tense of weave was "weaved" and our book said "wove" and "woven."

Some language learners, including my wife, get very upset with ambiguity in English grammar.

And one of the pitfalls of our program is that yes, for the most part, are students learn grammar. But they are a little weak in writing and pronunciation. Yet, they the students expect me to keep hammering away on grammar.

What did I get myself into?

So I am teaching ESL level 5 to adults. I am working four nights a week, with 12 hours of classtime. But in addition it takes me 2 hours to prepare and correct papers each afternoon.

Furthermore, many students have not even purchased the textbook; lucky we have some class copies. But of course they go home empty handed, unless I make them worksheets. If not, they will have nothing to study from and will probably have little chance of passing the final. And if they do not pass the final, they do not go on to the next level.

So now I have to find and make copies. First, I had to purchase the workbook... for around 35 dollars. Then I found out it doesn't have many exercises for our problem area, future perfect progressive tense.

My final thought: is this my life's work, to teach English to English language learners, whether adults or children???? How did I end up doing this? And we have little or no access to computers.... grammar, grammar, grammar, you are a cruel master.