Now Let's See What We Can Do with This . . .

The last day of class was Saturday. We heard about other approaches to language acquisition. We learned that CELTA was not a method but rather a collection of methods. We learned that arrogance is not the domain of any one profession and that some folks look to their one approach as THE approach and therefore are none too thrilled with CELTA's offering this and that to complete the package.

That's when CELTA won me over. I like the idea of drawing from the best, no limits, few boundaries. I like the idea of doing what works rather than adhering to one rule and only one.

And . . . as previously noted in the post below . . . I love teaching.

So I'm checking out my options. Thus far in this journey (taking a year off to find out what I next want to be as I grow up) I've determined that
-- I like to write but not enough to be a novelist or pursue the kind of freelance work that will pay the bills.
-- Houston is home and I don't want to live elsewhere at this time.
-- I love to teach.

So, class, can we guess want I want to do next?

That's right! Teach ESL. Of course, that means I have to find enough jobs to make a living at it given that fulltime positions are not that available.

But I've got a trip to Tanzania to make in January and February and a couple of months to do the research so we will see.

For those of you who want to keep up with me fairly regulary you can now go back to www.starsdancing.blogspot.com. For you folks who were reading for CELTA, stay tuned. I'll be back.

Remembering . . .

I accomplished all my TPs (that's teaching points for you who are not nearly CELTA certified) in my last hour of teaching. That means I covered present continuous to the point that several showed understanding of the idea that it's not just for talking about now (as in "I am typing") but also around now (as in "I'm driving to my sick friend's in a few minutes). We also practiced I, we, you and, believe it or not, "y'all." Plus we squeezed in a bit of reading comprehension.

But the greatest goal achieved from 1:15 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. on Friday, November 30, was that I remembered that I love teaching.

Somehow I'd let that fact escape me. Somehow illustrating meaning, concept checking, oral highlighting, drilling, written highlighting and the knowledge that someone was watching my every move to ensure that I did those things and in order while simultaneously covering the material was obscuring what had always been obvious.

I smiled. I calmed down. I listened to the students. I laughed. We got up from our chairs. We practiced and practiced and most, if not all, got something they didn't come into that room with.

When it was all said and done, I told them to ask me the question I'd had them asking each other throughout the hour, "What are you doing tonight?"

"I'm going dancing!" I replied.

Adriana said, "You dance?"

I said I did and she moved toward me and we twirled each other around the room. The dance, like my teaching, was amusing -- I wasn't really sure who was leading whom.

In the Moment

We are in the college's language lab. We're learning about C.A.L.L. -- computer assisted language learning. Someone just pointed out that this blog is part of that. She also observed that the material we're getting in this two hours -- history, introduction, resources, links -- would cost us a pretty penny if we were at a workshop independent of this course.

And, yes, I'm multi-tasking. We who are techno know that's not really rude.

I had every intention . . .

I planned on supporting my cohort. I planned on listening attentively as they concluded their teaching experiences with one last hour-long exploration of vocabulary presentation, grammar structure, and/or listening comprehension. But my head and my heart were not on speaking terms it seems.

Or maybe my head was just so full of fluid it didn't get the message.

At any rate, I barely survived the morning even if it was about jobs (info I need) and developing a syllabus (something that actually fascinates me).

By noon, I knew I was going to take our instructors up on the offer to use one afternoon this week for whatever we wanted. I wanted sleep. I needed to finish up my teaching plan.

I did both.

I feel better . . . allergy medicines are wonderful things and knowing that tomorrow is the last full day of class is good for me as well!

I woke up at 4 a.m.

As soon as consciousness was mine this morning (actually even before!), I was mentally rewriting the paper I had to resubmit, inserting and deleting whole portions of my lesson plan for Friday, and wishing that my mere thinking of such productivity would somehow find its way to the computer without my having to get out from under the covers.

My nose is running as well. And if that's the sign it usually is, I'm going to be coughing by next week.

One of my cohorts told me this morning that today was the first day I had looked tired. "You have so much energy," she said. "I'm surprised to see you looking like this."

I sniffed and said I agreed with her. I wasn't my best self.

Yet the minute I sat in front of the students, I knew I was where I wanted to be. Until, of course, I saw not one but two evaluators in the back of the room. They weren't both there officially. One was checking papers or something. But they were there and suddenly, i wasn't me anymore. I was slow and not connecting the dots and wondering if they were checking me off for this or that.

After I completed my teaching and as I was driving away from campus, I realized something -- I love learning; I just hated being graded.

They weren't kidding . . .

I'm getting weary. A re-submit on one of the written assignments made my day go a little darker. The evaluation was fair. I should have done a complete footnote on my reference. But that's a logical statement. And, after this many hours of homework and the pressure of wanting to do well for both the students and the evaluations, I'm raw.

A couple in our class is dealing with the unexpected death of a loved one. I can't imagine what they're going through. Yet they are enduring. So I guess I can too.

Still . . . Saturday at 12:01 p.m. is my carrot on the end of the stick.

In the meantime, I'm finding authentic texts, trying to understand what gist questions to ask, frustrated that the students book has really lame dialogues for us to work with, and worried that I'm going to do something really stupid and blow my standard rating on Friday . . . IF we have enough students show up.

Did I mention I'm getting weary?

Thanksgiving Weekend

I'm thankful that it was ONLY 12.5 hours of homework, that my time with friends and a turkey (please note that my friends AREN'T turkeys) exceeded that hour count, and that televised football now includes computer generated helps for folks like me who could never keep up with first downs.