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!