Tuesdays are for Planning

Evening all! My day is done, and I'm just waiting for Lucy to wrap up teaching the late class, so we can all go for dinner together. I quite enjoy the fact that 5 or 6 of us go out for dinner together every night. It's a nice way to relax, and it gives you a chance to talk about things that aren't related to Teaching English as a Second Language! Today was a bit quieter because I didn't have to teach. I got a lesson plan written for my one-on-one lesson that I'm teaching on Thursday. I'm a bit nervous about that one, because it's so hard to predict what'll happen in a class that's so informal and conversational. Hopefully, it will all go (relatively) according to plan. I also did my lesson plan for my class tomorrow. It's another "materials" lesson, where I have to create my own activity for the class. Last time was using the Allison Krauss song, this time I'm doing a dictogloss. What's a dictogloss, you ask? Good question. It's basically a dictation. I read a brief paragraph, and the students try to write as much of it down as possible. It might not go over well, because it's humorous, and the students might not know enough English to find it funny, but we'll try. The other problem is that I have too much to do, and not enough time! I'm starting to understand why our teachers were always whining about needing just ten more minutes. Man, with 10 more minutes, my lesson would be SWEET!

I'm feeling a bit frustrated these days, because the school has only 4 computers, and 12 students. It makes it hard to do assignments during the day when everyone is here, because there aren't enough computers to go around. I'm starting to see that having a laptop would be a huge asset to a teacher who doesn't have a desktop at home. If any of you know of any excellent deals on a laptop, email me please, so that I can check it out. :) Even if the school that hires me has computer access for me, it would be nice to be able to lesson planning and such at home on my own 'puter.

It rained quite a bit yesterday, so the walk to school this morning was especially enjoyable. The exquisite views down the cobblestone streets are even better when all of the dust has been washed out of the air. Megan and I were were looking up a street the other day, quite a beautifl street, in fact. You have this magnificent view of old buildings lining a cobblestone road that winds up a hill towards a green and verdant background. My comment? "Wow, just think Megan, up that street there's the cheapest pizza in Prague!" Yes folks, we have become so accustomed to the great beauty of this city that we ignore the view to talk about the pizza (but the pizza IS amazing... you get a small pizza (6 good sized slices) for about 60 Kc... which works out to $3 CDN. Really, you can't beat that).

One unusual thing here is that the rain doesn't smell. It was coming down fairly heavily, and I went out onto the balcony to smell the rain and the greenery and such. I stood outside for several minutes, sniffing the wind like a grizzly bear looking for a Michael to eat, and couldn't get a whiff of anything! It's very odd... things smell cleaner, but they don't smell like rain.

Well, I clearly have nothing much to say if I'm telling you all about how I sniff the wind. Next thing you know I'll be telling you all how I track the metro ... (get it? That's a joke, son). Keep in touch, mes amis.

All my love,
Elizabeth