I have one wish this Christmas: for Santa Claus to visit my apartment. Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Merry Christmas
I have one wish this Christmas: for Santa Claus to visit my apartment. Merry Christmas!
Interner Serverfehler!
Apologies to all 3 of my loyal readers that this blog was down the past few days. Unfortunately, this was an unavoidable situation. Though I did understand the German message I was seeing, this didn't help much as the translation amounts to the dreaded and cryptic sounding "internal server error". I don't administer my own webserver. It is leased space which is provided by the hosting company. I got this website in October 2003 by signing up for a 3 year special "no monthly fee" deal being offered by the German parent company 1&1 Internet AG und Co. What I had forgotten though was that there IS an annual domain name registration fee (don't ask me what that pays for, though I suspect it probably goes to ICANN in Virginia). And since my credit card expired this past year, they couldn't collect the $5.99 I owed them. So what do those friendly people at 1&1 do? Shut down my website until I get frustrated enough to call (lesson: NEVER bother sending email to internet service providers about billing questions). Now THAT's customer service!!!!!!!
Well, now it's all settled, at least, until my free trial period expires next November. Hopefully, my blog stays online until then, so you all can reap the benefits of my enlightening and enriching postings. Ha ha ha....
Well, now it's all settled, at least, until my free trial period expires next November. Hopefully, my blog stays online until then, so you all can reap the benefits of my enlightening and enriching postings. Ha ha ha....
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Teacher Training, Part 1
On weekends I "moonlight" as a German teacher for teenagers, at a local Bay Area Saturday German School. The school is set up with classes for all ages, where the students learn basic speaking, reading and writing skills. Most of these kids are part German, so they hear the language frequently at home or during vacations abroad.
About half the kids in my class come to school because their parents make them. The other half come and get annoyed by the bad behavior of the rest. I have to deal with disciplinary problems. I have kids brining Ipods into class. I have kids who complain they're too cold, and others who complain they're too hot. I have kids who cuss when they get a question wrong. Other ones cuss at eachother. Keep in mind, these are "smart" kids - who are learning foreign languages on Saturdays.
This morning, my class was a zoo, as usual. "Kevin" brought his Ipod. I told him to take it off. He took it out of one ear. I ignored him. "Mary" complained she was cold (it was kind of cold). I told her she could sit in front of the window, where it was sunny. She refused (she prefers to sit "with the girls", and not in back , by the window with "the boys"). I told "Mary" she could stand in front of the heater. All the girls joined her, forming a gaggle in front of the heater. All the kids stood up, "in rebellion". I had to start yelling and tell everyboday to take seats.
Then, for no reason at all, they start yelling at each other. They rarely make the effort to speak any German, unless I start yelling for them to be quiet, and pay attention, and answer the godd- question. (I don't say godd-) to them. I do a fair amount of yelling. I feel sorry for the adult class next door. I am surprised they have not complained to me yet about the zoo we have.
Here is what we did in 2 1/4 hours of class.
- We went over our dialogs for the "Adventsfeier" (Christmas Party). Our class are narrators for the fairy tale re-enactment to take place next Sunday. All they have to do is learn 2 or 3 sentences each. Though I have been asking my students to learn their parts for 3 weeks, hardly any of them know it. They mispronounce words, mangle phrases, and skip punctuation.
- We listened to some tape dialogs for our German textbook. We listed 2 or 3 times to each, because usually, while the tape was playing, someone (usually "Kevin" or "Matthew") was talking. In an addition, I did not realize that since our new texbooks are East German, the people speaking the dialogs all would have East German accents. That's like teaching kids english listening to a bunch of people who grew up in the Kentucky mountains.
- We went over the concept of "split verbs". I started handing out chocolates to whomever got a question right or could give me a correct example. That got some reaction. Mostly, yelling, in english.
- We played a German word-game (where more yelling occurred, between students)
Basically, kids these days, even smart ones, don't listen to you unless you "get tough" with them. This is too bad, because it makes the job of teaching more like a policeman. I won't tell you what I'm getting paid to do this, but let's just say, I'm not doing it for the money.
I will keep you apprised ...
About half the kids in my class come to school because their parents make them. The other half come and get annoyed by the bad behavior of the rest. I have to deal with disciplinary problems. I have kids brining Ipods into class. I have kids who complain they're too cold, and others who complain they're too hot. I have kids who cuss when they get a question wrong. Other ones cuss at eachother. Keep in mind, these are "smart" kids - who are learning foreign languages on Saturdays.
This morning, my class was a zoo, as usual. "Kevin" brought his Ipod. I told him to take it off. He took it out of one ear. I ignored him. "Mary" complained she was cold (it was kind of cold). I told her she could sit in front of the window, where it was sunny. She refused (she prefers to sit "with the girls", and not in back , by the window with "the boys"). I told "Mary" she could stand in front of the heater. All the girls joined her, forming a gaggle in front of the heater. All the kids stood up, "in rebellion". I had to start yelling and tell everyboday to take seats.
Then, for no reason at all, they start yelling at each other. They rarely make the effort to speak any German, unless I start yelling for them to be quiet, and pay attention, and answer the godd- question. (I don't say godd-) to them. I do a fair amount of yelling. I feel sorry for the adult class next door. I am surprised they have not complained to me yet about the zoo we have.
Here is what we did in 2 1/4 hours of class.
- We went over our dialogs for the "Adventsfeier" (Christmas Party). Our class are narrators for the fairy tale re-enactment to take place next Sunday. All they have to do is learn 2 or 3 sentences each. Though I have been asking my students to learn their parts for 3 weeks, hardly any of them know it. They mispronounce words, mangle phrases, and skip punctuation.
- We listened to some tape dialogs for our German textbook. We listed 2 or 3 times to each, because usually, while the tape was playing, someone (usually "Kevin" or "Matthew") was talking. In an addition, I did not realize that since our new texbooks are East German, the people speaking the dialogs all would have East German accents. That's like teaching kids english listening to a bunch of people who grew up in the Kentucky mountains.
- We went over the concept of "split verbs". I started handing out chocolates to whomever got a question right or could give me a correct example. That got some reaction. Mostly, yelling, in english.
- We played a German word-game (where more yelling occurred, between students)
Basically, kids these days, even smart ones, don't listen to you unless you "get tough" with them. This is too bad, because it makes the job of teaching more like a policeman. I won't tell you what I'm getting paid to do this, but let's just say, I'm not doing it for the money.
I will keep you apprised ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)