A New Quarter

So that Wednesday I went into school to firm up my schedule for the new quarter, expecting (as discussed) that I would have a level 3 class all to myself… but when I got to the university to talk with my boss, I realized that that was not the case… I was pretty bummed out at first, I had been really looking forward to conducting my own class based on a more rigorous and department-wide curriculum… Alas. Turns out that because they’ve hired several new teachers, there just wasn’t room for me to have a class if all the other teachers were going to maintain their hours.

So instead, I will be conducting speaking activities in 5 groups a day, 4 days a week, for a total of about 400 different students, at varying levels (meaning more preparation). I think as the quarter progresses, small changes can be made, but that’s basically it. At first that bummed me out, too, because I had wanted to keep some hours flexible for other things that might come up, but. I am also a little nervous about planning in terms of pinning down the various teachers with whom I will be working throughout the week to find out exactly how they want me to help…

This weekend was chill; I was in bed sicky face on Friday, then on Saturday Victoria and Memo and Bruno (a friend of Memo’s) came to visit, we went to the market, got some nummies, and then Victoria and I hung out for the rest of the day. We spent a lot of time on the tiny grassy area in front of my house… way better than inside my frigid house… That night my neighbor Francisco invited us out with a few of his friends to La Cantina de los Remedios, for food and mariachi… it was a blast!

Today (Monday) was the first day of class, I was with 3 different teachers for a total of 5 groups, some mid-level and others TOEFL-level… my activities took up most of the class time, but they were dynamic and I had lots of energy, so I think the students enjoyed their first days. :P I was also exhausted after 5 classes in a row…

Next week we ETAs have a conference in Mexico City with the ETAs from Venezuela and Colombia as well, which should be a blast! Each of us has to do a presentation about certain aspects of our experiences in our respective countries, and though they’re short, we’re all expecting to learn a lot. I’m also excited because my friend Anna that I met in Chile will be here as a Colombia ETA… it will be good to catch up with her and meet some other like-minded folks. More on that as it gets closer…