Dear Students,

It's been an eventful first week. I believe no one in my classes is exhibiting Swine flu symptoms, so that's one plus. The tropical depression of the week will be diverted to the Atlantic, as have the previous ones.

Technology ages so rapidly that we are caught in the interstices. The video player on my "smart console" in 119 can't rewind, and as far as I can tell there is no remote supplied; therefore to show you a scene, I have to set the cassette in the language lab before every class. That's a bother, but not so much as what I did in some past years: push a TV plus video player from the fourth floor to the basement classroom and return it immediately after class. Now, if I call technical support about the rewind on my console, they'll say they have to remove the video unit to repair it, so I  would lose video for a month or so. Perhaps I could call and ask for a remote. Ironically, there's a phone in the classroom with a direct line to the support people, who are very helpful and well-trained. I think I'll try it next week and ask for a remote. 

We'll have a short quiz both in 101 and 203 on Friday, 28 August. It's a pop quiz, more of an exercise than a quiz. In 101 I will dictate some names of famous people, e.g. Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили, etc. Don't tell anyone in class, but the first looks very good, with that й in there. In 203 I'll just ask some questions about the 7.1 text, and maybe something like на каком курсе, на каком факультете вы учитесь? I like to have papers to correct as it helps the students and helps me to diagnose problems very early on. Only people reading this will know as it is just a check on how things are going this first week. Reading this blog is not required, but I hope it will be valuable.

gmc