Week 42 - Experimenting with QR Codes

This week was a very busy week so not many photos at all I am afraid.  I took this one of a sign outside a shop on the way to work.  It's the first time I have seen Wordle used for this purpose and I think it looks really effective:

My bedtime reading has consisted of a charity shop bargain in the shape of Alan Titchmarsh's book called '   How to be a Gardener'.  I like it because it contains many practical ideas. 

I also bought the November edition of  Kitchen Garden magazine, which contained 2 free packets of seeds.  

I am looking forward to sowing the seeds when I get back to Abruzzo next week.

I did lots of tidying up of my teaching materials, which I returned to their boxes and placed in the attic, ready for next time.

My group of Swiss students in the afternoon became very lively in Week 2 and I decided to try out a new type of lesson with them, one entirely via their mobile phones!  It worked out very well, and I was delighted to see how engaged in the lesson they were.  I allowed them to work in the cafe area singly and in pairs and I gave them a QR code for them to access the lesson. Below is a code that will take you to the wiki page which contains the presentation and a recorded dialogue on slang which they created in pairs.

That's it really!  I think the QR code lesson was definitely the teaching highlight of my week and it is a direct result of the inspirational mLearning course I am currently taking with The Consultants-e.  We are in Week 3 already and I am learning a lot.  It's a pity I won't have a class to practise on for the last 3 weeks, but I am taking lots of notes so I can implement an mlearning strategy for the future!!

My two weeks at the Lake were as wonderful as usual, and I had two great classses.  It was lovely to teach there and chat with my colleagues and have lots of fun!  

The past two weeks have literally flown past!

Week 41 - Cakes Galore!!!

Week 41 is marked by cakes galore!!  Starting off with these two fabulous wedding cakes I saw in the shop window in the specialist cake shop in the Covered Market.

Then the Lake School teachers organized the 'Great Lake Cake Off' to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Charity!  Teachers baked cakes and then sold them to students and teachers during the coffee breaks from Wednesday onwards.  They raised over £200 and the results were amazing!!  I took the following photos of the wonderful and delicious creations.

Below a group photo of the Lake School staff, showing off all the cakes made :-)

I am delighted that some of the photos you can see above that I took have been included in the Lake School Facebook page here. 

I did my bit by buying quite a few of the cakes and eating them during the breaks .... and yes, I do need to go on a diet now!!!

On my daily cycle ride to work I came across this red bike with a basket full of flowers.  I think this sort of thing really brightens up the city centre.

 I also took these images of some typical signs in Oxford:

I am very interested in the ivy covered tree and wall below.  I wonder how many years it has taken for the ivy to spread so much?

I am wondering how my concrete pole in Abruzzo is getting on with the ivy creeping up around it.... I can't wait to get back to my garden!  I miss it very much indeed.......

Week 40 - On the move again

 I am now back in England for the next few weeks and I am already missing Abruzzo, K & the furbies, and my garden and seedlings.  My one thought is will my sweetpea seedlings survive?  How about the melons, peppers, onions etc that are all still growing?  K already has a lot on his plate, keeping up with the land maintenance, renovation work and dealing with the twice daily feeding frenzy.... although he copes admirably with it all.  

Freddy has been going to bed at 4.45pm recently with no fuss or cajoling!!  This picture hanging in my current room below reminds me of home!

 The pair of 2 cockerels were a gift from the family and I will be taking these back to Abruzzo.  I love them!  Youcan see the weather yesterday was not good - lots of rain!

My bedtime reading over the next few weeks will consist of 'Backyard Composting'.  It is a brilliant book and I have already learned a lot from it!  I bought it from a charity shop for only one pound - a real bargain!  I discovered that I must never ever add Oleander leaves and its flowers to the compost bin as it is poisonous and may affect the vegetation.  I am guilty of adding it to the mix, I won't ever do it again!! 

Also another interesting fact is that bits of bay laurel leaf plants in a compost bin may deter healthy plant growth due to the toxins and acids contained in them.  Again I feel a bit bad now because I chopped lots of a bay tree branches and added it to the compost mix last week!  I won't do this again either .....

 Out and about with my mum we had a lovely lunch in Fred & Jacobs a local cafe / restaurant.  I noted they were hiring and so took a photo.  I will inform students at school tomorrow if they wish to find a part time job, this might be a good place as it is small and very friendly.

Another lovely gift was waiting for me when I arrived - a jewellery stand.  I love it as reminds me of the days I used to dress up in glamorous outfits such as the one below.  I still like a bit of glitter though, but I rarely get the opportunity to dress up in this way in the middle of the rural countryside in Abruzzo!!

This is a very short post this week as I have been very busy with online work, catching up with family, and tomorrow I begin full time teaching again at the Lake School.  Also I am doing a six-week course with the Consultants-e on mLearning, and so there will  not be much Me-Time over the next few weeks.  However, it is going to be an exciting and challenging time ahead.  I just need to be super organized and hopefully I will rise to the challenge :-)

Week 33 - Back to the Chalkface

Lovely classes made my day on Monday, both Intermediate levels (B1).  I did phrasal verbs with both classes and below a quick comic I created using some new expressions:

I used bits from a fairly new coursebook called Life Intermediate with my morning class. I personally think it is an all-round interesting coursebook, with lots of extra materials, test items and useful lead-in ideas for teachers.  Maybe students need to be interested in National Geographic-type topics to fully appreciate it, as some of my students weren't so keen on the topic of nature and natural phenomena such as the Tasca lines in Peru, which was a bit of a shame, as I really like this coursebook .....

On my way to work every morning I passed the entrance to Bath Place, with its charming hanging basket and cobbled pavement....

 

.....and also the Sheldonian Theatre with its imposing statues:

  

This week I cycled past the world-famous Oxford Union, where countless British Prime Ministers, celebrities, and even former American presidents, have given lectures. I walked into the courtyard and admired the peace and tranquility of this venerable and historical  spot.

 

 

Midweek I visited Abingdon and admired how pretty the pavements looked with all the flower displays everywhere.

 

Sunday (today) I helped my sisters at a car boot sale and we had a lot of fun, selling unwanted bric a brac. Unsold items will go straight to the charity shops next week.

 

Home from home

I picked a few fresh flowers from the garden and made a quick arrangement for this display below, which includes rosemary, snapdragons, lavendar spikes and a yellow plant.

 

 Week 33 was very enjoyable and relaxing!  Roll on Week 34.

I wonder how my veggie plot is doing back home in Abruzzo.  K says 'everything is growing and is green' so I guess it must be doing ok....

Week Twelve

Another week has shot by and I am now in the UK for the next 3 weeks or so.  A different environment, different duties, different roles to be played out... Sadly I have a problem with uploading some of my pictures today so I may add some more when I have resolved the issue..

Before I left Abruzzo, I had a lot of things to do on the land etc.K used the new cutter to mow the wild grass, and I followed around sweeping up the cuttings and piling them up on the back of the trailer, ready for bonfires.

I have entrusted my Cold Frame contents to K and he has his instructions about spraying the seedlings every day.  I hope they won't die, but if they do, no worries.  I have loads of seed packets left and will start afresh as soon as I get back.

I picked a few more spring flowers to brighten up the kitchen for the final few days.

 

I had lots of housework to attend to, amongst which was a bit of dusting of these cat figurines in the bookcase....

..and some more including  'In the Lobby'

Up at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning and K kindly took me to the airport.  A nice journey and got back in time to meet my mother for a spot of lunch, which was lovely...

 

I cycled into work on the Friday afternoon to do some prepping and copying and couldn't resist taking a few images of Broad Street, full of cycles everywhere!

On the way home I admired the lovely college buildingswhich are everywhere.

Prepping ahead for intros with my new classes I created a couple of new ones. A face Tagxedo full of info re me.  My students have to guess more details about the words enclosed.  They then create their own word clouds to share with the class.

..and then an anagram with the initials of my name.  This fab idea comes from the very informative blog post by  Recipes from the EFL Classroom.

I will invite students to do the same with their initials.

 

On Saturday,  K sent over a link to the Singing Nun, from Sicily.  I loved it so much that I have already viewed it 3 or 4 times.  Why, you may ask?  It is the stuff of dreams, isn't it?  How will Sister Cristina's life change? She is a devoted Catholic nun, who looks up to God as her teacher.  How is superstardom going to affect her life?  I am fascinated from a psychological and sociological point of view...

Will Pope Francis 'follow' her progress?  I think this is such a feel-good story and I love it!  I had dreamed of becoming a nun when I was a teenager... how would my life have been if I had followed that path??  Who knows... 

The amazing Sister Cristina in action on the 8-minute or so Youtube extract below.  Just watch the amazed looks on the Italian The Voice's judges!!  They asked her if she was a real nun.  She replied 'I am truly a real nun!!'

She chose the Italian rapper J-Ax to be her mentor over the next few weeks on Italy's The Voice.  I have a feeling she might WIN!!  Over nineteen million people have viewed this video on YouTube.  Below J-Ax cannot believe what he is seeing.  He said if she had sung in his church when he was a young boy, maybe he would have been inspired to become the next pope..

I will be following her progress with interest!

Roll on Week Thirteen! Full time F2f teaching for 3 weeks -  here I come!

Project 52 - Week Five

Being at home with my parents during these 3 weeks away from Abruzzo is really lovely.  There's a nice and cozy atmosphere in my parents' home, which I have always loved.

Cartoon Oxford

As my camera seems to have got a problem with pictures coming out blurred, I have been experimenting with the cartoon app feature. Itook this on the way home from work on Tuesday evening.  I love the Sheldonian Theatre, one of Oxford's most famous landmarks. 

I experimented with fotor.com, a collage creating site and made this heart-shaped collage with photos I took last week.  Not sure I like the very visible logo, but didn't screenshot it this time.

I popped into the EVO session in the evenings and enjoyed reading comments and viewing an impressive array of ebook chapter designs.  It is so exciting to see how all the projects are developing so brilliantly.

EVO ePerfect Textbook Image created by Shelly Terrell

Image created by Shelly Terrell

I used authentic news materials from Breaking News English on Poverty, and then a nice one-minute listening on the theme of 'Chickens'.  I used a picture of my own chickens as an introduction and we had a really nice conversation on this topic.  Quite a few of the Arabic-speaking students keep chickens on their parents' farms, so we exchanged some interesting insights!

Chickens pottering around

We also discussed some famous people in the news and chatted about hobbies.  One of my students said he loved Formula 1, so I brought in this image of me in a Formula One Benetton racing car, and this engendered quite a good discussion.

I made a worksheet of things to be improved from their homework based on 'chickens', and we got through a bit of meaty grammar, which came specifically from the needs of the class.

It was one of my students' birthdays on Wednesday (Mutsumi's) so I created a handmade card for her, and brought in some cupcakes to celebrate. 

Hamdan had also brought in a huge tray of 'Baklava', so we had a lovely and rather delicious coffee break!!

This is my last week in Oxford, and I am looking forward to going back to seeing K & my motley crew again, and to viewing the lovely Abruzzo countryside. I have had a very nice time here, but it's been extremely busy and quite hectic!!

Abruzzo Unspoilt ..........

I don't think you can beat the spectacular views of Abruzzo!  If you click here you can see the latest post from About Abruzzo blog, which contains a link to an incredible video, shot in Abruzzo by Francesco Pacciocco, called Birthplace.

Each evening via Skype I have asked K to show me one of our furkids, and they have dutifully obliged and said a quick hello... 

I am not sure how my garden pots are faring, however, as the cats love kipping in them, as seen in this pot last year.  Amazingly, the tulips all survived the squashing, and I had a beautiful display from them!!

Next week should be far less hectic for me, and once I am back home on Tuesday, I hope to be able to take a few more pictures on a daily basis.