sigh.
There are days when I wish we hadn’t picked such a tough MA program. As of yet, I haven’t heard of an MA program that requires 1. a language comp. test, 2. a general comp. test, and 3. a 45 page thesis paper. I’ve heard of programs that require #2 or #3, with a general language requirement maybe, but never all 3.
Then again, I think I need to toughen up. This program has been a HUGE blessing to me, especially as a teacher. For instance, the Latin requirement (for the record, I could’ve picked German or French): when I teach my kids vocabulary, I don’t need a textbook to remind me of what the important prefixes and suffixes are. I know them from Latin, and I can easily guide the kids through what they’ll need for the SAT. Also, studying a language for this long has made the intricacies of grammar my everyday playground. When they ask why something is written incorrectly, I don’t have to settle with saying general things like, “well, it’s awkward sounding!” I can instead elaborate, showing them, for instance, how their relative clauses don’t line up with the noun they are referring to. I can teach them the distinction between the subjunctive and indicative, which is something we hardly ever discuss in the English language.
sigh.
But it’s sooo much work. I’ve now clocked around 15 hours of translating, and I am only a 4th of the way done with my 500 lines that I have to prepare. It’s maddening to think that he’s only going to pick 20 of these to test me on.
Also, did I mention that I am not allowed a dictionary on the test? I need to memorize EVERY verb, every noun, every conjunction, in all 500 lines. That amounts to around 10,000 words. OHMAGOSH.
But really. I’m grateful. Seriously. This torture, in total for all 24 units, has cost me less than one semester at Biola did.
Then again, it’s torture that I PAID for…as a general rule, I am only going to undergo this type of thing again if someone is PAYING ME to do it!
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