Some Southern Learnin'

I felt a bit of the joy creep back into my teaching today... For the past several weeks, I've managed to keep a good attitude in class, but I haven't been feeling all that great about my lectures, kind of like I've simply been going through the motions. Not just of teaching, of everything, but teaching's what I do the most of... anyhow, I think a bit of the joy that I found in this job prior to the end of October when my world turned itself on its head seems to be filtering back. Maybe it's just that I taught some really cool classes today. Or at least I think so.

In both my ZII (second level) class and my AI (third level) classes, the lectures revolved around my newly adopted hometown of ****. Here are the two passages I had them read. Keep in mind, they are geared toward the levels and the specific grammar (and I have edited out the specific locations to help maintain the anonymity of this blog).

ZII:

**** is in south-eastern Georgia. It is a very small town. It is best to visit **** in the spring. In the spring, flowers bloom and the weather is not too hot. When tourists come to ****, they should visit the ***A, the ***B (a museum), and the historic district. Tourists should visit barbecue restaurants and eat American barbecue. If tourists want to go shopping, there is a very large shopping center in the new region of the city. One very popular and cheap store is called Wal-Mart. People can buy many cheap souvenirs in Wal-Mart. Visitors to **** can also take a boat down the ***C River or go fishing.

AI:

The city of **** was founded in 1870. **** is located at the place where all of the railways in the south-eastern United States cross. From 1870 to 1950, most Americans traveled on trains. They often visited ****, and the city was very popular with tourists. **** had many theaters, stores and hotels, and many wealthy people lived there. In the 1950s, people began to travel in cars. Big roads called interstates were built in the southeastern United States. No interstates went to ****, and few tourists went to ****. Most of the hotels, theaters and stores closed. Many people moved to other cities. Now, very few wealthy people live in ****. Few tourists come to **** now, although the nearby ***A is visited by many tourists every year.

I showed them pictures and road/rail maps, and they all seemed genuinely interested, which was rewarding.