Week 12 -We’re going through a mixed up phrase July 30, 2010
Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , 2commentsCaptain’s Log: Have made great headway this week. The winds have been in our favour. I’ve spent most nights studying the maps of these new waters, and commissioned a new map from Cartographer Multi. A productive fellow and the best at the trade..he should be for what we’re paying! His latest map of the phrasal reef is the finest he’s done. I must admit it is splendidly detailed. When pouring over it, I found he’d named a shoal after himself – the rake!
We’re going through a phrase of multiple verbs. Verbs you can’t separate. Verbs that are increasingly popular in modern venacular, and all because of the Norman Conquest. Why those Saxons didn’t defend their phrasal territory a little better I’ll never know. Pesky romance and germanic languages!!
D reckons a set of coloured boxes will sort it out. I find her box technique as perplexing as her use of improvisation skills. What she lacks in acting ability she makes up for in enthusiasm and it’s impossible NOT to applaud such a bold attempt.
S taught us how to teach writing. 4 models to chose from (of course!) There are always 4. The class decided a mixed up version was the best to hone foundation skills and increase fluency. And produce an academic essay, flowery love letter or application letter at the end – fit for purpose.
So as we start Semester 2 with a multi-page 100 point essay that has turned my hair more grey (if that’s possible?) I craft this blog as testament to the e-genre -ation with this final verse:
It’s too late to pack up
And don’t believe we’ll get off (lightly)
So still sort of mixed up
but not sure that I’m put out (nightly)
Thank God this is just a phrase we’re going through!
Week 10 and11 in TESOL town July 16, 2010
Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL, Uncategorized , add a commentCaptain’s Log: Scraping barnacles at the moment.. this old gal’s holding up but only just!
We’re all enjoying a blissful 2 weeks away from classes. However that still means assignments must be done. Sigh.
While we’re in safe harbour, I’ve decided to amp up the research on teaching opportunities overseas via the famous cafe of Dave’s and an agency in Canada my friend P has used successfully.
P came out of the past just like a balmy sea breeze. We taught together many years ago in PNG. I am so grateful he recognised me. God knows how!
P’s own TESOL travels have been rich and clearly rewarding if his Korean blog is anything to go by. He has encouraged me to think it is possible to do the same and is such a godsend to me at the moment as I navigate through the potentially treacherous shallows of job opportunities.
Had a second blast from the past via Facebook just this a.m. This is such a new phenomena for me to be uncovered by people who knew me and (thankfully) still recognise me.
D was a delight when we worked together in television many years ago. I’m not sure what her message will be, but I look forward to hearing her story. There is no such thing as an accidental meeting on this book of faces.
Well my hearties, let’s scrub the deck in bristol fashion with a heave ho and big hi to the future that awaits.
Week 9 -’Tween test times July 7, 2010
Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , 1 comment so farCaptain’s Log: Midshipman Suprasegmental shot an albatross yesterday. The feeling of fear in the crew is palpable.
It’s the lead up to a TESOL test
A quiz, a trial that needs my best
But all I’ve got is mild distress.
The time invested studying
Has only worked at muddying
This addled brain of mine.
My skin in the game isn’t Wall Street inflated
It’s more like a ball of potential deflated.
So now when my rubber
is hitting the road,
Assessment is stymied
by mind-bending loads.
I’d decided to write upon my sleeve
when lo –there came a day’s reprieve.
so….
As English is stress-timed
and meaning is made
with focus on key words
once rhythm is laid.
A rhyming verse
Would do me well
To practice my phonemes
And suprasegme’ls.
Alas this mess of homophones
Is surely not a verse
But crafting it ‘tween test times
Has hardly made it worse!
Week 8 – This ‘aint simple! July 2, 2010
Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , 1 comment so farCaptain’s Log: Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made, those are pearls that were his eyes, nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea change – into something rich and strange. (The Tempest)
This week has been like a runaway train.
It began by watching a brilliant pronunciation teacher identify and correct erros to the beat of syncopated jazz. I am deeply admiring of those who do this for a living.
Later that night in a language analysis session, I took on way too many functions and way too many forms! Though S and the watch were pretty funny.
In the following class we got the dirt on the phonology assessment: Piece of Cake! In 20 mins - translate phrases of phonemes into words and vice versa, describe where in the oral cavity we form sounds, tick off inflections and stress, and throw in a few suprasegmentals – what IS suprasegmental?? Let me say our booking agent wasn’t overwhelmed with offers.
Chugging into the station for the micro teaching class, where we unpacked the food chain and designed a zoo with passive verbs and polite suggestions, I realised my train was starting to de-rail.
By the time we got to the last lesson, where we learnt how to describe things that will have occured sometime between now and the future that hasn’t happened yet, I was ready to pull the emergency switch.
And the coach wants me to keep it simple.
Sigh.
Choo Choo.
