Long Time No See
Well, it has been more than six weeks since my last entry, and that really surprises me. I wasn't aware that it had been so long. During the last six weeks, I've been extremely busy. First, there were final exams. Third Term, I had to make FIVE different final exams. This year, I shall undoubtedly long for those 'good old days', as this year I will have EIGHT final exams to make!
This year, I will be teaching 18 lessons a week ... with no repeats! Each lesson will be completely different. That means I have to plan 13.5 hours of lesson time EVERY WEEK! Also, I teach NINE completely different courses. In first grade, I will be teaching English A (Writing), English B (Reading) and Oral Communication. In second grade and third grade, I will be teaching English B and Oral Communication. I will also be teaching high school first grade Oral Communication, and a special mixed-grade high school NELP class. If you want to be particular, you could say I'm teaching ten different course because I also teach junior high school first grade Special Projects (although the grade is part of their oral communication grade). Needless to say, I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the magnitude of this year's class load. Will I survive? Only time will tell.
What is nice is that this year, we have a new NELP teacher! His name is Brian Timms and he is from Canada. In addition to teaching SELP classes, Brian will be teaching junior high school second grade NELP English A (writing). Originally, we had planned not to have English A in second grade because the grammar is becoming more difficult, and we thought it would be better to integrate the SELP and NELP students for English A. However, this year's second grade class has SIX students who have passed the second grade Eiken STEP test, and so the second grade Progress in English textbook really doesn't have a lot to offer them, seeing as how they have all lived overseas. So we have passed a new rule that if we have five or more students in one grade who have passed the second grade Eiken STEP test, then they can form a NELP English A class.
So, how are my classes this year? Well, I have 7 first grade students, 14 second grade students, 7 third grade students, 4 high school first grade students, and 4 students in my 8th period NELP independent studies class. Three of the students in Independent Studies are also in my high school first grade Oral Communication class. One student in oral communication will not be participating this year in the 8th period classes due to other obligations. One second grade student will be joining that class. It will be nice to teach her again, because I taught her when she was in junior high school first grade, back before we had a NELP program.
I hope in spite of my busy schedule that I'll be able to update this blog more or less regularly. We'll see. Wish me luck.
- Tweet
- Check
Date: 2008⁄04⁄14 08:02｜Permalink｜Author：nelp