Back in the saddle

Yay for spring! I woke up today, and was startled to discover that winter has fled and that his fair-headed sister has taken control of the world. Thank goodness. I was about to die from hypothermia.


I returned to the classroom at 2:00 this afternoon and I’m thrilled to be back. My first class on Mondays is often a snoozer (I think they’re still recovering from their lunchtime nap), and today was no different, but I did the best I could to energize them. I’ll admit, I was fighting a number of battles -- first day back from break, warm weather outside, I’m teaching a “fluff class” and the pressure for students is starting to build, etc. However, I know not to take it personally, and there are plenty of students who do enjoy my class.
The second period of the day was far more enjoyable than the first. I made a few adjustments to the lesson and the tweaks made a world of difference in the level of student interest, as I’ll explain in a bit. 


The main focus for this week’s lesson is Valentine’s Day, but we do cover some other topics. We start off with a warm-up about how they spent their vacation, which allows me time to wander around the room and individually discuss answers with students. I then explain the day’s schedule, show some photos from our Scotland trip, teach two slang words (24/7 and airhead), introduce some new vocabulary words associated with Valentine’s Day, show a short video about the history of Valentine’s Day (it’s a bit complex for many of the students, but I explain it to them), I give a short lecture about how Americans currently celebrate the holiday, play a music video of Taylor Swift’s Love Story, lead the students through a couple of love-themed mad libs, and discuss how the Chinese celebrate their own version of Valentine’s Day (it’s called Qixi). Yes, it’s a bit difficult for the boys to be interested in the content, but I think that the girls enjoy the lesson. 


During the first class, I skipped the mad libs and did an interactive quiz about love instead. However, some of the questions were too complex (example: is love practical?), so I decided to scrap that part of the lesson and do the mad libs instead. 


For those of you unacquainted with mad libs, it’s an activity that many elementary-aged children do on long car trips to keep themselves occupied. (At least that’s when I did them.) Essentially, it’s a short story into which you inject special words. You don’t know the topic before you fill in the blanks with specific parts of speech (adjectives, verbs, proper nouns, etc.), so it’s silly when you read the completed “work”. Here’s an example. If you’re asked for a body part and you chose “eyes” like the students did today, it’s hilarious when the story says, “I would like to ask for your daughter’s eyes in marriage.” Or at least the students think it’s hilarious. 


Well I’ve got to run open the door for Jean-Jacques. He ran to Pala to get us dinner and I’m super excited about my chicken sandwich and french fries. Yay! Until later!