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Wings of a Dove

docoflove1974

Entry posted by docoflove1974

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Yes, GhostOfClayton, your entry talking about Human League has put me in a right 80s mood. Actually, to be fair, I was listening to a fair bit of Madness, Clash, and others this afternoon before reading the blog, but still.

 

So, finals are over! Well, for me they are. I had everything graded by last night, 10pm...record time, I might add. Then again, it was pretty clear that many of my students just didn't do so well on the final paper. I mean, sure, it's an in-class essay, but when I give you a month to practice it, you should get darned good at it. Of course, if everyone did, then they'd all get As, and that's not exactly my thing. So, a good spread of grades overall.

 

But it got me thinking of how I want to tweak the assignment. My intermediate Spanish students have to pick a movie off of a list (of course, the movies are Spanish-language), and write a specific essay which tests various linguistic elements. It's cumulative in the truest sense of the word, because it's meant to accurately encapsulate their capabilities at that time. Since the course is a 3-semester series, as students progress they do better. And interestingly, the native speakers in the class don't necessarily do better than the language learners; since I have the students type up the essays, they have to use spell-check, although many don't, or they choose incorrectly from the options that Microsoft Word offers up. Either way, good students tend to do well, while mediocre students don't. Poor students often don't show up, or they come to the final exam time with the "duh" look on their face...usually the result of them not watching a movie and following the instructions of the assignment.

 

So, grades are in...let the games begin!

 

Winter Break starts with me playing hostess and tour guide. My very good friend Alanna is out here visiting...her first visit to Northern California. The bad news is that tomorrow is the only day of her visit that is scheduled to be a dry day; the entire rest of the trip there are storms blowing in off the Pacific. At least tomorrow we'll get in a fair amount of sight-seeing in San Francisco. Friday we'll get some things in, perhaps, but Saturday is a complete howler of a day; 50 mph gusts and tons of rain are projected. Sounds more like a day to catch a movie locally, stay home and catch up. Then Sunday morning she takes off for her hometown in central Massachusetts.

 

Anyone else wanna come along? :D

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GhostOfClayton
Anyone else wanna come along? :D

 

I'll tell you what, Doc, if it wasn't for the rain, I'd love to see the sights and sites of the City by the Bay. I'm not too keen on the rain though. Lord Caldrail's weather report hasn't got as far as the forecast for Saturday yet, but it looks like snow everywhere here, including Swindon and Aquis-of-the-Romans. I've seen a lot of snow this past few weeks, but I still prefer it to heavy rain.

 

We do do a holiday that includes San Francisco, but sadly we're a bit of a meritocracy, and the Leaders with the experience seem to have the long-haul tours pretty much stitched up between them. Maybe one day!

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docoflove1974

Wow...sounds like an amazing trip! It's been many years since I've last been to Yosemite, but I'm due to go again...hopefully next summer. Joshua Tree is one I haven't been to, but I've driven through the desert many a time...can't say you're missing that much, but that's just me. I would say Lake Tahoe is truly on the list, but so is Monterey, Napa/Sonoma, of course a few days in San Francisco proper...I hate Los Angeles with a passion, but visitors should see Disneyland, at least. San Diego...oh, Santa Barbara...*sigh* too much to do here! But if you do come out, let me know...I'll gladly play tour guide!

 

Today was gloriously sunny, cool, and a great walking day. We did a lot, especially since we didn't know until this evening that we might catch a break. You see, Saturday we supposedly will be 'dry' during the day, although I didn't exactly hear the word 'sunny' in that forecast. At least I can get one more day outside with my friend.

 

Tomorrow is another story...looks like quite a steady rain. Might be time to hit the nice mall, see a movie ("The King's Speech"), stuff like that. Every day in the next week brings rain...*sigh*...I guess we do need it...

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docoflove1974

Um, now I'm jealous. I did see them in college--they were top bill with a slew of other punk/swing/etc bands--and have been a constant in my '80s/First Wave' iTunes play list. Sadly, I never saw the Clash...that ship has sailed, I guess.

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