Project 52 Week's 42 and 43

Oh I am remiss-, I didn't manage to post last week.  My feet didn't touch the ground . I didn't get to bed before about 2 am most nights and had lots of peripheral stuff going on too. I was also battling a lurge.

Monday 13th

I was teaching today so that my trainees could observe a lesson with their prospective classes. We had a group of 14  mixed Europeans and 1 Turkish man, all of A2 level. The other classes are made up of much higher level students, but I chose to teach/ mentor these ones.

It was damp and horrible, so I lit the fire when I got home. We still have hundreds of pine cones left over from last winter, so they made excellent kindling- and smell lovely too.

Tuesday

The trainees have their first day in the classroom today. There was an air of excitement around the place, mixed with apprehension. In fact my mentor group all did really well.
They looked at parts of the body and then set up a role play about visiting the doctor. This was in response to a request from the students.

Wednesday

When I got home today I was starting to brew a nasty head cold. All the trainees have had it, and  are just struggling on with it. We are trying to be careful as we have a Muslim lady who is 36 weeks pregnant on the course. I realised that the gardener had been and dug out most of my plants, replacing the soil with a big pile of manure. It looks good- and my cold means that I can't smell it- so there's a winner!

Thursday

I wanted to allow the students to move the furniture around to make the classroom layout suit their lesson. This is what it looked like before we started.
In the end, it was decided that the number of students made this layout the optimal use of space.

Friday

I popped up to Hamptonne today. It is our Country life Museum and this is the start of the Fai'sie D'Cidre (or Cider Festival). Their were lots of people milling around. I wanted to check out where we would be playing on Saturday, and making sure that they had seats for us. Cairis, who has been working with the Heritage team, was making bunting for the orchard.

Trevor, one of our musicians, was making cabbage bread in the old bread ovens.

Saturday

M has gone to the UK for a few days, to go to his brother-in -law's birthday party. With my course running I couldn't spare the time to go with him. I also had too many other things to do, such as the Fai'sie and a ceilidh in the evening. We were asked to play on both the Saturday and Sunday, but declined the Sunday. We played for a couple of hours in the Cider tent- exactly where the guys had hoped to end up :-)
After us the Badlabecques came on. We listened to a couple of their songs, then had to leave to set up the ceilidh. The funny thing was that they had bought tickets for the ceilidh, so we all caught up later in the evening.

Sunday 

Cairis was helping, so I had to drive up to Hamptonne again! This time I had time to watch the cider making , with the horse going round and crushing the apples.

 

Monday 20th

I needed to escape from the trainees at lunchtime, so I popped up to Waitrose, where my loyalty card gives me the chance to have a free coffee and newspaper with my sandwich. I can look out over St Brelade's Bay and just relax for a while. They had a huge selection of pumpkins in readiness for Hallowe'en. Unfortunately, the seasons are all getting merged. I also saw Christmas things- yet there are still 9 weeks to go: )

Tuesday

Today we have the tail end of ex-tropical storm Gonzalo. It is really wet and windy and horrible to be out in.
This is the view from the staffroom window.
M is due home today, so I hope that the flights are not hampered by the weather conditions- I wouldn't like to be in a boat today.

Wednesday

John was back, removing all the big pieces of granite which had once been a rockery in the garden. He left my Abutillon in, as it looks really healthy, and doesn't need to be moved in the new garden plan.


I also had time to moderate ELTchat, giving Marisa and Hada a rest. I hadn't expected that I would have any time to do it during the month, but as I taught today, there was no paperwork to be written up.

Thursday

It is really Autumnal now. There are leaves everywhere and people are having to be careful when driving as the roads are slippery. The trainees have changed class levels today, which didn't all go according to plan, but....it was to be expected.

The tree beside the volleyball court is  changing colour every day. At the moment it is red at the top and then orange and green. I love scrunching through piles of dry crispy leaves at this time of year.

Friday

Today is la Fai'sie Du Nior Beurre, or Black butter making. It is made from millions of apples, which are peeled by volunteers, and then they are cooked over a fire in a large bachin,with spices and liquorice, until they make a jam-type consistency. The stirring goes on for 24 hours non stop and the island musicians play all night to entertain the stirrers and peelers. This year we were invited to listen rather than play, as they had a visiting group of French musicians who played instead. I was working until late so didn't make it.

Saturday

A day spent curled up by the fire- back where we started, and using up a few more pine cones . I noticed a kitten playing in the bay window of the house next door. Maisie was watching too, fascinated by the  fur-baby in the window. Then we realised there were TWO of them- soo cute. I will have to check before I buy the usual flowers for Ann's window tomorrow. I hope they are hers. She recently lost her husband, and is feeling very down. Kittens will cheer her heart up.

Project 52 Week 41

Week 41- where does the time go? We are definitely in Autumn now- the leaves are turning, or falling, and the winds are beginning to be fierce- although it is still mild for the time of year, and you only need a coat for the odd drops of rain, rather than the cold.

Monday

The start of the new course- I was greeted by a group of subdued human beings who weren't quite sure what they had let themselves in for. They will all be fine once they have bonded.

It looks like some work is being done on the corner of our road, although I thought there were going to work during the school half-term.

Tuesday

A very busy day, today.
I managed to escape for an hour and had a coffee in the supermarket cafe up the hill.
My colleague was doing a lesson in Korean, which is the Unknown Language element for this week. I organized the group so that they could share transport. This meant me giving young Ella a lift home, as she lives near me.
As I parked the car the sunset was glorious, but it doesn't tell you how windy the next day is going to be!

Wednesday

Today was incredibly windy.  Our bins blew over in the front garden. Luckily they were empty- or perhaps they wouldn't have moved if they had had something in them.

Sunday's flowers have opened nicely and it was great to come home to a warm house. BBC had a documentary about cats, which was interesting. It gave an insight into their behaviour. I'm now analysing  the interaction between my two :-)

Thursday

Today I had a late start. My trainees were observing my colleagues and then having their UL lesson, giving me the opportunity to go down to the yacht club for a bacon roll and a cup of coffee.
I sat where I could watch the States' tug as she went about her work, and then left for work. As I was planning to be there until late, it really was lovely to have the morning off, and it is the only day that I can make it work on the timetable.

Friday

High tide, high winds- the sea was horrible today. It was rushing over the sea wall and everyone had sandbags out to protect their properties.The sea was wild, with lots of white horses on the tops of the waves. The problem is that we have the same to contend with again in the evening. There is a Code Red out for the weather today.

Saturday

The band was working at the Harvest Festival for St Mary's Church last night, so I invited one of my students to go along. I picked her up at her residence, and left her with some friends who were there to dance. She had a great time, and gave me some flowers at the end of the evening to say thank you.

While faffing around getting ready, I made a little video of my moggies having their ration of sweeties. These are special treats to help them with hairballs, as Ebony is long-haired. The cats are cute- and the BBC programme seemed to think it was unusual to train cats- so I wanted to show how mine can do it too.

Project 52 Week 40

Oh my goodness! The year is fast moving on. I think it might have something to do with having my CertTESOL in October instead of September- it has got me all confused.

Monday 

New students this week- more INRA scientists and a few who were return visitors. I like the fact that I finish at lunchtime on Mondays- at least until next week when I do a marathon session with the new trainees:-) The road is being resurfaced outside the college, so everyone had to go up the road instead of down. This meant that I passed the garden centre, where they have a really nice pet department. I found a solitaire game for cats; you put a sweet under the ball and they have to remove the ball to get at it. Ebony worked out how to play fast, but Maisie is still mystified.

Tuesday

My students wanted to visit the Organic Farm, so we popped up after classes were finished. The calves are so cute. The little Jerseys have such beautiful eyes, and long eyelashes. The farmer showed us around his cheese making concern and was great at answering their questions.

 

 

Wednesday

Ebony has taken to sitting and sleeping in the magazine basket beside my chair. I put a soft blanket in it to make it more comfortable, but then it was adopted by Maisie. I dug out the other soft blanket and tucked it around Maisie's bed to keep the peace.

 

 

Thursday

I started to prepare the room for next week. I put up the phonemic chart, split the notice board into headed sections and put some plants on the windowsill to look friendly. I then went home and prepared the handbooks for the course.

 

Friday

Some of my students were going home after six weeks at the college. It is always sad to see them go, but they were ready to leave and test out their language on the real world. One of them gave me a lovely thank you card and some chocolates.

Saturday

I met up with a friend for lunch. This time we met in the garden centre on the other side of the island. Again they have a pet department, but I managed not to buy Ebony any more toys. I did like the look of some mirrors which look like windows. Perhaps when my garden is looking beautiful again we might have a couple. John came to design our new garden- it looks great. We are going to spend the winter replenishing the nutrients in the soil, before planting in the springtime.

Sunday

I nipped out to Marks and Spencer to pick up some bits for our evening meal. I invited my management student, and a friend in the same field, to dinner, so I wanted things to be easy to prepare . On the way back I stopped to take a photo of La Rocque, aptly named as you can see at low tide. We ended up with some delicious figs and parma ham, followed by chicken with sage in white wine and cream and spiced poached pears. The company was excellent and Loz offered my student a lift home, saving me from offering.

Hey-Ho! CertTESOL starts tomorrow. I will ebe super busy for the next few days. I might get a chance to breathe during the Unknown language lessons, which Helen will be teaching. I'm sure I'll have something that needs doing though. Onwards and Upwards...........