Keep It Going

Well, I am now at the half way mark of my TESOL certification course. While taking it, my thoughts range from, "Oh, I know this"! to "Oh crap, what are they talking about?" My grades are in the middle to high 90's, so I guess I am doing something right!

In addition to the certification, I continue to lead (the badly attended) English Conversation Circles at a local Elementary school. When I finish my training for the NOW (Neighbors On Watch) program with the Vancouver Police Department in a few weeks, I will get my Wednesday nights back. So I will then be able to volunteer at an additional (well attended) English Conversation Circle at the library.

I've also talked to a local ESL teacher at Clark Community College and got a comprehensive lay of the land: job outlook, salary, what students are like, etc. (Hard to impossible to find FULL time work, pay is low, student comprehension tends to be at a basic level.)

And since life cannot be all about TESOL certification it's also time to change my weight lifting and swimming routines.

For swimming, I am changing the routine by adding 400 yards (8 laps) and incorporating more kick sets (using the kick board). This means I am up to 1200 yards (~3/4 mile).

For weight lifting, I am changing to a new routine, Oxygen Magazine's Head To Toe Training (May 2013 p. 118-120).

Ok, take a break when you need to, stay hydrated, and keep it going!

Get It Started

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I now have a fancy new laptop (ThinkPad T430) with the newest version of Flash. Plus it's portable! Did you all know about this? It's quite a nice feature.

And with said laptop in place, I was able to officially sign up for my TESOL* Certification course. I am doing the 100 hour course through LinguaEdge ($250). After signing up and paying, I was able to crank out two units in about 2 hours. Two units out of a total 44. Ok, so not very far, but certainly farther than I was yesterday with ZERO units done.  I will do my best to work on it 20 hours a week, and hopefully can get it done relatively soon.

While there are a few glitches in the system (why no home button? why always back?) it's been quite fun. There are little interactive games ("match this word to its possible origin") every so often, which nicely breaks up all the text reading. It is also possible to download each unit in PDF, so I will now have copies to review from now until the end of time.

I will try and do 3 units (and an end of module project, 4 units=module) tomorrow and report back if I survive! Wish me luck!


* Often required to teach English abroad. Often required, along with a college degree, to teach in an Adult English Language school in the United States.

Make A Course Correction: Part 2

Ok, where was I? Ah yes, the epiphany. Once I realized that changing the population and subject of what I would teach could fix most of the problems, I became overjoyed. And I realized, whether the subject is swimming, insulin pumps/diabetes, exercise, etc. I am and always will be a teacher.

So I began researching what it takes to teach English to Adults in the United States (most language schools require a Bachelor's degree and a TESOL certification, community colleges require a M.A. in TESOL or an equivalent.) And also outside the U.S. (sometimes just a Bachelor's degree, but a TESOL certification helps a lot.)

Note: You have ESL=English As a Second Language (student lives in the U.S. but is a non-native speaker) and EFL=English as a Foreign Language (student lives in non English speaking foreign country and is learning English), if you combine them you have TESOL=Teacher of English of Students of Other Languages. Confusing? Yes. It took me a good week to sort all of that out.

I asked my husband, and I asked my Mom, "Does this job sound like a good fit for me?" and they both answered, "Yes".

I talked with people in the field, I attended local English Conversation Circles (I couldn't believe how quiet and well behaved the students were. What a difference from what I am used to!), I contacted local language schools to find out what they liked to see when hiring, and I spent a lot of time thinking.

And so, in the next week or so I will begin my 100 hour TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certification. I have chosen an online, self-paced program so that I can still accomplish my other goals. And I am also now leading an Adult English Conversation Circle held at my local elementary school. I've been having lots of fun sketching out possible lesson plans for the program and thinking of fun teaching tools.

After my certification is complete, I plan on looking for a teaching job at an English language school. And if that goes well, I will start thinking about getting a Master's degree.

Wish me luck!

Make A Course Correction: Part 1

After a recent horrible phone interview, which left one of us in tears of frustration (Can you guess who?) I decided to take a step back from my job search.

Way back, back to high school and personality type tests. I took one and I came up with "Harmony Seeking Idealist"

Your personality type: "Harmony-seeking Idealist"

Quietly forceful, original and sensitive. Tend to stick to things until they are done. Extremely intuitive about people and concerned for their feelings. Well-developed value systems which they strictly adhere to. Well-respected for their perseverance in doing the right thing. Likely to be individualistic, rather than leading or following.

Careers that could fit you include:

Counselors, clergy, missionaries, teachers, medical doctors, dentists, chiropractors, psychologists, psychiatrists, writers, musicians, artists, psychics, photographers, child care workers, education consultants, librarians, marketeers, scientists, social workers.

Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. The full description of a Harmony Seeking Idealist blew my mind even further. This was me on paper. Someone had put into words the things I often can't. And so I decided to stop comparing myself to others and start celebrating my uniqueness.

And if someone had already figured out possible career paths of someone with my personality type, then why not start there? But I had already tried some of those careers (SpecialEd teacher, social worker, psychologist, child care worker) and kept getting stuck.

And then I was hit with a pretty bad cold. A stay in bed unless eating or going to the bathroom cold. Too sick to watch T.V. but not well enough to read and so I just lay there and pondered: How can I have a job in a profession I am well suited for while avoiding previous issues? And it finally came to me: change the population and change the subject. Rather than kids, it will be adults. Rather than SpecialEd it will be English... (to be continued)

You Live You Learn

I've been getting allergy shots since November and when I tell people about it I get asked the same question. "Did they make your seasonal allergies go away?" I would reply that I wasn't sure yet because I wasn't sure when my season started. Well, April 1, 2013 it started. And the answer to the above question is NO!

Monday I felt sick to my stomach. Tuesday I felt like someone unplugged my battery and today I feel like I have the flu, so I can see how last year, since I had never had seasonal allergies before, I did not know what was going on for months and months.

But this time, I am prepared. I should be back to normal in a few days thanks to my extra medicine and my knowledge that I shouldn't open the windows to let the fresh air in (I had to put up a note to reinforce this issue with myself). And I've already made some notes, so that next year I can be ahead of the game: When the birch trees start to have green leaves, start the nasal spray!

Ok, back to bed for me.

It's O.K. To Cry

I've been called sensitive, dramatic, tender and soft, and it's all because when things really move me, I have the tendency to cry. I often try to hide it, especially when no one else in the room is crying, but I have also found it has some nice benefits: 1) stress release 2) sinus relief 3) dry eye relief.

So, here are 3 random things that brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat this week:

1. The singing of The Star Spangled Banner at the Portland Winterhawks game. Francis Scott Key & John Stafford Smith created a masterpiece that gets me every time. When I saw the actual flag at the Smithsonian a few years ago, I pretty much lost it.

2. The movie, Temple Grandin. Actress Claire Daines does an amazing portrayal of Temple, one of the preeminent livestock handling equipment designers in the world, who also happens to have autism.

3. An article about Amy Pankratz, in Woman's Day magazine, about how she sews superhero capes for ill children.

So, what moves you tears?

Don't Use Food As A Drug

I realized lately that over the years, I have had a number of male friends who were/are obese. While most people considered them to be scary or mean, I have found them to be the sweetest guys I know.

When my friend J. enters the pool, I can see strangers visibly stiffen when they see him. I think it's because he takes up so much space. It truly looks like he could hurt you, if he wanted to.

I gently asked J. about this and he mentioned that most people are mean to him. If he goes to a bar and there is a guy who's had a bad day, he always goes up to J. to try and pick a fight. J. is often quick tempered, and I think this is a reaction to this common situation.

Meanwhile, having had conversations with various obese friends, I keep finding that something or something along the way has hurt the guy and he has turned to food for comfort (although he usually doesn't acknowledge this). I've heard stories of being bullied in school, being bullied in the military, and of betrayal by loved ones.

So, while others see this big mean man, I see this little boy in pain, who has surrounded himself with a "protective" layer of fat.

And my friends always seem to be on a new path to weight loss. "I'm gonna be a vegan! I will do Weight Watchers! I will do P90X! I will work harder, I will fix it! Yes, I will". And then a month or two later they stop, gain back the weight and the cycle starts again.

I try not to be preachy, I try to be a friend, to support them and model good behavior. But I want to be helpful, I want them to heal. So, since I know that right now they are probably not in the right mental space to  hear me, I will send this message out to the internet hoping that it finds them.

Keys To Sustained Good Health

1. Know that when people are mean to you, it is because they are scared. This doesn't excuse them, it just explains it a little better.

2. You need to find a non-food way to deal with stress or to celebrate. I know that food is cheap, easy and often pushed at you by various sources (commercials, parents) but it is not the solution. Do not use it as a drug.

3. You need to heal whatever it is inside that is hurting so badly. This may mean therapy, this may mean medication, suck it up and do it. 

4. SUSTAINED WEIGHT LOSS WILL NOT WORK UNTIL #3 IS ADDRESSED

5. Ditch the fad diets and learn traditional nutritional basics: serving sizes, fiber, whole grains, etc.

6. Know that fitness is a life long journey. You will only be done when you are dead.

7. YOU DESERVE TO FEEL BETTER.

Grow Some Neurons

I've been feeling a little uninspired lately. While fitness stuff is going well, the job search continues to drag on. But I have some new ideas so stay tuned. After talking about this with a new friend, I had the idea to start looking at online courses and seminars instead of watching stupid television shows. (Good-bye, The Mindy Project and New Girl.)

So, as of a week or so ago I am watching about 5 TED talks a week (focused on business, psychology and human nature) and 3 lectures a week from Stanford University's eCorner series. The TED talks are only about 15 minutes long and the eCorner talks range from 45-60 minutes.

All the talks are free, and I have learned at least one interesting thing from each. (And a lot about how to give a good presentation.) So far, my favorite eCorner talk is by Adam Lowry of Method and my favorite TED talk is Temple Grandin's The World Needs All Kinds Of Minds.

You can stream them for free from their respective websites, TED and eCorner but I have found that their channels on YouTube work better. Try Stanford eCorner and TEDTalks. I add the videos I want to watch to my "Watch Later" list on my YouTube account and then head downstairs where I can watch them on the TV (thank you, husband, for hooking up a computer to the TV) while sitting on the couch, notepad and pen in hand.

After watching these talks, I add them to the education section of my LinkedIn profile, and will add them to my resume upon it's next overhaul.

I am really happy about the switch and look forward to amassing a huge list of videos I have watched.