Marking

I have been marking essays for about 2 weeks straight. I'm involved in a project to create a computer-based program that helps students find their grammar errors and figure out how to correct them. My involvement consists of reading about 90 first drafts, highlighting every mistake with the mouse, categorizing the mistake and typing in the correct version. More often than I'd like, I'm making an educated guess about the correct version. I'm also involved in marking about 90 placement tests.

I find that it's not the language mistakes that bother me the most. Most of the test takers don't use English as their first language. What bothers me are the poor thinking skills. These students are in university but I doubt that they could construct a logical argument in any language. Haven't they figured out that most things aren't absolute? I'd like to ban these words and phrases:

We all know...
...always...
...never...
There's no doubt that...
Well, isn't it true that...
Surely we all remember that...

Leo's new job

Leo just signed a short-term contract to coach at the Tanglin Tennis School. He's looking forward to coaching there because the students are all youth that show promise so he can work on a higher level of performance. He's already practicing his feeding techniques so he can get the ball to the student faster and more accurately. When he tried some of the tennis school drills on his regular students, he had them gasping after 30-45 minutes. The tennis school kids last for 2 hours. The other plus is that the work is regular -- five hours, five evenings a week and he is paid rain or shine. The extra money will come in handy with the baby coming. He'll still coach his regular clients on the weekends or mornigs. The boss is willing to offer a long-term contract if the Ministry of Manpower approves Leo's work application.

latest ultrasound

Leo and I visited the doctor last Friday and got the 32nd week ultrasound. The baby is reassuringly average and has gotten into the proper head-down position. She's also looking much more like a chubby baby. At the last one she looked kind of like a wizened gnome.