Just another Manic Thursday

“I’m not sure I’m looking forward to Sean’s teaching style,” said Laura. “He’s kind of manic, and I think that’ll annoy me.”

And it was true. Whirlwind! Speedy speedy speedy! We dashed through lots of information about approaches to English Language Teaching, which was rather confusing for me – we were using linguistic jargon that, whilst probably commonplace in the field, left me feeling like I was outside of the party looking in, rather than a part of it. Is a mechanic expected to know the names of the parts of an engine on his first day? “PPP… blah de blah… lexis… waffle waffle…”

Confusing, but not impossible. We worked in groups. We discussed. We summarised. We shared. We struggled to start with, but we got there. Taxing, but within our capacity. Stretching us. Testing us. Pushing us. A heavy lesson, but a good one too. As I left, my head was spinning, but a smile was on my lips.

Magali

Paying for the course took nearly an hour. We spent part of the session getting to know each other, and part of it finding out more about the course. Magali has a very easy manner, and will – I think – turn out to be a great teacher. She is calm, measured, well-prepared, and soothing. I like her. Our reading list is long, but not all of it is compulsory. TESOL is a thrilling subject, and one with a lot of academic study around it. All three of us realised that the course is going to be a lot of work. I think we’re ready for that.

We shared the bus home with Magali. She shops at my supermarket, and rides past Kath and Laura’s on the way there. What a small world.

Hajimemashite Katakana!

The lesson today was partly fun, and partly terrifying.

The fun part came first. We learned hajimemashite! and we learned douzo youroshku! and then we practiced them by introducing ourselves to every single other member of the class. All nineteen of them. It felt like being in a room with a colossal echo, hajimemashite! douzo youroshku! hajimemashite! douzo youroshku! hajimemashite! douzo youroshku! hajimemashite! douzo youroshku! We started to learn bowing too. I wonder how long it will take to be able to do it solemnly, and without wanting to giggle.

The terrifying part came when we wrote out the forty-six katakana characters that make up the basic – basic only – katakana syllablery. Overwhelming? Yes. Humbling? Yes. Challenging? Undoubtedly, yes. Impossible? No. Not much is.

Did Kath and Laura pass their TESOL interview?

Yes, of course they did! And in their test, they both got the stationary / stationery distinction wrong at first, but then corrected it. Weird!

"You're the third person on the course who's also doing Japanese at Aquinas," Sean said to Laura, "what an odd coincidence." Hardly Sean! We're all friends!

Applying for the TESOL Course - the essay

Laura and I spent the evening planning the essay question for our TESOL course application. The question is below:

Please HANDWRITE 500 words on a recent learning experience you have had; this could be academic / practical / personal / other. Describe the learning situation, methods, activities and techniques through which you learned and evaluate the outcome of the experience.

Laura chose to write about our the sushi-making course we attended a couple of weeks ago. I decided to write about the residential weekend for the college course I’d studied last year. Keeping to a 500-word limit wasn’t easy, nor was handwriting it. It wasn’t so much the physical act of writing that was challenging, it was the permanence that putting pen to paper implied. A word-processed world of CTRL + Z, or X, of C and V makes it very easy to write in a disorganised fashion, and then edit coherently. Paper is much less forgiving.

We ended the evening with two good drafts. Wearily, we agreed to stop, and to write up our work tomorrow. And then we slept.

TESOL Course - application process

After what felt like a hundred attempts, I finally got through to the course convenor for the Trinty Cert. TESOL course at the Manchester College. Yahoo! Here's what I found out:

• The course runs on Thursday nights, from 6pm until 9pm. Brilliant! No need to get flustered about fitting in a day-time course around work commitments! 
• It's going to be a bit more expensive than we'd thought. Quite a lot more, actually. Not £300, but £1,300. Yikes!
• It turns out we don't have to register on 31st August as we'd thought. Instead, there's a three-part application process - 

1. A two-page application form
2. A 500-word, handwritten essay

Please HANDWRITE 500 words on a recent learning experience you have had; this could be academic / practical / personal / other. Describe the learning situation, methods, activities and techniques through which you learned and evaluate the outcome of the experience.

3. An interview, including a written task under supervision

Candidates will be invited for an interview and will be asked to complete a writing task under supervision. During the interview the task will be discussed. In the interview account will be taken of speaking voice, self-awareness, presentation and potential professionalism / employment.

• Applications are on a first come, first served basis. This means we need to pull our fingers out and get applying as soon as we can! 
• The course lasts for 32 weeks, starting in October and running until June 

It looks complicated. It looks challenging. It looks like hard work. Then again, nobody ever said it was going to be easy!