I finally got to teach in person today, and what a pleasure, what a high! That lifelong teachers would voluntarily give up this extraordinary pleasure is something I will never understand.
This was my translation course. I put students in the lab and had them translate the course syllabus. I worked with everybody individually because I can see their screens and can observe what everybody is doing constantly. There’s no way of re-creating this on Zoom with 22 students.
At the end of the class session, we calculated how much money each student would have made if this were an actual translation order.
I had insomnia tonight and woke up shattered. But after teaching, I’m filled with energy and joy. Fuck Zoom. Long live real teaching.
Clarissa's Blog 
“lifelong teachers would voluntarily give up this extraordinary pleasure”
I don’t get it either! Polish students can (and often do) drive me up the wall but the live interaction (both in class an in office hours – I set things up so they have to do office hour visits) is easily the best part of the job. Online ‘teaching’ was just… I cannot fathom how anyone could prefer that.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thus were the wheat separated from the chaff, in the teaching field.
LikeLiked by 3 people
“That lifelong teachers would voluntarily give up this extraordinary pleasure is something I will never understand.”
They are not teachers.
LikeLiked by 3 people
How much would they have made on the syllabus translation?
LikeLiked by 1 person
An experienced translator would get about $90 for the whole text (the COVID statement alone is endless) and it would take them about an hour. With students it varied from $8 to 28 for an hour of work but it’s their first attempt. We’ll work on getting better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. I sneak them in where I can.
LikeLike