Another day?

What a long week!

I have rarely been as tired as I feel today and there is yet another day to go before the justified relaxation of the weekend! The teaching is not taxing in some ways but it is demanding. The pupils in my present temporary placement are eager and articulate so their needs are rather different from the sometimes resentful participants in education that I have dealt with in the past.

There is intensity in the sort of teaching which takes place in the English department of the school which is a reflection of the complete commitment of the head of department in the day to day progress of the subject. The grammar based emphasis of the text books used lends itself to an exercise led, examination tested approach which is easier to structure and control.

As my presence in the school represents more of a holding operation for the classes without a teacher rather than a well integrated approach with the rest of the department, I have been encouraged to play to my strengths and take a more expansive approach to my classes.

Meanwhile, on other fronts in my Barcelona experience, lunch today provided by the school canteen comprised fideuá, mussels, salad, chicken and various sweets. I had my meal and, rather daringly, accompanied it with a half glass of red from the pitcher of wine placed on the staff table. By way of reparation for this culinary largesse I had to do lunch time duty.

This evening I need to look through ‘Catcher in the rye’ which is the novel chosen by the previous teacher as the reader for two of my classes and which I have not read for an embarrassing number of years.

This is one of those times when I need my books – though I should not whimper and scratch at storage room doors but instead I should look for my raw teaching material from my e-book reader. I have suggested short stories to the head of department; perhaps I should print out one of them and present it as a little gift to the department.

I think that I will use Saki for the experiment. ‘Sredni Vashtar’ is a story which usually works and I know that the electronic bones of that story are lurking among the electrons which make up my computer.

Time for work!