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June, 2007

Almost half way there!

Monday, June 25th, 2007

Hello

Just one more session left of this term…….hooray! Assignment 3 due in on that day………booooooooo! We now have two more assignments to be working on over the holiday-and I say that word lightly, you understand, because, in fact, poor me, I do not have a holiday. (Everybody say…….ahhhhhhhhhhh!) No seriously, please do not send words of sympathy, for I AM in fact having a teeny weeny holiday; I am going to Pagham with family for the August bank holiday, and have taken a couple of days off work beforehand, so I do in fact get a break. It should be relaxing, but I may have to take some ‘light reading’, (as in research for my discourse analysis assignment) and some notes on student assessment (yes, you guessed-that would be for my assessment assignment). But more of that later!

The conference was a little disappointing, as well as extremely exhausting. Arising at 5 am on a Saturday is not the most enjoyable of prospects to begin with. Furthermore, experiencing London Transport and its inefficiencies so early in the morning leads me to offer my greatest applause to all who are misfortune enough to have to use such an abysmal service an a daily basis! But I digress-the main attraction for me was the prospect of the task based learning workshop; sadly this was probably the most disappointing part of the day. My tutor had joked that I would probably find I already knew everything, and at the risk of sounding pompous, this turned out to be the case. The morning presentation, on the principles of Dogme,however, was very interesting. I recognised this term from something I had read, but wasn’t totally sure exactly what it was. The speaker was very good, and certainly held my attention throughout, unlike the afternoon presentation on Creative Writing, which I was looking forward to, but which failed to inspire me at all. A great shame, as this is also an area of interest to me. The afternoon workshop was successful, with lots of participation, ideas for class activities, and some points to think about. It was mainly concerned with dialogue, which will be extremely helpful for my Discourse Analysis assignment. Oh noooooooooooooooooooooo! I did it-I said the ‘A’ word! It is 2.19 am now, and I have yet to start putting my assignment together. I now have my ‘case study’ and pages of notes covering most of the bullet points, but it looks like once again I shall be sitting up till the wee small hours tomorrow in order to meet the deadline. (Why change the habit of a lifetime?)

Last week’s input sessions were very useful: continuation of Listening material, and the importance of its authenticity; then a very long but extremely informative session on Dyslexia, which I  found  both interesting and enlightening.

Anyway, I really ought to ge some sleep, because I doubt I’ll get more than two or three hours tomorrow night. Hopefully by the next blog entry, I will have completed and handed in my 3rd assignment. This will mark the very significant halfway stage of my CELTA 2, although I do still have an observed lesson to endure in the next month!! Hopefully this will keep you all interested, even though I have no idea what I am going to teach on that day. I’m sure that you all understand now about my affliction, and perhaps allow me just a little sympathy??? Enough for now-I’m very tired!!!

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Hello again

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

Hello everybody! After various problems on the site, I am back again! Now I have to get used to the new site and start my entries again. So, what do I have to reveal since my last entry? Well, apart from the class trip and the usual stresses and strains of family life (more of this later) I am very excited about the conference this weekend in Birmingham. One of my chosen workshops is on my newly found passion-Task Based Learning. I’m so surprised at the conversion; my enthusiasm was somewhat lukewarm when I first researched it for my assignment (which incidentally is currently awaiting ’second marking’) but I chose this teaching approach because it was so far removed from my usual method. Now, however, I am so enthralled by the progress I have made in incorporating it into my teaching, that I am eager to learn even more. I can’t say I’ve mastered the whole procedure-my time management is still a problem, and as my students are only E1/E2, the end stage is still in the early stages, if you will forgive the pun! Nevertheless, I have already used one of the ideas from my newly acquired literaure to help with planning my next scheme of work!! Are you all impressed? You should be! Negotiating course content sounds so professional, doesn’t it? Well, let’s face it, I am almost halfway though this course now, and I am beginning to realise that this qualification will indeed afford me the equivalent status of Qualified Teacher in FE!! Hmm, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here-there is the small matter of seven more assignments, five more nerve-racking observations, completion of portfolio, final professional research project, and two more terms of input. No worries!!!!!!!!!

OK, back to the TBL. After my class trip to a local Victorian House Museum, which was very enjoyable, we spent the next week planning and writing letters of thank you, and making a classroom display of  photos, headings and personal recollections of the day. This was an excellent opportunity for TBL, and I was so excited when I sat back and actually listened to the students during the task. I was genuinely surprised  at the amount of language generated by the collaborative planning. I sall endeavour to find out how to post photos on here, as the final result was a wall display produced exclusively by the students. There were ,of course, disagreements: type of display, siting of the display, which photos to select, arrangement etc. Nonetheless, even the disagreements enabled the learners to show what they knew, or at least try to! I was so proud of them!

The last few input sessions have been related to the next assignment-notice how I am able to write that word now without shuddering!! When I say next assignment, what I actually mean is the next next assignment, which will be number 4. The third, due in on the last day of term(that will definitely be a ‘good news, bad news’ day) is……..well, it’s …….er……… in my head, that’s where it is! At least, that’s where I am constantly writing it! This is the one about Learner Support, and it is NOT easy. Say no more. Number 4 assignment is at least interesting. The sessions have been quite enjoyable. Discourse analysis sounds so complex but honestly it’s an area of subject specialism which I find fascinating. That didn’t stop me from feeling pretty useless yesterday when I was unable to complete a task without asking everyone else. I wasn’t the only one who found it difficult,  thank goodness, but I managed to convince myself I was definitely the most incompetent in the room!

Never mind-there is always TBL. At this moment in time, I take comfort from the latest learning curve. The conference approaches…………………Birmingham, here we come!

I will try to sort out photos for future viewing. Watch this space!

Anyway,

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