Sunday, May 27, 2007

Teacher's comments

DSD has landed in London and is off to a racing start. In less than a week she's caught up with a selection of friends, been offered ample part-time work and found a place to live. I'm incredibly impressed!

Meanwhile, this was the week I had been waiting for to hear whether both of my jobs will continue when the new school year starts in September. It's frustrating to be in such an insecure position after being in the UK for a year and a half.

The good news is that both of them are going to continue, probably with exactly the same hours. Finally I can start thinking about what I am going to do over summer and book my trip back to Sydney for my sister's wedding in September.

And that's not the only positive work development of this week. After working at my main job since January 2006, I now have access to a shared set of keys that I don't need to return immediately after every class. Gosh. keys. I have really made it now.


And that wasn't all. My new boss visited the old men's class this week and they told her 'teacher very good'.

In the IT class, a new student announced 'I am so, so happy and I am never going to leave this class!'. On the sheet where students record what they learnt each lesson, she assumed that 'Teacher's comments' was an invitation to write what she thougth about me. Which was:

'The teacher is a wonderful person. He really help me a lot'.

I thought that made up for a little job insecurity. But when I told a colleague (in the finance department) she dismissed me as too easily pleased. 'If someone wrote that about me,' she said, 'I would just think they were being polite'. I'm glad I'm simpler than that.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry. I have been doing the same job in a london local government for three and half year, and I am still temporary staff!

Iqbal Khaldun said...

Oh hate colleagues like that! I used to work in open plan with two people who were always like that. If anyone else did a good job they would always see the cloud between the silver linings.

Didn't realise you hadn't had keys before. High five!

j a s o n said...

How Nasty!!

Finance people can be so heartless.

After all, what kind of people reduce the world into numbers!

Joe said...

Vincent, that's crazy! You know, I've had 5 jobs (all part-time) since I came to London in late 2005. It's great work but so insecure.

Mus and Jason, I really don't know how people get through life being so cynical! I'd be miserable!

j a s o n said...

Welcome to my world - land of Cynicism...must aim to stop that now...

positive thoughts, positive thoughts...

Anonymous said...

Thank God for keys! I got a security swipe card for my new job (see my email) which is identical to my apartment building's card. Suffice to say I got into a bit of a mess when I mixed them up...

That's so great when students say nice things! My favourite has so far been "I like you better than the other teacher." Eeeek! As you imagine I did not tell anyone in the school about that.