Christmas in Jacksonville

Hello, I thought I'd share some pictures I took while in Jacksonville on Christmas day.

My family lives here, and I have barely explored it. At all.

I've barely touched my camera since I returned to the States. At all.

The two previous situations described need to be changed. So I decided to take my step-mom along to explore Jacksonville's Riverwalk.

East side of the Riverwalk, along the St. John River.

From the East side, facing west.

Wanna go on the river taxi?

A view of downtown Jacksonville

Water fountain for adult, child, and dog/pet.

Florida's "evergreen."

Like sails, but over benches.

A more dramatic filter

Looking straight up at a street lamp.

Contorted building against the next-door glass building.

Fountain

The passage between the 2 main buildings of an apartment complex.

Navy Veteran's Memorial

Same, but with a different filter.

Going towards the Main Street Bridge

Main Street Bridge going up to let a boat pass.

Main Street Bridge back down and about to open again.

Right under Main Street Bridge, a mosaic wall. 

Plaque for said mosaic wall.

Don Juan Ponce de Leon's bust.

Friendship Fountain

Interested in boat tours?

Charming Friendship Park

Friendship Fountain with the Main Street Bridge in the background.

Museum of Science and History. I need to visit this place.

Depth of field/frame within a frame experiment

Greetings from an American city

Coming Back Home, After Hurricane Matthew

Saturday night, we returned home to N.E. Florida.

Praise GOD, everything was just as we left it. There were a few signs that were lop-sided and a few stoplights that were out; but when that's all the damage, then we were really protected!

We returned to see a neighbor sweeping the debris away in the parking lot. We filled each other in on the past couple of days: she here at home and I away from home.

She said when the hurricane passed by, there was a ton of rain and even more wind. They lost power for a day and a half, and it came back around noon on Saturday. That was basically as serious as it got.

The neighbors got together during the day on Saturday to remove the larger branches and clear up the parking lots and entrance so all the cars can have easy access.

Shew, it already feels like nothing happened at all--but there are others that weren't as fortunate. I'm glad this hurricane is over and gone, but there's work to do in the affected areas.

Now I can say, I really did evacuate from a hurricane. The End.

Getting Away From Hurricane Mathew

Yesterday, Thursday October 6th, my step-mom and I decided to leave before the hurricane arrived. We left around 11:30 am. When we got on to I-10 from Jacksonville, traffic was really backed-up. It took about 20 - 30 minutes to cover 4 miles (6.4 km). I guess I should be happy that we were actually moving.

We arrived at city called Dothan, Alabama. We thought we had arrived at our destination. We were very wrong.

I pulled up to a hotel. He asked for a reservation--which I didn't have. Then he told me they were sold-out. "They" = all the hotels in the city, not just said hotel. Also, the nearest place I might get a room was in Montgomery, which is a 1 hr. 20 min. drive away. It did not hit me that it was going to be this serious. 

I don't have a smartphone, but my step-mother does. I used hers to quickly book a room in Montgomery--only to find out, that Booking.com overbooked that hotel. When we arrived, there were no rooms, but several websites were booking rooms anyway. I was 1 of over 20 in such a position. Shew, as I was looking for a place on Booking.com, it showed there were 178-220 people looking at the same properties I was. Talk about "serious".

They guy at this hotel (Jason, from Alabama Hotel) was really nice and he went beyond what I expected him to do: he booked another place for me. Of course, I had to enter my info and my credit card info as well, but he helped me find that place. It was the Holiday Inn Express Prattville South, about 16 miles (25.8 km) away.

We arrived at said hotel, only to have the same story repeated: their website (not Booking.com) overbooked them. Leaving us out. Again. Ugh.

However, they gave me the number to Country Inn & Suites (just across I-65 and about 5 miles / 8 km from them). I called. They had 1 room left. I took it and gave them the info they required to hold it. When we arrived, the room was truly there--but only for 1 night. That's fine. Let's take it 1 day at a time. We were just so happy to finally get a room at our 4th try.

This morning, before breakfast, I checked with the front desk again to see if any rooms became available during the night. I heard a few people were going to check out, so why not?

The front desk worker checked, and let me know that not only was there room, but we were also able to stay in our current room! Oh, happiness of relief!

It was nice to have a place to stay while Hurricane Matthew bombarded my home with wind and rain--without my family being in our home.

So today, we kept ourselves up to date, got in touch with a few people, let others know we were ok, and actually relaxed. Tomorrow will be a long day: church in the morning, and a long ride back right after. We're moving by faith that everything is ok.

Thanks for your prayers and concerns for this situation and those who may be affected. Take care and GOD bless.

Hurricane Matthew is coming . . .

I don't know if any of you know this, but I live with my parents in Florida. This Hurricane Matthew is on its way up here. It seems like the model is changing every time we tune in to the Weather Channel to see what's going on. 

I'm not going to lie; where we live, this looks scary. I hope it won't be so bad for us. I just hate waiting to know more info; that is, in the case we need to leave, where we could go. I just really don't want to get stuck in evacuation traffic.

Please, pray.

Translating Dad's Books

I've been working on another of my Dad's books.

In case you don't know, my dad is a struggling author. He works as a truck-driver to pay the bills, but his dream is to be a full-time author. In faith, he has already written over 40 books; he just needs to get them presentable for the readers.

He writes in Spanish, so by default, I'm the one who translates them to English. I've translated about 5 of his books so far (yeap, I have a LONG way to go), but only 1 is really up for sale in English. There is the original Spanish version of said book (images below) and another book that's only in Spanish--for now. There are 2 other books in English, but the publishing companies that printed them turned out to be scams, so those books don't really count, sales-wise).

The one we've got up so far is called "Achor" in English and "Acor" in Spanish. We published them ourselves and you can find them on all the Amazons (Australia, France, UK, Mexico, India, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, Brazil, China, and the US).

Feel free to take a look at this book. You will get a closer glimpse into my family (yes, blackmail on my family and I are made public and open for the world to read!).

It's about one man's journey and discovery through an archaeological dig site, but it was so unusual--yet very real.

For more info about the books, click on your country of choice. The link will lead you straight to these books (and others, which you should ignore please) in the country's respective Amazon page.

I'm currently working on another--actually, updating one I translated before. It's part of a series (I think dad changed the number of books in said series) all about one boy with supernatural abilities and how he becomes the most important, powerful ruler in the world. To some, he is like a savior, messiah, what have you; but to others . . . well, if you said "the Son of the Devil", you're actually right. What's scarier, you haven't exaggerated at all . . .

Seriously, there are parts in that book that scare me--and this is the first book, that is; the nice, tame, "not scary" one!

So here it is; my first self-published book as a translator--and for my father. What a father-daughter moment, right?

For those of you who know me, I want to go overseas again. I have no idea when or where I could go. Who knows? Maybe I won't go as an English teacher, but as my dad's assistant on his international book tours . . .

Teaching English on SkimaTalk

After returning to the States, I looked for teaching positions abroad. Either there wasn't any that I wanted, or there was one that I wanted but it was either too late to go (think visa requirements) or I didn't have an EU passport. I still hope to teach abroad again, but for now, it's ok. I already have an English-teaching job where I choose exactly how much/little I want to teach and I never leave my home--possibly my room, but not my home!

I started teaching English online through SkimaTalk. It's a platform / "marketplace" where English teachers and students of English can meet and arrange to take classes via Skype. Here are a few things about SkimaTalk:

1. All English teachers are native speakers and citizens from one of there 7 countries: South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, UK, Australia, & USA.

2. The students are generally from Japan, Korea, and China. So far, all the students I've taught were Japanese--and they are all adults. I think you can offer to teach children if you want, but that's completely up to you. I prefer adults over children any day, personally.

3. Native English speakers DO NOT have to have teaching experience to sign up--but of course, it helps.

4. YOU pick as many/few sessions as you want to teach (1 session = 25 min). This is the most flexible scheduling I have ever seen--and yes, it's by half-hour.

You set your time zone when you make your profile, and no worries: the system does the conversion for you and your booked sessions are shown according to the time zone you chose, on your profile.

5. To be accepted, you have to set up your profile--include a professional-ish looking picture of you (must see your entire face and you must be alone in the picture--think passport picture or professional portrait) AND a short video (30 - 90 sec.) where you introduce yourself to your potential students and the SkimaTalk powers-that-be. You also need to take a test which is ridiculously easy. You submit everything to the SkimaTalk team and they will decide if you make the cut or not.

It doesn't say on their website, but when you're going through the process, you'll be directed to another site, where it states that they accept about 10% of the applicant requests they receive. Don't let that stop you! Just show them how interesting you are (be enthusiastic, speak Japanese, etc.) in your profile and especially in your video intro. and you'll most likely be accepted.

6. One thing you might not like, is that you will not get paid for your first 3 classes. This is like an orientation to the system by testing the waters with actual students (all students will know whether you're a new teacher in the system or not. Your profile keeps a public record of how many sessions you've taught in the system). But once you've taught your first 3 classes, you'll automatically start getting paid the average $8 USD per session (yeap, session = half hr., so you can potentially make $16 USD /hr!).

7. As far as pay, there are different types of classes and the pay ranges from $8 - $14 USD per session. In order to get paid, you need to set up a PayPal account. Around the 10th of the following month is when they pay you (i.e. I got paid Sept. 9 for the classes I taught in Aug.). SkimaTalk will take a cut (you'll get $6.40 from $8) and PayPal will take another short cut.

For example, I got about $40.80 from SkimaTalk, and by the time it arrived to my PayPal account, it was $39.28 (or something--after SkimaTalk & PayPal deductions). I don't think it's that bad, but of course, that's just me.

8. Don't get into it thinking you can work there full-time and earn full-time-worth money (unless you have some magical secret weapon up your sleeve) because I'm basically free all day, and I had 9 (3 were unpaid, because they were my very first 3) sessions in 1 month. Hey, I'm not complaining (better than nothing), just keep in mind that this is better as an "on-the-side" kind of gig to get some pocket money.

9. Now the schedule is an interesting element. SkimaTalk has a feature in which the sessions you schedule will disappear after a certain amount of time, if students haven't booked any of said sessions.

I'll try to explain it and provide examples. Bear with me. Here we go. . .

* If you open your teaching session between 30 min. -3 hours before your first planned session, they will disappear 30 min. before the schedule start time IF no one books it. You will need to be by your computer at this time, since you never know when someone might book a session.

Example: It's noon. I opened a session from 14:00 - 15:00 (1 hour = 2 sessions).

No one signs up for my 14:00 class by 13:30, so the 14:00 slot disappears, but the 14:30 is still open.

14:00 comes, no one signed up, the 14:30 slot disappears, my schedule is free.

** If you open your session between 3 - 12 hours before, your sessions will disappear 3 hours before they are scheduled to begin. Again, this is only if no one signs up for a class with you during your open sessions.

Example: It's 9:00. I opened my sessions from 15:00 - 17:00 (2 hrs, 4 sessions), and 19:00 - 20:00 (1 hr, 2 sessions).

It's noon. No one signed up for 15:00, but someone has booked the 15:30 & 16:30 sessions. The 15:00 slot disappears, but the booked sessions stay there until after you teach and submit your evaluation (a MUST; Skip the evaluation, skip the pay. It's that simple.). 16:00 slot remains open (it's noon, 4 hours before, not 3. It'll disappear if no one books by 13:00).

*** If you open your sessions at least 12 hours before, but less than 8 days before, they will disappear if no on signs up by 12 hours before your class begins.

Example: It's 20:00 on Sunday. I booked 3 sessions starting at 20:00 on Monday (24 hours before class starts). If no one books your slot for 20:00 on Monday by noon of the same day, the 20:00 slot will disappear.

Did that make sense?

10. There is a wide variety of classes you can teach. Best part? They are all set up and prepared for you! All you have to do is look at the material to familiarize yourself for a few minutes. Only in "Free Conversation" lessons, are you free to do whatever you want. You can experiment and try something new with the student (oh yeah, all these classes are 1-on-1). You can just have a conversation, but make sure that the student is doing most of the talking and that you are correcting them as much (and as gentle) as possible.

SkimaTalk is perfect for me right now. It gives one of the most flexible scheduling options (you can teach all-day everyday, or 1 session once a week. Completely up to you) I've ever seen. So far, all of my students have been Japanese (I believe it's an American company with 80%+ Japanese clientele--but don't quote me on that, 'cause I honestly don't know).

Of course, there is so much more, but it's best if you check it out for yourself by clicking: SkimaTalk.
I hope this has been helpful to anyone interested. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to comment! If you have a question, chances are that a hundred others have the same question: let's save & help each other, ok? That sounds fair?

Death of an Acer, beginning of a Dell

Shew, after changing internet providers--twice (long story) and being internet-less for several days in between each change, then add my computer refusing to transfer pictures and being unable to edit or do anything with my pictures, and you've got what I had to deal with for about 3 weeks. Then my laptop died--as in, died for good. Considering it was a 6+ year old Acer, it was bound to happen at any moment. All things considered, it served me well. 

So my laptop died last week. I contacted a very good friend of mine who's quite computer-savvy for suggestions. Narrowing down to 6, I chose the one I'm using right now: a Dell Latitude. I won't go into the details (if you want to know, leave a comment), but I will say this: newegg.com is awesome! Whatever you need, you can/will find it there. Not to mention I ordered my computer on Tues. night and got it Thurs. afternoon. They said 5-7 business days. I was very impressed!

CELTA Course, Day 20 (16. June) The Final Day

After 4 weeks, the day has finally arrived: the final day.

Last night, I slept the least amount I had ever slept during this course (4.5 hours). It took me so long to prepare for this lesson.

Then, it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped:

I had to skip a kinesthetic activity I spent a lot of time preparing.

I got lost part-way through the lesson (i.e., Where am I? What's next?).

I made-up one stage of the lesson. I thought I had prepared something for it, but I didn't. So I just winged-it.

At least I was able to get through the lesson. The students got the target language (words to express comparisons and contrasts) and were able to use it well--even correcting each other.

That was my final observed teaching practice lesson. Whoa.

After 4 weeks, the day had finally arrived.

One of the teachers who works at the British Council told us that the time would go by quickly. Before we knew it, the course would be over. We laughed at him. He was right. It feels as though we were here for years, but we had learned so much in 4 weeks, that it does feel like 4 years...

...and it is over.

I'm going to miss my CELTA course-mates. We have made lots of fun memories and friendships I hope to maintain and continue.

Good luck and GOD's blessings on your future English-teaching careers!

Kraków May-June 2016 CELTA at British Council

Trainees in the back, Tutors in the front.

CELTA Course, Day 18 & 19 (14-15. June)

Ugh, I actually couldn't post anything Monday night because I lost internet connection from about 21:30 and didn't get it back til 7:45 the following morning.


Anyway, 14. June

I taught my 2nd-to-last lesson on Tuesday. It was ok--it came out better than it could have, but I saw from the students' questions that there were lots of holes I hadn't sealed in my lesson. At least I got immediate feedback.

For the input sessions, we were told about further training and things to keep in mind when looking for a job. Sure, I've already had a couple of jobs, but it was good to be reminded of a few pointers and learn about a couple other things I didn't know.


15. June

Two guys who started their teaching practice 1st, had their last classes today. I watched the one guy's lesson ('cause he was in my group, the other wasn't). I'd say he finished off on a high note: it was his best class. If only I could do the same . . .

The other girl and I in my group were going to teach the following day. We had questions about our lessons. This was our last tutor help.

For our final input sessions, we had a review of everything we were taught, as well as students' questions on grammar. Both showed us that we still have a lot to learn and review.

Now, to prepare for my final lesson . . .

CELTA Course, Day 17 (13. June)

It's the final week.

We're still busy, but things are winding down.

We turned in our final assignments (Lessons from the Classroom). I can say this was our easiest task--it was basically a self-reflection. We had to point out 3 strengths, 3 "areas of development" and 3 ways to improve each of the said "areas of development." We also had to reference what we've seen in our peers' teaching practices, DVDs of experienced teachers, experienced teachers live, feedback from our tutors, and our students' reactions.

Not bad at all.

To think, we've all done, turned in, and got our assignments back. All 4. I have 2 more teaching practice classes to teach--and that's it!

I've got my lesson prepared for tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

CELTA Course, Day 14 - 16 (8-10. June)

Yeap, this is how you know you're busy: you were going to keep a daily diary of what's going on in the CELTA course, only to find out that you haven't posted anything in 3 (now 4) days.

Really sorry, everyone. Let me try to remember what I did . . .

8. June (Wednesday)

This was the day we had our private 1-to-1 in-depth feedback from our tutors. This was when our tutor would tell us how we were doing, what we needed to do to improve, point out anything we needed to have pointed out to us, the works.

Basically, I'm going to pass; the question is which "pass" will I get? 

Job-wise, it doesn't matter which pass you get, as long as you pass--and it's backed by Cambridge University. But one finds it difficult to subdue the privilege of having bragging rights.

If I can improve my set-ups, monitoring, and the like, then I can get a Pass B (just below Pass A--reserved for the elite. Most trainees get a Pass). I have 1 more week--2 more lessons--to rise to the occasion and prove myself.

That was it! The rest of the day was free to work on/plan our next lessons or whatever.

9. June (Thursday)

The 1st class I monitored (as usual). The 2nd class I taught unobserved. Since we just had an input session on how to teach writing--and I don't have any writing classes--I decided to plan my unobserved as a simple writing class. It worked, but there were definitely areas for improvement. Since this was my 1st time teaching writing through the CELTA method, I think it went well.

Thanks to the extra time on Wednesday, I had a nice head-start on planning my lesson for Friday. I had to tweak quite a few things, but I was able to finish preparing everything. Only 1 minor setback. I finished typing out my procedure, and I was going to save it on top of my older file of the same document (which I've done all the other times before). What happened? I saved the older version on top of the newer. 

Oh man, . . . So I had to do most of it all over again. At least I knew what I was going to do.

10. June (Friday)

We taught our lessons (and they went pretty well). The only difference was that we had an assessor coming from International House Prague to assess how the course is going (if it's upholding the Cambridge CELTA standards or not and such). Basically, the assessor was there to assess our tutors. It was a little unusual having the assessor observe my class and another fellow trainee's class. I kinda knew my class was going to have this guest, but that was by some kind of intuition.

After lunch, we had a private meeting with the assessor, where she asked us what we thought of the course; if there was anything that was going well, anything that could be changed, if we had any other questions, etc. It was short and painless.

After the last input session, we 5 went out to celebrate a fellow trainee's birthday: dinner at a Mexican restaurant (I wouldn't really recommend it unless you were desperate for a Mexican food fix), and another escape room. This time, we were not in a freak-show, but in a murder scene. We actually managed to escape in 45 minutes (we had 60 min.)! Go, team! To celebrate, they had ice cream, and I just had tea (wasn't personally in the mood for ice cream).

Yay! All caught up! Just need to work on the final assignment, due Monday morning. It would be wise if I could get a good head-start with Tuesday's lesson. If I get that far, maybe take a look at my final lesson on Thursday.

Just 1 more week to go! Monday - Thursday, Thursday being the last day of the course.

Shew, the last day of the course already?!

CELTA Course, Day 12 & 13 (6-7. June)

Monday

Us two groups of teachers were switched to different classes--and different levels. I had the lower-intermediate for 2 weeks. Now we will have the upper-intermediate for the next 2 weeks. They are a bigger class, I'd say more enthusiastic, probably 'cause their collective English level is that much better.

I had guided help for preparing my lesson for Tuesday (today). Some things were already prepared, just needed to be fine-tuned--and I needed to write my lesson plan. That's basically the last thing I always do: write my lesson plan. That's just how I work.

Imagine how happy I was to finish everything a few minutes before midnight . . .

Tuesday

I taught my class. Man, I forgot to check if the class understood the vocabulary I introduced to them. I also didn't replay the audio file when I should have. Blast! Oh well, at least I can identify my mistakes. Now, to make sure they are not repeated.

Oh, tomorrow will be a nice day: we only have a 30-min. session with our tutors. That's it! We're free the rest of the day, just need to meet with our tutors to see where we are and how we're doing in the course. I'm looking forward to all this extra time to get a head start on my unobserved lesson on Thurs., my observed lesson on Fri., and my final assignment due on Monday (all about our progress in the course).

I also want to see if I can get a box to send more stuff to the States. I need to lighten my check-in luggage.

CELTA Course, Day 10 & 11 (2-3. June)

I wonder if this means I'll be so busy from now on, that I can only publish a diary entry every-other day . . .

~June 2nd~

Standard day. The only difference was that we needed to interview our students for our Focus on the Learner assignment. True to her word, my student arrived on time, and we had held the interview. It lasted about 18 minutes, which was fine.

Then, since we had an unobserved class to run. The one who was supposed to do it that day didn't know about it, so I was volunteered to help her. Ok, we had to teach a lesson that was going to start in about 10 - 15 min. No pressure.
But seriously, there was no pressure: it was unobserved! So we just played "Hot Seat" and had a random conversation. I think the students enjoyed it--at least they seemed to have enjoyed it.

Ah, and for the 2nd class, which we needed to observe, we needed to observe the other group. Why? Because we are going to start teaching them this coming Monday!

Oh, I had a lot almost/kinda prepared for my class on Friday morning, just needed to tweak a few things here and there. Working on all of that, I was able to finish right before midnight! That's a record!


~June 3rd~

I taught my last lesson with the pre-intermediates. I tried to make it lively, radiating my excitement on them (they're a fun class, I really like them). It seemed to work. A few things didn't go well from my part. For example, abstract questions to generate interest in the topic--too abstract for this level, although they pulled through pretty well; teacher-centered meaning clarification & check, and form clarification (sorry for the big words). The pronunciation drill, restricted practice, and freer practice seemed to work pretty well, though. Anywho, what's done is done. All I can do now is learn from my mistakes and try to not repeat them.

The students from my group invited all us CELTA trainees to the bar just downstairs from the British Council ("Buddha Bar?") tonight. That was really sweet of them. Too bad I can't go. I live kinda far, and I don't want to pay for a taxi--much less have them pay for a cab for me.
Well, I guess I could've taken a tram? But when do they stop running? I don't know. I've never ridden on any type of public transport since I arrived in Kraków.
But no, I don't think that would be the best place to welcome the Sabbath.

CELTA Course, Day 9 (1. June)

Man am I tired.

I just did 66% of my Skills assignment (due Wednesday) and got quite a bit done on my lesson plan for Friday--but still have a long way to go to be really finished. I'm looking forward to talking it over with my tutor tomorrow.

Also, I have an appointment to interview one of my teaching practice students tomorrow morning. We agreed on 8:40 am. I hope she remembers and comes. I also hope that my computer's recording device will work and be ok. It would be great if my computer also didn't decide to die half-way through the interview . . .

I need prayers. Please.

CELTA Course, Day 7 & 8 (30-31. May)

Ugh, I forgot to make a post for yesterday. Sorry.

30. May:

Well, I remembered I needed to choose a student that day to interview for our Focus on the Learner assignment (due on Monday for my group members). I selected a student, approached her and we agreed to have the interview on Thursday morning, before the lessons.

I had an overall plan ready for my lesson today, just it was a bit fuzzy, and I needed extra guidance. I got it and felt much better about my lesson. Just that I worked on getting all the handouts and the display for about 5 hours after I returned to my apartment (around 19:30). Good thing I had already started!

31. May (today):

I taught my 3rd observed class. Since it was about theater (and The Phantom of the Opera was mentioned in the reading text), I decided to open the class with a snip-bit of that famous song--myself. I got their attention! The rest of the class went well, except for a few things here and there. Just more things I need to work on. Typical, really. I'm still glad I had that lesson.

Now, what do I have on my plate now?

- my 4th observed lesson that I need to prepare (I've got some questions about that one already)

- my interview with 1 of my students for my assignment that's due on Monday.

- my Skills assignment that's due on Wednesday

- my 5th observed lesson I will give on Tuesday--with the other class.

(After this week, we will switch classes--and levels. My group taught lower intermediate from the beginning until now. Next week, we'll switch to the other class and teach the upper intermediate students for the rest of the course. That's how the course generally goes.)

. . .  Ok, so 2 classes and 2 assignments within a week's time (give or take).

No pressure, no pressure at all. . . .

CELTA Course, Day 5 & 6 (24-25. May)

Whoa, whoops!

Sorry about that. I honestly didn't even notice that I didn't post anything for the last 2 days. I'll see if I can remember what happened:

24. May (Tues.)

I taught my grammar class (2nd observed class). I thought it was a disaster. I got lost a few times and just went with it. It seemed to me that I wasn't keeping good track of the time. In the freer practice, the students weren't using the correct target language--because I didn't prepare it well enough for them to do so. When it was time to stop, they didn't want to (which could be a good sign?), so I touched each one on the shoulder to get their attention and gently tell them to return to their seats. That worked.

During feedback, all I was told was that I had a good class, lots of good visuals, and that I was keeping good track of time. Really? Kinda goes to show how different perspectives can be.

We had 2 input sessions (lectures) in the afternoon (just like we do every day). Afterwards, I and 3 others had to observe an experienced teacher's class. It was 90 minutes long. The teacher's voice was engaging, and his way of speaking was entertaining, but I was fighting sleep. 

Oh well, now off to put the last-minute details to my 1st assignment before I turned it in the following morning.

25. May (Wed.)

We didn't have to come in by 9:30 because there were no teaching practices. We only had 2 input sessions (lectures), turn in our 1st assignment, observe another experienced teacher, and we were done! The first thing we did was turn in our assignments. I had to resubmit it, due to several small errors here and there. The good thing is that you could technically pass the course even if you had to resubmit all your assignments--as long as you passed 3 out of 4. I hope this will be my only re-submission.

Seeing we started our input sessions at 11 and finished by 14, and we needed to be back to observe by 17:15, we all enjoyed a really long lunch break.

My group observed another experienced teacher who was livelier than the one we observed the day before. Her class's dynamics were much more energetic. Time passed by quicker--and I got a few great ideas. It was after the observation that we received our assignments back. Most of us had to fix a few things and resubmit it. Apparently, that's normal. Good to know. Many have done the course before; it's comforting to know that those who passed also went through not-so-glorious moments like these.

As for today, it's a national holiday in Poland (Corpus Christi), so no classes. According to Polish ways, we'll be off tomorrow as well (might as well get a long holiday when you can, right?). This means a little bit of rest/fun and more time to prepare for our 3rd teaching practice. Well, I needed to have mine by Tuesday, not Monday. Although, this teaching practice now required a FULL, up to 5-page lesson plan, not just the procedure page we filled out before. Ah, this long weekend also gives us more time to start and develop our 2nd assignment (due June 8th).

Yeap, it's a long weekend in Krakow, but I need to stay focused. I'm doing this for my future, after all.

CELTA Course, Day 4 (23. May)

It's actually 00:24 Tuesday morning as I type this.

My weekend was lovely. Sabbath was a real blessing, seeing friends at church I didn't expect to find. Truly an immense blessing.

Sunday, I was able to finish everything, except look at my 2nd observed teaching practice notes. That was done today in the afternoon.

The unobserved class was very relaxed. At least, that how I carried it out. I forgot one activity I really wanted to do, but other than that, I think it went well. At least I was able to relax a little in class.

I've been preparing for my 2nd observed teaching practice. I spent about 3 hours at the British Council after we were done for the day. After coming back home and taking a shower, I spent about 2 more hours preparing/making handouts/getting everything in order. I plan to get up early, go to the British Council earlier than before, and get the final touches set and ready for my grammar class in the morning.

CELTA Course, Day 3 (20. May)

I taught my 1st CELTA class!

I was very nervous this morning as I walked to the British Council.

 After going through my lesson and story a few times, and letting go, I started to relax--although not completely.

I forgot a lot of stuff (i.e., asking instruction concept questions/ICQs, sticking with the time limits, getting everyone's attention, remembering to use each student's name, etc.), but I also did a lot of stuff pretty well. I was able to catch myself doing something I shouldn't, then change it into the way I should have done it from the beginning. This means I'm getting it, remembering it, and able to remind myself as I'm doing the tasks! Hey, baby steps are victory dances in themselves!

Besides, the students themselves were great. They helped me feel comfortable (then again, we met and interviewed each other yesterday morning, so that helped).

We had a session on how to teach reading and listening skills. We had another session to get us prepared on researching and analyzing the target language (for our 1st assignment, which will be due on Wednesday). Sounds hard? It kinda is--if you don't have a good hold on grammar. Mine is ok.

So, basically, I have the following to do during the weekend:

1. An exercise sheet that should take 5 minutes.
2. Prepare for my unobserved lesson for Monday morning (since we are so few, then each of us will teach an unobserved class. I guess this is just so we can get more comfortable/confident in our respective classrooms. Hey, instead of teaching 8 lessons, we teach 10? The more practice, the better!).
3. Start getting my lesson together for my 2nd teaching practice, which will be Tuesday morning.

I'm not planning to post any diary entries during the weekend. All I'd like to do is go to church tomorrow and explore a bit of Krakow. We'll see how they go.

CELTA Course, Day 2 (19. May)

I just observed a fellow group-member's class (we were all divided into 2 groups). My team is teaching the lower-intermediate for the first 2 weeks of this course. On the 3rd week, we'll switch to the other class and teach the upper-intermediate for the other half of the course.

Fellow group-member did a good job. Then again, he has teaching experience, so it wasn't too difficult for him.

I started getting ready for my class tomorrow morning. I have all of my materials/handouts finished, I just need to practice my instructions/delivery.

Even though I've (kind of) done this before, I am stressed. I can see that the CELTA method is WAY more structured than what I'm used to. There are a few things that are somewhat familiar, at least subconsciously but never really thought about until it was pointed out to me/us in these lectures.

I see I came to the right place.

I need to remember, this is my 1st time using the CELTA method, so I'm bound to make some mistakes of some sort along the way tomorrow morning. That's ok. Through trial and error is how we learn, right? Besides, if I knew everything, my presence in this course would be pointless. I'm here 'cause there are things I need to learn--and unlearn.

CELTA Course, Day 1 (18.May)

WELCOME TO MY CELTA DIARY!

Today was my 1st day at the CELTA course. Since it's late and I'm near exhaustion, I'll keep my thoughts to these bullet points:

1. Wow, we're such a small class! I expected 12, but we are 6!
2. We 6 come from very different backgrounds:
• 2 Brits
• 2 Poles (1 born & raised, 1 born & emigrated to Canada at age 6)
• 1 Uzbek
• yours truly
3. We have 3 trainers (I'll call them "B," "D," & "M" to respect their privacy).
• They have a lot to tell us ('cause there's A TON of information to share!)
• They really know their stuff (how long have they been training EFL-teachers-to-be?).
• If there's anything they want us to remember, it's that they are here for us! They want to help us do a great job and succeed!
• They are very communicative. They will tell us what we need to know several times, just to be sure we got it--and then tell us again to be extra sure.
4. I need to buy a binder and enough clear plastic paper sleeves to best organize all the materials/handouts they will give out. There have already been 14 sheets of paper today alone (some with info on both sides)!
5. Organization is paramount.
6. Taking good notes is also a plus.
7. Procrastination must go into exile this month.

Next big step: CELTA course.

Where: Kraków

When: 18. May - 16. June

I'm going to try to keep a diary of my CELTA experience here.
I'll be ambitious and shoot for a day-by-day record, even if it's only a 1-sentence entry.

Time to buckle in and hold on tight . . .

. . . I'm going in.