Seven – Επτά – Sieben

Seven.

Επτά.

Sieben.

It is that time of the year again!

Seven years of blogging – sometimes often, sometimes not so often…

A few weeks ago, Doug Peterson wrote a post about Starting or Reflecting on a Blog – and I thought it was great to write on at least some of the points he mentions, and what I have learned in the process of these seven years. There is so uch more to learn – and share!

I will make that seven points – to keep to the theme of seven : )

1. Have a plan when to write and what: I honestly admire bloggers like Doug and Aviva Dunsiger who write very often and on so many different topics. I still do not have a plan and just post when I think I have something to write about. Let’s see if that changes : )
2. Make it social: I try to share my posts and other posts everywhere. Now that I am not on Facebook anymore, I use Twitter and LinkedIn.
3. Content is king! I think so too. In the beginning, I would only share what I did in my classes. Then I started sharing more general or more specific topics. This year, I also tried something different, which I was a bit doubtful of at first – my blog became a bit political, as last month we had a referendum here in Zug on pay cuts for teachers, people with disabilities, people in the medical profession, the elderly and lots more. I thought it was very important to make my little mark as well – we won!
4. Blogging is a huge learning platform. I cannot even begin to mention how many things I have learned from other people’s blogs, as well as from their comments on mine or other blogs. They have made me think, taught me things, they have inspired me!
5. Disagreeing is not a bad thing. I remember the first time someone disagreed with what I had written. I was crestfallen. However, after some time I thought that I am not always right of course and the person was very polite in doing so, and above all…made me think! It all depends on how the person disagrees with an opinion. As long as it is civilised, it is a great exchange of opinions and learning opportunity.
6. Sharing is super! I love sharing blog posts I have read or have taught me something. Think of how many people we can reach just by sharing! The community of learning keeps growing. Here I would like to share another great post on blogging, by Jennifer Aston, an educator in London, Ontario!
7. Writing improves! I sometimes cringe when I read some of my first blog posts and have been tempted to correct / delete them, but I have decided to leave them there. We can only improve and learn, right?

Thank you all so much for being with me on this amazing journey, for sharing, for teaching me and helping me become a better educator!

(Image taken from askablogger.com)

 

 

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Sparpaket Kanton Zug NEIN – mach mit!

Vielen vielen Dank an Barbara Kurth-Weimer für alle Informationen und dafür, dass ich diese auf meinem Blog zu veröffentlichen, für all jene Menschen, die durch eine unfair Sparpaket betroffen sein könnten! Vielen Dank an Marco Knobel für den Text. Liebe Unterstützerinnen und Unterstützer Unsere Kampagne geht los. Wir stellen nicht politische Interessen in den Mittelpunkt, sondern jene, die direkt Betroffen sind. Deine Unterstützung ist enorm wichtig für den Abtimmungserfolg. Mobilisieren wir gemeinsam – für ein lebenswertes Zug! So kannst du mitmachen: Aktionen, Stände, Materialverteilung Jede und jeder kann etwas tun für ein lebenswertes Zug. Nimm gemeinsam mit uns die Verantwortung für die Schwächsten Glieder der Zuger Gesellschaft und unsere gemeinsame Zukunft wahr. Wir haben tolle Stände und lässiges Verteilmaterial, aber deine Unterstützung fehlt uns noch. Hilfst du uns? -> Alle Termine und Anmeldeinfos gibt es auf http://www.sparpaket-nein.ch > aktiv werden > mitmachen Postkarte versenden Wählen Sie ein Sujet aus, schreiben Sie eine Grussbotschaft und wir drucken und versenden die Postkarte kostenlos. -> Jetzt auf http://www.sparpaket-nein.ch > aktiv werden > Postkarte versenden Material bestellen Wir haben tolles Material! Hast du einen gut sichtbaren Balkon für eine Balkonfahne? Oder stellst du ein Plakat in deinem Garten auf? -> Jetzt bestellen auf http://www.sparpaket-nein.ch > aktiv werden > Material bestellen Leserbrief schreiben Leserbriefe prägen die Meinungsbildung stark. Damit die Leserbriefe nicht geballt, sondern etwas verteilt eintreffen, haben wir einen Koordinations-Doodle. Suche einen Tag, an dem noch keine oder wenige Leserbriefe geplant sind, trage dich ein und schreibe eine Erinnerung in deine Agenda. Für die Einhaltung der Termine bist du verantwortlich. http://doodle.com/poll/wghayw63z7533bmn Infos weiterleiten Bitte leite diese Infos weiter an die Mitglieder deiner Organisation, Bekannte, Freunde und Interessierte. Liebe Grüsse Marco Knobel Koordinator

Olympic athletes saluting Canada’s Indigenous youth! By @iloveatt1

I am very happy and proud to host a blog post by I Love Attawapiskat & Canada’s Aboriginal Youth! Ten Canadian Olympic athletes have shared their love with Canada’s Indigenous Youth. Good luck to each and every one of our athletes – GO CANADA!

(Image taken from http://www.google.com)

 

I Love Attawapiskat & Canada’s Aboriginal Youth is pleased to announce that ten Olympic athletes have saluted Canada’s Indigenous youth as they get ready to shine in Rio!

Adam Van Koeverden

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/adam-van-koeverden/

Bolade Ajomale

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/bolade-ajomale/

Emily Batty

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/emily-batty/

Gabriela Stafford

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/gabriela-stafford/

Genevieve Lalonde

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/genevieve-lalonde/

Inaki Gomez

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/inaki-gomez/

Jacqueline Simoneau

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/jacqueline-simoneau/

Julien Bahain

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/julien-bahain/

Marissa Kurtimah

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/marissa-kurtimah/

Vincent Riendeau

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/vincent-riendeau/

I Love Attawapiskat & Canada’s Aboriginal Youth is a national celebrity campaign that supports youth reeling from high suicide rates in communities across Canada. The campaign serves to educate Canadians and gives the youth a platform for positive change where their voice can be heard. Www.iloveattawapiskat.ca @iloveatt1

We take this opportunity to wish all of our athletes the very best — you make us all extremely proud!!

Josée Lusignan, President

Iain Speirs, Vice-President

I Love First Peoples

http://www.ilovefirstpeoples.ca

The Loras Network at the Expat-Expo in Zug – 4th year!

For a fourth consecutive year, The Loras Network is proud exhibitor and supporter of the EXPAT EXPO ZUG.

Looking forward to seeing you there on Sunday, 3 April 2016!

 

 

6 Years of Blogging!

It seems as though it has been more than 6 years. 6 years of blogging!

I started not knowing what I was doing, what to share…and then it all fell into place! I got to know other bloggers, we exchange comments, I learn from readers’ comments, I share classroom experiences, lesson plans, personal moments too…

A million thanks to everyone who has read this blog, supported it, commented on it and taught me so many things!

Here’s to all of you, to 6 years and hopefully more to come.

My #YoungerTeacherSelf post for @joannacre’s blog challenge

Where it all started – the old building of the Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Joanna Malefaki has created an amazing blog challenge, where teachers write to their younger selves, called the #YoungerTeacherSelf blog challenge. What a great idea and what lovely posts we have read so far!

I had to start teaching almost as soon as I got into university, for the reason that I was studying far away from my family and they could not fully afford my studies. Therefore, I had to dive right into it, but I was fortunate enough to have great professors and colleagues to help me out in this difficult, but incredible journey.

Here is my letter to 18-year-old Vicky and a few years after that, when I was a scared teacher, afraid of many things and mainly how it was going to be. 

Dear Vicky,

I know that your whole life you had been dreaming of becoming a lawyer, and that education was your second choice. I assure you that this is a choice you will never look back on – you will absolutely love it and you will be happy you accidentally got into it!

You will have lots and lots of students and you will learn so much from them and from teaching them. They will come to you with dreams, enthusiasm or lack of it, a great variety of talents and each and every one of them will leave their mark on you. Mistakes are part of the deal, but don’t worry, you will always make them. You want to learn and become better, don’t you? These mistakes are there to remind you of this.

Some day, you will be connected to so many educators, not only face-to-face, but also through the internet. Especially through social media. What is all that social media stuff, you ask? You don’t believe me? Wait and see! You are excited about emails so far, but just wait until you see what other things you will be using in a decade or two! And you will learn so much from and with these educators, who come from all over the world.

It is absolutely fine to deviate from the coursebook. Do you think that task on page 76 is not appropriate or does not help your students? Skip it! Change it! Weave it into something else and don’t worry. Not all students learn the same way and not all tasks work out as they are designed. You want the best for your students, right?

Be happy you did not take that professor’s advice, who told you in your second year not to become close to the students at all, because they will only “take advantage of you” and “you are there only to teach them, not help them with their lives in general”. Regardless of their age, students are all human beings with feelings and if we can help even one of them with a problem they may be facing, it is so important. They are not only there for us to teach them the difference between Past Simple and Present Perfect and then shove them out the door.

Whatever you do, don’t stop learning. You will never know everything and that is super! You will always be developing and growing as a teacher, through reading, writing, attending conferences, learning sessions. This is something you will tremendously enjoy. Keep going and keep learning!

Love,

36-year-old Vicky

My journey to become an ESL teacher by Katie Burgess – What’s Your Story?

Katie Burgess

Next up on the What’s Your Story? Blog Challenge…Katie Burgess! She takes us on a trip from Hungary to the US to China – what a beautiful story about how she became a teacher.

Köszönöm, Katie!

I knew I was meant to be a teacher when at age seven I gathered my stuffed animals and my reluctant little brother into my room, having them sit in a circle around me, paying close attention to my small chalkboard, introducing them the world of numbers and letters.

My inspiration was my first grade teacher, Miss Varga who taught all 42 of us how to read and write. To me, as a small child it was such a remarkable experience that in a short time I could put meaning behind those characters, the letters which at first looked so intimidating, foreign and scary.

I admired her patience and wisdom. It seemed nothing less than a Miracle that I was introduced to the world of letters and numbers and I contributed it to her Power. Yes, to me, she had the Power of knowledge which she has passed on to us.

And I wanted that magical Power.

I come from Hungary, a small European country with a unique language. From 3^rd grade we already studied French and continued with Russian from 5^th grade on. I kept studying both because I was fascinated by languages and cultures entirely different from ours.

At university, I majored in French and Latin was mandatory for 2 years. I continued with Italian, just for fun, which seemed relatively easy after the two other romance languages. Then in my 2^nd year of studies when I picked up applied linguistics as a minor we were asked to study English so that we could read related articles and that’s when I met English, for the first time.

Even though I had plenty of experience with languages, when I first bumped into the word enough, I became frustrated: how can you possibly write this word this way and then pronounce it in such an unexpected way?

I quit English shortly after enough– it’s too hard… doesn’t make any sense…can’t pronounce certain sounds…

Two years later I was in in the US, in Miss Chloe’s evening class, along with a number of other freshly arrived immigrants, having one common goal: to learn English because it’s a must in order to survive in the New World.

I respected Miss Chloe, our ESL teacher: her dedication to us, her everlasting patience when we have all struggled with the weird sounds and I knew, right there: I want to become an ESL teacher. I want to be there, in front of a class where everyone needs to learn English, for their career, their promotion, for their education, or simply to survive.

So I did learn English. Two years later I passed the TOEFL test, with flying colors and went on studying at University of Oregon.

When later my family and I relocated to my home country I started to teach English. And there was no stopping me, after that.

I continued my education at Cambridge University, eventually got my Masters and have been attending seminars and workshops to better myself.

In my almost 20 years of teaching I had the chance to teach Mexican immigrants’ children in the US, college students in Hungary and over the past 2 years I have been teaching in China.

I feel blessed to have those amazing and encouraging teachers early on and as a tribute to them, I do my very best to continue their paths and be as inspiring to my students as my teachers were to me.

When Education Comes From Enthusiasm – An Interview with Roseli Serra (@SerraRoseli)

Roseli Serra

I am absolutely delighted to have a new interview on my blog today – the first of the year, with a super enthusiastic, supportive and hard-working educator – and a very good friend: Roseli Serra!

Roseli and I connected three years ago, and I immediately was drawn to her enthusiasm about everything education. She is an educator, teacher trainer, materials developer, you name it – and blogs at Roseli Coffee Desk. Another love we share, that of good coffee. She is one of the people that you see on social media and your heart immediately fills up, as she always has something beautiful and positive to say!

I am very happy that this summer we will finally meet in person! Here’s Roseli in our interview.

And here is the book she mentions in the interview: Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much, by Anne Wilson Schaef

What’s Your Story? Mona Arvinte Interacts from Iasi

Mona Arvinte and her little daughter

Here is another story, number 55, all the way from Iasi, Romania and Mona Arvinte, an English language teacher who has written her beautiful story! Read on about how she found her way into teaching and interacting with other teachers. 

Thank you so much, Mona! Mulțumesc!

When I first saw Vicky’s post I wondered : “Do I have a story?”

Of course, we all have stories and we all like stories. Am I ready to share, to put it on paper? Hmm, that’s a totally different story. Let’s see.

My story is really simple.

I’ve been a teacher all my life. I’m not that old, though. 😀

So hard to look back. That’s a real challenge to me, I think.

I chose to be a teacher for all the wrong reasons, I guess. I didn’t like kids, I had no patience whatsoever, didn’t like assigning or checking homework either.

That has changed over the years now. I’ve come to realize it’s best to interact, share and change ideas.

If you asked me what I’d be doing in 5 or 10 years’ time, I wouldn’t know. Probably the same but who knows? Life’s full of surprises.

I became a teacher about 13 years ago. Back then I did not even know I wanted to be a teacher. It’s not like I’ve been dreaming to be a teacher all my life. Let’s just say I had to, not that I wanted to.

I come from a small town and there were few opportunities for teaching English at that time. I remember quite well the look on the kids’ faces when the head teacher introduced me to the class. To say the least English was totally strange to them and so was the teacher.

So I entered the classroom. They did not pay any attention to me, nor to my words. That left me in a corner, not knowing what to do next. I began by telling them who I was. Well, I was so naïve to think they might actually look up to me for the simple fact I was a teacher. But no, that didn’t work.

I had to do something and quick, so I tried to improvise something. I remembered my first English lesson. I was about four or five. We were having so much fun, my English teacher at that time did her best to keep us motivated by involving each and every one of us in many engaging activities. I am positive I owe a lot to my first English teacher as to my teaching style. She was a fine lady.

Teaching is about sharing. I used to think teaching is just a job like any other job, you just go into the classroom, do your job, take your books and get back home. I was wrong, I guess.

Over the years I realized these kids have feelings, too. They aren’t like little robots that will do whatever you ask them to do just because you want them to.

No! They care, they have feelings and they also have their own stories that they like sharing, too.

As to my professional development, I’ve started to attend training courses and webinars that you can easily find online. That’s a whole new world to me. I didn’t think that would have been possible in the past. Or at least that hadn’t come in use to me not until last year. And I’m very happy about it as I get to learn a lot. As a teacher you never stop learning. It’s a long journey.

I am currently teaching 5^th to 8^th graders. It’s not that easy, not all are good students but it’s something that I love doing. Teaching is an excellent job, very rewarding. It helps you stay young at heart. Not to mention holidays! 😉 Just kidding.

Plans for the future? Well, I kind of like to live in the present.

Start blogging? Have my own website page? Become an online teacher? All these trends are very appealing to me. I like trying new things all the time.

Definitely yes, if the time is right!

So this is it. My life, my story!

No time to think it through, I just do what I think it’s best for me and my students.

Time to turn the page to a new chapter, hopefully!

 

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 39,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 14 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.