I’ve been struggling with this entry. I have in my mind this really good comparison with Fight Club but when I try to write it out, it just loses all its meaning.
So I’ll just have to say that the past couple of days, I feel like I almost understand something or almost feel comfortable…and then some little thing happens to remind me that I’m still not quite there yet. I’m a bit discouraged right now about Arabic. I haven’t had the time/desire to devote enough time to it lately, so I’ve forgotten some of what I learned when I first got here.
But I suppose that feeling will pass. It’s a gorgeous, warm day out so I’m going to enjoy it!
Friday, March 28, 2003
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Today should have been a leisurely day, but it ended up being a "these are the little frustrations in Egypt" day. Nothing major, just a bunch of little things.
Arabic was tutorial and I don't think my tutor liked it when I basically told her that we need to slow down b/c of my need to work on teaching and have enough time to relax. Oh well.
More tomorrow...
Arabic was tutorial and I don't think my tutor liked it when I basically told her that we need to slow down b/c of my need to work on teaching and have enough time to relax. Oh well.
More tomorrow...
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
I’m passing!!!!
My teacher-training course, that is. Today was the end of the first two weeks (wow!) and we received our first evaluation. The course is “continuous assessment” so essentially they can be watching us all the time to rate our performance, participation in our learning sessions, etc plus we’ve had 1 written assignment (I got a “pass” on that too), and the teaching sessions we’ve done so far.
So, I’m fairly pleased. The class is tough and people do fail sometimes. They went more in-depth on our evaluation and in some areas I got a “Satisfactory” mark, but on a couple of them, I got “Satisfactory, but needs work”.
Overall, I’m getting a “Pass” grade. The scale goes “Strong Pass”, then “Pass”, down to “Fail”. At this point, I’d say most people are in the “Pass” category with some of the really good folks probably getting a “Strong Pass”.
I rewarded myself with a waffle covered in chocolate syrup and some chocolate ice cream at a pancake restaurant! This is the one near where I have my Arabic tutorial. I finally made it to one tonight, after calling to cancel for the past 2 weeks. It was good to be back! (and have a treat!)
Thursday night, I’ll have another Arabic tutorial, so I have homework to work on during the day. Thankfully, between now and Monday morning, all I need to do for my teaching class is think through my lesson and write out my lesson plan.
I think I’ll be up awhile tonight, since I can sleep in a bit on Thursday morning.
Oh, as an update on the weather, I think that Spring started today. Well, at least it was much warmer today than the last couple of days…
I’m listening to the Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” album right now and I’m going to check on their tour dates/locations online tonight. Supposedly, they’re doing a world tour this summer.
My teacher-training course, that is. Today was the end of the first two weeks (wow!) and we received our first evaluation. The course is “continuous assessment” so essentially they can be watching us all the time to rate our performance, participation in our learning sessions, etc plus we’ve had 1 written assignment (I got a “pass” on that too), and the teaching sessions we’ve done so far.
So, I’m fairly pleased. The class is tough and people do fail sometimes. They went more in-depth on our evaluation and in some areas I got a “Satisfactory” mark, but on a couple of them, I got “Satisfactory, but needs work”.
Overall, I’m getting a “Pass” grade. The scale goes “Strong Pass”, then “Pass”, down to “Fail”. At this point, I’d say most people are in the “Pass” category with some of the really good folks probably getting a “Strong Pass”.
I rewarded myself with a waffle covered in chocolate syrup and some chocolate ice cream at a pancake restaurant! This is the one near where I have my Arabic tutorial. I finally made it to one tonight, after calling to cancel for the past 2 weeks. It was good to be back! (and have a treat!)
Thursday night, I’ll have another Arabic tutorial, so I have homework to work on during the day. Thankfully, between now and Monday morning, all I need to do for my teaching class is think through my lesson and write out my lesson plan.
I think I’ll be up awhile tonight, since I can sleep in a bit on Thursday morning.
Oh, as an update on the weather, I think that Spring started today. Well, at least it was much warmer today than the last couple of days…
I’m listening to the Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” album right now and I’m going to check on their tour dates/locations online tonight. Supposedly, they’re doing a world tour this summer.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
This afternoon, it was 12 C here. *brrrrr* It’s probably more like 10 now that we’re into the evening. Converted , that’s around 54 F this afternoon and 50 F now. Plus rain. I got rained on 2 different times today as I was out walking around!!!!
Not much going on today. This was my “day off” from my teaching class, so I spent a few hours this morning on work for class, and went in to meet with people from my group for 2 hours this afternoon, and now I have work yet to do tonight. Some day off! *laugh*
I did take some time for myself today. I’m happy to report that I finished reading “Fellowship of the Ring” and I’ll soon be starting “The Two Towers”. I’m really enjoying Tolkien, but I’m glad I saw the movies first.
Links to some pictures...
Username: jpics
Password: easy
Coptic Cairo (about 20 pics):
and
Walking along the Nile, pretty trees and the "Nilometer"
Not much going on today. This was my “day off” from my teaching class, so I spent a few hours this morning on work for class, and went in to meet with people from my group for 2 hours this afternoon, and now I have work yet to do tonight. Some day off! *laugh*
I did take some time for myself today. I’m happy to report that I finished reading “Fellowship of the Ring” and I’ll soon be starting “The Two Towers”. I’m really enjoying Tolkien, but I’m glad I saw the movies first.
Links to some pictures...
Username: jpics
Password: easy
Coptic Cairo (about 20 pics):
and
Walking along the Nile, pretty trees and the "Nilometer"
Monday, March 24, 2003
COLD!!!!!
With a capital *shiver*
*laugh*
The past couple of days it’s been pretty chilly. I’ve needed to wear a jacket outside, no big deal. Well, today it rained and then got really cold! Yes, it rained again. That’s now 6 times it has rained in the 6 weeks or so that I’ve been here! Very unusual!
Today, our tutors at class who have been in Cairo for 3-5 years all said that this is the longest they can remember winter “hanging on”. I guess usually it’s getting quite warm by this point. Oh well, when I’m sweltering in the heat this summer, I’ll probably be glad that it was cool for awhile longer.
How cold is it? I’m not sure b/c we don’t have a thermometer and I didn’t walk past the one that’s near here. It’s definitely the coldest it’s been in my time here. I could see my breath while walking – if that’s any indication! Colder here than in Michigan, I bet. What an odd concept!
-----------------
My teaching class went really well today! Sure, there were little glitches and I still got some feedback from my tutor and fellow students about my talking too fast, but it was definitely an improvement over my first time teaching. Yeah, I need to work on my delivery – I’m trying to slow down and I did better with that today, but when I get a bit frazzled I have the tendency to juststarttalkingreallyfastandrunningwordstogether. It’s tough for the students, so I really need to work on it.
But I enjoyed today’s class much more than my first one that I taught. I was told by one classmate and my tutor that I look very natural and comfortable in front of the class. I’m getting there, that’s for sure. Two of my other classmates weren’t so sure about that. They thought I looked nervous up there. I was, but my confidence and comfort levels are increasing. Unfortunately, so is the difficulty level of the classes we have to prepare!
My part of today’s lesson was to introduce the topic of “What is a loner” and go over some potentially difficult vocabulary words like: “country” (as in green places with trees, not a nation), “suburb”, “meal”, “guests”, “lonely”, and “loner”. First I just did a bit of talking about myself and had the students listen. Then I had them do a matching exercise with the definitions and words.
No scheduled class on Tuesday, but I need to do my lesson plan for teaching on Wednesday. A few of us from my group are going to meet on Tues. afternoon to discuss our ideas/plans.
Sorry for all the teacher talk.
-----------------
A bit of follow-up from yesterday’s topic about the best and worst experiences of our lives…
I haven’t checked my email to see if anyone has been sharing, but hopefully you have been. Since I started thinking about all this, I asked one of my new friends here that question and found out that he/she (to protect their identity) is married! I would have never suspected! This person is separated from their spouse (by the other person’s choice) and is really struggling with the situation. The best moment of the person’s life was falling in love with the person and the worst was when the separation took place. Sad…the person is and has been praying about the situation and now, so will I.
-----------------------------
Another link to look at:
Bloggers join the war effort -- soldiers and other with personal reports from Iraq
With a capital *shiver*
*laugh*
The past couple of days it’s been pretty chilly. I’ve needed to wear a jacket outside, no big deal. Well, today it rained and then got really cold! Yes, it rained again. That’s now 6 times it has rained in the 6 weeks or so that I’ve been here! Very unusual!
Today, our tutors at class who have been in Cairo for 3-5 years all said that this is the longest they can remember winter “hanging on”. I guess usually it’s getting quite warm by this point. Oh well, when I’m sweltering in the heat this summer, I’ll probably be glad that it was cool for awhile longer.
How cold is it? I’m not sure b/c we don’t have a thermometer and I didn’t walk past the one that’s near here. It’s definitely the coldest it’s been in my time here. I could see my breath while walking – if that’s any indication! Colder here than in Michigan, I bet. What an odd concept!
-----------------
My teaching class went really well today! Sure, there were little glitches and I still got some feedback from my tutor and fellow students about my talking too fast, but it was definitely an improvement over my first time teaching. Yeah, I need to work on my delivery – I’m trying to slow down and I did better with that today, but when I get a bit frazzled I have the tendency to juststarttalkingreallyfastandrunningwordstogether. It’s tough for the students, so I really need to work on it.
But I enjoyed today’s class much more than my first one that I taught. I was told by one classmate and my tutor that I look very natural and comfortable in front of the class. I’m getting there, that’s for sure. Two of my other classmates weren’t so sure about that. They thought I looked nervous up there. I was, but my confidence and comfort levels are increasing. Unfortunately, so is the difficulty level of the classes we have to prepare!
My part of today’s lesson was to introduce the topic of “What is a loner” and go over some potentially difficult vocabulary words like: “country” (as in green places with trees, not a nation), “suburb”, “meal”, “guests”, “lonely”, and “loner”. First I just did a bit of talking about myself and had the students listen. Then I had them do a matching exercise with the definitions and words.
No scheduled class on Tuesday, but I need to do my lesson plan for teaching on Wednesday. A few of us from my group are going to meet on Tues. afternoon to discuss our ideas/plans.
Sorry for all the teacher talk.
-----------------
A bit of follow-up from yesterday’s topic about the best and worst experiences of our lives…
I haven’t checked my email to see if anyone has been sharing, but hopefully you have been. Since I started thinking about all this, I asked one of my new friends here that question and found out that he/she (to protect their identity) is married! I would have never suspected! This person is separated from their spouse (by the other person’s choice) and is really struggling with the situation. The best moment of the person’s life was falling in love with the person and the worst was when the separation took place. Sad…the person is and has been praying about the situation and now, so will I.
-----------------------------
Another link to look at:
Bloggers join the war effort -- soldiers and other with personal reports from Iraq
Sunday, March 23, 2003
In case you missed this article from the Washington Post, check it out:
"Attack was 48 hours old when it began"
For some reason, I'm having a bit of trouble downloading my email right now, so I'm sorry if I don't get back to you right away.
"Attack was 48 hours old when it began"
For some reason, I'm having a bit of trouble downloading my email right now, so I'm sorry if I don't get back to you right away.
In class today, as one of our practice exercises, we were asked the following questions:
What are the best and worst moments of your life? Why are they so memorable?
(pause)
(pause)
It took me a few minutes to really think about this and I should still probably think about it more. I’m pretty sure about the best moment, but I don’t know about the worst one. Is that a good sign.
The worst moment I could think of was when my Grandma Gautsche was at the hospital, dying. So many family members and loved ones were around, but there was so little to say to anyone.
*frown*
But it makes me smile to think about my happiest moment. It’s a fairly recent memory from within the last year.
My happiest moment was when I helped my nephew Justin learn to tie his shoes. At least I think I did. *grin* I was at one of his soccer games and he asked me for help tying his shoe. Turns out, he hadn’t learned yet so I tried to teach him. I don’t know if he remembers or if someone else actually taught him, but that’s a really happy moment in my life.
So it’s time for a bit of feedback. To all those reading this, please email me and share the best and worst moments of your life. (if you’re comfortable sharing, of course)
I did nothing but go to my teaching class today. I was there from 9:30am – 7:15pm. *sigh*
At the very least, I am being presented with a lot of information about teaching. I'm still not sure how much I'm learning, but I do regurgitate a bit of jargon like "communicative" or "Task-Based Learning" every now and then. *laugh* It's prettty good, but some of the days are really long. Tonight, I didn't get back from class until 7:30 (got there at 9:30) and now that I've finished dinner it's almost 8:30. I teach on Monday, so I need to finish up a lesson plan and some materials yet tonight.
What are the best and worst moments of your life? Why are they so memorable?
(pause)
(pause)
It took me a few minutes to really think about this and I should still probably think about it more. I’m pretty sure about the best moment, but I don’t know about the worst one. Is that a good sign.
The worst moment I could think of was when my Grandma Gautsche was at the hospital, dying. So many family members and loved ones were around, but there was so little to say to anyone.
*frown*
But it makes me smile to think about my happiest moment. It’s a fairly recent memory from within the last year.
My happiest moment was when I helped my nephew Justin learn to tie his shoes. At least I think I did. *grin* I was at one of his soccer games and he asked me for help tying his shoe. Turns out, he hadn’t learned yet so I tried to teach him. I don’t know if he remembers or if someone else actually taught him, but that’s a really happy moment in my life.
So it’s time for a bit of feedback. To all those reading this, please email me and share the best and worst moments of your life. (if you’re comfortable sharing, of course)
I did nothing but go to my teaching class today. I was there from 9:30am – 7:15pm. *sigh*
At the very least, I am being presented with a lot of information about teaching. I'm still not sure how much I'm learning, but I do regurgitate a bit of jargon like "communicative" or "Task-Based Learning" every now and then. *laugh* It's prettty good, but some of the days are really long. Tonight, I didn't get back from class until 7:30 (got there at 9:30) and now that I've finished dinner it's almost 8:30. I teach on Monday, so I need to finish up a lesson plan and some materials yet tonight.
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