thegarrettblog

Lunch

Sharing a lunch before we pick a friend up from the airport.

Free Time and Freedom!

We now have a 6 week break from school. Couple that with the fact that China is no longer blocking our blogging platform, and you should be hearing from us more regularly now.

Checking it out

You know you shop at Ikea too much when...

...your 3 year old daughter (who can't read) asks you where you got your tablecloth. After you tell her that your sister sent it to you from her recent trip to Europe, your daughter replies, quite convincingly, "No, mom. The tag says 'Ikea'."

...you're reminding your daughter about the Bible story you read last night... about the wee little man named.... and your daughter interrupts with "Ikea! Ikea! Ikea was a wee little man, a wee little man was he!"

Hmmm... maybe I need to slow down my Ikea shopping a bit? Nah! 

Just thought it was funny

College Entrance Examination

 

Here is a very good article about what all of our Chinese students have had to go through in order to get into college.  I look back to my senior year in high school and am very grateful for my English class, US History Class, Government class, Philharmonic Choir, Madrigal Choir, and study hall.  I(Josh) left school at 2:30 every day and did no homework all year long.

All-Nighter? For This Test, Some Chinese Cram All Year

Enjoy and let us know what you think of this.  Good, bad, better, worse?

A picture paints a thousand words

I recently gave my "Modern American Short Stories" students a test. This class is an elective and is open to all students at the University, not just English majors. The last bonus questions was:

Why did the South have "Jim Crow Laws"? Give one example of a Jim Crow Law. 

This is what one of my students answered:

She can be whatever you want to her be, baby!

Tonight Annabelle asked for a story. She said she wanted me to tell her the story of "Cinderella."

Me: Once upon a time there was a girl named...

AB: NO NO - Let's pretend your elephant (big stuffed animal that lives on my bed) is Cinderella.

Me: Okay. Once upon a time there was an elephant named Cinderella who...

AB: Wait! Can we pretend the elephant is wearing a pink dress?

Me: Sure, but Cinderella wears a blue dress.

AB: Can we pretend she wears a pink dress?

Me: Okay. Once upon a time there was an elephant named Cinderella in a pink dress who had a mean step-mom...

AB: Wait! Can we pretend there's no step mom and no step sisters?

Me: Okay. Once upon a time there was an elephant named Cinderella in a pink dress who went to the ball, danced all night with the prince, came home, fell asleep on a bed just like this one, and slept happily ever after.

AB: That's great, mom. Thanks! 

We need to wear our bras!

This morning Annabelle helped me make some french toast. While we were in the kitchen cracking eggs, she suddenly exclaimed:

"Momma!! We need to wear our BRAS!"

I looked at her puzzled. "Huh?"

Then she pointed over to where our cooking aprons (thanks Pat!) were hanging. She meant, we need to wear our aprons! 

He's down, hurt, bleeding, barely hanging on!

The strangest thing to me (Chana) about being a teacher is being the one who writes the tests. I don't know why that freaks me out so much. Lectures, homework, assignments - no problems. But tests... they can trap you up. I've written a couple of not so good ones this semester. On one of my tests, the class of almost 60 got about 50 As. Hmmm.... guess THAT one was too easy! On another one of my tests, I had so many ambiguities that EVEN I kept getting confused over what to accept as a right answer!

I think I'm starting to improve my test writing skills. But today, one funny thing happened on the test I gave my students. It was a reading comprehension test about several short passages - one being "The Parable of the Good Samaritan." I had previously told my students the story about how Josh was riding his bicycle to Wal-mart one day and hit a patch of sand in the road that caused his bike to fall over, him with it. He ended up with a slightly cut and bloody knee and was on the ground for almost a minute, with several people watching him but no one offering to help him.

On the test I asked "What true-life story did I tell in class that relates to the parable?" 

The answers are hilarious. It's like a game of "Telephone" gone very, very bad. My students wrote everything from Josh crashing his scooter to crashing his car, Josh AND me crashing our bikes into each other, Josh on the ground bleeding and bleeding, unable to get up... with crowds of people varying in number from one or two onlookers to twenty, thirty, or more!

Soooo funny. I give the same test tomorrow. Wonder if he'll end up in the Emergency Room.