Old Habits Die Hard
Today was a lovely sunny day so this afternoon my student and I decided we would have lessons outdoors. We drove to Pernstein Castle which is about 30 km from where we are staying. We spent an hour or so in an informal conversational class, and then decided that we should have a drink. I asked for mineral water, but he persuaded me to have a beer. He asked why I had wanted water and I told him that I should at least try to look like we were at work.
He smiled and said "This is hard work, but it could be worse."

As we were getting in to his car earlier I had noticed that he had a CD case with a Java logo. I commented on this and explained that my former employers had invented Java. We then had a chat about the computer industry and I described Sun's products and philosophy. Although I left Sun I still have a huge admiration for what they produce, and wish them well, especially following this week's encouraging news.

Healthy Eating
I was skinny when I was young, but now I am among the unfortunate majority who enjoy their food, but have to watch what they eat. I was interested in a report in today's Guardian about the efforts of the fast-food companies to try to provide healthier options for their customers. I was particularly amused by this quote:

The American burger restaurant Wendy's added a fresh-fruit bowl to its menu; at the end of last year, the company quietly killed it, blaming a lack of demand. "We listened to consumers who said they wanted to eat fresh fruit," a disarmingly honest spokesman told the New York Times, "but apparently they lied."

I wouldn't call it a lie, but I do have a gap between my intentions and my actions. In a country where meat and dumplings make up much of the national cuisine I may struggle.

My first week teaching in Prague went well, all of my students are friendly and keen.

Sue came out for the weekend and on Saturday morning we explored my nearest major landmark, Vitkov Hill, just a few minutes from my flat. The hill is home to the Czech National Memorial and the world's largest equestrian statue, of Jan Žižka who gives his name to the Žižkov district where I live.
The hill is popular with joggers and people out strolling, and there are excellent views from here to the north and west. On descending the hill we passed the Military Museum, which I will save for a damp day in the winter, before taking the tram out of the city to the Divoká Šárka country park. We spent a few hours walking in the park before returning to the city for afternoon tea at the Cafe Slavia.

The Slavia used to one of the places to go in Prague, and after some uncertain times has been restored to its Art Deco grandeur.

On Sunday we took the tram to the old fortress of Vysehrad, which gaves us further views of the city from another perspective. I must go up the Žižkov TV tower sometime. This was built in the 1980s, allegedly to jam western TV transmissions as much as to transmit Czech TV, and is regarded by some as an eyesore. There are those who say that the TV tower has the best view in Prague, as it is the only place from which you can't see the TV tower.

Next week I will be teaching in a small town in Moravia. One of the school's students is taking an intensive off-site course, and I will be teaching the first week. My fellow teachers have been giving me great assistance in preparing for this amount of work. I am looking forward to it, but am feeling slightly nervous and a bit daunted at the prospect.

First day at school
As mentioned in the previous post, Sue and I went to the airport on Monday for her to check in at 6:30. I made my way back to the flat for a second breakfast before going into the school. I arrived just before 10 and spent the morning learning about the school's procedures for lesson scheduling and time tracking as well as finding out about the students from the school's records and other teachers. My fellow teachers are very helpful and can offer advice on life in Prague and the Czech Republic as well as helping with tips on teaching and lesson planning.

I spent Monday afternoon planning for my first lesson, and yesterday morning I met my first students. This was a small group, most of my lessons will be to small groups or individuals, and I think things went well. My teaching load is quite light at the moment, which gives me plenty of time for planning, but I'm sure it will be harder to manage my time once I have a full teaching load.

Settling in
Sue flew out with me to Prague, and we arrived in the flat on Saturday evening. On Sunday the weather was showery, which was a change from the weather there a few weeks ago. We went out to look for breakfast and discovered that virtually nothing was open until eleven, we ended up having muffins and coffee at McDonalds at the Flora Palac shopping centre.

We took the Metro into the centra and strolled to the river, crossing over to Smychov and Mala Strana. As we crossed the street from Smychov to Mala Strana we suddenly found loads of tourists - obviously Smychov isn't recommended in any of the guides. By the time we got to the Charles Bridge it was lunchtime and the tourists were now out in strength. We managed to find a reasonably-priced lunch at the foot of the Charles Bridge (to my surprise).

After lunch we walked up to Hradcany (the castle area) and then took a tram back through the town. I showed Sue where the language school is located, then we got the Metro back to the shopping centre to buy groceries before returning to the flat.

Sunday night was wet, so after a quick pizza we headed back to the flat for an early night. We had to be up early for Sue's flight on Monday morning.

Malcolm Wotton - Celebration Of A Life

I wrote last month about Malcolm's cycling accident. He never regained full consciousness, and he died two weeks ago while I was in Prague. The funeral was yesterday. It was a very emotional occasion for everyone involved, but we all took a lead from his partner, Janice.

She wanted the day to be a celebration of Malcolm's life, rather than a mourning of his death. We were all encouraged to wear bright clothes rather than sombre ones, and the tributes and readings were a celebration of life, too.

I knew Malcolm for about ten years, and he was a remarkable man. He was intelligent, sporty, witty, caring, popular and interested in almost every subject one could think of. Malcolm gave all that he could in everything that he did. He lived life on his own terms to a greater degree than anyone else I know.

Malcolm managed to structure his career to give him what I regard as the ideal balance between work and life. He would take on IT work in intensive bursts which he would complete at full effort, then he would take some time to pursue other things. He lived fairly modestly from day to day, but was always able to enjoy himself when travelling, and always managed to keep adding to his collection of cool gadgets.

Sue and I didn't see Malcolm and Janice on a daily basis since we moved away from the North-West London area over ten years ago, but we did see them for weekends and short holidays. These trips usually involved cycling, and always involved nice meals, good beer and wine, and the occasional single-malt whisky. I will cherish all of the times the four of us spent together. The week we spent in a cottage in Bowmore visiting the Islay Whisky Festival is one I will particularly cherish.

I feel Malcolm's loss most keenly now that I too have given up the daily office routine for a less-structured career. I always imagined that in my new life Malcolm and I would have times when we weren't busy working and could do interesting things together. I also hoped that I would be able to get his guidance on making the freelance life work.

On Tuesday night, after we had returned from the funeral, Sue and I poured ourselves a dram of Ardbeg and toasted his memory.

There's no-one else like Malcolm, I'll never forget him, and I want to get as much out of my life has he did from his.

Frustrations of being a teacher?
Saturday's Telegraph had the following piece:

How can I convey to parents and others how frustrating teaching can be?

The following, which is anonymous, comes from Classroom Behaviour, an illuminating guide to good teaching by Bill Rogers, published by Paul Chapman: "Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and, gathering them around him, he taught them saying: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are the meek; blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the merciful; blessed are they that thirst for justice; blessed are you when persecuted; blessed are you when you suffer; be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.

Then Simon Peter said, 'Are we supposed to know this?' And Andrew said, "Do we have to write this down?' And James said, 'Will we have a test on this?' And Phillip said, 'I don't have any paper.'

And John said, 'The other disciples didn't have to learn this.' And Matthew said, 'May I go to the lavatory?' "Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus's lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, 'Where is your statement of objectives?' "And Jesus wept."

I'm sure that teaching adults won't be quite as frustrating, let's see what I think in three months or a year, though. In the meantime, I'll try to get hold of a copy of Classroom Behaviour to see what I can learn from it.

Prague
My trip to Prague last week went well. I met several people from the school I will be working for, and managed to organise my accommodation for the coming year. A kindly American called Johnson was my host for the trip, and I will be living in the same apartment building as him.
The apartment is in an area called Žižkov, which is a few kilometres from the centre. This area has lots of cafes and bars frequented both by locals and expats. I'm sure I will settle there happily.

I had more time than I expected for tourism while I was in Prague. One of the letting agencies failed to arrange appointments for me to view apartments, so I used the time to familiarise myself once more with the city. Prague has changed immensely since my first visit fifteen years ago, most of the buildings have been renovated where many were dilapidated before. There are many more restaurants, and they are much more welcoming. Most of the international chain stores are represented there now, too.

Exam time
I was working at Farnborough College again on Monday. The Speaking and Listening exams were being held for the Summer Course students, and I was acting as a facilitator for the afternoon session. Each student took part in an individual session with the external examiner, followed by a group discussion.

My duties were to ensure that each student was given a record card for their marks, which they had to hand to the external examiner, and that they were present when the examiner called for them. In the case of the group discussion I had to read out the topic for the group to discuss, warn them if they were straying from the topic of discussion, prevent any one student from monopolising the discussion, and ensure that everyone took part in the discussion.

The one thing which Farnborough is famous for is the Farnborough International Air Show, and this year's show began on the same day as the exam. The flying display began in the afternoon, and the college is directly under the approach path of the runway. This meant that the poor students had to cope with aircraft noise during their speaking and listening exam.

I had warned them beforehand that this might be a problem, and they coped with it sensibly, but maybe next time we should ask the air show to hold their display on a day which doesn't conflict with the exams...

Flat hunting in Prague
I have now agreed a start date for my work in Prague. I will fly out on August 5th to start on the 7th. I'm sure the time will rush by between now and then.

I need to find somewhere to live. I have been checking out property ads on the Internet and the language school has an arrangement with some local landlords, but there is no substitute for checking out a place in person. I will take a short trip out there next week to view a few places and choose one.

The trip will also give me an opportunity to visit the school and meet at least some of the people. Many of the teachers won't be there until the beginning of September. I won't have a full teaching load in August, so I will have a chance to settle in and get up to speed without being overwhelmed.

Cycling again
Since Malcolm's accident Sue and I haven't been out cycling much. We decided last weekend to get out and take a trip to get back into the groove again. Sue took Friday off work and we spent the day riding down to Portsmouth for a late-afternoon ferry to Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight.

Once over the water we followed the small lanes from Fishbourne to Sandown taking in a scenic road across Brading Down. The views were good, although there was a lot of fast traffic for such a minor road. I think the culprits were people anxious to get away for the weekend, along with a couple of motorcyclists out for an after-work burn-up.

We were booked into the Youth Hostel at Sandown. We haven't been hostelling for some years, but decided to re-join this summer. The hostel was nice and less formal than they used to be. It was a fine evening, so dinner consisted of fish and chips from Fat Harry's taken on a bench near the pier, followed by an evening stroll.

On Saturday we left Sandown via an off-road cycle route to Newport, and then made our way to Yarmouth for lunch. We left Yarmouth on the ferry to Lymington, and from Lymington we rode through the New Forest to Burley. Burlet hostel was very busy, not just inside, but also with families and groups camping in the hostel grounds in tents and teepees.

On Sunday morning we set off to ride through the New Forest to Mottisfont Abbey which is a National Trust property. We are members of the National Trust so we are able to make use of their properties for informal tea-shop stops. At Mottisfont they served some excellent cheese and watercress scones which set us up for the next part of the ride.

We rode through King's Somborne and skirted the north of Winchester, pausing for a cream tea at the garden centre in Headbourne Worthy. From there we skirted the south of Basingstoke to arrive home in the early evening.

It was a lovely weekend. We had some damp spells, but each day ended with sunshine Some of the roads were busy, but many were quiet, and the whole experience reminded us why we love cycletouring.

Alec Muffett
One of my ex-Sun colleagues mailed on Friday to say that Alec Muffett is in hospital in France following a motorbike accident. Alec's friend Chris Samuel is keeping his blog updated with news of Alec as it comes in. I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

At this time of year I should be looking forward to the Tour de France.
Since Lance Armstrong's retirement after last year's event I have been wondering who would be the winner this time round. Sadly the world of cycling has been rocked by the latest in a succession of doping scandals, and the two riders most likely to succeed, Ivan Basso and Jan Ulrich have both been suspended today by their teams pending investigations.

I have lost interest in the event now. I find it hard to believe that there are any clean riders in the top flight of professionals. I do not know what it will take to rid the sport of doping, and to restore the confidence of the public and the sponsors in the sport.

More teaching.
My teaching at the Summer Course went well. The students were very keen, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves. My two-week stint finished with a lesson in which the students worked in groups to produce a presentation and report on one of a range of contemporary issues such as "How people spend their leisure time" and "The effect of smoking on health". I thought that preparing a presentation like this during their first two weeks was a bit of a tall order, but they all worked hard and produced some good presentations.

One of the other teachers is unable to take her lesson on Wednesday morning so she has asked me to stand in for her. It will be good to work with the class again. I have also been asked to act as facilitator for a Speaking and Listening exam on July 17th.

It is almost a month since I last wrote here. The reason for my silence is that Malcolm, a friend of mine, was seriously injured in a cycling accident nearly three weeks ago. I was riding with him and his partner, Janice, when it happened although he was a little way behind us so we didn't see him fall.

Malcolm has been in a coma since the day of the accident, and although he seems to be out of immediate danger, the doctors don't know the extent to which he will eventually recover.
Malcolm and Janice have many friends who have rallied round to give what help and support they can. Still, this is a very upsetting time for all concerned.

The first day
Today was the first day of the Summer Course. There are three classes at different levels, but they were all combined in one room for the enrollments and examination paperwork. My students are at a level where the basic form-filling was no problem for them. The teacher of the entry-level class had to do a lot more handholding.

After enrollment I was able to set my students to work on a 'get to know your partner' exercise as an ice-breaker, which took us up to the end of the first session. I then started work from one of the set books for the second session. The students all seem keen and are very friendly, and I was pleased with the way today's lesson went.

The college allocated lessons slots at the Summer Course to all of the existing teachers who wanted them, which meant that the new teachers are mainly covering for teachers who are on holiday.

I am one of three new teachers, and have been given a block of work from Monday to Thursday this week and Monday, Tuesday and Friday next week. This is less work than I had initially hoped for, but the fact that it is a solid block of work makes it closer to a full-time teaching experience than if I had been given a single morning for six weeks. Now that I will have more free time in the summer I am investigating the possibility of going to Prague for August rather than waiting until September.

Prior to this I have never had to plan for more than one lesson at a time. For this week I have had to plan a block of 8 lessons. I'm sure that I will become more efficient in my lesson planning but over the last week I have been struggling to keep my head above water. I think I have done enough to ensure that everything is in place for this week's lessons, but I had to revise tomorrow's lesson plan to take account of the pace my students were working at today. I may have to revisit Wednesday and Thursday's plans, too.

I've been away
We spent a week in the north of England. We took our walking gear and spent time on the Northumberland Coast, at Hadrian's Wall, and in the North Pennines.

On the days we weren't walking we did some gentle sightseeing, visiting places we've often intended to see, but haven't quite managed. At Escomb the ladies of the church were preparing tea and coffee for a party of visiting US students that they were expecting. They very kindly offered us a cup while they were waiting.

While we were away, Sue's car developed a problem, too. The engine warning light came on, and so we had to get it checked by a dealer. It wasn't severe enough to need immediate repairs, but we spent most of the week driving it gently. It got us home in the end, though.

I have spent most of this week planning my lessons for the next two weeks as I start teaching on Monday morning.

I have been discussing start dates and accommodation with the people in Prague. I may be going out there in August rather than September.

Ready for work
I have just spoken with my new boss at the local college about the teaching work which I will be doing.
I will be taking a Level 1 class in the first two weeks of June. Level 1 students are not beginners, there are three entry levels before this so these students will probably have been learning English for at least three years. As I mentioned in a previous entry, the class will have a number of different teachers over the ten-week course so there is a planning meeting at the college on Friday to allow us to co-ordinate our activities.

The other good news of the week is that I have now been offered the job in Prague. This will involve teaching to individuals and small groups within companies, and will draw on my experience in the corporate world as much as my English. I am waiting to see the details in writing before I formally accept, but it is looking good.

Catching up with the news (from 1914)
One of my interests is Military History, and I have slowly been researching the story of 4th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the First World War. My grandfather was a member of this battalion, which consisted of territorials (part-time volunteers, somewhat similar to National Guard units in the US).
From my previous research I knew that the unit was at its annual summer camp when war broke out, and that most of the unit volunteered for service overseas almost immediately. I spent Friday at the A.N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives in Wrexham reading the microfilm archives of the Wrexham Advertiser from the Summer and Autumn of 1914. The paper carried reports of the battalion's return from camp, and their despatch first to Conwy, then Northampton before being sent to France in November 1914.
This was fascinating reading, the paper carried a sense of adventure mixed with foreboding, although at that time no-one really knew of the horrors which were to come before the survivors would return home.

Back to work soon.
I had intended to spend all of last week in North Wales but two job interviews came up which meant that I returned home in order to prepare for them. The first interview was at the local college, and I have now been given a firm offer of some work teaching for the summer. There is a planning meeting on Friday where the teachers will discuss the overall curriculum and then plan their individual schemes of work. I will be very much the new boy in this, so I will need to take a close eye on proceedings. I don't want to end up with all the parts that no-one else wants.

The second interview was a telephone interview for a job in Prague, beginning in September. I am waiting to hear further on this one, so I have my fingers crossed.