Yet Another Student Blog

I'm becoming known as the Blog Queen. I should get commission from blogger.
I started working here at the school I blogged about before - the one with the smartboards in every classroom. I've nearly finished my second week, which was going to be my last week, as I've decided I really have to get to Montreal before it snows, but I've just been talked into a 3rd week by the DoS. It's not his fault - management fired someone last week without really consulting anyone, and another teacher just stopped showing up yesterday, so this week is not a good time to leave on short notice.
However. In the last session each day, students get to choose an elective, such as pronunciation, grammar, etc. And I've just started a new elective - A Student Social Club. The aim is to develop this blog that keeps the other students informed of what is happening in Vancouver, as well as being a resource on things like the good restaurants, clubs, shops etc to go to. It can also be used for organising student events, like dinners and nights out. We started it on Tuesday, today is Thursday and there are only 4 students in the class, but we already have a heap of stuff there. I love the concept - I just hope they manage to keep it up after I leave!

Do I want to stay in Vancouver?

I've had a few interviews this week, and I've just been offered a 'trial' class for a week (only 1.5 hours a day, but that's ok). The director was great - immediately said my piercing was cool (unlike the middle aged korean business man who took one look at me and I knew I wasn't going to be offered the job) and asked about it, grew up in tibet, is an energy healer, soul channeller (I have no idea what that means) and personal trainer, and appears to just direct a college in his spare time. The school is in the scenic Gastown part of downtown, not the korea town/ESL ghetto part, which is nice. It's also equipped with smart boards in every classroom and he's keen to find people willing to develop the possibilities with those. I'm really keen on the job. I'm also really concerned that I'm going to get a job I love and not want to leave it. But I've got to go live in Montreal, dammit! I found myself explaining that I was unreliable when it comes to staying in one place, and that I might want to live in Montreal, and he said 'wow, I'd choose montreal over here!' And then assured me that as long as I gave notice, it wouldn't matter, and he was fine with it. Which makes me inclined to take the job. But then, I might be offered another job that starts full time on monday. So I'd earn more in the 4 or 5 weeks I'm planning to stay here. But then, they were very keen for long term people... argh! I think the smart boards and interesting director wins out, myself. Also, the recruiter for the other college was called 'Shmuel' and and I don't know how many times I could say that with a straight face...
So I said I was pretty sure I wanted this job. It sounds exciting. Even for $20 an hour, which is a good going rate here (I've seen $10 and $15), unless you're lucky enough to get a tech-college job that sounds a lot like TAFE. Which isn't going to happen this week.
I *WILL* go to Montreal. I will, I tell you!

Egads.

And I thought I'd been slack on my non-travel blog, having not updated much this year. It's been months and months since I've written anything here.
So, I left Japan at the end of my contract to spend four days in Seoul, before arriving back in Australia. My plane touched down at 7am on the last day the universities were open before the three week Christmas holidays. So the only time possible for my interview at QUT International College was 10am the same morning. One of my lecturers from last semester had recommended that I apply there (thanks Marion!) So I had a quick breakfast at home (thanks Pam!), scraped together some cleanish, vaguely professional clothes, and found myself having an interview for a university job on a total of 15 minutes aeroplane-sleep. After about 15 minutes of the usual sorts of questions, the Director of English Language Programs, Ian, said he'd like to
offer me the job, and said "let me just see what hours you'll be working", and pulled out a printed shedule with my name all over it! I was so surprised, I didn't say anything when he said "you'll have 23 teaching hours a week. Usually 19 is full time, but it's a busy session". I had intended to declare myself available maybe three days a week, in order to leave myself some free time for The Life I had planned in Brisbane. But it turned out ok. I had 5 weeks of too much work - I worked out I was at school 50 hours in that first week, and only a bit less for the weeks after that - but I survived, and it's been a great experience. I'm now doing three days a week, plus relief when I fail to say no, and I may drop to 2 days when uni starts getting more stressful. Although it's similar to other teaching I've done around the world, it's definitely a step up. I'm using the same books I was using in Turkey (actually the newer editions, which are even better) but I have about twice as much time to get through them, meaning I have time for things like using Wallace and Gromit videos (and accompanying text books) and we have a computer session every week, and, now, a session in the brand new computer-language lab, which is a steep learning curve in itself. The lab was installed about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and for most people, it's a struggle to master the new technology. I have few problems with the technology (although the program looks dated and is a bit clunky to use, despite being cutting-edge), but as I've never used a language lab before, either as teacher or student, I'm learning a whole lot of new ideas and techniques for it. I'm also finding other interesting things, like the use of readers in class - in fact, I have a Professional Development session on it tomorrow - which is now today. I also taught my first IELTS preparation lesson today - thankfully prepared by someone else, as I was doing relief, but it was an interesting experience, and I think I learnt almost as much from the students as they did from me - they've spent much longer studying the formats and question types than I have, that's for sure.
And of course uni started this week, meaning I'm on campus at QUT 5 days a week. I'm very grateful to be teaching at the same plac eI'm studying - I have a desk on campus, which is very nice. Next session (after next week) I hope to be scheduled to work on Thursdays instead of Fridays, which might mean I'm only on campus 4 days a week, which would be nice.
I'm doing two subjects at uni - the last two I need to finish my masters, which is nice. I've chosen "From Theory to Practice" which has an excellent reputation, and is the most practical subject on offer (I was waiting for this semester when I knew I would be working to take it, as I wanted a class to practice on!). I'm also doing "Language Assessment and Program Evaluation" (or something like that) which sounds dry, but actually looks Extremely Useful. I hope I don't regret it. The advantage of these two is that they are the only ones on offer this semester that I haven't already done that have regular weekly classes. I nearly chose "Personalised Language development", which would allow me to use my french classes (I'm taking french classes with Sean every Friday now) along with a whole lot of research, reflection and assignment writing, towards the masters course. It seemed really good, but I know me, and I know I work far better when I have a weekly class that I have to have read things for.
So that's my life at the moment. Well, my professional life. The rest is, or will be, on the other blogs.