When you have a word limit....

..there's little that you can do.
So, even though I have been told to include one more author in my assignment, by mentioning him in my paragraph about memorising vocabulary...ahem...well it's not possible, ok? Not when you have already written 2376 words, and you have to add some parts to the linguistic analysis, because (for no reason whatsoever) you need to say that Spanish speakers would say /kukear/ instead of /kuke/ (pretend there are schwas in the right place). Why should I talk about Spanish pro? I have no Spanish in my class, never have!
Anyway, all this adding useless info for the sake of it has made me go way beyond the word limit, so I spent almost 2 hours trimming and working away, trying to say what needed to be said within 2500 words.
I have 2479 words. And the shortest conclusion ever seen. Fact is, I cannot squeeze in different frameworks now, and it will have to be a general, sum-it-all-up kind of conclusion. I don't care. The analysis, the issues and solutions, the appendices, the bibliography, it's all fine, the word count spot on. Do we really care about 5 lines???

In other news, I have been moved to L4.3, because you can only do so much when dealing with traditionalist Arabs who think they are the leaders in class, and assign homework to the other students! My patience, proverbially endless, has actually come to an end after 2 months of bearing with this guy. And I certainly am not up for more frustration and lessons that go wrong because the idiot thinks he knows more than everyone else, and he even wants to tell me how to behave with students or what to teach in class.

And finally, in two weeks I'll be on holiday, having survived the external observation and being four weeks away from the end of it all. My, I really can't wait.

What a waste of paper

Naming no names, the initials will be enough: NH intermediate. What a lot of rubbish. Having previously complained about its boring listening, its useless reading, its unbelievable list of vocabulary (unit 5, if I'm not mistaken, introduces none other than 25 adjectives!), today I will complain about its random presentation of grammar.

Unit 8, revision of conditionals (first and second): revision of first, all fine, intro to time clauses like "when I have time I'll take a second degree" or stuff like that. Even the grammar box and the explanation at the back of the book reiterates that nothing but present simple and perfect go after "when", so I stick to the instructions, just in case...and before I know it, the practice exercise that follows gives a sentence such as "when will you know if you've got the job", which fair enough, cannot be expressed otherwise, but haven't you just told your lot that the future cannot go after "when"???

Man, I do hate this book... Luckily I can use other resources, or god knows how I would have survived these 6 (7?) weeks...

In other news, having prepared paragraph 3 of module 3, improved the introduction, completed the background assignment for LSA4, prepared the lesson plan, I can definetely say that I am exhausted...and it's only Monday.

A-ha

..as in: Take on me - great song: I couldn't help dancing on the bike at the gym, while it was playing soooooo loud in my earphones! I was one step away from singing it too, then thought of my fellow sweaters (as in: other people who were sweating on the machines), and screamed the song in my head. Good girl:-)

Anyway, one good thing from the money I am spending for the Delta: two pages on pronunciation which brought my students straight into the fantastic world of single vowel sounds, from "tree" /tri:/ to "boot" /bu:t/ through "car" /ca:/.
Beautiful.

PDA Stage 4, or: utopia

Since we are almost at the end of module 2 (with the external observation being the nightmare of nightmares, but let's not dwell on it), there is one more thing to do to close a chapter: complete the PDA assignment.
The PD (professional development) assignment, also called R&A (research and action), is the idea that after being observed the first time (the diagnostic, that is, not the official LSA1), you can identify key areas for development and improvement, as well as strengths to work on even more to become a super teacher. (Ahem: yeah, right).
So, divided into three stages, first you identify these areas, in the next session you say how you are working on them and possibly if there is anything to adjust (example: now that you, examiner, mention it, I see that my board work is not that bad...but my ccq are, so let's include them in my list. Just an example - my ccq are great, and so is my boardwork!).
Now it's the last stage, which is the one where (I just checked this on the rubric) you comment on how my "beliefs on teaching and learning and my classroom practice have changed as a result of this assignment" then you "identify and critically evaluate the most effective procedures and/or methods and/or documents for reflection and observation" that I (should) have used for my own professional development for this assignment; finally, you outline how you will continue to use these as part of your own continuing professional development.

In other words, you tell them what they want to hear and everyone's happy.
Because once again, let's face it, would we really have the time to do this? How can I write on my assignment that not only I have never had time to observe other teachers (being that I need to work to pay the rent/food/gym/books/Delta and can't just take time off), but the two I actually observed in December had a lot more faults than me and actually, I think that they would have benefited from a couple of input sessions on, say, how NOT to answer your own ccq. How can I say that yes, in an ideal world I would come home from a 10-hour work day and happily start developing materials for professional development, such as student's questionnaires, feedback forms, write my own journal on every lesson (which fair enough, I tried to do, only time...), and so on and so forth. Experience has taught me that most teachers just go by the book, and have no interest whatsoever in improving their teaching skills, especially once they're happily settled (like my current colleagues) and all they need to do is check that the cd player works, then off to class. Some do put some effort, but only because they've seen the same material over and over again and could do with some variety!
Ultimately, I am going to work on improving, constantly, because it's the way I am, and I love my job and want to be good at it. But I don't think I need to tell the Delta people that I will do it, because I certainly cannot promise a detailed action plan when I have no idea where I will be a year from now. Or six months from now, as far as I'm aware...the job in London is only until mid-August...

Anyway, enough of this: let's just write it down and pretend it never happened.
Happy Easter, everyone:-)