I was pleasantly surprised twice at work today. This doesn’t happen all that often.
First was when I found out that “level testing” would be standardized, so I didn’t have to prepare anything this month for putting the proper students in the proper classes. As a second bonus, the testing period coincided with one of my classes, which means I got to stick around and help administer the test instead of trying to teach a bunch of unruly students for an hour. Sweet. The students took the “PELT” test, which turns up THIS website as the top result in Google when I went looking for more information.
This PELT test, since it’s standardized, is a more fair way to place students. Or, it would be, if some of the students hadn’t taken variations of the tests previously. One student told me she had taken the PELT I, PELT II, and PELT III, and had already started the “TOEIC BRIDGE” series. We were using a PELT II test booklet for the examination. This only proves that no matter how hard you study, and no matter your age, someone’s made an English test to take your money.
The second surprise came in the form of the easiest question EVER from my director: “Can you finish your books by the end of the month if I give you an extra day of vacation?”
Who is going to say, “No,” to that sort of question?!
OF COURSE I said I was willing to “suffer” one day of vacation if it meant teaching my books a little faster. This extra vacation stems from the fact that we have two sets of classes. Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and Tuesday/Thursday. A national holiday falls on a Wednesday, and the school’s “vacation” was supposed to be a single Friday later in the month.
This means that the M/W/F students were getting vacation more than the T/Th students, and parents were complaining. Students were complaining they were missing out of vacation too, and our director put it on our shoulders to get the materials finished in the same amount of time.
In preparation, for my last class when I heard the news, I increased their workload by a few pages. I’ve got to add on a few pages all around to compensate for the change, but really, it’s not big of a deal.
It’s nice to get a few surprises at work from time to time that don’t make you want to rip your hair out.
