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--Lesson 11--
The Art of Sneaking

This isn't necessarily a cleaning-specific lesson, however, as a house elf you should know the basics of jumping out of sight when someone is coming your way. It's no good if you're mopping floors only to get stampeded by a horde of students hurrying out of an ended class. Since house elves are smaller and not very noticeable by wizards, this could lead to an unnecessary hazard. Instead of taking the blow and limping over to the Hospital Wing every time, keep track of the clock, and get ready to apparate out of harms way when the time comes. Since the school is busy during the day, some areas are probably easier to clean at night.

It's also bad form to proclaim in the middle of the room, "I'm going to mop the floor now!" since if you're in the middle of a class, this behavior would interrupt the educational process. So make sure that when you are cleaning in a public area, keep your actions subtle so as not to disturb the others around you. If there's an area that needs cleaning, but is overwhelmed with wizards, you may just want to clean something else while waiting for them to leave.


--Classwork (roleplay)--
Let's hone your apparating skills now. As house elves, you can apparate faster than snap of a finger in most locations, including Hogwarts. You should be able to utilize this skill quickly should the situation arise. Find a partner (if there's not enough for twos, you can make bigger groups), and decide who will practice apparating first.

Non-apparating partners: Your job will be to "sneak" up on your partner. Face away from your partner. When you're ready, turn to look at your partner. Then when they return from apparating, tell them what you saw.

Apparators: You must attempt to dissapear from sight before your partner sees you! If you fail at this, you are welcome to try again as many times as you can before the next lesson, but remember to switch turns with your partner so they can attempt this as well.


--Homework (PM)--
1. Make use of today's lesson while cleaning around the castle, and send me a link of your attempt to do so. (the more public the area, the better)
2. Class dismissed! A horde of students are just about to round the corner to your location! What do you do?


--Lesson 10--
The Art of Dusting (Part 2)

I'm pleased to see that everyone knows their stuff when it comes dusting! That'll make this lesson alot simpler for me. Let's skip forward to the trickier part of the lesson shall we?

As you may well know already, dust tends to accumulate in neglected untouched areas. Certain creatures also have a habit of making these areas their home. Dusting can quickly turn into a nightmare of a job if you're not careful.

Always be wary of the dark nooks and crannies, because you never know when you'll run into something nasty, like a boggart. Remember: Boggarts turn into your worst fear. So if you see your worst fear jumping out of a closet at you, that's a pretty sure sign that the thing is a boggart. But if you start to get scared, always remember that laughter is its worst enemy; so try changing it into something hilarious and laughing at it. That always scares off the boggart.


Doxies, aka the biting fairies, are another nuisance often found while dusting. They usually like to nest up in dusty ol' curtains and other draperies. Unlike the boggart, doxies are more of a common household pest than a force to be reckoned with; though they can turn into a hassle if there's too many of them. You should always keep a good supply of doxycide and doxy venom antidote with you when attempting to dust off draperies.

--Homework (Send in a PM)--
1. Let's say you're in a situation when you're overwhelmed by a particularly nasty boggart that won't go away even after you've tried using laughter against it: What should you do then?
2. A doxy bites you and you have no venom antidote on hand: Where can you get some?



--Lesson 9--
The Art of Dusting (Part 1)

One of the most devious constant culprits in our school is (dun dun DUN): Dust! burning_eyes

It's dry, gray, and always appears in layers from extra thin to super thick, and has a reputation for spawning dust bunnies. Dust can be found in nearly every corner of this school if you look for it, especially on things it can easily stick to... like cobwebs! Blech! You could also use the old fashion dusting with a duster method, but this will make your work more tedious because it flings the dust back into the air. The same dust will settle back down on to anything (or anyone gonk ) around you; trust me, inhaling dust through your nose everyday is not a pleasant experience. This is why it's a good idea to clean dusty surfaces by applying protective cleaning solution to a cloth, and rubbing the affected area clean of dust. The dust will stay on the cloth, and the solution will prevent dust from settling on the area again... at least until the solution wears off.

Be wary. Some surfaces need different cleaning solutions. Wood furnitures for example should always be cleaned with a wood cleaning polish. This polish is especially formulated with essential oils to keep wood finishes look spectacular! You should never clean finished wood with water if you can help it, because water will eventually wear off the wood finish over time. Any questions so far?


--Homework--
Try using the cleaning solution method to clean off dust in some part of the school (commonrooms are offlimits) Then, in a PM, send me the following:
1. a link to your cleaning work
2. Your reflections on this cleaning method (must be at least 2 sentences).
3. Another example of a type of surface with special cleaning solution needs not yet mentioned in the lesson.

--Lesson 8--
Intro to Cleaning

Last term was focused alot on food. So I'll shift gears for this term and focus on the other house elf staple: cleaning! ^_^

If you haven't figured it out already, Hogwarts is a MASSIVE castle full of all sorts of nooks and crannies to keep cleaned. But you don't have to fret over every single portion. As Hogwarts house elf, you only need to worry about keeping clean the places that students and faculty regularly travel through. This includes places like the great hall, house common rooms, class hallways, lavatories, etc. Anywhere that doesn't fall under this category falls under low priority. Low priority areas should not be considered for clean up until all the higher priority areas are taken care of. Any questions?

--Homework (PM to me)--
1. Give me two examples of high priority cleanup areas that I haven't listed in the lesson.
2. What part of the castle do you think would be considered a low priority cleanup area?

--Lesson 7--
Trying New Foods

Starts on Page 10

Homework:
Introduce one new food dish of your choice to this Summer's start of term feast (you can role-play placing it in the great hall, but remember that you're a house elf, don't disrupt the school festivites, just sneak the dish in there). Then monitor the student's reactions to see how they react to your dish.

Send me a PM with a link to your post as well as student reactions if any. Also tell me why you chose to introduce the dish that you did.




--Lesson 6--
Feast Times!

Today's the last day of Spring classes. Very exciting times. Which means today we're having an end of term feast. This is less of a lesson and more of a discussion. I'd like to know what you plan to cook for our Hogwarts residents for this celebratory time.

Classwork:
Do you have a signature dish you want to show off? Is there a specific kind of dish you think lots of students will want? Taking a look at what students eat in the Great Hall, are there dishes that are popular for the start of term/end of term feasts or year-round for that matter? If you plan on being sorted next term, what would you want to see in these feasts? Discuss.

Homework (PM to me):
Check the Great Hall in Hogwarts, and quote for me 5 different dishes that students/teachers have been eating in there.

--Lesson 5--
The Ingredients

Starts on Page 9

Homework (PM to me):
1. Besides health reasons, why else do you think its important to have various dishes made for meals?
2. You're in charge of making a healthy meal for a family. List for me the dishes you would make, including the ingredients for each dish. Then, tell me which basic food groups this meal covers (You MUST be able to cover at least 4 essential food groups)

-- Lesson 4 --

As a house-elf of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you must have realized by now that cooking is a vital part of house-elf duties here. You are all in charge of feeding the witches and wizards of this school on a daily basis. There can be hundreds of people eating here at any time. As such, you have alot of work ahead of you during the breakfast/lunch/dinner hours. Special occasions inside the Great Hall are equally if not more important since these times may have themed dishes to be served. What is more, you should prepare yourselves for any time a faculty member or student requests a dish directly from the kitchens. Hogwarts keeps supplied with a wide variety of foods, spices, and cooking tools at your disposal.

Let's start with the basics. When beginning work on any recipe, you must make sure you have the following:

1. The Ingredients
2. The proper cooking tools
3. Something to serve the food on/with when it is ready for consumption.




-- Classwork --
House-elves, please post an example of one of these 3 things, and tell me why you think it is important to remember while cooking.