New Semester

A new semester is underway.  Yesterday was our first day of the Fall 2012 semester at UMAC.  I saw our director in the stairway and she asked me if I was nervous.  Of course I was, and said so.  She said that after 20+ years of teaching, she still feels as if she's going to throw up the first day of class.  I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.  :)

My students seem sweet and eager.  I'm especially looking forward to working with a more advanced group this year.  Due to a resignation, some classes had to be reassigned.  So now I'm teaching one level 0, one level 2, and two level 3 courses.  I'm beginning to realize that the level 0 students are there for a reason - some are not very good students - I had two girls who sat in the front row yesterday and chatted in Chinese.  I have a feeling a crack-down is imminent.  Sigh.

On a brighter note, Angie's students guessed that she was from South Korea, so we'll add that to the list of places she calls home (Malaysia, the U.S. and North Korea).  Miranda's students guessed that SHE was Malaysian (she's from Macau), and my students guessed that I was from Great Britain (I wasn't going to state the obvious - um, no cute accent). 

Here's to a good second day of the semester!  Three classes down, 128 more to go!  Hurray!