Hoon Hay, New Zealand Superthread

[liamcool]

Whoa, 2-3 HOURS?!

That's nuts. (And you do get to pick your times? Gooooooood.)

 

[Alisaura]

Course started last week, but tutes begin this week. My first is 9am Thursday.

You'll be fine! Try not to scare the first-years too much...

Do you actually have to plan tutes and do proper teacher-stuff? I seem to recall the tutors in our science pracs were mostly there to answer questions and sort of prod the students along... I guess if you were going to be a lecturer you'd have to do a bit more training. *L*

 

[Axver]

Whoa, 2-3 HOURS?!

That's nuts. (And you do get to pick your times? Gooooooood.)

Yep, and most of it was just going over "this is probably a good idea to do ... and yeah, how about this ..." I suppose if you're going to be a tutor, you've had some fairly recent experience as a student in tutes and know what works and what doesn't. But still!

You'll be fine! Try not to scare the first-years too much...

Do you actually have to plan tutes and do proper teacher-stuff? I seem to recall the tutors in our science pracs were mostly there to answer questions and sort of prod the students along... I guess if you were going to be a lecturer you'd have to do a bit more training. *L*

Luckily I'm taking second years!

Yeah, have to plan ... we're there really to get students to actively engage with the material and talk about it, so I have to plan how to facilitate that, the sorts of questions and activities that are open-ended and get people thinking and talking.

Though I'm paid to be there no matter what happens, so I could just cultivate the awkward silence and see what happens!

 

[Alisaura]

Something weird happened the second time I clicked on that link for 39 Barry street... I dunno if I pressed a button accidentally at the same time or what, but suddenly IE opened up 45 windows for the blog, and opened more as quickly as I closed them down. I had to restart my comp to make it stop.

It's fine now!

 

[Alisaura]

Luckily I'm taking second years!

Yeah, have to plan ... we're there really to get students to actively engage with the material and talk about it, so I have to plan how to facilitate that, the sorts of questions and activities that are open-ended and get people thinking and talking.

Though I'm paid to be there no matter what happens, so I could just cultivate the awkward silence and see what happens!

That's all right then... *L*

Hrm. Not sure if the tutors I had needed to do any planning themselves, they were mostly talking about marking. I guess in science it's not so much about making people think about things, which is a bit of a shame.

Ooh, facilitating! You've got the lingo down, at least.

I was reading that apparently English-speakers are so phobic about awkward lulls in conversations that you can pretty much guarantee that someone will blurt an inane comment about the weather or something if a conversation stalls for more than four seconds. The implication was that people who speak other languages are more (or less) tolerant of lulls, but the book didn't go into that much detail.

 

[Axver]

That's all right then... *L*

Hrm. Not sure if the tutors I had needed to do any planning themselves, they were mostly talking about marking. I guess in science it's not so much about making people think about things, which is a bit of a shame.

Ooh, facilitating! You've got the lingo down, at least.

I was reading that apparently English-speakers are so phobic about awkward lulls in conversations that you can pretty much guarantee that someone will blurt an inane comment about the weather or something if a conversation stalls for more than four seconds. The implication was that people who speak other languages are more (or less) tolerant of lulls, but the book didn't go into that much detail.

In a way, I wouldn't mind first years, because then you can waste heaps of time explaining the basics to them! But then a lot of them will be taking the course because they HAVE to, while second years tend to be there because they want to be.

Tutors in the Humanities are increasingly becoming the front-line for teaching, and for less and less pay too.

Hah, yeah, I know I hate lulls in conversations ... certainly we Melburnians are good at filling those with random weather observations!

 

[Tania]

At least in Melbourne you get to have different types of weather.

We different types of heat

Typical Perth Weather convo:

"Hot, again!!!"
"Yep, forecast says for the next week will be same."
"Yep"

Lull in conversation...

 

[Vlad n U 2]

It's raining. Yay.

 

[cobl04]

Is Melbourne the only city in the world where the weather is a genuine topic of conversation?

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Adelaide can be regarded as similar.

 

[Axver]

At least in Melbourne you get to have different types of weather.

We different types of heat

Typical Perth Weather convo:

"Hot, again!!!"
"Yep, forecast says for the next week will be same."
"Yep"

Lull in conversation...

I'll remember to visit Perth in winter ...!

Is Melbourne the only city in the world where the weather is a genuine topic of conversation?

I've never experienced it to quite the same extent elsewhere. In Wellington, you can get the occasional decent conversation, like if it's exceptionally windy (i.e. gale force), but people still make jokes about "talking about the weather" being a conversation filler. Here? I swear to god, talking about the weather is just as much the local hobby as footy.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Adelaide can be regarded as similar.

Yep, we always bring it up even when the conversation is fruitful. But then again, weather here's much the same as Melbourne other than being generally hotter, so it's not surprising.

 

[Axver]

I used to have this idea in my head (I don't know why) that Adelaide was a nice, mild place, cooler than Melbourne.

Then I met you South Australians and became very glad I'd never tried to venture to Adelaide in summer.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Haha, that's interesting. Hobart could probably fall under that, though.

The weather right now is absolutely deplorable - rainy and cloudy but still warm and somewhat humid. I guess you are having something similar?

 

[Reggo]

Dear Snow,

Stop it.

No love,

Jess

 

[Reggo]

Also, fuckin' OW. knitted a little too much tonight since we were getting about three calls per hour. But hey, it's 6 inches longer than it was yesterday. I'm thinking of investing in some stress-relieving knitting gloves.

 

[Axver]

Haha, that's interesting. Hobart could probably fall under that, though.

The weather right now is absolutely deplorable - rainy and cloudy but still warm and somewhat humid. I guess you are having something similar?

I guess it was from all those fantasies I had about leaving Queensland, in which anywhere south of the QLD border was the land of endless cool breezes.

And yep, that's pretty close to what we've got. Not too much rain, heaps of cloud, all too sticky and uncomfortable.

 

[Reggo]

*throws a snowball at Ax* Here. Enjoy.

 

[Axver]

I'll take all the snow you can send.

 

[Reggo]

I'll pack some in with Alison's scarf.

Can you believe how close phanan said the DI results were? That's crazy. There were a lot of good lists this time around.

 

[Axver]

It is! I think last time had a couple of close results in the rankings too.

Must admit I'm wondering if I've finally managed to place decently, given the positive reception my list got.

 

[Reggo]

I can't wait to see how I placed. Everyone's reactions were the most fun part of making my list. I bet it's toward the middle.

 

[Axver]

I can't wait to see how I placed. Everyone's reactions were the most fun part of making my list. I bet it's toward the middle.

I think I ranked yours fourth or fifth, because of how well constructed it was. I imagine it'll rate pretty highly for the people focused on list cohesion, and pretty low for people who want songs they know, so yeah, around the middle seems a fair expectation.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Maths work. :ugh:

 

[Reggo]

I think I ranked yours fourth or fifth, because of how well constructed it was. I imagine it'll rate pretty highly for the people focused on list cohesion, and pretty low for people who want songs they know, so yeah, around the middle seems a fair expectation.

Thanks, Axver. You were fourth in my rankings, too!

 

[bono_man2002]

Creepy bugger!

 

[Effanbee]

Happy birthday Charlotte xxxx

YouTube - Big Spider Attacks Daddy

 

[Reggo]

Goddamnit, stop posting giant fucking spiders! I'm coming to Australia with a can of bug spray.

 

[Slopsy]

Thank you very much mother dearest!

Seriously, that spider I told you about the other day was fuckin' big.

 

[Reggo]

I don't really mind the huntsmans (I say this while I'm 5000 miles away from the nearest huntsman) because you seem to be able to shoo them away easily enough. It's the ones like Daniel posted that are near invisible and hang out in webs and you can't see them until you smack your face into them. i would need a three-hour shower after that. If I ever stopped screaming and running away from such an incident.

I'm going to have nightmares about spiders tonight.

... happy birfday, charlot?