The thermometer is still hovering near 100, but I finally have to face the facts, that my summer is officially over. Tomorrow begins the first day of the 2012-13 school year. And I’m having a hard time realizing that the fun is over. Can you blame me? In the past
I Love my Students SO F#$%*ING MUCH!!!!
My students have never been able to keep a secret. Whether is about a secret love, or something funny that happened, usually someone, or several someones tells me about it. But what about when the secret is for me? Well, I usually hear about it too. A few weeks ago,
Declaration of Love
Last night my friend Color and I were taking a post-dinner walk when we came across two of my student. They were all giggly and excited and told me “something special” was happening before running off, still giggling, to the lake. So we followed. What we found was the preparation
Nobody Told Me it Would be This Hard
This time last year I waxed poetically about the melancholy that surrounded me during the end of the year. Students and teacher packing it up and taking off. Last year I felt melancholy. This year? I feel downright depressed. That’s because last year I wasn’t that close with the graduating
PostSecrets….Chinese Style!
So you know the website PostSecret? (If you don’t go check it out right away!) Well, it gave me an idea for class. Writing class can be a bit dry. I mean, the writing exercises are totally creative and fun, but it’s still sitting quietly and writing. And I know
Tests, Tests Everywhere and Not a Drop to Learn.
For the past few weeks I’ve been going easy on my students. In writing class we haven’t done much writing, and in speaking class we’ve just done a few easy and fun activities. Why? Well, my students were under a lot of pressure, A LOT, and I didn’t want to
Office Hours
Many universities in China mandate teachers do Office Hours, a time in which the teacher must sit in the office and help any student that comes. My university actually doesn’t make the foreign teachers do that. In fact, no one even suggested to us, and yet, I do it anyway. I know,
Long Time, No See!
I should apologize for my recent absence. Nothing’s wrong, it’s been more of the “perfect storm” of events to prevent me from writing recently. Let me explain. First, my blog got hacked, and it’s still not up to snuff. You’ll notice if you try to go to any page on
Reason #853 Why I Love My Students
Every year I teach writing class. The official title is “Basic Writing,” but on the first day of class I tell them the real name, (my name) for the class is “creative writing.” This is my third year teaching it and while I do different things every semester I still
A Peek into Christmas in China
I’m not a scrooge or anything, but in many ways I enjoy missing out on the pressure of the holiday season back in America. But that doesn’t mean I miss out on Christmas. In fact, if anything, Christmas seems to be getting bigger and bigger around here. This holiday season