Finished in all senses of the word

Today was our final day at International House in Cape Town for the CELTA course. My group ran an unobserved vocab lesson with our students and then we had a farewell tea with both the elementary and intermediate students. We ended with a where to from here and some suggestions of schools and things to look for with work contracts.

We went to celebrate at Primi as a class and it was awesome to be done and to chill finally. I then had coffee with my friend Gail at Flatteur and on my way home on the bus I got off at Cliffton 1 and walked to the other end of the beach, dipping my feet in the icy water along the way. Was a good way to end off what has been a frenetic and stressful 4 weeks. I will get an email next week letting me know my provisional mark. I think I have passed.

Going to catch up with some friends this weekend and spend time with family before I fly to Durban on Monday. Cape Town people let me know if you are free this weekend at all. I unexpectedly bumped into a friend in Woolworths in Sea Point which was awesome.

OK I"m going to bed - am pretty darn pooped and am looking forward to a weekend without assignments :)

It is finished

Well I did my last teaching prac yesterday and I passed all four of my assignments - so I survived and passed CELTA. Feeling exhausted so it is a little anti-climatical but had coffee with my friend Gail after yesterday and went for a braai with friends last night. Was supposed to go to a zumba class with my cousin this evening but I think I might have collapsed on the floor in a heap.

We will do one last unobserved lesson with our students tomorrow and then wrap up. Yesterday we looked at teaching business English and today young learners. Reaching saturation point where there's not much more that can go into my brain. So looking forward to being in Howick and Durban and relaxing next week with friends.

Will try catch up with a few more Cape Town friends this weekend and visit Church on Main before flying to Durban on Monday morning.

At the braai yesterday a friend came back from a sit-in on the UCT campus over the Rhodes statue. It touches on bigger issues to do with transformation and inclusivity at the university. Is an interesting time for UCT and how it will tackle race issues. One of the challenges is making education open to those from disadvantaged backgrounds without lowering standards. The legacy of apartheid is still very entrenched in some of the systems.

Day 12 & 13 - the end in sight and techno-glitches

The pressure has been lifted slightly in that my lesson for Friday was moved to next week and we are knocking off earlier each day to have more time for assignments. Have two more assignment hand ins and then two more lessons and then my continual assessments are done - yeeha! Can't wait till Wednesday next week :) I will then be one happy bunny - or at least hopefully :P

Been observing quite a few experienced teachers as part of our assignment work. Cool to see how it is done and note some tricks of the trade. Going to still feel a little nervous going into the real world after this and having to make my own way but the grounding we've been given will hopefully come to the fore. I have a potential job with a language school in Oxford teaching English and biology at Lady Margaret Hall. As long as I pass the course!

Briefly met up with my good friend Warren yesterday and he introduced me to video clips of "Killer Karaoke" - made me laugh so much - good stress relief. Have a look here :)

Glad I got in early this morning as had trouble with the speakers for the MP3 player I needed for my listening lesson today. At one point the plug of one got stuck in the socket and I was trying to lever it out with a knife - health and safety rules broken and I'm lucky I didn't electrocute myself in hindsight.

The coastline was hidden on the bus ride home this evening as sea mist was engulfing the mountains and sea. Met an interesting lady from Kenya on the Myciti Bus who came from Kericho where my Mum lived when she was a child. Apparently the tea estates there now supply The Queen and the sheikhs of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Interesting.

OK to work!

Survived Day 11 - more than halfway

Well yesterday the wheels came off a bit and I almost had a melt down. My lesson for today proved harder than I had thought and I slogged at it all day and went to bed not feeling at all ready. Asked my home group back home in Zim to pray and some friends in Cape Town. Prayers were answered in that I passed - God's grace I tell you! It was not easy trying to teach the rules of the comparatives and superlatives and their irregularities and the word medieval - arrrrrrgh!

Sadly another person has left the course so we are down to eight. There were others besides me who were thinking about dropping out yesterday. It was very pressured with another assignment hand in today and lessons.

Having a mini breather and then getting cracking with Friday's hand in and Wednesday's lesson. Today's hand in was a focus on one learner. I looked at my student Khadim from Senegal and tried to come up with exercises to help him. Interesting book on what phonemes French speakers struggle with in English called "Learner English: A teacher's guide to interference and other problems" by Swan and Smith.

For Friday's assignment I've got to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses and go over my observations and what I'd like to include in my lessons from them.

OK must get going. Was a beautiful drive home on the bus with the waves capped by the wind and surf spewing on their crests along the shore. The sea was an aquamarine blue and it was really invigorating with the wind.

Day 9 & 10 - changes and pressure

Well Thursday got hectic with work and the transition from teaching elementary level students to intermediate ones on Monday had me in a bit of a flap. Felt like I was drowning in information and work. Luckily yesterday went better and I feel a little less stressed but think everyone on the course is taking   a little strain. Sadly one girl had to drop out due to family reasons so now we are down to nine.

We looked at connected speech on Thursday and I found the following word puzzle really cool. See if you get it :)

There is a fruit shop that sells three types of fruit, wapples, rappels and yapples. It is a very strange fruit shop because it only sells these fruit in certain quantities. For example, you can't but 1 or 3 wapples, only 2. You can't buy 3 or 5 rappels, only 4. How many yapples can you buy?

Had a break last night and spent time with my Cousin Jaimie and a friend of hers. Jaimie picked me up from school and we went and had pizza in Camps Bay and walked back to Clifton to watch fire dancers on the beach. Very cool and chilled.

Today's my Uncle's birthday and we are going to Harbour House restaurant in Kalk Bay. The rest of the day I need to work and tomorrow as have a hand in on Monday and a lesson to prepare for then too eeeeeeek.

Will try be in touch again soon but next week is going to be a little crazy! I might go up in smoke and drown in paper.

Savouring the weekend

Woke up this morning with a bit of a headache - it is quite warm so maybe need to keep hydrated. Today is the Cape Town Cycle Tour or Argus. Lots of cyclists out and I have a few friends who rode it. Because of the fires the route was moved away from the traditional Chapman's Peak route.

I'm sitting working on my CELTA assignment and grappling with grammar and phonemes and the like. Not easy! Need to also start on my next lesson on Tuesday. Will meet up with my friend Gail tomorrow after class briefly. Meeting my friend Judi who teaches TOEFL in China this afternoon at Cavendish Fruit and Veg and then going to go to Christchurch Kennilworth for the evening service with my friend Warren. I will try visit Church on Main too but not this weekend.

Went to get a few things that are not easy to come by in Zim yesterday. I picked the wrong day to go to Woolworths though as it was the end of summer sale and it was chaotic to say the least. While I was there I got a whatsapp from my friend Nina who is getting married in Zim when I return. Unfortunately the lady making my bridesmaid dress can't use the material we got. I started looking for a possible dress at Cavendish but unfortunately nothing reasonably priced in my size. Might get some fabric here.

OK back to work!

Phonemic chart that I'm getting to grips with.

Chill Time - time out to stop and smell the daisies

Well my first week of CELTA is over and I survived so far! Caught up on some sleep last night and slowly tackling assignments this morning. Might pop across to Cavendish this afternoon for a bit. Have been looking at emails this morning and seeing news from back home in Zim.

Like the quote above. Leaning on faith that all will be well. So far I made it with CELTA despite nerves at the beginning and stress over the last week with assignments. Got to just learn to let go and trust God that it will work out. So far not as bad as I thought.

Have a Skype interview on Tuesday for teaching in Oxford in the summer. Have had one interview already for another job. Provisionally have a job as long as I pass for both. The one would be teaching in the mornings and then doing sightseeing with the students in the afternoons. Downside for that is it is not for the whole summer and would be on Saturdays too. The other appeals a lot as it is based in the Lady Margaret Hall College at the university and is fewer hours a week. Will see. The Lady Margaret Hall one would be to teach English and biology - will see.

Here's a picture of my class for CELTA at International House :)

Day 5 - TGIF, survived week 1 of CELTA

View from our classroom in Sea Point

Well last night I was burning the midnight oil again as had to give a lesson on grammar today. I explained too much this morning and needed to elicit more and hold back on making it too complicated. Have an assignment to work on this weekend on language form, contextual use, phonemes and pronunciation and structure. Tonight though I'm going to chill and get an early night as I'm knackered. Glad I'm not the only one, everyone was rather weary when we finished class at 5. We had welcome drinks on the deck of the school. I then jumped on the Myciti bus back to Hout Bay.

I love going the coastal route each day, passing Llandudno and Camps Bay and seeing the Twelve Apostles side of Table Mountain. Hope to have a chance to hop off the bus one evening when I don't have too much work and dip my feet in the sea. It was quite hot again today.

Thankfully the fires are calming down but there are still helicopters flying over regularly with water buckets. We luckily have been safe thus far.

Going to visit Christchurch Kennilworth on Sunday. Otherwise mostly taking a bit of a break in between my assignment and lesson prep for my next teaching prac on Tuesday. So glad tomorrow is Saturday and I don't have to get up quite so early.

Have a Libyan student in my class and when I told him I was from Zimbabwe he really didn't believe me as he thought there were only black people there. His face made me laugh as he looked on in complete disbelief. My other Congolese student continues to wear a large Halloween witch's hat to class.

Camps Bay route 

Day 4 - Beautiful Cape Town

Today was a beautiful day in the Mother City with blue skies and perfect to be at the beach (I wish). On the bus home I was gazing longingly at the beaches of Clifton, Camps Bay and Llandudno - sigh. Very tempted to hop off and go sit and gaze at the waves but sadly have to now get on with planning my next lesson for tomorrow and hopefully not pull an all nighter. Feeling rather tired so drinking a strong cup of tea. Avoiding coffee as stress and a caffeine possibly not a good idea.

The fires are still burning and the wind today may not help but thankfully for us it has moved away a bit from Southern Cross Drive. Constantia Nek, which is just up the road had part of the vineyards burnt yesterday and some houses and the museum had to have things moved to safety. All very real. The fynbos vegetation does need to burn regularly to regenerate. It just sucks when people's houses are in the way and if it is too often it can cause lots of erosion. There are concerns that Chapman's Peak may not be safe for the Argus cycle race on Sunday.

Really enjoying Sea Point and hearing the seagulls everyday and the course is stimulating. My colleagues are cool and it is fun. We had more students today with someone from Libya and then Senegal joining us along with the other mostly Congolese students. I have discovered a quaint coffee shop on the corner which gives me a caffeine fix at lunchtime to help me stay awake for the afternoon tutorials.

OK best get on with my lesson prep so I get some sleep tonight. We have cocktails after tomorrow's class in the evening. Very glad it is Friday tomorrow - teaching is tiring!

Mother City

Beaches, mountains, the city and the poor
All packed together and oh so much more
The bohemian, the stylist, the gay pride, the rich
the shanty towns, the bergies, crime and politics
Cape Town, its beauty, its nature and fynbos
at same time inequality and people living in chaos
Such contrasts and social divides
Yet all make it a city and culture collides.

Studying once more

I am back in the Mother City, Cape Town and starting a CELTA teaching English as a foreign language course tomorrow. I'm a little apprehensive as it is not as easy a course as I had thought and it has been a little while since I studied something intensively. I guess I need to just go with the flow and not get panicked over something I haven't started yet. Busy learning phonemes though and going back over the pre-course assignments and trying to get to grips with the passive versus the active.

Have seen some good friends in Cape Town and been with family and it has been good to reconnect. Not sure what my time is going to be like once the course gets going and how social I will be when it does. Hope to visit some churches though.

It is the first time I've been away from Zim for a sizeable amount of time since I returned to Switzerland to pack up at the end of 2010 and stayed on to do organic farming in Italy. Guess it is good to get some outside perspective and to see new environments and other things. Part of me is feeling like I'm missing out on things back home but I need to enjoy what I have here and the time away.

So tomorrow I start in Sea Point and I become a student once again. Have my first teaching prac on Tuesday - hoping it's not as hard to come up with lessons and ideas as it feels it will be.

CELTA Course and Plans

After working full time the whole of last year I am back to doing part time tutoring and ad hoc work. Although I get bored with routine I do miss having structure to my day and wasn't doing so well with endless hours of free time at the beginning of January with no firm plans. A teeny part of me regretted not taking the job teaching maths full time at Peterhouse.

Since then I had two Skype interviews, one for a CELTA course in Oxford and the other for one in Cape Town and accidentally forgot about an interview set up for a scientific equipment marketing job in California. The California job might have been interesting but is a little far from home. I got accepted on both CELTA courses and have opted to do it in Cape Town in March. It sounds like it is going to be quite an intense four weeks but will give me some needed skills in teaching and a qualification.

My plan is to then visit the UK in the summer and use the CELTA qualification in Oxford. I have also been invited by friends to go with them to the south of France which will be lovely. 2015 is therefore going to be a bit of travel and new things (nearly said 2014). From my art group we did chapter 7 of The Artist's Way looking at recovering a sense of connection. We had each collected pictures that reflected our past, present, future and dreams. One of the things that came out for me from that was the wish to travel so 2015 looks set to check that box. It is thanks to a very generous friend helping assist me do this.

I think it will do me good to step out of Zim for a bit and get new perspective. I need to decide on my longterm plan. On my current and past salaries I could not really afford to live here if something happened to my Mum. “Science,” Einstein once wrote, “is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.” I may need to make a career shift. While in the UK I might see if there are any conservation jobs going or otherwise tutoring. I don't know though that I would cope with winter and the English weather - I would miss African soil and sunshine and my dogs!! We will see. For the moment I have the next couple of months mapped out for me and they should be exciting.