Winding up

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The heady days of the summer exams.

It’s that time of the year again when the little darlings are sitting their exams, and apart from irksomely dull bouts of invigilating, we sit around the office with little to do…

Sorry, that’s last year’s entry. While there are invigilations to be done (I have two left), I also have my IB1 class. That shouldn’t be such a lot of work (and it generally isn’t), but the downtime just hasn’t been there. I’ve been writing reference letters and doing a fair amount of marking, having just finished mark­ing the IB1s official unofficial (sic! Pay attention at the back) final exams, which have vacuumed up ¾ of my long weekend.

The exams have been running quite well, although there’s been overkill. We had the IB inspectors in and got a gold star (they observed the Biology HL exam, which was all of five students in a classroom), but no one from Cambridge has turned up so far. In fact, no one from Cambridge has turned up in about three years. It might still happen.

Next week we’re going to be teaching the AS classes much as last week the IGCSE classes had a science week. I have things for my classes to do, and I’ve decided the IB1s can watch another film and write an article to make up for the articles they so heavily plagiarised. As for the AS classes, I suspect that there will be absences just as there were before the exams started, and the remaining pupils will be even less inclined to do English.

Then there will be the eleven days at the end of term, which will be the usual damp squib no doubt as the AS students probably all head off to TOEFL and SAT classes whether we like it or not.

Someone has had the genius idea of getting the A-level classes to do an extended piece of writing like a mini EE of 1,000-1,500 words. Ms. Giggles immediately stuck her oar in and suggested that based on what they might do once they graduate, they should do some research on subject in which they might major at university. I sat at the table, minding my Ps and Qs, but wondering what this had to do with English and why I should care. It’s Ms. Giggles doing her pastoral care thing again; it’s Ms. Giggles pur­suing her agenda again.

While we’re on the subject, she’s been manic again, shrieking and gibbering like the most annoying sort of ghost imaginable. Her absences from the office are delightful oases of peace and quiet. There was one day just recently when she insisted on barging into every conversation that was going, which is never a good sign. It’s almost certainly one of her strategies for coping, but I’m not sure whether she even knows she’s doing it. [08.06.15. For some reason, she’s had no Internet access this weekend. I bet a lot of people have been writing “Dear Diary, A most peaceful weekend…”)

I might have a word with the Boy and get him to change the essay to something which is relevant to English.

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