So, as promised in my last blog, the next post (this post) would be about the bad news. Aka a bad experience working with one of my teachers. There are many challenges in trying to improve the quality of English teaching at my schools, and I enjoy the challenges. There are also plenty of delightful experiences. I thought it would be unfair to just present just one story or the other, so that's why I put them up right after each other. As the following events transpired, I took some notes, thus the format given below.
9:20 The twenty minute morning break is officially over. Class officially begins (no passing period). I am sitting in the teacher's lounge, chatting with an English teacher.
9:26 I end my conversation and leave the teacher's lounge, I am the second teacher to leave. The rest remain.
9:27 I lean against the wall next to the classroom of the teacher I will be helping/observing/working with, she was in the teacher's lounge, but in conversation when I left.
9:42 I see the teacher I am planning to work leave the teacher's lounge, but don't see where she goes (she doesn't walk down the sidewalk to where I am standing.
9:44 I give up waiting for the teacher/class at the classroom and walk towards the direction the teacher went. A large group of teachers leave the teacher's lounge. I am hoping to maybe find the teacher, but also was tired of leaning on the wall.
9:51 On my walk, I see two other teachers going back to their respective classrooms.
9:54 I complete my loop of the lower part of the high school and return to the class, the teacher is there with the class room, calling roll.
10:14 The teacher finishes telling the students their grades, which she did while calling roll.
10:15 As the teacher is working on filling out a piece of paper, filing papers, etc. I ask students why they weren't waiting outside the classroom. I find out that they thought they were supposed to go to a presentation, but it was actually just for the seniors (these kids are juniors). So, they hung around and chilled until the teacher went to the auditorium and told them to come to class. The auditorium is a 2-3 minute walk from the classroom.
10:21 A group of three students begin working on the packet of worksheets.
10:23 Upon the teacher's inquiry into why they aren't working on the worksheets, the students explain that because they were told they had the presentation to attend, they didn't bring their materials.
10:24-11:10 The teacher engages in a discussion/argument with the students about some of the Ministry of Public Education regulations regarding attendance, uniforms, behavior, exams, and a few other topics. You can bet dollars to doughnuts that the group of three students stopped working on the worksheets. I chat with a group of students in the corner, where I've been seated.
11:10 Class is dismissed.
11:20 Class is officially over. The only English spoken in the past two hours was by yours truly and the three students I was chatting with. The only English written or read were the notes I am now copying to write this blog.
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