You have no idea how happy (and, yet, sad) I am, but I am finished teaching english, for at least as long as it takes for me to find a career in a some other way! =D Well, regardless, I'm finished teaching English in Tienen, anyways. Marianne has already hired someone else. =)
Anyways, I thought I would just take you around where I work a bit, since I'm finished there and everything. (Therefore meaning that I can't get fired for anything I say here. Eh heh.)
This is Classroom 9, also known as the only nice classroom we had. It's all cushy, and has nice plants, and is the biggest, and this is where we keep
a) the cards with all the information about lessons on them
b) the stereos needed for the lessons
c) all the children's material which never gets used (Who wants children's lessons in Tienen???)
d) any new material for new students Marianne leaves in here and, most importantly,
e) Where Marianne keeps all the cookies and candy. Honestly, every Berlitz school I've been to seems to have cookies and candy. Strange, because it never gets eaten by the students, as far as I can tell. =/ Who eats this??? I only ever saw Marianne eat a cookie once, and the Forem people (unemployed language learners) just MASSACRE the stuff, but other than them, I have no idea who eats these things.
This is the poster of the 'levels' in Berlitz. Yes, Berlitz levels. We train people to learn how to tell what level someone is at. Level A is 'Absolute Beginner' and Level 11 is 'Native Speaker.' Naturally, I'm somewhere around a level 2. My English good. Real good.
I should also tell you that this poster, and any and every poster of Berlitz makes, is required by Berlitzian law to be included in every school. Therefore, you are, as a teacher (rather sadly, I would say) greeted by the same 4-5 posters every time you walk in a Berlitz school. Does no one else care that the teacher's are infected with the propoganda much better than the students are???
This here, is classroom 1. I don't really like classroom one. It's where I spent most of my time freezing because I forgot to TURN ON THE HEATERS EVERY TIME EXCEPT ONCE. One thing that I don't understand about Berlitz is why they always buy the kind of heaters that have to be turned on...it's cheaper to regulate the temperature, isn't it? Anyways, this classroom was memorable. And dank. And chilly. And the temperature would not bother me, but I spent most of my time in there on little to no sleep, so it HAD to be cold, OR I MIGHT FALL ASLEEP. AND THAT WOULD BE BAD.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find the poster of the Sesame Street Friends (All rights reserved) that I wanted to show you, but this will have to do. This is Tingo. Everyone who teaches kids lessons knows Tingo. Why? Because Tingo is a Muppet created specifically for Berlitz Kids Lessons, and the instructor is encouraged to use the Tingo hand puppet to help explain words to children.
....
Kids Teachers hate Tingo.
Tingo is the kind of Muppet that little children have nightmares about. His (Her's? Its????) eyes are just a little too big and lifeless, and the puppet would give me bedwetting tendencies for the rest of my life if I were the child approached with this thing. Maybe it's the green and orange and purple fur. Maybe it's the marsupial-like tail. I have no idea. Needless to say, most of the Berlitz kid's instructors feeling towards Tingo is that Tingo would be good for disciplining little children because it's SCARY, not because it's FUN. My good friend C said that she planned to tell kids that Tingo was going to come to their house and eat them if they were bad during an english lesson. We thought Tingo would be more effective if we attached large teeth to Tingo. Unfortunately, such a plan never saw the light of day. Sad.
This is classroom 15. Clasroom 15 has no carpet. When it gets hot, classroom 15 smells. Smells like a dentist's chair. Badly. There is almost nothing worse than being in classroom 15. It smells even worse than classroom 12. Ugh. Classroom 15, I will not miss thee.
And, that...is that. That is the last I will see of Berlitz in Tienen.
But I still have to send them claim forms for my expenses because Marianne said she didn't like the way I did them.
....
Some jobs never die.
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