Embedding, or it's nice to be right...

So the class that was causing trouble rears its head again.
Their tutor has decided that their levels of literacy are so low that none of them have a chance of passing the reading and writing exams, so they are only being entered for speaking. Which presents me with an interesting challenge for IT- there are maybe one or two things I can do with them which are relevant to speaking, but their IT literacy is also very low, and I'm still not sure that learning more about how to use a computer would benefit them.
I'm hoping to persuade the tutor of one of the higher level groups, who are very good with computers, to make a podcast for the other class to listen to. We may also be able to use the computers to drill pronunciation. Using ICT as a resource, anyone?

In other news, I had my next 7407 observation on Wednesday. Much less hassle. It was just a shame that the observer didn't see the speaking activity I did with the class, which went down very well and got them all talking. Though in that session I did have to do my first real school-marm bit of classroom management- splitting up two students who are always arguing and calling on me to adjudicate. I told them I had had enough, that I didn't want to hear it any more and then sat them at separate tables, which I hope will solve the problem. One of the pair seems to have some affective problems anyway- I don't think this student's been in a classroom situation before, so rules like "don't talk when other people (including the teacher) are talking" are totally alien, and this is on top of the fact that I suspect they may have mild Aspergers, since comments the student makes in class sometimes smack of an inability to understand how other people feel- CF when some of the students were laughing about something in a text , and the student did not understand why they were laughing, and this wasn't anything to do with ESOL needs. Their behaviour risks being a big barrier to their learning, so I have to work to keep it in check. Of course, said student is just as unpopular with most of the rest of the class as they are with the student I had to move.

Half term, because of outside problems, promises to actually be more stressful than coming in to college to teach. But I'm applying for a couple of things which would earn money in the holidays, so at least it has a chance of being productive. Sometimes leaving your homelife at home is as difficult as leaving your work at work.

Finally, one of my Polish students said something in class that proved the theory that formal exams are not necessarily a good way to make students learn: "I took the exam and then I forgot everything, I was so tired and worried."