teacher mrw

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Archive for the category “The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning”

20 Feb 2012

Weekly Wrap-Up #3

I’m two days’ behind.  Had to address other matters, as my two most recent posts indicate.

In any event, last week was my first full week at school, following a four-day convalescence at home due to a muscle spasm in my neck and upper back, with referred pain in my right shoulder.  I have completed two weeks of physical therapy, and, as a result, I am feeling immensely improved.  Praise God for talented doctors, physical therapists, a loving family, and a warm, safe home.

Anyway, last Tuesday was St. Valentine’s Day, the highlight of the week.  However, I did not do my usual St. Valentine’s Day activities.  I placed my annual order for Necco Hispanic Sweethearts a tad bit late.  Therefore, they didn’t arrive until 16 February.  So, I did different St. Valentine’s Day activities, which, in hindsight, neither I nor the students enjoyed as much.  To add to the pain, I paid almost ten dollars for the activities in question via Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT).   In and of themselves, there was nothing wrong with the activities; they required more critical thinking than the students are accustomed with holiday activities.  Which, in this day and age, working the critical thinking skills doesn’t hurt anyone, and especially students.  Still, the activities with the Necco Hispanic sweethearts foster their own brand of critical thinking.

Along with the aforementioned activities, I served up pan dulce to my eighth grade Spanish Onesies.  I ordered it just prior to the Christmas vacation, while we were working on the foods unit.  Pan dulce is difficult to explain to native-speaking U.S. born students. So, the best thing to do was to actually expose them to it.  After some Internet searching, I located an online store called, mexgrocer.com.  I also presented the origins of plan dulce, courtesy of this website.

As usual, contemplating projects which will engage kiddos, and supply the appropriate degree of rigor in order to promote mastery and proficiency.  In fact. I have such an idea percolating as I type.  :)

Posted in The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , | Leave a Comment
20 Feb 2012

Having Our Hands on the Right Things

The following is a reply I posted on the now-defunct MFL blog.  Due to a lot of flap, the blog has since been taken down.  Thus, I am glad I preserved my comments.

I don’t think that Mr. Picardo espouses a die-hard tech-only point-of-view.  We tweet from time to time. I am also an occasional reader and poster to his blog. We don’t agree on everything, and nor should we. But, I respect him and his work, and, I think he feels similarly about me.

Additionally, I think your argument does have some merit. Like most things, there are some tech tools which can promote modern foreign language learning, and some that are, in my opinion, pure garbage. I’m also not a project girl, or what a former colleague dubbed, “a showboat teacher.” If that’s one’s inspiration, then live and let live.

Seven years ago, I inherited a group of students from a so-called, “showboat teacher.”  Those students had had a good time, and liked their teacher, but, in my first minutes of teaching the students in question, I observed that  their spoken Spanish was terrible, their vocabulary knowledge, recall and application was poor, and their grammatical base was weak. This, however, happened via paper, pencils and books. So, depending on how one uses the tools available to him or to her, tech or no tech, ineffectual teaching and learning can and do take place.

I think that most teachers strive for mastery of content and proficiency of skills. At least, I do. Students need to be able to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do. Tech tools, when carefully considered, taught, and implemented with the end-goal in mind, can provide a rewarding learning and teaching experience.  That said, I have met very few students who by the time they’ve graduated from high school can order a meal or ask for directions in a modern foreign language, and I am talking about students who have aspired to Advanced Placement Spanish Language (I reside in the United States; I know not what the equivalent of AP is in the UK, if there is an equivalent).

Moreover, I think the capacity to speak, aurally comprehend, read and write another language is largely dependent on the student’s desire and motivation, not to mention their cognitive capacity. Good teaching, however, does play an important role. But, at the end of the proverbial day, learning disabilities aside, students decide to learn or not to learn.  If there are quality tech tools, however, which can promote and assess mastery and proficiency, then I say that teachers should use them. But, tech should not be a substitute for teaching, no more than the television should be a substitute for parenting. No amount of tech tool usage is going to make a mediocre teacher, or student, for that matter, a better one.

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19 Feb 2012

It Depends On How One Views the Situation

Tablas de Lotería (Lotería boards).

Image via Wikipedia

or…a teachable (anti-racist) moment for teachers.

I’ve recently become a fan of a teacher blog, whose target audience is language teachers.  I enjoy most of their posts and ideas.  But, the one promoting a Mexican Lotería app isn’t one of my favorites.  The reason?  Some of the game board images are stereotypical, even downright racist.

My point? Some think along those lines, those like me, and others, well…do not think along those lines.

My second point: If a teacher is going to use the traditional Mexican Lotería game, laden with its stereotypical and even downright racist images, then a teacher should be well-equipped to use it as an opportunity to teach students that stereotypes and racism exist in every culture, even in Mexico.  After all, Mexico produced this as well.

If I were teaching Spanish 4 or 5, I might use the app.  And, I am well-equipped.

Now, before anyone gets all agitated, and accuses me of having called the bloggers of the blog in question racist: STOP.  Given my orientation, such things are more obvious to me.  Perhaps by my having pointed out the issues with said Mexican Lotería game, there will be greater awareness for the bloggers in question.

That is all.  You may proceed.

Posted in Eracism, The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
11 Feb 2012
2 Comments

Weekly Wrap Up #2

Before the clock strikes midnight, and before I fall asleep on the living room sofa, I figured I had better write my post.

This time last week, I was in the early stages of what was diagnosed two days later by my primary care physician as a muscle spasm. Its greatest impact was to the neck, preventing from moving my head in any direction. I also had referred pain in the right shoulder. What followed was four days’ sick leave from school, and two visits to outpatient physical therapy. Yes; the pain was that bad.

While I have a distance to travel on the road to recovery, I am feeling significantly better. I have learned more about muscle spasms than I had ever hoped to learn. Additionally, I am blessed to have a wonderful family and wonderful friends – both virtual and in-person – who checked in on me on a daily basis. I am also blessed to have a talented and personable physical therapist who has made my first phyisical therapy experience a pleasant one thus far.

Consequently, I have not much to report from the trenches of the classroom. That said, I had gotten my students far enough along in their respective new chapters for them to take the first in a series of short mini-vocabulary quizzes, complete writing exercises where they used the vocabulary in context, and, enjoy a lesson on the history of chocolate. I returned to school on Friday, which was, to my utter surprise, remarkably stress-free, and far better than I had anticipated. I am always reluctant to face the piles of paperwork that an absence generates, which was easier to organize than I had feared. I was even able to mark two sets of vocabulary quizzes, and note which student had (not) completed which assignment (s).

I also learned several things during my time away, which bear noting in list form:

1. Students and colleagues manage fine without you. Also known as, “Out of sight, out of mind.” As much as we would like to think that our presence or, in this case, lack thereof, has a significant impact, think again. A rather sobering realization, but, one that made me even more grateful for having taken those four days off to rest and recuperate, and even more blessed for my family and friends.

2. Have sub plans at the ready. This wasn’t always the case for me. But, it isn’t fun having to think of what the students are going to do when one is in the throws of an illness. We teachers are out for planned and unplanned events. The unplanned events call for sub plans that one can attach to an email to a supervisor, if one isn’t too incapacitated. Better, yet, have hard copies of sub plan activities in a folder in a desk drawer that can be photocopied. I was feeling blessed to be able to go to my laptop, quickly locate an activity, and send it on its way.

3. Use the illness or injury to make significant lifestyle changes. My bout with a neck spasm was the result of an injury, and/or stress. Not sure which. But, given the stressors that teaching inflicts, as well as the way most of us run around all day, I could have sustained an injury that I had forgotten about. I am also a rough sleeper, which could have had an impact. So, I have purchased a laptop backpack on wheels, will invest in a Tempurpedic pillow, and, I am going to make a more significant investment in daily self-care.

I felt well enough today to do some lesson planning for the upcoming week. Tuesday is St. Valentine‘s Day. So, fun activities are indicated for Monday and Tuesday.

Be well, and, remember: Take Care of You. :)

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door, The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, This, That and a Third and tagged , , , , , ,
04 Feb 2012
2 Comments

Weekly Wrap-Up

I’m introducing a new feature to my blog.  It is called, “Weekly Wrap-Up”, and includes some of the exciting things that went on in my classes during the week.

So, first up – online textbook.

Not a new form of technology, online textbooks have been around for some time. My place of employ, however, has been slow to embrace them, and my department in particular.  However, I discovered that utilizing the online version of the textbook, projected via the LCD projector, is facilitating better teaching and therefore better learning for my students.

The first example is the presentation of new vocabulary.  Showing the pages of the textbook which contain the lesson vocabulary and their corresponding visual images inspires greater engagement from the students, not to mention that seeing the textbook projected in such  a manner is “pretty cool” in their opinion.

The second example is the case of the textbook left at school.  In this particular situation, the student in question forgot his textbook at school, but needed it in order to prepare for a chapter test.  I downloaded the chapter he needed, and sent it to him in an email as a PDF attachment.

My department is currently in the process of reviewing a new Spanish textbook series.  I am strongly advocating for the purchase of a series which offers online textbook access. In 2012, purchasing a foreign language textbook series without such access is just plain silly.

Second up – online polling via Poll Everywhere.

Again, not a new form of technology, but, it is slowly gaining some traction in foreign language classrooms.  I admit that I don’t use Poll Everywhere nearly as much as I would like.  That said, I should use it more.  Students like to text, are good at it.  Moreover, students  like the novelty of using their cell phones in the classroom, especially when using them at school during the day is pretty much frowned upon at my place of employ.  I also thought it was a way to give the standard survey-type textbook activity a 21st century upgrade.  The thing, however, the students lose in the process is not actually speaking with each other to ask the questions.  That said, we do enough activities in class where students engage in face-to-face, 1:1 interaction.  So, doing a survey via Poll Everywhere made the most sense.

Third up – Not Re-inventing the Proverbial Wheel

While the textbook is not my curriculum, I am learning to use the textbook, workbook, and corresponding ancillaries, i.e. transparencies and lesson videos, to a greater degree.  I find that I very often re-invent the wheel, and then find myself resorting to worksheets, which very quickly becomes mundane and boring.  In my re-discovery, I am realizing that many of the textbook activities really are not that bad.  To the contrary, many of the textbook activities facilitate creativity, critical thinking and collaboration amongst the students, not to mention improved speaking, writing, reading skills, and the use of proper sentence structure.

The lesson transparencies also facilitate creativity and critical thinking in speaking, is somewhat novel (using the overhead projector, which I gather not many teachers use any longer), and, I can actually touch the images on the screen that are being projected to make a point or to ask a question.  The lesson videos are great with the sound turned off, to get the students to think creatively and critically.  I then play the video with the sound on to confirm their assumptions, and to sharpen their auditory skills.

Fourth up – the pre-assessment vocabulary checklist, and more frequent vocabulary quizzes

I am trying some new tricks adopted from a colleague.  The first is the pre-assessment vocabulary checklist.  Students check off the words from the new chapter that they are sure they know.  At the end of the chapter, they will re-visit their checklist, with the goal of being able to check off all of the words.  the second is more regular and frequent vocabulary quizzes.  I divide the words into ten-to-fifteen word chunks, and then assign those to the students to learn for the next class.  At the beginning of the next class, the students take a quiz on all ten or fifteen words.  As I said, it’s something new I am trying.  I am hoping that by giving the students more regular and frequent vocabulary quizzes will force them to learn the words, as opposed to waiting for two weeks to go by before giving a such a quiz.  So, over the course of a chapter, the students may have four or six vocabulary quizzes, depending on the number of words a given chapter may contain.  The vocabulary in the textbook I am currently using is divided into two parts.  So, I give the students the vocabulary lists for both sections and as the words are introduced.    When the students have been quizzed on all of the words on one list, we move to the second list.  I guess it’s something like the weekly spelling/vocabulary quiz many of us remember from elementary school, which I actually credit for my strong ability to spell today as an adult, and for my knowledge of words in general.

That’s all for this week!

Posted in The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , ,
29 Jan 2012

A Cultural Visitor

My school has a cultural exchange with Venezuela.  So, every year in early January, a small group of students and a teacher from our partner school in Caracas visits our school for about a month.  The students are usually in grades six and/or seven, and have been learning English from a very young age. They attend classes from 8am-3pm, and go on cultural excursions on the weekends.

I invited the teacher to visit with my seventh grade Spanish Onesies.  But, instead of the usual, one-way dialogue between presenter and students, or, even the use of the standard, “students create questions in Spanish” and presenter answers them, I made the experience more interactive for both my students and the presenter.

1.  Students spent some time in the Tech Lab conducting research on Venezuela.  Thirteen students were divided into groups of two or three, and assigned a topic.  The topics included: history, currency and economics, government and politics, geography, food, and tourist attractions.  Two additional students devised questions for the presenter.

2.  On Presentation Day, the students delivered their findings, to the delight of the visiting teacher.  She then spoke with the students, in Spanish, using lots of comprehensible input.  She gave them something of a history lesson about Venezuela.  Several of my students translated nearly every word, with their confidence increasing with the confirmation of every correct response.

3.  The questioners used Google Translator to translate their questions from English to Spanish, which was fun for them and for me.  But, mind you: It did not occur to me to instruct them to use Google Translator.  Actually, one of the students assigned to ask questions took the initiative to do so.  It was great to see the students to see not only such active engagement, but also the direct use of technology – on their own initiative.

Why the above lesson worked:

1.  As I mentioned from the outset, the lesson did not constitute the traditional one-way dynamic.

2.  High level of engagement

3.  Us of technology in a meaningful way, i.e. to facilitate communication in the target language.

A great way to end a unit. :)

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10 Dec 2011

Get ‘Er Done

As part of my campaign to raise the level of expectation in my seventh graders – both academically and behaviorally, I’ve instituted the following. Strategies are courtesy of Teach Like A Champion.

1.  Procedures for Entering the Classroom*

a.  Go directly to seats.

b.  Set everything out that is needed for class.

c.  Place homework on the teacher’s desk.  Name, date and assignment must be on the paper, with pages stapled together, if necessary.

d.  Sharpen pencils or **take a sharpened pencil from the teacher’s desk.

e.  Use the bathroom and/or water fountain during the first 10-15 minutes of the block, or the last 10-15 minutes of the block.

*There was too much trickery and foolery taking place at the beginning of class.  The new procedures seem to be working well.

**I’ve given up on the pencil hunt.  If a student needs a pencil, he/she takes a pencil.  If he/she needs it for the next class, then he/she keeps it.

2. Procedures While Teaching and Learning

a.  I no longer ask for the students’ “permission” to teach, e.g.  “We’re waiting for So-and-So.”  When students are taking too much time to get themselves together, I simply let them know that class time is valuable, and that they are either contributing or detracting from that time.

b.  With respect to students talking when I or other students are talking, I simply say, “What I have to say is valuable, and I expect to be heard”, or, “What So-and-So has to say is valuable, and she/he expects to be heard.” That puts the onus on the student causing the problem, and eliminates the rest of us for having to ask “permission” of the student causing the problem.

3.  Homework Rubric

I collect every assignment at the beginning of the class, and correct it according to a homework rubric I created.  I borrowed from various homework rubrics available on the Web to create one that accomplishes what I need for such a rubric to accomplish, which are: Presentation, e.g. name, date, assignment, condition of the paper, and quality and quantity of the work completed.  The Homework Rubric is not only holding me more accountable for what the students know and are able to do, because I am assessing each assignment, but, it also presents students with a standard by which their assignments are being assessed.  So, it’s 360 degree accountability – for teacher and for students.  During the last 20 minutes or so of the class, we discuss the assignment from the previous class, and I make note of common errors and common successes.

4.  Do Now

The “Do Now” has been the single most effective change to the classroom routine.  Why is the “Do Now” effective? For several reasons:

a. It requires students to put pencil to paper, which raises the level of expectation and accountability for the work.

b.  It is brief: Five minutes.

c.  It relies completely on the student’s capacity and initiative, thus promoting independent learning.  The student needs neither me nor a classmate to complete the task.

d.  It encourages the student to review previously-taught material, thus encouraging accountability for content and lesson concepts, and promoting skill-building and practice.

e.  It gets the students into the proper mindset for the learning that will take place.

f.  It allows me to take attendance.

I  will be rolling out more strategies in the coming weeks.  One of the strategies I am road-testing is “Exit Slips”, or, the activity that the students perform before or as they leave the classroom.  Additionally, my efforts to raise the level of expectation with my seventh graders has had positive residual effects with my Twosies and eighth grade Onesies.  While I have not rolled out the program to full-effect with the two latter groups, I am using the Homework Rubric, collecting every assignment at the beginning of class, and starting each class with a “Do Now” exercise.

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04 Dec 2011

Where One Hopes for The Best, and Often Gets the Worst

Well, perhaps the second part of my post’s title is saturated in a bit of hyperbole. But, I’m going somewhere with this. So, please bear with me.

Things in my corner of the world are going pretty well.  As I tweeted yesterday morning to a FL colleague who teaches at an independent school in Charleston, SC, I am finding more and more students have less and less stamina for learning in general, and for foreign language in particular.  What’s more, it can be attributed to the all of the things that a lovely, smart, bright , talented and intelligent colleague of mine, Ellen Shrager, discusses in her wonderful and powerful little book, Teacher Dialogues: A Survival Guide to Successful Dialogues with Low-Performing Students, Indulged Students, and Enabling Parents.  All three elements predominate in my corner of the world, albeit a private school.
I am currently reading, Teach Like A Champion.  Although the message of the book is directed primarily at public school teachers teaching students of color in low-performing inner-city schools, I think said message can be universally applied, even to independent schools such as the one where I teach.  It outlines 49 simple yet highly-effective strategies for: planning and implementing a lesson; engaging all students; creating a positive classroom culture; establishing effective discipline in students – not punitive strategies, but daily habits of mind; and warm yet strict classroom management practices.

Teach Like A Champion has been a great read thus far, and I am really enjoying it.  However, it would be interesting if my school would be open and receptive to the message of the book.  I think that it would be an effective summer professional development read for the faculty and staff.  Yet, many who teach at progressive schools seem to think that everything with respect to teaching and learning begins and ends with them, when, in actuality, there has been little in the name of innovation that is truly new under the sun that has emerged from so-called progressive schools in quite some time.  Additionally, I happen to feel that privilege breeds laziness and complacency and sloppiness, which in turn diminishes high expectations for teachers and students alike, and, ultimately, measurable progress and strong results.

At a school where the vast majority of my students this year have one or more learning disability, it seems that the things that Teach Like A Champion promote would work just as well in my classroom as it would in a low-performing inner-city classroom.  It seems to me that order, structure, strong habits of mind, and high expectations are what my students need, and yet, they are demanded on an irregular and inconsistent basis.

Thus, in schools such as mine, one often hopes for the best.  Instead, we need to plan for the best, and demand the best.

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door, Independent School, The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
23 Nov 2011

The Bane of My Existence

Fair & Balanced graphic used in 2005

Image via Wikipedia

As a teacher, two things I detest the most are marking student work, and, computing end-of-trimester grades.  Along with lost keys and mislaid eyeglasses, they are the bane of my existence.

As much as I strive to be fair and balanced in my approach to assessment and evaluation, I feel that I always somehow fall short.  I tried Proficiency-Based Grading for a time, but, it hasn’t proven to be a successful approach for me.  While I embrace its philosophy, I haven’ been able to come up with the requisite number of assessments for the various skill and content areas.  BTW: Scott Benedict, is a sweetie, and has provided me with ideas and support with respect to grading and alternative assessment. I then happened upon this website, and this document guidelines_instructors(2), which offers another approach to assessment and evaluation.  Again, the philosophy supporting it intrigues, but, I would perhaps need a summer’s worth of time to plan the appropriate assessments.

The evaluation dilemma always seems most prominent when it is time to compute end-of-trimester grades.  Perhaps I stress too much about such things. But, a conversation about the same with my Dear Mom prompted me to reflect, investigate and then reflect again. My goal is to move away from the traditional grading categories, e.g. tests, quizzes, homework, etc. and move towards performance-based grading categories.  Additionally, I want to integrate greater use of authentic assessment.  Both of these shifts would enable me to assess more accurately what students know and are able to do.

My dilemma, and the musings that it prompted, led me to re-visit Ken O’Connor’s writings on the subject of grading.  I say, re-visit, because I purchased one of his books several summers ago. So, I did have good intentions and great expectations.  Having done this re-visitation has allowed me to begin to devise a system of assessment and evaluation that I can live with, and that will be of greater benefit to my students.

Although I have a long proverbial row to hoe, I’ve at least begun to dig.  I think so many of us in the teaching profession aren’t really taught how to grade, how to assess, and therefore, how to devise systems that promote effective teaching and learning.  Moreover, those of us who were taught were indoctrinated into traditional approaches.  Neither of the aforementioned, by the way, work very well.

It seems that with every dilemma, there comes with it more thinking, and, subsequently, more work.  That’s the way life is. That’s the way teaching is.  I am hoping that my current dilemma with assessment and evaluation will eventually become more gratifying, and less the bane of my existence.

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door, The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
09 Nov 2011

The Power of Light

To those who are regular readers of my blog, I’ve been M.I.A. So, first, I would like to thank those who have continued to visit and to read, in spite of my absence.

As some of you may know, Connecticut was devastated by an early winter snow storm on 10/29.  Tens of thousands were left without power, myself included, for several days, due to downed power lined caused by broken trees and tree limbs.  Despite the fact that my apartment complex has its power lines underground, it is part of a power sub-station where the power lines are above-ground.  Therefore, my apartment complex remained without power for eight days, and several hundred remain without power as I write this blog post.  Though I remained with hot water and a working gas stove, the heat and lights went out on 10/29, and the apartment became unbearably cold.

After two days of braving the cold, I relocated to my parents’ home, where they are blessed to have a standby generator.  Back in 1998, when many were enjoying fancy vacations and new cars, my parents made a significant investment to provide for future comfort in the event the power went out for an extended period of time.  Despite their having made this provision, they had a very difficult time purchasing propane gas for the generator.  However, they had a a very difficult time last week getting a delivery from the propane company with whom they’ve been customers since 1998.  I’ll spare you the details, but, I will say this: I witnessed a very ugly side of humanity last week, perpetrated on behalf of that propane company.  I have personally experienced the ugly side of humanity on many occasions during my short 46 years, and my mother guarantees that I will certainly see more.  However, it was very disheartening for me to witness my parents’ frustration, aggravation and disappointment last week, especially given the fact that they made ample provision for situations just like we experienced for eight days.  Fortunately, they were able to contract with another company, and get the propane they needed for the generator.  I will, however, be helping my parents to write a stern letter to the propane company in question, as well as filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

I enjoyed spending time with my Dear Parents, and my Dear Brother.  I was able to help my Dear Mother with housecleaning and laundry via a trip to the local neighborhood laundromat.  Additionally, I learned more about the mechanics of a standby generator than I had ever hoped to learn as I ventured out with my Dear Dad to ensure that everything was operating properly.  In as much as I enjoyed being with my family, I was glad to return to my cozy apartment.  My maternal grandmother used to say that one’s feet don’t fit as well under another person’s  table as they do under one’s own table.  That is so true.  However, my feet fit pretty well under my parents’ table; it’s still very much home.

I think like many, I arrived at a new appreciation for electricity, warmth and comfort.  Not one to walk around my apartment, bundled up in sweaters, seeing the thermostat drop to almost 60 degrees gave me a fresh perspective on what so many live without on a daily basis, and, I felt very blessed.

During my week with my family, which was also a week out of school, due to the power outage, I was able to gain new insights into my teaching, and my students’ learning, via research and reflection.  I attended  my state’s annual foreign language conference on 10/31, where I also presented.  I will speak to that in a separate blog post.  However, I will say that, given how I was feeling after two days of being in a cold apartment, I had almost lost my resolve to attend the conference. But, I did attend, the presentation went well, and I gained much valuable information from the sessions I attended.  As a result, I am exploring blended learning, CRISS, and ways to support struggling learners with learning disabilities. Over the course of the past several weeks, including yesterday, I have tried out several new techniques, to which my students have responded very favorably.  Again, I will devote a separate blog post to them in the days ahead.

In any event, it was good to return to school, and to teaching.  Given the ugly side of humanity I have experienced on many occasions in my workplace environments, this is a monumental statement. My Dear Mother asked me if the power outage has rendered some of my colleagues nicer people.  I told her: Time will tell.

Posted in The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, This, That and a Third and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

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