Strange Day

Today is a day tinged with sadness of seeing a friend and colleague leave, as one of the new teachers that started at the same time I did and who I met every morning travelling to and from work with, has had her contract terminated by the school.
I only have her side of the story since the school haven't commented officially. But it seems that she had too many days off through sickness and personal family circumstance, and as such the school have evoked the 2 month probationary clause in the contract.
It is sad to see a good teacher go and to see the way her pupils greeted her in the mornings I think she will be missed by the pupils she taught.
What it does highlight is that this is a business and as such there is very little job security if you are not giving 100%. I feel for my friend she is a victim of circumstances that could have befallen any of us and I wish her well in her hunt for a new post locally or on her return to Canada.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and Day 1 of a new cycle.. The grade 6 classes are still away and I only have 2 Grade 6 classes tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what I have to cover tomorrow as I am bound to get something. If its Grade 9 Spanish Anthropology I think I might take a hammer in with me... and make a bit of noise.. It seems to confuse the kids as they haven't seen teachers making noise before ! I wonder how long before a parent complains I am frightening their precious child. I have about 5 days left before the 2 month probationary period is up for me so who knows I might be home sooner than expected.....

Finally have discovered PODCasts to learn Spanish so now while travelling in and out of work I tune out into learning Spanish and my vocab is doubling fast... Now I wonder if I could get away with doing that tomorrow during the meetings....

hasta pronto ( translate as see you soon)