PGCE or MA translation? That iz ze question

I spent last week observing/teaching at my old secondary school, Laurence Jackson School. It was an amazing week, very surreal, nostalgic and weird seeing things from the prespective of some of the wonderful teachers. It was also extemely strange to go and sit in the staff room, the only time I had been in before is when I was in trouble.... Many of the old teachers recognised me "wow, you are now a man" was a frequent comment throughout my time there.


The week has convinced me to go into teaching instead of translation. As I was not always on the "straight and narrow" at school I can now appreciate in finer detail all the hard work put in by teachers to help me turn things around, especially one teacher! I really feel that I can help young people to do the same. I found just one week in a school to be extremely rewarding, so imagine when I get to have my own classes, own form etc. I would find it hard to find a more rewarding job, okay, you could earn more working in a city bank or maybe even for a translation company, but I cannot think of anything more boring or tedious than sitting in an office for the next 30 years of my life. Teaching is unique, no two students are the same, no two lessons are the same...so my mind is made up. (for now...)

I also had the opportunity to teach a Y8 set of Spanish, ie plan the whole lesson myself, design objectives etc. It was not the easiest class to teach as there were some interesting characters to say the least. I decided to teach a lesson on Spanish food (as I like to consider myself an expert...) so I explained the whole concept of tapas and pinchos etc etc, I really engaged the students as not only taught them the language but also made cultural references, I spent a whole five minutes explaning jamón ibérico even going as far to explain about all the acorns the pigs have to eat; the students were amazed; "does it not go off sir?" and "is it not raw sir?", I had certainly got them interested.... We later went on to cover things like "pulpo a la gallega" which they could not believe anyone would eat that. The lesson went really well and I really felt at home up there. The main comments I received were....

• Really impressive lesson (she commented that it was a lesson you would expect from someone who has just finished their PGCE, not someone who has not yet started it.
• Very interesting and usefull
• Managed the classroom well
• Involved all the students and managed to stay on top of noise.

The one thing I cocked up on was well the bell rung for the end of the lesson, I had not finished what I wanted to and got a little bit flustered and just kind of said pack up, where as it would have been better to have a more formal ending, but for a first attempt it was pretty impressive!

So yeah, teaching profession...así sí.

Spanish anthem jeered by Barcelona and Athletic fans.

What a wierd thing to see, the Barcelona and Athletic fans jeering the Spanish National anthem at the Copa Del Rey final, what a uproar this has created, with the sport director from Televisión Espanola being sacked, what is the big deal?
Why should the fans have to listen to an anthem that does not represent them????

The end of an era,

This week I have my final two exams which I guess brings along with them the end of my stay in Liverpool. Looking back it hardly seems like two minutes ago that I was a bit of a nervous wreck as I arrived at flat 54, Atlantic Point eagerly anticipating meeting my new flatmates... and now we move forward to 2009, a different flat in a different location, so many things have come and gone, people, friends, errors commited in Spanish, my writing style has improved (I hope so anyway...). We have been advised to store our old coursework as you never know when you might need it, and began reading one of my old pieces of work from the first few weeks of First year. It went something like this; "y si queramos salir poderemos" and from there I have come a long way...
First exam on Monday which is Language and Power followed by Spanish Applied Language III on Thursday. From 12 'o clock on Thursday my undergraduate studies will have finished.

Other good news, I pulled of a 2.1 for my dissertation which I was rather worried out, was really suprised how much I got into the project and really enjoyed writing it.
Back to revision... Carpe fucking diem!!

And we are back

I have decided to carry on writing my blog, I will update a lot more now that exams are almost done with.
It is a strange time at the minute, exams are here, people are revising (or trying too...), but the social scene also seems to be immense (maybe too much...I guess time will tell). A lot going on and people realising that we will REALLY finish Uni in less than 2 weeks. It is also a bit surreal. I had "la mujer" on Friday which I nailed I reckon, questions were a lot better than I expected and after having got a 1st in the presentation I reckon a 2.1 is certainly on the cards, which I will be pleased as punch about! Lang and Power, Translation and Spanish Applied Language on the 14th and then, c'est fini!!
Thinking back to this time last year I was in Salamanca with not a care in the world, but I am just as happy now living down my final moments in Liverpool as what I was there. Liverpool is an awesome city, despite some dodgy areas, but hey there is some of them everywhere... even in Salamanca!

Cuanto tiempo! Tantas cosas que contar !

Hostiaaaaaaaa, I've just realised how long it has been since I updated this.
I'm back in Liverpool, missing Salamanca like crazy, but coming to terms with being back in Liverpool for at least the next few months.
I went to visit my Mum's family in Glasgow last week with María and it was so nice to see everyone, and luckily they all seemed to take to her especially my wee cousin Graeme, so I was mightly pleased, we also went to Edinburgh and it was so cold it was untrue!

I have just sorted a job for the festive period back at my old stomping ground, Marks n Sparks, which will be a lot of hours at the busiest time of the year but I dont mind at all as it is always nice to catch up with everyone and earn some moolah! I am also giving English lessons so I'm extremely busy and happy :)

Uni work is uncanny, this is the first year of my life where I have had to put doing work before everything else, I even missed going to watch the football on Sunday in order to do work, and I could have never said that in the past...

Right I'm going to make tea and use María's jamón and chorizo she brought to mine :D

Hasta luego.

Back into the Uni way of life

Uni starts on Monday, what a long time a year makes as this time last year classes were just starting in Salamanca. Anyway I have picked the following modules, for Spanish; Applied Spanish Language III, La Mujer, Translation, Applied Critique of Translation, and one more I forgot and for Tesol I have, the TESOL Special Project (kind of like a dissertation), Teaching English for Specific purposes and language and power.
Finally the dreaded oral dossier is over too! Thursday morning the day of doom arrived, I was elected to go first and was kind of glad I did as I didn't have time to worry about when other people were doing theres. but anyway it went really well. Only made one mistake but quickly corrected myself and It wasn't a Spanish mistake it was a mistake on one of ym facts but anyway, the observer also was laughing at various points so it could be looking rosey! Fingers crossed.

I have been doing nothing apart from the dossier since I got back but I feel glad now as I know I worked quite hard and now I can relax until Monday when lessons begin.
After the presentations a few of us went for a drink and then went to see a spanish film that the Uni put on to welcome all the Spanish students (considering the majority of foreign exchange students seem to be Spanish) afterwards there was a drinks reception in order for final year students to mix with the exchange students (will be good for the correction of other others work!) We got talking (Tom and I) to a massive group of Spaniards and arranged to go to the Cavern Club at night, (the famous place the Beatles always used to play at, I have never been in two years since being in Liverpool!) And it was awesome, there was a Beatles tribute band, and once everything finished at 2AM the Spanish had a botellón back at one of the flats, I think I met more Spaniards last night than what I did in a year in Salamanca....la vida erasmus continúa...

De vuelta a Liverpool...

Bordel de merde! I'm back in Liverpool after two amazing weeks with the amazing Emilieeee (t'as la chiasse chérie?) They passed too quickly which I guess doesn't require me to say how much of a good time I had, I will put some photos on when I get round to sorting them out.
7 days to go until my oral dossier, I've done it now and it's just a case of tying lose ends up and learning it, this time next week it will be all done! Praise the lord!
Charlie arrived on Monday and I now know I made the right choice in coming to live with her, (don't want to say too much as she'll read this and get a big head..) but we are finding out we have more and more things in common so all is good. her japanese boyfriend Yuji is staying at the moment and I feel a bit bad as I speak really fast and with a hard accent and sometimes I forgot he is not English and just rant and mumble, but hey, c'est la vie.
This is going to short and sweet as I need to get back to work...