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[08 Apr 2007|04:16pm] |
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i'm thinking of starting another blog specifically for the japan experience. any suggestions on which venue I should use?
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| theft |
[03 Oct 2006|10:21pm] |
yeah... my car got broken into while i was at japanese class. they decided to break the passenger side window. i was just starting to get myself back on track financially and now this. i mean im not hurtin but i was wanting to keep my savings going up and not down.
why people why
and they took my big cd case too. so there's a ton of money out the (broken) window. and i dont think i got a chance to upload the qui sème le vent récolte le tempo mc solaar album that i recently got online after forever of trying to find it at a decent price. not to mention other french cds and various other lovely albums. good thing is though that most of the music should be on my iTunes.
but hey, i got to learn numbers and objects and ownership in japanese. so i guess it was worth it?
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[16 Jul 2006|10:25am] |
I just spent an amazing week in Burlington, Vermont. It was for the National TPRS conference. TPRS is the method of foreign language teaching I'm using now. Anyway, yeah oh my gosh, so much fun, so much information, so much love, so much!!!!
300+ teachers who actually enjoy teaching.
300+ teachers who actually want to improve their teaching.
300+ teachers who are just awesome people to hang out with!!
It was amazing. We took classes in a language we didn't know in the morning and then in the afternoon we attended presentations on various aspects of TPRS. By the way this isn't TPR - Total Physical Response. It grew from TPR, but TPRS is now completely different. TPRS is Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling. Anyway, basically from 8 in the morning until bedtime (usually after midnight) I was immersed in TPRS - whether in my German class or sessions or eating lunch and talking with other TPRS teachers or going on an immersion dinner.
I got to go to Montreal for the French immersion dinner. That was a lot of fun!!!
I went to the Von Trapp Family lodge in Stowe, Vermont for the German immersion dinner. Yeah as in the Sound of Music. And Maria von Trapp was there. The daughter I believe and her son.
Ja, ich spreche deutsch. Ich bin nach Burlington gegangen und da habe ich viel dinge gelernt.
Yeah I speak German now. Not all of it, but I can use the past and present tenses fairly well, I just have limited vocabulary.
Anyway, I'm about to explode because of all the information I got.
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[28 Jun 2006|09:09pm] |
why do i not post anymore
it does me so much good.
anyway, im tipsy (what's new?) and thought i'd finally get back into posting.
ive finished my 2nd year of teaching. and i will be starting my third in less than a month. crazy how fast the summer has gone.
this year my jv soccer team actually won some games. that was cool.
im still not completely settled into my apartment. big surprise there. i mean i have furniture, but things aren't all put away and stuff. i dont quite have a routine. but i think i enjoy it. i do sometimes miss human interaction if i dont make the effort to get out.
i went to france and italy on the trip with students, teachers, and parents. it was fun. exhausting but fun. in about 2 weeks i head to vermont for the national tprs conference which should be fun. im excited to meet the people whose posts i read on the yahoo group for tprs.
i had fun at pride this past weekend. went out saturday and got too drunk... don't remember the end of the night. i remember running into a guy i dated my last year at uga. we made out. apparently all night. i gave him my number. he hasn't called. makes me wonder what i said or did at the end of the night. ?
oh and my friend buck and i did drag. it was a good idea saturday morning, but sunday our cracked-out asses should have known better. we still did it. we looked all right, but we didnt think about the logistics of going to the parade in drag. hello! you stand (STAND) and watch a parade. that's not so fun in heels. and then on top of that it rained. the red hat society thing is a hit no matter what though. i had fun. we got new outfits and stuff. buck got some awesome holly golightly glasses. 3 bucks at cititrends and they are awesome. i got some the same sort of shape but with tortoiseshell color. and some actually cool guy glasses. all 3 dollars each.
i'm sitting here drinking and reading the digests ive missed from that yahoo group i mentioned. i'm backed up from before the europe trip.
anyway, that's what's going on. just trying to be a better teacher. thinking about what it'd be like to be dating a good guy.
benjamin, tu me manques. tu le sais? c'est vrai. je sais pas quand je serai de nouveau en france. tu le sauras quand j'y irai et on s'amusera bien!
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[21 Dec 2005|11:35pm] |
im getting an apartment. it only took two days of looking. if you are looking in the atlanta area and are in a hurry and are lazy i highly recommend Promove. They are on Cobb Parkway and they will listen to you carefully and then do all the work for you in terms of finding places that meet your requirements and then will check on availability and then actually map out the apartments for you to visit. Man did that save time. However, I did find them until after I visited 4 or 5 places. And I ended up choosing the first apartment I visited.
So I will now be in Marietta off of the 120 loop at Roswell Rd. It's quaint. I'll be in there the 30th and you should come visit.
I've not posted awhile due to lots of issues. Which maybe I should have been posting to get it all out. Whatever. Things just have sort of come to a head and I NEED my own space. So this will be the first time living on my own. We will see how it goes. I'm excited. I kinda wanted to move in before the 30th, but I will manage. Anyway, I was super stressed at work due to not starting writing my mid-terms until the day AFTER they were due. And then I only finished them exactly a week after they were due. My evaluating administator didn't seem to care, but I stress about things like that. Especially since the first final had to be given they day after I finished them. And then I think due to the extreme stress that lasted for more than a week, I became super sick and I'm still getting over it. It's been about a week and a half. And now more stress is coming on because of the apartment search and my desire to finish it in less than 3 days (I did it in 2 WOO!) and the fact that I haven't started Christmas shopping. I have not bought a single gift yet. I have barely though about what I might get people. And I hate doing forced gifts. People can tell. It'd almost be better to just get a gift certificate.
Well I should get to bed so I can wake up for a day full of Holiday Bliss at the mall. Argh. Why didn't I do all my shopping online in October like the smart people? Oh wait that requires forethought.
I'll never learn that i guess.
well at least ive found a place so i dont have to worry about that anymore.
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[04 Dec 2005|04:48pm] |
am feeling a little sicky sick. dont want to do any work. mid-terms are due to administrators tomorrow and i dont know what i am doing for the next week and a half before mid-terms. good times.
i really wanted to have good mid-terms too. looks like they will be last minute things as usual.
got drunk on friday... made out with this guy ive made out with before. no intentions of anything more than that.
was cracked out all saturday. had chinese at 11, mcdonalds at 4, spaghetti at 8. managed to buy some jeans and a really awesome sweater somewhere in there. jeans from girls side at old navy.. of course. sweater totally unreasonably priced from banana republic even with 30 percent discount. but i slipped it on.. and it was just what ive been looking for for a while... half-mock-turtle with a zipper that goes slanted down the neck... and it fit perfect and it was sooooo soft and comfortable. i really like it...
i started falling asleep at like 9 30 last night.. perked up at 10 15ish to play cards with buck... finally passed out jsut after midnight. woke up at 8ish this morning.... came home kinda early feeling sick... helped my dad winterize the boat... cleaned my room and my car... was planning on doing planning... but instead i read a good bit of "to kill a mockingbird". ive attempted twice before to start it but ultimately put it down each time. this time i was drawn immediately into as i ate lunch. ive been reading for a few hours now eating all natural crunchy peanut butter by the spoonful and sipping on non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider... and decided to take a break as my eyes were starting to cross and i was re-reading sections...
i really need to plan and do my mid-term.. but i really don't want to...
totally should have called paul way back when... saw him out last night.. and he seemed less than interested.. perhaps it was my drunkenness that was a turn-off... oh well...
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[01 Dec 2005|09:44pm] |
This is a story I typed up for my French 1s. It's kind of a sad one. I usually do ones with twists or funny things. I thought I would change it up a bit. If your a frenchie or frenchie lover, feel free to read (and correct). what questions should i ask for comprehension check?
Alana s’est réveillée un matin. Elle était fatiguée. Elle avait regardé un film avec son amie Julie jusqu’à deux heures du matin. C’était « The Skeleton Key ». Les filles avaient peur pendant tout le film. Alana était chez Julie. Elles étaient de très bonnes amies. Les deux filles avaient dix ans. Alana passait quelques jours chez Julie parce que les parents de Alana avaient des problèmes. Ils voulaient un peu de temps pour parler de leur mariage. Alors, Alana était venue chez Julie pendant un long week-end. Alana était un peu triste, mais avec Julie, elle était moins triste.
Ce matin-là, elle s’est réveillée à sept heures dix. Elle ne pouvait plus dormir. Elle était avec Julie au lit. Julie dormait toujours. « Tu es une très bonne amie, a dit Julie, je t’aime. » Puis, elle s’est levée du lit. D’habitude, elle mange le petit déjeuner à sept heures, avant l’école. Alors, ce matin-là, elle avait très faim. D’abord, elle est allée aux toilettes. Puis, elle allée à la salle de bains. Elle s’est regardée dans la glace. Elle est retournée à la chambre de Julie, mais elle dormait toujours. Donc, Alana est allée à la cuisine. Les portes des parents et du frère de Julie étaient fermées. Dans le salon, elle a vu le chien de Julie. Il s’appelle Ron-ron. (Le frère de Julie, Ben qui a quatre ans, l’appelle Won-won.) Il dormait sur le sofa. La maison était très calme. Tous les autres dormaient toujours.
Dans la cuisine, Alana a vu une photo de la famille de Julie. Ils étaient tous contents. La photo était des vacances en Floride. Alana n’était pas jalouse, mais elle était triste. Elle voulait être dans la famille de Julie. Les parents de Alana n’étaient pas très contents. Son père était fâché contre sa mère, et sa mère était fâchée contre son père. Des fois, c’était difficile d’habiter chez elle avec tous les arguments. En regardant la photo, elle était triste, mais elle n’a pas pleuré. Dans le réfrigérateur, elle a vu des fruits. Elle préfère des bananes, mais elle n’en avait pas vu dans la cuisine. Dans le réfrigérateur, il y avait deux pommes vertes, des raisins, quelques oranges et trois pamplemousses. Alana a mangé cinq raisins et a décidé de prendre une orange. Elle s’est assise à la table. Elle a lentement mangé l’orange.
Après vingt minutes, Ron-ron est venu dans la cuisine. Il a dit bonjour de sa façon. « Ouaf, ouaf ! » Alana lui a donné un morceau de son orange, lui a dit « Bonjour » et l’a caressé. Elle a fini l’orange mais elle avait toujours faim. À ce moment, la mère de Julie est entrée dans la cuisine « Bonjour Alana. As-tu faim, ma petite ? Je vais te préparer des crêpes. Elles sont ma specialité ! »
« Oui, j’ai mangé une orange mais j’ai toujours faim » a dit Alana.
À huit heures, toute la famille de Julie était dans la cuisine. Ben jouait avec Ron-ron, les deux filles parlaient à la table, la mère de Julie finissait les crêpes et son père l’aidait. Tout le monde était content. Enfin, la mère de Julie a servi les crêpes. Elles étaient très bonnes. Elles étaient petits, donc tout le monde en a mangé trois ou quatre. Alana a aimé les crêpes et tous les autres les ont aimées aussi. Drrrrrrrrinnnnn !!!!!!!!! Le téléphone a sonné. La mère s’est levée de la table. Elle a pris le téléphone. Elle a dit « Bonjour. Ici Madame Turner. » Après un moment, elle a dit à Alana « C’est pour toi. » Alana a pris le téléphone. C’était sa mère. Sa mère pleurait. Elle pleurait fort. Alana ne savait pas pourquoi sa mère pleurait. Après une minute, elle a commencé à pleurer. Puis, elle a couru à la chambre de Julie. Julie a couru à sa chambre.
Quand Julie est arrivée à sa chambre, Alana était au lit. Elle pleurait fort. Julie est allée au lit être avec Alana. Elle lui a demandé « Qu’est-ce qu’il y a ? »
Elle pleurait, mais elle a dit « C’était ma mère au téléphone. Elle m’a dit que mon père et elle vont se divorcer. Pourquoi ils vont se divorcer ? Pourquoi est-ce qu’ils ne sont pas comme tes parents ? Je suis triste. »
Julie était triste aussi. Elle était triste pour son amie. « Je t’aime Alana. Je suis là pour toi. Je vais t’aider pendant ce temps difficile. »
Alana a regardé Julie. Elle pleurait toujours. Elle lui a dit « Merci Julie. Je t’aime aussi. Tu es ma meilleure amie. »
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[30 Nov 2005|08:55pm] |
hmm... didnt complete my to do list for this evening.. whatever..
when will i learn...
i hope im not getting into one of my funks...
so much on my mind.. i think i need to write out some stuff...
i guess i could here.. but i think i always feel like im writing to an audience...
no plans for classes tomorrow... watching madagascar with my sisters..
argh.
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| now there are chain lj entries!!! ;) |
[28 Nov 2005|07:07pm] |
If you can read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, please post a comment with a memory of us - even if we don't speak very often. It can be anything you want, good or bad.
When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.
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[24 Nov 2005|08:42pm] |
so who knew that drinking at thanksgiving could be so fun. started with a vodka cranberry and then ive been drinking white wine.. .and there is another bottle to finish off... i think ill have to do that on my own... so ill be back later...
my big sister is coming to town! she gets in friday. i was all big spender... i bought her ticket for her.. she was feeling super homesick and didnt have the cash to come back.. (not completely her fault.. although she should have an emergency fund) anyway... so yeah that should be fun...
however.. i do need to get a fair amount of work done for school tomorrow... so that we can hang out.. and i dont know WHEN i will be able to do the christmas decorating... guess that will wait for next weekend...
anyway... time to go get that wine... its a fat bastard white wine of some sort... said it was good with turkey or at least poultry... anyway... yeah.. .that should be good right about now..
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[22 Nov 2005|09:52pm] |
hmm... finally a break.. or is it... im realizing that there will never be time for me to catch up on my life... it just keeps going.... i guess i always knew that, but i just kept forcing myself to think that if i just made it to the next break, i could catch up... but in reality i just keep letting things slide and get farther and farther behind... i think if i worked at a "real" job and not teaching and had much more limited time off... perhaps i would be better off... it would give me a more constant schedule and routine... when i have time off is when i become a real lazy sob... but when im working all the time i manage to get things done... and it's when i have the break to look forward to that i slack on some things because i know i can catch up later... anyway
so yeahim "catching up" this week.. except not... oh did i mention im becoming a fat slob... i really need to stop eating school lunches... i want to try to go organic whenever possible... and cut out all the crap that i eat... i want to stop the weight gain before it gets out of hand... for awhile it was just on the scale that i noticed the change.. but now im starting to see it in the mirror too... eek... not that i have a bad self-image... i just know the size that i would prefer to maintain... it's just a matter of getting my life back in order... i havent been running like i used to regularly do... nor am i lifting weight at all... over the summer i was really very good about that.. it's harder now with school... and the fact that im very serious about making this new method work and implementing my school's new "learning-focus strategies" stuff... it really takes a lot of time. whereas last year, i was making plans as i went and feeling like... i hope i keep this stuff together for next year (deep down knowing that i wouldn't)... what im starting to do now feels good and it feels like the plans i have will work again next year.. i will just have to get them out and perhaps tweak them... but i really like them. anyway.. im saying that now... and watch next year i change it all again. argh.. teaching is hard yall... no wonder they give us 3.5 months of time off... we freaking need it!!
anyway... yeah so my excuse today for not doingmuch was a migraine.. i totally got one... but it was mostly likely my fault.. i get them when im dehydrated and/or when i change my sleep schedule... and those are both manageable.. yet i stayed up til 2 on sunday night and slept in.. and then went to bed at midnight yesterday and woke up at 8ish... yeah so that sort of put me out of commission for the beginning of the day... but just now iw as able to pick up my room and start some laundry and i did the dishes earlier... hopefully i will be able to do more tomorrow and perhaps some cooking... anyway..
yeah im not feeling that happy with how im leading my life at the moment... so ive got some changes to make...
la di da
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[13 Nov 2005|10:42pm] |
ok... so it's been a while.... anyway... yeah getting some pretty good planning done... it feels differnet from what i usually do... but it's kinda hard to get used to... like i write out what im basically gonna do... and that is fairly easy with the forms and strategies im using now... so i feel done and good... but then i actually have to prepare materials which can take a lot of time... so basically i have not finished all my work for materials tomorrow... so i will try to get it done tomorrow morning... and then hopefully i can actually use my planning period to prepare my materials for the rest of the week.
i need to take a break from drinking... and get my life somewhat back on track... like eating better, running, some weights maybe, more longterm planning (school and life), etc.
actually i think ive got some good ideas for future... finish this year, then teach one more year at the school, then take a year to go to france and do the teaching english (considering putting in for a position outside metropolitan france), then coming back to work on a masters (school/city to be determined)... then decide where to go from there... stay in school for doctorate and then teach at university level... or finish masters and then get back into public school... but i think i want to be at school full time when i do my masters... anyway.. yeah...
and now it's bedtime... night night
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[04 Nov 2005|10:21pm] |
made it through the week... i dont think i left school before 6 30 at all this week... even thursday when i still went down to atlanta for trivia nor on tuesday which was a workday anyway... yeah... and today... Friday... stayed until 8 30ish.. yeah.. but i guess it was worth it... i needed to get a lot of shit done... took me a while... anyway..
i bought a skateboard.. on a whim... thought itd be fun... except i got a cheapo one... and it goes slow... anyway... and now im sipping on some cosmorita.. good times.. tomorrow... im going to help my highschool french teacher with her county-wide french day at ksu.. should be fun... (is it overly conceited that i like being young and having that "is HE a teacher!?" reaction from kids from other schools? i guess im an attention whore sometimes... ergo the drag for halloween... )
by the way about the drag... it was really fun... and we totally played it up.. i did it with my friend buck.. eh..im tired.. ill talk about it later...
dona nobis pacem
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[02 Nov 2005|08:30pm] |
not just feeling on top of things school-wise... but actually getting things done... i have four days planned for next week in two levels.. (and actually i decided to stop having a separate plan for the 3s and 4s but just use the level two stuff and add and expect more from the fours)... anyway... good times.. stayed late and got grading done.. progress reports go out tomorrow.. my room is a mess. but i'm mostly caught up... woo
im in a better mood these days!
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[02 Nov 2005|08:29pm] |
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did drag for halloween... saturday night... ;)
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| who's durnk? |
[28 Oct 2005|11:30pm] |
that would be me!!!
yay!!... im better with school now... getting on top of things... at least im staying up from day to day...
hopefully i will be able to get ahead at some point.. .and then hopefully be able to stay ahead! for when soccer season starts....
also french club is going well... im keeping things going.. and i have a good set of kids that come consistently.. and we are doing fun things.. the problem will be in the spring with soccer... we will have to mainly meet in the morning... so i dont know how that will go...
havent really done anything social this week.. until today.. yesterday i went to the school play... and eric (my former student/friend) came...
today i went to dos margaritas after work with friends... then some of us went to the football game...
and now im home... drinking more margaritas... and watching law and order.. which is the greatest show ever... althoguht commander in chief is pretty good too...
anyway.. night night
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[26 Oct 2005|09:31pm] |
yeah... im trying to keep up with the ljing... i know it helps me work things out sometimes.. .and plus it keeps me in touch with people..
anyway.. yeah work is still stressing me... and i havent gotten to the turn-around point in this funk im in... i feel like im getting a better handle on the planning.. and im starting to feel more positive.. i realize that i was really being negative in my classes... and so i was getting negativity back... i also have started laying down the law a bit more... im stepping up my discipline... the gloves are off... especially in 7th period..
well in french 3/4 i stole this activity from another teacher.. i mean it's nothing new... it's 20 questions.. except in French... it went really well... and i only had to do it once... and then i had volunteers to be in charge for the other times.. it really was cool... they got so excited about it...
then in french 2 i did kindergarten day - I had them move the desks back and i laid out some blankets... and they came and sat at my feet and i read them a kids book in french... i took on a really teacherly voice and introduced the book and the author and the illustrator... i read the book with excitement and had voices for the characters.. i did the little... finish the page and then show the book to everyone and then turn the page... sometimes before i turned the page.. i did some recap questions or anticipation questions... some of the them really forgot themselves and just got into it too... and i had to warn the kids talking out of turn that i would have to send them to the corner... they really liked it... im gonna have to get a bigger blanket that is really cushiony for the next time...
and then the stories went well that we did in both french 1s... in one of them there was a big rich monkey and he was sitting in his el camino limousine... and he saw a fat cow on the side of the road.. she was poor.. .and he invited her to the academy awards adn she got in and crushed the car...
still have not called paul...
went camping over the weekend though... that was fun... drove up to North carolina.. and camped out with a bunch of guys... we ate well cause this one guy works for a beef company.. .and had great steaks.. plus he had like 300 pieces of camping cooking equipment... so it was really good.. and we just had a good time... i got to have a bit of fun... this weekend i dont know that ill do much... last halloween was enough craziness for me to last awhile... i was pretty dang wild... definitely out of control...
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[19 Oct 2005|11:33pm] |
argh... thought i was catching up and getting on top of things... but that wasnt to be... im back to just barely staying afloat... having fun for the most part... but i just spent about 3 hours grading tests... and i still have two classes to go... im so dumb.. i know better.. but i gave a test in all five classes on the same day... i will have to spread those out next time... im thinking even though i have two sections each of french 1 and french 2... i may give them tests at different times... just to be a little sneaky... cause with this new method... tests and quizzes are unannounced... not to be mean.. it's based on the idea that i will test only on what at least 80% of the kids have mastered at least 80% of and that im looking to see that they mastered that... not that they crammed it in their heads in a last minute study/cram session..
anyway... camping weekend fast approaching... many things to do tomorrow...
oh and we had french club today... it went pretty well... for being a somewhat last minute thrown together kind of thing... like it usually is... well i thought i would sort of exploit them a bit... we do stories in class and act them out... well i thought it would be fun to have scenery (actually i stole this sort of from someone who said they labeled areas of the classroom for story settings... i just thought why not design a scene)... anyway.. they got really excited when I mentioned doing it... they thought it was a really good idea... and so we have a sky, a city, a desert, a nighttime, and a forest... they arent all done.. but hopefully we can finish them next week... and im hoping to add more... like individual type buildings.. like a church, cafe, bakery, butchers, supermarket, market, etc. anyway... i hope i just actually use the scenes in class.
yesterday i went to atlanta and played tennis with my friend matt.. then we met with cj and went to a camping planning dinner.. it was pretty funny... we were talking about bears and stuff.... and joking about the other kind of bears that you might find at the phoenix or eagle.. then they went back to real bears.. and someone was like "is anyone actually afraid of bears" and people offered some comments.. like "yeah if it's attacking me" etc... and someone said "if youre a statistic" or something like that.. and i totally heard.. "only if your fisting a bear"... guess i was still back at the phoenix...
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