Tagged, Blogged, Broken ...

Thanks Marisa Constantinides for tagging me for this "kind of a chain blog post in which one blogger tags you on their blog and challenges you to answer some questions and then pass the ball to eleven more bloggers!"  I feel quite honoured as Marisa is a champion to me.  Which is the only reason I'm spending time posting on my one free day between a very hectic end-of-semester rush and packing for 4 weeks away.

Here are the bits of the task that Marisa has invited me to step up to, that I have stepped up to …

• Share 11 random facts about myself.
• Answer the 11 questions Marisa has created for me.
• Post 11 questions for others to answer

 I'm passing on the tagging of others part, see below for my explanation.

11 random facts about myself

1. My education seems to run in sets of two: I attended two infants schools, 2 primary schools, 2 high schools.  While I’ve attended more than 2 universities, I do have 2 post-graduate diplomas and 2 masters degrees :-)
2. Before I was an English language teacher I was a web developer, computer programmer, systems analyst, and other ICT roles.
3. Before I worked in the areas mentioned above I was a librarian, indexer, specialist database searcher, and other information management roles.
4. And I have mixed the skills developed in 2 & 3 and worked as a systems librarian, and an information architect.
5. Teaching is the hardest job I’ve ever had, but by far the best and most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.
6. My favourite sports all involve moving across water: rowing, sailing, kayaking
7. The only artistic thing I have ever been reasonably successful with has been photography.
8. I love reading … anything!
9. My favourite food is bananas - the one food I would really miss if they were no longer around.
10. I’ve learned little bits of lots of languages, but never stuck with one long enough to progress very far, including: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Polish, Pitjantjatjara
11. I much prefer hot weather to cold.

My answers to Marisa’s questions - my answers in purple

1. How long does it usually take you to draft and finalise a blog post?
   Marisa, did you write this question just for me? You know how long it takes me to write an #ELTchat summary - a long time - and you know I need prodding to finalise one.  Most of my blog posts are like that, which is why I'm a very occasional blogger. But sometimes I do whip one off very quickly (like this one - took a long time to start, but I wrote it very quickly).
2. Which ICT tools do you actually use with your classes?
   Moodle, SMARTboard, iPhone (my own - mostly for dictionaries, recording, quick web searches, and more), iPad (my own - for recording, screencasting feedback of student writing, and more), YouTube, VoiceThread, and more...
3. What is your absolute dream job?
   Right now, it would be teaching just what students want and need, without any restrictions from a prescribed curriculum, and without the mountain of administrative tasks around reporting, etc.
4. Which classroom activity do you absolutely enjoy using with your students? One is all I need
   Only one?! The first that comes to mind is Dictogloss - works on so many levels, on many skills, is collaborative and enables me to focus on individual students' needs.
5. How many of your current friendships  were started through a social network?
   Too many to count!
6. Which household chore do you hate the most and which one do you love the best?
   Hate: cleaning the toilet, Love: ... still thinking... :-)
7. Name your 10 desert island CD’s
   Only 10?!  Tough!  When I travelled around Australia I had about 100 CDs in my bus!  If pushed, I'd probably choose these, but I reserve the right to change my mind before being stranded on a desert island.  No particular order...
   • Ed Kuepper - The Butterfly Net
   • The Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon is Over
   • Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes - Night of the Wolverine
   • Deborah Conway - Bitch Epic
   • The Boat That Rocked (soundtrack)
   • The Key of Sea
   • Warsaw Village Band - People's Spring
   • Rodriguez - Cold Fact
   • The Saints - Prehistoric Sounds
   • The Goddess of 1967 (soundtrack)
   Interesting that all except two of these are Australian!
8. Do you wish you had studied something other than what you did study? Do say what, if the answer is yes.
   No, I think I've studied everything I've wanted to and doubt I've finished studying :-) 
   Maybe wish I'd stuck with one language long enough to master it.
9. Describe the naughtiest thing you have ever done – within reason, of course
   Probably the naughtiest was riding my motorbike up and down the stairs of the local primary school.  Hope that the statute of limitations protects me from prosecution! But it was when I was around 12 to 15 so I'm probably safe :-)
10. What artistic aspirations or skills do you have?
    I'd love to be artistic; would especially love to be able to create gorgeous music. But I don't think I have it in me, or perhaps it's because I appreciate good art/music too much to tolerate my piddling efforts.
11. Which TV series or film do you keep watching again and again?
    Gillian Armstrong's Starstruck - could never get sick of it!

My questions

Like Sue Annan, I will just put out 11 questions without tagging anyone.  I think everyone I know with a blog has already been tagged, and given this almost felt like a chore I had to finish (but not too arduous Marisa), I didn’t want to burden anyone.  And I've always been the person who has broken the chain on any type of chain letters, emails, etc. dating back to my school days.  So, sorry to be a party-pooper, but... the chain stops here!

If anyone gets this far and wants to play, and it is fun responding, here are some questions that I would actually be very interested in reading answers to from any of my PLN-friends:

1. If you were going to make any New Year’s resolutions, what is the first that comes to mind?
2. What is your favourite book that you read in 2013?
3. What musical instrument would you most like to play that you can't already play? 
4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
5. What's your favourite song to use with a class, and how do you use it?
6. What are you like as a language learner?
7. What is one thing have you taken from your own language learning experience and used in your own teaching?
8. What is one thing from your own language learning experience that you would never use in a class? 
9. Where would you first take a visitor to in your home town?
10. Which country would you most like to visit that you haven't already been?
11. What is one thing you can suggest to encourage colleagues to share in an online environment? (I'd really love some ideas here :-) )

Thanks again Marisa.  It was fun, and I'm pleased and honoured to have been tagged by you.
 

Blog challenge: What’s Your Story?

I love learning more about my PLN-friends through the blog challenges they’ve set for each other.  This time it was Vicky Loras setting a challenge to tell a story “about anything you consider important in your life or career, that has helped shape you as a person or educator”.

I’m going to tell the story about how I came to be an English language teacher.

The last thing I thought I’d be when I was at school was a teacher.  Being a librarian was probably the second last thing.  But I’ve been both!  I’ve also studied and worked in IT, as a computer programmer, systems analyst and website developer, and bringing my first two professions together, I also worked as an information architect.  I came to teaching late, only 7 years ago. 

I think I have always liked language.  I’ve certainly always loved reading, and admired beautiful use of language.  In all of my travels I have made an attempt at learning some basic language, either in short community-based classes, through finding an international student willing to tutor me in exchange for a bit of cash, or rote-learning listening to cassettes while driving.  I love learning languages, but I’ve never progressed much beyond the most elementary level, I think because I’ve tried to learn so many of them.

I first got interested in the idea of teaching English while I was learning Italian before a trip to Italy. I had a good friend who had migrated to Australia from Italy 30+ years before and, when I talked to her about my attempts to learn Italian, she told me about the difficulties she had experienced arriving here with no English. Then I saw an ad on the wall where I was doing the Italian classes asking for volunteers in a program to help migrant and refugee children with their school homework.  I joined that program and worked first with a young man who was between school and further study and went on to work with several other high-school students individually and in a drop-in centre.  I started investigating courses I could take to help me develop skills in helping these kids with their English, but the timing wasn’t good for me to start studying. 

Around the same time, I also did some volunteer assignments in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, developing skills of staff in local organisations in the areas I was working in at the time: library and information management, IT and website development.  During the fourth assignment, working with a sports newspaper in Hanoi, I was asked if I would teach English to groups of reporters.  It was ‘love at first class’!  I worked with two groups: one with advanced skills doing role plays of interviewing athletes and coaches and writing articles in English for their website; and the other, nicknamed 'The English class for people with a sense of humour', learning English through songs and stories and random activities and questions the learners brought to the lessons (very 'unplugged'!). 

Returning to Australia, I spoke to my Italian friend again and she told me about how her wonderful volunteer home tutor had helped her.  I immediately joined this volunteer program, the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) Home Tutor Scheme. During the 8 x 3-hour tutor training course, I could feel the passion of the teachers who were presenting the course.  We also got to ‘practice’ with the adults in the AMEP classes.  If I had fallen in love with the idea of teaching English in Vietnam, I was now completely infatuated after being introduced to these teachers and learners.  I interrogated the teachers to find out what I needed to do to work in their program and persuaded (begged) them into taking me on for a practicum, even before I had enrolled in a TESOL course!  Later I wondered if they had only taken me on because I was so persistent, but they said that they had recognised that I had the right attitude and aptitude for the work, which is why they went out of their way to help me.

I undertook a full-time Graduate Diploma in TESOL at a local University.  At the same time I was working around 20 hours a week (solely to pay the bills, but in a job I enjoyed), observing and practice teaching with the AMEP for 3+ hours a week, tutoring my Home Tutor Scheme (HTS) student, and also volunteering through the HTS to help run a conversation group at a local library.  It was an exhilarating year, learning so much in theory and in practice, but also exhausting trying to juggle all of these activities. 

All the hard work paid off with HDs in all subjects and a job!  I had impressed the teachers at the AMEP with my dedication and in turn I was grateful to them for sharing their professional expertise so readily with me and keen to work with them.  But this was just the start of my education as an English language teacher.  I have continued learning since: doing an MA TESOL, lots and lots of PD, learning from other teachers and, most of all, learning from the learners. 

When I first started teaching, I tried to keep my IT knowledge quiet as I just wanted to teach, and learn more about teaching.  But eventually, as I gained more confidence, I saw how I could apply my IT knowledge and skills to teaching.  I was also very happy to be able to give something back to the teachers who so patiently mentored me, in supporting them in using technology.  This has grown into a new role for me in my institution, and to more study, a Master of Online Education.  I will never stop learning.

Blog challenge: Compare and contrast

Here is my contribution to Brad Patterson's Blog challenge: compare and contrast photo which in turn was inspired by Anne Hodgson's Compare and contract post. Check out both of these for links to other blog contributions by my PLN-friends.

Here are two photos I took at and near my home in Canberra, Australia.

Can you see the lizards in these pictures?

I thought this might lead to some comparison and contrast in regard to visibility of the lizard in each picture.  How comfortable might each lizard be feeling in its surroundings?

Please feel free to post your thoughts.

The truth, and nothing but the truth!

Thanks Janet, Chiew & Fiona for your guesses on my Blog challenge: Truth or Lie? post.  Here I come clean and let you know the stories behind both the truths and the lies...

Number 1: I had a baby kangaroo as a pet when I was young.

FALSE! 
Well, this is a half-truth.  My father DID shot a kangaroo with a baby (joey) in its pouch!  He DID bring home the joey to our house in suburban Sydney, BUT I hadn't been born at that time.  I only have the photos of my sisters with the joey. Chiew, there probably wasn't a law against this 50 years ago, but there sure is now!
The photo above is of my dog Luca with a kangaroo on a farm in the country.  This kangaroo had grown up with the other dog in the photo so was unusually friendly to dogs.


Number 2: I lived in a bus for a few years.

TRUE!
I DID live in the bus in the photo for a few years (though I did occasionally stop travelling and stay in a friends' house).  I travelled about 60,000 km altogether over the eastern half of Australia, and had the most wonderful time.  This photo was taken in country Victoria during a heat-wave summer!
See the video at the end of this post for a short video about this journey.


Number 3:  I was given an award for good driving.

TRUE!
Quite a few years ago I was driving from Sydney to Canberra and, just outside a city called Goulburn which is notorious for Police patrols, I was followed for a while by a red car.  Then I was asked to pull over - I can't remember now if he used a siren, but he must have for me to know it was a Police car.  I was angry and immediately started to argue, but the friendly policeman just stopped me talking and smiled and said he wanted to give me an award for good driving because I had been doing everything right since he first spotted me!  He also gave me a few vouchers: for petrol, a ski pass, coffee at a local cafe, and more!  I've never met another person who has been pulled over for doing the right thing, so sometimes wonder myself if it really happened.


Number 4: I can speak PitjPitjantjatjara language.

FALSE!
I DID sign up for the online Pitjantjatjara language and culture lessons on the Ninti Ngapartji website, but I never really learnt how to speak the language.  The website used to be 'subscription only' but the video lessons are all freely accessible online now if you'd like to take a look.  It is an amazing way to learn a little about Pitjantjatjara culture and language.
There were over 250 languages in Australia before the British came here and dominated with English, but only about 60 are considered 'live' languages (source: http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/language/ )  There is an interactive Indigenous Language Map where you can see which part of Australia Pitjantjatjara is spoken and get a little more information about the different indigenous languages in Australia.


Number 5: I used to fly a paraglider.

TRUE!
I DID get my pilot licence and fly a paraglider.  I learnt to fly in a small place south of Canberra called Michelago, and when I was travelling around in my bus I found quite a few places to fly and people to fly with, from the mountains to the sea!  I haven't flown for a few years, and have a paraglider for sale if anyone would like to make me an offer :-)  (BTW, that isn't me in the photo. I couldn't find any good photos of me flying).

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the contributions to this challenge and hope you enjoyed mine too.

P.S. Doing this blog challenge has given me the courage to share a short video I made about my bus journey with my blog readers.  I made this as part of an excellent digital story workshop I did a few years ago - details at the end of the video.

Waving, Not Drowning

a digital story

Blog Challenge: Truth or Lie?

This is my contribution to Dave Dodgson's blog challenge to post a video, audio recording or just a regular post on your blog in which you state 5 facts about yourself - 3 truths and 2 lies.
 
I've been enjoying discovering more about my PLN-friends, and wanted to join in. I didn't make a video of myself speaking because I hate seeing myself on camera and also because I have the opposite of a 'poker face' and you would tell in an instant when I'm lying :-)  Thanks to Janet Bianchini for the idea for presenting my video using Powerpoint and a Jing screencast - though Janet's 'truth or lie?' post is much more creative than mine!

Please be patient, I'm testing video formats:

- this one is straight from Jing in .swf embedded from Screencast.com:

- this one was converted from the swf (from Jing) to mp4 in Camtasia Studio and loaded to YouTube:

Let me know which you think are my truths and which are lies.