The madness begins....

Well. One week down, three (or five) to go.

I have survived, I have done parts of it well, I have enjoyed parts of it, and other parts have been hell. My class are lovely - very quiet, well-behaved and hard-working, though I took until yesterday to get them to loosen up and have fun - by planning a lesson on football (yes, yes, I know) that involved lots of competitive games, and then taking them outside to have a lesson on the grass. Heehee. In the afternoons, though, I was talked into taking a class on international affairs for 16-19 year olds, most of whom didn't care about anything I tried to talk about and spent the entire time sniggering and talking. I offloaded the particularly unpleasant Spanish boy (subsequently put on his final warning for pinning a kid half his height to the ground and pouring pepper in his eye) onto Matt, my colleague, who also found him obstreperous and disruptive, so I don't feel too bad about not being able to control him, but his six remaining friends still managed to ruin the class for the Germans and Russians who were very motivated and serious. Oddly, a workshop on international affairs with students from many different countries has mainly reinforced a lot of national stereotypes.

I have been asked to provide lessons on music next week, and my class's suggestions included: 50 cent, Eminem, Dido, Britney Spears, James Blunt, Green Day. Any ideas as to how this could be incorporated into a coherent lesson plan that will appeal to more than two individual students greatly appreciated. Also, Jaime has requested 'no more paper with things to do', which does limit things somewhat.

Still, there always seem to be plenty of other teachers around for a consolatory pint (or half) afterwards. I seem to have overcome my silly mental block about not being able to drink beer in England and the prospect of having some money means I've got less stingy. Yesterday was lovely and sunny, so we went to the Trout, had random conversations (why Matt is like a duck, why Christ doesn't wear underwear), listened to Chris playing the mandolin and drank Pimm's in the sunshine. Then there was a formal dinner, nominally to encourage us to bond with the Canadian teachers, regular school teachers and New York Film Academy people also on site, but I ended up sitting at a table getting rather drunk and talking rubbish. For a long time. Oops.

And even though it's my day off, I'm still planning lessons, cos I have to help supervise a trip tomorrow and won't have any time to do it before Friday.

Sorry. I have just rambled about my job for longer than you probably want to read about it. I just haven't done anything else and won't for the foreseeable future. I'll try and confine it to comic anecdotes rather than extensive complaining, but can't make any promises....