Week 10 : Not an end, a restart !

And  we  reached  the  end  of  our course.  During  ten  weeks,    we have  been  focused  on  a   great adventure :   " The Adventure of  becoming learners once more " And quite an adventure !  I would like to reflect , from the bottom  of  my  heart ,on  what  this experience has been to me.


" Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web "   Wow !  I   started reading the first mail that  our  core instructor  sent  us  and I  realized  I was going to be involved  in a real adventure. Where should I begin? The blog! Oh yes! I had heard about blogs.  I  had  seen  many  of  them  posted  and  I  had even read some of them.  But  having my own one... ?  This  certainly  was  a challenge.I had a helpful handout in my hands but I still was not sure. What if I made a mistake ?   Or  if I  spent so much time on  this  leaving  even  more  interesting matters aside ?  

                            
I asked for help to my colleagues at school , the week before my summer holidays started, and it was good !   They  were really helpful. I asked for help to our instructor,    I tried on my own again and  it was great! I ended  up by having " two "  at  the  end  and a  draft ( I guess the last one cannot be counted here )  I  have  one   where  I only  posted   about  the first  week  and this final blog. That  was  the  first  lesson  that  I  learned : To diminish  the  level of anxiety. To  teach  myself   the  same  things  we  always  teach  to  our students : To  trust  oneself  and  the  people around  you,  to have the conviction  that, if you are really into something,  you can  accomplish  your goal,  even  if  it looks hard at the beginning. And I did ...

                                                          
My second task was to learn to organize myself,  to  try a routine for a couple of days and see if it worked well. If not, I would  try another one. To organize one ' s work was useful for me. I  gave all   readings  and  assignments the same degree of importance, so I needed  to make the best use  of  my  time to fullfil  the requirements of the course. At  the  end, I can only say that  I do not know  if  I  did  everything  right, I  just  know  that  I  was  there.


Deciding  on  the level,   was another issue,  too   and  I must  confess  that I kept  changing  my   decision quite often. Older or younger students ?  Finally,  I   made up my mind and chose my younger students at school  (  I  dedicated  a  task  to  the  university  students, too though )  When I narrowed my search, I started searching information and focusing my readings on " elementary students "  but  I  did  not  leave aside  a lot of interesting  data I found for older learners, too. Our biggest goal ? The final project. As I was working on it, I was trying to  imagine my students in the different situations I added : The pronunciation tool, the online games and a final small blog based mainly on pictures, that I planned for them. This  course  based on technological tools has motivated me quite a lot.  You end up with a feeling of keeping on searching and finding things out. I know  I will probably  not  have much available time ahead now that I am back to work, after the holidays, but I will certainly try to find the time to continue this wonderful search.

A  big  thanks  to  the  American  Embassy  and to the University of Oregon for giving educators around  the  world  this  great  opportunity  of  keeping on learning and improving their language skills. A big and special thanks to our instructor Janine for her support and quick response to our needs,  for  her positive  and constructive  feedback  and  for  providing  an effective and friendly learning atmosphere.  All  of  this increased our desire of not being " absent "  from  her class. A big thanks to the guest moderators in the course, who provided more insights into our learning ,and  a big  thanks  to my partners for giving me the opportunity of learning a little bit more about  people  from different  parts of the world. I probably did not "meet them all " but I read posts  quite  often  and  that  gave me some insights into their culture. Thanks for allowing me in and comment on their blogs and for the nice comments I received on mine.


In Week 9 , I wrote " A Teacher 's Thanks " from my pocket book " Hugs for teachers " Before I finish, I would like to share something else from this book :


From the section  "  A Teacher is " 


                                " ...  You are a diplomat
                                   and an acrobat.
                                   You are a farmer.
                                   You are a friend.
                                   You tell stories.
                                   You mend fences.
                                   You build dreams.


                                   You ' re an instructor
                                   and a trainer,
                                   a communicator
                                   and demonstrator.
                                   You ' re a Teacher !
                                   You 're Incredible !
                                   You 're Supreme !


I still cannot believe that this is my last task in the course; but this is not the end anyway, but a
restart.
As always " see you online " I know we will see each other  somewhere
                                                                                                           someday
                                                                                                                 sometime ...
A big hug.
Denise.