Classes Over!
Yay! Semester almost over. Classes done today. Every semester feels like it’s been the longest ever, and so did this one. One of my classes has been such a challenge this time, with students even more resistant than usual to the idea of any effort, hard work or contribution.
For some reason this group just didn’t gel together and I had to cancel a couple of scheduled discussions just because nobody was willing to talk, ask questions or respond to the stuff I had them read or showed in class. Not doing the readings is the worst part, and I am still at a loss about how to get lazy students to do their reading. Quizzes certainly didn’t help here. Maybe I just got a lot of people who took the class because it fit their schedule.
But the other class was great; possibly the best I’ve had ever and what really delighted me was that hardly anyone was a History major. Did their readings, did well in the midterm, asked questions, did their group discussions with great enthu….what more can a teacher ask for? It was very unnerving to go from one class to the other. This latter one was an honours section, so I suppose that explains it a bit, but still. It was not an easy course and I was pleased that the kids were up to the challenge of working hard. The other one… ah well, it’s almost over.
It’s bitterly, bitterly cold, and I have barely got up to the chin of the balaclava, which I knit while watching another film of Aparna Sen’s, Paromitar Ek Din (House of Memories). Totally made up for the latest film 15 Park Avenue’s disappointment. This one is in Bangla, and Sen herself has a stunning performance in it as a fiesty north Calcutta mother-in-law.
Spud, Mr & Mrs. Iyer was indeed the one on the bus! Both Mr & Mrs Iyer are in this latest film also, but Mr. I disappoints. By the way, your mention of the balalaika has put this song we learnt back in French class in school in my head – C’est l’hiver (it’s winter) and given the temperature, it’s quite timely! Why this French song with Russian references, I have no idea, but there you go. It’s a lovely tune.
