Laryngitis

One of the special joys that comes with teaching is losing your voice at least a couple of times. For me I tend to get laryngitis at least twice a year, usually as the seasons are changing (don't know how that affects it). The good thing about not being able to speak above a whisper is that my students are forced to stay quiet if they want any chance of hearing me. Forcing kids to stay quiet isn't going to happen (especially here in Turkey) but they seem to have a certain level of respect that makes them stay quieter when a teacher can't physically get any louder. It's nice too because it means that I don't even have to think about yelling at them for whatever reason...I can't yell so it's not an option. There's a certain relief from normal classroom management that comes with having no voice. And at least for a couple of days my students are respectful of that.