Remembering . . .

I accomplished all my TPs (that's teaching points for you who are not nearly CELTA certified) in my last hour of teaching. That means I covered present continuous to the point that several showed understanding of the idea that it's not just for talking about now (as in "I am typing") but also around now (as in "I'm driving to my sick friend's in a few minutes). We also practiced I, we, you and, believe it or not, "y'all." Plus we squeezed in a bit of reading comprehension.

But the greatest goal achieved from 1:15 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. on Friday, November 30, was that I remembered that I love teaching.

Somehow I'd let that fact escape me. Somehow illustrating meaning, concept checking, oral highlighting, drilling, written highlighting and the knowledge that someone was watching my every move to ensure that I did those things and in order while simultaneously covering the material was obscuring what had always been obvious.

I smiled. I calmed down. I listened to the students. I laughed. We got up from our chairs. We practiced and practiced and most, if not all, got something they didn't come into that room with.

When it was all said and done, I told them to ask me the question I'd had them asking each other throughout the hour, "What are you doing tonight?"

"I'm going dancing!" I replied.

Adriana said, "You dance?"

I said I did and she moved toward me and we twirled each other around the room. The dance, like my teaching, was amusing -- I wasn't really sure who was leading whom.