I’ve been going through various stages of grief. I’ve invested a lot into my identity as an ESL teacher and its a bitter pill to swallow. For years I have been worrying that very thing would happen, so it’s not unexpected but it is still not easy.

I am highly optimistic about my current school’s ability to survive without me and, in fact, without any ESL specialists at all. Still, I feel like there should be some legal or moral obligation to have  more than one dedicated ESL specialist for a school with a population of 5oo+ English language learners (ELL).

I do realize that I’m blessed.  I have an opportunity to start something new at a new school. I still have a job and a paycheck. I have a home and my family. God loves me and has given me much more than I deserve.

Side note: Yesterday I got a bunch of the school’s UALPA (Utah Academic Language Proficiency Assessment) results back from the state office of education. I haven’t had to time to analyze it yet, but it looks as though we (they?) made massive growth this year.

Also I confronted a man who was giving cigarettes to minors on the street near my school. That didn’t go so well for me, but the cops came out and everything turned out fine.

At home, I’ve nearly finished installing the laminate flooring in my daughters’ new bedroom.

When I went to my party’s caucus meeting, I was the only person from my voting precinct for most of the time. Later another man came in. Anyhow, I got elected to be the precinct chair and the delegate to the state and county conventions. I enjoy being involved so that’s okay with me. Now my problem is trying to figure out who is who in my area so that I can start to get some momentum going.

I just looked up these Signing Time playlists for my daughter. We haven’t tried out the Signing Time Kids website yet, but I’ll have my kids play with it this week.

Meanwhile, I’ve had some trouble with my Netbook. I was using Live Writer for my blogging, and personal study. That crashed and I haven’t been able to figure out how to uninstall and fix the stupid thing. I think I also have a problem with .Net. Now, I’m trying out a new OS, Jolicloud. I like it.

Also, I’ve been sleeping in a bit and haven’t been hitting the books so hard lately.

On the upside, I finished reading a book in German. Now, I’m starting one in Spanish.

I made this discovery while listening to this interview with Paul Landers (Radio Goethe). I enjoyed the old and weird  music of Paul Landers and I liked his  descriptions of making music in the DDR and of what life was like in the transition after the wall fell.