Who has the wine?

My first full week as an Adult Education Instructor is finished and I am heading into my second week. What have I gotten myself into?

The week started off with a break-in at the College. Iain and I went to the school on Sunday to pick up a few things and do some work, prepping for our classes. As we walked down the hallway towards the teachers lounge we realized that the shelving unit at the far end of the hall was out of place and one of the ceiling tiles was knocked out of the roof. After doing a full walk-around of the building we decided that the would-be theives had broken in via the back door, tried to bust through the door to the teachers lounge, tried to break into Emil’s office and finally tried to gain access to the teachers lounge via the ceiling. They didn’t appear to take anything or damage anything besides doorjams and one ceiling tile which was a relief. I called the cops to let them know what had happened and spoke to an antique answering machine I could barely understand. I didn’t believe I’d see them at all, but an officer did show up Monday afternoon to see the damage.

Besides that little bit of excitement the rest of the weekend was quiet and Monday came very quickly.

Iain is teaching Geology to the Introduction to Mining students for the next month which puts me in his classroom in the mornings. I get to teach Pre-Trades English for three hours followed by 4 hours of a modified English course for the Mining students. I have so much more empathy for English teachers now . I am reviled for the subject I teach! The tragedy is, all of the students need English comprehension skills more than ANYTHING else. Iain’s students are doing very well in math, but now that they are into science their marks are dropping, not becuase they can’t do the work but because they don’t comprehend the questions they are being asked. My class struggles with basic vocabulary and have limited to no comprehension skills when reading or writing. In a lot of cases it goes far beyond the struggles of English as a second language. I believe many of the students are struggling with learning disabilities that I can’t even begin to tackle. The last part of the battle is social. If the students won’t show up, or they show up late it is very, very hard to teach them anything.

I quickly realized that the material I had photocopied for the Mining students was going to be far too difficult for them to work through, so every night during the week I was prepping new quizes and assignments for them to tackle. It is very, very easy to get frustrated and dejected here - I’m not sure how Iain kept his positive attitude while he was here alone last year. If I didn’t have him to vent to I would be looking for my ticket home...perhaps that is why I was given a one way ticket up here? Hmmmmm...

Iain’s class is almost more of a struggle for me than my own is. At this point I know the limitations of my class and can modify the material for them and keep my fingers crossed that they learn enough to understand the remainder of the course materials. However, Iain’s class is another battle all together. Most of the Pre-Trades students are young, under 25, and it is a little bit like teaching a grade 11 hockey team how to write proper sentences. If I am lucky I’ll have half the class in their seats by 9:30am and the other half will show up around 10:20am. I’ll get the guys who arrive on time started on an inclass assignment and keep my fingers crossed that everyone is in class by the time break is over so I can give my lecture to a full class rather than the two or three who show up on time.

One of Iain’s students, a smart young man who will do very well if he adjusts his attitude, decided he didn’t want to do the work I assigned him the first day so he started a staring contest with me as a method of intimidation. I found it unnerving, but also completely ridiculous so I began smiling at him. He blinked, soI laughed at him and told him he had lost which totally flustered him. As he stomped out of the classroom he told me I was cheating because I was smiling. I count it as a victory that since then he completes his work without complaint and shows up almost on time in the mornings.

By Friday both Iain and I were exhausted. We had no patience left and felt completely burnt out by the week. I almost missed the repetitive routine of Diavik. The amount of material to cover before Christmas seemed impossible. I can’t get my class to find words in a dictionary at this point - how will I get them through Safety and Mining methods? I was overjoyed at the thought of a long weekend to recuperate and get my head back into this game.

Not much was accomplished this weekend on the scholastic front. I got my marking done and reviewed some English texts I’m hoping to use in Iain’s class, but otherwise I completely avoiding thinking about anything College related. Instead I watched the grey skies tear across the tundra, I immersed myself in terrible, cliche television and browsed the internet when the connection would allow.

Iain and I are not totally allowing ourselves to become sloths. We left the hotel room at least once a day during the weekend. I purchased some beautiful red fabric for my amauti on a shopping excursion to Eskimo Point Lumber Supply. Iain and I went to the college on Sunday to set up the classrooms for First Aid and CPR which is happening this week and today I walked Iain to the airport to see him off to Rankin Inlet.

There is going to be a bit of an Instructor swapfor the next 5 days - Iain is heading to Rankin Inlet to teach math to an Oil Burner Mechanics class at the Trades Center and a Rankin Inlet instructor is coming here to teach First Aid, CPR and WHMIS to both of our classes. It is a nice treat for Iain and I, we’ll both have a little bit of free time to work on our own class prep and we’ll have a small break from our students. I will likely be called on to help the teacher here, there will be up to 20 students and a lot of them will require help to understand the finer points of First Aid and CPR. But, I won’t be the main act, instead I’ll get to watch a seasoned Adult Educator in action. Hopefully I’ll learn enough tricks in the next 5 days to keep me going for the next 2 months!

The only other item of note was Sunday night (Thanksgiving super). There are a number of construction crew members staying here at the hotel, and they are working on night shift so two ladies who are involved with the hotel offered to cook the guys a big Thanksgiving feast. They invited Iain and I but we already had an Arctic Char thawed and there wasn’t much on their menu that I could eat. About an hour before Iain and I were going to cook the fish we realized that there was no water. The tank for the entire hotel was dry. Instead of sending us water on Sunday they sent the sewage vac truck 3 times. I couldn’t help but point out to Iain that nothing goes into the sewage tank if there is NO WATER! The water tank was eventually filled, 24 hours later and only after the crew boss that is staying here flagged down the vac truck and had him radio the water truck for immediate delivery to Kivalliq Suites.

No water and a gorgeous fish feast just added to the Northern experience. It was one of the more memorable Thanksgivings I’ve had, although definitely not the most boisterous! I did miss family and friends this Thanksgiving.

So, here I am, preparing for week two at the College. I believe it will get better, if only because I now fully understand what I am getting myself into. Now that the initial shock and awe have worn off I can mentally bolster myself for the upcomming weeks. As Iain keeps reminding me, all we can do is keep trying and doing our best.