Travel I've Done but Blogging None

I can't believe it's been almost 5 months since I've updated this blog.
SO THIS IS A QUICK UPDATE!!!!

I was frantically busy before heading overseas on Jan 18th sorting, amongst other things my garden... why you ask did you do your garden when you intend to be away 2 to 3 years... call it my "I still love you" farewell to my garden.

These are my grandchildren at my goodbye bonfire.

My week in Thailand was great though as I was able to see my brand new niece up close and personal.

This is Marissa and my brother Mark a couple of weeks ago. She was born on Jan 22 this year just 2 days after my 57th birthday!

I came down with the much dreaded bronchitis almost upon arrival in Korea and spent the first 3 weeks teaching to a 'killer' schedule that thankfully has subsided to the rather normal, yet still insane 'split shift' which is almost tolerable save that the split keeps shifting... yes you guessed it from day to day my teaching schedule changes... something I have endured before but not quite like this... talk about the 'shifting sands of time'!

Here it is the day before Easter when I'd be breathing a sigh of relief in Australia and looking forward to longest weekend we get over there. I hope everyone enjoys and gives me a passing thought as I will be working on each and every day. Easter is not officially recognised in Korea.

So while my family in Australia is having fun in the sun and my brother in Thailand is enjoying the weekend... moi will be plodding on teacher as per... but it's okay as I actually love teaching and it's not as if the way things are in South Korea is a 'first time' shock as this is my third stint here.

Well now that I have the Internet in my apartment and have once again 'plogged' back in
I will use this site for generic info rather than those all encompassing emails which seem to offend the sensibilities of those who want something a leetle more poisonal... point taken and noted family... roger wilko etc etc

Itchy Feet Syndrome Strikes Again

Or perhaps I've just been bitten by the insidious travel bug. Either way, subject to my blood tests etc etc being good, ie, not dying of anything more serious than life, I am off to South Korea in January.

I must say I am looking forward to it in many ways. Actually I am going out of financial necessity; because teaching ESL in Brisbane is more like a subsidized volunteer effort.

I love teaching my students but I am not getting any younger - 57 next January - don't have any Super to speak of and just cleaned out my savings doing and extension at home.

So it's Hi Ho Hi Ho off to Jeju I go once again. The upside is that I have decided to finish my Masters. Can't re-enrol straight away because the cost per unit at QUT is absolutely overpriced. I will have to work for at least 6 months to get some money together to continue. However, that doesn't stop me commencing my research... :)

Well must go, I am assisting my brother with his website... This will complete his Masters... diligent little fellow... of course he's not paying up front so there you go.

A Distant Light

Thanks to Debra's comment, left on my blog over the weekend, I feel there is a faint glimmer of direction out there.

I've been rather slothful lately using all my free time to indulge in a reading orgy... all pure escapism of course. However, I will give Debra's comment some structured thought. As reading is my preferred option, at the best or worst of times, I'll start with a smorgasborde of readings. There is so much out there on TESOL, ESL, EFL etc etc that I am bound to find something of interest that will hopefully prod me into action regarding some definitive and worthwhile research.

Anyone stumbling on this blog who has read something recently that really enervated them feel free to leave the info in my comments section. [err something related to ESL preferably :)] My blog automatically notifies me if someone places a comment there.

A good result but what now?

Finally got my mark for this subject and was very pleased that all my hard work produced such a pleasing result.

Initially I was looking forward to the break from study but now that it's mid July the euphoria has faded and I'm left asking "What now?"...

Perhaps I will go ahead and get my Masters in TESOL after all... but I'm giving myself until Christmas to decide. The thing is I'd like to do some useful research rather than simply work my way through another four set units. I just don't feel excited enough about any aspect of TESOL to want to do detailed research on it. Let's hope this changes before December...

Blogging is less daunting than before ...

I have decided to make blogging a compulsory weekly event in my combined class, i.e., the afternoon when I must teach both the IELTS and SSPP class together. My hope is that they will eventually fly solo with this concept and generate their own discussions - although a cyber bulletin board might work better. I'll have to give that one some more thought.

For the moment I am posting tasks to the class blog that I moderate and getting the students to follow the instructions re postings etc from it. Half of my class are not comfortable with computers which is a huge surprise for me as the majority of them are teenagers. So much for the concept of the young running ahead of us in the techno-stakes.

Perhaps there is such a thing as tech-overload with our younger users after all.