Thursday, October 26, 2006

We Don't Need No Ed-u-cation...


Teaching. Ah yes the reason I'm here. The fruition of my year's training at York.

I've landed in my school and it's been a trial by fire. I'm kinda hoping I survive until Christmas at this point but, hey, that's only 7 weeks away!



Well, here's the good, the bad and the strange:

The Good

My schedule is not bad. I'm teaching science in the morning and then taking care of various activities in the afternoon. One of them will be working on an updated version of "A Christmas Carol" with the other Drama teacher. I also tutor two kids one on one on one day...and I'm not sure what else is going on the rest of the time.

I have a free morning on Monday's because my lab assistant can't be there on Monday's so they've compressed the Monday classes into the rest of the days of the week.

The staff is incredibly supportive. The headmaster I report to seems to really believe in me. He's been incredibly supportive. I've told him that I want to do hands on science experiments as much as possible and he's enthused about that. I told him I'm a first year teacher and I have a lot to learn and he's talking about gettting me support from a science teacher from a local school, bringing in an advisor to help me out and stuff like that. I was surprised and thrilled to hear this! He seems to think I'm going to do a great job which is very encouraging. It's the opposite of much of my York experience where I was being rated evaluated and made to jump through hoops. That mostly happened in my first term and during my time at York itself. My second placement at Cityview was blessedly free of that kind of stuff (in case anyone from there reads this!)

Because of the nature of the students' difficulties there's more leeway to have a much more left field approach.

The Bad
I arrived at school on Tuesday morning at 8:00 and found out I was on my own and that I was supposed to be teaching 4 classes that day. No one knew what the students had been studying or anything since there had been several supply teachers through the room. The biggest issue is that there's a lab assistant who knows everything that's going on, has access to all the materials, science equipment etc. but she's on vacation. This meant I had to teach without much knowledge for the whole week. I also had no lab equipment so I couldn't do any experiments.
I don't know the curriculum here so I'm learning that as I go. I'm also struggling with what the heck level the students are at. Student's called "Year 7" are not "Grade 7" but more like "Grade 5" Year 10's and 11's are supposed to write a standardized test to get their "GCSE" but obviously I don't really know what' s on this test. I've been doing some looking into it and it all seems very dry and complicated.
Apparently I have to send student's work and test marks off to some government moderator who then determines whether or not I've marked correctly and done a good job. Super!
The Strange
The Students. I almost put them under "The Bad" but that would be kind of wrong wouldn't it? I'm teaching children with behavioural problems and boy are they tough. Fights, swearing, refusal to do anything I ask, threats towards me (that guy is suspended), talking in class, interrupting, undermining, ignoring me you name it. Apparently they're "testing me." I have no choice but to be a Nazi on upholding the rules and I'm trying to strike a balance between authoritative and angry. Who knows where that lies?
On the other hand I have to keep in mind that these kids are severely emotionally damaged by things that have happened to them in their lives. I don't know any of their stories yet but I assume some pretty horrific things have happened. I'm the nearest adult that they can target their anger at. It'll all be about building bond of trust with these kids.
I'm teaching Science. I failed Science 4 times in University - not because I couldn't do it but because I hated it so much. On the 4th try I ended up in a great Science class and have been really interested in it ever since. Still...me as a science teacher now that's bizarre.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

On the Other Hand

This is the anidote to my previous posting.

There are a lot of things I like here. I live in a great apartment. Genevive is with me (which she wasn't in Korea) and that helps enormously.

Our roomate Rachel is fantastic.

Marks and Spencer is the greates store ever! I bought cod with tomato pesto wrapped in prociutto for 6 pounds. It was all natural and not frozen. Delicious.

Wine and beer are cheap, tasty, and easy to get.

We live in lovely quaint looking area.

The staff at my school are amazing. Even if the students themselvs are hell on wheels. (more about that in another post)

I don't live too far from work.

The food here is amazing. There are so many absolutely delicious foods here.

I can get cheap clothing here apparently (like 5-10 pounds for a pair of trousers. --> Not pants! Pants are underwear here)

I'm on a big adventure that'll get easier and more fun as I go.

It's the Little Things that Kill


Ok. I'm frustrated. I have to admit it. I'd love to put a nice "I love Britain" posting here but Im surprisingly aggravated by just about everything at the moment. Things are slightly different...just different enough often enough that trying to do day to day tasks is difficult. For example if I've just discovered that to use "quote" marks I have to hit a different place on the keyboard. Otherwise I end up with @quote@ marks if I hit where I normally hit. Then I'll try hitting enter and this will happen insead ---> #

The enter button is one more button over and it's hard to reach.

So...who cares about the keyboard you ask? Well it's just one of many things that I run into on a moment to moment basis.


Things I can't Seem to Figure Out. An Incomplete List:
Telephones.
A) How many digits do I dial? 11 sometimes. 8 other times. Sometimes I think it might be something different. I tried dialing phone numbers for days and got about a 10% hit rate.
B) Public phones take about a penny a second off you. If you put a pound in and only use 50 pence they DON'T give you the extra money back!
C) Mobile (cell) phones. How do I send a text message? How does that dictionary thing work? Granted this my problems with mobile phones revolve around the fact the last one I owned was in 1999 for about 6 months.
D) Home phones. Apparently you get charged to make out going calls on home phones.
E) I have a pay as you go phone which means you can go to a store and add money on to your acount. My phone's run out and I can't find the damn card!!
Locks - Oh you thought unlocking a door would be simple!!
A) The locks are very often about mid thigh height. Everyone here is 6 feet tall...what the hell?
B) About 50% of the time I get the key in the lock and have to jiggle it and twist it for a good 3 minutes before the door magically unlocks.
C) Because I'm in a school where EVERYTHING is locked I now have about 1500 keys and I can't figure out which one is which.
Public Transit
A) Fares change by the number of zones you're going through, and the time of day you travel. How much is it to go to Hainault station? Who knows?!
B) There's a thing called an Oyster card which you put money on and then the system deducts money as you go. A real struggle figuring out how this works and what values there are as there are millions of fares. Actually it's good though.
C) If you get of the train and get on to a bus you have to pay an extra fare.
D) It takes me 40-50 minutes to go 8 train stops to school. I often get caught waiting 14 minutes for a train.
E) Many trains refuse to go two extra stops to the transfer point on the line. They simply stop before they get there...to the tune of 4 in a row on my first day. Why don't they go to the end of the line? 2 stops!!
Toilets
A) Mine doesn't flush properly. You have to keep pumping it to get it to go.
B) The three toilets I've used are all the same design and just don't flush properly.
Washing Machine
A) Can't do more than half a load at a time.
B) No dryer is standard, all my clothes are wet and I have to go out tonight.
Bank
I opened an account at Lloyds and they couldn't do it same day because they were "short staffed" They said it would open the next day and that I'd recieve a form I had to sign and mail back. Haven't got the form...no account info...is it open??
Crossing the street.
A) Subway means a path that goes down under the road so you can cross over. It's not the path to the transit system FYI.
B) They seem to build roads so that you can't cross them and have intermitent crosswalks every 90 km or so.
Getting Around
A) The road system is so windy and convoluted here that no one knows how to get anywhere. Like, people who have been living in the same general area for years don't know how to navigate out of it.
I didn't experience these feelings in Korea. I guess I went in with no expectations of ANYTHING being the same so I just expected everything to be weird and different and I enjoyed it. It was also all much simpler. I had an apartment, phone, internet, tv, pots and pans, furniture, cutlery and everything else in the apartment. Everything was pretty simple there. I walked in, set up a bank account, visits to the government offices were short and productive and I didn't really deal with them anymore. I also had the collecive wisdom of teachers who had figured all this stuff out before. Here I don't seem ot have any of these things so I'm constantly at a loss and frustrated.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Blood and other fluids

So how to even begin to explain the theatre school experience?

One, it's all consumming and exhausting. I start at 8:30 am every day and finish usually by 7 pm. Five days a week. I'm always with the same 14 people. I do all kinds of classes, including: Movement (where we flop around and balance sticks), Voice (where we pretend to be fluttering around Elizabethan gardens whispering sonnets to each other lustfully), Audition (where we are recounted terrifying true anecdoctes about the business we're about to enter), Acting (where we, well, act), Articulation (where we discuss the merits of cartoon voices) and Singing (in which we rub our ribs, bounce up and down, and belt out Cole Porter).

And then we have MA Tutorials. This is where all the MA students in our year, no matter what their course, get together and discuss things. Usually violently. Today, for example, we were shown a documentary about an Italian man with terrible teeth who paints himself white and then proceeds to open his veins and bleed all over the stage. In front of a paying audience. For big money. And this is art? Or theatre? Or just crap?

I know what I think- but the debate raged fast and furious to say the least, with much shouting and gesticulating and eternal emnities being sworn. I could offer my two cents re: other theatre I have seen where bodily fluids are released, such as vomit and urine ect. (and yes, I have seen such things - what a very modern liberal complete education I have had!)

I will say this though - this artist is public enemy number one where the blood banks are concerned....

Monday, October 16, 2006

Tally Ho and Pip Pip!


I'm here! I'm actually here!

I landed on Saturday the 14th and was whisked across town by a very calm and friendly Indian gentleman. We were almost killed on the highway by a woman who failed to check her blindspot but luckily at the last minute she swerved back into her lane. Other than that, and the fact that he couldn't find the address in his mapbook, on his GPS mapping system, or the fact that he dropped me off and Genevieve wasn't at the aparmtment my trip was stress free. Except for an airport incident that I don't even want to get into.

Genevieve, it turned out had just gone to the store for a moment so she when she returned everything was finally right again.

I'm very impressed with the living accomodations that she has found for us! The building is very nice and the apartment is bright and well lit. Our roommate, Racheal, seems awesome and I feel very comfortable there. We have a grocery store right beside us and the Subway is a 2 minute walk. Oh, I discovered today that the "Tube" or train is differnt here. It took me an hour to go 8 stops with a transfer. My train comes every 15 minutes or something. Bad news... hope I can find a faster way. Anyway.

Day one, we unpacked, then went out for alook around. We went up to the high street (main street) and straight into the pub where I had my first pint with a Steak and Ale pie. Yes guy. The menu boasted that it weighed a pound. And...it came with a potato. I took a picture of it but I can't upload it just yet. It's a beautiful thing.

Then Gen and I poked around the shops and stuff. It looks like we're in a small town because all the houses are small and quaint but it's very densely packed. It's actually very crowded although it doesn't really look that way.

Sunday we went into Loughton (half hour walk away) which is like the main town/shop area. It's really amazing. I went into a Marks and Spencers and even took a photo of it for Genevieve's mom! She looooves Marks and Sparks.

Anyhoo...spent the whole day today registering at TimePlan and getting my bank account opened. Met another teacher named Beth from Toronto who had just come in because HER visa was rejected too.

I flew on a night flight on Friday on which I slept only about an hour. Then I didn't go to sleep until Saturday at 7:30pm. I got up Sunday at 9:30 and I've had no jet lag whatsoever.

I'm taking pictures of random things like my meat pie, a store called FAGS AND MAGS, and funny street signs but I can't upload them just yet.

All in all I'm really looking forward to my time here and feel relaxed and hopeful for the first time in abut 2 - 3 months.

I don't have internet access yet so I'll be updating and emailing when I can.

Cheerio Y'all!

Talk to you soon.

David

Friday, October 13, 2006

Leee-vin ON a jet plane..


"She may not look like much kid, but she can do the Kestle Run in less than two parsecs."

This is it. I board my air ship in 8 hours and blast off. Thanks to everyone who helped me out so much while I was here. Mom, Dad, Brian, Louise, Madelaine, especially for letting me stay at their places and Phil in Belleville for hiring me. Also Gen's family Valerie, Robert, Gareth, and Pam for helping us out HUGE too.

I'm a bit wired and a bit nervous/anxious about teaching in England. Especially since I'll be teaching kids with behavioural issues. I really think it's got the potential to be an extremely rewarding experience. I've been in their shoes and I know it's tough but life can be turned around.

Well, times up. I leave Wellington in about 2 hours. I'll be posting next from London!

David

Thursday, October 12, 2006

When you commute 2 hours each way, you have to multitask I guess....

If you have ever wondered what you would do if, whilst on the 7:21 am commuter train between London and the leafy subhurbs of the Southeast, you happened to notice that the couple sitting near the back of the carriage were, in fact, engaged in frisky bout of foreplay (and yes, the lady was certainly gobbling more than a breakfast croissant) - if you've ever wondered how exactly you would react in this situation, wonder no longer, gentle reader, for I will tell you precisely what you would do:

You would studiously ignore them, like everyone else on the bloody train did.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Turkey...The Final Frontier


Well, last weekend in Canada couldn't have been a better one. Got down to my stepsister Karen's house and hung out with the family. As usual it was a whizz bang affair with more people than you can shake a stick at, throw a cat around, or ...mix a metaphor with. There are some pictures on my flickr spot at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave_n_gen/

Two days of work left. I can't believe it, but it feels like it'll be two years. Then 2 days until I leave. 4 days. AAAAAhhhhh!!!

I guess if I've gained anything from this whole sordid affair it's been a better appreciation for some of the smaller more "mundane" things in life. I've been flabbergasted by nature on several occasions since I've been out here. Us city folk forget there's actually a thing out there called nature. We know there's an "environment" to be concerned about but I don't care how many parks you visit you'll never see a half kilometre line of geese floating slowly past your window on a calm Lake Ontario morning as the water gently pats the shore. Amazing!

I also saw about 20,000 (no exaggeration) sparrows flying about every day on the way to work. I assume they were gathering to get ready to head south. The leaves are turning and producing some of the most spectacular colours you can imagine. There's just a huge sense that the cycle of nature is quickly moving towards winter. Animals on the move, trees dying, squirrels running crazily about, wind kicking up, fields lying bare and brown...it's a different feeling than in the city where I stepped out of my climate controlled buildings every day and said "sure is getting colder!" then stepped back in. I've also had numerous conversations about cows! To wit:

I think more than half the people I work with live on farms. Some get up at 5:00 am and do chores there then come to work. One girl said she can't eat meat because whenever she'd eat meat at home on her farm as a kid it would be "Earl" or "Bessie" or whatever cow they'd killed. I mentioned that I'd heard you're not supposed to name them and she said she knew that but she got attached to them as a kid. There was one cow that had twins and, it turns out, when cows have twins the offspring are sterile (who knew!). So they kept the female one for three years and wouldn't let the father kill it. One day she and her Mom went away and the Father killed it! So this is why she can't eat meat. I looked at her and said, "Y'know, you just don't have these kinds of conversations in Toronto."

Also I saw the biggest orange moon I'd ever seen in my life. It was the harvest moon, so I'm told, and as it came over the horizon it was as big as the sun. I couldn't believe it. Blew my mind. There was a massive planet hanging there in the sky.

Anyway, mundane or not, these things have kept surprising me during my time here and at least I had that.

Oh...the other lesson I learned was to be organized. No bureaucracy shall defeat me again!

Friday, October 06, 2006

The Visa is Here!

It's in my hands! I'm looking at it! It's very colourful!

This is it! I'm outta here!

I've booked a flight for Friday the 13th (that's a bit ominous isn't it?). I'll be arriving there on the 14th. Things are a go!

(holy crap now I have to teach)

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Don't Hold Your Breath but...

I received the following email from the British High Commission today:


Your application has been approved and the visa has been issued. Please allow a minimum of 3 working days for your documents to be sent to you and also before tracking your package with our office.