Month: March 2016

Supportive Family?!

Jemma Jones

Today I have been talking to my family; it is my sister in law’s birthday and we were spending some time together, about about doing the internship with i-to-i TEFL to Thailand. Firstly, they were all happy for me that I had *finally* (in their eyes) a decision. Then they asked about how I would get into the internship…I explained the process and the price. This was when they thought that i-to-i was not a legitimate company because I was paying to go on an internship. I directed my brother to the website; as I do with any inquiry about the company or any of the programmes that they have created. He saw the price for the current intake for Thailand and was shocked. I explained that I would get a reduced rate as I was already qualified (I am hoping that is still the case?!). I would need to pay the price given time and then I would need to organise my flights.

This was when he began to fully understand what was happening. However, my mum not so much. All she had to say was that I needed to pay off all my debts before I went! What does she think I have been doing for the last four/five years while I have been studying?!

On a brighter note; I have given up on Vinted as nothing was selling. I am going to donate all the items I had on there to a local charity. My Starbucks card collection is slowly going; which is a relief as it was taking up too much space (there are still some cards there if you are a collector?!). I am now reading more as it is now the Easter holidays here in the UK. I want to read as many books as possible and then I can sell them on (or BookCross them on, I haven’t decided on that yet!).

Also on April 1st, the first Camp NaNoWriMo of the year starting. I have currently decided to write more of my novel that I started in 2011; but recently I have been thinking about creating a book or resources for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Has anyone else done this? I have looked around on Teachers Pay Teachers and seen what people have created and what they charge – it could be a possibility in the future. I will need to do some more research.

I just want to know that dates for the October intake now for Thailand. So, I know how much I need to get sorted as I don’t want to be rushing at the last moment!

Learning the Lingo…

Jemma Jones

learn-the-lingo

I have been thinking about what I can do while I am on my TEFLing adventures. I have come to the conclusion that learning the lingo would help me the most in whatever Country I go to work in. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I am a user of Sign Language – currently fluent in British Sign Language and I am brushing up on my American Sign Language ready for my upcoming trip to the States.

I have been doing some research on the languages that are used in the three counties that i-to-i TEFL offer – Thailand, Vietnam and China. Sadly the Vietnamese and Chinese internships both start on the same day (20th August 2016) and I am unable to go, as I will have only just returned from America. The Thai internship does not start until October (I still don’t know the actual date; as it is not on the website yet!) and the May internship is still being advertised. I wonder if there has not been enough interest in the internship. I want to get all my finances in order; if it means I have to do some extra work either online or with my “real life” jobs, I will do it!

logoI have been looking at learning Thai when I am on the internship; we are going to be given some Thai Language lessons that GES will provide me with some basic and fun Thai Language training to help you with your day-to-day life in Thailand. However, I want to learn Thai Sign Language (TSL). I know that I would have to have the basic understanding of the “spoken” language before I could fully understand the Signed Language. I wonder if GES could point me in the direction of being able to learn TSL when I am out there. mtsl2balphabet2bthai2bsign2blanguage

I have a very basic knowledge of Nepalese Sign Language (NSL) and I would if I will be able to pick up TSL as quickly as I did NSL. It has been a few years since I did any NSL; as I was at University.

Has anyone else learnt the lingo of the country that they are working in? Would you recommend that I do learn the language?

Struggling once again…

Jemma Jones1 Comment

Now I remember why I found the first Grammar course hard; as what I see as “errors” in the text given to me to not “errors” seen by the Tutor. This saddens me a little.

Has anyone else who has completed the Advanced Grammar Course had problems with the course? I am on the final part of the course; the checkpoint and I have already done one attempt (we are given only three attempts!)

Overview

You will complete an error analysis of a student’s piece of writing.

Assessment criteria

  • All task requirements are met
  • Twelve errors are identified.
  • All twelve corrected forms are accurate.
  • Rules are described with sufficient accuracy.

Task instructions

Read the following text written by an advanced student of English. It contains fifteen grammatical errors. All the errors reflect rules you’ve studied in the Advanced Grammar course.

This is the start of the Checkpoint; simple enough right?

Mobile Devices and Language Learning

Most young people use the mobile phones in their everyday lives, and now they want using them to learn English.

Do we can learn that way? I think we can learn that way.

There are many uses of mobile phones technology which can help us improving our English.

Some learners use them to look up and translate words, that they see. This is much more convenient than carrying dictionary around with you.

Some learners record English on the street so that they listen to the recording later. Because they can replay it to understand every word.

Other learners enjoy to use mobiles to practise reading and listening, or even to connect with other English users and practise communicating. They ask other students where can they find the best sites for this.

Some teachers think that mobile phones are a distraction, and so do not let students to bring them to class. I ask them to stop thinking: mobiles can be a great way of practising English. Students will love English because of love technology.

This is the text; there are TWELVE errors; the feedback from the Tutor says that out of the twelve I found two are incorrect. *sad face* Also two of the suggested corrections for two items are not accurate.

There are to parts to the question; finding the errors and correcting them is the first part of stating the rules of six of the twelve errors. The tutor stated that all six of the rules I stated were incorrect.

Anyone willing to help me out here?! I don’t want to waste £50 for extending and £35 on the module!

I’ve finally extended….

Jemma Jones

I have finally got round to extending my TEFL course (once again!) I was halfway through the Advanced Grammar course and I had just received my Checkpoint feedback from the tutor. I cannot wait to get back into the swing of things.

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As for my Internship/Job hunting; I have been looking in Europe and focussing on Thailand as my Internship choice. Sadly, both the China and Vietnam Internships both start on the same day – 20th August 2016. This is the day after I return from my trip to America and I would have to leave on the 19th to arrive in China/Vietnam on the 20th. I do not think that I would be able to get all that I needed for six months (or thereabouts), leave the airport and return within three or fours hours. So, fate has given me only one choice – Thailand. I am excited about this and I am just waiting for the closing date to arrive for the May intake to come and then I will start applying! I need this in my life. At my current job; I do not know where I am going to be based in when September arrives. The worst case scenario will be one Signer and one Teaching Assistant (TAs). There are six TAs and about 15 Signers; where will our jobs be? I think that it is time that I stop thinking of others and get myself happy. I am never going to achieve anything unless I push myself.