Life On The Road

The weekend wasn't so good though - I was very stressed out by the impending grammar test (same day as my teaching) and quite a spectacular difference of opinion that I'd had with V on Sunday morning. As good as her word though, she'd come over on Saturday and brought her grammar book but on seeing mine she coughed, said "Erm, I really can't help you with this" and left me to revise. Fair enough - after all it was the grammar test from hell and not just a matter of simply conjugating a few verbs, but it made her realise what she was in for when she does the same course towards the end of the year. I'm pleased to say though that after we'd both had a chance to cool down for a bit we got back in contact and we'll be seeing each other again at the weekend, which is nice :-)

In the meantime, it's May Day tomorrow but sadly I won't be dancing round any Maypoles; I'll just be stuck here in front of a hot computer doing the dreaded TEFL. But not for too much longer. See you later!

The observer actually gave me a really good mark and that pleased me even more, but she then went on to give me a few comments. Phrases like ".. would have been suitable for a classful of Italians.." and "..we have to be culturally sensitive for those nationalities for which this would have been quite a shocking concept..". Hmmm, I wasn't aware that I should have displayed an "18/Parental advisory" sticker at the start of the lesson, but as V later confirmed, the educational path is full of traps for the un-PC or outspoken.

Still, I'm not about to change my style, especially when I stayed up until 4am on Wednesday morning getting the lesson ready! Yes, work all day Tuesday, then college until 9.15pm. After that I set the lesson up until 4am, had 2 hours sleep then teaching at 9am until 12. If I'm putting that sort of effort in I want a good return (the students were great actually, as always) and if means that Steve goes down on Jane and Linda in a pedagogic menage a trois, as long as it's done with impeccable grammar and clearly uttering bilabial ejectives at the end then that's the way I'll play it :-) At the end of the day, if it engages the students and they learn to speak English better, quicker, more colloquially and most importantly have some fun at the same time then surely it's worthwhile? I don't go out of my way to offend but those of a "sensitive disposition" (you know who I mean) and unable to handle what 21st century England has to offer should get on with it or leave: after all it's not as if we're going to change our whole way of life just to suit the minority? Much more on this later..

But the biggest issue to us student teachers is actually translating all that into a physical activity using whiteboards, flashcards, audiovisuals and of course, plain speaking to the students although it's been stressed that the less we have to speak to the students the better. After all, we already know how to speak English proper, not like them.. innit?

The Lesson Plan issue seems to be affecting us all though, and along with the lack of sleep we're prone to weight loss and vivid dreams! I'm not sure whether that's caused by the large course fee or simply because our brains are generally being used in a way that last saw use when we were in short trousers and blazers. The good news though is that I think I have my first one sorted out, but as with all things I won't find out until I actually take the floor on Monday and subject my students to some cerebral gymnastics. Watch this space...

I also finally had to change the toner cartridge on my little laser printer and am conscious that I'm fast running out of A4 paper: I've used so much lately I've promised myself that I'll plant a tree or two when I've finished the course. The world of teaching seems to be paper-intensive even in the 21st century and I'm finding it very hard to keep my green credentials. Still, we'll see what happens next week - two days of furious activity and then next weekend is .. a weekend off!!! See y'all later - I'm off to bed now!

Tonight I have to make 2 recordings from a list of audio track scripts ensuring that I sound "realistic" but not patronising: I also need to transcribe my class observation notes into some sort of reasonable document and perhaps start thinking about getting my Turkish journal ready for next week's deadline. Realistically I think I'm going to try and take Friday off if possible: quite a few of the other students aren't "working" during the day and us wage-slaves are struggling a bit. I need to get the (currently) small backlog cleared as Saturday is looming and no doubt we'll have more homework set then. Oh how I wish I could take the 16-week course but sadly that was not to be. I think my best option is to keep the coffee machine running tonight and just get my head down. Not too much fun, but as they say, "no pain, no gain", and speaking of which, V bought me a copy of Susan Jeffer's "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway" - a self-help book that mentions a progression from "pain to power" - interesting reading even if the style's a bit cheesy, but a philosophy that both of us are adopting and with hopefully good results. We'll see how and if that works in a few weeks...

As for my social life, well, that was "last week" and when they advised us to "abandon any hope of a social life" before the course started they weren't kidding! V has sent me lovely supportive emails though, and it really helps her being a teacher: she knows exactly what it's like and I'm telling her what to expect. I think she's relishing the challenge but she's also quite nervous too :-) We'll be seeing each other again in a couple of weeks but it all seems too long to wait. But such is the price of a new (i hope) qualification and as she'll be doing the same thing in a few months it's not a problem. And now it's back to the homework.. yes, even at this hour of the day! Laters!

One thing I'm finding quite difficult is writing - yes, after a couple of decades pounding a keyboard I'm having to write a lot by hand, both in class and at home. My writing isn't bad but it doesn't look neat so I'm hoping to be able to WP the notes I've already done: I just need to get approval but I figure that if the tutors can read stuff more easily then they'll be okay with this :-) The "profession" seems to be teetering on the brink of realising that there's IT out there: on one hand we have "smartboards" coming out of our ears, and on the other hand we're still being urged to buy cassette recorders! Do you remember the last time you saw one for sale in a shop? Well, if I told you that the college is desperately trying to source these things and was "really pleased when they'd tracked down a load in Belgium" you get some idea of the problem. I'm going to hold out with my DVR: at least you can be free of tape-tangle problems and you also have the luxury of being able to transfer recordings to a PC where they can be edited as required.

So back to the day job today, and the chance to speak to people in a normal, everyday way instead of the slow(er), deliberate and clear manner which I've been used to. It'll be a strange experience but I need to get used to it again, at least for a while longer :-) If nothing else it'll help me keep solvent enough to eventually be able to escape to a country where Spring really doesn't act like Autumn, and Summer really exists! See you later!