We didn’t have dance exams when we were children, and I think I’m glad of that. Sometimes, though, I wonder – if we had appeared for exams, would we have been more driven to learn? Or would we have wanted to stop learning dance? I was one of those kids who loved exams, but I […]
Board Exam
Ought I to be nervous? Concerned? Stressed? My students are writing their board exams. I wished them luck, gave them a pep talk and some last minute ‘tips’. One student asked me for a vocabulary list he can use. I wanted to tell him ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’. Instead, I told him not to use ‘hi-fi’ […]
Exam Gems III
Asked to ‘write a commentary’ on a poem, students write:’…one thing where I felt that it is wrong is that he did not divide the last line properly, the last line’s word is going in the next paragraph.’ ‘The name given to the poem is very good’ ‘The poem does not start with a boy […]
Exam Gems II
Attempting to create pathos and anger: ‘Reaching hospital it was looking like messy type’ ‘I got him into the last point of insultation’ Attempting – um – I don’t know what: ‘And if the film is ya some actors take more many if they don’t hard work’ (Mm? Can you say that again?) Imaginative writing: […]
Exam Gems
Correcting papers is a crazy experience. There are some things each teacher in the staff room feels compelled to share with the others. Commenting on a poem’s language and style, students write… ‘This heart-touching poem…’, or better still – ‘This tear-dropping poem…’ Commenting on the expected audience, a student has a bewildering response – ‘The […]
Invigilator
Right through school, I enjoyed exams. People found that odd, so I often did not confess that I loved exams. I loved the excited anticipation just before exams. I loved that clean, fresh uniform. (Somehow, the exam uniform stays cleaner than a regular day’s uniform.) I loved the light bag with barely any books in […]