My First Massage

Today, after finally pulling my finger out, I went and had a half-hour relaxation massage at my local Endota Spa. 

I had the time of my life. The front reception area is well lit with natural light and some overhead lights, with all their products displayed on shelves. I went up to the counter and said who I was and that I had a ten o’clock appointment. Then I was taken through a door that looked like a wall (no joke, I almost had a heart attack when it opened), and into the waiting lounge. The lounge had two couches, was dimly lit, and relaxation music was playing. It was a lovely environment, and I found myself relaxing as I filled out the new client form. When I finished filling out the form, I was taken into one of the treatment rooms, the therapist asked me what kind of pressure I would like, and then she left while I undressed down to my knickers, and climbed up onto the massage table. The therapist came back then and commenced the face, head, neck, and back massage I had booked for.

Endota’s tagline is ‘down to earth heaven’, and the massage I got today was most certainly heaven. The pressure was absolutely perfect, and all the tension in those ares melted away at the touch of the therapist. She started with my back, and I will admit to being a little nervous as I get a lot of lower-back pain, but I felt nothing but comfort as she worked on me. The best part of the back massage was when she used an Endota product called ‘Clove & Mint Muscle Magic’, which went on hot, penetrating my skin and relaxing my muscles, before turning cold and closing the pores. After that, I rolled over onto my back, and she massaged my neck, shoulders, and face, which was great, as I carry a lot of tension in these areas, in my face particularly, so having it all rubbed away was wonderful. She again used the ‘muscle magic’ on my shoulders, which was lovely, before the massage ended. 

I got up, got dressed, and chatted to the therapist for a few minutes, and she gave me a little card, with all the products that she had used today ticked. She told me to drink plenty of water today to flush out toxins that will have been moved around from the massage, and then we went back out the front so I could pay. Normally, the half-an-hour relaxation massage would be $55, but it’s tourism week in Mildura at the moment, (basically a be a tourist in your own town promotion) and Endota were offering half-priced treatments, so it only cost me $27. 

I will certainly be going back to Endota to try out their other treatments, and I think I will save up and buy some of their products too, especially that ‘muscle magic’.

~ Australian Kiwi

It's past perfect, or should that be continuous?

After a week of learning all about nouns, verbs, adverbs, propositions, conjunctions, determiners, interjections, and numbers (and that's just the first part of the module!) I am finally nearing the end of module three of my TEFL course. Module three is 'An Introduction to English Grammar', and I had no idea how complex grammar would be to relearn. Of course, I use grammar perfectly everyday, but the rules have been ingrained in my head through years of schooling and study. Add to the mix of education that I am particularly passionate about the English language, interested in it, and enjoy learning about it, I have never had a problem with grammar before. It is one of those things that many native English speakers 'just know'. Of course, we don't  'just know' it, we have learned it continuously throughout our years of study, but relearning it to teach it is something completely different.

The first nearly 60% of the module was taken up with learning 'word classes', which are the different categories a word can fall into. Every single word in the English language will fall into one of the word classes. These classes are listed at the beginning of this post. But, that's not all, within all these classes, there are subclasses! I'll use nouns as the example, a noun will either be proper or common, then it will either be concrete or abstract, and, finally, it will be countable or uncountable. So the noun 'John', for instance, is a proper, concrete, uncountable noun. I could go into what these six subclasses mean, but I have spend a week learning about them and don't feel like going into great detail, if you're interested, check out any reputable grammar book.  So, when I finished that 60%, the next 20% was all about the different types of verbs, yes, verbs. Did you know that verbs come in all shapes and sizes? Well, maybe not quite, but there are auxiliary verbs, main verbs, regular verbs and irregular verbs, on top of that, verbs also come in twelve different tenses (and you thought there were only three): present simple, past simple, future simple, present continuous, past continuous, future continuous, present perfect, past perfect, future perfect, present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous and future perfect continuous. Again, check a grammar book if you're interested. After the verb tenses, I found myself learning all about active and passive voice (which is still all about verbs), there's an example below if you're interested.

When verbs was over, the last 20% of my course was on 'The Function of Tenses' which basically explained that sometimes verbs in the present tense actually could be used in sentences relating to past events etc. Once that was over, I sat down to do my course quiz, only to find out that, for this module, there were three quizzes! Well, actually, there were three parts to one quiz. I passed the first part of the quiz, but I failed the second part (it's alright, I've got unlimited attempts to do it) and not because of mistakes with my grammar, but because I made silly little spelling errors. So, at that point, I decided that I needed to take a break and went to watch a DVD. Honestly, I had no idea grammar could be so tiring!

In other news, I have not heard back from the winery yet about more work, but I'm hoping it's just because they're not too busy. I'm off to look at houseboats with my mum and dad tomorrow morning, and then I'm going to the farmer's market with them to look at local produce. Then I'm volunteering for four hours, then it's home for nachos, and then off to the bookstore. In fact, I think I'm going to have a lovely day tomorrow.

See ya!

~ Australian Kiwi

If I was to make horcruxes...

I'm stealing this idea from a friend of mine, who stole it from a guy on Youtube. My horcruxes would probably be:

1) Robert Graves's The Greek Myths Complete Edition
2) My old spiritual journal
3) My deck of angel cards
4) My Iris goddess card
5) My iPad
6) The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Box-Set
7) My bracelet


Voldermort only had seven horcruxes, so I'll end my list at seven too. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan (I have friends who are obsessed), but I liked this idea.


~ Australian Kiwi

And I'm feeling giddy...Wheeeeeeeeeee

As I write this post, I notice that my computer seems to have a bad habit of breaking into two at random intervals, or perhaps it's just me seeing double. Whatever it is, it's annoying, and it's giving me a headache, but I have important news to share, so I will brave my pounding head and splitting computer and attempt to write an understandable post.

First, a bit about my TEFL course. I have completed module two, passing with 84%, the same mark I got for module one, and I had to do my first written assignment. Written assignments on TEFL are called Checkpoints, so, last night, I completed Checkpoint 1, and passed. The comments from my tutor were wonderful, so wonderful, in fact, that I have included my assignment and the comments in this post for you to read.

Checkpoint 1

Q1: What are the qualities of a good teacher? List and describe at least 5 qualities, drawing on your experience as a student or teacher, and explain why they are effective.

A good teacher is able to respond to student's individual needs as they learn. If a teacher is able to assist a student in a particularly difficult area of learning for them, or is able to help an excelling student reach their potential, then they have done their job as an educator and are a good teacher. Good teachers also need to be able to listen to their students, there are two main reasons that this quality is important in a teacher. The first is that, in a classroom of students learning English, a teacher must be able to gently correct students when they make a mistake to help them improve their grammar and vocabulary, but also to find out more about the students and their interests, so that the teacher can incorporate them into the learning. For example, if there are several members of a class who are particularly interested in big cats, an activity could be developed around the theme of big cats. In a teaching setting, it is also paramount that a teacher knows and is confident with their material. A teacher who is uncertain of the subject matter they are teaching will not be able to teach their students effectively, and the students will also pick up on the teacher's insecurity, and will begin to doubt their own ability. A teacher should also be organized and punctual. When I was going through high school, I always found it easier to settle into a class when my teacher had prepared the lesson before hand, and was able to keep to time without getting flustered, and who didn't waste my time by being late or running over time. Finally, a good teacher must be able to have fun, and genuinely enjoy their work. A teacher who is too strict, or who appears bored and angry at work, will be an obstacle to student's learning.    

Comments

Thanks Juliana, that's a great answer. You have outlined many important qualities of a good teacher.

Self-evaluation and reflection are also vital in creating a successful language learning environment. I find it very helpful to evaluate each lesson on completion, both the good and bad points of the lesson. By doing this we learn by our mistakes and improve on our success.

The psychological aspect is crucial in language-learning/teaching. It takes a lot of encouragement and moral support to keep the learner motivated. I would add that it's also important to set achievable goals, both short-term and long-term ones, so that your students never feel frustrated.

Q2: Name at least 5 different seating arrangements and describe classroom activities that suit each one. In your answer, try to give ideas from your own experience, as well as referring to the examples given in the module.

Probably the most common seating arrangement I encountered during my education, in primary school, secondary school, and at university, was rows. As most of my teachers both at school and at university taught in a lecturing style, which is the best way to teach when students are seated in rows, I found this style to be engaging, and particularly helpful to my learning. When I studied briefly at TAFE, the seating in the classroom was organized in a horseshoe, which promoted discussion, but also allowed all the students in the classroom to see the board and any overhead projector sheets the teacher displayed. When students are working in groups on a task such as a poster, it is helpful to sit the students in the groups they are working in, so that they can discuss their ideas and work collaboratively. If a teacher wishes to engage students in a debate about a particular issue, the teacher could sit the students in opposing teams. This arrangement would promote lively discussion back and forth between the groups as each argued their point. Finally, a simple seating arrangement that encourages conversation, and would encourage English students to practice their informal conversation skills, is sitting students in pairs. Teachers should try and make sure that friends do not sit together, so that students are given the opportunity to socialize with those they would not normally associate with. 

Comments

Another considered and excellent answer Juliana!

You've described five seating arrangements and when each would be useful. You have also demonstrated a keen interest in, and awareness of the learning process.

Well done – you have now passed your first set of checkpoint assignments! I enjoyed reading your ideas. You can proceed to Module 3 (grammar) and Checkpoint 2 related to it.

Above (in italics) is my first assignment, with my tutor's comments in red below my assignment questions. I had to write at least 150 words, but TEFL encourages students to go over the word limit. A TEFL maxim is: 'The more you put into it, the most you get out of it', and they encourage their students to apply this in both their studies, and when they eventually teach English to a class. 

Now, my other big news. I have been searching for a job for nearly three years now, and the only trial shift I managed to get anywhere was at Subway, and they never called me back, or paid me for the shift I worked. Today, I saw an advert in the paper for 'waiting staff, all ages and levels of experience'. Deciding I had nothing to loose, I rang the number at the bottom of the advert and was offered a trail shift (11:30am - 4:30pm) tomorrow! They're going to pay me too, $20 an hour, which is awesome. If I do well on my trail shift, I will be offered the job, so please keep your fingers crossed for me.

So, that's all my news. Perhaps it's excitement that has made me feel so giddy, but my computer is doubling up even more right now, and my brain is ready to burst through my skull! I'll sign off now, and hopefully feel better by tomorrow when I work my first (five hour) shift.

See you soon!

~ Australian Kiwi

And so, the adventure begins...

i-to-i logo

Last night, I made the decision to spend the majority of this month's pay on an online Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course. When I was still in Year 11, before I moved to Mildura, I dreamed about doing a TEFL course and going overseas to teach English in Asia or Latin America as a kind of gap year after Year 12. Then I moved to Mildrua and my dreams shrank until all I wanted to do was finish Year 12 (Mildura will do that to your dreams, shrink them down until getting up each day is an effort). After Year 12 I tried my hand at a few different courses, got a bad taste in my mouth from the unforgiving job market, and once again found myself sitting at home, unemployed and with nothing to do. Then, last night, I found my way back to TEFL, but, this time, my dreams are of a much more affordable scale. I will do my 40hr accredited TEFL course (which was on special when I brought it! YAY!) and will then approach the migrant centers in town, asking if they would be interested in letting me do some volunteer work leading to employment. If they say yes to the volunteer work but not to the employment, I will volunteer, but I will try and find work teaching English somewhere else in town. If I can make enough money, this course may be my ticket out of Mildura!

So, I thought I would share my TEFL journey with you all. The course needs to be completed within three months, and there are 13 modules to complete. At the end of each module there is a quiz to see how well you have remembered the information, and you must get at least 80% to pass, and move onto the next module. I have already done module one, which looked at Intrinsic and Extrinsic student motivators, the importance of a Needs Analysis, Learner Types, Senses, and Styles, what makes a good teacher, and eight different Teaching Methods. It took me about two hours to do the module, and take notes in the exercise book I have assigned for this course. I work in blocks of two hours, at least three blocks of two hours a day, with one half hour break in the morning, and a lunch break in the afternoon, exactly as if I was back at school.

Age groups and levels of language proficiency

So far, the course has been quite engaging, and I really enjoyed the first module, and am looking forward to doing the second. In fact, I'm off to do it now.

Catch ya!

~ Australian Kiwi