Today was utter delight.
And yes, that is bloody ironic.
First there were people away so, because of the parsimonious attitude towards getting other people in to help with teaching there was instant chaos which was only averted by calling on the pseudo-free periods that we have so that all hands could man the pumps.
This is at the time when all of us need all of our time to plough through the absurd amount of marking that we have to complete before our artificially imposed deadlines come into effect.
I have managed to complete the marking of three sets of scripts and am left with one last set which is fiendish in its neurosis inducing capabilities when one comes to put an actual mark on any section of it.
However “failsafe” you make an exam, assuring yourself that there is only one possible answer to your carefully phrased question – our kids will defy expectation and produce something which “could” be said by a native speaker, but would be of such linguistic complexity that they couldn’t possibly know that they could say it!
I have never forgiven one girl who, when I was explaining the meaning of one particular word, said, “Oh, I don’t use the work like that!” To which I was tempted to say, “Oh really foreigner, and your point would be?” But I didn’t. But I do not forget. Never!
There is a comforting and simple philosophy which gets me through some tricky linguistic situations, which was outlined for my by the head of department: “If it isn’t in the book it’s wrong!”
My examination paper speciality is the writing of sentences in which a space is left for the insertion of the most appropriate word. This is not an exercise in thinking up a word; it is an exercise in remembering one of the words studied in the particular unit in the book: the words in the book. The Book. It’s soul destroying! But it’s paid!
As I managed to get the target scripts marked today, I came home early (time owed from yesterday which should have been my early finish but the exigencies of the examinations (!) forced me to stay in school beyond my allotted time) and had a swim. Today started with sullen rain and overcast skies but ended with bright sunshine and a blue sky streaked with very artistic cloud.
After a compulsory period of sunbathing, we ventured into Castelldefels town to find out if the fabled Welsh Soap Shop was a reality. It seemed unlikely but there it was and I bought an eye-wateringly expensive chunk of lavender soap to show solidarity with my native land! No bloody discount for natives though!
An evening meal of tapas and a couple of glasses of red wine at a restaurant that we now patronise and I was ready to start my last tranche of marking.
But I didn’t: so there!
Sufficient unto the day (as they say) is the evil thereof!
And yes, that is bloody ironic.
First there were people away so, because of the parsimonious attitude towards getting other people in to help with teaching there was instant chaos which was only averted by calling on the pseudo-free periods that we have so that all hands could man the pumps.
This is at the time when all of us need all of our time to plough through the absurd amount of marking that we have to complete before our artificially imposed deadlines come into effect.
I have managed to complete the marking of three sets of scripts and am left with one last set which is fiendish in its neurosis inducing capabilities when one comes to put an actual mark on any section of it.
However “failsafe” you make an exam, assuring yourself that there is only one possible answer to your carefully phrased question – our kids will defy expectation and produce something which “could” be said by a native speaker, but would be of such linguistic complexity that they couldn’t possibly know that they could say it!
I have never forgiven one girl who, when I was explaining the meaning of one particular word, said, “Oh, I don’t use the work like that!” To which I was tempted to say, “Oh really foreigner, and your point would be?” But I didn’t. But I do not forget. Never!
There is a comforting and simple philosophy which gets me through some tricky linguistic situations, which was outlined for my by the head of department: “If it isn’t in the book it’s wrong!”
My examination paper speciality is the writing of sentences in which a space is left for the insertion of the most appropriate word. This is not an exercise in thinking up a word; it is an exercise in remembering one of the words studied in the particular unit in the book: the words in the book. The Book. It’s soul destroying! But it’s paid!
As I managed to get the target scripts marked today, I came home early (time owed from yesterday which should have been my early finish but the exigencies of the examinations (!) forced me to stay in school beyond my allotted time) and had a swim. Today started with sullen rain and overcast skies but ended with bright sunshine and a blue sky streaked with very artistic cloud.
After a compulsory period of sunbathing, we ventured into Castelldefels town to find out if the fabled Welsh Soap Shop was a reality. It seemed unlikely but there it was and I bought an eye-wateringly expensive chunk of lavender soap to show solidarity with my native land! No bloody discount for natives though!
An evening meal of tapas and a couple of glasses of red wine at a restaurant that we now patronise and I was ready to start my last tranche of marking.
But I didn’t: so there!
Sufficient unto the day (as they say) is the evil thereof!
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