The course begins

It's somehow fitting that my CELTA course began as our country heads toward the inauguration of Donald Trump as President.  A xenophobic misogynist racist fearmonger who is ready to slash and burn all the civil and human rights progress the US has made over the past decades.  My goal to help refugees learn English has become much more political than when I began this journey.  Riskier, too.  So I am more determined than ever to make it happen!

My Skype headshot

This morning I had my first Skype conversation with a classmate, Tom, to come up with a lead-in that will engage the learners in that day's lesson right away and offer them a context for the things they will be practicing.  I was a bit nervous, as always, to meet someone new, but as often happens I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and look forward to getting to know Tom better.  He's a New Liberal—Canada's Socialist party—from St. John, New Brunswick, a city that James and I loved when we visited a few years ago.  He was surprised I'd even heard of New Brunswick, let alone love it there!

Being a student again after 30 years off is definitely challenging.  Getting my brain to focus closely on texts and tasks, and retain the information, takes way more effort at 54 than it did at 24.  But I'm really glad I chose the most rigorous certificate program I could afford because it's clear I'm going to learn a lot and be able to teach well when I'm done.  That's worth all the brainstrain of getting there.