I will do... I am going to do.. Cocaine?

Last night's class got off to a fast and rocky start. After having an unpleasurable day, I was d r e a d i n g going to class, but Jen assured me "just go, it can only get better after class anyway". Once there we jumped right into the review of: verbs; used to/would and the simple past; using make and do; present continuous and simple present; countable and uncountable nouns, quantifiers; and ending phone conversations politely amongst other various things like amounts and containers (I have fewer cans of juice than I do cartons of milk)

I noticed many students had worked ahead, which can make it difficult bc I have to figure out how I can give the students who haven't already done the work time to do it, while still keeping the other students occupied. I find the best solution for this is pairing them up if they are done and discussing their answers, do they have any of the same answers? what other answers could you give? are those answers true for you, or are you just writing them out?
I was so off my game that I had to ask students to repeat themselves, something I never usually have to do. Ann, the woman from Vietnam with the cleft palate, I couldn't understand a thing this poor lady said yesterday except for coca-cola and ice cream. Even Dalavahn, she had to repeat that her cousin gets requests for dancing but he is so rude he is not asked back and does not make a lot of money doing this (this was her sentence when we wrote expressions using do or make about 6 family members, apparently he is a back up dancer for musicians, not sure if that's here or in Indonesia). Alma said her mother makes delicious bread but also makes a mess in the kitchen, and her sister like to do the housecleaning but makes trouble for Alma with her mother. Miguel's daughter makes beautiful art and will hopefully make a lot of money from it one day, and his other daughter like to do math and makes new problems for herself to solve. Dongping (new student I didn't see on the attendance list bc she's under 'Leanne'?) said her friend is a nurse and makes a lot of money but she is not happy, and her cousin is a welder who does not make a lot of money but is very happy.

When we did the exercise about simple present and continuous present, Iniat had problems with the difference between "will do" and "going to do" something. The example on the board was " I ______ (go) to the mall this afternoon", she had "I will go to the mall this afternoon", but the correct phrase was "I'm going" or "I am going to go". The class tried to help her, and we told her that "will" is like a possible plan, but "going to" is a definite, you've already made arrangements to do it. Poor Iniat just wasn't getting it, and when I asked if it makes sense, she just quietly said "its ok". AHHH, no! I did that all through math and science in school and look where that got me!! So I left a note for the Director that if she had time and saw Iniat, could she spare a few moments to explain to her the difference between "will do" and "going to do". In fairness, she had missed the class that covered that topic so I'm sure once she goes back she'll understand it.

We went round the room doing a lot of group work all together; while this cuts down on individuals talk time, it does create conversation that we can all add to and I find this is where a lot of laughs come from. We did an activity about food, 'I like bbq meat better than fried meat" was Alma's, and Muhammad said " I like cooking better than going out to eat" but with his accent, it sounded like something different, and Miguel from Mexico, and Hector from El Salvador both said "cho like coh-cain better!?!?!" and we all laughed and laughed. Muhammad was a very funny new addition to the class. When is was his turn to say "a little ____ every day is good for you", he said "a little wine every day is good for you", Hector disagreed vehemently, and Muhammad wouldn't budge, even going further to say he enjoys a glass of wine while he take candlelit baths. I also learned from Hector and Muhammad that Canadians eat A LOT of fast food and really like their burgers and fries... I was surprised it was a Canadian thing, but I guess I have the same impression of Americans, all they do is eat fast food and watch tv. LOL helloo stero-types!

As we worked I noticed the time goes way faster than it does outside of those walls. I wonder if that's because I'm enjoying myself, or if we get lost in the work we're doing and don't notice time? Either way I am definitely not complaining. This time I covered most of the lesson, and we went right to 8:00. We all said goodbye and my favorite part of the class has now become the end,when I hear "thank you teacher!!" "great class!" "have a wonderful night Teacher!", so great to hear they think i am doing a good job!.

In the end Jen was right, going to class definate made stresses and irritants melt away and got me back to my center!