I
consider that the first day of classes went well in spite of the fact that my
car key fell into the trunk after class, and I didn't realize it until I'd
slammed the trunk closed. Triple A rescued me, but a Honda Civic isn't an
easy car to break into.
Of
course, this day was mostly business--filling out green information forms and
white class attendance cards. But I learned that I have students from
Algeria, Burma (Myanmar), China (mostly), France, Guatemala, Japan, Korea,
Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States! Anh
Quach, who was my student in ESL 142 last semester, told me that she had gotten
her citizenship on August 6! Some students didn't fill out the form
completely, so I'm not sure where they're from. I may have a student from
Ethiopia or Eritrea.
In
ESL 140, our first unit will be on the news although it's called "Untruth
and Consequences," so it will fall more into the category of the
Enquirer. Just the same, I brought in today's newspaper and showed my ESL
140 High Intermediate Academic Reading and Writing students the headline about
City College, "Accrediting panel didn't follow rules" by Will Kane,
and we talked about it just a little bit.
I
spent a couple of hours this evening just crediting forms and cards and
creating groups. The classes are all healthy in number, but we never know
whether they're shopping around, trying to add somewhere else. I'm going
to re-write my letter of introduction because I realize that the one I wrote
was boring!
Tomorrow
I meet ESL 132, turn in my office hours and maybe even my preference forms.
I'm thinking of requesting an ESL 150 class for my last semester just so I
"finish" with something I did for such a long time.
What
particularly interests me is writing up the workshop on Students in Distress
and asking Min Hoa Ta for an interview.
Oh,
I shouldn't forget to mention that I am listening to Richard Russo's Straight
Man, which is about a dysfunctional campus and the instructors who struggle
through it. It's funny!
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