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Uprooting and annual tally. December 30, 2010

Posted by Liz Mead in : Into the new space , 1 comment so far

I’m off on an adventure.

Woo hoo!

An adventure into a new working environment, studying new content  forging new connections, seeking new information, making new friends.

After all these years I’ve finally found an opening that suited the time, place and intent. The intention I have is to move on and up and out. Not in any significant career development -  rather back to the place I left 20 years ago.

My father had died suddenly and I came back to family responsibilities, and made my life and home back closer to the family and place of origin. I’ve lived well and long here – it’s time to uproot.

Now I can go back and finish what I started. I’m keen to see how the place has changed and how much I have changed as well.

My first task in this new frontier will be to learn a new language. Ironically I’ve just spent the last 6 month learning an educational TESOL language. Am I using it – of course not. My new adventure is into the financial sector. Say what?! Am I really becoming Barbara the bank manager?

My workplace buddy – whom I’m replacing - informed me it took her three months to get on top of the lingo and business content. That doesn’t bode well for me and my 10 week contract. What’s the bet – I get on top of it – and it’s time to go.

I have a theory: you always have to repot if you want to keep growing.

Looking back at the year – it’s been a good one.

Ergo – I changed.

What, however does woo hoo mean?

A brave new world June 24, 2010

Posted by Liz Mead in : Into the new space , add a comment

Who’d have thought the image of Parliament House – used in a lesson plan last night 23 June– would be a glimpse into a brave new world for Australian Politics. Our first female Prime Minister. Bring it on Julia

And you guys thought a trip to Canberra might be boring!

Week 7 – Windswept and Unknown June 24, 2010

Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , 1 comment so far

Captains Log: It does us all good to be out on the open seas finally! The salt spray, the white-capped waves, the sails unfurled, the wind in our favour. We’re making good progress.  With a belly full of rum, the crew are in fine voice - I believe able-seaman J sang loudest of all ! I can’t say the same for our passenger Ms Longrange, who refuses to leave her cabin. It seems the pitching and rolling doesn’t suit everyone.

Hit the wall this week.

An $84 parking ticket from last night’s scramble to get a spot. Annoying, because I just didn’t read the sign properly.

This TESOL journey has certainly pitched me out of my normal routine. I’m developing my own brand of sea-legs. No flippers or fins yet, but this rocking and rolling certainly’aint from the sixties- it’s a whole new dance routine.

I can’t see clearly anymore. I don’t know where it will lead me and if it will lead anywhere.

I don’t expect to see the future as the present is where we’re at. But it’s a balancing act to maintain equilibrium and to keep my normal (increasinly busy) job balanced with these additional demands.

I have a foot in each camp and I feel an increasing chasm open beneath me. The chasm, aka “unknown” is my only certainty:

Wouldn’t mind a compass though.

Week 2 – Tesol and the Pussycat all at sea May 25, 2010

Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , add a comment

2nd week at Sea. 

Captain’s Log

We had a rough passage through the PPP straits: Present, Practice and Produce (aka a teaching methodology acquired as part of my TESOL training). I could see the isle of Tesol in the distance. Have taken in a lot of water, when the hull was savaged by a small coral reef of modal auxiliaries, Language Acquisition theoreum and Communicative Teaching methods.

I am to learn the structural rules around this native language of mine: verb tenses, sentence structures, participles, infinitives, gerunds, classifications, categories, types of language and to top it all – a phonetic alphabet!

One good thing about learning something you already instinctively or naturally know (with apologies to Chomsky),  is that the fear is minimised.  It’s like closing the fourth Johari window, consciously rememembering what we unconsciously already know.

At the same time – to rest my weary brain, I’m reading Lear’s biography of Beatrix Potter. She was adept at botanical illustrations, and would have made a brilliant naturalist. She chose, instead, thank God! to illustrate humanity and the natural world for children. Using the sophistication of her thought and language to unravel mysteries for “little rabbits”.

The Potter books by-passed me as a child. I read, instead,  “Breer Rabbit” by her contemporary Joel Chandler Harris, and Edward Lear’s “The Owl and Pussycat”. 

It seems my early reading was done with hindsight – for I sure need them now that I’m all at sea. 

So I close this log – still miles from the Isle of Tesol, but optimistic and hardy, stocked up with Honey, phonemes and pea green boat.

Learning from scratch – Lesson 1 TESOL May 18, 2010

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Just started at a 20 week course learning how to teach. Teach English as a second language that is.

First week had a total immersion in another language for 10 mins. Freaked me out. Great experience though, to see the huge chasm between the learner and teacher if the language is not your own. These things I gleaned:

Will use this blog as a parking space for insights about the process