Sulking..

Well it looks like my boss here is sulking because i wont give classes apart from in the mornings this semester in planaltina. I got the impression from the phone call i got this afternoon that if i dont teach in the afternoons then there wasnt any need for me this semester, for me this is good and when i asked if i was going to be fired the implication was YES. For me this saves me the hassle of asking to be dismissed as i told people here last semester that this coming semester was my final one as i was moving house. I think the problem is that the boss here expects people just to work for him and no one else, for me though this isnt a problem. I can move cities easily and very quickly if the need arises and have a calm semester of teaching in just one school. I'll have to discuss with roberta and see what she thinks about moving earlier than we planned :-)

I was hoping the video store would have The village when i went this afternoon but its only due in tomorrow. I'll have to sit and watch Mighty Joe Young instead hehehe!! Wont that be exciting? I was toying with the idea of watching Catwoman too but i was told its shit, anyone else seen it yet?

This afternoon i spent an hour or so drawing a poster to use next semester. I was trying to think of other ways to liven up drills and read in a book about getting the students to try saying sentences in different ways, you know: happy, sad etc. I saw how a teacher made cartoons on the board and pointed to them to show the students to speak in whichever voice and thought it was great. My drawing skills are not great but i think my poster doesnt look too bad, i wanted a poster as its easier for me to carry to different classrooms and put away when its not needed. I'm sure it'll be good for laugh to liven up some of the drills as it can get a little boring doing them all of the time. Last semester i tried a couple of things but this book i read the other day suggests many things that can be experimented with. I'm raring to try some of them out now. I'd love to get a video camera in the classroom too, i think it would be a lot of fun to mess around with it when the students are doing drama or roleplays. The serious side would be that the students could hear how they sound when they are speaking english to help them with their pronounciation and stuff. I know there is a webcam in the school too, i wanna try to find somewhere we can use it to get the students practicing english with maybe some students from other schools. I wanna try out as many things as i can to keep the class as interesting as possible, well if i have the time. I think its all about having fun and the students having fun while they are in the classroom but making sure that the fun is always includes parts of the lesson they are having. Should be a fun time this coming semester.

posted at 1:14 PM by john |   

80's..

Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours

Girl of sixteen, whole life ahead of her
Slashed her wrists, bored with life
Didn't succeed, thank the Lord
For small mercies

Fighting back the tears, mother reads the note again
Sixteen candles burn in her mind
She takes the blame, it's always the same
She goes down on her knees and prays

I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
And when I die I expect to find Him laughing

Girl of eighteen, fell in love with everything
Found new life in Jesus Christ
Hit by a car, ended up
On a life support machine

Summer's day, as she passed away
Birds were singing in the summer sky
Then came the rain, and once again
A tear fell from her mother's eye

I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
And when I die I expect to find Him laughing

The music from the 80's, i think most people i know love listening to music from this time. I noticed that alot of music is now turning its roots back to the 80's, groups like The Darkness and others. Depeche mode were really popular then, I'm not sure if they are still performing now, i guess they are. We had real music then and not this crap that we have forced in our ears every day by greedy record companies who wanna control everything! Enjoy the lyrics okay?

posted at 8:58 AM by john |   

Yesterday i was feeling like shit, something i ate i guess. I feel alot better this morning though. The problem here is that they dont have really rigid rules for food and food safety here in Brasil so sometimes you could be buying something that looks good but could be quite old. I guess i must have bought something that was past its sell by date at the fair and then spent most of yesterday suffering for it hehehe! In the UK i remembered by doc telling me that for upset stomachs sometimes Natural yogurt was good so last night i ate a load of it and this morning i feel just great so maybe it worked. Its also good if you've got the shits too ;-)

In the news this morning we have the leader of the Anglican church preaching about Euthanasia and you can guess what hes saying right? These people really are out of touch with the real and modern worlds. Im sure they would have us living in caves if they could have their own ways. The problem with these so-called spiritual leaders is that they twist things around and alter everything and what we get isnt always what religion intended. As people evolve shouldnt religion evolve too? Thankfully i dont have to worry about religious problems being athiest

Wow we have some people walking around the school, maybe some new students for the next semester. They wont be for me though as i dont teach beginners or children, they would drive me crazy hehehe! I prefer teenagers generally as they are lively and like to talk, even if sometimes they get a bit rowdy. It always makes me laugh when they realize i am foreign as they either stand there with a stupid grin all over their faces or go bright red and saw nothing lol. Completely crazy!

I guess i had better go reply to some email as they are piling up in my inbox :-)

posted at 8:07 AM by john |   

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Nudity..

In the news this morning online there is an interesting story about the Olympic games and american people complaining about nudity. I think its really in the US best interests not to keep complaining about every other country in the world. to me, this gives the impression that they are becoming prudish and uncomfortable about being human. I though the opening to the games was great as did many other people. I think these people who made these complaints must just do it because they have nothing better to do or just because they have had a sad sheltered little life and because they are miserable they feel everyone else must feel this way too. From the pic above i cant see anything wrong with the womans native dress, after all originally the games were held with people competing in the nude! I wonder how many of these people complaining now would have been sitting front row at the games oggling everyone if they still did this now? C'mon guys, get a life!!

posted at 7:05 AM by john |