Mild Weather, More Violence, and other stuff

The weather continues to remain kind to this west coast wimp.  That is good. But the icy roads are a bit difficult to manage, and I do not see an improvement in that issue.  I finally received a little flurry of e-mails from that university in Asia.  They eventually respond to me when I blast the entire school when I get to the end of my rope.  I have been waiting to find out my marks for the last 5 exams I wrote in early May (2014).  I got a number of silly messages indicating that they do not post marks other than the most recent. Well, the most recent were those exams, and the most recent exams and course marks are from exams I wrote in January. A bloody year ago!  Finally someone wrote to me this past week and advised that I must complete a course and really should enrol in it - after she advised that I had completed all my core courses.  The course she was advising enrolment was for a core course. I flung back to her that I had completed that course, and it was completed in January last year. She pondered that for a few days and then responded that she made an error, and that I must complete research course before I could complete the degree. Research is also a core course, and it too was completed last year and with a final mark.  I replied with that information. I added that before she writes again and advises that I must complete another course she needs to read her own e-mail to me advising that I have completed ALL the core courses and only an elective - which I chose as a TESL course was left for me to complete.  No response.  I am guessing she is hoping that enough time passes and I will forget all the goofs. You know - Asian culture does not allow confrontation or admitting mistakes. Save face at all costs.  And so, the drama continues while I await her next message and then hopefully complete this whole gig and move forward.

As for students, they are delightful.  However, I would love to know who the heck assessed them to be in the room I teach. I have a level of students that are supposed to be able to speak and listen at a fairly capable level. Not to talk about physics and philosophy. But to be able to recognize they have been asked a question and then respond in a sentence. Just a short sentence would do. But not a bunch of words that are stored in their memory bank as words known. They must create a sentence.  Many are able. A number are not.  It is not fair to them to be in this class. Just think. If you went to Russia, or China, or Japan, and had a month of training in that language and then were put into a class where people were at a level of ability 50 times more advanced than you.  Scary.  And that is how it is.