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 34: A Whale of a Time!

The week started off really well the night before with this delicious homemade pudding, made by my nieces and nephew.  It was their version of 'Eaton Mess', and it was out of this world!!  They cooked a 3-course meal from start to finish for me and my sisters. 

Well, I've had a great time teaching 2 groups of B1 classes at the Lake School. Friday we said our goodbyes, and it was nice to hear how much they had enjoyed themselves. This made me very happy! 

I often ask myself why students sometimes say my classes are funny, when I am not a natural comedienne, but... I like having a good time with my students, and chatting to them about everyday things....  I also like teaching colloquial English, and the lessons always seem to go down very well, especially with younger adults.

Some of my Lake School colleagues are doing a marathon night-time walk in London in aid of Cancer Research.  I hold this charity dear to my heart as I was a CRUK volunteer for almost 20 years from 1987 - 2007 in Oxford.  I stopped working in the charity shop just before I moved to Abruzzo.

I created a ToonDo comic for them which I sent along with my donation:

 

I love using comics, and not only just for teaching purposes! 

The week zipped past and I was able to reflect on my past 35 years of teaching in a very positive way.  I had vowed not to do any extra work at home so that I could chill out a bit more than usual, but on Wednesday evening I couldn't help myself, and I ended up buring the midnight oil.  I did some internet research for an online article that I had given my class to read for homework, so I did a Tagxedo word cloud, which contained some of the key words connected to Urban Living.  The lesson went very well and a lot of discussion took place.

My writng on the whiteboard hasn't improved much over the years, but my students were kind enough to say that they could make it out........

Suffixes Brainstorm

We then sang the Logical Song by Supertramp, which contains approximately 20 suffixes!  Many thanks to my student Matteo for suggesting this great song, which really tied in with the vocabulary area we had been studying!

This afternoon (Sunday)  I went to Milton Manor House in the Oxfordshire countryside and took lots of photos of the beautiful house and gardens!  It is a lived-in family home and historic house, open to visitors and researchers at various key points of the year, such as Bank Holidays.

The manor house is celebrating 250 years since the Barrett family began to reside there. 

There was a dramatic re-enactment of the outbreak of the First World War and how it affected the house at that time.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of information about the history and background of this wonderful country home.

The walled garden was lovely!

 An alien amidst the foliage below!

Nurses waiting for soldiers arriving at the home during the first world war..... (enactment)

Milton Manor House is one of the few places in England to have its own private chapel, where family weddings over the generations have taken place.

I absolutely loved walking round this beautifully-kept manor house, and really enjoyed the tea and delicious cake after the tour.  The service was excellent, and the young staff on duty were impeccably polite and attentive.

Below a gorgeous cherub on one of the walls of the house.

Week 34 was a great week!!  I now have a couple of days free and then as long as the Icelandic volcano does not erupt over the next 48 hours, then it will be time to head back to K, my furkids and gartden in Abruzzo.  I have missed them a lot, and can't wait to get back.  

I wonder how my courgettes, runner beans, potatoes, onions etc are all faring....

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 32 - A Change of Scene

Back in the UK after a period away is nice, but I am already missing K and the furkids!  I wonder how this little one, next to my giant marrows is doing!

My plane was delayed in Abruzzo on Wednesday night and I landed very late and missed my connection.  

So I ended up spending the whole night at Stansted, which was great fun, not!!  I caught the 06.30am coach back, feeling pretty shattered.

On Friday, I spent the afternoon prepping for 2 x Intermediate classes next week and it was lovely to be back at the Lake School as part of the team!

I am now back on my bike and I snapped these shots on my way home.  I love this view of a B&B with the bike full of plants!

There are so many beautiful hanging baskets in the city centre (and bikes) right now!

The other side you don't ususally see in this historical city is the bikes that are stripped of their parts and then sold on.....  I have had countless bikes stolen from the city centre, and now my bike is a very ordinary-looking one indeed, hopefully to deter thieves, fingers crossed!!!

View of a stripped bike, left abandoned

This view of a tree completely covered in ivy is to inspire me to be patient for my ivy to grow on the big concrete telegraph / phone line back home.  I know it is going to take a few years, but I am a very patient person....

We were all away for my mum's birthday in early August, so now I can see all the lovely cards she got on display.  
I made mine below:

 

.....and my niece hand painted the two cards next to mine!

 

I will add a picture of the birthday cake my niece has baked as soon as it arrives..... and here it is below, a two-tiered sponge cake, decorated with strawberries and ribbons, which was absolutely delicious!!!

It's pouring down with rain today and a hurricane is also due soon, and this is the view out of my window right now as I am writing this post up!

I am looking forward to meeting my 2 new classes tomorrow!
Roll on Week 33!