Back to London

Well I’m back in London for another year of torture… I mean teaching… Damn that auto correct. Due to the demand of certain friends and family I’m going to start blogging again to keep everyone up to date on what’s happening and what I’m up to.

For the accommodation update, I’m still staying with a friend until the 21st of September and then I get my apartment with two friends, another Canadian teacher and an Australian accountant. Further updates on that to come 🙂

The teaching plan for the year is, spend one term (until Christmas) teaching in one school, probably starting around October, and another school for the remanding two terms. We will see what happens though. For now, I’ll just be supply teaching, and waiting for a really good opportunity to come along. I’m not going to settle this year and end up somewhere as bad as last year (hopefully).

As for my first weekend back, it was very fun, though done on the cheap side and with severe jet lag. On Saturday we went and explored Greenwich market, my old stomping ground, and then took the tube to what will be my new stomping ground. I didn’t get to see inside my new apartment yet but we checked out the neighbourhood and walked from there to whitechapel. It was nice out and so great to see my new area. It put me and my friend Dan at ease to see that it’s a pretty nice area.

After that we went back to Greenwich to go up to the observatory to see the prime meridian. Even though I lived so close to it last year we never ended up going. We made the time this weekend though, it was fun. We saw the prime meridian (or the most widely accepted 0 degrees longitude- though some people use other ones). We learned a lot about how difficult it was to tell time on ships and how so much money and effort was put into developing an accurate way to tell time aboard ships. We even got to see a planetarium show, one of my favourite things! Finally, we went to covent garden and leicester square just to walk around and see what was on. After that, it was quickly home and in bed… I fell asleep so early each night this weekend.

Sunday was great too. After walking around Greenwich just a bit, we wondered to Hyde park. We walked through the park to the little man made lake and got on paddle boats. That was also very fun, though the water is not as clean or pretty as in Canada, that’s for sure. After exploring all of the park we could from the water, we grabbed lunch and went and ate by a fountain where we saw baby ducks up really close. After that we went to my favourite museum, the museum of natural history, and discovered a part I had never been to. I probably missed it a few times because its about geology and other earth sciences, but it was actually fascinating and so well put together. Since we went for the spirit collection tour, and they were done those for the day, we decided to see the butterfly exhibit which would be leaving soon instead. It was very pretty, though small. I believe after that we came back home, and I think I fell asleep at 9pm!

This week has been a lot of getting things together for work, meetings and signing things etc. I did a lot of walking to get around, even if it was more than an hour away, just because I wanted to enjoy London in the unexpected heat (It’s been so hot!).

Here for your viewing pleasure are a few pictures of my Sunday out. I’m excited to see what this year brings.

What not to talk about

So, I’ve been missing in action a little. Part of this is that I picked up a long term supply gig that should take me until Christmas, and am consequently, extremely busy. The other part is simply that I really, really dislike said job and I didn’t want to put a negative post up.

I’ve taken some notes though on things I find intriguing about London.

1. The trains leave a minute before they are scheduled. It actually says on the signs that the doors will close 30 seconds before departure time so that the train will stay on time. I’ve missed trains though because they pulled away a full minute before scheduled.

2. It is VERY hard to find brewed coffee. You have costa and Starbucks but outside of London, (which is where I am currently teaching), brewed coffee is impossible to find. I’ve PAID for a cup of instant thinking it was brewed coffee. And you can’t buy a simple drip coffee machine ANYWHERE! Please if someone knows a place to buy one let me know. You can get them for $20 at home

3. It’s acceptable for someone to ring you through for you purchases without ever acknowledging your existence. I’ve gone through whole transactions without a word from the other person, even after my friendly remarks. Strange.

As promised, it has rained and been very foggy for as long as I can remember. I’m always cold or wet and often both.

What else is new? I’ve gained 5 pounds but I don’t regret a single ounce… The chocolate here is divine. I might have to do a post on half term about food. (Half term is a week off next week yay).

Ok. That’s it for now. I promise not to be too much of a stranger. Soon my laptop will arrive and I will get wifi in my flat and then I’ll never shut up. 🙂

Teaching in England- First impressions

Ok so I’ve had three days of teaching and I thought I’d do a little first impressions post. Don’t take any of this as a well founded opinion because it clearly isn’t.

Day one- Orientation (year 5/6) tough school near Lambeth north tube station in central London

This was my orientation day so I didn’t get paid but it was a good learning experience and I definitely needed it because I hadn’t worked with younger kids yet. They were very chatty, and I will need to learn how to manage that a little better if I’m going to be successful. The class bully took to me right away which happens a lot when they are preteen girls for some reason. She was so naughty though and hard to manage. Worst moment- the same girl ending up with a bloody lip right before the end of class (i almost made it) which luckily no one made a big deal about (apparently that happens a lot). Highlight- two sweet girls drawing a picture of me for a gift. Also the class bully asking me how to stay out of fights.

Day two- first paid day, a tough school in ramsgate. Year 8,9,10

Yay a high school!!! But a really tough one and 3 hours away by transit! I saw the North Sea!!! Much too far to go everyday which is unfortunate because they wanted me to come back! Which is amazing right off the bat. I was working in the English department teaching students ages 13-15 and many of them had elementary school reading level. The year sevens had a reading level of year 3 (grade 2 in Canada). Unbelievable! But the staff was amazing!!!! I would have definitely stayed if it wasn’t so far away. Worst moment? A student bullying another so badly she cried and being late twice in the same day- I need a watch. Best moment? hanging out with the head of English and some students asking me to be their teacher for good.
I snapped this picture out the train window… Running though my head was, “Where AM I!”

Today, oh today… Day three, great school, great staff, great and close location… Year? Nursery!!! (Age 3!!!)

I feel so sorry for the nursery attendant who is like a Canadian ECE teacher because she did far more work than I did today as far as keeping the routines going for the kids. I basically babysat and was an extra set of hands. They need a qualified teacher in the room so that’s what I was. I had never even been in a nursery class. I had NO idea what to do or what the kids were capable of. I learned quickly though. Worst moment? Nothing really, just feeling useless. Best moment?
“You talk funny.”
“That’s because I’m from Canada, it’s very far away.”
“You should move into my house then.”

First impressions:
-schools are much more strict (no exceptions, harsher punishments)
-behaviour, so far, is worse than in Canada.
-they have adorable accents 🙂
-literacy has been a problem at all the schools I’ve visited.
-The buildings are very nice, modern with lots of technology.