Week 2

It was perhaps a wise decision not to do much in week 1. By the end of this week the classes had "settled" to what I hope will remain a steady number. I am pleased to be able to report that on the day we did the diagnostic (the first lesson of the week) most students were present and so there wasn't a need to do much chasing. There was one strange occurrence in that a student who had appeared very diligent from the outset only appeared in the doorway right at the end of class. For some reason she had assumed that if she were late for class she would not be welcome. Again, perhaps I didn't stress it enough when I explained the syllabus but any student is welcome at any time. If they are only there for half the lesson then hopefully they will learn at least half the stuff. And again, this girl showing up right at the end of class at least allowed me to assign her homework so that when she comes to the next lesson she will have caught up. So even if you only arrive in time for the last minute of the lesson you should quietly slip in to learn what your homework for the next day is.

The second lesson of the week was devoted to getting students started on more long term projects. Although the deadline is "in the distant future" it is time to start choosing topics and thinking about what exactly one will say about these topics. I am sure that some students are still not quite sure of what exactly a podcast is and so I will have to show them some during the next few lessons. Hopefully this will inspire them to be creative and experiment with things they have never done before. Also during this second lesson I needed to get students started on the writing of their blogs. I am pleased to be able to report that most students had no problems whatsoever in creating their blogs. Initially they were asked to create blogs without actually posting anything in them. It will be interesting to visit the blogs later and see what they have written. One girl, who was somewhat confused, did write to me and explain that she had tried to create her blog but had not succeeded. At least she was aware of her responsibilities, tried to carry them out, experienced difficulties and sought help. There are however a few others who have not yet created their blog or contacted me to indicate that they are experiencing difficulties. I wonder what's happening there. What will happen when the assignments become more demanding?

As indicated in my post of last week, it does not feel right having a week off after only having had two weeks of lessons. However, who am I to look a gifthorse in the mouth. I hope when we return a week later that we won't have lost the momentum that we have built up until now. Getting back on Monday 6th may be a bit of a shock as it will be straight down to work rather than a gentle easing in like at the beginning of semester.