¿Bueno? ¿Quién habla, por favor?

There is one week to go before vacation.

I may not make it.

The saving grace is that my students are doing a fair amount of independent work (reviewing numbers, verbs, how to spell, and basic conversation) so they can be ready for their exam, which starts this Friday. They have to call me on the phone and have a conversation.

This is harder than it appears.

If you think about it, we do an awful lot of non-verbal communicating when we talk face-to-face. We use our hands and our faces, even our body position, to say a lot of things. When you’re not fully fluent in a language, you rely on those things to understand what someone else is saying because you won’t necessarily get the words. On the phone, there is none of that. It is unnerving for first-year students because they don’t feel like they have enough language to do it (although I, as their teacher, know they do). They just need to be reminded of where it’s at, and they need time to practice using it.

Thankfully, there’s not a lot of teacher prep involved here because they’ve seen all the stuff already. I just have to put activities together that help them use it. I’m glad for that. I’ve got no patience for doing material prep this week.

Frankly, I’ve got no patience for even going to school this week. There’s a nice, long list of things I’d like to spend my week doing: Disc golf, cycling, writing, reading and home improvement are among the top 20. Kasey Kasem won’t even see school on his countdown.

He would, however, see an imaginary long distance dedication from me to my brother, who finished his EMT training this week. WOOT! I’m proud of you, Dan!

Kasey, will you please play It’s a Long Way There, by the Little River Band? Thanks!