Second Year Teaching Placement: Day Twelve

Today was an awesome day even though I still had to observe a substitute teacher and find my own classes to follow. So the day started with me going to Melissa's grade 12 university English class and I watched some presentations about Streetcar Named Desire which were well done. Then she gave me so many handouts of this play which is so nice because now I can start my own little collection of English material for if I need it one day. She gave me a lot of super helpful advice and was so kind to let me stay in her classroom for first period. Next period I went to observe the supply teacher in grade 9 French and when I was entering the room, one of the students from the previous class was like "where were you last period?" to which I responded that I was in an English class. I don't know, I thought that was so sweet that she wondered where I was and what not. This class was slightly painful because it was so quiet, but I don't really think that it was a huge deal. The supply teacher on the other hand, did not have it, he was so frustrated and even gave a little spiel at the end of class how the kids need to participate more because it was hard to have an engaging lesson if the students aren't.

Next was lunch, and during lunch there was a food party (pot luck?) in the staff room where the A wing brought food for the whole school. There was a bunch of stuff like samosas, empanadas, oranges, brownies, cookies, all of it. I was able to talk with the ESL teachers so Nancy, Diana, and this other teacher whose name I forget but they were so funny! Nancy was talking about her terrible ESL class that I was going to observe, and how one of the students farted in the small classroom and how she almost died! I nearly passed out from laughing, it was hilarious! Then I talked to one of the gym teachers, and to be honest he was so awkward. He had this intense eye contact and just stared at me when talking and didn't look away. So I had to carry the conversation, I asked so many things and he never really asked me back anything, but it's okay he was still nice. Then I didn't want to sit by myself so I went to join Sandy (the principal), Nancy and Heather on the couches and they just talked a bunch. They were all so nice and inclusive, you can really tell that Sandy was a good principal and tried hard to do her job. However, since she has quite a high role, I think that her daughter really benefits from her connections because of who she is but it's okay.

After lunch I went to an ESL class with Nancy and they were so interesting! It's like teaching French grammar but in English. Honestly some of the grammar I didn't even know like past progressive and past simple but now I do. ESL is so interesting because they need a lot of help since none of them really know English and I tend to know the answer by feeling rather than for whatever grammatical rule. Also, the class was pretty crazy because they were always talking in Chinese and specifically Mandarin because they don't really know English that well. Last period, I followed Nancy to her grade 11 college English class which was pretty fun, we watched some presentations, answered some questions then watched the end of Macbeth. It was a pretty fun day overall. I have 3 more days!!

P.S. I forgot to add an outfit picture, but I was wearing a chambray shirt and black jeans with the same flats, it was great.

Until next time!
Suzy