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[Sashadroogie]

Semi-serious question, but how many of us have had to work in a classroom with a racket nearby caused by builders? I think quite a lot, whether it be in a dingy language mill in a dodgy part of town or a uni that is expanding its facilities. I'm almost on the verge of composing a sort of Murphy's law postulating that the likelihood of being disturbed by construction work rises dramatically when the CD player is to be used in class and/or when the weather is so hot that the windows cannot be closed.

Any other people with similar experiences who can help refine this TEFL axiom?

[Glenski]

Murphy's Law of TEFL #324.
The day you choose to do a listening activity or test, there will be a fire drill or construction nearby.

Corollary.
Your tape or CD will not work properly.

Corollary.
You will not be able to find your backup disk or tape.

Corollary.
Your microphone batteries will be dead or lost.

Corollary.
You will be unable to find the correct speaker cord.

Corollary.
The script students follow in a listening activity will have a mistake that causes the entire exam or activity to be useless.

Corollary.
No matter how clearly you speak when making a recording, the resultant playback will not be as clearly projected.

Corollary.
Soundproof recording rooms aren't soundproof.

Corollary.
Volume control is directly proportional to hiss and feedback levels.

[jonniboy]

Had that situation earlier this year, language place I worked in moved to brighter offices meaning that I had a classroom overlooking one of Riga's central parks. I was looking forward all year to the nice view out the window in the summer. Then around late April they started renovations on the outside of the building which meant a load of scaffolding went up and instead of sunshine and greenery, I got a load of Ukrainian and Belarusian builders bums to look at instead. Closing the blinds blocked them out but also blocked out the sunshine and didn't block out some of their chatter, which very often consisted of "bled" and various other Russian swear words which had the students sniggering. They've gone now but so too has the Summer.

[Big Poppa Pump]

Last year I worked at a school that had a construction site right next to it. Without fail, everytime I opened my mouth to say something, a loud blast of hammering, swearing in Chinese, or whatever else that goes on would intervene.

Once, and this still makes me laugh thinking about it, they were using heavy equipment that made the whole building shake so much that all the kid's work was nearly unreadable.