Alaskan Bulgarian

Deal Breakers and Keepers

This may mean a change. My usual internet club, the one where I have an account and have come nearly every day over the past six months, has suddenly picked up a highly aggressive pop-up stopper. Although this should be a benefit, they have given us no way of shutting it off. I can still open new browsers on my own, so at the moment, the only thing I can't work around is uploading files, where I can't get an address to type into a new window. I try asking the computer nicely by right-clicking and manually opening a link in a new window, but that doesn't help. The guy working this shift says that the pop-up stopper is only on four computers, but it has been on the last two I've used.

So, does anybody have a way around this? Is there some "Open in same window" option I've never paid attention to? Little help.

Fortunately, I came to the internet club a little more relaxed today. The students, after a little pre-class prodding and threatening, seemed to understand that I really was pissed yesterday and that there is something they can do about it: stay quiet when I'm speaking. Not to say it was one of those eerie, silent days. Frankly, those just creep me out now. If no one in the room is talking, and they're all just staring at me, they're up to something. If one or two of the 26 are whispering, working on math, whatever, then that makes me feel a bit more comfortable, and that's the way it was today.

I set a deal with both eighth classes that if they don't shape up by the end of the month (conveniently the end of the term) that I'd start grading them every day on whether they could keep their mouths shut. I told them that this would be a pain for me and a pain for them, but I'd have to do it. They quieted down a little for the day and we finished everything I wanted to finish.

I wrapped up the day by helping three or four of the brighter eleventh graders prep for the TOAFL, the Test Of American As a Foreign Language. At least that's how I see the TOEFL these days. These kids who, for their entire educational careers have had to learn British English have a hard time getting over some of the idioms, words, and sentence structure changes. It's been a hard shift for me going in the other direction. Example: Dustman. What do they do? They collect garbage in England and put into their dustcarts, or garbage trucks. Absolutely fascinating. Also, the British--in their textbooks, anyway--seem to think that Americans call our chemists "druggists." As the son of a pharmacist, I can say that in 22 years of life, I have never heard him called a druggist. I swear, you go into this thing thinking it's all just elevator/lift and fries/chips, then you wind up learning that "you've got" to learn a whole new language and cultural structure "at the weekends." It's nice teaching the TOEFL and seeing the good ol' phrases once again.

Plus, the kids are smart as whips, they are. The three or four that come really do want to take the TOEFL and really do know their stuff. We always seem to have a problem of the day, but those are fun because they're so easy to pinpoint and overcome. Today it was causative verbs. Twice they all tripped over questions with them. It's hard explaining that "General Grant had General Lee meet him" is correct when they think that "General Grant had General Lee to meet him" sounds better. I had to look up the rule, point out that infinitives can't be used with certain causatives, and tell them that it sounds better to boot. It's challenging because the extent of my troubleshooting in normal classes is to say "it sounds better" and look up the rule with the student after class. In TOEFL prep, these guys expect on-the-spot justification, and "it sounds better" doesn't cover it for them. Makes it fun for me, because I get to remember this nitpicky stuff for the next time it comes up.

They're getting better, and I'm sure everyone in the class will kick the thing's rear when the take it. They get increasingly confident every week. It's great fun to watch, and it always beats off the day's earlier demons nicely.

Posted by Rob at January 13, 2004 05:14 PM