Oh So Nearly There

oh yes, things are good. I passed my final CELTA assignment on first submission (yay!), now just planning my final lesson (featuring Mr. Bean; he's a real global celebrity), for delivery in about 20 hours from now.

We have a wee bit more to do on the Friday, but it's not going to be too demanding, and should be pretty handy - it's all about finding TEFL jobs. In the afternoon we'll be attending a summer school party (food and drink kindly provided by the centre), then that's it. We're done. We should be given our provisional results on the day.

I travel to Devon to see my brother and family on Saturday, Bristol on Sunday to see my sister and co., Oxford on Monday to see my other sis and co, then I have two days of final packing / sorting out currency / tying up all loose ends here in the UK.

Then, 6am Thursday morning I leave for Heathrow.

All I need now is my visa - the embassy has had my application for a week - might give them a call tomorrow to see if all's OK.

Very very excited!

CELTA - Into the home straight

I feel we're over the 3-week hump now. And so we should be. It's week four.

Despite being even more absolutely shattered than last night (I've had to resort to a continuous intake of caffeine / taurine packed Red Bull to stay awake), I'm feeling a whole lot better tonight.

This is mainly due to the fact that we're into our final week - just 4 days to go until we can declare victory. I've submitted my final assignment (should hear tomorrow if it needs to be re-written), and taught my last one-hour lesson (my final TP is on Thursday, just 30 minutes to take me up to the 6 hours required by the course).

We've been receiving a lot of encouragement from our tutors - and from the students too :-)

It's all good. Just a shame that I lack any remaining brainpower for witty blog posts (no change there then).

If you're TEFL-inclined, you could go take a look at Alex Case's section of the Tefl.net website. His comment on my previous post resulted in many of our class taking a break from lesson planning this morning and learning how many TEFL teachers it takes to change a lightbulb.

Right. Best get off to bed.

Tatta

Ice breaker

It was a Thursday. 7pm. West Street, Sheffield. I was waiting for the number 52 bus home.

He came from behind me. Shuffled past me. Stopped. Looked me in the eye, then opened his mouth to speak:

Do you know who said

"This precious stone set in a silver sea"

I made a valiant attempt at not looking in the least bit surprised, and admitted that no, I didn't.

"Shakespeare"

"I see", I said. "And do you agree with him?"

I do, I love it here! He was Russian. Had only arrived in the UK a few weeks beforehand. He found this a good way to make friends.

Well, why not? I thought. After all, I used a pet penguin to do the very same thing in his home country.

CELTA - Week three blues

It's 2am on Bank Holiday Monday, and I've just finished the last of three assignments we've had over the last three weekends. It hasn't been easy, but it's been OK. The guidelines are pretty clear, and it's all based on what we've been taught up until now.

This assignment consisted of several stages: the first was to observe our students in class (on Thursday and Friday), carry out a survey, analyse the results and then come up with a summary of their needs.

Next, we had to find a text (reading or listening) that would be appropriate for our learners, and justify our choice. I chose to create an original text focusing upon the Olympic Games closing ceremony (recorded, in conjunction with my course-mate Josh, onto my Macbook in the echoey stairwell between floors 4 and 5 of the IC!)

Finally, we had to create a lesson plan based on that text. Thankfully, the lesson plan can be used not only for the assignment, but also in tomorrow's class (provided any students show up - it is Bank Holiday after all! Fingers crossed - we need those teaching hours)

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Until a couple of days ago I felt that week one was the hardest. But then on Thursday I found myself starting to get a bit depressed - three weeks of not getting enough sleep was really getting to me (note to others: don't sign up for early-morning sushi delivering if opting to do CELTA). I've felt pretty crap most of the weekend too. Moving to Japan, which in reality is only about 11 days away, seems about as real as a fictional holiday that David Archer is going to take on the Archers next week. Even receiving a stack of train tickets for all the travel I'll be doing between finishing this course and flying from Heathrow didn't make it any more real.

The only thing that is real is that is I have to be up in a few hours.

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On a more upbeat note, congrats to my dear friends Jo and Joe on the birth of their second son! Look forward to meeting the new baby next week!

CELTA in a Wordle

(Click for larger image. You have to be a Flickr contact to see the original).

A semi-permanent state of Christmas morning-ness

I think I'm somewhat ridiculously over-excited about moving back to Japan. I'll be there in two weeks.

CELTA, and other means of self-improvement

My lesson today didn't really go as planned. Whilst I think I met my goals as stated on my plan (present models of obligation / no obligation / prohibition and then provide writing practice), I did so in a pretty shoddy manner. Hhm, I may have failed it actually - I'm looking forward to receiving constructive criticism from my supervisor in the morning. It all helps me become a better teacher!

It was a really good experience to go through, sweat though I did at the time. My presentation of the grammar seemed to go on forever - I felt trapped by the way i was going about doing it, and found it hard to move things on.

I have to remember to not be too hard on myself. I've only been teaching in a classroom setting for a total of about 4 hours so far. That's only half a day. Having said that, it's astonishing how much progress has been made in those 4 hours with this intense learning model. Everyone is so much better than when we gave our first lessons two weeks ago.

We've now received our second assignments back (reflective writing, I passed first time this time, hurrah!), and have been given our third assignment, about which I'll tell you more at the weekend, as that's pretty much all I'll be doing :-)

I can't believe we only have a week left. I've grown pretty close to my coursemates, and feel very lucky to have been able to be a part if this with them.

We do all get on remarkably well. Perhaps too well: today there was much hilarity as Alice took a look at the magazine I'd bought to use in my lesson to introduce my students to problem pages. I'd picked Bliss, which is aimed at teenage girls. The man at WHSMITH at London St. Pancreas failed to stifle his laugh when I bought it.

I'd innocently imagined that there would be some problems along the lines of "I fancy this boy at school and don't know what to say to him" and "My dad is an alcoholic - what should I do?"

But no. The questions sent in are pornographic in nature. We're talking a lot of detail, and some pretty bizarre misconceptions. (The only one missing was "can I get pregnant if I French kiss my boyfriend?"

We're all shocked at how things have changed 'since we were young', and imagine the situation whereby I go into class without having checked the suitability of the magazine. References to the problems page pop up in class throughout the rest of the day.

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I can scarcely believe that in two weeks from now I'll be flying to Japan to start my new life.

I'm now in week 4 of the second in a series of coaching courses I'm taking with TSI. This one lasts 8 weeks, and consists of weekly written assignments, action steps, and a series of hour-long one-on-one calls.

I'm finding this very beneficial. I'm using it to focus upon career / locating my passion. It's not so much a process designed to make me find 'the answer', but rather, it is helping me to identify the blockages that prevent me from figuring it out in my own time.

I'll keep you informed.

Well, I must sleep now. I can hear the sushi calling 7 hours from now.