Friday, October 09, 2009

Happy 21st Katie!


Happy 21st birthday to my niece, Katie. I wish her a fantastic birthday and a wonderful 21st year. Wish I could be there to celebrate it with her, but she will be in my thoughts, as always and I will be calling her on the weekend, of course!

I started at my first school placement on Wednesday. The school is called Knowsley Park Language School. It used to be called Prescot Language School. The students there all study a language right through to either GCSE or other vocational language courses.
It is a brand new school and has actually merged two former schools together.

That in itself raises some issues. The school is a little overcrowded and it is sometimes mad trying to get up and down stairs with so many kids. The school has an open concept look to it, with some of the classes being held in the open spaces between classrooms. The tables are mostly round, which means some of the pupils have their backs to the teacher. I don't like that! Didn't like that in Korea, either.

The students are all at different levels and are put into a class according to their overall ability in the subject. The teachers I have met up to now are very nice and very helpful. I am learning so much and am enjoying it immensely. It has only been 2 days and I am loving it!

The behaviour of the pupils is not surprising. Well, some of it is! They shout out in class, talk over the teacher, stand up and make noises all of the time. Not all of them, of course. There are some very good students, but the overall behaviour is demonstrating a lack of behaviour management. The teachers spend a lot of time correcting this aggravating, persistent, rule breaking. But the overall feel I am getting, is great and I am just loving being at a school. I know that teaching has, is and always will be the job that I have always wanted to do. I am a happy camper......lol.

It takes me about 50 mins each way to get there, but very convenient. I catch the bus right outside my door, the 61 and then get off at a bus stop on Prescot Rd and then wait at the same bus stop and get the 10a. I then get off at a bus stop close to the school and walk for about 5 minutes to get to the school.

I get up about 6.15am and have a shave and a wash. Then I eat breakfast, which is usually weetabix and crumpets. I then go on the computer and check my email and facebook and read the football on my favourite sites. Then I leave the house about 6.55am and get the 7.05am bus.

Talking about football, the England game is not being shown on t.v. this Saturday. It is being shown on the internet and the cheeky bastards are charging 10 pound. From the people that I have been talking to, they are not going to order it. I hope not! It should be so much cheaper. Again, the greed of the businesses shines through clearly!

I began to exercise yesterday with a 4km run and I must say it felt great. I am going to start working out tonight and then back to normal after that. I have started this program called 100 pushups. My friend, Stu, told me about it and I am going to start the program, which is over 5 weeks and supposedly trains you to do 100 strict pushups without stopping. I did the initial test and was only able to do 20 strict pushups. I will keep you informed of my progress.

Not much else going on except being busy with school and doing assignments and readings. I am going to visit my cousin Yvonne on Saturday afternoon and stay the night. I will be meeting her in Chester and she will pick me up at the bus station.

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