Thursday, June 12, 2008

k-rudd and me teach esl together

me and my new teaching tool:


seriously! i have k-rudd stuck in my little cubicle, and after we've laboured our way through a narrative in english i say "now i'd like you to tell my friend kevin about what happened in that story." it turns out that asking "what is the basic idea of that story?" or "what's that story about?" is a very difficult question, so having a third person to refer to is invaluable. thanks, vta!

one of my students recognised k-rudd, chatted knowledgeably on recent events in australian politics and spent an hour yesterday grilling me on the stolen generation and canadian indigenous relations. in contrast, a man i taught earlier in the week went on a long rant about how hard australian accents are to understand and what odd vocabulary australians used (he'd visited there) , so i talked to him for an hour in a canadian accent. it was v. good practise.

teaching is getting better now i'm getting to know my students. i'm also getting better at teaching ESL and explaining stuff like which words need an article. i'm not getting better at coping physically with all this work, so i'm off to buy iron supplements and green leafy things. there comes a time when pale and interesting goes too far. . .

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh my goodness!! that is so funny! I can send you more k-rudds if you need. xovta

Anonymous said...

i hope you don't let him waffle on too much, or forget himself and start speaking Mandarin. that would be awkward.

gumtreefid farmer said...

thanks, vta! i thought you would enjoy the use i've put him to!

ta for the offer of more, but one is ample, thankyou. where on earth did you find it?

love

gumtreefid farmer said...

itchy,

heh. i keep a careful lid on him, yes.

oh, lord. i'm the only monolingual person in my cubicle. i have to learn another language! french? italian?

love

Anonymous said...

are you telling us you're a cubicle guy? (do you remember that reference?)

scary how much you resemble kevin 07. pale and interesting has done *him* no harm ...

Gauri said...

haha !! this is the funniest thing i've read in ages.

Gauri said...

ps i had this dream last night that we did yarraville 2.0 but in this scary haunted house. and also that i didn't tell my mum i was going and i just left, and she freeeeeaked out and then i felt really bad and guilty. the end !

gumtreefid farmer said...

no, grotijira, i don't. explain?

i am less pale now. i am all fiesty and muscle-bulgy. or something. i'm not tired, anyway, and that's the important bit. huzzah!

gumtreefid farmer said...

gauri,

yay!


oh, that is a bad dream.

*pats you on the head*

Anonymous said...

Jack used to refer to some people as 'cubicle guys' eg they had no personal or management skills, but were good at sitting at a desk doing stuff alone