Tag Archives: students

Disco dancing and dalliances at the University of Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My birthday disco lights came in useful at a party hosted in a student flat with all my undergraduate pals from Birmingham University’s French department. While the rest of us danced the night away, X was up to her usual … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham University, dalliance, dalliances, dancing, department, disco, entertain, flat, French, gentlemen, guest, guests, lights, party, student, students, University of Birmingham | Leave a comment

Rousse’s presentation skills are pushed to the limit

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I gathered the print-outs of my typed notes and turned up at the classroom as planned to give the students a quick run-down on the third year placement module. Once inside, however, I found my boss and a couple of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arrival, assessment, AV, boss, classroom, colleagues, font, format, hijack, members, module, notes, obedience, overhead projector, pair, panel, paper, placement, presentation, presentation skills, presentations, print-outs, random, screen, secretary, senior, Shambles, students, third year, two, type | Leave a comment

Toilet drugs haul (Rousse)

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I heard that there was “free stuff” in the men’s toilets. I hovered by the door and managed to catch a glimpse of the goods on a desk: a mix of pink 40th and 50th birthday cards, plus some pens … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 40th, 50th, ampoule, ampoules, birthday, cards, corrisor, dash, desk, diabetes, diabetic, diabetics, doctor, door, drug, drugs, free, glimpse, goods, haul, Indian, instrument, instruments, loot, mathematical, men, men's, pens, pot, rulers, students, toilet, toilets | Leave a comment

Student presentation overload (Rousse)

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Dreamaticus

This was going to take forever. Every student that I had ever taught was lined up to give a 5-minute presentation. I most pitied those at the back of the queue. What a wait it would be for them!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged overload, presentation, presentations, queue, student, students, wait | Leave a comment

1980s fashion disaster looks forward to her birthday (Rousse)

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

On a Tuesday morning in 1984 I wore a stretchy yellow mini skirt over black and grey hooped tights for our first lecture of the day (linguistics). Seated in the lecture theatre with my fellow undergraduates, I pretended that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, birthday, disaster, fashion, lecture, Leeds, linguistics, mini, skirt, stretchy, students, surprise, theatre, tights, undergraduates, yellow | Leave a comment

Selling timeshares in Spain with coconut cakes and coffee (Rousse)

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We knew that KMcM lived and worked in Spain, so it came as no surprise to find her in a hotel ballroom delivering a presentation on timeshares in a long shimmery black backless dress that showed off her tan. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged audience, backless, ballroom, Birmingham University, black, cake, cakes, coconut, coffee, concerns, conversation, dregs. coffee, dress, flask, flasks, hotel, modularisation, module, Spain, Spanish, students, tea, timeshare, timeshares, trolley, university, University of Birmingham, University of Hertfordshire | Leave a comment

Celery and lettuce leftover plans (Rousse)

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My exam preparation class went reasonably well, but there was a lot of salad left afterwards. I urged all the students, but particularly SL, to take the celery and lettuce home with them.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged celery, exam, examination, home, lettuce, prep, preparation, salad, students | Leave a comment

Enemy of the Principal loses her mind (Rousse)

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My class started at 14:00 and it was already 14:05. I still needed to collect the materials from my office. More pressing was the requirement to dress. I couldn’t really turn up to teach wearing just a navy blue towel. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accusation, backlog, blue, campus, class, clothes, dinner suit, disguise, e-mail, escalator, escalators, head of school, innocence, late, lose, materials, merger, mind, mobile, navy, office, phone, Principal, QMU, Queen Margaret University, secret, secrets, staircase, staircases, students, text, towel, town | Leave a comment

Unappreciative Christmas guests (Rousse)

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The flat was bursting with visitors, the majority of whom were students with nowhere to stay over Christmas. There were two shy Chinese girls and one Chinese boy, a Korean boy sporting a huge mop of jet black hair, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American, bed, boot, boots, Chinese, Christmas, cold, colleague, crumbs, dog, flat, food, French, futon, guest, guests, hair, hall, host, jacket, Korean, paint, plates, porch, property, purple, room, shirt, sitting, squirrel, students, suede, tie, TPR, trap, University of Birmingham, vanadalise, visitors, voice, wall, wallpaper, white, white-wash | Leave a comment

Bimbo’s return (Rousse)

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My colleague ST clearly did not expect to see me at work that day. She’d taken over the whole office by moving the furniture around and inviting in a whole hoard of students. Now there was nowhere for me to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bimbo, colleague, dog, furiture, music, office, poodle, students, teacher, university, work | Leave a comment