Day 8 - murdering a rainforest & the Queen

Handed in my first assignment today. Shame one lady on the course lives all the way in Gordon's Bay and it takes her 3 hours to get home. She's averaging one hour of sleep a night - not cool. Another classmate was off sick today which is hectic as you are supposed to have 100% attendance.

We have to do so much photocopying and printing for our lessons and assignments I think we owe the planet a hectare of forest by now. Can now see why my Mum hoards paper as a teacher!

Observed my first live qualified teacher lesson today which was really cool and amazing to see how it can really work well. Also worked with my student on my learner observation task. So glad I can speak French as trying to find out if he learns best through auditory, visual or kinaesthetic input would have been really hard to ascertain with some of the blank faces I got when I tried in English at times. That assignment is due Monday.

Surviving on a caffeine high and marking off the days now till my final teaching prac and hand in. Am really looking forward to the week after the course which I will spend in Howick with friends who were elders at my church back home in Zim. They live in a nature reserve and are close to the Midlands Meander.

OK you're wondering about the murdering the Queen part? We had to read a short text on someone's dream that they poisoned Queen Liz. It was to give an example of a guided discovery approach on how to use the defined and undefined relative clause. Am learning grammar we definitely didn't really cover at school. Think we missed out a chunk on some of the grammatical rules - eeeek. Some of these terms are very new to me.

OK must plan my lesson for tomorrow and get on.

PS - for those in Cape Town, I will be going to Clifton 2 on Friday evening with my cousin Jaimie to watch fire dancers on the beach. Aiming to get there at around 6. Let me know if you would like to join us :)

Day 7 - the countdown begins

Well today feels like it should be Thursday and getting to the final tutorial required numerous cups of coffee (admittedly Ricoffy but yes caffeine!) Worked late on my grammar lesson last night. I improved on my eliciting but had to include parts of speech more. I now have to observe one of my learners and see what he struggles with, which aspect of learning i.e. visual/auditory/kinesthetic is his strength and find out about him and see where he might have difficulties. I then have to set him exercises on key problem areas to help. Eeeeek! When I'm not teaching and watching him I will be observing qualified teachers from tomorrow so it is all go.

Next week is going to be hectic but I am looking forward to the following Tuesday when I have my last teaching prac and will have handed in all my assignments. Not too far away but possibly a week from hell in between with hopefully enough sleep to survive on.

Will be going with my cousin to the beach on Friday night though to watch fire throwers. Anyone in Cape Town that I haven't seen or would like to see me again is welcome to join us. Let me know if you are keen.

Have met some cool international students from a university in Sweden on the bus. They are French, Belgian, American and Brazilian and we have chatted twice now on the way to Sea Point. They are here on internship to look at social entrepreneurial projects in the high density areas for sustainable development. One is a musician and his father who is a carpenter learnt how to make marimbas from scratch in America. Discussed with the Brazilian the difficulty in explaining the difference in pronunciation between ship and sheep.

OK need to finish tomorrow's assignment.

Day 6 - it is going to get hectic!

OK short blog today as I have to prepare my lesson for tomorrow and stress is starting to mount. Next week is going to be a little crazy as I teach three times and we have two big assignments due the same week - aaaargh. Lots of work.

Enjoyed visiting Christchurch in Kennilworth yesterday and had dinner after up in the Smuts and Fuller car park of UCT overlooking the city. Lots of memories from near Mem Stone. I also met up with my school friend Judi and we had a good chat about everything from the ethics of hunting to the philosophy of Victor Fankl. Really fascinating.

Christchurch Kennilworth

UCT campus and Mem Stone, lots of memories.

Met up with my friend Gail after school today and heard of her experience of being evacuated from South Sudan when there was a rebel attack. Was good to de-stress a bit with her and see her again.

OK I must prepare my lesson and if I have time finish Wednesday's assignment before midnight. Have another Skype interview for work in Oxford on Thursday for a school that is based at Lady Margaret Hall at the University.

Bye for now :)

Two great videos are 1) street art in Zim and then 2) language related to mathematics.
Check them out, they are really cool :)

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!