Shuffling to Class
Isn’t it odd how iPod shuffle always knows? On the way to my big first day of class this morning I heard Kate Bush, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, and Haircut 100. Some of my favorite early 80s music, and very much a playlist from my college radio DJ days. I really did feel like I was going back to school.
What? You didn’t know I was a DJ? Yup, I had the “Hi(gh) Bob” show, Thursday afternoons on WUSO, Springfield Ohio. “89.1 on your FM dial, ten watts of commercial-free power” coming from Wittenberg University.
“Hi Bob” was also a drinking game we played at the the campus pub. The rules were simple. You watched The Bob Newhart Show and every time someone said “Bob” you had to take a drink. If someone said “Hi, Bob” you had to finish your drink and get a new one.
There was one deadly episode where three of his friends came in and all gave their greetings at once for an ill-fated Thanksgiving dinner. Even if you weren’t drinking, it’s one of the all-time funniest episodes of program. Right up there with Mary Tyler Moore’s Chuckles the Clown.
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Day One of the course seems good. It's going to be a slew of work, but I'm up for it. Being thrown into the deep end tomorrow, where we all have to teach for 20 minutes. I imagine it will fly by. Wednesday I have to do a 40-minute lesson on the differences between passive and active. You may stop your tittering now.
I'm really pleased that the expectations for the teacher trainees (TTs) are clearly spelled out. We know exactly what we'll be assessed on for each teaching practice. Have met one of the instructors (who looks all of 19) and will meet the second one tomorrow. My group of five TTs will have an upper-intermediate group for the first 2 weeks and then will switch to lower-intermediate. I'm still not sure what level of Engish that is (eg, what they'll understand and what they won't). I guess that's part of the fun of it, figuring out what "grade' of speech to use.
Not too different from having a conversation with a NYC taxi driver, I suppose.