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!

Day 3 - no ESKOM, cloud and smoke

Well I didn't get an awful lot of sleep last night. Today was my first 40 minute lesson and I went to bed after midnight prepping. Got up early to get to the school in time to print stuff. We woke up to no electricity so badly needed coffee when I arrived in Sea Point. Despite nerves my lesson went really well and I was pleased. Did have one student wearing a witch's hat in class which did amuse me.

The fires in Cape Town are really bad and they have come alarmingly close to where my Aunt lives. My Cousin got a text message at 2 this morning to ask for help moving horses from the Uitsig Wine Estate. Since then Groot Constantia has lost some its vineyards and the museum had to have things moved and had the sprinklers on. Very nearby and my Aunt was considering what to do if it came any closer.

Thankfully it is less hot though and we had some rain today. The cloud has been mixing with the smoke on the mountains. I got a lovely view of the Twelve Apostles Mountains on the way home on the bus. The cloud was billowing down over the crags and when I got to Hout Bay there was a distinctly piscatory scent to the air from the harbour.

Day 2 - hottest day in 100 years & fires

Today was my first lesson being observed which was nerve wracking. I talked a bit too much and had one student get up and leave just after I started and another come in half way through which threw me a little. The one who came late then didn't speak any English which was a bit hard going. Other than that though it was all good.

This afternoon we had a lesson in Japanese to experience what it is like to be a learner not knowing anything and trying to learn a new language from scratch. We got all the instructions in Japanese but from visuals, prompts and body language we understood what was happening. I now know how to greet in Japanese and order a selection of different beverages.

Apparently today was the hottest day in 100 years of recorded history for Cape Town. It sure was warm. There are also major fires raging in the mountains near Muizenberg. I was inside mostly with the course but on the bus ride home the bus was over capacity full and it got very hot and sticky.

On another note, just booked my ticket for the UK. Will be leaving Harare on 23 May, stopping over in Dubai to see my friend Manisha and then arriving at Heathrow on 28 May. Will then be going to the south of France for 2 weeks and then will return to Oxford to teach English (hoping I pass CELTA). My Cousins may be joining me in Oxford briefly but super excited to explore it with them.

OK the end! I must go prep for tomorrow's lesson. Wish me luck :)

http://ewn.co.za/2015/03/03/CT-experiences-hottest-day-in-100-years-fires-rage-on

Day One - not so bad so far

Today was my first of my CELTA course which I learnt stands for Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It is a Cambridge University qualification and reminds me of writing O and A Level exams in Zim as we have the same exam booklets for our portfolio. I'm doing the course with International House in Sea Point. Making me discover Sea Point and that side of Table Mountain. More familiar with the other side from my UCT days.

Was very relieved that other students were also very apprehensive today and were also concerned about passing. It is going to be a very intense four weeks of teaching prac and tutorials. I start teaching real students from tomorrow and have my first 40 minute lesson on Wednesday, eeeeeek. Our students will be mainly Congolese and Rwandan apparently. I have to do an ice breaker with them tomorrow. My fellow CELTA-ites are a mixture of South Africans, a Brit, an Italian and an Angolan. All are around my age for the most part except for a few older and then a 23 year old. We have started a whatsapp group - can share stress at 3 am in prepping (I hope not).

Better hit the sack as got to be up early to beat the traffic. My Aunt is taking me from Constantia to Hout Bay to catch the Mycitibus from there to Sea Point. Means I get a sea side view on the way in and out each day and it is not pricey. Just hope I can get a seat tomorrow as had to stand today and when the bus took the corners I nearly fell out the door :I

More soon if I am not snowed under with prep and assignments.

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.