Another week down

This was a LONG week. I think partly I was a little down after the excitement of going to the city. It is hard to readjust to the simple country life. I also had to be observed by our head English teacher. I really wasn't all that concerned about it, but then it just so happened to be my most boring lesson EVER! I mean, we're talking so slow and agonizing. Can I just say the Phrasal Verbs are about the most confusing concept to teach? And the problem is that so many of them are just so arbitrary. The people literally have to memorize them. So the activities I had brought in were WAY to difficult, and they spent the whole time just scratching their heads in total confusion.
Naturally my review was less than stellar. She told me they all said they liked me, and that usually my lessons are quite good, but it was such a poor example of how I teach that she couldn't really say anything to me about it. I was pretty much horrified, but we had a second meeting in which she gave some helpful ideas on how to present them that should hopefully help out in the future.
But seriously, how do you explain to someone that "let down" means disappointed? Or that "fed up" means irritated? There are sooooo many of these little idiomatic phrasal verbs in our daily speech that we don't even realize we are using them at all. So while they're VERY practical, it's nearly impossible to show students a way to figure them out without rote memorization.
So, it was a bit of a rough week. That's how it goes sometimes I suppose. Now I'm just relieved that the weekend is upon me, and hopefully I can enjoy the sunshine that has returned, if only for a moment :)