Spotted on the bus today: A middle-aged man wearing a t-shirt that read (in English):
"My most secret fantasy is to have 2 men - 1 who cooks and 1 who cleans."
Not only was it in pink lettering, but this t-shirt was freshly pressed, tucked into a pair of khakis, and held into place by a belt.
It was clear homeboy had NO idea what his shirt said ... so of course Betsy and I were cracking up like a bunch of 2 year olds and almost had to get off the bus before our stop.
Makes me wonder what all those Chinese symbols t-shirts from back in the day really say ...
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
3 things ...
During the first week of class I had all my students write down 3 things (in English) they want to learn in class this semester. About 90% of them went the uncreative route and wrote speak, write and understand English better, but I also had a a few gems scattered in the pile, such as ...
- Drive an airplane
- Play golf
- Dancing
- Work the ear
- Make dialogue, very much
- I want to learn to conversation fluid with my friends
- I want to learn sing
- I want to learn pronounce
- Drives motocicle
and my favorite ...
- I want to learn a domination this world.
Not sure how to plan a lesson for that one but I'm open to suggestions.
- Drive an airplane
- Play golf
- Dancing
- Work the ear
- Make dialogue, very much
- I want to learn to conversation fluid with my friends
- I want to learn sing
- I want to learn pronounce
- Drives motocicle
and my favorite ...
- I want to learn a domination this world.
Not sure how to plan a lesson for that one but I'm open to suggestions.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Near death experience
So the title may be slightly misleading, but I had an interesting experience on Thursday night. Brooke, Betsy (an American friend and fellow Plaza Oeste teacher), and I met up with a few of my Chilean friends on the metro to head out for the night. It was peak night hours and the metro was PACKED, so it was incredibly hot, stuffy, and uncomfortable. At one of the stops a guy who was standing behind me stepped on the back of my foot and proceeded to tear off a huge blister I had on the back of my ankle. He said "excuse me" (in English - how did he know??) but the damage had been done. My popped blister started gushing blood and pooling underneath my heel. For anyone who knows me, I have a tiiiiiiiiiny issue when it comes to seeing blood - aka I pass out when I get my finger pricked. As soon as I saw the blood I knew I was in for it.
Everyone I was with could tell I was not ok and offered to get off with me at the next stop ... and thank God I did. Right before the doors opened I started seeing colors and everything got really blurry ... I had to hang on to Brooke who led me to the stairs leading out of the metro station. As if that weren't enough, Brooke also took a Kleenex and cleaned all the blood off the back of my ankle. WHAT A FRIEND!
So I was sitting on the metro steps, sweating PROFUSELY, trying to catch my breath while Brooke was wiping at the blood in my shoe when the cutest little lady ran over to help me. She was a metro worker and couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall. She had me put my head between my legs and breath slowly, then took me to her office and gave me some (warm) water. After a few minutes I was feeling a lot better, so after giving her ALL my information (seriously, it was everything short of my bra size - no idea why she needed it either) I headed back to where everyone was waiting.
Now I bring an economy-sized pack of bandaids and bottled water with me during peak metro hours. Yikes.
Everyone I was with could tell I was not ok and offered to get off with me at the next stop ... and thank God I did. Right before the doors opened I started seeing colors and everything got really blurry ... I had to hang on to Brooke who led me to the stairs leading out of the metro station. As if that weren't enough, Brooke also took a Kleenex and cleaned all the blood off the back of my ankle. WHAT A FRIEND!
So I was sitting on the metro steps, sweating PROFUSELY, trying to catch my breath while Brooke was wiping at the blood in my shoe when the cutest little lady ran over to help me. She was a metro worker and couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall. She had me put my head between my legs and breath slowly, then took me to her office and gave me some (warm) water. After a few minutes I was feeling a lot better, so after giving her ALL my information (seriously, it was everything short of my bra size - no idea why she needed it either) I headed back to where everyone was waiting.
Now I bring an economy-sized pack of bandaids and bottled water with me during peak metro hours. Yikes.
Just call me "profe" ...
WHAT. A. WEEK. After 2 hectic weeks of "training," all us gringos were thrown into the classroom on Monday to start our new "careers" as English teachers. A couple things wrong with this situation: Monday morning on our way to campus none of us had our schedules, class lists, lesson book, and we didn't even know what level of Engish we were going to be teaching (it ranges from basic to accelerated advanced). Our coordinator conveniently missed our meeting on Friday when we were supposed to find out all these things and instead just e-mailed us and told us to meet on campus at 8:30 a.m. - and also that 4 of us would be teaching first thing in the morning. Wonderful.
Brooke and I, along with 3 other Americans, are teaching at the DuocUC Plaza Oeste campus which is in Maipú (yes, it's pronounced like THAT ... you can imagine how much fun we've been having with that name) ... wayyyyyyy southwest of the city center. We take a combination of metro and "micro" (city bus) to get there ... a nice little hour and a half ride through some of the poorest parts of Santiago. And I thought my 30 minute commute to West Liberty was a lot! What's even better is that on days I have to teach at 8:30 a.m., I leave for the metro around 6:45 a.m. when it's still pitch black outside!
So we all get there Monday and get our schedules ... mine is by far the best of all the Americans. I teach 5 classes, 1 basic and 4 intermediate. I have weekends and Tuesdays off, and work 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, and have 4 classes in a row on Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30-2:30. Not too bad except for the whole waking up when it's still night and having to teach for 6 hours straight thing. One of my collegues got completely screwed over and works at 8:30 a.m. every morning, has between an 8-10 hour break, and then has a night class which goes until 10:30 p.m. every night. His choice is either to stay in Maipú the whole time or do the 3 hour round trip commute twice a day. We've been told over and over that it is not safe to stay in that area at night, plus the bus ride to the metro can take up to 45 minutes and the metro closes at 11 p.m. Needless to say he is not a happy camper and is likely switching campuses within the next week ... I don't blame him.
After pulling my first lesson out of nowhere, we come to find out that our coordinator has decided to quit. No real surprise there! Clearly this is why he gave us no direction ... he knew he was getting outta there! So that was the icing on the cake after a MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD week!
The upside to all this is I LOVE MY STUDENTS! Most range from 19-22, but I have a couple students in their mid-to-late 30's as well. The DuocUC campus we're at specializes in majors like automechanics, industrial engineering, graphic design, etc. ... very "male" oriented careers ... and I have a total of 3 girls in my 5 classes.
For the most part my students are really excited about learning English. One student came up to me after class and talked my ear off about how a couple weeks ago he was dreading English class, and then he met a German guy at the train station who spoke 3 languages and he was so inspired, etc. etc. etc. Granted he told me this while speak 100 mph, slang-ridden, mumbly Chilean Spanish, so I could be wrong :)
Although last week was a disorganized disaster, I was able to pull together some really fun lessons and I feel like my students really learned a lot! No word on who our new coordinator will be, but I'll be getting my book on Monday and have a really great lesson outline now. YIKES, I thought I was getting into this English teaching gig to avoid the "real world" and a "real job!!!"
Brooke and I, along with 3 other Americans, are teaching at the DuocUC Plaza Oeste campus which is in Maipú (yes, it's pronounced like THAT ... you can imagine how much fun we've been having with that name) ... wayyyyyyy southwest of the city center. We take a combination of metro and "micro" (city bus) to get there ... a nice little hour and a half ride through some of the poorest parts of Santiago. And I thought my 30 minute commute to West Liberty was a lot! What's even better is that on days I have to teach at 8:30 a.m., I leave for the metro around 6:45 a.m. when it's still pitch black outside!
So we all get there Monday and get our schedules ... mine is by far the best of all the Americans. I teach 5 classes, 1 basic and 4 intermediate. I have weekends and Tuesdays off, and work 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, and have 4 classes in a row on Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30-2:30. Not too bad except for the whole waking up when it's still night and having to teach for 6 hours straight thing. One of my collegues got completely screwed over and works at 8:30 a.m. every morning, has between an 8-10 hour break, and then has a night class which goes until 10:30 p.m. every night. His choice is either to stay in Maipú the whole time or do the 3 hour round trip commute twice a day. We've been told over and over that it is not safe to stay in that area at night, plus the bus ride to the metro can take up to 45 minutes and the metro closes at 11 p.m. Needless to say he is not a happy camper and is likely switching campuses within the next week ... I don't blame him.
After pulling my first lesson out of nowhere, we come to find out that our coordinator has decided to quit. No real surprise there! Clearly this is why he gave us no direction ... he knew he was getting outta there! So that was the icing on the cake after a MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD week!
The upside to all this is I LOVE MY STUDENTS! Most range from 19-22, but I have a couple students in their mid-to-late 30's as well. The DuocUC campus we're at specializes in majors like automechanics, industrial engineering, graphic design, etc. ... very "male" oriented careers ... and I have a total of 3 girls in my 5 classes.
For the most part my students are really excited about learning English. One student came up to me after class and talked my ear off about how a couple weeks ago he was dreading English class, and then he met a German guy at the train station who spoke 3 languages and he was so inspired, etc. etc. etc. Granted he told me this while speak 100 mph, slang-ridden, mumbly Chilean Spanish, so I could be wrong :)
Although last week was a disorganized disaster, I was able to pull together some really fun lessons and I feel like my students really learned a lot! No word on who our new coordinator will be, but I'll be getting my book on Monday and have a really great lesson outline now. YIKES, I thought I was getting into this English teaching gig to avoid the "real world" and a "real job!!!"
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
:/
Sorry I've been neglecting this blog but it's been a craaaaazy week! I will update this weekend ... or possibly before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)