Sunday, September 27, 2009

Time Starved

It's one of those days when I'm feeling extremely pushed for time. This morning's marking has not gone well. I hit a series of weak scripts, all requiring undue attention to try and help students who seem to have neglected all sensible advice so far. If you've never had the experience, let me tell you that marking eight pages largely consisting of an attempt to bluff the examiner, through vague generalities couched in an even vaguer approximation of the English language, that the candidate has some knowledge of the texts in question, when they don't, is extremely time-consuming.

And at one o'clock or thereabouts we're off, in the splendid company of Rozita and Fuad and the girls, visiting various households in the course of what the missus terms jalan raya. We will undoubtedly eat and drink too much because there's little else to do - but we'll have a good time doing so. I'm told that we'll be back by ten o'clock, but I'll be happy if we manage this. No wonder all the Muslims here look exhausted post-Ramadhan!

In the meantime, I'm off to suffer through one more script. (It's a thick one, in more ways than one.)

2 comments:

Trebuchet said...

Ah, this is one thing I really don't miss... I've been giving lit tuition these days, and the careful guidance of a small group of individuals who know very tangibly that they are wasting money if they don't pay attention to you seems a lot more rewarding. *grin*

Brian Connor said...

That I can understand. I used to give tuition free at Siglap Mosque for kids doing 'N' levels and they rarely paid real attention, though they were thoroughly pleasant to spend time with. I think they were there as their parents thought it was a good idea. I suppose if I'd have charged it might have helped. The same was true of talks I've done at various mosques on how to approach exam papers. I've always felt the audiences felt they were doing me a favour by turning up and not actually throwing things at me. Which they were, I suppose.