teaching

although i haven't talked much about it, i am in fact working. i am an instructor at the community college here, and i'm teaching 18 credits of english (esl) and health science. eighteen is a big number, and during the week i'm putting in a lot of hours - probably the reason my weekends always seem so wonderful.

i have four classes this semester - one 9-credit intensive class that meets every morning, two sections of a more advanced speaking and listening course, and one section of health science that i'm co-teaching with another volunteer. so far, i'm enjoying them all.

in my health science class we're currently covering reproductive health, and its been incredibly satisfying to teach the birds and the bees to many students who have never had instruction in the subject before. i'm happy to say that my students were all interested and respectful - hopefully they will continue to be so for my lecture on std's next week!

this week i'm showing the goonies to my everyday class as a practice in listening comprehension. i'm happy to say they are so far very much enjoying it, though i'm eager to get their assignments back to see how much they actually understood. still, there's comic genius in mikey, mouth, data, and especially chunk.

com pohnpei state campus (where i teach) is the remedial option for students who didn't pass the entrance exam to the national campus, located in the next town over. as such, many students are not the most motivated. but i'm happy to say that i have several ambitious and hard-working students. they'll be able to try the entrance exam again, and hopefully will be able to transfer there, where associate degrees are offered and transfers to us colleges is more possible.