The fireplace works!

The fireplace works!

My aunt just had the fireplace guys come in and fix the fireplace. It now works and has a thermostat to turn it on (and off) to keep the basement warm. Cost more than I expected (hard to get prices from this company) so since it was over my guesstimate, I helped pay for it.

No more $200 electric bills! And just two weeks after I've started to have to use the space heater down here. I've been cautious, keeping it low, and only turning it on when it was absolutely necessary.

And the fire's so pretttttyyyyy.

Now I have a fuzzy little kitty on my lap, curled in a tight ball. Awww... Rothy... someone appreciates being protected from Junior's bullying.

And the student laughs for five minutes....

Yesterday:

Me: "I thought you were held back a year because of your English." (He's supposed to be in 12th grade.)
KoreanTranslator!Kid: "No. I spoke with the counselor. They didn't know why I was held back."
Me: "You should find out. You wouldn't want to be held back because of a typo."
KoreanTranslator!Kid: *laughs and laughs*

KoreanTranlator!Kid may live in this country, but he's not absorbing English. I think it's because he mostly uses Korean with friends, family, entertainment -- pretty much everything and everyone except school. Even at school, all his friends are Korean. I note he's the one that answers in Korean when they speak to him in English.

He's supposed to be in 12th grade, but he was held back this year. He's prepping for another crack at the SAT, but his reading scores are dismal. He works so hard just getting through his schoolwork, he can do little else. He can't do an English immersion because he's the translator for the relatives he lives with (who speak very little English).

ESL-wise, I don't think his method of looking up each and every individual word is the way to go. Shouldn't we be focusing on structures? But he does seem to have basic grammar down. Hmmm....

Really though, there's a marked difference in maturity between him and the 11th graders. He's looking at maybe graduating at the end of this year and doing some community college and transferring to university. That may be the way to go. Montgomery College is a good school.