IT’S OVER!! I successfully made it through my first session being a real-life, somewhat professional, adult, English teacher! It was utterly exhausting! I have received SEVERAL concerned emails- am I all right?! Did something happen?!?! Why haven’t I been blogging?! WHAT’S HAPPENING!?
Yes, yes, of course I’m all right, sillys! This last week has been extraordinarily chaotic- Saturday final class reviews, Sunday oral exams- we all had to proctor orals for classes other than our own(because I totally play favorites…), Monday final written exams, Tuesday final grades due- for the entire session! Also btw, final grades actually means, FINAL MATH!! Those who know me can imagine just how well I reacted to hours of intricate number calculations... This included the grades for the 12 page final that they had literally JUST DONE. I spent 7 hours grading in one sitting. And then there were many more sittings. And today was feedback day aka students milling about whining about their grades, demanding clarification, trying to steal copies of the exams, insisting upon higher marks…etc. It was a trial and a tribulation. I did however come to love my students very, very much. They are so kind, and earnest, and sweet. Although teaching is in NO WAY a part of my overall career aspirations, I can see (somewhat!) why people continue to do it.
There was one unexpected and delightful surprise though! The unveiling of the ladies! I have many burka wearers in my first class, and at first it seemed that I was fighting insurmountable odds trying to figure out who they were- initially I was only moderately successful pretending that I knew who they were- I came to dread handing back papers, awkwardly pretending to be super engrossed in the papers as I would call out their name, and try and catch some sort of movement out of the corner of my eye that would show who was who. Clearly I wasn’t fooling anyone as they always sat in the same seats and I knew all the boys names and would just had them their papers without any awkward name-calling or excessive sweating. It was also difficult to tell who was talking, with their entire faces covered I often found myself staring at one girl only to hear, “uh teacher… over here please” and I would turn to fine the actual speaker. Embarrassing. As time went on I became extremely familiar with their eyes. Seriously though, out of a line-up of burka clad women, I could pick out my girls no problem.
I have always wondered how little children find there mothers in crowded places when all women are dressed exactly the same, covered head to toe in black. I guess I understand it a lot better now. So today after class all the women brought cakes and cookies, and juice and tea and we had a mini-party on my desk. I shut the door to keep the air-conditioning in, and after glancing about the room- acknowledging that their were no longer any men present- one-by-one they started unveiling. I did NOT see that coming. I was like WHATT?!?! YOU’RE TAKING OFF YOUR VEILS?! COOOOOOOOL! I couldn’t have been less non-chalant about it and it was such a wonderful treat to finally see my students, to see more than just a pair of eyes smiling at me. We had food, and laughed, and talked and talked. Every once and awhile there would be a knock on the door, I would spring up and open the door just a crack “oh bint, bint” they would say and allow the girls to enter. Finally I had to let the men in and they all re-veiled. The faces that were so new and unexpected became sets of familiar, piercing black eyes all over again. But it was so touching that they wanted to let me see their faces before our time together was through.
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That is so super cool. . . what a cool experience.
ReplyDeleteYesterday in my Norwegian class we read this article where a Norwegian man argued that he thinks it shouldn't be allowed to have burkas on in classroom settings, especially at the university level. One of his arguments was that it would be really hard to control who is who. What are picture ID cards for really?
Most people in my class agreed, and I can proudly say that I was the only one that noted that I am sure that countries that are used to burkas have a familiarity with them and can recognize who is who without as much trouble as the Weegies here.
Cool story, thanks for sharing. Do you start another class soon?