Teacher Talk

Working in a school is great for adults to learn things everyday too. There are always new strategies to be learned and there are a few new things that have been working really well in our classrooms that I wanted to share with my fellow education enthusiasts!

Since I work at an international school, most of our students are English language learners. We, the teachers, as well as the students try to be very mindful of our speech so that students are learning proper English and not too much slang. The biggest thing we have noticed lately is the use of the words "gonna" and "wanna." In an effort to eliminate or decrease our usage of these slang words in our speech, we started brainstorming on how we could stop it. We thought about having a jar and putting a coin in every time we said it but then the students actually came up with a great idea! Every time we hear someone say "gonna" or "wanna," everyone snaps their fingers. When anyone says, "going to" or "want to" correctly, everyone claps their hands. Not only is it a nice way to feel happy and proud of your accomplishment for remembering to say "going to" instead of "gonna" by hearing a class of students giving you a round of applause, it is really not that disruptive for the classroom and it has improved everyone's speech and learning of the language! I love it!

Another thing we have been trying to make more adults aware of is the improper use of the word "there's." If you pay attention, you'll notice that people are often saying things like, "There's a lot of students in this classroom!" Think about it - There's is a contraction for There is. Would you say, "There is a lot of students in this classroom"? No! You would say, "There are a lot of students in this classroom." This is a big pet peeve of one of my colleagues so I've been trying to be more aware of it lately. 

My big speech pet peeve which one of my students does constantly is shortening "Can I" to sound like "Cay" (rhymes with Tie). It drives me crazy to hear someone say, "Cay go get this out of my backpack?"

Anyway, another colleague sent out this great blog post about 20 Teacher Tips for Beating Fatigue which you can read here. It's good not only for teachers but it's good for any job you have and basically for anyone who feels tired! (Who doesn't?) 

Happy Tuesday to all my Teachers out there!

Nikki's Pseudo-Narcolepsy

Things have been going pretty well for me lately. I've been working at the school and I'm liking it a lot so far. I just got contacted about teaching some foreign language classes at night so the possibility of that is very exciting! It's good to be busy. Last night, I decided I wanted to join my co-workers for an English-language show at a comedy club. I wanted to get to know some of my colleagues better and I thought it would be a fun experience no matter what! Well, it was great to see my co-workers outside of the school and to relax but apparently I got a little too relaxed.

I fell asleep.

Not because it wasn't funny, because it was! I was hoping to hear a bit more but maybe I'm still a little jet lagged, I only got back one week ago and I started work right away, then we were filming HHI and I haven't really had a break but halfway through the main act, I fell fast asleep! I didn't think the show would go on that long and I ended up waking up just at the end of the comedian's set, embarrassed, confused, and surrounded by people laughing at me. Apparently, the comedian took the opportunity of me sleeping to add a joke to his act! One of my colleagues who was sitting right in front of me (who also has an early bedtime, like me) was snoozing away in the 2nd row. The comedian saw that and made some comments about how he can't believe she's sleeping during the show. She woke up right away and that's when he noticed that I was dozing in the 3rd row! He was like, well look at that, another one's asleep. But I was totally in slumberland because Tomislav tried to wake me up and I just kept on sleeping! The comedian kept making jokes like, are we sure she's still alive? After the show, some people came up to me and said it was the funniest part of the show! My one co-worker said it almost seemed like I was supposed to be a part of his act all along.

Needless to say, great impression was made on my colleagues (not.) and the news of my comedy club snooze was all over the school today. It was embarrassing but it got my name around the school quickly so everyone started making fun of me, looking shocked that I was awake upon entering the classroom I was in. Asking me if I'm well rested, or if I'm gonna fall asleep and stuff like that. It was all in good fun and I couldn't help but think about some of my other memorable sleeping-in-weird-loud-places moments. Yikes, there have been a few!

• I slept through a loud, crazy, wild party at Cassie's place in Cairo on the couch of the living room where everyone was partying, dancing, playing music- everything you can imagine at a fun party! Snoring on the couch while everyone's partying around me. Lovely, at least could sort of be a part of it all still ;)
• My most expensive nap was probably the time I fell asleep at a Bob Dylan concert in Philadelphia. I was with my 2 favorite redheads in the entire world and we indulged in some wine before the show and I got my tipsy nap on during most of the show. Great background music for some shuteye.
• The first time I was in Croatia back around NYE 2008/2009, I wanted to try a Croatian beer which shares a name with my beloved fiance. It's called Tomislav* and it's a very dark beer, delicious and very rich. I liked it a lot and so I decided to have a 2nd one. Little did I know how strong the beer actually was. I got super tipsy and tipsy-sleepy almost immediately so my Tomislav knew that it was time to take me home! We didn't have a car then so we had to wait for a night tram which sometimes takes forever if you just missed one and it's super-late-night. So we're standing on the Main Square in Zagreb. Wait, well, I guess we're not exactly standing, Tomislav is standing and I'm sleeping on him. Maybe Tomislav had to sit or kneel or bed somehow because I was nodding off against him. He had to basically carry me into the tram and let me sleep on him the whole way back to his parents' place (which is the very last tram stop!). 

*Here's a little known fact: If you google "Tomislav pivo" which means Tomislav beer in Croatian, a picture of us comes up in the image search. I've tried to get it down but I guess it's impossible. Anyway, I'm owning up to it right now so google away (or you can click the link I just posted).

If you've got any good stories or memories of you or someone you once saw (probably me) sleeping somewhere weird, please share!

Live to travel? Travel to live!

It might be totally cliche or obvious or whatever, but I really love to travel. I love the feeling of being in a new place, especially one I've never been to before and the rush, the excitement, even the confusion it all brings! It must have began when I was little and my parents would bring us back to Poland (from PA). I find it so interesting to hear about what I was like when I was little, how frustrated I got being in Poland and not understanding my family speak Polish around me. It's hard for me to imagine NOT wanting to speak another language, but apparently I was really against speaking Polish for a while. After that trip, I vowed to speak only in Polish with my parents so that the next time we went to Poland, I would be ready.

And ready I was, am, and always will be! I'm sort of obsessed with learning other languages. Going to Germany for CBYX  was one of the best experiences of my life and I'm so glad I got to go at such a young age (15/16 for one year, living with a host family, adapting to life in a foreign country, with a foreign language, and a new and different school system). It taught  me so much, about myself and about the world and about other cultures. It really helped shape my future and I'm so thankful to have had that amazing year in Bayern.

Anyway, I could talk about this sort of thing forever because I'm so passionate about it and really believe that young people should experience life abroad to allow themselves to learn, immerse themselves in another culture and grow and mature with that. The other thing I wanted to mention is that even if you are on a serious budget, you can still find ways to travel. Believe me, you really can! As a high school student, I obviously didn't have money to travel so I'm really thankful that I found out about that scholarship. There are tons of scholarship opportunities, especially for college students so you just have to do some research (early!) so that you know what the requirements are for certain scholarships. Here are some other ways that you can travel on the cheap, or ways to make money while traveling!

1.  Be a caretaker (basically, a professional house sitter): If you're interested in getting paid to take care of someones home/pets or perhaps even a hostel or bed  and breakfast, definitely check out this very informative article here. It's a great way to earn money while experience life in a new place, if you're up for it.
2. Teach! Teach what you know, whether it be teaching English (or another language you may know). Depending on what country you are in, you may not need a teaching degree to teach the English language. Tutoring is always a great way to earn some extra dough, and you can find a tutoring gig by posting on local forums or at the local university. Also if you have any special skills like playing the guitar, that's something else you could potentially teach!
3. Along the lines of music, become a busker. If you have an instrument and a talent, you can earn some serious cash if you find an area that gets a lot of foot traffic!
4.  Become a tour guide. Find out anything and everything about the city you are hoping to go to, or that you live in. Learn everything you can about the historical aspect and be ready for questions that anyone might want to know. You can plan your own tour of the town and advertise your services then. It's a bonus if you speak several languages, but if you have a friendly and outgoing personality, you may be able to start your own 'business.' Or, seek out a tour agency and see if they could use a freelancer!
5. Couchsurf: Although this isn't a way to make money, I think CouchSurfing has to be mentioned as something every traveler needs to know about. CouchSurfing is an amazing community of interesting, opening minded, and welcoming people. One of the taglines of CouchSurfing is: Imagine having an interesting friend wherever you go -- whether that’s 2,000 miles away, or right in your hometown. CouchSurfers are commited to intercultural understanding. If you haven't been on the website yet, go check it out now. You don't have to go anywhere to get involved, you can start by maybe hosting someone or just meeting up in your hometown for a coffee with a new traveling friend. It's a way to make friends all over the world!
6. Finally, one of the most inspiring CouchSurfers and people I know is Thomas Love Perko. You have to check out his page Thomas Love's Adventures. He writes in both Croatian and English (and maybe a few other words/phrases here and in there in other languages!). He is a CouchSurfing ambassador, hitchhiking advocate, and one of the friendliest people you will ever meet. Check out his page to read all about the adventures he's had and to learn more about how he found sponsorship (from the likes of MasterCard and the travel agency Da Da Da) for some of his recent travels. He is currently traveling for his Project '1000 Days of Summer - following the Sun on a journey around the World' using alternative ways of travel (couchsurfing, hitchhiking, busking). Read more about it (in Croatian) here. Or just check out his Facebook page! 

The King of CouchSurfing himself!

Just do it! Go, put yourself out there and do it now, because if you don't go now, when will you do it? If it feels right, just go for it and make it work! And if you have any questions or need any help or advice about anything, please feel free to ask!

To get a better understanding for what Thomas Love's project 1000 Days of Summer is really like, check out this short trailer about it:

Frau has left the building

My life has completely changed since last week, since I have finally begun working again! I'm (substitute) teaching at an international school. To be honest, it's kind of getting in the way of my having fun, but I'm making do. I'm completely getting wanderlusted and wishing to take a trip soon. The weekend is coming and Graz, Austria seems to be calling my name. (Hope T-Slav hears it too!) If you know me, you know that teaching isn't my first career choice. It's all because of me being an overachiever in college; as a sophomore, I heard that I could get into a dual degree program where I could continue with my regular major and add on a few classes so that I'd be able to finish both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in only 5 years, with the Masters being in Education. Of course, I went for it, got in the program, and lo and behold, that is why I'm teaching today! So my heart isn't really 100% in it, but I know that I'm pretty good at it.

There are good days and bad days and honestly, the good days are pretty great, but the bad days bring me down a lot. I've had one class for the past couple of days that have been acting like little monsters. It's bringing me back to student teaching (where I feel I aged at least 5 extra years for every month I taught). Even though the kids act completely nuts, I know they're just looking for attention and then I end up worrying about them! I love the school I'm at because the students all come from different countries which is really interesting. At the end of one of my classes today, I played a clip from Pippi Langstrumpf (Pippi Longstockings) which was one of my favorite shows as a kid, and I was excited to see that these kids loved it just as much. Still have my fingers crossed that I'll hear back from my dream job sometime soon, but for now, I'm just happy to have a job again! Also looking forward to meeting Couch Surfers in Zagreb tonight at an event tonight in the city! But to be honest...the weekend can't come soon enough!