Fortnite and Half Term

Yesterday morning was a bit of a blur. I suddenly had to do spelling age tests for kids going into high school as I was asked to write reports for the schools they are applying to. Decided I may as well do all my students at one go as I have to do mid-year tests soon any way. To end the morning I did a test exercise with my class to see if they are visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learners. It proved quite enlightening. Only one of them is visual and as I suspected, a lot of my dyslexics are highly kinaesthetic. Need to do more practical stuff with them. Had a quick cup of tea with the other staff and then dashed off to do an online lesson with my Chinese five year old. It is always such a joy to be greeted by him as he gives me such a warm greeting when I switch on to Zoom. I even had baby brother come over and offer a handful of Duplo to me over the internet. Had a yummy lunch at Deli with a friend, went to personal training (it was a fairly brutal session - my new nemesis are things called Around the Worlds where you have to sort of do crunches to move around on your back from one side to the other - my personal trainer makes me do them at the end of my workouts and they are killing!) and then taught my form four biology. In the evening went to dinner at a friend's new restaurant in Mount Pleasant. So yesterday was pretty full.

Today was a little more chilled. I was allowed to sleep in a bit by the puddy tats. Worked on calculating reading ages then went to teach my form four again. Poor boy, today we had to go over sexual reproduction. I could see he was a little uncomfortable but he was quite mature about it all and asked some good questions. I must say I am relieved we have now covered that. I also taught both my Chinese students again. My French student went into a long discussion about Fortnite - the game my class are also mad about at the moment. Told my French student he should play my class - he wants me to set it up. My one student at school who has been acting up of late has been threatened with having his Xbox confiscated. The transformation in his behaviour since has been radical.

I had better carry on with work this evening. Half term is giving me a little bit of breathing space but I said to the head I should try set exam papers this weekend and she said that would be a good idea :P No rest for the wicked.

Bring on 10.30 tomorrow morning

Today has been a little frenetic. My prac using quadrats in the school playground went well and it got my kids thinking which was great. I then got them to write me a tall tale for creative writing and let them exaggerate as much they liked just this once. Some of them really threw themselves into it and I got some of my longest essays to date (now I have to mark them, hmmmm). My one student, the same one who did the Michael Jackson medley at home time last week, decided he was Steve Urkel today. How he knows about Steve Urkel flummoxed me, but when I said was that who he was, he said how did I know? 

I was supposed to have taught my Chinese five year old online at 2 but my head needed me to work on reports to send to high schools for our grade sevens. I got so cosy sitting in the sunshine that only comes onto my desk in the afternoon, that I completely forgot I was supposed to have met a friend for coffee. It was only when my mum phoned to say she was on her way that I recollected and quickly packed up. At Bottom Drawer we saw Pastor Evan Mawarire and he came over and I gave him a hug. My friend who is doing research here is thinking about collecting memorabilia of political propaganda. He already has an ED scarf and is now after a suit made out of fabric with ED's face on it. He wants to wear it to give a lecture on Zim politics when he gets back to the UK. On the radio driving home I listened to an interview of one of the independent presidential candidates, Noah Manyika. (Here are all the presidential candidates - all 19 of them). He didn't directly answer how he plans on solving the cash crisis. I don't know if anyone really knows how they are going to do that. My class is doing money in maths this week and I must admit I'm not sure which currency we should be working with. A few didn't grasp that four lots of 10c is not $40 so I think we need to play with fake money.

From tea I went on to teach my French student. At his request at the end of the lesson we started trying to translate Adele's song Hello into French - harder than you think. Found the French version below on Youtube which definitely does it's own variation. This was after we looked at a passage on toucans. I was asked to then go help the person interning at the church I used to go to with her TOEFL assignment. She had to do a lesson plan on the present continuous. Been a while since I did CELTA and had to think about eliciting information from students and the like.

I have to prepare two lessons for tomorrow and have then got a quiz for my class to do to see if they are kinaesthetic, auditory or visual learners ... and then it's half term!!!!

World Picnic Day

Well I didn't realise today was World Picnic Day, but went on a lovely picnic yesterday at Raintree. The weather was perfect and it was so restful sitting by the running water and spotting all sorts of dragonflies, butterflies and birds. Felt completely refreshed for the week. It's been a good Monday. The bonus was being told we close for half term at 10 on Thursday - woohoo!! Although my weekend is going to have to involve setting exam papers - eeeek. And some attempt at starting at reading books for the NILD course - do don't be too envious :P

Came racing home to teach my Chinese student online only to be told via Wechat that his mum has forgotten her password for Zoom. Oooh dear. Will have to make a plan.

Saw on Facebook that nine years ago today I was exploring Basel in Switzerland with my friend Nadia. Was a fun day cycling round, going to a major Van Gough exhibition, exploring the city, eating organic ice cream and having a mid summer bbq by the River Rhine. I can't believe it's nine years ago though. That is a long time but it doesn't feel like it. I am in a good space right now though, the happiest I have been in ages.

The term was just made shorter

Make that end of term, not year. Or maybe even half term :P

Have been pretty busy the last week and a bit with school and things. With elections being set for the 30th of July, our head had put exams forward. Just as well she did as it was announced on Thursday that schools will close early and we'll start again earlier in September. I am getting going with starting to put together exam papers. Will have consultations the week straight after exams. About to start the NILD educational therapy course online too so I am going to be busy. It's now about a 12 week term instead of the original 14 and luckily the intensive NILD training weekend is still in the holidays - phew!

My class is getting a little rowdy and I am going to have to get stricter, with enforced consequences. I turned around from writing on the board the other day though and was trying to stare down boys who were busy talking. One caught my eye and said, "Miss Lannas you're going to laugh." Well that made me and that was the end of trying to be stern. One boy gave a Michael Jackson interpretive medley at the end of school. He was actually pretty good - a career awaits. He is nicknamed The Dab-King by his classmates and keeps me updated on popular culture. Put a smile on my face.

I need to work on this.

Next weekend is already half term - I can't wait. I have been teaching for six weeks already. Am enjoying it but dealing with pre-teen boys has been a little challenging this past week with punch ups and one boy having aggression issues. One of my girls had an asthmatic attack and hadn't brought her new pump to school with her which was a little worrying. Got her to sit quietly and had thought about getting her to breathe into a paper bag.

Otherwise have started dating a good friend. Am very happy and doing really well.

Riddles, funky shoes and hotspots

I happened to hear a riddle on the radio on the way to school today and it turned out so did one of my students who asked to present it to the class. What do you throw the outside of away, eat the inside of and then throw away the inside of? Riddles suddenly are all the rage with my grade sevens. Managed to remember everything today and my slipper socks. My head commented when I went home that wasn't I going to go shopping in my slippers? Haha. She then said maybe we should make Friday slipper day every week - yes please, that would be amazing! One boy seemed to miss the memo and came with funky hair instead. He must have borrowed his sister or mum's hair clips and proudly sported a spiky hair-do all morning. He's the same boy that will walk back to his desk swinging and clicking his fingers in the air - away in his own world but obviously completely content. As his teacher says - wish we could tap into whatever he is on.

We had another decadent tea again for Friday break. This time there were mini individual cheesecakes, mini milk tarts, profiteroles and sausage rolls. My turn next week - eeek. I will probably bake, but what I have to still decide - possibly hikers' fingers, bran and raisin muffins, maybe something chocolatey or savoury cheese puffs or perhaps some samosas. Thursday afternoon after meeting the French travel agents is going to have to be set aside for baking.

Came dashing home to teach my Chinese five year old online. Got home to no power though. Managed to teach him for about half an hour using the inverter and when that died I switched to using a hotspot off my phone - which worked for about 10 more minutes but I then lost connection and didn't get it back. The power is now coming on and off. Have unplugged my laptop in case of power surges. Really hope it comes back on properly as I have a lot of school work to do tonight. I fell behind slightly with marking this week and am struggling to get back on top of it (I seem to just lug pile after pile of books upstairs). So glad it is Friday though and that I don't have to be up at 5.30 tomorrow, well if Missy the cat allows it.

Apparently smoking as a teenager leads to a life of crime!

This morning was darker and colder and it was harder to get out of bed on time. My furry alarm clock Missy didn't fail me though and nudged me out from under the duvet. I did, however, dash out and forgot to pick up an additional pile of marking - my mental maths books. Realised soon after getting to school but it just wasn't going to work going all the way home again. We did spelling instead and will do double mental tomorrow. I am pleased to report my hastily revised seating plan after the initial failure is seeming to have worked for now. I do tell three of my grade sevens though that they may find themselves seated next to me.

So we tackled argumentative writing and I gave the topic of why teenagers shouldn't smoke (well I didn't actually give them the counter argument option - I'm mean). My one boy made me laugh. He is the same student that last week passionately said parents shouldn't buy school uniforms in a debate because they need to retire and live in cluster houses. Today he said that teenagers who smoke are going to end up living a life of crime. They don't have money of their own, so of course they are going to steal and this is the beginning of it all going downhill. I wish he would get as enthusiastic as he does in his debates for other things. At break another teacher said one of her students is going to Kariba tomorrow to scatter his grandmother's ashes. She told the class he was going away for something important and special. When his classmates then asked him why he was going he promptly replied it was to go fishing!

Had personal training and did a very mild cardio session with skipping, shuttles and different types of press ups. My trainer said she'll see me on Sunday at Wild Geese - hahaha I might be hiding behind my easels. Met up briefly after training with my friend Lucy that I will be sharing a stand with. We've decided to head over for 8 o'clock Sunday morning to set up. I had forgotten I have to submit one piece for the art competition - hmmmm, will have to think about that. Had a bit of special bonding time with my godson Philippe whilst visiting Lucy. He's chatting away now and we had fun in the garden with a pine cone.

OK to work. I have a pile of marking in front of me and need to prepare a lesson on African countries for social studies tomorrow as decided on that since last week was Africa Day. Tomorrow we are having "funky shoe day" at school. I had thought about possibly dashing home and getting a pair of ballet shoes but I am leaning towards wearing my slipper socks again - any excuse to wear my slippers :P

It's been one of those days ... but am in a happy place

Am in a very happy place right now. Things are going well and I have a lot to be thankful for. I think having a structured job every day is really doing me good. Today my class were a little trying collectively though. I reshuffled the seating arrangement to move in particular the two boys guilty of the vulgar note passing. I had thought it would work but I very quickly discovered my switch made things even worse. The head said at break time she must have heard me say the one boy's name at least 15 times in one lesson, telling him to stop talking and focus - arrrrrrgh. I have decided if he is still at it tomorrow I will move his desk right next to mine on the side and he can learn from there. For more than one student it would be ideal to just have them in the classroom on their own to deal with their learning difficulties one on one. Trying to cater for each of the 15 AND get them to concentrate is definitely challenging. One parent has my phone number and is now whatsapping me regularly. The grade one teacher has a whatsapp group for her parents. While this would help with passing on messages, I don't know that I want every parent messaging me individually daily about their child as I just don't have time to answer each of them and do everything else.

The one student whose name I said repeatedly for the first part of the morning seems to like riddles. When I was doing gate duty at lunchtime he was asking some. I asked him two we had in quiz last night. I said he can ask the class a riddle each day. He seemed quite pleased with this idea. I like him individually, just need to talk him into cooperating more in class. I got to break time and my restorative cup of tea was much appreciated. One of the other teachers said the election date had just been announced for the 30th July. Guess we know now. I personally don't see another party winning and ZANU PF staying in power, but we will see. Need to think about how I will vote strategically.

Met up briefly with friends at Vanilla Moon this afternoon and then went and booked an optician appointment (I had trouble seeing if it was a dog or a cow in the road ahead in Nyanga - think I may need new lenses). Popped home quickly to get my artwork holder. I think I may just have enough stuff for Wild Geese from what I have done with Sarah Fynn and at La Rochelle last year. Might not need to print photos as a backup. Will see.