Window

Dear All,

There's a window, actually, a pull-down menu at the top of the page in Moodle which lets someone who has administrator's rights or a teacher see the content of the page as 'a student', 'a teacher or 'a non-editing teacher'. Each of the roles allows a different depth of the view of the page content and a different degree of intervention with the page content.

This is very much how I feel upon leaving this course. It has given me an opportunity to switch from my usual role to that of a learner and see how it feels to be 'in class' again, also through observing other teachers teach and learn next to me. I have often been told that language teachers should occasionally take up learning a new language to become more aware of the challenges their students have to face as well as to get the first-hand experience of the phenomena of second / third etc. language acquisition. This course was very much in that vein: a consolidation of some of the focal points of SLA accompanied by the joy and pain of learning to do things I had not used before or thought of before in concordance: aspects of technology and methodology.

I have painstakingly tried to keep a record of those moments all in my blogs. Owing to their wonderful variety, combining the data from our weekly posts a three dimensional image of each week and many learning experiences emerges. Perhaps even more than that: at times this output is so rich that quite a few virtual reality moments could be constructed on the basis of it. All our interpretations and reflections, dialogues skilfully scaffolded by our moderators, sometimes also by some of our colleagues, combined with our memories of the course, the fears and sighs of relief, the I-made-it! pride, the knowledge and skills that have been augmented so much that we are almost afraid of losing them, forgetting that knowledge (as well as love) is one of the few things 'they can't take away from you'. Of course, it can dissolve if not taken care of, therefore we have to persist and keep learning. There is so much around the corner already, we already ahve glimpses of those new developments: iPhones and iPads in schools, for instance.

I was wondering what my piece of advice may be upon completion of the course: I was looking for a piece of advice to give to myself in the first place. I know there is a spring cleaning ahead of me: cleaning my room, tidying up my desktop (both virtual and real), organizing my papers, going back to my exams and many other things that I somehow kept at bay having committed myself to this course. After this course, there will be 'before' and 'after', as this immersion has been so powerful. Yet I imagine that, although the road ahead of us is just as full as surprises and bumps as it used to be, I feel that I am better at seeing ahead and listening to what is going on and that my ideas can form a more solid structure now, rather than branch out in too many different directions.

My word of advice would therefore be to try to keep a kind of record of what we do. How can we do that? In any way possible. Doing research along with teaching is awfully difficult, but keeping a diary of changes, doing class surveys (even as part of the teaching, through short self-assessment) and accumulating results helps us see where we used to be and how we got where we are now. It may be a form of our permanent practice. Even venture out and try out something new, comparing the expectations against the outcome. Keep track of changes that we invest so much into anyway it would be a pity not to let others know if something really interesting happens. It is easier said than done, but I am at least going to try to develop a habit of it.

Another word of advice to myself, which is just as hard to do sometimes: appreciate what you do and the progress you are making, even when things do not work out as well as you want them to. Set achievable goals. Go up one step at a time, following levels of complexity and refinement. Ask for assistance and cooperation – there may be more opportunity for that out there that we sometimes believe. Know that there will be ups and downs. Focus on the ups, learn from the downs. That is already too much advice for one day, I guess.

As these are our last posts on this course this time, many of us have expressed their feelings by means of delicate pieces of poetry and wisdom. I myself could describe my feeling as a passenger changing trains at the Grand Central station (I imagine it to be an architectural masterpiece). I know this is an outstanding moment of my life I will remember for a long time but I am somehow reluctant to leave my by-now comfortable compartment. I know that this is just a beginning and that learning to dance to the tune of tomorrow’s challenges that have nested inside me will continue. I hope we may accompany each other some time.

I will finish by expressing gratitude to all of you, my dear coursemates amd teachers. I could paraphrase Jack Nicholson as the unforgettable Melvin Udall in as Good As It Gets who, in one of the crucial scenes of the film, pays a compliment to Carol (Hellen Hunt) by telling her that she 'makes him want to be a better man.' Love or not, this is one of the true gifts of this course: it certainly made me want to be a better teacher.

What more can I say but: Thank you all.

Lots of love,

Andreja

P.S. My email contact used through Nicenet is likely to remain the same in future. Let's keep in touch.