Whew! It’s midnight right now as I begin to type this. This (I hope) will be a quick post, because I need to get to sleep.
About ten days ago we finally learned when the final exams will be for English classes at our school. The 26th through 28th of November. About a full week or two earlier than our head teacher had expected based on his three years here. We were given until the 16th to turn in the first draft of our exams for review, which is today (it’s 12:04 AM at the moment of this sentence). We were all rather shocked. I think you can guess that we’ve been busy.
We also have to have four quizzes for each class, which have to be finished in time to put the grades on the students’ report cards (which I imagine will be due at least a week before the last day of the semester). Most people have two or three quizzes given for each class so far. So some of us have also worked to squeeze in quiz number three or four before the time for exams. Some classes will need to have a quiz after final exams (which is not an entirely new thing – due to odd schedule changes last semester, Stephanie and I had to give quiz number four to the sixth grade science classes after summer finals). I already had three quizzes in most classes, so I didn’t need to rush as much as a few other people, but I wanted to get through quiz number four anyway, just in case of sudden and probable class cancellations or if I end up deciding to give a fifth quiz (which is an opportunity for the students to have the lowest quiz score dropped). So I guess I should say I kind of brought this (some of it) on myself.
So with all of the exam-writing, quiz-writing, quiz-grading, and various other things going on at school, we’ve all been putting in some really packed days. Which is good. I feel very productive and not at all like I’m deadweight at work. Though if I had a day or two like that next week, I wouldn’t mind! (I know that we English teachers in Korea don’t have quite the work load that Korean teachers have, so I wonder what kind of mess they have to deal with around this time!)
Ashley and I stayed late at work three days this week. Almost two hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a full two hours today. When we left the English teachers’ office, the hallway was nearly pitch black, and only a few Korean teachers remained on the other side of the building. On Tuesday and Thursday we came home, made supper, and did more work, which we had brought home. (I just finished Thursday’s work before beginning this post.) The only reason we didn’t bring work home Wednesday was because we had a plan to go to our co-worker’s apartment for FAJITAS. With REAL PINTO BEANS. It was amazing and a much-needed break. Thank you, Linda.
Well, I realize that that was a rather abrupt change in tone and topic, but as I said, it’s late and I should go to bed. I just thought I’d share what we’ve been up to lately (and to receive a cathartic effect from writing this recent activity).
129º East 