Achievement Tests

This week the students are taking achievement tests to determine if they are ready to move up to the next level or if they need to stay where they are (or even if they need to move back). It means that we proctor for the entire class, which is 3 hours long. At the end, we have had a little time each day for the students to do homework, etc. and I decided to have little competitions for my classes. In my lower level class I asked the students to write about what they did this week and to tell me about their friends. In my middle level class today I asked them to tell me what they did this week and to tell me about themselves.

I loved hearing about the students in their own words. It's truly amazing when they are able to use English to effectively express themselves and particularly when they've gotten to a level of understanding where they can express and appreciate humor. My favorite class has some students who are absolutely hilarious when they want to be, and they know they are being funny- it's not an accident, like it usually is with the lower level class. In the lower level sometimes they end up saying things that are funny, but only because of a grammatical error or mispronounciation that makes the sentence completely different from the way it was intended. But in my higher level classes they can actually manipulate English enough to express their own sense of humor, and some of them do it very well.

Whenever I have a great class, like my second class today, I feel elated. It's such an unbelievable feeling to connect with a class. Some of my students make it clear that they are being forced to attend extra classes, and hate school, but every so often you get an entire class of students who either want to be there, or are at least willing to be engaged while they're there, even if they'd rather be someplace else. That's what this second class is like. They have fun, legitimately. Maybe not all of the time, but they make teaching more fun, and they tease each other in funny ways, not mean ways like some other students do. They have playful rivalries between the sexes when I let them pick their own groups, which is amusing and thought provoking to watch. They make jokes, they participate even when they don't know the answer - they are always trying, striving for praise and hoping to be right. I feel so grateful to have a class that makes me come alive, which makes me certain I'm in the right place this year. Now if only all of my classes were like that...


PS - I've been debating whether or not I feel comfortable putting pictures of my students up on my blog, and also whether I'm comfortable with quoting some of my favorite work from them. For now, I don't think I will, because I want to honor their privacy and their intellectual property. But if people are particularly interested, I'd be happy to send private emails with more details and pictures. : )