Job hunting

I'm always keeping my eye out for jobs, both here and overseas. The local ones often provide me with entertainment... like this one...

The position is for an English teacher with a school:

"Total fluency and advanced level of knoledge. Preferenci is given to those finishing their B.A em Letras . Applicans will be trained and we offer good pay. To work in Vila Mariana near Santa Cruz Subway station."

I am also amused by the fact that a trade name here is called a 'nome fantasia' or 'fantasy name'. That about describes it, huh?

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
If you're an educator of any sort, or a mom, or someone who's simply interested, this is an engaging talk where Ken Robinson makes a very important point.

Reasons to smile

I got home yesterday to not one, but a few emails from prospective students. Three are old students returning and one is a new student referred by one of the old students!

I needed to be on the bus at 6am this morning. Typically, the dogs chose to spend the night barking at passing breezes, so sleep was a very long time in coming. The morning is delightfully fresh though. I think I can leave a smidge later next time, though sitting here in the little praça under the trees, listening to the birds sing and writing isn't a bad way to pass the time.

Today is one of those days I wish I had a camera with me. The bus passed an incredibly well done graffiti of Sasi Pererê. It was so eye-catching and a great way to show some of Brazil's culture. It also had a social message. This graffiti also had a social message, with the mythical creature asking a little boy why he is on the street and where his parents are. This image is from the web. It isn't the graffiti, but the closest I could find to what I saw.

From Wiki:

An incorrigible prankster, the Saci will not cause major harm, but there is no little harm that he won't do. He will hide children's toys, set farm animals loose, tease dogs, and curse chicken eggs preventing them from hatching. In the kitchen, the Saci would spill all salt, sour the milk, burn the bean stew, and drop flies into the soup. If a popcorn kernel fails to pop, it is because the Saci cursed it. Given half a chance, he will dull the seamstress's needles, hide her thimbles, and tangle her sewing threads. If he sees a nail lying on the ground, he will turn it with the point up. In short, anything that goes wrong — in the house, or outside it — may be confidently blamed on the Saci.

Walking up to the student, I spotted a bright butterfly that was narrowly missed by a car's wheels. I went to pick it up to take it to safety out of the busy driveway of the gymnasium, but it flew off. A moment later, it came back and settled on my hand. Now that was a gift!

Lost in Translation << Take a look at the image. It should open up very big. Tell me what you see is odd about this advertisement we received ; )

 

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Random thoughts

You are being watched...

Intently...

Only by some...

The cats truly believe they have dinner rights here.

The dogs believe they have sleep rights. Actually, they can't be blamed. It's too hot to do anything else, unless you're a stray cat believing you should be fed... Now.

I want that "You can't scare me. I'm an ESL teacher" mug.

There's a Metro Santana bus going from Zelina. Figured Tat would want to know ; )

Papers finally going off to be licked and stamped. That's the first step.

Found an agency for ESL teachers in Edinburgh. Now that's Kewl!

Jurgis could earn $300 - $700 per DAY as a body guard. He just needs to get into shape. On the other hand, I have his body guard services for free. Can't complain.

My student cancelled again! I spent 1h30 on the bus. She cancelled less than half an hour before her class AFTER I called to confirm her class this morning when she said, "Com certeza!" (Of course we'll have class!) Argh!

I got a McD's promotion in my mailbox for a grape smoothie. "Just print and take it to your nearest McD's Cafe." No problem. I took it in. "This promotion is no longer valid." Uh, yes it is. I pointed to the date for April. "Yes, but it is no longer valid for this branch." Huh?

Small... medium... large. Pequeno... medio.... grande. Lost in translation... or something. When we arrived here, I was confused because coffee came in two sizes, small and large (a 'large' being a whopping 150ml). I'd ask for a 'grande' (large), but was told they don't have large, only 'medio' (medium). Hm. So I got into the habit of ordering a 'café medio'. Today, I ordered a 'café medio' and she brings me a 'pequeno' (small). I questioned it and she says, "We don't have 'medio', only 'grande'" What the heck? Out of TWO sizes, she couldn't figure out that 'medio' is bigger than minuscule, which is what the 'pequeno' realistically translates to.

The table tops at Shopping Iguatemi are actually large floor tiles. Ingenious!

I got to speak to Debbie. We haven't spoken since I was pregnant with Tatiana. There was a lot to catch up with, but the conversation was remarkably 'same' as though time hadn't passed. We laughed really hard at some of the memories, like the time she opened the door to the new prospective buyers for their house and I went bouncing down their wooden steps on my butt, knocking the pot plants at the base flying. I'm known for making an entrance.

My friend, Alan, from way back when posted on his Facebook: "Every single one of you are on my friends list as a result of a conscious decision. I am not only glad to count you as friends but also as family!" 'Tis true, you know... each friend is consciously chosen and all good : )

It's hot. Yep... again and yes, I know I've said it before.

 

del.icio.us Tags: friend,immigration,thoughts,friends,work,students,brazil

A week in review

This is absolutely 100% Dingo!!


I really should write as life happens or it's all forgotten. I learnt that the hard way with Tat. I was preparing her birthday gift which called for memories of her childhood. I lost so much detail because it wasn't written down. I have an abysmal memory. Just this past week was so full and I've forgotten much of it.

The first couple of days were spent with little accomplishments... unpacking a box, finding space for the plastic-ware... that kind of thing. Tuesday, I was halfway to a student when she cancelled... again. Most annoying, but it did give me a chance to go home and get some stuff done. Wednesday passed in a haze of students. Thursday was much the same.

Friday, I went in to teach and while I was there, I finally got a battery for my watch. Great! You know what an absolute bind it is to have to keep checking your cell phone for the time? After my student in town, I rushed over to Tat's old student who was to take a bag with her to Tat. She is the girl who introduced Tat to that programme. It turned out that she couldn't take Tat's bag, as she'd over-packed and needed an extra case for herself. She could at least take Tat's glasses and her birthday gift, which was really small. No teddies (where's her priorities?). She did take the coffee Tat asked for though. I left her feeling Tat's loss all over again, although I know it isn't a loss, as it isn't permanent and we are in regular contact, the whole thing just made me super emotional.

At 7pm, I headed out to the last student of the week. Security called him, but there was 'no reply'. I reminded security that the last time he said there was no reply, the student was in his apartment waiting for me, so would he please try again. Still no reply.

I called the student on his cell. You know when someone answers the phone and you know right away they've forgotten. "Hello Joe (not his name)." Silence. "Oh, it's you! Um...  *choice word*! I'm 10 minutes away from home in the traffic. I'll be there now." I reminded him that I would be waiting out in the street for him for 10 minutes, so would he kindly hurry up. He arrived 20 minutes later, his wife's arms laden with shopping. Guess where they were. He'd forgotten. I let him know that I was really angry. Waiting like a spare part at the security gate isn't my idea of a Friday evening. The worst part was that I'd asked him if he was sure he wanted a class on the Friday evening and he insisted! Gah. Ok, I think he's learnt his lesson. I hope!

Saturday morning, it rained and rained some more. I had to do shopping. Jurgis and I trekked out to the supermarket and  hardware store. We needed a doorbell, some doorknobs, a kitchen tap, and a few other odds 'n sods. We did the grocery shopping, then walked home (we have a nifty shopping trolley... one of Brazil's better inventions). As we got home, yet another random relative arrived.

Again, the house was a disaster (though we did have cups and glasses this time) with groceries everywhere and still no seating to speak of. This was the brother of the cousin who visited last week. He brought his son, aged 12, I think, who was clearly bored out of his mind with the old men (sorry Jurgis) talking family tales all afternoon. I confess, I was bored too. I tuned out to the talk because I struggled to understand him. He was nice though. He later took Jurgis to meet his gran's sister or cousin or some such relative. They ended up visiting a few other relatives at the same time. I stayed home to go through a couple of boxes. We have a vital suitcase with all our personal papers in and 'someone' has mislaid the key. *writes Saturday off for doing anything useful* Truth be told, I was grateful for the quiet time at home. Jurgis arrived home close to 10pm.

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining... the first real sun we've seen in ages. The sky was blue with fluffy white clouds drifting by. Jurgis worked like a trojan. He got the washing machine upstairs, so it's now under shelter. He finished the dog gate. It's very grand... and very heavy! The gate is made from old shelving he found here, no less than mahogany. Thing is, it was made last week, but needed the hinges and catch put on. I cleaned up the 'garden'. I tossed a lot of unwelcome plants and weeded the rest. The curtains were completed and put up. A couple more boxes were dealt with. All in all... good : )

 

del.icio.us Tags: move,dingo,work,gate,visitors,family

Test chuckles and more

A student had to write a resume. He put his date of birth as '91, which is perfectly correct, but then added (quoted verbatim):

"I teaching English a 20 year and a native in England."

I must add that this is an advanced student *sigh* The part that made me chuckle was having taught English for 20 years, but was born in '91. The things we say under test pressure... ?!

Yesterday, I had a jaw dropping moment in the supermarket. Here, I often see folk helping themselves to supermarket food, usually produce, cookies, crisps and so on. I used to feel rather indignant, but then I got used to it. When I see old folk sampling the fruits and veg, I wish I could buy a whole pack for them. Pensions are terrible here and fruit and veg is expensive. This incident took the cake though. The woman had grabbed herself a loaf of whole wheat bread, a very costly bread here, half the size and almost double the price of normal bread. She also grabbed herself some ham and cheese and had actually made herself a sandwich! She was walking along, apparently stopping to check prices and taking a bite or two every time she stopped.

It seems we have a new student, an elderly chap who called while I was out teaching yesterday. I walked in and found Jurgis talking on the phone... and talking... and talking. I teased him, as I always do, that he kept the poor guy talking for hours. Today, Tat called him back and he talked... and he talked... and he talked. Her ear was beetroot red when she hung up! He is retired and loves travelling and he likes the sound of us and wants to know if we mind that he refers us to the rest of his travel buddies. He sounds sweet. He wants to meet the entire family, but especially Jurgis. Methinks my husband has himself a student ; ) We meet him on Monday.

Today (it's after midnight here) is a Civic holiday in the state of São Paulo.... only São Paulo. I have no clue what it is for. Fun. Oh wait, I keep forgetting. Google is my friend. According to Google, it is to commemorate the Constitutionalist Revolution (Revolução Constitucionalista) of 1932, also called the Paulista War. Anything remotely related to São Paulo is 'Paulista'. Hm... I learnt something tonight.

I noticed today that the world is full of unexpected kindnesses... a post office worker who let Tat pay instead of insisting, as usual, that Jurgis goes in; a pharmacist that goes out of his way to point out that there is a generic available; a daughter who does the dishes; a husband who shared the joke when the pot bungee jumped off the counter top

 

Technorati Tags: holiday,student,teaching,shopping

Jinxed

Ugh… click on the image to see the legible version =/

That is the word I taught my student tonight... 'jinxed'.

My day started with Jorge powering on my pc and making coffee. Yes, I know I'm lucky and no, he's not for sale (though good offers will be considered). I went to my pc, only to find it dead as a doornail. I think I'm jinxed. Seems the socket it was using on the strip connector is faulty. Ok, so we sorted that out and powered on only to be told by a morbidly black screen that my slave drive is facing an imminent implosion or something to that effect and that I'd be wise to back up the contents. Huh?! *disconnects slave drive just in case* We powered the pc on again and all went well until I got my first post-format blue screen. Can you see now why I think I'm jinxed?

I had a new student to go to. He's a retired gentleman who travels the world. He wants to go to Turkey for his next trip. He asked for an American teacher and got me. Poor thing. By no stretch of anyone's imagination do I sound like an American. I consider my accent to be pretty neutral, but American it is definitely not. He raved about his previous teacher who has returned home to Delaware for the winter. Seems he spends summers in Brazil and winters in the USA... Brazilian winters, that is. He'll be back here in October. I got home to find that he wants to try a different teacher, as he has trouble with my accent. He also wears a hearing aid and I'm notoriously soft-spoken.

I left the old man to go to my next student. In the process, I learnt something about myself. At night, I lose all sense of direction in the city. I tend to go by landmarks. Landmarks in the city at night change dramatically! Google maps and my own map book told me to take the bus on a certain road. That bus does not go down that road. It took a song and dance to get 'bus info' to give me the correct directions. My cell phone battery died while trying to get directions, so I missed a call from my student saying "not to worry... let's have the class tomorrow instead". I eventually found my way to her. Note to self: those boots are danged uncomfortable. Do not wear them for more than a couple of hours!! I have blisters under the balls of my feet. It was a lot of walking.

In short, I arrived home after 11pm. Tonight, I give myself permission to be disgruntled. Tomorrow is a new, albeit long, day.

Technorati Tags: buses,teaching,computer,work

All in a week's living

This has been one very intense week (understatement of the year). I'm sitting here trying to remember details from the beginning of the week and having trouble doing that.

Monday, I gave my students their test results. They failed dismally. Trouble is, they are lacking basic language skills and are being tested on intermediate understanding with questions like, "Which program sounds more polemic and is likely to attract many people? Why?" Now, 'polemic' is not a word taught to foreign language English students... teens at that. Polemic is the same in Portuguese, so basically, the students were being tested on their understanding of Portuguese, not their use of English and what teen uses the word 'polemic' anyway??? I walked away from that class feeling defeated.

That night, or was it the next day, Tat and I were in her room. She was trying to decide what to keep, take with, toss, donate, etc. We ended up going through old stored make up. There were some of my lipsticks from South Africa. What was I thinking? Other than the fact that they were good lipsticks at the time and had awesome colours. Well, as she was tossing, I was messing around, 'testing' each one. Uh.... I got a little carried away. We had a good laugh though. Note, I never usually wear makeup. I stop at lipstick and at a stretch, eyeliner and mascara (Tat insists) for special occasions. Ignore the frizzy hair... the current 'joy' of my life.

Wednesday rolled along. We headed out to Poupa Tempo with huge optimism, armed with copies of more documents than any state department could ever want. First, we went to the orange desk. No, we can't give you your RG (Brazilian ID). Yes, we know you had one before. We argued about Tat's constitutional right to an RG and showed all the documents. Ok, said the lady behind the desk. Go and pay at the 'bank' and take the slip to the desk at the 4th door on the left. We paid and went to the 4th door, found the desk in question. There were a few people behind us, but no major queue. Nice. Tat went in. I wasn't allowed with her. People came and went. It's very quick, they said. I read a chapter of the book I brought. Quick? They said around 5 minutes. The people who were after us had left ages ago. Tat eventually came out, her face registering her disappointment and showed me where they had drawn lines on the local version of her birth certificate. The wording was wrong!

They packed us off to the cartorio. The 'cartorios' are notary offices. There, we'd have to pay a fee and get them to change the wording. Ok, we could deal with that... except they weren't very obliging. It turns out that because the document was drawn up at the wrong office - don't ask me... it's a mystery - when we first arrived, we need an attorney to start a legal process to claim Tat's right to a Brazilian RG. That, according to a cousin of Jorge's, is a very long, drawn out affair. We then waged war on the bank within Poupa Tempo for a refund of our fee, as it was 'not their policy' to give refunds and don't we know the fee can be held for us. Until when, was what I wanted to know? The aliens are coming in 2012 and I don't want to be dealing with that paperwork then. They 'made an exception' and gave us our refund. Hmph! My one student commented today and wanted to know why they call it 'burrocracia' or 'donkey-cratics' because donkeys are rather more intelligent.

So now we have to apply for a visa at the offices of the British consulate. They are in Rio de Janeiro and they're sooooo easy to get hold of. Methinks they're hiding from Brazilian bureaucracy. Not to mention the fact that it will cost us a fair penny to get a visa *sigh* I think it's a conspiracy. Do you know that on the visa application form, they actually ask straight out if you're a terrorist or support a terrorist organisation? Who the heck answers that truthfully if they are?

Thursday morning, I collected a package from the post office. Rather big for the book I was expecting. In it was no less than a tartan teddy, a few other bits and bobs, including mixed spice for hot cross buns, and First Light, which I've been waiting for with the eagerness of a child before Christmas. It was worth it! I'm so lucky I have a job that has me whiling away my time on public transport. First Light was written by my friend, Michelle Frost. I know and love her writing, but the book drew me in... totally. It is science fiction and yet, not. It spoke of another world, yet one we could recognise easily. Full of hidden twists, riddles, symbolism... it was a light read, but a meaty one. The end was satisfactory, while leaving me with plenty of food for thought. Hm... methinks I should write a proper review ; ) In short, if you want something different to read, this book comes highly recommended by me.

That leaves today, which I fully planned to spend most of the day checking out the blogs of my friends that I'd been neglecting, as I only had two students. Uh... let's just say the day has gone by and I've achieved little more than zilch.

I'm having a good chuckle here. As many of you know by now, Yahoo 360° is finally dying... again... next month. So Yahoo, in all it's wisdom, gave us a tool to download our blogs. Tat and I thought we'd give it a try, just for the heck of it. My archive turned out to be all of 32mb. When I clicked to download it, I got an error. Tat wasn't so lucky. Yafooey coughed up her 'archive', which included all her images and... wait for this... ALL her blogs in one text file, running into one, in html format!!

 

Technorati Tags: bureaucracy,passports,sorting,michelle frost,teaching,first light,package

The potpourri of life

Today, our internet has been more down than up. I think it showed some life only when I went out to teach. I think it's hiding from me.

My one blog friend, Susan, is a music teacher in China. I love when she posts snippets from her classrooms. This was my early morning smile today:

Later in the hour, I allowed them to come to the piano and "create" a song. On the spot. This was interesting ~ and showed so many different aspects to the personalities in this class. For some, it was a way to transcend their struggle with learning a new language. For others, it was a way to show off what they already knew, what they've already been studying in private piano lessons. And for others ~ it was simply impossible to do. They were too shy, too new to a very foreign place from native lands such as Sudan, Yemen, and Finland. They need to watch and wait awhile.

One little boy from Germany confidently approached the piano with a knowing, expectant smile and played a lovely, sensitive piece he was obviously making up. I knew he doesn't take piano lessons ~ and what the piece lacked in musical structure was compensated for in emotion and peace.

As he walked away from the piano, I said, "Justus, how did you think of such beautiful notes to play?"

His bright blue eyes sparkled with light and life, "I looked at myself in the wood of the piano. I saw my heart. I saw my brain. And then the music came."

I've been a little quiet here. I had, on top of my other students, a new student who wants daily, sometimes twice daily classes on Skype, Monday through to Saturday. She suggested Sunday too, but... ! Each class is an hour and half long. It has been a juggle trying to fit her in and boy, is she hard work! Her English is fairly basic, but she needs advanced business English for some deals she's trying to pull off with an American company owned by Chinese business men who communicate in English. If you've ever heard the Chinese speak English, you may realise the challenge. Of course, not all Chinese speak challenging English, but my experience of them is that their English is hard to understand, especially for those not familiar with it. I have more options for students through Skype. I'm going to encourage it.

I spoke to my mom. It sounds like such a simple thing to do. The last time I spoke to her was briefly in 1994 when my gran died and I called to inform her and before that only in 1988 at the time of Ceinwen's funeral. She sounds old. Apparently she's not being cared for, not that it surprises me. She's stubborn too and refuses to go into a place where she can be cared for. I had so many questions to ask her. Perhaps I'll try when I call her again. Her speech, at times, was hard to understand. She's wheelchair bound now with Parkinsons. I don't know much about Parkinsons. My brother says she'll still probably outlive us. I'm half inclined to believe that is true. She's one tough old lady. My sister... it is so weird thinking of her as a woman. My mental image of her is as a innocent child of 7 or 8. She sounds confident in herself. I am now on a self-appointed mission to find her two kids. As my brother pointed out... "so there are more van der Merwes wandering around out there."

Tat has a student, a child, 7 years old. Her mother takes her Barbie dolls away because she messes the dolls' hair up. Some people are just odd.

My one friend wrote a very beautiful poem some years back. She put it on the net. It is now all over. Sadly, people have been passing it on without her name attached. Many are distributed as 'Author unknown'. Now someone has published a book with her poem in it as 'Author unknown'. The book has a massive copyright blurb in the front, but they took someone's poem without getting permission. Sad and so unfair.

 

Technorati Tags: ma,teaching,children,family

Teaching is an odd job

Well, teaching is an odd job if you teach the way I do.

Yesterday, the unit I was working on for this school had an exercise based on advertising. What advert do they give? Depilating cream. The picture was a crude sketch of a woman's legs and the text waxed lyrical about how it beats shaving and will leave your legs silky smooth. My student: "Huh?" To elaborate... my student is a Brazilian male, an accountant. Now, in Brazil, no one uses creams to depilate. They wax. Brazil is about wax. Then there's the fact that he's a single guy. What do single guys know about women's hair removal processes? I spent, I think, half the lesson getting him to understand what the lesson was about before we could get into the English part of the lesson.

A couple of weeks ago, my delinquent teens (ages 14 - 18), as I fondly refer to them, had to do a lesson on marriage and whether or not your love will last longer if you are friends first. The only girl clammed up and the guys muttered and looked awkward.

This morning, I had to do an exercise on stereotypes. The country of choice? America. The students had to justify the 'common' stereotypes related to America and a list was given.

1.   boastful and arrogant
2.   disrespectful of authority
3.   drunkard
4.   extravagant
5.   laid back
6.   ignorant of other countries and cultures
7.   informal
8.   insensitive
9.   lazy
10. loud and obnoxious
11. promiscuous
12. racist
13. wealthy
14. rude and immature
15. snobbish
16. stingy
17. think they know everything
18. uninformed about politics
19. always in a hurry
20. think every country should imitate the US

I found myself getting angrier and angrier as the list went on. No wonder they have such a low opinion of Americans if this kind of thing is reinforced in schools! The fact that the list came from an American university that interviewed foreigners doesn't help, in my opinion. I had one student who emphatically agreed with every statement until I asked her how many Americans she personally knows, that she can judge these things for herself. I then spoke about prejudice. Ugh... I'm meant to be teaching English!

I spent a longer than usual lesson this afternoon talking about dialects within the city, class distinction, ethnos-mixes, and the Brazilian constitution.

Yesterday I found my first student here in Brazil, or rather, Facebook found her for me. I started teaching two weeks after landing in Brazil. Patricia was a star student with excellent English she wanted to perfect, so that she could immigrate. She was a veritable sponge and would greedily lap up any and all information and correction I gave. She achieved her dream of immigration in 2004. Sadly, she's back in Brazil with major health problems. The curveballs life throws are sometimes really harsh.

 

Technorati Tags: teaching,work

Hermitage

 

I really wouldn't mind becoming a hermit... perhaps in the above location.

This morning, I found a large poodle wandering in the road. It was clean, well fed, tagged and collared. I called the number. No one answered. The dog was old. It had that milky film over the eyes. I stopped it going onto the main road. This was around peak hour traffic with loads of cars and buses. I asked many people if they knew which house the dog belonged to. No one knew. I eventually had to leave it, as I was already late for work. When I got home, I called the number again. "Oh," says the woman, "we always let him out for a walk. He goes for his walk and comes home again." This dog was nearly hit by two cars. Luckily they swerved. I was livid. How irresponsible! This isn't a quiet country lane! Grr! People!

When out, I love to stop and admire the gardens of some of the houses, even those with just a rose bush. One house has a larger garden area than most. It has been sad to see how they've ripped up the garden, cut down the trees and shrubs and put concrete. Today, I saw a patch of grass on the one side of the property and a bunny! I was standing gazing at the bunny with a stupid grin on my face. There was a 6 foot, heavily chained, gate between myself and the bunny. I was startled to hear, "Oi! Oi!" being yelled from the back of the property. Behind yet another gate stood a woman yelling at me. "What do you want?" She yelled very abruptly. I replied that I was just admiring the bunny. I live surrounded by concrete. Bunnies are not common. She continued to yell. I just shook my head and said not to worry... I wasn't about to steal the bunny.  *sigh*

We watched 'Ring of bright water' tonight. It was beautiful... and sad... and happy. I saw it as a young girl. I wanted to see it again and it's Tat's kind of movie too.

I made sausage rolls for supper! We haven't had sausage rolls since leaving South Africa. I made a mock boerewors (a South African farmer's sausage) to fill the sausage rolls. I had to finely chop some pork, as they don't mince pork here at all.

Not my photo... borrowed from Taste.com in Australia. The recipe looks interesting. Nothing I can cook if I want my husband to eat.


I've added another student to my 'collection', an unusual situation. She wants daily classes.... every day, but Sunday! I'm going to be teaching her using Skype. This is totally new and strange for me. I feel a little self-conscious teaching in front of Jorge and Tat and fitting this girl in is going to be a mission, but I get to sit at my pc and earn... less than I would by going out, but still fair.

Och aye... I finish teaching at around 4pm tomorrow, then it's weekend. That will be good : )

 

Technorati Tags: movie,student,work,life

Saturday thoughts

Well... sort of. I found tortillas in our supermarket the other day. Today I got a recipe for making tortillas that actually looks doable. Now the question is what to do with them, other than toasting them and making mock Dorito things. What is your favourite way to enjoy tortillas?

On a side note, I found a few things this week that really got me riled:

• an English 'teacher' colleague comes up to me and says, "I should talk to you. I need to practice my English." Argh! Good to know I'm valued for something... y'know... my magnetic personality and all that
• same English teacher teaches one of my students in regular school and proceeds to complain about him (note that she didn't remember his name) and speaks of his dyslexia as though that makes him a retard or something. I wanted to read her the riot act. I may still do that. Way to go... earning the respect of your peers. My student can't stand her. I wonder why. This student has far better English than the teacher in question. Go figure
  
• director of the school disrupts my class to tell me that she noticed that my delinquent class is behind schedule. Yay... go me. My students sit looking at us with saucer eyes. When she leaves, they proceed to blame each other on who disrupts the class the most. Got to love them. They're great kids really, just badly mismatched
• the student who brought that on is a) Never in class and b) Never says a word and doesn't participate in any way. She was worried that she hadn't done enough of the book to be able to pass the upcoming tests. Well, no duh... if you don't do anything in class, you're not going to be ready. She is in an upper intermediate course and doesn't know how to say, "I don't understand"
  
• men who feel that beating a woman is a manly thing to do - 'nuff said
• someone who thinks that typing a business e-mail in caps lock is professional
• I'm a sap. I go to confront someone on a serious work related issue and end up feeling sorry for them an the issue never gets dealt with

All that aside, it is a glorious day here... warm and sunny, but fresh. I rather wish all of summer was like this. I have a long weekend ahead of me. Tuesday is a public holiday, so the schools are closed on the Monday. Banks and supermarkets are open, though, so I'll be able to get some errands in. I might even fit some more sewing in this weekend. That would be good.

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

 

Technorati Tags: etiquette,teaching,tortilla,angry

Photo of the month

The photo that, for me, represents this month is an old one, as I've barely picked up the camera this month. How to represent this whirlwind month? In short, I've spent a lot of time on buses. This is the bus terminus closest to the recording studio.

Tuesday, Tat and I were meant to go for a test and interview at a recruitment company. Tat came down with a vicious stomach bug, so we postponed. Instead, I went with Jorge to get my worker's book, another piece of documentation I need to be employed in this country. Turns out that, because I am a foreigner, I needed to go to a different location.

Wednesday, Tat and I went into the recording studio. The publishers are pushing to get this range of material out by mid-April. Both Tat and I had recording work this time. I'm fairly pleased with the way mine went. We got home rather late.

Yesterday morning, Tat and I headed back into town to find the department that would deal with my worker's book. We weren't sure exactly where it was and discovered new parts to the inner city. I wish... I wish I could carry the camera to share the sights with you! We found the building. Luckily, we were in and out there. I was the only foreigner, so the wait was minimal. Unfortunately, because I'm a foreigner, the book isn't immediate, as it is for locals. I have to go back in to collect it when it is ready.

When we were done at the Ministerio de Trabalho, we went to Shopping Light where I reactivated an old clothing account. I love my new-found freedom of being able to quote my own financial and work details. For those new to my list, trust me, it's been a very long road of being pretty much invisible here.

We made our way back through town, stopping to open a clothing account at a different store. We made our way back via Sé to Liberdade. When heading for the bus, we heard a dog bark. That was very odd. This was city center with high rise office blocks. It turned out to be a dog belonging to a homeless man, one who pushes his cart, rickshaw style, around the city, collecting goods for recycling, selling or using.


I was looking for a pic of one of these carts and found one here, along with an article on bureaucracy-free banking in Brazil. That is something of a jaw-dropper for me. Another good example of one of São Paulo's cart guys can be found here.... a very realistic scene. Getting back to the dog. The dog was barking because a second cart guy had come too close to his owner's cart. He was free-roaming, as the dogs of the homeless usually are, but he defended his owner's cart fiercely. This dog had no 'territory'. His territory, like his owner's, was that cart. It was amazing to see. I wish I could have photographed it. Speaking of dogs, do visit this slide show. It is fabulous. Read the description on each dog : )

We got on the bus to go home and had gone but a few blocks when we got a call. Could Tat come in for a recording. We hopped off the bus, walked the few blocks back to the metro station and headed out to the studio. I got home just in time to eat and go to my evening student. Let's just say it was tiring.

This morning, after teaching the morning run, I went in with Tat to bank. I opened a second bank account, as everyone heaves and sighs when I mention the other bank (not a popular one for deposits, being a state bank). It went beautifully. I may just grow to like banks ; ) We resolved the 'misprint' on my other bank card. Turns out my name is too long for the bank card, which was why it was cut short.

When we got home, I got an e-mail from the recruitment agency that there was a school looking for teachers. I called them and it is just the school I've been aiming for! If I can get in with this school, I'll be able to teach for them anywhere in the world and they have excellent benefits. They're the best paying school in São Paulo. The test and interview was so that I could apply to teach at this school. Now it turns out that my profile fits what they're looking for and they wanted me in for testing/interviewing. All a happy more-than-coincidence. Tat has been called in too. I'm thrilled!

What a month. I was just looking back at my calendar and most events from earlier in the month feel like years ago.

Technorati Tags: buses,march madness

CCN

Back home, the car license plates always had an abbreviation that told the world which town you're from. CCN was the abbreviation for Uitenhage. As with all things, we'd add to it, jokingly. CCN, for example, stood for (in our humour) "Courtesy costs nothing", just as CAW (for the town, George) stood for "Cold and wet". Port Elizabeth's (my hometown) number plate was CB, which we maintained stood for "Come back", as those who left the town invariably returned. The car pictured here was our 'old faithful'. The odometer had ticked over twice. We did over 250 000km in that car. It was eventually sent to happy driving grounds when a newly installed exhaust fell off on the freeway, which inspired the cops to take a closer look at the rest of the car. Let's just say that car had been through the wars and more. We loved our canary-yellow Toyota : ) This photo was taken at Yellowoods, outside PE (Port Elizabeth). The park was named because of the abundance of Yellowood trees growing there.

Hm... now why was I going on about number plates? Oh yes! I went to the supermarket, which was overflowing. Queues for everything going on for miles upon miles. I had a basket with a few items, bread being the bulkiest. The 'express' queue wove itself up and down a couple of isles, so I scrapped that idea and parked myself in a queue with a couple of trolleys (carts to you). My mind was drifting over the week and I wasn't paying much attention to the people around me until a man in the next queue who had two trolleys tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if that was all I had. "Yes," I said and he offered to let me go before him. That was so nice. It is rare to encounter that here. It made my day.

Kippy suggested I blog about a typical day teaching. That is something of a misnomer. 'Typical' doesn't exist in my teaching world.

The students I used to have were interesting enough. I taught most of them for a few years, though I did have students who didn't last, such as R. Now he would arrive at my class (at his offices - all my students back then were taught at their places of work or at their homes) and within moments, he'd be fast asleep. Now I know that I'm not the most charismatic person I know, but... ! It turned out that he used to go to nightclubs (this is during the week) until 5am, Sleep an hour at home, go to work, then catch up on sleep during my class, which was during the lunch hour. Then there was C. She was sweet. She's Japanese, but born here. She had a book on business English, which we were making our way through, but we didn't make much progress. Our discussions were just too interesting. We became fairly good friends. I was sorry to stop teaching her when we moved out here, but to start her class at 7am, I'd have to leave home at around 5am *shudder* I'm not a mornings person. Then there was L and her kids. I've mentioned them before. I started out teaching her at work, but she asked me to teach her privately at home and take on her kids too. Their English was far in advance of the English they did at school and she wanted them to learn more advanced English in a fun environment (translate that to 'surrounded by the toys and games'). The condition was that Tat goes with to speak English to them while they play (yeah right... show me kids who'll, unsupervised, speak a foreign language while playing). I was to teach the mom first, while Tat 'taught' the kids, after which I'd teach the kids using books. They loved lessons I'd create from the Goosebumps and Hardy Boys series. It was for them that I created a Scrabble set... no board, just the letters, made from card with points, with which they had to make words in Scrabble style. The rule was that they had to use the dictionary, so they'd learn new words. The mom would sometimes give us the most divine Creme de papaia with Licor de Cassis in summer as a snack. Omg! Delicious. That, alone, would have kept me going back there.  Creme de papaia is basically papaya blended with vanilla ice cream. Over this, you pour Licor de Cassis. The kids had theirs with Groselha, a syrupy 'juice' made from a local fruit. I had a lawyer, a financial director for Playland (the local amusement park... he stopped because he was always travelling and just couldn't keep up), a psychologist specialising in bariatric surgery cases who needed English for overseas conferences, a group of engineers who were working on the of our underground system, a handful of computer programmers, and a couple of housewives who were just looking for something 'more' in their lives.

My students and classes are very different now. I'm teaching at a school... no more traipsing around to students, though the co-op I'm registered with wants me to go back to teaching business English at the companies. My schedule doesn't allow for that though. So far, I have R. He is a tax accountant with an English bank. All their courses are apparently in English, so he needs to study. He's a quiet sort of chap, but interesting to talk to. He's intermediate and is working through a book that involves discussion, listening (we listen to recordings on cd and he answers questions on them), grammar and vocabulary exercises and so on. The class lasts an hour and is before work in the morning. I have two groups I teach using what they call open conversation. The book is a series of images in subjects and we are to have two hour long discussions of those images... not as easy as it sounds. What do I know about verbs related to rock climbing and ice hockey? The one group is a group of teens ranging from 15 to 19 years, except for one talkative chap who is 38. Their English is fairly good though. Then I have F who is delightful. She is so enthusiastic and I love teaching her, if for no other reason than she showed me how to use the DVD player *blushing* Here I was, (I don't own a TV and haven't had one for over 15 years) faced with a TV and slimline DVD player... and a video player. There were at least 5 remote controls. Help! She has both video and audio in her classes to improve listening skills. The rest is discussion. She asked to be taught by me because she wanted the challenge of hearing a native speaker, as opposed to a local teacher. Her classes are at night. She works in marketing. I suspect that one of the teens I teach is her son, as he studies at the same school. Then I have M who is sweet enough, but getting her to stick to English is tough. The moment she is 'lost', she breaks out in very fast Portuguese. When I got her as a student, I didn't know that she had already started the book we're on, so I prepared the first unit. I got to class and ended up having to 'wing it' when I discovered she'd already done that. I embarrassed myself this Saturday though (I teach her on Saturday afternoons for 2 hours, right after my teens, who are also for 2 hours), as I had just moved on from the teens. I hadn't had the book to prepare the lesson from this week, as there is a shortage of books in the school, so I rushed into her class, opened the books I'd just been handed, saw the unit I didn't recognise and proceeded to teach. She said nothing. It turned out that it was one of the lessons she'd already done before getting to me. Ugh. No problem... consider it revision. The school's director thought it was amusing and said, when I lamented that M didn't tell me she'd already covered that, that this student was one I could throw anything at and she'd quietly take it *sigh*

I have two sets of groups waiting that I haven't met yet. The schools here start tomorrow for the year. On Friday, Carnival week starts, during which time, nothing functions. Only after that will we get on with actual school and life will settle into a routine of sorts.

There! Have I made up for my lack of blogging during the week? ; )

Technorati Tags: courtesy,teaching,license plates

Do I or don't I?

Naturally, I do. I don't want to, but I will.

Jorge had to go into the village yesterday to resolve a tax issue. It was hot again. We've had a couple of days of what I consider typical Brazil weather, blazingly hot day with temperatures around 97°F (37°C) and thunderstorms in the late afternoon, early evening. He took very long coming home, which surprised me, as we've all been pretty much staying indoors to escape the heat. It turns out, he had met up with a buddy of his who asked him about English classes. It's well known around here that we're English speaking. He told this friend that I was the one who taught and that I'd give him a call later to arrange classes.

This is where the "do I or don't I" comes in. When we moved here, I gave up my students. The travel time and cost made it impractical to continue, as they were all right in town. One student would require 3 buses. For the amount I earned, it wouldn't be worth it at all. At first, I thought of taking up with an English school here, but once we'd moved in, I got hopeful that I could earn a living with my photo restoration and photography. I've been trying to phone this prospective student, but so far haven't managed to catch him at home. Typically, they only want an hour a week anyway, so its not such a big deal. We'll see how that goes.

Today, we got caught in a heavy storm rainfall when going into the village. We got thoroughly soaked and enjoyed it immensely. This evening, while figuring out the colour codes for my page here, I was listening to Andy Stewart (courtesy of Paula) who I found quite by accident.

I grew up listening to Andy Stewart. My grandad, Jim, as many of you know already, was a Scot. I think he would listen to Scottish Soldier when he was feeling homesick. He must surely have been homesick at some point. I can understand that. Hm.... perhaps I'll put some music in here. Everyone knows "Scottish soldier", but who of you know what this song is all about.......

Did I lose you there?