I am in Italy until January, 9th. Time to rest, work on my assignments, but above all, a lot of me-time, much much much needed!
Just for the record, my laptop is fading away, and will soon be replaced, my landlady will redecorate the house while we are away, I have a thousand cakes to make to catch up with the ones I haven't had the time to make, it's freezing cold (-3°C), and I am looking forward to Christmas markets, mulled wine, and carols. Oh, yes. This year, Christmas is going to be spectacularly quiet and cosy.
See you next year:-)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
And just like that...
I’m having a recovery weekend. To be honest, I’m going to work and finish my assignment now, but I am taking things easy, because I am exhausted.
So, to begin with, five minutes into my Thursday lesson, my Czech student decides to tell me that she’d rather be in a class with a native speaker, so that she can talk about England in the 80’s, as she’s got an exam coming up and she wants to know more about it. The thing shocks me so much that I spend the next 90 minutes thinking “I want to get out of here, get out of here” endlessly while Polish guy blabbers away about everything. Seriously, that guy is non-stop. At break time I tell the manager to move her to L2 from Monday, then realise I cannot stand having her in my class again, so I go back to the office, and I try to tell him to move her from Friday, only to burst into tears and beg to have her moved away as soon as possible. Manager is very supportive, and I feel so well about it, he goes “I’m moving her right now, I’m not having this!”, and gives permission to all the teachers who will have her in class..to make her cry.
The thing that annoys me is that even though I were a native speaker, what tells you that I’ll be able to tell you anything about England in the 80’s? Plus, I was a child in the 80’s! I was busy learning to write, playing with my schoolmates, going to swimming lessons!
Well, she’ll certainly be delighted to be in Denise’s class, who by the way spent the 80’s in Australia…
In other news, my body decided to reset the system. Only it forgot to inform me of such a procedure, so it took me by surprise when, while talking to Denise on Friday night, I heard a high-pitched sound in my ears, my vision blurred, and the next thing I know, I have collapsed on the floor and am “dreaming” away, I can’t remember what, but there are voices in my head and I am in another dimension for a while, until I hear Denise’s voice from a distance, and I slowly come round, as she’s trying to move me to a better position than heaped on plastic boxes by the sofa. I am sweating and hyperventilating, I can’t hear, I am confused, and I slowly, very slowly, come back.
So yes, my body decided that a reboot would have been a good idea. Clearly I am overdoing it a bit, and with another week to go, this was just a signal that maybe I should slow down? Eh, if only I could. So maybe the idea of preparing for a half marathon is not the greatest plan I can have, I suppose. Shame, because I am halfway there already! I guess that combining the stress of working full-time on a fixed term contract with such a low salary, plus going to college twice a week and to workshops, and studying like mad the rest of the time, and dedicating almost 2 hours a day four times a week to hardcore work out at the gym, plus not really eating that much (no time, really, and when I have time I’m not hungry anyway) is pushing it too far. That’s what Christmas is for, right? To rest (a bit… I am going to study as much as possible, and run as much as possible too, but I am also planning lots of relaxing cooking, walks, and lots of sleep…much needed). Anyway, I had never fainted before, so it’s been an interesting albeit scary experience. I know it’s a weird comment, but it’s just what I think.
So, now, about that assignment…
So, to begin with, five minutes into my Thursday lesson, my Czech student decides to tell me that she’d rather be in a class with a native speaker, so that she can talk about England in the 80’s, as she’s got an exam coming up and she wants to know more about it. The thing shocks me so much that I spend the next 90 minutes thinking “I want to get out of here, get out of here” endlessly while Polish guy blabbers away about everything. Seriously, that guy is non-stop. At break time I tell the manager to move her to L2 from Monday, then realise I cannot stand having her in my class again, so I go back to the office, and I try to tell him to move her from Friday, only to burst into tears and beg to have her moved away as soon as possible. Manager is very supportive, and I feel so well about it, he goes “I’m moving her right now, I’m not having this!”, and gives permission to all the teachers who will have her in class..to make her cry.
The thing that annoys me is that even though I were a native speaker, what tells you that I’ll be able to tell you anything about England in the 80’s? Plus, I was a child in the 80’s! I was busy learning to write, playing with my schoolmates, going to swimming lessons!
Well, she’ll certainly be delighted to be in Denise’s class, who by the way spent the 80’s in Australia…
In other news, my body decided to reset the system. Only it forgot to inform me of such a procedure, so it took me by surprise when, while talking to Denise on Friday night, I heard a high-pitched sound in my ears, my vision blurred, and the next thing I know, I have collapsed on the floor and am “dreaming” away, I can’t remember what, but there are voices in my head and I am in another dimension for a while, until I hear Denise’s voice from a distance, and I slowly come round, as she’s trying to move me to a better position than heaped on plastic boxes by the sofa. I am sweating and hyperventilating, I can’t hear, I am confused, and I slowly, very slowly, come back.
So yes, my body decided that a reboot would have been a good idea. Clearly I am overdoing it a bit, and with another week to go, this was just a signal that maybe I should slow down? Eh, if only I could. So maybe the idea of preparing for a half marathon is not the greatest plan I can have, I suppose. Shame, because I am halfway there already! I guess that combining the stress of working full-time on a fixed term contract with such a low salary, plus going to college twice a week and to workshops, and studying like mad the rest of the time, and dedicating almost 2 hours a day four times a week to hardcore work out at the gym, plus not really eating that much (no time, really, and when I have time I’m not hungry anyway) is pushing it too far. That’s what Christmas is for, right? To rest (a bit… I am going to study as much as possible, and run as much as possible too, but I am also planning lots of relaxing cooking, walks, and lots of sleep…much needed). Anyway, I had never fainted before, so it’s been an interesting albeit scary experience. I know it’s a weird comment, but it’s just what I think.
So, now, about that assignment…
Getting caught in the rain is not fun.
Well…the title says it all. But at least I got home a lot earlier than usual, thanks to free Wednesdays afternoons, and could do some studying and have a decent lunch before heading off to yet another inset (about Christmas activities, of course).
So, Monday was testing, at last, which means a really quiet morning, and having already prepared for my afternoon class, I really enjoyed some time just planning what to teach them for the rest of the week and all that: L4 is a really nice level, they are so chatty and noisy, it’s beautiful! And they are 5 or 6, which is also great, I am so tired of teaching mini-classes.
Speaking of which, and of my luck, there actually is an S2 class…damn! It’s super tiny, only 2 students, of which one if the most talkative person ever, he almost doesn’t stop to breathe! He’s only here for a week, and he clearly said that he’s going to make the most of it and practice his speaking, well, he is! I’m not complaining, mind: in the first lesson, I think I spoke a total of 2 minutes…such a change! I do prepare stuff to do, but mostly we go off tangents as soon as (both of them, really) spot an opportunity to chat away, and I’m fine with it: at this level, after all, it’s mostly consolidating grammar and expanding vocabulary, and I’m doing things, even if they don’t always notice. I’ll try to include some pronunciation too, if they ever let me! Next week, instead, I think it will be a one-to-one with the other student, also very nice. So, these last two weeks are going to be a lot more enjoyable than the past month, big smile.
In other news, it’s almost time to think about my LSA2, systems. That is, grammar, or phonology, or vocabulary. I think I’m going to play it safe, and prepare something about the second conditional: with a good build-up (revise past tenses, create a good context) it’s going to be smooth, albeit not original at all, but who cares. I’m not risking a fail just to try and show off. That’s also why my experimental practice was boring and banal, which will cost me, because one of the criteria is actually originality, but we’re talking of pass vs. fail here, no merit or whatever, and I am aiming at a pass, which I am 99% to get. Plus, with the kind of class I had, with the lack of technology, the lack of time to read some literature about it, and all that, sorry, that was all I can do. I’ll experiment TBL or CLL some other time, when I don’t have 900£ at stake…
So, Monday was testing, at last, which means a really quiet morning, and having already prepared for my afternoon class, I really enjoyed some time just planning what to teach them for the rest of the week and all that: L4 is a really nice level, they are so chatty and noisy, it’s beautiful! And they are 5 or 6, which is also great, I am so tired of teaching mini-classes.
Speaking of which, and of my luck, there actually is an S2 class…damn! It’s super tiny, only 2 students, of which one if the most talkative person ever, he almost doesn’t stop to breathe! He’s only here for a week, and he clearly said that he’s going to make the most of it and practice his speaking, well, he is! I’m not complaining, mind: in the first lesson, I think I spoke a total of 2 minutes…such a change! I do prepare stuff to do, but mostly we go off tangents as soon as (both of them, really) spot an opportunity to chat away, and I’m fine with it: at this level, after all, it’s mostly consolidating grammar and expanding vocabulary, and I’m doing things, even if they don’t always notice. I’ll try to include some pronunciation too, if they ever let me! Next week, instead, I think it will be a one-to-one with the other student, also very nice. So, these last two weeks are going to be a lot more enjoyable than the past month, big smile.
In other news, it’s almost time to think about my LSA2, systems. That is, grammar, or phonology, or vocabulary. I think I’m going to play it safe, and prepare something about the second conditional: with a good build-up (revise past tenses, create a good context) it’s going to be smooth, albeit not original at all, but who cares. I’m not risking a fail just to try and show off. That’s also why my experimental practice was boring and banal, which will cost me, because one of the criteria is actually originality, but we’re talking of pass vs. fail here, no merit or whatever, and I am aiming at a pass, which I am 99% to get. Plus, with the kind of class I had, with the lack of technology, the lack of time to read some literature about it, and all that, sorry, that was all I can do. I’ll experiment TBL or CLL some other time, when I don’t have 900£ at stake…
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